By Zephyria 
83
The bedsheet slipped from his fingertips.
Ho-eun was thin, and as thin as he was, he was light, but as thin as he was, his strength was terribly weak. His slender wrists couldn’t even support his own weight.
Ho-eun frantically tried to grab the bedsheet, but even when he grabbed it, his palms only grazed it, and the speed didn’t decrease.
“No, no…”
The wind hit the back of his ears, making a whooshing sound. His Braided Hair shot upwards as if someone had picked it up, and his relatively heavy upper body gradually leaned back, until his body was lying down. The fluttering hanbok fluttered like a flag.
“……”
Ho-eun falls, collides, gets hurt, maybe even dies, anticipating such things, he hunched his neck as much as possible and squeezed his eyes shut. And so.
Thud.
He fell. He fell, but… somehow the back of his head was cushioned. It wasn’t as soft as a silk bed, but it wasn’t the ground anyway. He didn’t feel any significant pain.
“……”
Ho-eun blinked at the sky, where only faint traces of clouds were visible. As he did so, someone’s face appeared in his field of vision. It was Seong-im. Jeong-woo, held in her arms, reached out to Ho-eun.
“How, how…”
Ho-eun, who came to his senses a beat late, abruptly raised his upper body and looked at where he had been lying. All kinds of grass piles were thickly laid out. On the other hand, the nearby grass and trees were cut bare.
Seong-im, who had gone down first, must have been cutting the nearby grass to make a support, which was why she hadn’t made a sound. She was truly a clever person.
“Thank you.”
Ho-eun, who had gotten up, bowed to her. He couldn’t count how many times he had been indebted to Gil-sang and Seong-im. Seong-im acknowledged the greeting with a nod.
Ho-eun took Jeong-woo and belatedly looked around.
“……”
The hospital and the front yard were like a scene of utter chaos, but this place was just silent. There was no trace of Devouring Ghoul, nor any trace of people. The buildings lined up along the road were quiet without a single light, and the quietness was eerie. It was a different kind of fear than when Devouring Ghoul were swarming.
Ho-eun readjusted Jeong-woo in his arms and stared at the road.
Where should he go now? He had left the hospital thinking he had to escape, but he had nowhere to go. He needed a destination. If he kept running away, he would be caught soon.
“Hmm…”
After pondering for a while, Ho-eun recalled the map he had seen in Tae-muk’s tent before leaving. The hospital. And the buildings nearby… the shelter, the central church, Seol Gong Trading Company, and Seonghwa Girls’ School in that order. That meant there was a shelter nearby.
“How about we go to the shelter?”
Ho-eun said to Seong-im. Seong-im looked at him.
“I can’t be sure of the distance just by looking at the map, but it’s quite close. It’s said that 500 people are already inside, but… maybe the three of us can get in?”
Even if they had to stand, if they could just get in, they could endure until Tae-muk killed all the Devouring Ghoul. Seong-im pondered for a moment, then nodded. Then she readjusted the sword she had drawn. She took a deep breath.
Ho-eun also tightened his Hair Tie. Then, oh, he said, pulling the bedsheet that was still hanging on the window.
“Could you cut this a little? About this, this much?”
Ho-eun pointed below his chest. Seong-im raised an eyebrow at the incomprehensible request, but cut the bedsheet without saying anything.
Ho-eun spread it out and wrapped it around Jeong-woo’s back. Then he wrapped it around his own body and tied the knot tightly at his side. It became a shape like he was carrying a baby in a blanket.
Then he gently bounced in place. Without putting much strength in his arms, Jeong-woo was stuck to Ho-eun’s chest like a cicada. At this point, even if he accidentally dropped Jeong-woo, he wouldn’t fall.
Ho-eun stroked Jeong-woo’s head and made eye contact with him. Then he said in a soft voice.
“Jeong-woo, now.”
He stopped speaking and swallowed hard. It was preparation for lying.
“We’re going to find Jeong-i noona.”
He hadn’t given up on finding Jeong-i. But the current destination was not Jeong-i. It would be great if she was at the shelter, but even if she wasn’t there, it would be difficult to go out and find her. He would be able to find her after everything was over. But he couldn’t tell the truth. But Jeong-woo, who didn’t know anything, sparkled his eyes.
“Noona?”
“Yes. Noona. But if Jeong-woo cries or makes noise, it will be difficult to find Noona.”
“……”
“So no matter what happens, you can’t cry. Got it?”
Ho-eun didn’t scold or warn, but asked. Jeong-woo looked up at Ho-eun. Then he nodded vigorously.
“Good boy.”
Ho-eun smiled and stroked Jeong-woo’s head again. He didn’t forget to unwrap a chocolate and put it in his hand. Then he supported Jeong-woo’s bottom with one hand and looked at Seong-im.
“……”
“……”
The two were looking at each other for a while. Then Seong-im took the first step. Ho-eun followed her.
The surroundings were quiet. Too quiet. It seemed that the Devouring Ghoul nearby had all flocked to the hospital. There were often puddles of blood or half-eaten corpses lying on the road, but that was all.
Contrary to their worries, the two continued to walk smoothly. But they couldn’t let their guard down. It was the first time they were traversing the battlefield on two legs without riding a horse. If a Devouring Ghoul appeared, they would have to consider escape impossible. No matter how fast a human ran, they couldn’t beat the speed of a Devouring Ghoul.
“……”
“……”
Ho-eun and Seong-im suppressed their presence as much as possible and walked through the darkness, step by step. Seong-im looked back at Ho-eun every five steps. Ho-eun nodded to mean he was okay, or sometimes told her the direction.
“Turn right here.”
Before turning the corner, Seong-im stuck to the wall of the building and only slightly poked her head out to check the road. By then, even the remaining twilight had completely disappeared, and complete night had arrived.
But on the contrary, the surroundings became brighter. It was because the moonlight had become stronger. He didn’t know if the brightened road was lucky or unlucky.
Seong-im checked on Ho-eun again, then stuck close to the building and turned the corner. Ho-eun followed her, stepping exactly where she had stepped. The shadows of Ho-eun and Seong-im danced on the wall, where bloodstains were sparsely marked.
Seong-im, who was in the lead, turned left according to Ho-eun’s instructions, ran straight, and then moved to the right again. And when her breath reached her chin.
[▶▶Road to Ramjae Town East Shelter▶▶
If Devouring Ghoul have infiltrated, come to the shelter quickly.]
A sign appeared. Ho-eun, who had been hardening his expression with tension, smiled. He had been worried that he might have come in the wrong direction. It seemed he had found it well. He felt foolishly proud that he had done something.
“Hoo…”
Ho-eun wiped the beads of sweat from the back of his hand. His body was heating up due to excessive tension, and his legs were also trembling. But there was no time to rest. The two moved along the direction indicated by the sign. But not long after.
“Ah…”
A high uphill road appeared. Ho-eun closed his eyes tightly and opened them again, his vision darkening. Even flat ground was difficult, but now it was uphill. But he soon regained his composure. He had jumped out of a third-floor window, so how could he not climb a mere uphill, he thought.
Ho-eun supported the bottom of Jeong-woo, who was in his arms, and began to climb the uphill.
But the wind blowing from the top of the uphill was unusual. The wind was so strong that his upper body was swaying back and forth.
So it was even harder to climb the uphill, but Seong-im, who was walking ahead, walked lightly without any signs of difficulty. Ho-eun, who was watching her, vaguely thought if he could become like that if he trained.
Then.
“Hic…”
He made eye contact with a corpse on the side of the road. Ho-eun swallowed the rising scream at the corpse with its upper body horribly eaten away. Seong-im looked at him with a look that asked if something was wrong, so he gave her an awkward smile.
There were unusually many corpses on the uphill road. To be exact, it should be called traces of corpses. They had all been eaten by Devouring Ghoul and only remains were left, and there were very many of those remains.
Because of that, a huge amount of blood was covering the entire uphill. It was as if a red waterfall was pouring down from above the uphill. The soil, soaked with blood, made a rustling sound every time he stepped on it. It was a sound like stepping on a snowfield.
The walls of nearby buildings were also covered in blood, and there were often Devouring Ghoul’s nail marks or footprints, and there were quite a few houses that were broken or collapsed.
“……”
It was a place with more corpses, blood, and pain than anywhere else he had seen in the town so far. He couldn’t even guess how many people had been eaten. It felt strangely strange that there was a shelter at the end of this road.
But it was a definite fact that the shelter was intact. The soldier who came to find the Crimson Rain Brigade had clearly said so.
So at the end of this road, there would be hope.
Ho-eun, with his mouth tightly shut, stepped up the uphill one step at a time.