Jae-hee Han had gotten mixed up in this mess for one reason: he was confident.
Confident that when things went south, he could bolt without a second thought.
The young man had spent most of his short life scraping by as a petty thief. When it came to the art of the getaway, he was a natural.
Trivial matters—like the nagging guilt of leaving innocent people to die or the need to contribute to the mission to earn his freedom—were all secondary.
He only ever moved when he had a clear escape route. It was how he’d survived as a petty thief for so long.
“Ugh, ughhh…”
Lately, though, Jae-hee felt like his instinct for finding an exit had gone completely haywire.
He could write off the bank heist; Brain had suckered him into that one.
But this Daejeon Station Gate closure mission… he’d thought he could just ditch if things got hairy.
“Grrrrrrr…”
The monster before him, however, didn’t look like it planned on letting him escape.
At Daejeon Station, the violet Gate bloomed and billowed like a malevolent cloud. Before it, the zombie Miss Hellth roared.
“KUUUUUUUUAAAAARGH—!”
How she could scream with her head half-severed and dangling was a mystery, but the force behind that shriek might as well have been a bomb blast.
The already-cracked pavement shattered, sending chunks of asphalt flying. The struggling streetlights and the wheezing speakers, still blaring music, all snapped and bent in the opposite direction.
“Whoa. What a set of lungs. She’s really tearing the house down.”
A cold sweat broke out on Jae-hee’s brow as he glanced at Ghost.
“How are we supposed to kill that? I mean, can we even kill it? Wouldn’t it be better to just run for it now?”
“…”
Plenty of zombies had blocked their path on the way here, but Ghost had cut them all down. Those were just weak corpses, dangerous only for their numbers and their bite.
The creature before them was on another level entirely.
This was Miss Hellth, an A-rank Awakened, transformed into a zombie and then elevated to a Boss Monster.
“So what? We run?” Ghost scoffed, raising her sword. “It’s still just a zombie. What’s it gonna do, besides bite?”
The words had barely left her mouth when—
Fshuk! Fshuk!
Spears of blood erupted from all over Miss Hellth’s muscular body, writhing grotesquely.
Ghost, speechless for a moment, muttered reluctantly, “That must be Miss Hellth’s ability, Blood Spear…”
“Looks like she can do a lot more than just bite! And wait, are those spears or tentacles?!”
As if on cue, the blood spears began to twitch violently to the rhythm of the trot music still blaring from the surrounding speakers.
Staring down the menacing display, Ghost tightened her grip, placing both hands on the hilt of her sword.
“Don’t worry. No matter the monster, as long as my blade finds its mark, I can handle it.”
CRRR-ACK—!
The instant she finished speaking, Miss Hellth’s muscles tensed, and her already massive frame hardened, taking on the appearance of solid rock.
Jae-hee shot her an awkward look. “You think your blade will find its mark…? For real?”
“…That bitch is actually conscious, isn’t she? It’s like she understands what I’m saying and just keeps one-upping me.”
Grumbling, Ghost broke into a chilling smile and crouched, ready to charge.
“Well, we’ll find out once I stick her with the pointy end. See if it goes in or not.”
“Ooh… I believe in you, Grandma Ghost…!”
“Good. Now you go first, flyboy. Get its attention.”
“Right. Had to be me.”
As much as he hated it, helping Ghost was his best bet for getting out of here alive.
Reluctantly, Jae-hee shuffled forward and settled into a crouch.
Just then—
“Krrruuuuuu…!”
Miss Hellth let out a low, long cry, different from before.
Grrruhhh…
Grruuuuuuhhh…!
The zombies across the area responded to her roar.
Until now, they had been mindless creatures reacting only to the stimuli directly in front of them. But now, as if obeying a command, they began to slowly converge on Miss Hellth’s position.
A panicked Jae-hee yelped, “Eehhh—?! The other zombies are coming this way! Looks like Miss Hellth has just as big a fanbase as Flight Risk did!”
Ghost clicked her tongue.
“Swarm Calling. A Boss Monster’s sovereign power to summon minions.”
“Damn, talk about a promotion! Look at all the perks!”
Zombies were already a pain to fight because of the risk of infection, and now they had to deal with the Boss Monster, Miss Hellth. Every bit of backup was a massive annoyance.
Ghost’s elegant brow furrowed. “Model Student, that shithead… He swore he’d handle the cannon fodder…!”
The plan had been simple: Model Student holds off the regular zombies, Jae-hee distracts the Boss Monster, and Ghost delivers the killing blow. Now, a critical piece of that plan was missing.
Glaring at the dense horde of zombies approaching from a distance, Ghost spat, “I swear on my life, I’m going to kill that son of a bitch myself.”
“That’s great and all, but what do we do right—whoa-aah?!”
“KUUUUUUUUAAAAARGH—!”
Miss Hellth howled and took the lead, a horde of zombies following in her wake.
There was no arguing with that kind of overwhelming, violent force.
As if by unspoken agreement, Jae-hee and Ghost broke into a sprint at the same time, splitting to either side.
***
Daejeon Station, underground.
The air was filled with ragged gasps.
A group of blood-spattered survivors huddled in the underground shopping arcade, desperately catching their breath.
All of them were seasoned survivors, hardened by Daejeon’s zombie hellscape. But they hadn’t been prepared for the frenzy triggered by the new Gate—an onslaught they couldn’t counter.
Survivor groups scattered throughout the city had gathered here for a final stand, but they were at their limit.
“Anyone got bullets left?”
“Ran out ages ago. Backup weapons are gone, too. What we’re holding is all we have.”
“Are we the only combatants left?”
“Looks like it.”
Deeper inside the arcade, the non-combatants—the wounded and the elderly—trembled in silence.
Only a dozen or so people were still able to fight.
Even then, they were out of ammo, and their barricade materials were gone.
Grrhhh…
Gruuhk…
Dozens of zombies tangled against the flimsy barricade at the entrance to the passageway, their arms flailing toward the survivors inside.
The moment that barricade fell, it was over for everyone.
“If we stay here, we’re just waiting to die,” one said. “We have to get to the main station and escape through the subway tracks.”
“But the path is crawling with zombies. There’s no way to break through.”
Pushed back by the relentless assault, they had nowhere left to retreat. Their only chance was the subway platform, but hundreds of zombies swarmed the path.
The same thought crossed every survivor’s mind: Is this it for us…?
Suddenly…
BOOM—!
A gunshot echoed from the zombie-infested corridor.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!
It was the hearty blasting of a military-grade shotgun, followed by the wet thuds of zombies exploding and collapsing in heaps.
The startled survivors clutched their makeshift weapons and peered down the corridor.
“What was that?”
“Gunfire? Are there other survivors?”
Soon, the shotgun fell silent, its ammunition spent.
In its place, the crack of a pistol rang out at perfectly measured intervals. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…!
The gunman had plowed through the zombie horde with a shotgun and was now finishing off the rest with a pistol, pushing steadily forward.
Swallowing nervously, the survivors urged the unseen figure onward.
BANG—!
Finally, a figure emerged at the end of the corridor.
He was a well-built man wearing glasses, the lower half of his face covered by a bandana.
It was Model Student, an agent of the Black Parade.
Though missing his left hand, he was clearing the hallway with flawless, right-handed marksmanship. Each time his pistol spat fire, a zombie’s head exploded.
Click!
His magazine emptied.
As Model Student flicked the pistol aside to eject it, the remaining zombies surged forward to close the gap.
THWACK—!
Model Student slammed a front kick into the nearest zombie while slapping his pistol onto a fresh magazine from his thigh belt. The entire tactical reload, seamlessly integrated with the kick, took less than a second.
The kick caved in the lead zombie’s chest, sending it flying backward into the others and creating a tangled pileup. At the same moment, Model Student resumed firing.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…!
The mechanically precise slaughter was almost a work of art. The survivors’ jaws hung open.
By the time the second magazine was empty, only a few zombies with their heads still intact remained.
Model Student casually pocketed the pistol and drew a dagger.
GRRAAAHK!
The last of them shrieked and charged.
Shlick! Shlick—!
Model Student’s blade flashed, and their throats were torn out.
“…Hoo.”
Having cleared the corridor, Model Student let out a long breath. Though his body was in the process of turning, he was still sweating, and a faint steam rose from his skin.
“My God…” one of the survivors breathed.
An Awakened, trained to slay monsters.
A savior, protecting the ordinary in a collapsing world—“A Hunter…!”
Realizing who he must be, the survivors erupted in cheers.
“It’s a Hunter! A Hunter came to save us!”
“We’re saved! We’re going to live!”
“Thank you, Sir Hunter! Thank you for rescuing us!”
“…”
Model Student didn’t answer. He leaned against the corridor wall.
The survivors hastily cleared the barricade. Once the path was open, a middle-aged woman rushed out and held out her hand.
“I’m the one in charge of this survivor group. They call me the Director. We are so grateful that you came, Sir Hunter. Thanks to you, we’re—”
“The cure.”
“Excuse me?” The Director blinked at his abrupt words.
Fighting to keep his voice from cracking, he managed to ask, “The zombie cure. I heard you were researching it here. Is that true?”
“Ah, yes! That’s right! We are!”
“Then—then you have to hurry and—” Model Student began, but the Director cut him off, beaming.
“With just a few more years of research, we should start seeing tangible results!”
Model Student’s thoughts ground to a halt.
What?
A few more years?
The Director nodded. “Then we’ll finally have a way to cure those who’ve been turned.”
“…”
“Had we died, all our research and data would have been lost. But thanks to you, Sir Hunter… we can continue our work.”
Model Student squeezed his eyes shut.
Ah.
He had known, really. That there would be no miracle, no cure that would turn him back into a human.
The zombie cure had never existed.
And he… once the transformation was complete, he would no longer be human.
It was all ending, just like that. So pointlessly.
Ah…
The rationality he had clung to so desperately began to crumble.
Deep within him, an urge he had suppressed ever since being bitten began to churn violently.
I’m hungry.
It was starvation.
His teeth itched. His throat was parched. He wanted to chew, to tear, to swallow anything and everything.
He had managed to resist, sustained by a threadbare sliver of hope.
…But now?
Model Student’s bloodshot eyes flicked toward the survivors in the shopping arcade. His vision swam red.
Why bother holding back anymore?
The glitter in their eyes, that hope for life... it looked so irresistibly appetizing.
He swallowed, slow and thick.