Chapter 569
* * *
Wi Jaehwi watched and recalled something from not long ago. Watching the actors of getting beaten down as if they were under bombardment, he had once asked Manager Hong of JC ENM a question.
Was it that they couldn't spoil it, or that they wouldn't?
And Manager Hong had answered like this.
Both.
Only now did Reporter Wi understand everything. Why everyone had been so tight-lipped since the script reading. Why they had always been so reserved during interviews.
A supporting character no one had paid attention to.
Or so they had thought.
Tak Jeongyun.
The shock of realizing that she was actually the key to every single loop sent a fierce thrill through him that left the back of his head tingling.
Not Han Yeoreum. Not Myeong Jeha. Not Do Gyeoul. But Tak Jeongyun, a name unfamiliar even to the public. It was a blow that surpassed everyone's expectations by a ridiculous margin.
Like all content, people were drawn in by the hook at the beginning, but once they reached the middle, their concentration naturally began to waver.
And from there, the road split.
Would they stop watching?
Would they leave it unfinished and continue later out of boredom?
Or would they sit there and watch until the end?
Seomun Ihwa kept smashing the audience in the back of the head over and over again so that no other thought could even arise.
The story was now entering the phase where it would explain every piece of misdirection. There was no way to abandon it halfway, and no way to leave it for later.
For those who had been caught, only one option remained.
Watch until the end.
The number 1 displayed in the top right corner disappeared, and Episode One began alongside Tak Jeongyun's narration.
—At first, I really knew nothing.
Thud.
Something crashed outside the building. Tak Jeongyun and Do Gyeoul briefly turned toward the sound.
But only for a moment.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
An alarm began ringing from Tak Jeongyun's smartwatch.
[Jeongmin, are you still on the second floor? The main computer server for outpatient care and the ICU just crashed T_T]
After reading the message, Tak Jeongyun staggered as dizziness suddenly washed over her.
“Are you okay? Are you okay?”
Do Gyeoul tightened her grip on Tak Jeongyun's arm and asked innocently.
“Should I go see what's happening?”
Tak Jeongyun shook her head.
“Does it matter what's happening right now? We're about to be in serious trouble.”
“Huh?”
“We have to run!”
—4 p.m. Outpatient discharges, visitors coming in, and the shift change for the three rotating nursing teams overlap, making the elevators stop on every floor of the university hospital. Right now it's 3:44. Because people have started moving earlier than usual, it's already hard to get onto the elevators.
Tak Jeongyun kindly explained through narration.
—That's why I had to run.
Tak Jeongyun ran and submitted the paperwork, and the clock hanging in the corridor came into view.
4:20.
Then she ran to the pharmacy department in the basement.
The time on her smartwatch was visible.
4:30.
—I didn't pay attention to my surroundings.
Small and large screams echoed faintly in the distance.
—Because that's just what university hospitals are like.
But upon arriving at the pharmacy department, Tak Jeongyun noticed something strange.
“Huh? That's...”
“What is that?”
—The resentment of a deceased guardian. A stabbing incident because of it. That was the only explanation I could think of.
“Grk... urgh...”
“Aaaah!”
“Let go! Let go!”
—But when I got closer.
“Please save me! Agh! Please save me!”
—There were no knives.
Pharmacists covered in blood lay writhing on the floor. Several nurses, doctors, and former patients staggered toward a pharmacist crying helplessly in the corner.
They slowly turned their heads toward Tak Jeongyun.
“D-Don't go...”
Without realizing it, Do Gyeoul grabbed Tak Jeongyun's wrist as she moved toward the pharmacy.
But Tak Jeongyun shook her off.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
Because she was a nurse who saved people.
Even if she was terrified, she had to stop it.
But.
...
The nurses, doctors, and former patients who turned at the sound—
“Kyaaaah!”
Had human flesh hanging from their mouths.
“R-Run! Run!”
The moment Tak Jeongyun locked eyes with them, she froze. Do Gyeoul quickly grabbed her wrist and dragged her away.
—But this was the central pharmacy on Basement Level 1.
“What is that?! Aaaah! What is that?!”
“Please save me! Please save me!”
“Kyaaaah!”
—The main building, annex, rehabilitation center, research center. They were all connected.
They weren't only in the pharmacy.
The basement was already filled with those who had been bitten and those who would soon be bitten.
The corridor was soaked in blood.
They came from behind.
They came from every direction.
“Th-The elevator! Take the elevator!”
Do Gyeoul ran toward the elevator used by medical staff and supply transport.
“Close it!”
People had already gotten there before them and were frantically mashing the close button.
“Wait! Please wait! Aaaah!”
Do Gyeoul dragged Tak Jeongyun and managed to run forward three more steps.
Clack!
But the elevator doors shut mercilessly.
As Do Gyeoul quickly turned around—
“Grk!”
Someone suddenly appeared in her field of vision and bit the back of Tak Jeongyun's neck.
“Aaaah!”
Tak Jeongyun screamed.
Two zombies.
Three.
Four.
No.
Five?
Maybe six?
No.
Seven.
Beepbeepbeepbeep.
At the same time, an emergency notification rang from her smartwatch.
[4:44]
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
And with the sound of time rewinding—
Thud.
“Hah...”
Tak Jeongyun found herself back in the moment when Do Gyeoul had been supporting her.
“Are you okay? Are you okay?”
—I thought I'd gone crazy for a second. I wondered if I'd accidentally taken narcotic painkillers in the pharmacy.
A new number appeared in the top right corner.
“Should I go see what's happening?”
Tak Jeongyun shook her head.
Cold sweat had already soaked her forehead.
“Does it matter... what's happening? We're about to be in serious trouble.”
“Huh?”
“We have to run!”
This time, Tak Jeongyun ran somewhere else.
Down the stairs.
On the first-floor lobby, On Jihwa was standing up to head for rehabilitation treatment. Tak Jeongyun and Do Gyeoul brushed past her again.
They ran like mad toward the exit.
The second loop was Tak Jeongyun's escape.
She ran down the stairs like a madwoman.
Her destination was the underground parking lot.
Judging from the lack of screams, it seemed those things hadn't reached this area yet.
Without even changing clothes, Tak Jeongyun searched her pockets.
“Ah!”
“Wh-What's wrong?”
Of course, her car keys weren't there.
With a look of despair, Tak Jeongyun reached for Do Gyeoul's wrist.
“Wait!”
But Do Gyeoul was faster.
She shook off Tak Jeongyun's hand.
“Where are you going all of a sudden? Huh? The notification... wait, wait. The system's gone down—”
“No. Don't worry about it. We have to go.”
“No, go where?”
“Anywhere! We can't waste time!”
Do Gyeoul checked the alert on her smartwatch.
“This is serious! If we don't get to the pharmacy by 4:30, we're screwed!”
The server crash meant the nurses would have to run around even more.
Do Gyeoul clearly couldn't understand Tak Jeongyun's bizarre behavior.
—I couldn't explain it.
Tak Jeongyun's lips trembled.
—Because I thought I was crazy too.
How could she explain it?
That in a little while the hospital would be overrun by zombies, and both of them would die?
She herself wasn't sure whether it was reality, a dream, or madness.
“I don't know what's wrong, but later, okay? I'll go upstairs first! Ah, I'm late!”
Leaving Tak Jeongyun behind in Parking Level B2, Do Gyeoul hurried back upstairs.
Still gasping for breath, Tak Jeongyun slowly—
Very slowly—
Climbed back up to Basement Level 1.
“Orthopedics orders first, I said!”
“Our patient needs blood pressure medication tonight! Do ours first!”
The pharmacy was already crowded with nurses.
Unlike before, everyone was perfectly fine.
“Hah...”
So it really had been a dream.
Of course something so ridiculous couldn't be real.
Tak Jeongyun sighed and wiped her sweat.
Just as she was about to leave—
...
—Something's wrong.
Feeling an inexplicable discomfort, she turned her head.
—Every single person I saw before. Not one was missing. They were all in exactly the same places.
The face of a nurse overlapped with the memory.
Blood-covered.
Lips chewing flesh.
Blank eyes.
She turned to a pharmacist.
The desperate screams for help.
The terror in their eyes.
They were all the same people.
Exactly the same as in what she had thought was a dream.
“Urgh...!”
Tak °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Jeongyun covered her mouth and collapsed to her knees as nausea surged up.
“Huh? What's wrong?”
“Are you okay?”
Several nurses approached her.
Every one of them had the same face.
The same people she had seen before.
Tak Jeongyun's face stiffened.
She brushed away their hands and sprinted back up the stairs.
The first floor of the main building.
The camera followed her perspective as she looked around.
Doctors hurried through the hospital in every direction.
—Attention please. All security personnel and guard teams, proceed to the emergency room immediately.
Tak Jeongyun stared at them, her expression still frozen.
—Something is wrong.
She looked at the clock.
[4:00]
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket.
She didn't answer.
—Where did it start?
As if possessed, Tak Jeongyun headed toward the emergency room.
—Where exactly did it begin?
Screams echoed from afar.
Terrified people ran away desperately.
Whatever they had seen inside had left them frantic.
Everyone ran away.
Only Tak Jeongyun moved against the flow.
People fleeing slammed into her shoulders and nearly knocked her over, but she never stopped.
“Kyaaaah!”
And what Tak Jeongyun saw when she reached the emergency room—
“Grrrrk!”
—Ah holy shit, scared the hell outta me
—Screamed so loud
—AAAAAA THAT WAS FUCKING TERRIFYING
—Scared the crap outta me
—Dropped my phone TT_TT
Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep.
Bitten again, Tak Jeongyun returned to the beginning.
The number 3 appeared in the top right corner to help viewers follow along.
—The only thing on my mind was getting out.
Staggering, Tak Jeongyun simply ran.
“Hey? Hey? Where are you going?!”
Ignoring Do Gyeoul's voice behind her, Tak Jeongyun ran outside through the main entrance.
Blue sky.
People in white clothes walking around.
The world remained peaceful while she looked like someone facing the apocalypse.
Her face was twisted with anxiety as she ran and ran.
The hospital faded farther behind her.
Eventually she reached a crosswalk.
The light was red.
But she couldn't wait.
She ran straight across.
Screeeech!
Are you crazy?!
Bang!
Aaaah!
A huge bus slammed on the brakes.
A motorcycle behind it flew into the air.
Cars collided.
A pedestrian on the sidewalk was crushed.
Tak Jeongyun ran.
“What. What. What. What the hell is happening?”
She muttered as she kept running.
She just wanted to live.
The camera pulled back high into the sky.
The university hospital she had escaped from remained visible in the distance.
Because of the traffic accident she had caused, many new patients were brought into the emergency room.
A considerable number.
And so—
“...Huh?”
On Jihwa, who had been undergoing rehabilitation treatment, and her mother were bitten to death immediately, overwhelmed by a greater number of zombies than in the first loop.
At the same time, Myeong Jeha appeared, wildly swinging an IV stand.
“Ah, fuck. Of all things...”
A white delivery bag rolled around at his feet.
“Delivery's delayed, you bastards!”
But before long, he too was bitten to death.
The time on the smartwatch read 4:15.
As Tak Jeongyun desperately continued running farther and farther away, the sound of a ticking clock overlaid the scene.
—Ah, so the trailer was fake. I thought the three of them being on different floors happened at the same time T_T
—Turns out each loop was different, holy shit
—Why are the loops even happening?
—I seriously have no clue what any of this means
—Someone just explain already
The number 4 appeared in the top right corner.
And once again, Tak Jeongyun found herself on the stairs.
With Do Gyeoul.
“Aaaah!”
—I can't escape.
Tak Jeongyun collapsed on the stairs and cried.
Do Gyeoul panicked, completely at a loss.
—Why? How? For what reason?
“This time I didn't die... I didn't die...!”
Even though Tak Jeongyun had survived, everything started over again.
Even the restart time had changed.
The despair that she would never escape crushed her.
“Miss, I'll go upstairs first. Um... once you've calmed down, then...”
“Don't go...”
“Huh?”
“If you go, you'll die...”
Tak Jeongyun muttered weakly.
Do Gyeoul couldn't answer.
Tak Jeongyun simply lay there on the stairs, crying.
Do Gyeoul's feet slowly moved farther away from her sight.
Tak Jeongyun remained still.
The camera gradually pulled back.
Everyone in the hospital, except for the collapsed Tak Jeongyun, busily went about their work.
Time sped up.
And finally—
“Kyaaaah!”
The lobby descended into chaos.
“Grk...”
Tak Jeongyun accepted death.
Thus came the fifth loop.
—I had to do something.
Tak Jeongyun shoved Do Gyeoul aside and ran somewhere.