Chapter 103
Let’s rewind to before we found Ise-ah.
“What’s this nonsense about playing detective?”
Shin Seo-ha frowned.
It’s understandable to be confused when someone says such things during a tour. Besides, there wasn’t enough time to offer a detailed explanation.
“This company is illegally processing the C-virus and injecting it into hunters.”
“What? Is such a thing even possible?”
“That’s the reason Winners Company has grown so explosively in such a short time.”
Shin Seo-ha’s face twisted in disbelief.
Her expression practically screamed, ‘What kind of bullshit is this?’
“Are you writing a novel?”
“I don’t have time to explain in detail.”
The reason I urged Shin Seo-ha on was clear.
“Ise-ah is in danger.”
I believed there would definitely be trouble between Yoon Byeong-cheol and Ise-ah. If she rejected his proposal, Yoon Byeong-cheol might forcibly inject her with the drug.
Not every route in the game follows the path of goodness, and this hidden quest, if you consider the direction, leaned toward evil.
‘If things go as they originally did…’
In the original route, Ise-ah, after rejecting Yoon Byeong-cheol’s offer, would be forcibly injected with the C-virus.
As a result, all interactions with Ise-ah would end quite early. Addicted to the virus, Ise-ah would become a puppet for Yoon Byeong-cheol and begin committing evil deeds.
‘I must stop it.’
I came here today to sever this dark fate between them.
“So, are we going or not?”
Shin Seo-ha could have ignored it, given that she didn’t get along with Ise-ah, but…
“You said that guy is dangerous, right? We should definitely go, shouldn’t we? Lead the way.”
The great Shin Seo-ha wouldn’t back down.
Upon hearing that Ise-ah was in danger, Shin Seo-ha’s attitude changed instantly.
“Should we head to the lobby? They said they were going there earlier.”
“No, they’re not in the lobby. There’s a hidden place somewhere in this building.”
“But how are we supposed to find it if we don’t know the location?”
“I know the location.”
From the moment we entered this building. No, from the moment we got out of the car, Yomi and I struggled to keep our composure.
Graaaah!
Kill meeeeeeee!
Since stepping into the building, the screams of the grudges echoed in our ears.
[Truly horrendous. It’s enough to make my ears bleed.]
So, ignoring it wasn’t an option. The hidden room wasn’t far from here.
“Let’s take the shortest route.”
“Understood.”
I grabbed Shin Seo-ha’s wrist and crossed the hallway. I had the building’s layout in my head, so I knew roughly where we needed to go.
“Who are you? You can’t just enter here.”
When security guards blocked the way, I pulled out the tag hanging around my neck without hesitation.
“The person who guided us earlier said that if we have this tag, we can go anywhere.”
I did my best to look wide-eyed and mimic a curious student.
“…Seriously?”
Shin Seo-ha looked at me with disdain, but there was no other option at the moment.
“Now that you mention it, there was a student tour scheduled for today. But if you were guided by…”
Gossip spreads quickly in any company. As the security guard recalled, his face grew pale.
“Oh, my goodness. I must be out of my mind to block students on a tour. So sorry, go ahead. Haha.”
“Thank you!”
It was like magic words—no door remained closed. Surely, Yoon Byeong-cheol wouldn’t have anticipated high schoolers snooping around like this.
The reason the multipurpose room was shown last was probably a form of gaslighting, subtly implying we should waste the rest of our time there.
“We’re almost there.”
I stopped in front of a small storage room piled high with miscellaneous items.
“This is the place?”
Shin Seo-ha glanced around skeptically.
No matter how you looked at it, the only room here was this one, and all the other paths were dead ends.
“The hidden room requires a special method to access.”
“A special method?”
I swung the door open.
A musty smell wafted from the piles of clutter.
“We’ll go through the ventilation ducts.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
I climbed onto a shelf and lifted the cover of the vent.
There were no CCTV cameras in the room, and traveling through the ventilation ducts was the most efficient way.
“I’ll go first, so stay close behind.”
Without hesitation, I squeezed my body into the dusty vent.
“This isn’t some spy movie. What are we even doing here?”
“That’s why I called it playing detective.”
Despite her grumbling, Shin Seo-ha followed me into the ventilation duct. Since the building was relatively new, the dust wasn’t as bad as expected.
“There it is.”
After twisting through several bends, we finally found the vent leading to the hidden room.
While pleasant smells wafted through most of the ducts, a rancid stench oozed from beyond this point.
“There they are. Shin Seo-ha, come take a look.”
“What? In this cramped space—”
“We’ll be going down soon, so hurry.”
“…Fine. If you’re that insistent.”
I shifted my body to create space for her. Shin Seo-ha, grumbling under her breath, crawled beside me in a crouched position.
“What the hell…?”
Peeking through the vent, Shin Seo-ha pressed her face to the slits.
Inside was a nightmare. she saw the people trapped in cages and a man shredding the body of a chimera. The scene was completely insane, and familiar faces could be spotted among the chaos.
“Exactly. You’re quick to understand.”
Yoon Byeong-cheol had his arm around Ise-ah’s shoulder. His hand was sliding toward her chest, making Shin Seo-ha narrow her eyes in disgust.
“That perverted bastard.”
As Yoon Byeong-cheol and Ise-ah exchanged words,
‘Yoon Byeong-cheol…!’
My Spirit Sight caught Yoon Byeong-cheol’s intent. He was retrieving something from his inside pocket, aiming to stab it into Ise-ah’s neck.
I placed my palm at the vent opening, channeling spiritual energy to my index finger. Although precise control was difficult without the Sain-gum, it wasn’t problematic enough to matter.
“Maximum water pressure.”
Bang!
The vent cover tore off as a powerful jet of water burst out, piercing straight through Yoon Byeong-cheol’s hand.
“Argh, who’s there?!”
Groaning in pain, Yoon Byeong-cheol looked up.
I intended to jump down first, but,
“You perverted bastard!!”
Shin Seo-ha beat me to it.
With a leap straight out of a comic book, she hurled herself down, delivering a devastating kick.
“Ugh!”
Yoon Byeong-cheol, struck squarely by her kick, collapsed to the floor.
‘Go ahead and take all the glory.’
A beat late, I followed Shin Seo-ha and jumped down.
“Seriously, you’re really late.”
Ise-ah demanded irritably, and I hastily made up an excuse.
“Sorry, Shin Seo-ha kept dragging her feet.”
“What? When did I ever!”
Ignoring the fuming Shin Seo-ha, I took a step towards Yoon Byeong-cheol.
He struggled to get up, his labored breaths and seething expression made it clear he was furious—humiliated at being caught off guard by mere high schoolers.
“It’s too early to feel sorry for yourself.”
Whoosh-!
A blue flame erupted in a corner of the laboratory.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-!
As the fire alarm blared and water poured incessantly from the sprinklers,
“Fire!”
“Get the extinguisher, quick!”
The sudden fire alarm threw the place into chaos. No amount of water would easily extinguish the foxfire.
“This means no reinforcements are coming to help you.”
The laboratory, isolated from the outside, prevented ordinary security personnel from entering.
Moreover, the researchers in the lab were too preoccupied with the flames to pay us any attention.
“I know all about your schemes. It’s time to give up.”
All the precautions taken to isolate the lab had ended up trapping Yoon Byeong-cheol inside like a rat in a cage.
But instead of despairing, he burst into laughter.
“Pfft, hahahaha!”
Despite being cornered, Yoon Byeong-cheol refused to concede easily.
“You think a bunch of kids can crush my ambition? Do you have any idea how I clawed my way up here from nothing…!”
“Give it up. You’re not even an Awakener. We need to ask you some questions, so we won’t rough you up.”
The CEO of a mercenary company doesn’t have to be an Awakener.
Yoon Byeong-cheol was an ordinary human. There was no way he could best three Awakeners.
“Do you really think you’ve won with just this?”
Yoon Byeong-cheol let out a sinister laugh. Even with my Spirit Sight, I couldn’t see any indication of his next move.
“Now that you know the company’s secrets, I’ll kill you all.”
“That sounds like something a third-rate villain would say. So, how exactly do you plan to do it?”
As I mocked him, Yoon Byeong-cheol opened his mouth wide, revealing a small pill hidden under his tongue.
“Consider it an honor. Ten times the potency of the injected dose! Let me show you the power of our latest product!”
Snap!
With a dramatic gesture, he bit down on the pill.
The moment Yoon Byeong-cheol bit into the pill, the concentrated grudges within erupted all at once.
The spirits shrieked as they surged into the foolish man who had awakened them, violently merging with his body.
“Urgh…! Gaaaah!”
Clutching his chest in agony, Yoon Byeong-cheol’s skin began to take on a sickly purple hue. A moment later, he collapsed to the floor, vomiting thick, black blood.
“What the—”
Sensing the danger, Ise-ah frowned deeply.
“AAAAARRGGHH!”
Yoon Byeong-cheol let out an inhuman roar, slamming his fists into the floor.
BOOM!
The metal floor, once sturdy and unyielding, warped and twisted as though it were mere taffy under his strength.
‘Horrifying.’
The true issue with the demonic beasts during the latter stages of the invasion wasn’t just their overwhelming numbers.
It was the grotesque mutations many underwent after being infected with the C-virus, dramatically enhancing their aggression and resilience.
“Sigh.”
Yoon Byeong-cheol’s body continued to convulse, grotesquely reshaping itself as the virus twisted him into something monstrous.
Hidden Quest!
-You are approaching the truth!
※ Stop Yoon Byeong-cheol’s rampage!
Drenched in highly concentrated C-virus, Yoon Byeong-cheol’s body was no longer human.
“Gurgh, gu-rrkk!”
His neck elongated and twisted at an unnatural angle. His shoulders bulged asymmetrically, and his limbs stretched like rubber. While his left hand shriveled, his right hand grew oversized, resembling a massive club.
Despite his monstrous transformation, Yoon Byeong-cheol laughed loudly as if he owned the world.
“I can’t believe I was the only one missing out on something that feels so good!”
Every time he opened his mouth, his joints creaked, and blood oozed from his lips. Yet, there was no sign of pain in his expression.
[The grudges have consumed him, leaving only his destructive instincts. Prepare yourself well!]
“Was planning to do just that.”
With an overwhelming aura, Yoon Byeong-cheol raised his grotesquely swollen right arm.
“Time to keep my promise.”
His eyes spun wildly in their sockets.
From his throat came a voice brimming with malice, crawling out like a curse.
“I’ll bury every last one of you here.”