Apocalypse: Apparently, I Can See Zombies

After not hearing an answer, Jin-woo walked back to the living room and sat on the couch. He took out his phone and seeing that the time was 7:09am, the uneasy feeling turned into slight fear. This was because his mother had never been this late.

Even though his mother had closed off herself to him, Jin-woo noticed that she would never neglect him past a certain extent. When he had shut himself off in his room after getting home from the hospital, his mother would always check up on him every morning before visiting his father in the hospital.

She practically dragged him out of bed to attend Seong\'s funeral and go to the Entrance Exams. Nine out of ten times she was the first person he saw in the morning. So, now that he was sitting here not being able to see her, the fear of something happening to her couldn\'t help but grip him.

Jin-woo unlocked his phone by placing his thumb against the power button and then clicked on his home security app. He skimmed through yesterday\'s video. There was no sound, so he only saw his mother coming home and entering her office. After talking with his father, she left, leaving the garage door open.

Jin-woo finished the video and confirmed that neither his mother nor father came home yesterday.

Jin-woo gripped his phone and after breathing in and out to calm himself down, he used his phone to call his mother.

After ringing for a moment, the call went through.

"Mom? Where are you? Are you going to drive me to school?"

"Jin-woo? Is that you?"

Jin-woo paused when he heard this voice, it wasn\'t his mother.

"Madelyn?"

"Oh, how did you know it was me? Did you recognize my voice?"

"Yes."

"Hm, you have a good memory like my daughter told me. Even though I\'m a family friend we hardly spoke to each other. You should really come for a visit sometime. Even though I\'m hardly home due to work, Mai-sun would like it very much."

Jin-woo felt his skin crawl when he heard that, but he stayed composed and said.

"I\'ll visit sometime in the future, but is my mother okay? Can I speak to her?"

"Oh, right, your mother is working on a special project we can\'t discuss openly. Unfortunately, this also means that phones are kept under lock and key. I was just passing by where the phones were kept and saw that you were calling so I answered. You have school to get to, but I think your mother is quite busy, so she won\'t be able to drive you to school.

Do you want me to send someone to pick you up?"

"Um, no, that won\'t be necessary. I just wanted to make sure my mom is okay."

"Well, she is doing great. This project we\'re working on is quite extraordinary, so she\'s been tied to her chair since she got here. I\'ll tell her you called, so don\'t worry."

"Okay, goodbye."

"En."

After the call ended, Jin-woo stared at his phone screen that had a picture of him and Seong that was taken back in middle school. His expression was filled with worry.

"Why would you keep a phone in an interrogation room?"

Jin-woo had once taken a call from a police officer who was investigating the winter accident from his bedroom because the doctor had said he wasn\'t fit for any travel due to his trauma.

So, because of this, he got to know what it sounded like to talk to someone while they were in an interrogation room. But if he was somehow wrong, and Madelyn wasn\'t inside an interrogation room, then the room she was in was extremely small and confined.

She said she was walking past the area where the phones were kept when she saw his mother\'s phone ringing. Unless she lied about that, or his mother\'s phone was instantly recognizable from the likely rest, then her story didn\'t add up. Not to mention, why was his mother\'s phone still on if it was confiscated for secrecy?

Jin-woo suddenly shook his head.

"I\'m doing it again."

This was one of his flaws that Seong would always worry about for him. Jin-woo sometimes got too caught up in his thoughts and overanalyzing the smallest details that could be mere coincidences.

It was a blessing in that it allowed him to recall even the most obscure events that happened around him, but also a curse that if left alone could likely spiral into an episode of delusional thoughts.

Jin-woo was quick to cut off his train of thought before he spiraled. He then got up and after putting on his shoes that were by the door, he headed outside.

Outside, he walked to the outside side door of the garage, and upon entering, his eyes landed on a blue tarp in one corner. Walking towards it, he flipped the tarp over to reveal the milky white electric scooter.

His father had bought this for him in late November as an early Christmas gift. He had said there might be days when his mother would be too busy to drive him to school so he could ride this instead. Jin-woo also recalled his father had gifted one to Seong as well so they could ride to school together.

Jin-woo went over to a side wall of the garage and picked up the scooter keys. With a screech, the electric scooter was started for the first time.

Jin-woo got on and after wearing the helmet on the scooter\'s handle, he directed it out of the garage. He was a bit nervous since he was technically not allowed to ride this until he was sixteen. However, his birthday was March 15, a mere two days away. He should be able to get away with it.

After leaving the garage, Jin-woo used the security app on his phone to close its door. He then checked if the doors and windows of the house were all locked before he left on his scooter for his first day of school.

….

After hanging up the call, Madelyn looked at Myung-hee across from her and said with a cold expression.

"When you decided to go after my research did you think about your family at all? Did you think about Jin-woo?"

Myung-hee had her hands and feet tied to the chair she was sitting in. Her hair was in disarray and abrasions could be seen on her cheeks. At the same time, the corner of her lip was dripping with blood that fell onto her clothes as she held her head down.

"Wouldn\'t it be best if we take in her family?"

The Marshal, who was standing off to the side in front of the one-sided mirror with folded arms, asked with a frown.

Madelyn immediately shook her head and said.

"That isn\'t necessary, the fewer people we involve in this, the better it would be to keep it a secret that the research was stolen."

The Marshal nodded in agreement with that then shifted his gaze onto Myung-hee and said.

"She isn\'t talking, since you\'ve done it your way then I\'ll do it my way."

Hearing that, Madelyn looked at Myung-hee and let out a sigh. For the life of her, she could not understand why someone like Myung-hee who she deeply trusted would betray her like this. Was this all because she didn\'t allow her onto the project?

Ten years ago, both of them had practically built this once-small company into what it is today, a global conglomerate that does international contracts with World Leaders. If it was money then Myung-hee had plenty, she made sure of that.

Suddenly, Madelyn thought back to what Myung-hee had told her before the fire broke out yesterday.

"It\'s about the work, and it\'s always been about that. I would sacrifice anything for it."

"All of this for recognition?"

Madelyn said while staring at Myung-hee with complex emotions in her eyes. After a moment she sighed once more before saying while getting up.

"Do what you have to do, that research data is too important. Perhaps she even stole the AV13 pills. If she did, we need to retrieve them quickly. I\'ll also send a few people to search her home to see if we find anything."

"Hm, I can have some of my men help with that."

The Marshal said with a nod before Madelyn turned and left the interrogation room.

...

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