By Zephyria 
#Side Story 7
A military jeep was speeding, kicking up dust. Ire, who was behind the wheel, glanced back in the rearview mirror. Until last year, this place was overflowing with thugs. Robbing passersby of their belongings and taking their lives was common, but now most of it had been cleaned up.
Inter-district exchanges became active, and under the name of the Purification Project, Kim Ha-yoon enforced severe punishments for crimes occurring not only in district a but also in other areas. The number of people losing their heads every day increased, and some compared him to a tyrant who was once the king of this land hundreds of years ago.
However, as time passed, heinous criminals noticeably decreased, and the lives of ordinary citizens gradually stabilized.
“We’re almost there. It’s over there.”
Slowing down the vehicle, Ire pointed to a building in the distance. The building was eerie whether it was day or night. The exterior walls were not only old but also had traces of destruction in various places, and in the place that was presumed to be a swimming pool, the rotten corpse of an animal that had entered to drink the stagnant water and failed to escape was rolling around.
“Who found this place?”
“Gilsu. He came to see if there was anything worth salvaging.”
Ire began to gather weapons from the car as he spoke. While gathering small bombs, grenades, and a sniper gun, Kim Ha-yoon picked up an ax from the trunk. “I’ll take this.”
He told him not to show off unnecessarily and die a dog’s death, but Kim Ha-yoon scoffed as if to show off. “Did you forget? How many guys I’ve taken out with this ax?” Suddenly, their first meeting came to mind, and his expression soured. He was reminded of the time when he thought of Kim Ha-yoon as a devil, seeing him jumping down with an ax in the air.
“If you put it that way, I don’t need a gun either. I’m good enough with just my body.”
When he retorted, not wanting to lose, Kim Ha-yoon grabbed his head and pressed down hard. “Just use your strength.”
He knew what he was worried about. Kwon So-young said that every time he used excessive force, his brain would overload, and she didn’t know what the consequences would be when he reached his limit. Kim Ha-yoon was constantly concerned about the possibility of him dying, not just harming his health.
With that, they armed themselves and went inside. After passing through the entrance, they arrived at the first-floor lobby, but the corpse of the infected that he had shot with a gun the day before yesterday was nowhere to be seen.
Upon closer inspection, there were traces of something being dragged away. Following it, a door leading to the opposite side appeared. Ire tilted his head, discovering a tomb made of stones in a place where light was pouring in.
“What is that?”
“It looks like they buried it.”
An infected? Why? It wasn’t even a complete human form, but something closer to a beast? It was a situation he couldn’t understand at all. He thought about removing the stones, digging up the dirt, and checking inside, but he stopped.
With that, they went back the way they came and slowly went up the stairs. While passing through the hallway, he couldn’t see a single person, let alone an ant. When they reached near the door where the wild dogs had poured out, he aimed his gun at it.
As he habitually tried to take the lead, Kim Ha-yoon pulled his shoulder and moved him back. However, he soon discovered something and let out a short sigh. He couldn’t see properly because he was blocked by Kim Ha-yoon’s torso, so he craned his neck to the side.
“What’s wrong?”
Ire frowned at the sight that unfolded before his eyes. An old man was lying on the floor, vomiting blood from his mouth. While he was on perimeter duty, Kim Ha-yoon approached him. He brought his hand to the tip of his nose and looked at Ire.
“He’s still breathing.”
He properly checked the old man’s condition. He was certain that he wasn’t infected. But why was he lying here? Was this old man the one who used his power that day? Was he injured because of it?
Then, at the sound of a presence, the two turned around. There, a child wearing shabby clothes was standing. The child’s eyes, peeking out from the door, were full of fear. Kim Ha-yoon passed Ire and strode towards the child. Inevitably, he ran away without looking back.
“Captain! Put down the ax! You’re scaring the kid!”
Ire shouted as he chased after him. The child, cornered, took out a small dagger that he was wearing on his waist. It was so rusty that he doubted it could even serve its purpose properly.
“Don’t come! Don’t come!”
Kim Ha-yoon chuckled at that.
“Brave, aren’t you? You’re like you when you were young.”
“We’ve never even met when we were young…”
Ire knelt down towards the child and held out his hand. “Come here.” The child still had wary eyes. He moved the gun he was carrying on his shoulder to the side and put it down, showing that he had no intention of attacking him.
“The old man outside, is he your grandfather?”
The child looked at Kim Ha-yoon with frightened eyes and slowly nodded. When he gestured for him to come closer, he hesitated before approaching. A terrible stench emanated from the child’s body, who he didn’t know when he had last washed.
“Don’t touch him. You’ll catch germs.”
After glaring at Kim Ha-yoon once at his words, he grabbed his hand. The small hand was chapped and torn, with no intact spots.
“Have you been living here all along?”
At Ire’s words, the child teared up and moved his lips.
“I lived here with my grandfather… but he suddenly collapsed. He also vomited blood…”
The child couldn’t finish his words and finally burst into tears. When he asked when that happened, he said it had been like that since morning. When he asked if the dogs that were here had gone somewhere, he said they had all run away.
He said that his grandfather collapsed and could no longer control them. The word ‘control’ didn’t make sense, but it didn’t seem like the child knew exactly about it either.
Ire looked up at Kim Ha-yoon. Before he could even ask if he could take him, Kim Ha-yoon gave a definite answer first.
“Do as you please. As long as you don’t bring someone to live with instead of me, I don’t care what you pick up.”
He had to express it like that. Kim Ha-yoon immediately contacted the unit. After asking for an ambulance and a doctor to be sent, he returned to the old man. His pulse was definitely beating, but the old man was unconscious.
Ire watched from the side, unable to hide his troubled heart. Where did the old man come from? Was the old man the one who used his power? Leaving behind unanswered questions, the support troops arrived, and the old man was carried away to the hospital on a stretcher.
\*
Kwon So-young sighed as she looked at the ruined Sterile Chamber. The equipment had exploded and was emitting smoke, and the surprised medical staff had run outside. Inside the Sterile Chamber, a child wearing a patient gown was crying with a terrified face.
They were in the process of attaching devices for a brainwave test, but suddenly the lights went out and the medical equipment malfunctioned. Soon after, Kim Ha-yoon appeared. Kim Ha-yoon seemed to have roughly grasped the situation upon seeing the scene before him.
“It wasn’t the old man, it was the child.”
“Yeah. I don’t know if I should say it’s fortunate or unfortunate.”
“The test?”
“I couldn’t even touch him. Our staff member was also injured and was taken away just now.”
“I’ll go in.” As Kim Ha-yoon tried to go inside, Kwon So-young grabbed his shoulder. “Stop. He’s in a sensitive state. You could get hurt too.” But Kim Ha-yoon went inside, not caring about her worries. He quietly looked at the child who was crying with his legs gathered on the bed before approaching him.
“Hello? Do you remember me? We met earlier.”
The child buried his face halfway in his knees and nodded.
“Why did you make it like this? Were you scared?”
This time too, the child only nodded.
“Do you want to see your grandfather?”
“Yes…”
“If you listen to us, we can let you meet your grandfather.”
The child’s head shot up. “Is my grandfather alive?” When he answered yes, he seemed slightly relieved. He thought that he resembled Ire in some way. Like the time when he had to be used without knowing anything to save his adoptive father.
After thinking for a while, Kim Ha-yoon reached out his hand.
“Shall we go see your grandfather now?”
While the child was hesitating, Kwon So-young came in.
“Don’t do that. There are still tests left.”
Kim Ha-yoon didn’t respond and gestured for the child to come. The child awkwardly crawled over and hugged Kim Ha-yoon. As he stood up while holding him, Kwon So-young slightly frowned.
“Are you going to act like this?”
“He said he wants to see his grandfather.”
“Since when have you been overflowing with love for humanity?”
“Didn’t you know? I’m originally a human full of love.”
Kwon So-young shook her head at Kim Ha-yoon’s brazen reply. “Okay, okay. Never mind. Let’s not talk about it.” But she also didn’t want to experiment on living humans anymore. She just wanted to know if there would be a difference between him and Ire through the child, and if she could help in any way. Of course, Kim Ha-yoon wouldn’t believe her even if she said these things.