Chapter 9
The vehicle jolted. We were currently driving on the Incheon International Airport Expressway, but the road was in poor condition. It wasn’t because nature had reclaimed the asphalt in the last four years. It was because of the countless cars clogging the ten-lane highway. Most people had abandoned their cars and fled when the roads became blocked, or they were attacked by the Infected, so the highway was a graveyard of abandoned vehicles. The Seoul and Incheon Shelters had worked together to push the cars to the shoulder, but there were so many that the road was far from smooth. Not to mention the corpses scattered everywhere… it wasn’t a pleasant sight. So I tried my best to avoid running them over, but—
Crunch!
Shin Haejun nonchalantly stepped on the accelerator, crushing a corpse under the wheels. I watched the body, now split in two, through the side mirror and let out a low sigh.
“There are children in the back. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”
“Hm?”
Shin Haejun, holding the steering wheel, turned his head. His voice was even more shameless than his face. “What’s a bit much? What did I do?”
I was too stunned to speak.
He genuinely looked like he had no idea. It was as if he didn’t know he had just run over a corpse, or that it was the body of someone who had committed suicide, preferring to die human rather than become one of the Infected. I sighed and turned my gaze out the window.
“Never mind. That’s just like you, Brigadier General.”
“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”
“It’s close enough.”
I heard him let out a small laugh. I glanced at the back seat in the rearview mirror, and after confirming that Yongcheol and the children were thankfully still asleep, I spoke again.
“General.”
His fingers tapped on the steering wheel. It was an incredibly irritating gesture, but I decided to tolerate it for now and continued.
“Do you know exactly where my brother is?”
I had spent four years roaming every corner of South Korea looking for Woojoo. I had scoured not only the shelters but also small refugee camps and even looter hideouts. But there was no sign of him… and I was starting to get tired. For Shin Haejun to bring up Woojoo at a time like this, I had no choice but to listen.
“Well. I don’t know exactly. I’m not a fortune teller.”
“…Are you fucking with me?” I muttered unconsciously, clenching my fists. “Didn’t you say you would help me find my brother?”
“I said I’d help you find him. I never said I knew exactly where he was.”
“General! Stop playing games with me—!”
“A research institute.”
The single phrase that cut off my shout made me stop breathing.
“…is what I heard. I don’t know what they’re experimenting on, though.”
He said, a research institute. My eyes instinctively twitched. The horrifying screams echoing in my ears felt so real that the back of my neck went cold. He was talking about that place, the place where my brother and I had been together. My fists clenched on their own.
“Have you found its location?”
“I’m in the process. But I’ve narrowed it down.”
I had spent over a decade trying to find the institute’s location, and now he was telling me he could find it so easily. I let out a long breath and leaned my head back against the headrest. Old memories began to surface one by one.
My first memory was of a cylindrical tube inside the institute. I had spent a long time in that tube, hooked up to all sorts of strange hose-like machines. Looking out through the translucent glass, I was consumed by the urge to get out of there quickly. I wanted to go outside, see other people, talk to them… But after I was finally taken out, I came to regret all those impulsive thoughts. I realized too late that the only time I had been at peace was when I was inside that tube. I don’t want to recall the experiments or the abuse I suffered after that. I can only remember that just as I was suddenly dragged there one day, I was suddenly thrown out one day.
About fifteen years ago, Woojoo and I woke up, and we were outside. In the middle of some unknown mountain. Just like that, we were taken and then abandoned, without knowing the reason why. That’s all I know about the research institute. I never found out why it was operated, why it was created, or what they did to our bodies. I tried to find it afterward, but all my attempts failed. So I enlisted in the military. The faint traces and evidence all pointed to the military. But before I could find the institute, the Infected outbreak happened, and things ended up like this. And now… Shin Haejun said he found it.
I stared at him, and he smirked, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
“So? You in?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Can’t you just finish thinking now and take my hand?”
“Doesn’t seem likely.”
The smile vanished from his lips. He clicked his tongue and muttered, “Lieutenant, you never make things easy. You want to find your brother so badly, but you can’t even take the opportunity when it’s handed to you.”
I lifted my head from the headrest and turned my body to the side. I stared at Shin Haejun’s shadowed profile and ground my teeth. I couldn’t just let that comment slide.
“This never would have happened in the first place if you had just defended Cheorwon to the end, General.”
I later heard that on that day four years ago, the Cheorwon demarcation line wasn’t breached; they had voluntarily withdrawn. As a result, the civilians were left to be slaughtered by the Infected, and that newly created horde of Infected then swarmed toward Seoul. When I asked him why he made such a terrible decision, Shin Haejun’s answer was concise.
“It was an order.”
What a ridiculous reason. What about the tens of thousands of people who died because of that order? What about the cities around Seoul that were devastated? Does he feel no guilt for pulling his troops back just to protect the top brass of the military? I was so furious I clenched my fists tightly. But then, as now, Shin Haejun was calm.
“I told you. What can you do when the Commander gives an order? You have to follow it.”
“Brigadier General.”
“And, if you’re going to trace it back like that, shouldn’t you be blaming the Arctic expedition in the first place? Why don’t you stop with the pointless blame and look at reality?”
I glared at him. “Are you aware that all the residents of Cheorwon were killed? That the entire Gangwon area was decimated?”
Only then did he turn his gaze from the road ahead and look down at me askance. “Lieutenant.”
“It’s Min Ahyeon.”
“Right. Ahyeon.”
He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Tap, tap. “When you’re in uniform, you just do as you’re told from above. There’s no need to think. Your thoughts don’t matter. What matters are the thoughts of your superiors.”
“You really are…”
“What? The military’s dog?”
Shin Haejun broke into a bright laugh. It was a clear laugh that didn’t suit his characteristically cold impression and ruthless eyes at all. But I knew what lay beneath that beautiful smile. The things the man called the military’s dog had done so far.
“Yes. A truly excellent military dog.”
Shin Haejun’s nickname was the military’s dog. As the adopted son of the Four-Star General, he did whatever the Commander ordered and strived to do so. Thanks to him, the Commander was able to climb higher and higher without getting a single drop of blood on his own hands. All thanks to the loyal pet by his side.
“Do you still not regret being that old man’s dog?”
My words finally seemed to strike a nerve. His eyes narrowed. He muttered in his characteristic sharp voice, “You’re really out of line now. It would hurt quite a bit if you got shot by me, you know.”
“You’re not my superior officer anymore, General. And getting shot would hurt you just the same.”
“Haha!”
He burst out laughing loudly. The movement gave me a glimpse of a long scar on his neck, but I didn’t bother to look closely. I just tried to feel out the knife-like intentions hidden behind his laughter. After laughing for a while, he stopped abruptly. Then he looked at me with emotionless eyes. His jet-black eyes were so dark that the pupil and iris were indistinguishable, like Go stones, making them almost eerie.
“Min Ahyeon.”
“…Yes.”
“Get a grip. I’m letting you live right now.”
He pulled a folded bundle of documents from the glove box and handed it to me.
“And I’m giving you a chance.”
Knowing that provoking Shin Haejun at times like this would make him bite like the dog his nickname suggested, I kept my mouth shut for the time being. I examined the documents he handed me. The large letters on the first page caught my eye.
Regarding the Securing of Mutant Infected Samples
* * *
