This Time, We'll Make It (Cheong San X Su Hyeok)

Chapter 16: Dread of Night

Author's Note: Hello everyone! SnivyLord here! I am back with another chapter and it's a good mix of wholesomeness, tension, and all that good stuff. Everything is getting more intense as we're approaching the third day of the apocalypse and who knows what else needs to be revealed?  We get a continuation of what happens in the quarantine camp and the secrets and questions that are revealed. Our group have the campfire scene where they confess a lot of stuff. It's an emotional rollercoaster everybody so strap on your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.

It was a recurring nightmare and Cheong San didn't know when it started, but it was the growing source of his anxiety and fear that the fate of this group was going to be turned on its head. It all lead down to his choice, a choice that doesn't seem to have been made. He had said multiple times that he wanted to live, that he was committed to getting everyone out and safe, Cheong San had the courage to keep going. However, it just didn't seem like it was going to matter and here's why:

"You know what the sound of that is?" Han Tae Sul asked as a low and loud rumbling could be heard throughout the church and Seo Hae looked around at the commotion. Byeong Chan and the soldiers that had them surrounded peered curiously yet doubtfully at Tae Sul. Tae Sul smirked and gestured with his fingers, clicking his tongue, "It's the sound of the final nails being put in your coffin..."

Seo Hae, who was on her knees, breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Tae Sul suddenly had everything under control, even if it was by a hair. Byeong Chan's solemn yet manic expression changed briefly into one of confusion and fear that something else was happening than the predetermined future.

"The future's always changing. I already told you that I saw it right? The future where I win." Tae Sul let his smirk grow wider as everything started to snowball into a greater and dire struggle to change the Uploader's and Byeong Chan's design.

"I don't know what you've done, but it's already over for you," Byeong Chan stepped forward and pointed the gun at Seo Hae and Tae Sul narrowed his eyes at the action, almost as if he expected to happen in response. Just as soon as Byeong Chan trained the gun on Seo Hae, almost as if on cue, his hand started to degrade away in a swirl of static. Byeong Chan's eyes widened at what was happening and he whipped his gaze to Tae Sul, who kept his ever permanent smirk on his face, "What did you do?!"

"You never listen," Tae Sul tapped his ear in a mocking gesture and he reiterated the development just for Byeong Chan, "I already told you didn't I? The question is not a matter of how.... but a matter of when..."

That's when all hell broke loose and a sliver of hope opened an opportunity. Seo Hae sprung up and wrestled the gun away from Byeong Chan, the two of them starting to fight. Soon, Tae Sul fought with Byeong Chan, grappling and exchanging blows, the former having gained the upper hand in the fight. Tae Sul had figured out how he was going to break the Sisyphean loop that Byeong Chan had created and the fated moment where Byeong Chan had asked him:

"You must choose Tae Sul-ah... the girl.... or the world?"

He had done it, Tae Sul had finally figured it out and now was the time to break out of the unfortunate loop that had plagued them all. Byeong Chan gripped the rifle tightly in his hands and swung the blunt handle right at Tae Sul's face and knocked him down. Tae Sul groaned as he fell to the ground and he braced himself on his hands, looking over to Seo Hae. Byeong Chan turned around on Seo Hae and gripped her by the neck, choking her. Seo Hae struggled in his grip, her defiant grip trying to pry his hands from her neck. In another wave of degradation, his body started to fade away into static and Byeong Chan stared at his hands in horror. In his last desperate hour, Byeong Chan tried to choke Seo Hae to death through his rapidly decreasing corporeal form. However, it was't enough and he felt a chill behind him before Byeong Chan turned around and he saw a figure up on the balcony. Without another moment wasted, a gunshot rang out in the air and Byeong Chan fell backwards, the bullet piercing his chest. Tae Sul looked up to the balcony, thoughtfully mulling over who could have saved them. Byeong Chan laid on the floor, his body partially propped up against the altar, as he stared hauntingly towards where the mystery shooter had shot him before the light ultimately left his eyes.