Chapter 144

The zombies’ howling grew even more ferocious as it got deeper in the night.

The dark blue sky gave way to inky blackness, making it even harder to locate where the enemies were. I sharpened my hearing and my sight as I made my way around the hotel, searching for threats.

Rustle—

There was a noise to the right, as though something had disturbed the foliage. I turned toward the source of the sound and saw a couple of stage-one mutants making their way over to me. I sighed to expel my nervousness and gave orders to my underlings.

‘First squad and second squad, defend the hotel. If any enemies appear, let me know. Third and forth squad, follow me.’

KIAAA!

First and second squad took a loop around the Grand Walkerhill Hotel to search for any nearby threats. As they did so, I led third and fourth squad to the Vista Hotel, which was to the southeast.

As I got closer, I noticed a barricade in front of the hotel. The soldiers from Gangnam were arrayed in formation behind it, and were on the lookout. There were a total of one hundred and twenty survivors from Gangnam, and half of them were soldiers.

As I approached the entrance, a couple of soldiers pointed their guns at me.

"Stop! Identify yourself!” they shouted.

Their absurd question left me speechless. After an awkward silence, Park Shin-Jeong smacked the soldiers on the head.

“You fool! He’s the leader here!” he admonished the soldier.

“My, my apologies!”

The thought crossed my mind that the survivors of Gangnam hadn’t yet had the chance to properly see my face until now. The only other time they’d seen me was when they had disembarked from their cruise ship.

I suddenly wondered if I should’ve been thankful that they hadn’t shot me.

I entered the hotel and moved over to Park Shin-Jeong.

“Did you detect any other movement around the hotel?”

The soldier gasped, surprised by the speed at which I had appeared in front of him.

“Hmm.. We didn’t identify any particular movements,” he reported, while keeping his eye on the surroundings.

“There’s something out there, and it managed to lop off a zombie’s head in one blow. It definitely won't be a normal zombie. Don’t let your guard down, and keep an eye out. If it happens to be a black creature.. It’ll be very difficult to detect with your naked eye.”

Park Shin-Jeong nodded vigorously and peered out beyond the barricade. I noticed Bae Jeong-Man approaching from the rear of the hotel.

He looked at me and asked in a calm voice, “The man named Do Han-Sol.. Is he someone we can trust?”

“Why, is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. I was just wondering if there might have been nothing to worry about, especially if there are issues with zombies communicating with one another.”

My eyebrows twitched as he made his suggestion. Underlings couldn’t lie. They couldn’t lie because the only thing they knew was to follow orders. I assumed Bae Jeong-Man had said what he’d said because he didn’t know exactly how the chain of command worked between zombies.

I brushed aside his suggestion, then took a calming breath and let it out.

“Have you ever had the experience of facing a black creature?”

“I saw one fighting the members of the Family.”

“If you’ve faced one yourself, you won’t be able to say what you just said.”

“...”

Bae Jeong-Man remained silent. After a moment, he loaded his K2 rifle and headed back toward the rear of the hotel again. When he left, I positioned the third and fourth squads around the Vista Hotel, then entered the hotel as well.

I saw Lee Jeong-Hyuk and the principal in the lobby. The two of them were armed and were running toward me.

“So-Yeon's father, what’s going on all of the sudden?”

“I’m not sure yet.. But it seems like a black creature has appeared.”

“A, a, black creature?”

Lee Jeong-Hyuk’s eyes went wide, and looked at the principal, who was next to him. It seemed like the two of them had realized how serious things were, and were trying to help the survivors from Gangnam. However, this wasn’t their time to step up.

I looked over at Lee Jeong-Hyuk. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via n(0))vel(b)(j)(n).

“What about So-Yeon?” I asked him.

“She’s on the fifteenth floor with Han Seon-Hui. Da-Hye is there too, with the rest of the children.”

“Don’t go outside. Look after those inside the hotel.”

“Huh?”

Lee Jeong-Hyuk seemed taken aback at my unexpected answer. He looked back and forth between the principal and myself. The principal, who was beside him, grabbed his arm.

“Let’s go back.”

“What do you mean? There are people outside,” he objected.

I put my hand on his shoulder with a frown.

“Let’s wait on the fifteenth floor. Listen to So-Yeon’s father,” said the principal.

"Huh? Then what about the people outside...”

Lee Jeong-Hyuk trailed off and swallowed.

I picked up where he’d left off.

“The creature in Gwangjang-dong right now.. It’s different from the zombies we’ve encountered so far. There’s nothing wrong with being careful.”

“...”

“Go back for now. Go and stay with the others.”

Lee Jeong-Hyuk looked at the soldiers outside the front entrance and bit his lower lip. After a moment, he clicked his tongue vigorously and went back to the stairs inside the emergency exit. The principal did not follow him right away. Instead, he sighed and turned to me.

“Is the situation that bad?” he asked.

“I’m also now sure what the exact situation is. One of Do Han-Sol’s underlings, which was stationed outside the hotel, was attacked. Whatever did that should have reached us by now.. But I haven’t felt its presence yet. I can feel that something isn’t right.”

“We’ll keep So-Yeon safe.”

“Thank you."

I gave the principal a small bow, then hurried up the stairs of the emergency exit. When I got to the rooftop, the howling, raging wind buffeted me. I had gone all the way up to get a good view of the entire city, but it was difficult to concentrate because the force of the wind seemed to muffle all other sounds.

In the distance, I saw guards and purple-colored zombies stationed in front of the Grand Walkerhill Hotel. They were clustered near the entrance, keeping a lookout. In front of them, I saw Do Han-Sol.

I waved toward him. He quickly noticed me and waved back. Even though we were far apart, we could communicate by looking into each other’s eyes. I looked at him in the eyes and asked.

‘How’s the situation over there?'

'Nothing yet.’

'What exactly did your dead underling say?’

‘Enemy. That’s all it said.’

'Just enemy? How many times have you gotten signals like that?’

‘They usually sent signals like ‘enemy detected’ or ‘enemy approaching’. They’ve never sent me single-word signals before.’

This lent significant weight to the hypothesis that his underling’s head had been lopped off immediately after detecting the enemy.

I couldn’t fathom what kind of creature could have done such a thing.

Once zombies became stage-two mutants, each zombie acquired unique abilities according to their desires. Knowing this, I knew I had to take into consideration that it could be a stage-two mutant that had the ability to erase its presence, or a stage-three mutant that was superior in every aspect.

It would be great news if it were a stage-two mutant.. But if it was either a stage-three mutant or a black creature, we were almost guaranteed to suffer additional casualties.

I’d been running through several scenarios, trying to imagine what this creature could be, but I still couldn’t figure out what it could be. I also couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t making the first move to attack us. I couldn’t help but suspect that it was watching us. If it had the ability to think, there was the possibility that it could be a scout sent by the Family.

As I was lost in thought, I heard footsteps coming from the entrance of Gwangjang-dong. Despite the howling wind, I heard it loud and clear.

My blue eyes flashed as I stared at Gwangjang intersection. I focused fully on sharpening my eyesight, and I saw a purple blob making its way toward us.

It was a being, colored entirely purple.

It was Kim Hyeong-Jun and his underlings.

A broad grin spread across my face, and I leaped over to the rooftop of the next building over. I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Kim Hyeong-Jun had returned alive. I crossed from rooftop to rooftop and made my way toward him.

“Hyeong-Jun!” I called to him, as loudly as I could.

He looked up at me and raised his right hand up high.

"Ahjussi!! I brought survivors!!” he yelled back.

There were several people behind Kim Hyeong-Jun. There were about fifteen trembling survivors, each hanging onto the back of a purple-colored zombie, with about four hundred underlings escorting them.

He had lost over half of his two thousand underlings. His remaining forces showed me clearly just how fierce it was in Gangnam. Despite that, Kim Hyeong-Jun had a smile on his face, so I assumed that he had eaten the brains of some zombies with glowing red eyes.

Suddenly, a black shadow darted toward him, from the direction of Achasan. It flashed toward him, giving him no time to react properly.

My eyes went wide as the black shadow continued its approach.

“Duck!”

Kim Hyeong-Jun sensed the desperation in my voice and immediately dropped into a crouch. The black shadow had swooped past his underlings and disappeared into the darkness. I hurried to Kim Hyeong-Jun and dropped into a defensive stance.

Kim Hyeong-Jun seemed confused by the sudden and unexpected turn of events. “What.. What in the world? Ahjussi? What just happened?”

“Get everyone inside. Quickly.”

Steam leaked from my mouth as I spoke. Kim Hyeong-Jun swallowed and nodded. The survivors realized the severity of the situation and burst into tears.

“But, but you said it was safe here..!”

I heard the survivors all around me sobbing and sighing. It seemed they were shaken by what had just happened, having believed that they had already reached a safe haven.

My teeth ground together audibly as I addressed the survivors.

“Get yourselves together if you don’t want to die. Don't make a sound.”

The survivors fell silent immediately, although silent tears still leaked out. Kim Hyeong-Jun gave orders to the remaining underlings behind him.

“Everyone, get to the hotel as quickly as possible.”

The closest hotel was the Vista Hotel. Kim Hyeong-Jun and I ran toward the barricade, keeping our eyes on the surroundings. When we reached the barricade in front of the hotel, Park Shin-Jeong opened the entrance.

“Who.. Who are these people?” he asked.

“They’re survivors from Gimpo Airport.”

As Kim Hyeong-Jun answered, he counted the number of survivors. Park Shin-Jeong looked at their outfits, and his eyes went wide.

“Are they airline employees?”

“They’re valuable people. Put them in the lobby first.”

"Wait.. Then you should go to the Grand Hotel instead of bringing them here. Lee Jeong-Uk is in charge of new survivors..”

“Let them in first!” Kim Hyeong-Jun shouted.

Park Shin-Jeong nodded without saying a word. Kim Hyeong-Jun frowned.

“What happened while I was gone?” he asked me.

“A few minutes ago, something attacked one of Do Han-Sol’s underlings that had been on guard duty outside of the hotel. And I think the underling died even before it could finish sending Do Han-Sol a signal.”

"Then.. It's got to be a black creature, no?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. The thing that just attacked you also had black skin.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun slicked his hair back, and his expression grew nervously.

“Ahjussi, have you ever seen a creature that fast?” His voice was trembling.

“...”

I couldn’t find anything to say. I felt the same way as he did.

This opponent was on a different level, one that I hadn’t encountered before. I couldn’t picture us defeating it. It was difficult just to track its movements.

The thought of attacking first did not cross my mind. I didn't even have the confidence that we would be able to hold it off if it attacked us. It seemed impossible to surpass its speed. And considering that it was a black creature.. I already knew that its power would surpass ours.

Even more disturbing, I didn’t see the eyes of the black creature that had just attacked Kim Hyeong-Jun. I knew it would be impossible for a newly transformed black creature that couldn’t even open its eyes to move so quickly. And if it had red or blue eyes, I should have been able to see them.

But.. It has just flashed past us earlier, like a shadow.

Kim Hyeong-Jun wet his parched lips.

“Ahjussi, I think this black creature..”

“Is a stronger one.”

I frowned as I finished his sentence. A being stronger than a blue-eyed black creature. I couldn't even fathom its abilities.

We’d barely managed to defeat a blue-eyed black creature before. If this other creature was stronger than it, I knew we stood no chance. It also seemed like this black creature had some level of intelligence. It almost felt like it was thinking. It wasn’t the sort of being that attacked impulsively. Rather it seemed wary of its surroundings, and was looking for an opening.

Just like a hunter waiting for their prey to get caught in their trap, it was waiting for us to let our guard down.

I couldn’t help but wonder if stage-three Mood-Swinger would be able to handle it. But if Mood-Swinger went down.. That would be even more terrible. If our underlings went down trying to fight it, that would affect our ability to hold off the Family’s forces in the future.

Nothing was in our favor.

I gently closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I knew better than to waste time like this. Whether I was ready or not, I had to make a decision.

I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“How’d you manage to escape Gangnam?” I asked.

“I abandoned my underlings at the southern and northern ends of Sogang Bridge and left. I forced the survivors to get onto my underlings’ backs, and we ran here nonstop.”

“Are the members of the Family still there?”

“They’re still fighting with my underlings. I keep getting signals. It seems like the boss is making his way through my underlings, though.”

I sucked on my lower lip and gave him a determined look.

“Let’s make ourselves bait.”

“What?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun stared blankly at me with his eyes wide open. His mouth fell open, clearly unable to comprehend the absurdity of my statement.