By Zephyria 
Watching his focused profile, Eden cautiously pulled back the curtain to assess the situation outside. The desperate screams of people begging to be saved had abruptly ceased, as if a lie.
“Krrr… Kkeudeuk, Kkadeudeuk….”
Like an animal devouring flesh from bones after a hunt, primal noises echoed from everywhere. The distance was about 15 meters. The sewer stairs Do Ha-jin had mentioned were closer than expected, and two zombies with twisted necks were wandering nearby. The stairwell door was wide open. Now was the perfect time to move.
Eden turned his head and gestured to the others. Ha-jin picked up the child, who had stopped crying. Park Chun-beom and Jeffrey lined up behind him in succession.
Without further signal, the curtain was pulled back. Eden sprinted forward without hesitation. Startled, Ha-jin quickly followed, and the other men hurried after them.
“Kyaak―!”
Eden, running ahead, plunged a knife into the eye of a zombie right in front of the stairwell entrance. Skillfully twisting the handle, he thrust the knife upward. The blade pierced the soft eyeball, shattered the sphenoid bone, and plunged into the brain. The zombie with the pierced brain fell backward.
The zombies on the stage, alerted by the sudden commotion, began to rush toward them in a horde. Gugugugugung! The stage floor shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Ha-jin ran, not looking back. His hands, holding the child, tightened. His shoulder began to feel damp. The child was crying silently.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Ha-jin soothed the child while simultaneously chanting to himself. Thanks to the man who was leading the way, clearing a path, he was able to jump down the stairs without difficulty. The man occasionally looked back to check on Ha-jin and the child.
“Turn left!”
Ha-jin shouted, and the man quickly changed direction.
“Keep going straight! To the third steel door!”
A zombie was rushing toward them from the opposite side at a terrifying speed.
Horrified, Ha-jin hesitated for a moment. Eden thrust his arm forward, tightly bound with rope. The zombie, running with its entrails dragging from its devoured abdomen, opened its mouth wide. Eden shoved his rope-bound arm into the zombie’s mouth and raised his knife.
Pook! The well-honed blade pierced the zombie’s forehead. Before the zombie could fall, Eden pushed its chest, knocking it to the ground, and forcefully pulled the knife from its skull.
Eden ran forward again. Ha-jin stepped on the chest of the zombie lying on the ground and involuntarily screamed.
“Eueueueak!”
It was a sensation he never wanted to experience again. Monster or zombie, what he had just stepped on was no different from a corpse with a burst abdomen. The mental shock was immense.
Lost in his thoughts, the warehouse door was now close. Ha-jin turned back to check on the others. It seemed Jeffrey had dragged a zombie in while closing the stairwell door and was frantically swinging a hammer.
“Here! Over here!”
The goal was just ahead. If things continued this way, everyone could safely move to the warehouse without anyone getting hurt. Suddenly, the floor rumbled as if an earthquake had struck. It was the same situation as on the stage earlier. Ha-jin, with wide eyes, looked ahead.
“What the fuck….”
Eden spat out a curse. A massive number of zombies were swarming toward them from the opposite side, jostling and pushing each other. It was then that Eden reached the warehouse and twisted the round handle.
Click.
Click, click.
Ha-jin, in panic, and Eden, in fury, locked eyes.
The door… wouldn’t open.
“Kyaaaaaa―!!”
The horde of zombies was getting closer.
“Fucking open the door!!”
While Eden slammed his shoulder against the door as if to break it down, Jeffrey and Park Chun-beom grabbed and shook the handles of the nearby steel doors in vain. None of the tightly closed storage rooms would open.
Ha-jin put the child down and pushed Eden aside, desperately pounding on the warehouse door.
“Hello! Is anyone in there?!”
“What a fucking mess…!”
“Who’s inside, Mi-so? It’s Do Ha-jin! It’s Ha-jin!!”
He pleaded, striking the door until his fists turned red.
“Please, open the door―!!”
Suddenly, the firmly closed steel door burst open. Kung! Ha-jin, hitting his head on the steel door, stumbled backward. In the meantime, Jeffrey, Park Chun-beom, and Jeong Byeol quickly disappeared into the warehouse.
“Do Ha-jin! Hurry!!”
A hand reached out from inside the warehouse. Ha-jin was pulled into the warehouse as if being sucked in, followed by Eden.
“Kyaaaaak―!”
Kung! The door closed just in time. Kwagwang! A series of deafening sounds, like explosions, followed. The horde of zombies that had failed to enter were slamming their bodies against the warehouse door.
Ha-jin, sprawled on the dusty floor, coughed. Lifting his head, he saw a familiar back. Mi-so, with her hair tied up, was locking the warehouse door.
Kung! Kuung! The fierce attacks continued, as if the steel door would be torn off at any moment.
“Heoeok, heoeok… Haa….”
His heart was beating abnormally fast, throbbing so hard that his temples ached. Before long, the movements of the zombies pounding on the steel door subsided. Krrueueueu…. With a strange howl that sounded like scratching the throat, the commotion ceased.
Except for the sound of breathing, no one dared to speak. The space was engulfed in an eerie silence.
Ha-jin, his body completely drained of tension, lay down on the floor. His breathing did not subside easily. His chest heaved up and down. His head was so hot that his vision was completely white even with his eyes open.
“Heueuk, heup… Uncle….”
Then, the child’s cry echoed through the silent warehouse. As if it were a signal, something slammed into the steel door from outside. The startled child swallowed his breath and covered his mouth. Clearly, the monsters were reacting sensitively to sound.
“Fuck, the door….”
Eden cursed, seemingly dumbfounded by the situation they had narrowly escaped. Ha-jin, rubbing his aching chest, looked up at the man standing next to him. He was nervously wiping the blood splatters from his cheek.
“…Excuse me,”
Ha-jin opened his mouth as if possessed, addressing the man.
“Why do you use the knife… so….”
Eden frowned, looking down at Ha-jin, who was mumbling something to him. The magician’s face was completely drained. He seemed too dazed to even know what he was saying.
“Using it on people is so… natural for you….”
“People?”
Eden, with his hands on his hips, scowled.
“Do you see those things as people?”
Whether it was a defense mechanism triggered by the surreal situation, or simply his natural disposition, the man’s response was as sharp as the blade he had been wielding earlier. His attitude was rather cold for someone who had risked his life to get here together.
Meanwhile, Mi-so, exhausted, slumped down next to Ha-jin. After rubbing her face roughly, she buried her face in Ha-jin’s chest. She was desperately holding back the tears that were about to burst out.
“Do Ha-jin, shee… haa, I thought you were hurt too, I really….”
Listening quietly to Mi-so’s suppressed voice, Ha-jin lifted his dazed eyes. …You too? Ha-jin, with a questioning look, slowly sat up. Taking off his jacket, which was disgustingly covered in blood and dirt, he took another breath.
“What about Jin-woo?”
At his question, Mi-so sniffed and shook her head.
“…I don’t know. Just… the radio message to escape was the last thing.”
“…….”
“He probably just got hurt.”
Mi-so was the one who had clearly witnessed the scene of those who were bitten and injured quickly turning into monsters while fleeing here. But she couldn’t say that Instructor Jin-woo was dead, or that he had become a monster. She felt like she shouldn’t.
“…….”
A brief silence passed. Ha-jin, pressing his throbbing temples, finally dropped his head to the floor. Ha-jin also couldn’t bring himself to say that he was relieved that at least Mi-so was safe. The face of the instructor, who had pushed him into the transparent carriage and smiled brightly, telling him to cheer up, flickered before his eyes.
Because he still couldn’t believe everything that had happened in such a short time, Ha-jin had to clench his trembling hands tightly.
“What about the security guards? There were guards stationed all over the concert hall.”
Squeezing out his voice, he asked, and Mi-so’s face darkened rapidly. Biting her lower lip, she shook her head.
“You must have seen it on your way here. Those monster bastards… even the police couldn’t kill them.”