Dohyun secured the apartment's main door with a wedge of wood and moved a heavy sofa across the shattered frame, a temporary measure that offered little real safety but maximized the warning time. He had brought Soo-min to the same high-rise hotel room where Yoona had briefly stayed. It was clean, centralized, and offered a high-ground advantage.
Soo-min sat curled in the armchair, her face pale, the trauma of the assault—and the witnessing of murder—etched into her features. She looked at Dohyun like he was a coiled viper, her eyes wide, distrustful, and occasionally flashing with a desperate, unspoken plea for answers he couldn't give.
"You need to eat," Dohyun stated, dropping a foil-sealed MRE onto the bedside table. "And you need to sleep. The world has ended, but your body hasn't gotten the memo yet."
"Who are you?" Soo-min finally managed, her voice hoarse. "You killed that man... without blinking. You aren't... you aren't a student, Dohyun. What is this?"
Dohyun didn't meet her eyes. He couldn't risk revealing the truth, especially since she was now a necessary asset, not a friend. "I told you, I knew this was coming. I'm a survivor. You're a nurse. You're useful. If you want to live, you listen to me."
He spent the night ignoring her terrified gaze, pacing the room while running silent diagnostics on his System.
The Revenant's Analysis
He needed to understand the limitations of his power now that the apocalypse had begun and the store was active.
He accessed the System Status: Current XP: 200/2000. Current SC: 5. Level: 3. Core Stats: STR 13, AGI 13, END 11, PER 17.
The System's constant, clinical presence helped him maintain focus. He needed to find a quick, safe way to earn System Coins (SC) to buy the necessary Grade A Medkit (30 SC) from the store—a resource vital for keeping Soo-min patched up and effective.
He experimented with the System's interface, trying to quantify his moral impulse during the rescue.
"Moral Alignment Shift: Neutral. Host shows selective protective instinct for designated 'ally' without direct self-preservation trigger. Host's perception of asset value (Soo-min: Medic) outweighs immediate revenge drive (Min-ji)."
The System saw his "empathy" not as feeling, but as asset management. The chilling confirmation of his transformation was complete. He didn't hate all women anymore; he categorized them by utility and threat. Soo-min was valuable; Hyuk-jin's network was hostile.
He spent the rest of the hours studying the Tactical Map (Seoul) in his mind's eye. His immediate goal: Min-ji. She was the fuse for the entire revenge operation.
The Morning Attack
At dawn, a faint, sickly gray light filtered through the window. The sounds of distant chaos had been replaced by a silence punctuated by the occasional low, rasping moan.
"We move now," Dohyun ordered, holstering the Silent Pistol. "We're going to Min-ji's last known location. She's the key to finding the gang."
Soo-min, dressed in the freshest clothes she could salvage, looked apprehensive but followed. Her fear of staying alone outweighed her fear of the man holding the gun.
They moved quickly down the emergency staircase. Dohyun took the lead, his Perception 17 acting like radar, sweeping the landings. He listened to the grinding sounds that meant the infected were close.
They reached the third-floor landing. The emergency exit door to the alley below was slightly ajar—a dangerous exit.
Dohyun cautiously pushed the door open, confirming the alley was clear. "Move," he ordered.
Soo-min stepped out, still focused on Dohyun's back. But the silence had concealed a threat.
A lone Infected, a maintenance worker from the building, lurched out from behind a dumpster, having been alerted by the light. It was a fast, fresh one. Its ruined jaw hung open, and its milky eyes fixed instantly on Soo-min.
Soo-min shrieked—a raw, panicked sound—and froze. The Infected was on her in a flash, its clawed hand ripping at her shoulder.
Dohyun moved with the terrifying speed of his enhanced body. He didn't use the gun; the noise was too risky. His Agility 13 allowed him to spin and cover the distance in a single, blurring step.
He slammed his forearm into the Infected's chest, shoving it violently backward against the brick wall. The creature's head snapped back. Then, with the brutal, focused force of his Strength 13, Dohyun drove his knife—the reinforced hiking blade—up and under the creature's jaw, piercing its brain stem.
The zombie immediately went slack, collapsing into a silent, twitching heap at Soo-min's feet.
Soo-min was hyperventilating, her torn shoulder bleeding, her face inches from the thing's death spasms. Dohyun stood over her, his chest heaving, his eyes burning with controlled fury.
He pulled the knife free and cleaned it on the zombie's jacket.
"Zombie Class Entity Eliminated. +1 SC Awarded. +50 XP Awarded. Current SC: 6. Current XP: 250/2000."
He knelt beside her, checking her wound with professional detachment. "It's a scrape. No deep bite. You'll live. But you need to stay focused."
Soo-min didn't collapse. She didn't scream again. She looked down at the dead thing, then back up at Dohyun. The sheer, overwhelming reality of the zombie and her immediate, violent salvation finally broke through the walls of her fear.
"You... you saved me," she whispered, the acknowledgement quiet but profound. She still didn't trust the monster, but she finally understood that without him, she was meat. "My bag... my shoulder..."
"We go," Dohyun said, offering her a hand. This time, she took it. Her grip was firm. The acknowledgement was there—a shift from total fear to wary dependence.
The silence between them was different now. It was a silence of grim, shared purpose. They had survived their first attack together. The alliance, forged in violence and necessity, had begun.
What location should Dohyun check next? Should he immediately go for the next target on his list (Seo-yeon, the scout), or should he investigate the club card found on Hyuk-jin's thugs?