Dystopia Of Night - Chapter 2 Part 5

He smiled affectionately as their eyes met and kissed her lips. He quickly got up from the bed and began searching through the camper.

He found rice and food that could be easily cooked and showed it to Yuju.

“Curry? Jjajangmyeon? Which one do you want?”

He seemed like the protagonist who had just jumped out of the screen. In fact, he seemed so natural that one might wonder if he and the camping trip were anything but a dream.

How could Sehan be so strong? Wasn’t he scared of this situation?

It was like the day she first fell in love with him. He was radiant, he was lovely, and everything else just seemed to fade into the background.

Her lips, weakly parted, seemed as if she were about to cry. Sehan, who was leaning against the shelf, approached her with a surprised look.

“What’s wrong? Can’t decide? Or do you want to have both?”

It was hard to believe that he was so serious about choosing a menu. She felt better under his warm gaze. Yuju smiled and nodded her head.

“Aren’t those for the students? Can we eat them?”

Sehan started the microwave, which was still powered, and heated up the rice and food. The scent of curry and jjajangmyeon wafted through the air.

He picked up two disposable spoons that had been washed clean and handed the bowl of jjajangmyeon to Yuju.

“I exchanged it.”

“What did you exchange?”

The sweet smell of jjajangmyeon stimulated her appetite. They had only been eating one meal a day due to a lack of food. Nevertheless, she couldn’t easily scoop up the spoon because she couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t their own.

Sehan scooped a spoonful of yellow curry and held it out to Yuju’s mouth.

“With fruit.”

Yuju thought Sehan was referring to the fruit she had brought from her house, so she ate the curry. After one spoonful, her appetite returned. Yuju alternated between the jjajangmyeon and the curry.

Seeing that Yuju was eating well, he began to eat too.

Humans were truly cunning. They had been thinking about survival just a moment ago, but their minds were now fully at ease with a warm meal. After filling their stomachs with jjajangmyeon and curry, Yuju rinsed her mouth with water and asked a question.

“Did the students exchange the fruit for food? There couldn’t have been that much food left…”

“There was enough. We had some fruit from the forest.”

“The forest?”

Sehan nodded firmly, not avoiding Yuju’s gaze. This meant that he had gone to the forest during this heavy rain. The forest where monsters appeared.

“Sehan!”

“Yes, Yuju?”

When Yuju raised her voice, Sehan blankly responded. Yuju was about to check him for injuries when she looked into his calm eyes and became speechless.

“It was dangerous, but it was necessary. We couldn’t stay isolated forever.”

Although it had only been three days, the atmosphere had changed drastically. The people became more and more nervous as food dwindled coupled with the threat of monsters. The students began to feel dissatisfied with sharing their food, and others were suspicious that the students wouldn’t share their food with them.

They were still wearing the mask of a virtuous citizen, but occasionally, Yuju felt a shiver. It was because the trembling pupils of those who began to suspect each other made her nervous. It was like walking on thin ice. It was an unstable situation where no one knew when the ground would give away.

Sehan was the one who always stepped forward when problems arose. He always took risks. However, when she tried to stop Sehan, people looked at her without saying a word. It was also Sehan who shielded her from their uncomfortable gaze.

Yuju felt a lot of stress because of it. He had no obligation to endure the danger, but people seemed to take his sacrifice for granted.

She wondered if this time was the same. Did someone take advantage of the opportunity when Yuju, the only one who could stop Sehan, was asleep, and harm him in the name of getting food?

“Are they perhaps… bothering you?”

Yuju asked Sehan carefully, like a teacher dealing with a victim of school violence.

She was talking to Sehan, who had gone into the forest to find a fruit tree by his own will, tested the toxicity of the fruit with someone else’s body, and returned.

“I know that you are worried about me.”

The problem here was that Sehan had no conscience. He looked at her pitifully and whispered with a rare soft tone.

“Someone has to do it. I am taking the lead because it is the least dangerous.”

That couldn’t be true. Sehan was only taking risks because of Yuju. If it weren’t for her, he would have examined the situation more carefully and behaved appropriately.

This was a lawless zone where only instincts remained. If this much discomfort had arisen in just three days, things would only get worse in the future.

Yuju, who was gentle and weak in nature, was the weakest here. And in the world of animals, the weak were trampled upon.

“Then I’ll do it with you. I can do it too.”

‘No way.’

Sehan hugged Yuju affectionately and swallowed the words he wanted to say.

What is the reason he’s doing this? Is it to put Yuju in danger? No.

“I understand. I’ll discuss it with you next time.”

“……”

“I’m sorry for disappointing you. I just didn’t want you to worry.”

There was a presence he had to protect. That was why he didn’t lose hope that they could return. The fear of the worst case scenario happening at any moment was the only thing keeping him going.

He wanted to become the leader of this place. He needed to have all decision-making power. Once the command structure was established, Yuju would naturally be free from danger. No one would dare to complain.

As for humans other than Yuju, it didn’t matter what happened to them. To him, humans were nothing more than chess pieces. He wanted to maintain as many numbers as possible for their labor, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do if necessary.

Thud!

A furious lightning bolt flashed. The yellow light that came in through the blinds darkened his face as he smiled.

This world was watching the actions of humans.

***