Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The horde of Foghowlers charged, a savage wave aimed at the survivors and Jae-hee Han, standing alone in the heart of the enemy lines.
“I prepared so hard for my curse-bombing. Since that’s been cancelled…”
As Silken Bodhisattva smiled, hiding her lips behind a spread fan, Little Lamb grunted and groaned, setting up a large ritual guillotine before her.
Stepping lightly onto it in her socked feet, Silken Bodhisattva chanted in a clear, lyrical voice. “I suppose I’ll have to blow off some steam instead!”
With the fan in one hand and a long kitchen knife in the other, she spun in a graceful, dance-like motion.
“Hee-yah!”
And just like that—pop!
The head of the Foghowler leading the charge exploded.
“Hee-yah, hee-yah, hee-yah!”
Her sleeves fluttered.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Three more heads burst.
“Hee-yaaah!”
Her voluminous skirt drew a dizzying arc through the air.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop! Five more heads vanished.
Silken Bodhisattva performed a lively blade dance atop the guillotine. The lives required as a “Price” had already been paid in full by Little Lamb, so she could now dance as freely and joyfully as she pleased.
“That’s it! Oh, that’s the stuff! What a performance!” Beside the guillotine, Little Lamb beat an hourglass drum, stoking her fervor.
“Hai-yah!” Silken Bodhisattva leaped and twirled to the beat, unleashing her killing moves.
Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
The Foghowlers at the fore fell like dominoes with every motion, their heads exploding one after another. The intangible curse tore through the monsters’ skulls like bullets from an invisible sniper.
Any Foghowler that got too close to the survivors or to Jae-hee died without exception, its head erupting in a spray of gore.
“Hoo!”
After her spirited performance, Silken Bodhisattva threw her head back. Freed from its hairpin, her long braid whipped through the air.
“Ah, so refreshing. I feel much better now.”
Watching the remaining Foghowlers falter and retreat from the scene of the one-sided massacre, she let out a low laugh. “Still, there are quite a few left, aren’t there?”
Wiping the sweat from her brow, she glanced to the side. “Hey, Hangman. It’s your first taste of freedom in a while. You’re not going to sit this one out, are you?”
“…”
No sooner had she spoken than the restraints binding Hangman’s entire body began to fall away, one by one.
Clank, clank.
“Everyone!”
The woman in the welding mask—Grease Gal—urgently handed out helmets shaped like construction hard hats.
“Get these on! Quick! You need them to be safe from his ability!”
Clank—
Just as the last survivor donned their helmet, the black Null Cuffs on Hangman’s hands and feet were released.
Surveying his newly freed body, Hangman cracked a dry smile. “Excellent. This melancholy…”
He staggered to his feet and stared at the fallen Phantom Tyrant.
The Gate Lord, still spewing blood from its long neck, muttered in a human voice.
“Let’s die… together…”
“Merely speaking of death is pointless.”
A twisted smile spread across his gaunt face as Hangman spread his arms wide, like an orchestra conductor.
“Only with true despair rising from the depths of the heart can one willingly embrace it.”
Fwoosh—!
From behind him, a tangible Suicidal Impulse spread out as a black aura.
It instantly blanketed the entire area.
The survivors were safe thanks to the helmets Grease Gal had provided, but Jae-hee was not.
“Whoa!” Jae-hee flinched back from the dark tide surging closer.
Ghost stepped in front of him, deflecting the approaching aura with a sweep of her sword.
Shing!
“Granny…!”
Jae-hee’s eyes sparkled with emotion, but Ghost simply scanned the battlefield with a cold expression, saying nothing.
The black aura washed over the area where the Foghowlers were gathered. The Phantom Tyrant coughed and tried to fend it off by spewing fog, but the aura infiltrated the mist with ease, closing in on the horde.
“Now…”
Hangman flicked his fingertips like a puppeteer controlling a marionette. Black tears streamed endlessly from his blackened eyes.
“I permit you… weep!”
The eyes of the Foghowlers touched by the black aura turned jet-black.
An instant later, the dozens of remaining monsters simultaneously grabbed their own necks with their front paws and twisted with all their might.
Crack!
Necks snapped, the Foghowlers collapsed where they stood. Long, dark tear stains marked the faces of all the dead creatures.
Snap! Crack! Snap…!
The sight of dozens of beasts twisting their own necks to commit suicide was utterly surreal.
Silence fell.
The Foghowler horde was annihilated in a flash. They had either died from Silken Bodhisattva’s head-exploding curse or broken their own necks after being enveloped by Hangman’s aura.
Ghost walked slowly through the field of corpses, passing Jae-hee on her way to the monster Lord—the Phantom Tyrant.
“Ahhh…”
Already critically wounded by Jae-hee’s attack, the Phantom Tyrant was struggling just to breathe. It hacked up a spray of blood, faced Ghost, and let out a faint, rattling laugh.
It whispered in the soft, delicate voice of a young woman.
“Sister. What if…”
A question from a distant past.
“You could only save one… the world, or me.”
A question Ghost had been asked once.
“Would you still save me then?”
Yet, the nostalgic voice failed to move her.
She simply swung her sword and severed the monster’s neck.
The monster Lord’s head flew through the air, scattering droplets of blood.
She shook the blood from her blade.
Spinning the sword once, she sheathed it with a clink and turned away, her expression blank.
Her eyes met Jae-hee’s.
After a moment’s hesitation, she said curtly, “You did well, kid.”
The words were cold, as if forced, but they held a clumsy sincerity.
“This was your feat.”
A bright smile finally broke across Jae-hee’s face.
***
A medical team had been on standby with the Strike Force, just in case.
Thanks to them, the survivors received first aid: the soldiers with their various injuries, Sergeant Hwa Mu-gung with the deep gash on her leg, and…
“Shit. Seriously thought I was going to die…”
…Razor, whose shoulder and chest were mauled by the Phantom Tyrant.
It was a stroke of luck that the Gate Lord wasn’t a dedicated combat type. Though his right shoulder was shredded, Razor had managed to survive.
“That fucker Hangman’s suicide aura was more dangerous than the monster’s damn teeth. If I hadn’t passed out at just the right time, I would’ve gotten caught up in it and killed myself. Ugh… how many times did I cheat death today?”
Jae-hee was staring quietly at Razor, who lay grumbling on a stretcher wrapped in bandages, when Razor spat out a curse.
“The hell are you looking at, shitface? Wishing I’d just croaked back there?”
But Jae-hee just gave him a perfectly innocent little laugh. “You fought hard, Razor bro.”
“…Hah.”
Razor started to say something, then swallowed his words.
He jabbed a finger at Jae-hee with his good left hand. “You and I are going to have a talk when we get back to Deck 1.”
Razor would indeed be able to return to Deck 1.
Tat Rat and Barber, however, would not.
Though their bodies were recovered, the body cams attached to their Guillotine collars could not be. The Foghowlers had chewed them up so badly they were completely destroyed.
In the end, the cause of death for the two inmates would remain unknown.
Which was it? Had they been killed by the Foghowlers, or by Razor’s bone-dust bomb?
It was a mystery whose answer would never be found.
Then, one last survivor was belatedly discovered.
“Wahoo~!”
It was none other than Status Window, dancing and shaking his plump body.
“This stud is immortal desu~!”
He was discovered in the center of the fog zone: the Foghowlers’ den.
The monsters had set up their lair, a literal tiger’s den, right next to where the Gate had opened. And inside were not only captured prey like Status Window, but also…
“Hungry! Hungry!”
“Gimme food! Gimme food!”
…Foghowler cubs.
“Oh, my! Look at this!” Blushing, Silken Bodhisattva swept one of the cubs into her arms. “Oh my goodness. It’s so cute.”
“Gimme food! Gimme food!”
“They say all babies are beautiful, and it’s true, isn’t it? Even monster babies are cute. Coochie-coo!”
Cradling and cooing at the Foghowler cub, Silken Bodhisattva cried into her comms. “They’re so adorable. What should we do with them, Commander?”
«With their Lord defeated, there’s no research value in its cubs,» Commander Seo’s dry voice replied. «Proceed as per protocol.»
“Yessir.” Silken Bodhisattva smiled, gently placed the cub on the ground, and said, “Bye-bye.”
She snapped open her fan and fanned the air toward the cubs.
Pop! Pop! Pop—!
The heads of the Foghowler cubs all exploded at once.
Horrified, Jae-hee turned to Ghost and asked, “W-we’re killing them?”
Ghost nodded impassively. “Yeah.”
“But… they’re just babies…”
“Babies? So what? They’re still monsters who ate the people of this town and the soldiers.”
The tiger’s den was filled with a mountain of unrecovered human bones. Of all the prey dragged here by the Foghowlers, Status Window was the only survivor.
“The monsters from the other side don’t care if we’re old or young. So we’ve got to respond in kind.”
“…”
“Get this through your head: it’s kill or die,” Ghost spat coldly. “That is the one and only principle of this war—this deathwilled march to judgment.”
Jae-hee blinked in confusion. Deathwilled march to what?
Leaving him with those incomprehensible words, Ghost turned away from the den as if there was nothing left to see.
Jae-hee cast one last look back, then turned to follow her.
The remaining Black Parade agents were methodically eliminating the last of the monsters, their faces expressionless.
Pop, pop, pop…
***
Just as first aid was finishing, military hospital vehicles sent by the 17th Division arrived to pick up the survivors.
Sergeant Mu-gung Hwa hobbled toward a military vehicle on crutches. An elderly woman supported her, staying by her side until the very end.
Once inside the vehicle, Sergeant Hwa smiled, her face etched with exhaustion. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
“…”
“After you’ve spent a few months in the Gate disaster shelter, this area will be restored, and you’ll be able to return home. Then…”
“Ex-excuse me!” The stammering old woman hesitantly pulled something from her pocket.
It was an old iPhone. Once the latest model, it was now an ancient relic. Yet the device itself looked brand new, as if it had never been used.
“I’ve… I’ve lived without a phone for a long time. I found this in a hurry and turned it on. I haven’t even activated it yet, but it can still save numbers.”
“…”
“Could you… give me your number?”
Smiling faintly, Sergeant Hwa took the phone, keyed in her number, and handed it back.
“I’ll call you. No.” She reached out and gave the old woman’s hand a firm squeeze. “I’ll be back.”
The old woman bit her lip, trying to hold back tears, but she couldn’t stop the sobs that escaped.
Sergeant Hwa gently patted the woman’s thin, bony shoulders.
Watching this from a distance, Jae-hee whispered to Ghost, “Will she really come back?”
Ghost snorted. “You think?”
She then stroked her chin. “An ability to break through Realm Erosion… that soldier has a thorny path ahead of her.”
“Huh? Why a thorny path? Shouldn’t it be a great future? That’s an amazing ability.”
“She’ll be dragged into one hell after another now. Some great future.”
“Ah.”
Their eyes met one last time, and Sergeant Hwa smiled and gave him a nod. Jae-hee grinned and waved back.
Once the military vehicles were gone, Jae-hee let out a deep sigh. “Anyway, this mission was terrible. The zombies last time were no joke, but this was way more mentally exhausting. Monsters that imitate human voices…”
“…”
“The residents were going crazy hearing the voices of their long-lost loved ones, and I… huh. Come to think of it, whose voice did I hear?”
The memory was already fuzzy.
While Jae-hee was tilting his head, muttering, “Huh? Huh?” Ghost was recalling the voice she had heard.
“If you could only save one… the world, or me. Would you still save me then?”
Ghost bit her lower lip in silence.
It was nothing but a memory. A past that a thousand nights of regret could never change.
“Hmm~ who was it again~?” Jae-hee was lost in thought.
Ghost glanced at him, her brow furrowed deeply.
“Hm? What’s wrong?” he asked blithely.
Superimposed over the naive boy’s face, she could faintly see the face of the girl who had called her sister.
Ghost grit her teeth. “…Now I get it.”
“Huh?”
“Those damn innocent, round eyes of yours.” She jabbed a finger right in front of Jae-hee’s face. “They look just like hers. That’s why I felt so uneasy every time I looked at you.”
“Huhhh…?”
Leaving the bewildered Jae-hee behind, Ghost clicked her tongue and turned away. “Tch, I’ve made nothing but losing deals. I’m leaving.”
“Ah, wait up, Granny!”
“Wait up for what? Get away from me!” Ghost shoved her hands in her pockets and strode ahead. “I’m done with you.”
“What? No, why?”
“Because it looks like I’ll only keep losing if I stick with you.”
“You don’t know that! Besides, you promised!”
As Jae-hee clung to her side, Ghost shot him an annoyed glare. “A promise? What promise?”
“That if I survived, I’d treat you to a full-course meal!”
“…”
“This isn’t a loss for you, Granny, right?” The boy grinned with pure innocence. “I’ll treat you to something delicious. Let’s go!”
“…”
“C’mon, let’s go!”
Jae-hee dashed forward, pushing Ghost from behind as she clutched her throbbing forehead.
In the distance, the transport aircraft waiting for the prisoners began to roar to life, its rotors spinning.
It was time to return to the prison cruise—to Paradise Lost.
***
[Mission Report]
<Mission: Incheon in Fog—Success>
<Participating Agents>
[C-Rank] Razor: Survived
[B-Rank] Tat Rat: KIA
[B-Rank] Barber: KIA
[D-Rank] Status Window: Survived
[Unrank] Boy: Survived
[AA-Rank] Silken Bodhisattva: Survived
[AA-Rank] Little Lamb: Survived
[AA-Rank] Hangman: Survived
[A-Rank] Grease Gal: Survived
[■■■■] Ghost: Survived
<Spoils of War>
- Tyrantfang Carver (Further Processing Required)
<Mission Rewards>
- 300,000 P.€
- Gate Gear Production Voucher
- Leave Pass (7 Days)