Chapter 33: When Humans Become More Dangerous

A heavy silence settled over the room.

The man kept patting the child’s back, and I deliberately avoided looking at the emptiness in his eyes.

In a world that had become like this, how many people were there who didn’t have their own tragic story?

“He pushed her…?”

Han Jun opened his mouth to ask about the details.

I grabbed his shoulder and shook my head.

We couldn’t possibly examine every person’s circumstances.

It was better not to know the details.

At my restraint, Han Jun closed his mouth with a dark expression.

I steadied myself and asked the man.

“Where is it?”

“Where?”

“The mart.”

“Don’t even think about going near there. Those people are inhuman. They even beat a seventy-year-old man with a club when he came begging for food.”

At those words, sparks flashed in Han Jun’s eyes.

He stared at the man as if glaring and spoke quietly.

“I asked where it is.”

The low voice scraped up from deep in his chest, and his fierce expression made the man swallow hard.

Already frightened, the man quickly revealed the location as if he had never tried to stop us.

“They’re called the Dogani Gang. They’ve taken control of the area near Garak Market!”

Dogani?

That’s a strange name.

Before leaving for Garak Market, we handed all the food we had brought from the car to the man and the child.

It was repayment for the information he gave us.

The snacks were placed directly in the child’s hands.

The moment she discovered the chocolate bar inside, her face lit up instantly.

“Wow! A chocolate bar!”

“If you laugh right after crying, horns grow on your butt.”

I joked while looking at her sparkling eyes, but she must have been starving.

All of her attention was fixed on the snack.

She didn’t even seem to have the energy to respond to me.

“No, you’re giving us all this…”

The man looked surprised, but he didn’t refuse.

He quickly gathered all the food.

Afraid we might change our minds, he even hurried to hide it behind the storage area.

With a child to feed, he probably couldn’t afford to worry about pride.

“Alright then, we’ll be going.”

The man seemed too busy hiding the food to properly see us off, so we left with only a brief goodbye.

At that moment, the man came to his senses and lifted his head.

“If you give us everything… what about you two?”

“We’ll be fine. We’ll get going now.”

“In this situation, where are you planning to go? It’s dangerous outside…”

“We’re thinking of going toward Garak Market.”

“What? But I told you the Dogani Gang is there—”

“Dogani, stone-heads, whatever they are. Anyway, we’re going!”

Just as we opened the door to leave, the man suddenly jumped up and grabbed my arm.

“Y-young men!”

I turned around.

The expression on the man’s face looked strange.

His eyes shifted nervously as he forced an awkward smile.

“Sh-should I come with you? It might be hard to find the way…”

For a moment, something about his expression felt off.

I gave an awkward smile and refused his uncomfortable kindness.

“No, you have a child with you. That sounds dangerous.”

I tried to twist my arm free, but the man tightened his grip even more.

He held on so tightly that my face stiffened from the pain.

“The child… I’ll leave her here. Let’s go together. I’ll guide you.”

No matter how much I shook my arm, he wouldn’t let go.

“Hey, wait.”

“Young men, let’s share and survive together, okay? Huh? Don’t you feel sorry for the kid?”

When I continued trying to push him away, his eyes widened and his true nature appeared.

We had already given him everything we had, but greed still dripped from him as if he wanted more.

He seemed convinced we still had more food.

His mouth hardened into a straight line, as if planning to follow us and take more by force.

His starving yellow eyes gleamed.

The man’s desperation was so uncomfortable that it made me instinctively step back.

Suddenly Han Jun’s hand slipped between us.

He grabbed the man’s wrist tightly.

“Let go while I’m still being nice.”

“….”

“Unless you want to get beaten in front of your kid.”

When the man still refused to let go, Han Jun forced his hand away.

Without showing the slightest mercy, he twisted the man’s wrist.

The man’s face twisted grotesquely as he cried out.

“Ugh—!”

His knees buckled as he was subdued instantly.

Even though we had already given everything we had, the man’s greed made me angry.

But when I saw the child behind him covering her mouth and staring with wide eyes, my anger faded and turned into bitterness.

“Jun, stop. Let’s go.”

I pulled on Han Jun’s shoulder as he restrained the man.

Without looking back, we left the storage room and I let out a heavy sigh.

“How many times has this happened already? Now we have to be careful of people too.”

At this point, meeting humans felt more frightening than meeting monsters.

Their desperation, pain, and weakness made my heart ache.

But their cruelty, greed, and selfishness also built a wall in my heart.

Once, on the way to the city, we encountered a man standing on the road.

His limbs were fine and he looked perfectly normal.

He claimed his car had broken down and he had been starving on the road for days, begging us to give him a ride.

Han Jun wanted to help him, but something about his story felt suspicious to me, so I suggested we just leave.

But Han Jun insisted and let the man into the car.

When we reached a rest stop and looked away for a moment, the man stole the car and tried to escape.

Fortunately, Han Jun noticed before he got far and lifted the car into the air, stopping him.

We were slowly realizing something.

Humans were becoming more dangerous than monsters.

“…Yeah.”

Since that incident, Han Jun had also become more cautious.

“Hyung, your arm. Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing.”

I shrugged as if it were no big deal, but Han Jun grabbed my arm with a doubtful expression.

“You’re so weak I can’t just leave you alone.”

“Hey. I could’ve gotten free myself. I was just being gentle because the kid was there.”

“I saw you panic when he grabbed you.”

What does this guy take me for?

Does he think I’m completely useless?

“That’s not true. I was letting him off easy.”

“Why let him off? If someone grabs you like that again, yell first.”

“Why would I yell? Am I a woman being harassed?”

I grumbled out of pointless pride, and Han Jun suddenly pulled my arm toward him.

When I blinked in surprise, he leaned close and whispered in a low warning voice.

“If anyone other than me touches you, you should yell. Got it?”

I grimaced and rubbed my ear where his breath had touched.

Goosebumps ran down my skin, so I quickly pushed him away and stepped back.

My face flushed as I moved three steps away.

Han Jun squinted his eyes and smiled.

“What weird thoughts are you having?”

I couldn’t look at him and turned my gaze elsewhere.

Seriously, what’s gotten into him lately?

Why does he keep twisting everything into something like that?

There’s no hope for him.

I kicked lightly at the ground while looking down.

“Hyung, don’t walk so far away. What if a monster appears?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I had moved away in disgust, but the moment he mentioned monsters, I quickly stuck close to him again.

Who cares about embarrassment?

Safety comes first.

We walked through an apartment complex toward Garak Market.

If we had the car, we could’ve arrived quickly, but walking took quite a while.

Wiiiiiiing—

Every hour, a loud warning siren echoed through the empty city.

Whenever the sound rang out, the ground trembled as if tens of thousands of people were running.

The monsters wandering around the city would lift their heads and rush toward the sound.

It seemed like unnecessary noise, but for people being chased by monsters, the siren could help a lot.

It distracted the monsters’ attention, even if only for a moment.

Since there were no residents visible in the apartments, everyone must have evacuated.

Even those who remained probably wouldn’t come outside.

“What if that psychic is incredibly strong?”

We had fought plenty of monsters, but we had never fought another psychic before.

The thought suddenly worried me.

We were marching there confidently thinking we’d teach them a lesson.

But what if the psychic controlling Garak Market was ridiculously strong?

Unlike me, who was full of worries, Han Jun didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping.

He didn’t seem worried at all.

“Jun better not get hurt…”

I muttered while following behind him when he suddenly stopped walking.

“What? Is something ahead?”

“You’re worried I might get hurt?”

“Of course I am.”

“I’ll be careful.”

The corner of Han Jun’s mouth lifted as he slowly wrapped his arm around my waist.

He suddenly seemed to be in a good mood.

I wanted to play along too, but—

“Ah! That tickles!”

My body is sensitive, so if someone touches my side like that, I twist around like a worm.

Han Jun frowned while watching me squirm.

“Maybe I should tie you up before touching you.”

He muttered something terrifying under his breath.

Even though we knew the electricity had been cut off, bright lights were spilling out when we reached Garak Market.

While the surroundings grew darker as evening approached, that place alone looked like a festival parade was happening.

“It’s bright.”

Seeing the brightly lit market made me feel strangely emotional.

It almost felt like the city had returned to normal.

Han Jun also looked around the market with curiosity.

When we passed under the large sign and entered inside, none of the shop owners were there, but every store had its lights on as if they were open for business.

“Isn’t this a waste of electricity?”

“Why is there power only here?”

“Maybe there’s an emergency generator?”

The surroundings were bright, but there wasn’t a single person around, which made it feel eerie.

It felt like we had walked onto the set of a horror movie.

Feeling slightly scared, I subtly moved closer to Han Jun.

“Why?”

“Isn’t it creepy? Feels like something might jump out.”

Han Jun stared at me for a moment, shrugged once, and left it at that.

“You’re such a coward.”

“I’m not. I’m not scared at all.”

“Then you can go to the bathroom alone from now on.”

“…Can’t you come with me?”

“How long do I have to go with you? It’s time you went by yourself.”

What’s so hard about that?

Honestly, he’s being kind of mean.