[ TWATF ]

Chapter 32: Deadman (7)

“Karlton can enter, but the woman cannot. We do not have much…”

“I will provide the medicine! Just give us a spot!” Claire yelled.

“If you insist…”

The hospital was worse than Jaehwan thought. It was poorly equipped and the ‘building’ was just a tent. There were hundreds of beds with patients slumped in them, and they all seemed to be corrupted.

“Move away! Emergency!”

Doctors closed in quickly and got respirators on Karlton and Mino. It seemed that they were trying to force-feed the medicine via the respirators. Outside the tent, the saloon could be seen with smog leaking out from it. With the evacuation order, the saloon was closed down and the elites of the Anti-Evil squad stepped out to guard the saloon. From within the saloon, cries of woman employees who had turned into Dead Men were heard.

“Are you the man that Mino talked about?”

Jaehwan turned to Claire as she continued, “I sent her to hunt down the Red Fox Clan… never imagined she would come back with Death itself.”

“…”

“Heard you reject all laws here. You judge the world by your standards, and you measure humans.”

Jaehwan did not answer.

“I know a man like you. I’ve seen one.”

Claire placed her hand on Mino’s chest and checked her breathing before continuing. Jaehwan looked at Claire’s face. He had never met her before.

“If you live long enough, you get to see all kinds of people.”

Claire spoke as she looked at Mino once and then glanced around the hospital.

“People live here not because they’re fools. They have no other choice.”

It was voice full of lethargy. Then Jaehwan spoke for the first time,

“No, there’s always a choice. You all just have no courage.”

“Courage?” Claire retorted, “Why do you need courage?”

Jaehwan tried to speak, but stopped. He had seen Claire’s eyes, the deep eyes with regrets over her long life. She had lived with courage all this time and now had no more courage to do so.

“You… you are the type who values a higher standard, higher justice…”

There were paramedics and doctors shouting from all around. Some with higher corruption levels were coughing black coughs. Claire continued, “It must be a wonderful thing. Too wonderful that people here cannot dare to imagine… You may be right. I may not have the courage, but because of that, I do not know what you may think. But I know one thing for sure.”

Claire’s eyes were similar to that of Mino’s.

“I know that YOU are dangerous.”

Jaehwan thought about what Mino mumbled to him before she fainted.

-I now know why I wanted to tag along with you. Why I wanted to stop you from leaving.

The words that Mino spoke earlier, and the words that Claire spoke now were mixed before it came to a conclusion.

“You must leave this place.”

-You must not leave this place.

“You will bring despair to the people.”

-You will bring hope to the people.

“You will make them think that nothing will change.”

-You will make them think that something will change.