The man with trembling hands and eyes filled with resentment killed the men surrounding the hospital director. The director himself did not escape unharmed.
Stab wounds covering his body, the hospital director bled profusely as he begged.
“Urk... s-save me... save....”
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you live.”
The eyes of a father who had lost his child were dyed with vengeance. He crushed the director’s phone lying on the floor beneath his foot with a crack.
Then, gasping for breath, he barely managed to speak.
“And stay here... until your last breath.... Die while hoping someone will come save you...! Just like my Soyeong...!!”
He no longer swung the knife.
Instead, he left the director alone on the rooftop helipad and shut the door.
Clang.
Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle.
The loud sound of chains being wrapped around the door echoed.
The camera caught the hospital director’s pathetic back.
Then a close-up of the back of his neck.
The skin color of the untouched areas was beginning to change.
* * *
“Doctor, our Jihwa has the final round of the national team selection next month. I don’t care if it’s injections or anything else, can’t you just get rid of the pain for now so she can shoot? She absolutely can’t miss this opportunity....”
Someone was consulting with a doctor.
Sitting before a heavy nameplate, the doctor groaned quietly in distress.
“You know too, doctor. She’s a prodigy, a prodigy! The youngest national team member....”
On the TV screen beside him was an X-ray that appeared to belong to On Jihwa.
Sitting expressionlessly beside her mother, On Jihwa didn’t seem particularly desperate.
“Guardian, if she gets injections and forcibly pulls the bowstring now, forget the national team—her career itself will be over. Look at the screen. The supraspinatus tendon is already torn this much. If she forces herself to shoot in this condition...”
“Then what are we supposed to do?! Please!”
The doctor looked at On Jihwa once, then at her mother, and let out a deep sigh.
“Starting today, rehabilitation is mandatory. For the next two weeks, we’ll combine anti-inflammatory physical therapy and shockwave treatment while keeping the shoulder completely immobilized. Then, if the pain subsides, we’ll connect her with our sports rehabilitation center and strengthen the smaller muscles around the rotator cuff. After checking her condition, we’ll put together a tight, customized rehabilitation schedule. Jihwa, you want to shoot again, right? Then trust your doctor and devote this entire month to rehab. Okay?”
“...”
“I watched you during the Olympics, so I know. Even if you’re tired and exhausted, you’ll be able to get through rehab.”
On Jihwa nodded.
“Wait here. Mom’s going to pay and make the next appointment. Okay?”
The sight of On Jihwa sitting alone was calm.
-Injured national archery team member? Her character is already insanely good
-Why is her sitting posture so perfectly that of a laid-back type lololololol T_T
-This sturdy vibe from Han Yeoreum is so unfamiliar
-T_T Jihwa kinda has low self-esteem I think...
-Han Yeoreum is the main character???
Han Yeoreum’s natural acting caused comments to flood the thread.
Viewers’ concentration had already been heightened by the earlier shocking scenes, and then Han Yeoreum appeared as a realistic athlete.
It was a clever arrangement that naturally immersed people in the world.
“She played her differently from our Seohae too. Ooh.”
“Right. Basically, she’s the type who digs deeply into her roles.”
Director Park Jaeyoung, watching 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 while drinking beer, found himself admiring her again.
Unlike the other actors, Han Yeoreum didn’t have many lines, which made expressing herself much more difficult.
An actor can convey a lot just by standing.
Someone standing crooked with folded arms.
Someone nervously checking their watch.
Someone constantly brushing back their hair or twisting their body.
Who am I?
Approaching viewers through primary visual information was the very foundation of acting.
Han Yeoreum executed those fundamentals better than anyone.
She felt entirely different from Lee Seohae, whose character also spoke little and moved little.
She had clearly separated the two personalities that could easily have felt similar.
Even her ingrained mannerisms felt like those of an athlete.
“Um... aren’t you athlete On Jihwa? The archer?”
“Ah... yes.”
Someone visiting the hospital recognized her.
Han Yeoreum’s voice was slightly lower than usual.
It gave the impression that she kept an appropriate distance from others.
“Wow, I’m really a fan! I cheered for you so much during the Olympics.”
“Thank you.”
“But what brings you here... ah, treatment, of course. Oh, is that a bow case? You must be almost fully recovered.”
Seeing the hard case beside On Jihwa, the woman clapped happily.
On Jihwa gave no answer.
“Could I take just one picture with you? You’re way cuter in person.”
“...Sure.”
Jihwa calmly took the picture with the fan.
“Stay strong! Fighting!”
Again, she didn’t reply.
* * *
Left alone on the rooftop, the hospital director painfully swung his arms.
But he couldn’t contact anyone without a phone.
“Cough....”
Blood streamed down his forehead, and his abdominal wounds were severe.
Then—
-???
-Huh
-Holy shit what
-AAAAAAAAH
-The fate of those who did not make use of domestic stem cells...
Something wriggled.
Her limbs gradually stiffened.
As though she was turning into something else.
* * *
Thunk.
The movements of the man parking his motorcycle were natural.
Lowering the kickstand and grabbing the phone mounted on the holder, the delivery driver took several bags from the box.
“Ah, fuck. It’s so damn hot.”
From far away came someone shouting that he couldn’t park there.
“Oh, then why don’t you deliver this yourself, mister!!! Last time you said not to park by the entrance but here, now you’re saying something different! Mister!!! What do you want me to do, huh?! Me?!!!”
-??? Those lines coming out of Myeong Jeha’s mouth?
-Even the way he walks looks like an actual delivery guy LMAO
-Take off the helmet
-No but... is Myeong Jeha really playing some deadbeat youth right now?
The thread exploded with Myeong Jeha’s appearance.
The style of dialogue was something he had never attempted before, so it should have felt strange.
But it was so natural that everyone was stunned.
“They complain every damn day. I did exactly what they told me.”
Muttering to himself, he ran off carrying the bags, looking like some street thug.
His red sukajan jacket was overflowing with flashy swagger.
It was almost impressive that he still wore a helmet despite all his delinquent behavior.
-lmao Myeong Jeha saying those lines with that face
-Is that why they put him in a helmet
-Why’s he so good at that cheap macho delivery-guy voice T_T
-Show us his face
“Okaaay, let’s seeee.”
Myeong Jeha pushed his goggles up to read the customer request written on the bag.
After quickly checking where to leave it, he entered the hospital.
* * *
“Grrk... khk... cough....”
The skin color of the hospital director lying beside the helicopter changed.
Not merely pale from blood loss.
It was a bizarre color that didn’t seem human.
The director, vomiting blood with guttural noises, stopped moving.
-Oh
-Is he dead?
- TT_TT
-Guess he died
Sinister music.
Music that implied something was about to change.
The blood soaking the helipad floor reached the helicopter.
And at the same time—
“Khk... grrk...”
The director’s joints bent in grotesque directions.
* * *
Do Gyeoul appeared crossing the center of the lobby.
Without explanation, anyone could tell she was a rookie nurse.
Barely any makeup, faint eyebrows.
With a troubled expression, she nervously reported,
“Senior, about early this morning...”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t have to tell me.”
“...I’m sorry.”
The senior nurse walked quickly with an irritable, businesslike pace.
Do Gyeoul almost ran to keep up behind her.
The senior nurse widened her stride to the point it looked like she was jogging.
It showed she’d spent years in a hospital where everyone constantly had to move urgently.
“When the patient in Room 502 had their BP drop at three in the morning, did you increase the norepinephrine according to the guidelines?”
“Ah... the patient’s SPO2 was unstable... and I was busy checking the Optiflow, so I didn’t document it properly. I’m sorry....”
-Wow, who’s that?
-Looks like they hired an actual nurse lmao
-Seriously feels like I’ve met someone like that in a hospital before
Aetami once again found herself amazed by the acting of the 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 cast.
Not just Han Yeoreum—even the passing actors were flawless.
“They’re walking that fast and still enunciating perfectly.”
Do Gyeoul and the nurse beside her quickly went up the stairs.
* * *
“Grrrrrrk...! Khk...!”
The hospital director sprang up.
He looked like a creature that had lost its intelligence.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
The director stumbled and crawled, then got back to his feet.
As though reacting to the sirens beyond the railing.
* * *
“Jihwa, if you’re cold while waiting, should Mom buy you something warm? So you won’t get thirsty?”
Jihwa shook her head.
The busy lobby maintained a moderate level of noise.
But the long waiting times typical of a university hospital had left everyone exhausted.
Boom!
Something fell somewhere in the distance.
“Oh my. What happened?”
“...”
Unlike her excitable mother, Jihwa showed little interest.
Someone shouted that a person had fallen.
Some people murmured.
Others with earphones paid no attention at all.
“Hurry! Hurry! They’re still alive!”
As the emergency patient was rushed away on a stretcher, On Jihwa’s treatment time arrived.
“Come on, our Jihwa. Mom’s little genius. Should Mom carry this?”
Her mother slung the hard case over her shoulder, and Jihwa went off for treatment with her.
* * *
“Kyah!”
“Director, please stop struggling so much!”
And the medical staff transporting the patient who had fallen from the rooftop—
“W-wait! She’s biting! She’s biting!”
“AAAAAH!!!”
Were bitten by someone they thought was still alive.
‘The makeup quality....’
Hospitals turning into chaos because of zombies was already a familiar cliché.
But 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 possessed such incredible quality that it created an unfamiliar kind of terror.
IP 85.152 admired the hospital director’s acting.
Her joints really looked twisted like those of an actual zombie.
“Kyaaaah!!!”
The nurse bitten by the hospital director screamed in agony.
Flesh had been torn from her shoulder.
Blood dripped to the floor.
But this was a major hospital emergency room.
Even in such a situation, the medical staff did not abandon their posts.
Because their duty was to save lives.
-Ah fuck I’m losing it TT_TT
-Guys this is not the time, everyone should be running!!!
-I’m an ER nurse and if we all ran every time there was a delirious patient the ER would be empty lololololol
-Seriously if a zombie outbreak happened we’d probably be the first to die T_T..
Everyone in the thread was anxious.
The immersion was already immense.
After the powerful opening, each character had been introduced one by one, raising everyone’s unease.
In an apocalypse story, a happy ending where everyone survives does not exist.
Death is inevitable.
Everyone knew that among those shown, someone would die.
And so they watched with tension.
* * *
One of the medical staff firmly grabbed the hospital director’s ears and jaw.
He was trying to put on a hard plastic restraint device.
“Ah!”
In the process, his hand was bitten.
At the same time, the nurse who had previously been bitten collapsed.
“Huh? C-cardiac arrest! Cardiac arrest!”
The nurse who had only been bitten on the shoulder suddenly went into cardiac arrest, sending the surrounding staff into chaos once more.
“Code Blue! Code Blue!”
More personnel rushed in to save her.
“ER Chief Lee Youngju speaking. We’re transferring the hospital director who fell from the main building lobby. Open an isolation bed immediately!”
As always, the emergency room was busy trying to save lives.
The ominous music grew louder.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
Screams sounded behind the doctor speaking on the phone.
At some point, the scene behind him had become complete pandemonium.
Wounded interns and nurses collapsed on the floor.
Patients convulsed on beds.
The director’s eyes turned completely white.
Things that were no longer human foamed at the mouth.
And a blood-covered hand approached.
“Urgh...!”
The phone fell to the floor.
-Hello! Hello, doctor? Doctor?!
The sound of hard teeth mercilessly chewing soft flesh echoed.
Blood splattered across the phone screen.
“Wow... I forgot to breathe while watching.”
Inside the 〈The Last Period Is Club Activities〉 studio, a reporter watching Episode 1 of 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 together with everyone sighed in amazement.
“What is this makeup quality?”
“No, no. I want to talk about the acting first. Tell me honestly. They all have second jobs, right?”
Judging by the atmosphere among the reporters, the opening was even better than I’d expected.
“The hospital feels so real. Gyeoul especially. Memorizing all those medical terms must’ve been hard. How were the NGs?”
“Hahaha. It really was difficult at first. But actually... while preparing for 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉, I volunteered at a nursing home. So some of the terminology was comparatively familiar.”
“Huh? Really?”
The conversation naturally shifted toward Do Gyeoul’s preparation.
I made reactions as though I was wondering how she could throw herself into her work so sincerely.
‘Hopefully people are making promotional posts about Han Yeoreum’s bunny eyes .gif being cute.’
She was dressed as On Jihwa, but what about the baby bunny hidden inside? Oh dear, oh dear. I upgraded my phone to one terabyte, but Han. Yeo. Reum. You little troublemaker, because of you I’m running out of storage already. Ooh. I only blinked, and she’s cute? Hahaha hohoho, hahaha hohoho....
‘My delusion factory is performing especially well today.’
I’d been somewhat nervous because it was my first time seeing Do Gyeoul in a while, but not enough to lose control of my expression.
Thanks to running into two familiar fans at KOEX, the fuel reserves of my delusion factory were full.
Every time Do Gyeoul spoke, I reacted while imagining Summer Day loving every frame of this scene.
“Huh? What?”
I had been listening with one ear and letting it pass out the other.
‘No, wait.’
This won’t do.
“Really? Oh my god...!”
The panel exploded at Myeong Jeha’s next words.
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