Chapter 4

“Haaah!”

Yu-su toppled from his chair with a violent crash, clutching his chest as his heart battered against his ribs. He dragged in one desperate breath after another.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

The agony of his body being torn apart…

It was not there.

The pain was gone.

It’s gone?

Yu-su jolted upright in alarm and slammed the crown of his head into something solid.

Bang!

“Ow…!”

His senses snapped into sharp focus. He recoiled at once, then swept his surroundings with fierce caution. In the dim room, the first thing he saw was one of the wheels beneath his overturned chair. As his gaze traveled upward, a familiar desk came into view.

His desk.

“What… What is this?”

His breath caught. “Do Muwon?”

No answer came.

Only silence settled over the neatly organized office, swallowing the sound of his voice.

Yu-su turned his head sharply toward the windows, where the city lights continued to blaze brightly beyond the glass, so intense that they stung his eyes. The clock on the wall showed 8:30 p.m.

Was that a dream?

As Yu-su cautiously dragged himself back into reality, the first conclusion he reached was that he had suffered a nightmare. The blood, the death, the grotesque rebirth, and the agony all had to have been part of it. Nothing else could possibly explain them.

Yes.

It had merely been a vicious, deeply unpleasant nightmare.

This is all because of Do Muwon’s message.

Why send him a personal text asking to say hello instead of continuing to ignore him? He must have dreaded meeting Muwon so much that his mind had conjured something utterly deranged. Having assigned the blame for his ordeal entirely to Do Muwon, Yu-su rubbed his inexplicably cold forearm and began to rise.

A quiet notification chimed above him.

Ding. Ding.

A personal message had arrived.

“……”

The sound was barely audible, yet Yu-su’s entire body flared awake as though a stimulant had been injected directly into his veins. Somehow, he felt as if he already knew what the message would say.

That can’t be right.

Why am I so emotional today?

Despite his attempt to dismiss the feeling, his trembling gaze darted toward the monitor.

Then he staggered.

The world slowed.

The floor beneath his feet seemed to soften and collapse like a rotting sponge.

“This…”

It’s the same.

His hand flailed blindly and struck the coffee cup beside the keyboard, sending it clattering to the floor. Yu-su curled his trembling fingers into a fist and stepped back, his brow tightening as he fought down the nausea climbing his throat.

The strangest part was not that he felt he had seen the message before.

It felt as though he had already seen it several times.

No. That can’t be.

Yet Yu-su could not deny the sensation with any conviction. It was the same absolute premonition, the same inexplicable instinct, that had warned him away from Senior Associate Shin.

Right. Senior Associate Shin.

Yu-su turned toward the hallway.

The sensor lights along the distant corridor were illuminating one by one. They were designed so that each section lit as someone passed beneath it. Now, however, every time the section ahead brightened, the one behind it faded into darkness.

There could be only one explanation.

Someone was approaching at an abnormally slow pace.

“……”

No.

It can’t be.

But what if it is?

His clenched teeth began to ache. Yu-su severed the spiraling chain of thought, reached for the long mop propped against the wall, and gripped it in both hands.

Maybe this is a fever dream. Maybe I’ve finally lost my fucking mind.

Fine.

I can act like a madman for a little while.

Yu-su planted his foot against the joint connecting the mop head to the handle. The plastic snapped with a sharp crack. He discarded the broken head and raised the long shaft that remained, testing its weight while staring across the office.

The advancing sensor light had drawn closer.

Without taking his eyes from the doorway, Yu-su pulled out his phone.

Recipient: Second

“Pick up. Hurry…”

Despite his desperate muttering, the phone rang for what felt like an eternity before a woman finally answered.

—“Oppa? What’s wrong at this hour?”

“Jeong Yu-sol. You’re home, right? Where are the kids?”

—“I’m home. I was doing the dishes. The kids are asleep.”

Yu-su smothered a brief sigh of relief and forced his voice to remain calm.

“Listen carefully. Lock the front door and every window right now. Fill the bathtub with water. Whatever happens, don’t go outside.”

—“What’s this all of a sudden? Did a war break out or something?”

“It’s not a war…”

The light outside the office door flickered on.

Senior Associate Shin stood beneath it.

The flesh from her ankle to her knee had been stripped away, leaving gleaming bone exposed. She dragged the mangled leg behind her while leaning heavily against the doorway. Her head drooped. Blood gathered inside the hollow where her nose had been and dripped steadily onto the floor.

When she stopped moving, the sensor light went dark.

Her crimson silhouette melted into the shadows.

Yu-su’s Adam’s apple shifted slowly. He knew that any sound would draw her attention, yet it took him only a moment to decide.

“There’s a zombie here.”

His voice emerged hoarse and strained, but it carried clearly through the silent office.

Senior Associate Shin slowly raised her head. Her face was coated in blood and scraps of human flesh.

Her eyes found him.

Their gazes collided through the darkness.

A brief, incredulous silence passed over the phone before Yu-sol burst into laughter.

—“Wow, seriously… That’s the first time you’ve made me laugh in ages. Did you have a company dinner, Oppa?”

“…Sol-ah. Remember eight years ago.”

Silence fell at the other end.

“Listen to me. Don’t open the door for anyone. I’m hanging up.”

—“Wait, Oppa! Oppa…!”

Yu-su ended the call.

Click.

The mind that had been surging and heaving inside his skull suddenly became unnaturally still.

Clear.

In that moment, Yu-su accepted two absurd truths that had descended upon him without warning.

First, a zombie outbreak had begun.

Second, he was repeating this moment.

He did not believe he had experienced a prophetic dream. The conviction running through him was stranger and far more concrete than that.

The reason he had avoided Senior Associate Shin and escaped the office last time had not been luck. He had known what to do because he had already lived through it.

There had to be a reason for the pain at the back of his neck, just as there had to be a reason for the instincts that had driven him toward survival. He could not comprehend the reality of what was happening, but he had no choice except to acknowledge one possibility.

This might already be the third time.

The moment arrived with the inevitability of a countdown reaching zero. Once the final number sounded, there was no avoiding the jump.

All Yu-su could do was move with it.

What should I do?

Where should I go?

His panic was less violent than before, but his thoughts still raced.

The elevator he could not risk taking.

Do Muwon’s warning that the lower floors were even worse.

The rooftop.

The helipad.

“Hah…”

“Agh… Aaaagh!”

Senior Associate Shin lurched forward. Her body twisted as though she were turning herself inside out, and she closed the distance between them in an instant.

Yu-su tightened his grip on the mop handle and swung.

The wooden shaft crashed into her with enough force to knock her sideways. As she fell, Yu-su dashed into the pantry. He yanked open a cupboard drawer and swept a key, a flashlight, and every small packet of food within reach into his briefcase.

Then he ran back out.

“Grk… kiiik… kii…”

A flood of emotion threatened to overwhelm him as he passed the familiar woman writhing across the floor.

There was no time to grieve for her.

Not even enough time for a brief farewell.

Yu-su fled the office, leaving nothing behind but his retreating shadow.

“Kyaaak!”

“Kii… kiiaaa!”

“Move!”

Repeating something he had already accomplished once was not difficult.

Yu-su charged through the corridor, vaulted over the cluster of zombies feasting on the floor, and struck the fire alarm.

The emergency shutter crashed down behind him.

Without sparing the elevator so much as a glance, he unlocked the emergency stairwell and slipped inside. The door closed with a hard clack.

His phone had been vibrating without pause.

Yu-su pulled it out.

The moment Yu-su cleared the emergency-alert window, the screen flickered and another call came through.