Chapter 20

“…”

A short silence followed.

Then Muwon’s entire presence turned vicious. The words that left him sounded more like a growl than a question.

“How do you know that?”

“I heard it from you.” Yu-su held his stare. “More precisely, tomorrow’s version of you told me right before he died.”

It was the most intimate and repulsive secret of the Cheonsan Group and of Do Muwon’s family.

Muwon was no longer merely shaken. He was furious. With impeccable timing, Yu-su released the hand he had been holding the entire time.

Muwon recoiled as though fleeing from him and scrubbed both hands over his face.

Jeong Yu-su waited patiently for the brief storm of agitation to pass. He said nothing until his friend stopped pacing in circles and releasing useless, frustrated breaths, then finally met his gaze again. Those dark eyes, which had always surveyed the world with effortless composure, now held a precarious flame that seemed ready to flicker out at the slightest breeze.

“Explain it,” Muwon said. “Properly.”

Jeong Yu-su nodded and perched on the edge of the bed. He pulled a chair closer and positioned it so Do Muwon could sit opposite him. Muwon remained standing, his conflict still painfully apparent, but Yu-su began anyway, allowing the words to flow once more.

“I call it a loop, but that’s just the name I gave it. It started happening without any warning. Whenever I die, I return to the day before. I’ve already gone back several times.”

“You can’t just spring some insane shit like this on me out of nowhere…”

“Just listen.” Yu-su raised a hand before Muwon could interrupt again. “The first time, I think I died in the office before I even met you.”

He slowly recounted the paths he had taken through those repeated days, from dying in the emergency stairwell to being killed because he had chosen the wrong elevator. When his voice began to crack, Jeong Yu-su coughed briefly and looked up at Do Muwon.

“And today, we reached the rooftop safely. We even survived the night.”

He drew a breath and continued.

“We made it to the next day. The helicopter arrived, even if it was late. Rescue was right there, practically within reach. Then one of the helicopters started to wobble and collided with another. It crashed into our building, and when it exploded, the entire structure began to collapse.”

Yu-su’s breathing grew ragged between sentences. He saw the complicated emotions shifting across Muwon’s face, but he did not stop.

Muwon seemed unable to decide how he ought to react. Most people would have treated Jeong Yu-su as if he had lost his mind, yet every so often, uncertainty flickered through Muwon’s wavering eyes.

Had Jeong Yu-su not revealed the secret that Muwon did not know his father’s identity, Muwon might have dismissed the entire story as the ravings of a lunatic.

“So I told the version of you from tomorrow,” Yu-su explained. “I told him that whenever I die, I return to yesterday.”

“Did I believe you?”

“No. That’s why I suggested a bet. I told you to give me one of your secrets so I could repeat it after I came back.”

“And then I…”

“Yeah.”

Muwon finally retreated a step. He dragged both hands down his face hard enough to leave his skin flushed, wandered toward the window as if searching for something that was not there, then leaned his forehead against the bedpost and closed his eyes. He looked as though he might remain that way for some time, so Jeong Yu-su slipped a cigarette between his lips and crossed to the window.

Pale smoke unraveled into the clear blue sky while Do Muwon muttered beneath his breath, “Does any of this even make sense?”

Yu-su exhaled another stream of smoke. “Do zombies make sense?”

“Fuck. At least I can sort of wrap my head around zombies.”

“I felt the same way. The time loop seemed even more absurd than the outbreak.”

Do Muwon appeared trapped between belief and disbelief. He pushed away from the bedpost and resumed pacing around the room, only stopping once Jeong Yu-su’s cigarette had burned halfway to the filter.

“Are you sure you didn’t dream it?”

“Then how do you explain me knowing your secret?”

“Ah, fuck…”

As he watched Muwon’s profile, Jeong Yu-su felt an unexpected rush of relief. It was hardly an admirable reaction, but he felt as though he had finally lifted a scalding burden from his own hands and thrust it into someone else’s.

Beyond the simple comfort of sharing a weight he had carried alone, there was an almost shameful satisfaction in seeing someone try to believe his secret, even if the evidence had left Muwon with little choice.

With a faint hiss, the last thread of smoke dissolved into the air. Jeong Yu-su crushed the shortened cigarette into his portable ashtray just as Do Muwon turned toward him, wearing the expression of someone who had finally reached a decision.

“So what you’re saying is that you’re not going to the rooftop.”

“I’m not. I’m leaving this building now.”

“Right. Then there’s nothing else to discuss. Let’s go.”

Jeong Yu-su’s hand froze halfway through slipping the ashtray into his pocket. “…That’s all you have to say?”

“Yeah.” Muwon crouched beside his backpack. “You said you’re not going.”

The satisfaction Yu-su had felt only moments earlier deflated strangely within him. While he pursed his lips, Do Muwon began packing his belongings.

“Have you figured out how we’re getting down?”

“No, I mean…” Yu-su hesitated. “I need to work that out now. Convincing you came first.”

“Well, I’m convinced. Start thinking.”

For some reason, bitterness coated Yu-su’s tongue. He approached Muwon and tapped the shoulder bent beneath him.

“Do Muwon.”

“What?”

“Are you really coming with me?”

Muwon glanced back. “What, do you want me to stay?”

“This is serious. It’s your life on the line.” Yu-su’s hand remained on his shoulder. “Are you really okay betting it on me?”

Do Muwon was, after all, an outsider. It felt wrong to treat a choice between life and death so casually. They had no guarantee that they could descend the building safely, much less travel far enough to escape the explosion’s radius. Yet when Do Muwon turned fully toward him, he was utterly and unmistakably himself. The man was Do Muwon, as steady and immovable as a mountain, no matter what happened around him.

Muwon studied the motionless Jeong Yu-su, then raised one hand and laid his palm over the back of Yu-su’s, which still rested on his shoulder.

“I said I’d believe you and go with you, so why are you acting like such a prick?”

“…”

Warmth seeped across the back of Yu-su’s hand, followed by a strange electric shiver that raced along his spine. He suppressed the instinct to pull away.

“Jeong Yu-su.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to believe you.”

Yu-su said nothing.

Muwon’s grip remained firm. “I believe you because it’s you.”

Those deep black eyes were direct and arrogant, reflecting no one but him. As Yu-su stared into them, a desperate plea rose within him.

Please, let this zombie outbreak and this impossible loop end soon.

Let it end before I start liking Do Muwon again.

“…Do Muwon.”

The flood of trust did not taste sweet. It tasted bitter.

In a world overrun by zombies, where the very idea of a time loop was absurd, Yu-su could not deny that having Muwon believe him without much resistance was the greatest relief imaginable. Ironically, that was precisely why it hurt so much.

This was why I liked Do Muwon.

How could I possibly not have?

It was as though he were being shown all over again why his past obsession had ended so tragically, while the certainty that Do Muwon would never be interested in men drove itself into him anew.

“You’re seriously annoying.”

“Why?”

If Yu-su looked away first, he felt certain the trembling in his heart would be exposed. He stubbornly held Do Muwon’s gaze, then shamelessly tugged him closer.

“Sit down first.”

“Fine.”

Jeong Yu-su lowered his eyes as naturally as he could, pulled out his notebook, and tapped the drawing of the company building with the tip of his pen.

“There’s a lounge on every floor, so I’m planning to make ropes from the blankets as we descend.”

“Going down one floor at a time shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Jeong Yu-su considered the suggestion for a moment before shaking his head. “No. It would be better to descend two floors at a time.”

“You mean going from here to the thirty-eighth floor, then from there to the thirty-sixth?”

“Exactly.”

Apparently convinced, Do Muwon rubbed his chin slowly. “So we keep going until we reach the thirtieth floor, then use the executive elevator shaft?”

“That would be convenient, but we can’t.”

Jeong Yu-su marked the thirtieth and twentieth floors along one side of the drawing, then drew an X over each of them.

“There aren’t any lounges on those floors, so we won’t be able to get inside. The windows have been sealed, too.”

“Tch.”

“So we’ll have to skip them. We should try to reach the twenty-first floor before the end of today.”

Fashioning another rope would take time, so the sooner they began moving, the better. At Yu-su’s suggestion, the two men silently set to work. They had already gone through the process of gathering and packing the supplies in the lounge once before, so the task progressed as quickly as expected. Throughout it all, Muwon’s gaze kept straying toward Yu-su, but Yu-su pretended not to notice.

Muwon trusted him completely, yet the situation must still have been bewildering at every turn. Swallowing a sigh, Yu-su wound the rope of knotted bedding around the bedpost one final time and pulled it taut.

“Jeong Yu-su.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going down first.”

Even after everything had changed, Muwon was still behaving exactly the same way. He stepped forward, took the bedding rope from Yu-su’s hands, and wrapped it around his own waist.

Yu-su did not argue. He merely nodded and helped secure the knot.

“Yeah. I’ll leave it to you.”

Muwon glanced at him. “Why are you giving in so easily?”

“Because I’m afraid of heights now.”

“…”

Yu-su’s pale hands continued working busily while Muwon’s tanned ones went abruptly still. Ignoring the stare boring into him, Yu-su finished the knot, circled Muwon, and checked that everything was secure.

Muwon’s brow furrowed deeply. “Goddamn it. My head’s already a fucking mess, and now you spring this on me…”

“I couldn’t hide it forever.”

“Why are you afraid?”

“I’m scared I’ll fall.”

This from the bastard who had once claimed to be a competitive diver. Muwon dragged an irritated hand through his hair before releasing a long sigh.

“Whatever. I’ll stay in front. You follow me.”

“Once I get used to it, we’ll switch.” Yu-su tightened the final knot and withdrew his hands. “…Be careful.”