By Zephyria 
“Hurry!! Get in here, quick!!”
Mi-so, Jeffrey, Park Chun-beom, and Byeol stepped into the hallway in turn. Finally, the police officer and Eden desperately dashed in, shaking off the zombies chasing after them.
Only after everyone had safely entered the hallway did Ha-jin push the long-standing cart as if he had been waiting for it. Charrr— He pulled the cart with all his might, as if his wrist would break, blocking the entrance to the bathroom.
“Kuaaaaak!!”
The zombies chasing after them were pushed back by the cart, and one Aberrant, stepping on top of them, charged in a ridiculous manner. Even in the midst of all this, he looked familiar. It was the bald man whom Ha-jin had previously tied up tightly with ropes.
It seemed he had forcibly torn off the ropes, as the bald man’s wrists and ankles were each cut off. He staggered with a fierce momentum and jumped onto the cart.
Just before being attacked by the zombie, Ha-jin turned around and dashed into the women’s restroom on the right.
“Kyaaak!!”
As he entered through the open door, someone strongly pulled his waist. At the same time, the opaque glass door slammed shut! Tinnitus rang in his ears along with the noise.
“……!”
Ha-jin’s heart pounded. The breath that had pooled into his lungs wouldn’t come out. He seemed to be hyperventilating due to extreme tension. His vision was blurry like fog. In his daze, he saw Eden, who had trapped his body between the wall.
Thump! Thump! A rough vibration was felt from the door right behind his back. The bald man was slamming his whole body against the door as if he would break it down.
“Huk, hic…!”
Eden keenly scanned Ha-jin with sharp eyes. Immediately noticing the sense of unease, he covered Ha-jin’s mouth and nose with his right hand.
“Mmph!!”
“Do Ha-jin, look at me.”
It was painful. Ha-jin instinctively scratched fiercely at Eden’s arm, which was blocking his breathing holes. He felt like he would suffocate at any moment.
Eden, unconcerned, stood firm like an old tree, mercilessly crushing Ha-jin’s red lips and round nostrils. Yet, when Ha-jin continued to thrash his legs, he bound him with his whole body this time.
“Hold your breath for a moment, like you’re diving.”
“Kkeueup….”
“Don’t force yourself to inhale, just stop breathing as you are. For just 3 seconds.”
Two tearful eyes, filled with anguish, looked up at Eden. Jeong Tae-geon was staring straight into his trembling pupils, as if telling him to trust him.
To calm Ha-jin, who was constantly heaving his chest, Eden held his breath with him. The body, which had been stiff and frozen in panic, began to slump. 3, 2, 1…. Only after exactly the promised 3 seconds had passed was the palm, which had covered half of his small face, removed.
“Fuh-haaaa…!”
Ha-jin, who had forcefully exhaled the breath he had been holding, gasped like a child who had just learned how to breathe. Eden grabbed the other’s shoulders, which were automatically drooping, and brought his face close to check his condition.
“Exhale and inhale. Keep going without stopping.”
As he tapped his shoulders to the rhythm, Ha-jin naturally followed suit and regulated his breathing.
“Hiss, ha… Hiss, ha….”
Eden kept a close watch on Ha-jin’s condition until the end. Then, after confirming that the tension had been relieved, he removed his firmly blocking body without hesitation.
Ha-jin’s legs gave way, and he slid down as he was. He covered his face, which was breaking out in a cold sweat, with both hands, kneeling.
Only after his breathing returned to normal did Ha-jin open his closed eyes. The rough movements of the bald zombie, who had been charging as if he would break down the bathroom door at any moment, had already stopped.
“Ugh, jeez….”
He saw several pairs of eyes rolling around in his vision. The people surrounding him in a circle were huddling together, looking down at him with worried faces. It was like a group of dogs out for a walk looking over their fallen owner.
Ha-jin bit his lip tightly, afraid that a futile laugh would escape.
Eden was leaning against the wall under the long, rectangular window, watching Ha-jin. As if erasing the sensation of the soft lips and hot breath that had been held in his palm, he quietly clenched and unclenched his right hand.
Then, he found himself dwelling on Ha-jin’s pupils, which had been losing their color as he suffocated. Eyes of a mysterious color, like charcoal frozen in frost. For some reason, his lower body felt strangely tight.
“Ha-jin, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Starting with Park Chun-beom’s whisper, everyone chimed in one by one.
“Ha-jin! Thanks to help, no death!”
“Ha-jinnie Samchon, were you scared? It’s okay now. Byeol will protect you.”
“I’m relieved. We survived thanks to you.”
Even Lee Chang-yeol joined in to check on Ha-jin. Ha-jin, who had finally regained his breath, grabbed his dizzy head and slowly rose from his seat. He felt extremely exhausted after using up all his energy.
Even in the midst of all this, endless screams were coming from beyond the door.
“It hurts!!! It hurrrts—!”
When someone cried like a child in the voice of a robust adult man, Ha-jin’s spine tensed up again.
Everyone was on edge, keeping a close watch on the situation outside. The sight of empty shelves collapsing like dominoes from the sound alone was vividly replaying in their minds.
Even Lee Chang-yeol, who had always been confident, had a blank look on his face. Mi-so covered Byeol’s ears and pulled him into her arms, and Jeffrey repeatedly twisted and untwisted his innocent hair.
Ha-jin went to the sink and turned on the water. He carefully washed his dirty hands in the water that trickled out like ant urine and wiped his sweat-soaked face. When he roughly swept his wet bangs back behind his head, his round, handsome forehead was brightly revealed.
Beyond the mirror, Ha-jin’s gaze reached Eden’s hand. That damn hand, where everything from the radius to the metacarpal bones, and even the blue blood vessels bulging inside the white skin, was his ideal itself, was the very hand that had firmly blocked his breathing holes earlier.
When the sensation of the surprisingly soft skin of his palm came to mind, Ha-jin was inwardly dumbfounded. To think he had the leisure to have such impressions even while he was suffocating.
This time, it was the perfect timing to repay the price of his life at the hardware store and the insult of the ‘newborn giraffe cub’… It was an unexpected situation that hyperventilation would come before he could even show off that he had saved them.
‘Still, I lived.’
Whatever the case, everyone had safely survived. That was all that mattered. Ha-jin tried hard to calm his mind, which was in a state of excitement in many ways.
About 30 minutes passed. The groans that had been tearing and splitting their eardrums from beyond the door were no longer heard. Instead, the bizarre Disarticulation sounds of chewing on human flesh and bones continued.
Crunch, crunch…. Crackle….
The relief of having survived and the sorrow of witnessing people’s deaths were both confusingly consuming everyone’s insides. The exhausted people each took their places on the three-compartment toilet seats, the floor, and the sink. There was not even an awareness that it was dirty.
“The window is quite narrow, but if you can dismember your body well, there will be no problem getting out.”
Eden’s low whisper echoed in the bathroom. He was leaning against the window wall with one knee bent.
Ha-jin looked over the window that was touching the ceiling. It was a structure that would be difficult to escape from without a foothold. If he were to escape as the last one, it seemed like he would suffer a great deal.
Mi-so asked Eden.
“Are there still a lot of zombies gathered outside?”
“Yes, it will be difficult to go out right away.”
“Haa… I’m really drained since this morning.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Mi-so’s grumbling.
“Unni, you know, I’ve needed to pee for a while now.”
Byeol, who had been watching their faces, whispered softly to Mi-so. Mi-so, who belatedly remembered Byeol’s condition, held the child in her arms and carefully entered the toilet stall, locking the door.
“By the way, I didn’t even know this was a bathroom. It’s blocked by a wall. Ha-jin’s quick thinking is really good.”
Park Chun-beom, who was sitting under the sink, raised his thumb up. Ha-jin awkwardly shook his head.
In fact, Ha-jin’s observational skills were close to an occupational disease. Even if he didn’t try to look, his eyes would first grasp the characteristics of the space, objects, and people. In any case, it was fortunate if it was an ability that helped him survive.
At that moment, Eden asked in a rather serious voice.
“Do Ha-jin, your breathing was very unstable earlier, does that happen often?”
There was no sign of teasing or reproach as usual. He was frowning and looking at Ha-jin’s face as if he were trying to gauge it.
“No. It’s almost the first time.”
It had been a whole 8 years. Since he had first experienced hyperventilation at the magic gala show he had participated in as a guest in the past.
Ha-jin never wanted to remember that moment when the surging breath was consuming him. If it hadn’t been for Eden’s help, he would have collapsed in a disgraceful manner.
“Almost the first time?”
Eden frowned as if he was puzzled by the ambiguous answer.
“Anyway, thank you for earlier. Did you wash your hands? Haha. There must have been a lot of saliva on them.”
He tried to mix in a joke to change the subject, but Eden didn’t laugh. Ha-jin stubbornly twisted the corners of his lips and hung them on his ears without any embarrassment.
“Kkeueueuk… Grrrreureureuk….”
The groaning of the zombies continued endlessly beyond the closed door. While everyone was resting, Eden used his tall height to check the situation beyond the window. The figures of the zombies that had come out to hunt were already far away.
At that moment, Ha-jin blocked his nose tightly. An unidentifiable smell that sharply stimulated his sense of smell was subtly spreading through the air.
“A smell… Where’s that burning smell coming from….”
“Huh?”
At the same time, Lee Chang-yeol also quickly covered the bridge of his nose with the back of his hand and lay flat on the floor. He looked at the situation outside through the crack in the door and shouted urgently.
“Smoke, it’s smoke! I think there’s a fire!”