“What letter is this?”
Luca brought a book and sat next to Matteo. He pointed at a letter with his small finger, but his vision flickered. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and it returned to normal, but this symptom had been recurring lately.
Was he already getting presbyopia? While he was having such absurd thoughts, Luca’s pale, slender neck came into view. In an instant, an unbearable thirst surged, and his mind went faint.
“Dad…?”
Matteo snapped out of it at the sight of the dark eyes staring at him and hurriedly got up. “Sorry. I’ll read it to you later.” He ruffled Luca’s hair and fled to the living room. The children, who were gathered to play a board game, clamored for Matteo to join them.
Looking at their bright, smiling faces, he felt nauseous along with the thirst this time. He quickly covered his mouth and rushed to the bathroom. He clutched the toilet and vomited everything he had eaten for lunch. He felt dizzy as he stood up. After washing his face with cold water and rinsing his mouth, he came out to find Anna standing at the entrance.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes… I think my lunch didn’t sit well.”
“Oh dear.”
“Go and rest. You have to attend the graduation ceremony tomorrow. Don’t worry about the children, I’m here.” Anna urged him on. Even at that moment, Matteo’s eyes were fixed on Anna’s neck. He felt strangely hungry whenever he saw the skin exposed outside her clothes. It wasn’t the kind of feeling he usually had towards the opposite sex, but purely hunger itself.
“Matteo? Are you okay?”
Matteo forced a smile and nodded. He left the children in her care, went into his room, and locked the door securely. He looked in the mirror and saw that his complexion was pale, perhaps because of the vomiting. After wiping away the cold sweat, he opened his mouth and checked his teeth. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was nothing wrong.
-In the early stages of infection, symptoms such as vomiting, mild fever, chills, and dizziness appear, along with abnormal desires. Later, a burning sensation is felt in the limbs, vision and hearing become sensitive, and aggressive behavior is exhibited.
It was about the Infected that he had learned in writing sometime ago. With a queasy feeling, he searched for any helpful materials, but there was nothing about infection anywhere.
“That can’t be…”
He shook his head with an absurd laugh. It didn’t make sense to anyone. If there was something wrong in the process of transplanting the heart, symptoms would have appeared immediately after the surgery. The fact that there had been nothing wrong until now meant that the problem wasn’t with the surgery.
Exhausted, he leaned against the window for a long time before sinking down and opening the locked drawer, taking out a photo from inside. It contained a picture of himself as a child. And next to him were several men of his age or older.
-Let’s open a new world.
That was the last time. A few days later, their hideout was devastated, and his comrades, who had sworn with him, had their limbs severed and their entrails burst, lying scattered everywhere. Despite his injuries, he fled to survive, and Father Joseph of District B saved him just before he lost his life.
-You must now live as Matteo. Can you promise?
At first, he intended to. But his feet kept leading him to Area C. Where his comrades were. He should have at least recovered their bodies. He should have fought to the end instead of running away. With such regrets.
Then he met a child. The moment he saw the newborn child, he saw new hope. He secretly contacted Area C, avoiding Father Joseph’s eyes, and conveyed it to a comrade who had survived scattered. The hope that one day this child would become our leader.
-I like now. I’m happy.
Ire’s smiling face came to mind, and he closed his eyes without realizing it. His head throbbed, and he rubbed his temples. Every time he moved his fingers, the burn-scarred scars contorted with him. He had planned to tell the truth when Ire turned twenty.
Where you came from and who you were born to. What power you possessed. But for now, that power could put Ire in danger.
Matteo sighed deeply, put the photo away, and hid it securely in the drawer. Then he leaned against the window again and looked outside. The children were busy running around, and Anna was smiling broadly as she watched them.
He suddenly thought that this wasn’t so bad either. Oblivious to the future that awaited him.
“I’m telling you, brother! I saw it clearly. Gilsu and Baek Seol saw it too!”
Jang-cheon raised his voice thunderously, and Gilsu and Baek Seol, who were next to him, nodded. The man called Hyungnim had the name Haegeol. He looked at the photo on the table with an indifferent expression.
Not long ago, the A District guys who had infiltrated Area C raided the hideout. He knew they were here, but he never imagined they would chase him right to his doorstep. Fortunately, he escaped unharmed, but they stole the military cloak that they cherished so much.
These three guys were guarding the hideout at that time. They should be bowing their heads and reflecting, but they brought a photo of something he didn’t even know and made a fuss, which drove Haegeol crazy.
“So, who is this kid?”
All three of them looked at each other with blank expressions.
Haegeol sighed and shook his head.
“Seriously, you guys. The atmosphere is already a mess, are you going to be like this too? If you have nothing to do, go out and earn some money! Don’t hang out together and look at pictures!”
“No… it’s not just a picture… it seems important….”
“Important my ass! Why do you care about a kid you don’t even know!”
Haegeol was about to tear the photo apart, looking fierce, when the vice-leader came in as the door opened. He was a middle-aged man with long hair tied back in a single bunch, and his face was covered with large and small scars.
“Have you forgotten that you’re under house arrest? Are you going to hang out like this again?”
“It’s not that, vice-leader! We saw this kid in A District, but Haegeol hyung doesn’t believe us!”
The vice-leader took the photo and narrowed his eyes. Haegeol asked next to him if he knew who it was, but instead of answering, he called Jang-cheon.
“Are you sure? Is this the kid?”
Jang-cheon rolled his eyes.
“The hair and eyes seemed right….”
His voice gradually faded as if he wasn’t confident. Baek Seol and Gilsu also didn’t seem sure. The vice-leader sighed and took the photo.
“Where did you see him?”
“In the sewer.”
“Did you ask his name?”
“No, we didn’t….”
“Do you know who he is?”
At Haegeol’s question, the vice-leader bit his lip. If he were alive, he would be twenty this year. While he was deep in thought, Baek Seol raised his hand and expressed his opinion.
“I have a good idea! Let’s go to A District. He’s noticeable because of his appearance, so we’ll find him quickly, right?”
“How are we going to get in? We even lost the cloak.”
“That’s true….”
“We’ve committed a sin worthy of death.” Baek Seol drooped his shoulders dejectedly, and Gilsu and Jang-cheon also looked like they had become criminals. They had lost something as precious as a treasure, so they had nothing to say even if they had ten mouths.
He still wondered how they had found that place. How could they find a maze-like place that even the members couldn’t easily find? Could there be a spy inside us? He had such thoughts, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them out loud. The atmosphere was already grim, and he didn’t want to create a situation where they were suspicious of each other.
“I’ll take the photo for now. You guys keep this a secret. If it gets to the leader’s ears, all three of you, no, all four of you will be in trouble.”
The vice-leader took the photo and got up, and Haegeol followed him.
The three who were left behind suddenly pouted.
“I told you not to come. We only got scolded for nothing.”
“It’s because of you, Baek Seol. You insisted on coming.”
“I thought it was an important photo.”
“Forget it, did you forget what the vice-leader said? He told us not to do anything useless and to stay here.”
The three of them grumbled and spoke ill of the vice-leader, who wasn’t there, when they heard a rustling sound from the corner. All three of them were surprised and shut their mouths, looking over to see a gaunt young man hugging a book as he came out from the inside.
“You scared me. Why are you here? You crazy bastard, you should have said something.”
“Hey, did you hear everything we were talking about earlier? How much did you hear?”
The young man named Jang-yong was around twenty years old and had come here as a child. His father was a famous drug dealer, but one day he was found with his head blown off. Afterwards, the vice-leader brought Jang-yong, who was about to starve to death, but because he was so timid, he didn’t talk much with people and rarely went outside.
“I’ve been listening since earlier….”
Jang-yong pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat.
“The man with gray hair and blue eyes that you said you saw… I know him too….”
As soon as he heard that, Jang-cheon slammed the table and stood up! Jang-yong flinched and took a step back at his momentum.
“You know him? You? How?”
“A few, a few weeks ago… I was passing by the front of the inn early in the morning and saw him through the window. It was a man with gray hair, and he threw a rat outside and stared at it for a long time. I remember because his hair color was unusual.”
“What next?”
“Next… I don’t know. The window closed and the curtains were drawn right away. And as you guys know, many people were injured at the inn that day. Some people died too…. This is just my guess, but I think that kid might be involved. If you go to the innkeeper or meet the people who were injured at that time, you might be able to get more accurate information….”
The three of them exchanged glances and got up without anyone stopping them. It seemed like it would be faster to go to the inn and check directly. They agreed to take Jang-yong with them just in case. So, Jang-cheon hoisted him over his shoulder as he struggled, saying he didn’t want to go.