ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜ . ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ¹

XX. ᴘʀᴏᴛᴇɪɴ

While everyone else had been knocked out and had managed to stay in the car as it landed, Hyun-su was flung from it.

He spotted what was responsible... the same time Sung-hyo saw it from where she'd been watching the whole thing.

The Protein Monster.

Only this time, he was probably four times the size he was the last time they'd seen him.

Hyun-su grabbed his weapon and stabbed the monster in the leg, but it seemed to not do anything as the monster quickly shoved Hyun-su away and into a large pile of dirt nearby.

Sung-hyo's eyes moved back to the car, where no one seemed to have left.

She started clenching the binoculars in her hands, fear growing in her chest and tears blurring her eyesight.

She couldn't lose Ji-ji.

She couldn't lose Hyun-su.

It would kill her.

Gil-seob then appeared from nearby. He must've snuck out of the building when nobody was looking. He lit the top of two bottles that Sung-hyo realised were filled with gasoline before he chucked them both at the monster. "Get lost, you son of a bitch!"

The monster seemed to be able to feel the flames, as it roared and groaned in pain before dropping onto the ground nearby.

Gil-seob ran as fast as he could to Hyun-su, helping the boy to his feet. Sung-hyo, who was viewing everything through her binoculars, gasped slightly at the sight of how much blood was on Hyun-su's face.

She gasped again when she saw Gil-seob's nose beginning to bleed... just like Hyun-su's and Mr Kim's noses had done.

The monster was now back on his feet, and he looked very angry, staring down at the two as he panted heavily.

Gil-seob shoved Hyun-su out of the way. As Hyun-su looked up at the elderly man, Gil-seob uttered one word to him.

"Live."

The monster lifted one of his giant fists, ready to strike down on Gil-seob...

But the monster was hit by a fire engine just before the fist came down. The fire engine kept going until it crashed the monster into one section of the wall of Green Home.

Sung-hyo then spotted movement coming from the upturned vehicle. Moving the binoculars to the car, Sung-hyo spotted two people climbing out, both with blood on their outfits and hands.

One was Sang-wook, and the other was...

"Ji-ji..." Sung-hyo breathed out a sigh of relief, glad her brother wasn't hurt enough that he couldn't move.

Sang-wook and Ji-ji started trying to get Yu-ri out of the car, while the monster was trying to get the fire engine off him, which had been driven by Yi-kyung. She was back.

Yi-kyung managed to get back in the fire engine and began to reverse. The monster chased after her, just as Sang-wook and Ji-ji pulled Yu-ri out of the car. They took cover in some small tunnels nearby as the petrol caught fire and the car exploded.

The flames landed on the monster, making him roar in pain again. Ji-ji emerged from the other side of the tunnel, with Sang-wook behind him, carrying Yu-ri. 

Sung-hyo moved the binoculars everywhere around the area as she heard Yi-kyung driving the fire engine back into the monster. She couldn't see Hyun-su or Gil-seob anywhere.

Yi-kyung didn't give up as she continued to push the fire engine into the monster, slowly but surely shoving the monster over a deep ledge. He fell, a loud roar echoing as he hit the bottom. Yi-kyung hit the brakes before she could go over the edge too, thankfully getting the fire engine to stop just as the front wheels went over the edge.

Quickly regaining herself, Yi-kyung reversed the fire engine, took a deep breath and then drove forwards again, crashing into a structure that was ablaze, which went down into the ledge and landed on top of the monster, leaving him to burn to death.

ᶠYͧoͨᵏu

Ji-ji winced, flinching away from the damp tissue as it touched his forehead wound.

"I said it would sting," Sung-hyo sighed.

"I didn't realise it would sting that much," Ji-ji replied. "Sorry."

"Say sorry when you come to see me and you're missing a limb," Sung-hyo retorted. "I'm just glad you got out of there in one piece."

"Yeah, me too," Ji-ji nodded. "Where's Hyun-su?"

"He's resting," Sung-hyo answered. "I told him to come and find me once he felt better."

"Are you then going to have your talk with him?" Ji-ji asked.

"I think I already started that talk before he left..." Sung-hyo sighed. "I let my thoughts take over and I told him I loved him."

"Well... do you?" Ji-ji asked.

"I don't think I'm the kind of person who kisses someone and then says that I don't love them," Sung-hyo remarked.

ᶠYͧoͨᵏu

Hyun-su didn't know what to expect when he woke up, but he was definitely not expecting Yi-kyung to grab his hand and slice a knife across the back of it. 

"What are you doing?" he said, bewildered.

Yi-kyung didn't pay attention, firmly holding his hand and watching as the new wound healed and faded away in a matter of seconds.

"What was the first symptom? A nosebleed? Passing out?" Yi-kyung asked the boy. "When was it exactly?"

"What?" Hyun-su let out.

"Try to remember. You must remember because it's the day you became a monster," Yi-kyung continued. "I heard it speaks to you. Did it speak to you?"

Hyun-su hesitated, but answered. "Yes."

"Have you ever completely escaped from it?" When Hyun-su didn't answer, Yi-kyung continued. "You have, right? How?"

Hyun-su stayed silent. He didn't want to tell this woman, especially after she'd just slid a knife across his hand.

"Tell me!" Yi-kyung ordered, grabbing Hyun-su by his jacket.

"I just wanted to live," Hyun-su answered, slightly confused and afraid of where this was going. Yi-kyung let go of him, backing away before sitting down as her emotions took the better of her. "Why are you doing this to me?

"There were more people who tried to resist monsterization," Yi-kyung explained what she had discovered while she was gone. "The government carried out experiments on them to find a way to stop this disaster."

"Was the experiment successful?" Hyun-su asked. If there was a way for him, he needed to know.

"You should be asking me what happened to the people who were used in the experiment," Yi-kyung replied, tears in her eyes. "I ran into soldiers. They caught me, to be exact. I told them about you. I... I wanted to live, too."