-Vomiting, mild fever, thirst. No other symptoms yet.
After confirming the delivered message, Kim Ha-yoon straightened his uniform collar while looking in the mirror. Outside, everyone was busy preparing for the graduation ceremony, but his mind was elsewhere. In the midst of this, a knock came, and Kim Do-cheol appeared. He was also in uniform and had put more effort into his hair than usual.
Kim Do-cheol plopped down in a chair and took out a cigarette.
“You always look so good in uniform. You should have been a soldier.”
His words brought a chuckle. In other words, he wasn’t a soldier now. Kim Do-cheol still considered Kim Ha-yoon taking on this special unit as Young Master’s hobby. Of course, he couldn’t say he was entirely wrong.
“You look great too, hyung. If I were a woman, I’d fall for you at first sight.”
“Oh, really? Well, I do have a certain appeal, you know. Hahaha!”
After looking at Kim Do-cheol, who was spreading his shoulders and laughing heartily, with a pathetic gaze, he left the building. Behind the athletic field, families were entering one by one with bouquets and taking their seats, and in front, seats were prepared for the officers.
When Kim Ha-yoon appeared, the officers stood up all at once and showed their respects. It was insubordination to the extreme, with people of much higher rank than him acting subservient.
“Captain, you look even better than the last time I saw you.”
“Please, speak casually. It’s strange for a Colonel to use honorifics with me.”
“How can I do that? By the way, is Chairman in good health? I’m sorry I haven’t visited in a while.”
People asked about his father’s well-being from all directions. Kim Ha-yoon’s father was still respected by many, and therefore, people’s expectations of Kim Ha-yoon were bound to be high.
“He gets along well with Stepmother. If things go well, I might even see a younger sibling by the time I’m thirty.”
Everyone laughed at the joke. But if such a thing were to actually happen, everyone there knew that the child would never be born. They knew that Kim Ha-yoon was not one to share power. That he was a ruthless bastard who would even slit his own father’s throat to protect what he had.
The graduation ceremony began, and the trainees entered in order. Among the trainees in their mottled, frog-like camouflage uniforms, Ire was definitely eye-catching. An elderly officer next to him leaned slightly towards Kim Ha-yoon.
“That must be the kid. The friend you brought, Captain.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I heard he beat up Chairman Park’s son too?”
“Ah, is that so? He looks like a girl, but that’s unexpected.”
“There’s also a rumor that you didn’t bring him here to use as a soldier, but to put him in your bed, Captain, haha.”
The two old men, oblivious to the atmosphere, were bantering back and forth.
Kim Ha-yoon smiled and looked alternately at the two men sitting on either side of him.
“You two seem very interested in my affairs. Are you bored?”
“Haha, what are you saying? We’re just joking,”
“Should I make you busy?”
“……”
“I keep hearing strange rumors about military supply irregularities and such, should I turn everything inside out and shake it all out?”
“……”
“Stop spouting nonsense and smile brightly at the front. Unless you want your ugly face in the newspaper tomorrow.”
His mouth was smiling, but his voice was icy. The two Old men closed their mouths and stared straight ahead, their lips trembling. They might be cursing him inwardly for being a green young punk with no manners, but outwardly they tried their best to please Kim Ha-yoon.
Finally, the graduation ceremony began, and the training director reported on the achievements of the training and the status of the trainees. Next, the Commander distributed certificates of completion to the trainees and attached the unit emblem. Outstanding trainees were also given separate awards, and Park Mu-jin and Ire were selected.
Seeing him wearing a beret and saluting sharply, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted. He looked quite like a soldier. It was the opposite of the sloppy way he acted when it was just the two of them, which made it feel cute.
Next, Park Mu-jin came out as the representative and took the oath, and after that, the Commander’s congratulatory speech followed. While everyone’s attention was focused on the podium, Kim Ha-yoon’s gaze was solely on Ire.
“Hyung, congratulations!”
Luca, the youngest, held out a bouquet. Colorful paper scraps were scattered everywhere from the celebratory fireworks that had just been fired. Ire lowered himself to meet the child’s gaze and accepted the bouquet. “Thank you.”
When he hugged Luca, the other kids clung to him as well. Congratulations poured in from all directions. Then he met Matteo’s eyes, and his face looked more haggard than it had a few days ago.
“Are you sick?”
When he asked with a worried expression, he shook his head. He said it was nothing, that he just seemed to have indigestion from what he ate for lunch yesterday. Contrary to his words that he was okay, he looked listless. According to the plan, they would have gone to the restaurant in the city that Seo Young-jun had told them about and had a meal together, but seeing Matteo’s condition, he decided that it would be better to go home first.
“Congratulations.”
Then he heard a familiar voice from behind. He turned around and saw Kim Ha-yoon was there. He was wearing his uniform, unlike usual, and he was so captivating that it hurt his pride as a man.
Throughout the ceremony, his eyes kept meeting Kim Ha-yoon’s, and each time he didn’t know where to look, so he just rolled his eyes around. He didn’t know it at all.
Kim Ha-yoon tapped the unit emblem on his left chest with his fingertip and then straightened the beret that was askew because of the children. Anna, who had been watching, offered to take a picture, and Kim Ha-yoon naturally took his hand and pulled him closer.
Realizing that the attention of those around them was focused on them, he unconsciously shrank back. He could hear people whispering, and Matteo’s expression in front of him was hardening.
“Relax. I didn’t come to kidnap you.”
“Okay, I’m going to take it. Look here.” He focused his gaze on where he heard Anna’s voice. He tried to smile, but he was so nervous that the corners of his mouth trembled. Click, then Kim Ha-yoon put his arm around his shoulder, and the moment he turned his head in surprise, click, the picture was taken.
It was immediately printed, and Anna showed him a total of three photos. The first two were okay, but in the last photo, he was looking at Kim Ha-yoon with his mouth open like an idiot. As if he had fallen in love.
He was about to throw it away because he didn’t like it, but Kim Ha-yoon quickly snatched it away.
“I’ll take this one.”
“Take the one that came out well. This one.”
“I like this one.”
Then, after telling him to go home and get some rest, he said hello to Matteo and headed to the other side where the officers were gathered. The eyes of the people gathered around him were all on him. He didn’t know what had offended them, but he could hear them whispering openly.
“Is that the one who came to District B? Are those children all his siblings?”
“They’re orphans.”
“Oh, my goodness. How pitiful.”
“Pitiful? They’ve had a stroke of good luck overnight.”
“I don’t really like it. Accepting so many people like that. I can’t understand it at all.”
“Stop it. He’ll hear you.”
He sighed softly, and Anna told them to gather together to take a family photo. He held Luca in his arms and stood next to Matteo. Next to them, the children smiled brightly. Feeling sorry for Anna, who kept taking pictures, he asked her for the camera.
“I’ll take a picture for you.”
“Oh, I’m okay.”
“No, it’s okay. The kids are waiting too.”
Luca and John were making a fuss, telling her to come quickly. Anna went to stand next to Matteo with a shy expression. The two of them and the children came into view through the lens. Matteo was smiling, unusually, and the children were bursting with laughter.
I wasn’t wrong in my choice after all.
He pressed the button. As he lowered his head to check if the picture had been taken properly with a click, he heard a sharp scream from somewhere. When he stared straight ahead, an unbelievable sight unfolded.
“Run away! It’s an Infected!”
At someone’s shout, people screamed and ran away. Ire threw the camera he was holding and ran straight towards Matteo. Matteo was biting Anna’s neck and tearing off pieces of flesh, and the children were terrified and could only tremble, unable to do anything.
Anna was one step faster before he arrived. Despite being injured, she quickly subdued Matteo, and then the soldiers who ran up surrounded him. Matteo was writhing and screaming with his face pressed to the ground.
“He’s my family! Get out of the way!”
Then one of the soldiers blocked his way. It’s an order, step back. In the process of blocking him and binding him, he saw Kim Ha-yoon approaching from afar. Unlike him, who was unable to do anything with his mind turned blank, he was surprisingly calm.
As if he knew this was going to happen.