Immortals vs. Grim Reapers - chapter 27
Chapter 27. You Will Die (3)
[I thought my son would be living healthily anywhere.]
Gangrim smiled bitterly as he heard his mother’s voice through the phone.
He could almost see the expression and actions she must be making now.
Pressing the bridge of her nose to suppress fatigue, anxiously checking the time.
There wouldn’t be time for a long call.
“Did you think I’d be healthy after that chaos at the hospital?”
[Ah, right. I heard you escaped from the hospital on your own. I’m sorry about what happened to the hospital. But you should understand if you watch the news, right?]
Gangrim couldn’t shake off the bitterness as he listened to his mother’s response.
His mother had the power and influence to send special zombie hunters to rescue her son.
But she didn’t.
Because such an act would be unfair.
No, more precisely, because such an act would harm politician Seo-kyung Yoo’s career.
She would have thought that even if Gangrim died, it couldn’t be helped, and would have used that tragedy as a stepping stone for herself.
However, Gangrim didn’t feel resentful about this fact. He thought her reasoning was correct.
If he were in her position, he would have done the same.
Gangrim ‘s desire for advancement was almost genetically inherited from his mother.
If asked why go to such lengths, Seo-kyung would answer briefly:
Politics is everything in the world.
[Don’t think I’m indifferent. Who do you think sent you to the hospital in the first place? Your father isn’t even in Korea.]
Gangrim grew up in a comfortable environment, but it was a family indifferent to each other.
The fact that his parents hadn’t divorced was merely for the sake of their careers.
“Technically, it was your aide who received the call and called an ambulance for me.”
[Ah, right. I heard you even registered as a zombie hunter? I suppose something at the hospital triggered your awakening? That nurse said you were moving around as if seeing through the darkness?]
Gangrim wasn’t surprised that his mother knew about his every move. Even if she didn’t pay much attention, her aide would report regularly.
“What, you even contacted Nurse Han Min-ah?”
[It was just a brief survivor interview. Quite… an unusual young lady.]
Gangrim was puzzled by his mother’s strangely hesitant tone. His mother had a good memory but didn’t usually bother with unimportant people.
It was even rarer for her to mention them.
“Unusual? She seemed kind and nice to me.”
[Hmm, kind and nice, yes. Just, um… Never mind. I feel like I’m speaking ill of a good person. One thing’s for sure, she’s not the type I’d want as a daughter-in-law. I suppose surviving together at the hospital wasn’t for nothing.]
Gangrim didn’t interpret this statement as his mother’s simple nonsense.
More precisely, he took it to mean that she had considered Han Min-ah as someone worth ‘forming quite a deep relationship with’.
And she had thought of matching her with her son as a convenient means to that end.
In other words, a strategic marriage.
‘Is Nurse Han Min-ah someone worth considering to that extent? But why did she think marriage wouldn’t work?’
Gangrim thought that Han Min-ah might be more worth paying attention to than he had initially thought.
“There was indeed something surprising at the hospital.”
[I see. I’d like to hear about it sometime.]
“When?”
[…This week seems difficult, but if you contact my aide, maybe the week after next…]
“I’m joking. I don’t particularly want to see you, so don’t bother trying to contact me either.”
It was an excessively bleak conversation for a mother and son, but neither side seemed hurt or frowned upon it.
Gangrim had already hardened to the point where he couldn’t be hurt anymore, and Seo-kyung was too busy to dwell on such matters.
[I see. It’s nice to hear your voice after so long. Well, I have another meeting now, so…]
“Yes.”
Gangrim was about to hang up after a brief reply but hesitated.
“Oh, by the way, Mother. Are you currently deliberating on the Awakened Management Act?”
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. But Gangrim felt he could hear her unspoken words.
She would be calculating how he knew about this confidential and top-secret matter, who might have leaked the information, who else might know, and so on.
“It’s just a guess, and I didn’t hear it from anyone else, so don’t worry.”
[For a guess, you seem to know the bill’s name quite specifically.]
Well, that’s because I’m a regressor.
Though packaged as a management act, it’s essentially an awakened conscription law.
“You’re probably opposing it, but just support it.”
[Why?]
“If you support it, you might be able to aim for party leadership within half a year. I’ll talk to you later.”
[Wait…]
Gangrim hung up without waiting for a response.
A major shift will occur in Korean politics after this. Seo-kyung will be deeply involved in that flow.
Gangrim no longer had enough emotion left for his mother to tell her what to do, but he thought it would be good to give some advice.
Setting emotions aside, from a pure profit and loss perspective, having a politician he could contact anytime was a good thing.
But that was it. Gangrim didn’t want to get more entangled with Seo-kyung than that.
If she were just a politician, he could support her comfortably, but being mother and son leads to unnecessary emotional drain.
‘Hmm… It feels like I’ve started this holiday on a more tiring note.’
Gangrim looked at the clock.
It was time for a late lunch.
***
Gangrim walked around outside the hotel.
The Samdo Hotel was located on a main road with good accessibility rather than in a tourist area.
In other words, there were many good restaurants nearby.
Although the atmosphere was unsettled due to the zombie plague, people were still going about their daily lives thanks to the Gate’s effects not crossing the Han River.
‘The good restaurant around here…’
He remembered there was a decent gopchang jeongol (tripe hot pot) place nearby.
Gangrim looked around the entrance of an alley and soon found the gopchang jeongol restaurant and went in. However, the face he encountered upon entering was unexpected.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t serve single portions…”
“Ah… Can’t I eat two portions?”
It was none other than Han Min-ah.
It was startling to run into her outside right after talking about her with his mother.
“Ms. Han Min-ah?”
“Huh? Oh? Ah, Mr. Gangrim Joo!”
Han Min-ah smiled cheerfully upon seeing Gangrim.
“What perfect timing! Did you come alone?”
“Huh? Yes…”
“Then we can eat. Is that okay?”
The last words were directed at the employee, not Gangrim. It seemed that for her, having a companion to eat gopchang jeongol with was more important than a comrade who had shared life and death experiences.
“Of course. Two portions of gopchang jeongol, please.”
“No, make it three portions.”
Han Min-ah corrected the order Gangrim had made. And so, Gangrim ended up unexpectedly sharing a meal with Han Min-ah.
Han Min-ah pulled out her spoon and chopsticks with quite an expectant expression.
“I heard the gopchang jeongol here is really delicious. In the hospital, the smell of gopchang jeongol would waft up and make my mouth water. Finally, I can eat it.”
“Hospital?”
“Ah, right. Actually, I was hospitalized at a hospital near here.”
Hospitalized, not working at the hospital?
Gangrim looked over Han Min-ah in confusion. He hadn’t seen any signs of injury or wounds during their hospital escape.
But wounds don’t only appear in visible areas.
“Were you hurt somewhere?”
“Ah, no. Actually, the experience at that hospital was so intense that I awakened because of it.”
“Pardon? Awakened?”
“Yes. C-rank ‘Healing’ ability.”
C-rank. The grade that receives the assessment of ‘helpful in combat support’. Among healing abilities, those that quickly and immediately recover wounds are classified as B-rank.
C-rank meant that healing occurs, but at a slower rate.
“An ability fitting for a nurse, I suppose… But why would that be a reason for hospitalization?”
“Well…”
“Your meal is here.”
Thud. The gopchang jeongol pot was placed on the table right on cue.
Gangrim licked his lips as he watched the pot, which seemed to have been pre-boiled, start bubbling again immediately.
Come to think of it, since regressing, he had only eaten to satisfy calorie needs and hadn’t had a proper meal.
Surely, right before humanity’s extinction, there had been more than one or two foods he missed, but since becoming a Grim Reaper, he hadn’t felt much hunger.
“Shall we talk while eating? Actually, it might be a story that could ruin your appetite.”
Han Min-ah spoke with a spoon in her mouth. Gangrim nodded.
They both eagerly scooped the jeongol into their bowls as they continued talking.
“Even after going through such an experience, how did you still think of gopchang jeongol?”
Han Min-ah looked at Gangrim quizzically as he spoke first.
“Huh? What’s wrong with gopchang jeongol?”
“Some zombie hunters can’t even look at tripe anymore. Some even become vegetarians.”
“Why… Oh.”
Han Min-ah briefly pressed her forehead with a contemplative expression.
Gangrim was flustered, thinking he had said something to ruin her appetite, but after pondering for a while, Han Min-ah eventually pulled her bowl closer.
“The tripe is innocent.”
“I spoke thoughtlessly. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m about to pay you back anyway.”
Han Min-ah grinned and then glanced around slightly.
Gangrim wondered what she was up to, but when Han Min-ah saw no one was looking, she carefully rolled up her sleeve.
And Gangrim almost drew out his Death Sword.
On the lower part of Han Min-ah’s sleeve, there was a clear bite mark.
***
“What… does this mean?”
All thoughts of gopchang jeongol had vanished from Gangrim ‘s mind. But Han Min-ah rolled her sleeve back down and eagerly started eating.
The zombie plague spreads at different rates for each person, but generally doesn’t last more than two days.
There’s a record of someone lasting up to a week at most, but in Han Min-ah’s case, several weeks had passed since escaping the hospital.
If she had been continuously taking refined black matter, she might have been able to hold out. However, refined black matter is so expensive that it’s difficult for civilians to purchase.
“Is that why you were held at the hospital?”
“Yes. While escaping from the hospital, a zombie tried to bite a patient, and I got bitten while trying to stop it… But whether it was a shallow bite or something, there wasn’t much of a problem.”
Gangrim felt confused. How could this be possible?
“Ah, of course, after sending you off, I reported to the zombie hunters and police officers. I was immediately handcuffed and dragged to the isolation ward with a gag… But even as time passed, there was no particular progress.”
“Isolation ward?!”
As a place where zombie plague patients are gathered, it’s an area with extremely tight security.
It’s the last hope, but also a place where human rights are hard to expect.
The procedures were so strict that there were even instructions to immediately set fire to the entire ward if there was a risk of the isolation ward being breached.
“Yes. But as time passed and nothing happened, I started to wonder if it might not have been a zombie but a madman. The hospital staff seemed to think so too.”
Zombie plague patients exude the scent of death just by being nearby. If someone was moving around healthy and alive among dying people for weeks, it’s understandable that they might have misunderstood.
“Do you have any idea why this happened?”
“Well, I thought I might be immune to the zombie plague, but…”
“There’s no immunity to the zombie plague.”
Gangrim cut her off sharply.
This was something he could say with certainty.
What kind of immunity could there be to a phenomenon where the boundary between life and death collapses and the dead come back to life?
Even in the future that was wiped out by the zombie plague, they tried desperately to find immune individuals and a cure but ultimately failed.
Perhaps the problem was calling this phenomenon a ‘plague’ in the first place.
“Yes. The doctors ran various tests and said it probably wasn’t immunity.”
Gangrim sighed deeply.
“Then was it really just a wound from being bitten by a passing madman?”
“But every time I use my ability… Look.”
Instead of explaining, Han Min-ah grabbed Gangrim ‘s hand.
Just as Gangrim was about to think internally that this woman was rudely grabbing a man’s hand, the inside of Han Min-ah’s palm began to glow softly.
The bite mark was emitting light.
“Mr. Gangrim.”
Han Min-ah said, her eyes sparkling.
“Your energy doesn’t seem good.”
“What an impolite thing to say.”