Apocalypse: Apparently, I Can See Zombies

Jin-woo looked up and even though he couldn't see the person's face due to the darkness and him not wearing his glasses, he could tell by the voice that it was Seo-joon.

"Nothing."

Jin-woo responded noncommittedly to Seo-joon's question. However, he could not see Seo-joon's eyes narrowing at his answer.

After coming up to sit beside Jin-woo, Seo-joon leaned against the wall and stayed silent for a moment before he asked again.

"Did you get Seong's journal?"

"Hm."

Jin-woo gave a simple sound of confirmation. He seemed unwilling to go into further details about this topic. But Seo-joon seemed not to have realized this as he persisted in his questioning.

"So, do you really have those kinds of abilities? Like, seeing the future?"

Jin-woo remained silent and didn't answer.

Seo-joon snickered at this before saying.

"Your silence is a response itself."

But Jin-woo still remained silent, not responding.

It was then that Seo-joon looked over at him and was stunned. He saw that Jin-woo's eyes were closed as if he was sleeping.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Seo-joon's eyebrow twitched, thinking this punk was pretending just so he didn't have to fess up. However, he thought back on what Jin-woo had been through before deciding not to call him out on it and instead go to sleep himself.

Just after Seo-joon laid down and turned his back to him, Jin-woo slowly opened his eyes. He turned to look at Seo-joon's back and after releasing a sigh of relief internally, he went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Jin, you don't have to tell him about your abilities. Actually, I prefer it if you keep it a secret from everyone. I can't imagine what would happen if someone found out and you were brought back to that lab. The Marshal has already shown he can't be entirely trusted."

Jin-woo's heart sank upon hearing that. That was right, if his abilities were discovered by the Marshal his ending wouldn't be anything good.

Jin-woo's hand moved slightly towards Seong's hand. Seong, knowing what he wanted to do, opened his hand. Jin-woo extended his index finger and then wrote a few sentences on Seong's palm.

'Do you think my abilities have anything to do with that meteor and the mutation in my genes?'

Seong nodded.

"Most likely, but I can't imagine how an alien bacterium from a meteor can allow you to see across dimensions or even possess space-displacement abilities."

Seong then felt Jin-woo's finger move.

'I'm confused by this too, but aside from being the reason for my abilities, I guess this meteor also confirmed that there is alien life outside of our planet.'

Seong paused for a moment, then suddenly thought of something that made his eyes widen.

"Jin, what if… what if that bacteria from the meteor is something like the DNA remnants of an alien species?"

Jin-woo's eyes also couldn't help but widen upon hearing that speculation. He hurriedly wrote in Seong's hand.

"If that's true, then doesn't that mean this alien species also has the abilities I have?"

"Logically, that should be the case. However, I also have a theory that this alien species might not be from the Third Dimension."

Jin-woo's finger stopped over Seong's palm, momentarily speechless at Seong's theory. However, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense from the limited understanding they had of the universe. Though, movies and comics undoubtedly contribute to this fantasy-like theory in some way.

The DNA of a being from another dimension somehow landed on a meteor in this dimension. Perhaps after moving around the universe for countless years, its trajectory eventually took it to Earth, where the DNA on it caused a mutation in his mother's gene before it was passed onto him.

"This is almost like a movie, but could it really be true?"

Seong suddenly said with a laugh interrupting Jin-woo's thoughts.

'Maybe…'

Seong felt Jin-woo write on his palm. He smiled and then said.

"Go to sleep Jin, it'll be fine, I'm here."

Jin-woo hearing Seong suddenly say this, knew that his worries had been seen through. Even though he was dead tired, he was forcing himself to stay awake. He did not want to have those nightmares again.

However, under Seong's constant reassurances, Jin-woo eventually succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep.

For the first time in nearly four months, Jin-woo didn't dream of Seong's death. Neither did he hear the loud wails of Seong's mother in the hospital, nor did he see his father's resentful gaze as he lay on the hospital bed with a bandaged foot.

However, not dreaming of those tormenting scenes did not mean his dreams tonight weren't... strange.

Perhaps it was due to what he and Seong were talking about before he fell asleep, but he dreamt of seeing his body lying on the cafeteria floor from a third-person perspective.

He even saw Seong and Seo-joon next to him, though his thoughts paused momentarily when Seong suddenly glanced at him sleeping before getting up and going over to Seo-joon to squat in front of him and silently watch him sleep.

However, Jin-woo was not able to witness this scene for long, as this out-of-body experience took a sudden turn. A strong pulling force suddenly yanked him toward the sky.

After passing through the ceiling of the cafeteria, he continued to go higher and higher.

The earth below Jin-woo shrank rapidly at a visible rate, so much so he was barely able to perceive anything before he was dragged through the atmosphere and thrust into outer space.

But even as he entered the vast expanse of space, Jin-woo's speed didn't slow down, but rather it felt like the pulling force had yanked him out of the water, which was the planet, and now in the open air, his body, or rather his consciousness, started to move faster.

The stars around him elongated and a vast spectrum of colors appeared in his senses until it was overwhelming. Not only that, but he could also feel a slight connection he had to something, which was perhaps his body, was slowly being stretched thin.

However, strangely enough, despite all of this, Jin-woo had not once felt panicked. Instead, he felt curiosity, as the force pulling him seemed to be coming from a source that felt familiar, like a second body.

But even as his speed got faster and faster, that familiar feeling seemed to be on the other side of the universe… No, it felt like it was further than that. A distance that could not be described by any measurement that exists and will exist in the future.

After who knows how long, the pulling force seemed to run out of fuel, and like a rubber band that was stretched taut, Jin-woo's consciousness was yanked back in the direction he came from several times faster than the speed of the pulling force.

In only a few seconds the blue planet appeared in his vision, but only for a fraction of a second before he saw the high school campus, then the roof of the cafeteria, and then his body.

Smack!

Like an elastic band hitting one's skin, Jin-woo re-entered his body. He suddenly jumped up into a sitting position, scaring the girl who was walking past to the backrooms out of her wits.

While being drenched in cold sweat despite the cold morning air in the cafeteria, Jin-woo glanced around only to see that it was already daytime through the rows of windows atop the wall across from him.

After looking around at the students, who were either walking around or chattering at the tables while eating, Jin-woo released the breath he had been holding onto before listlessly falling onto his back with a thud.

Even the sudden pain caused by the back of his head hitting the ground could not distract him from the dream he just had. But the more he recalled the strange sensation of being pulled from his body to an unknown source across the universe, the more frightened he became. So much so the cold sweat on his back increased, while a shiver ran down his spine.