By Zephyria 
82
Seong-im opened the small door at the very end of the hallway and went inside. It was the place she had briefly opened while looking for Jeong-woo’s sister.
It was a storage room for hospital supplies. Every medicine box was empty, the documents were a mess, and blood-soaked bed mattresses were piled up to the ceiling on one side.
There seemed to be no way out except for the door she had come through. Ho-eun looked at Seong-im. What was her reason for coming here? Was she trying to hide until Tae-muk came? Even if she hid, could they really hide? If they kept quiet, would the Devouring Ghouls not know they were here?
But Seong-im suddenly started pulling the empty medicine boxes down. Then, she pulled out the rusty iron shelves with creaks and squeaks. A window hidden behind the shelves appeared. It was about six or seven spans in size, and dusty, making it hazy.
She covered her face with one hand and smashed the window with the scabbard she was holding in the other. Crash! The window broke with a loud noise.
“……”
Ho-eun could easily guess her plan. She was trying to get out of the hospital through that window. But… this was the third floor. If they jumped, instead of escaping, they might die from the fall. Their heads would be smashed, or at least their legs would be broken.
What should they do to avoid that…?
Ho-eun scanned the storage room. Then, the bed mattresses piled up to the ceiling caught his eye.
“Jeong-woo, just a moment. Just stay here for a moment. Okay?”
Ho-eun carefully sat Jeong-woo down in the corner of the storage room. He made sure to stretch out his leg so that his injured calf wouldn’t be strained. Jeong-woo seemed to be on the verge of tears, but he didn’t cling to Ho-eun. He seemed to instinctively know that it was an unavoidable situation. Ho-eun stroked Jeong-woo’s head, feeling proud of him, and then approached the mattresses.
Ho-eun pulled out the bedsheets wrapped around the mattresses. The sheets that had been soaked in blood for a long time smelled like rotting meat. The sour and musty smell stung the tip of his nose. Sometimes, unidentified mucus or flesh-like substances were attached to them.
“Ugh…”
Goosebumps rose on his cheeks, and he felt nauseous, but there was no time to vomit. Ho-eun held his breath and began to diligently remove the bedsheets. Seong-im, who had been checking the area below the window, returned to Ho-eun’s side and began to tie the ends of the removed bedsheets together. The two of them did what they had to do without exchanging a single word.
Soon, all the bedsheets were connected, and Seong-im tied the end of the bedsheets to the iron shelf. Then, she laid another shelf down in front of it to prevent the shelf from being pulled down by the weight.
Seong-im threw the bedsheets out the window. Ho-eun, holding Jeong-woo in his arms, also peeked out the window over her shoulder.
The outside, already darkened by twilight, was all darkness. So, they couldn’t tell whether the bedsheets had reached the ground or not.
“……”
Ho-eun swallowed hard. Could he climb down this? Would this wretched body of his allow it? He was already repeatingly clenching and unclenching his trembling hands.
Thump, thump, thud.
Caw! Caw, caw, caw!
Aaaaaah! Aaaah!
The outside of the door became noisy. The Devouring Ghouls seemed to have finally reached the third floor. The entire building shook as their huge bodies rampaged. Ho-eun’s heart also pounded along with the roar. Of course, the most terrifying thing was the screams of the people.
“What about those, those people…”
The doctor and nurse who had treated Jeong-woo flickered before his eyes. He also remembered the countless people he had made eye contact with and talked to while looking for Jeong-i.
If possible, he wanted to go with them. He couldn’t just abandon even those who were still alive.
However, Seong-im slowly shook her head.
“……”
Ho-eun’s dry chest sank deeply. Just… leave them behind? He knew exactly what would happen to them, and they were abandoning them?
But he had no words to persuade Seong-im. If they didn’t leave them behind? What could he do? What could he do with his own abilities? He was entrusting his life to Seong-im, so how could he save them?
Despair piled heavily on Ho-eun’s eyelids. Seong-im pointed to Jeong-woo in Ho-eun’s arms.
“……”
Then, she pointed to the outside of the door where screams were rampant.
“……”
Then, she pointed to Jeong-woo again. With that gesture, Ho-eun heard her voice, which he had never heard before.
‘Jeong-woo is the only one we can save.’
‘We can’t save those people.’
‘If we try to save them, we might even lose Jeong-woo.’
“……”
Ho-eun bit his lower lip. She was right. They weren’t abandoning them, they just couldn’t save them. They didn’t have enough power.
Ho-eun was still desperate, but strangely, he wasn’t as desperate as before. The thought of saving Jeong-woo was bigger than his despair. He had to save Jeong-woo, no matter what. Even if he was a useless human being, he felt like he could do that much.
Seong-im took Jeong-woo from Ho-eun’s arms. Then, she gestured towards the window, telling him to go down first.
Ho-eun leaned his head out the window. He could vaguely see the blood-soaked bedsheets swaying slowly. Below that, the dense darkness made it impossible to distinguish whether it was the ground or a pit.
“……”
Ho-eun swallowed hard. He grabbed the thick bedsheets with both hands. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Ho-eun hesitated repeatedly, but Seong-im just waited without urging him, only occasionally glancing at the door.
Eventually, Ho-eun covered one eye with his hand and stammered.
“I… I don’t know how to get down. I’ve, I’ve never done anything like this before…”
His face was burning, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at Seong-im. He was sure she was looking at him with contempt, thinking, ‘What is this? Is he even a man? How can he be so useless?’
But Seong-im tapped Ho-eun’s shoulder. Then, she waved her hand as if to tell him to move aside, and with a light movement, she jumped onto the window sill.
With her sword at her side, holding Jeong-woo in one arm, and wrapping the bedsheets around her wrist with the other, she fell straight down.
“Seong-im!”
Ho-eun, surprised, looked down out the window. Seong-im was climbing down the bedsheets. She stopped for a moment at the knot where the bedsheets were tied, then slid down again, adjusting her speed by stopping at the knot.
It didn’t take long for her to disappear into the distant darkness. Soon, the bedsheets that had been taut with Seong-im’s weight became loose.
“……”
Ho-eun stretched his neck out and stared intently into the darkness. He was looking for Seong-im’s trace. Because she couldn’t speak, he couldn’t know whether she had landed safely or not.
Ho-eun quietly waited for her sign. They hadn’t decided on a signal to exchange, but he was sure she would let him know.
But as time passed, no response came from Seong-im. The more that happened, the whiter Ho-eun’s face became.
Was there a Devouring Ghoul below? Or did she fall wrong? If so, why wasn’t Jeong-woo crying? Did something happen before he could even cry? Something bad?
What if that was the case? He would be all alone here…
“Am I… left?”
Ho-eun’s face turned pale as he muttered briefly. The thought of being left alone in this pandemonium made his heart sink and almost stop. It felt like all the blood was draining from his body through the soles of his feet.
“Seong-im?”
Just as he was throwing her name into the darkness, unable to believe the situation, the loosely hanging bedsheets were pulled three times tightly.
“Haa…”
With a wave of relief washing over him, Ho-eun’s legs gave way, and he almost fell out the window. But the relief was only temporary. Soon, anxiety began to fill his face again.
Now, it was his turn to go down.
“……”
He turned back to look at the tightly closed storage room door. The door was shaking as the walls vibrated from the Devouring Ghouls’ rampage. The screams of people came closer and then farther away, and then closer and then farther away again. He could also hear something falling with a thud and something else crashing.
“……”
Ho-eun bit his lower lip. He didn’t want to go down, but he had to.
He couldn’t die. He couldn’t die. It wasn’t because his life was precious or because he didn’t want to die.
Seong-im had saved his life by giving up Gil-sang. Probably because he was Tae-muk’s Bondmate.
In other words, his life was the same as Tae-muk’s life.
So, he had to live not for himself, but for Tae-muk, for the people Tae-muk would save in the future.
“Hoo…”
Ho-eun took a deep breath and crawled clumsily towards the window. Small pieces of broken glass occasionally pricked his palms sharply, but he didn’t even feel the pain.
As Seong-im had done, he wrapped the bedsheets around his wrist. He grabbed below that with his other hand. Then, forgetting to blink, he opened his cold, dry eyes and put one leg out the window.
“Where is, about here…”
The knot… His upright toes fluttered in the air. Then, his toes touched the knot. Okay. Ho-eun’s face brightened, and he put his other leg down.
“Uh…”
His body fell straight down.