Chapter 9
At first, I was certain they were one of those strange people.
But I soon noticed that their steps were steady.
Is it okay for them to just walk around in the open like that?
The moment a sudden worry arose, a young man wearing a college jacket appeared from the end of the road.
He was dragging one leg as he walked, then stopped briefly upon discovering the two men.
Soon, the young man picked up speed and lunged toward the two.
Since the men were looking in a different direction, I hurriedly opened the window to shout for them to get away.
Then, the slender one among the men in black turned his body toward the direction the young man was approaching.
The explosive sound that had woken us rang out through the street once more—bang!
Blood erupted from the head of the man who had lunged at the two.
Then, the man who had stopped moving collapsed weakly, his head hitting the asphalt floor hard.
And he did not get up again.
The slender man, who had been watching the man for a while, lowered his raised arm.
Even from this distance, I could tell the identity of the black metal in his hand.
A handgun.
I froze with the window wide open at that unbelievable sight.
Tangled thoughts raced through my head.
What on earth did those people just do?
Who is more dangerous: a lunatic roaming Gangnam shooting people dead, or a madman biting people?
Could we get help from them?
I hesitated whether to hide below the window or call out to them.
And at that moment, I made eye contact with the slender man who was looking around.
He stopped dead and stared blankly at me.
After watching me as if observing for a moment, the man slowly raised the hand he had lowered.
Before that muzzle could fully aim at me, Ha Yun-seo rushed toward the window and shouted while waving her hands desperately.
“Help us! We’re trapped in here!”
Startled, Manager Kim rushed over and pulled her arm.
“Are you crazy?”
Ha Yun-seo, despite her flustered expression, was led by Manager Kim to the inner part of the hair salon.
Once she disappeared from the window, the man lowered the hand he had seemingly raised to respond to Ha Yun-seo and scratched his head.
Since the distance was far, his expression wasn't visible, but awkwardness seeped through his movements.
The man shrugged his shoulders while looking at me, who remained at the window.
It was a relaxed movement, inappropriate for the situation.
A playful attitude detached from the corpse lying in the middle of the road.
I felt a sudden chill and backed away from the window.
“What’s wrong? There are normal people out there. What’s more, they even have guns. Aren’t they police or soldiers?”
Ha Yun-seo argued with Manager Kim, looking up with wide eyes.
Manager Kim glanced out the window and asked with a stiff face.
“Did you see what they were wearing?”
Ha Yun-seo tilted her head slightly as if retracing her memory and replied.
“...Wasn’t it just a plain black tee?”
“Exactly. What kind of police or soldiers roam around in that kind of attire? Especially in this situation! If they came to save people, they would have come properly dressed!”
At Manager Kim’s words, Ha Yun-seo’s eyes went wide as if in surprise, and she stammered in protest.
“...B-But what about the guns? Where in our country are there civilians with guns?”
“What if they’re lunatics who came out now after hiding something like homemade guns?”
At Manager Kim’s words, everyone stepped back a few more paces from the window.
Indeed, the man's attitude was too lighthearted for him to be military or police who came to rescue people.
“...Then what do we do now?”
Lee Jeong-suk asked anxiously while wrapping her arms around her own forearms.
I replied while looking at the window where only the clear sky could be seen.
“I think we have no choice but to wait for them to just pass by.”
As it was still early morning, a cool breeze blew in through the open window. Even though a main road was right nearby, the sound of cars passing could not be heard at all.
It was a terrible silence, unbefitting of one of the most densely populated areas in Seoul.
In the end, a time of anxious waiting followed, just like when we were trapped in the conference room.
Everyone bit their lips while staring only at their phone screens, which had no signal.
I didn't look at my phone; instead, I stared into space and reflected on the events of yesterday.
After sleeping, the situation felt a bit clearer—though a feeling like I was still dreaming remained, perhaps because the situation was so excessively unrealistic.
“...Young man don’t you have anyone to contact?”
I turned my head at the cautiously asking voice.
Lee Jeong-suk was staring intently at me. She also held nothing in her hands, since her old phone, connected to a charger, was sitting on the counter.
I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.
“The signal isn't working anyway.”
“Still...”
The moment Lee Jeong-suk was about to continue her words, a loud gunshot rang out nearby.
kept my mouth shut and exchanged anxious glances with the others as the sound of footsteps approached the door.
Soon, the figure of a man suddenly appeared outside the transparent glass door. It was the slender man I had made eye contact with through the window earlier.
The man, wearing a black t-shirt and black cargo pants, smiled broadly and waved his hand upon seeing us. Beneath his short hair, his pleasant-looking eyes crinkled into crescents.
The man offered a greeting with a beaming smile.
“Hello!”
He spoke as he tapped on the glass door with his knuckles.
“Could you open this? Outside is...”
Before he could finish his sentence, a loud bang echoed through the hallway. The man, whose words had been cut off by the gunshot, continued with a still-smiling face.
“...Because there are quite a few distractions outside.”
I lowered my gaze and looked at the handgun hanging at the man's waist.
“I think it would be better to open it.”
I turned my back to the man and spoke in a low voice so that he couldn't hear from outside.
At my words, Manager Kim's eyes widened in surprise and he whispered.
“What? What if he's a really strange guy?”
“It's a glass door anyway; how are we supposed to stop someone with a gun? It's better to just open it than to have the door break and people swarm in.”
Manager Kim made a dissatisfied expression but nodded as if he had no choice.
I cautiously approached the door and unlocked the latch.
The others retreated almost to the very end of the hair salon, watching the man outside the door with wary eyes.
As the lock was released, the man quickly entered the hair salon.
He glanced at the people far away and playfully made a crying face as if he were feigning hurt. And soon he poked his head out toward the hallway and shouted, looking somewhere.
“The door is open! There are a total of six people.”
As if in response to those words, a man with a massive build appeared behind him.
I hadn't noticed when seeing him from a distance, but the man's companion was nearly two meters tall and had an imposing impression. Overall, his bold-featured face looked sharp.
He, too, was wearing black clothes from top to bottom, just like the man who had just entered.
I suddenly realized that the two men's attire resembled the corpse that would be lying in the office right now.
Short hair and black clothes. And the gun at the waist.
Only after scanning the two men's attire did the gun in my bag come to mind.
While I was looking at the backpack leaning against the bottom of the sofa, I somehow felt a prickling gaze.
When I turned my head, the man who had entered later was staring intently at me with an unreadable face.
The tall man approached right up to my nose in just a couple of steps. Even though the light was coming from the opposite direction, I somehow felt as if a long shadow was being cast over me.
He reached out and gripped my forearm firmly. It was a grip strength that felt as if my bones might be crushed.
Just as I was flustered by the sudden pain, a chilly voice was heard.
“Were you bitten?”
Only then did the wound on the back of the hand of the arm he had raised come into my sight.
“Ah.”
Thanks to having wiped away all the blood from my hands last night, the clearly revealed wound looked even more gruesome.
Transparent discharge was pooling over the wound where the skin had been deeply scraped off.
“Were you bitten?”
The question followed in a calm voice. However, the other hand of the man gripping my arm was already hovering near the handgun at his waist.
At that moment, the image of the young man who had taken a gunshot to the head and collapsed helplessly to the floor came to mind.
I gulped and answered calmly while staring intently into the man's eyes.
“...No. It's a scratch.”
“Are you sure?”
The man pulled out a thin penlight from his pants pocket. Then, without warning, he shone the light into my eyes.
Startled by the sudden light, I instinctively turned my head. However, the man let go of the arm he was holding and instantly gripped my jaw, fixing my face in place.
“What do you think you're doing?”
I asked out of sheer bewilderment, but no answer came.
Tears welled up naturally from the light so strong it made my eyes sting.
The man stared intently into my eyes, unconcerned by my reaction, and only after quite a while did he let go of my jaw and give a slight nod.
“My apologies.”
He didn't have the expression of someone apologizing at all.
I rubbed my throbbing jaw, which felt as if it had been caught in an industrial vise, while staring blankly at that expressionless face.
Just then, the other man, who had returned after locking the door, asked while rustling and eating a customer candy he’d picked up from the counter.
“Is he okay?”
“Body temperature is normal, and pupil response is normal,” the tall man replied bluntly.
The slender man nodded at those words and then lightly asked while looking around at us.
“There’s no one else with injuries, right?”
“...Why did you check if he was bitten?”
Kang Ye-ra, standing with her arms crossed, asked while looking at the two with a wary expression.
The slender man stared blankly at Kang Ye-ra and then replied with a thin smile.
“If no one has been bitten, I don't think you need to know.”