Chapter 36
“Huh, is there some reason you can’t do it?”
“Of course. Creatures sleep underground during the day. The moment we start digging tunnels, they’ll all wake up. How could we do that?”
“…”
“Where on earth did you live that you don’t even know this?”
Seo Won laughed awkwardly while his mind raced in that brief moment. Then he calmly uttered something unbelievable.
“Actually, there were no creatures where I used to live.”
“What? There’s a place like that?”
“I don’t know about now. Maybe it’s crawling with them like here.”
“Where was that?”
“Um… a very distant place. I don’t really know much about it either.”
Since the same meteorite that was here had fallen where he used to live, creatures might have appeared there too, or maybe not. Since he couldn’t go back, it was just speculation.
“…How did you get to Seoul?”
“I just ran around frantically, and somehow ended up here.”
“Does that make sense?”
To Haru, who was incredulous, Seo Won calmly asked,
“Do you know all about the situation outside Seoul?”
Then Haru hesitated. He had never left Seoul, nor had he ever tried to. Born in Yeongdeungpo Station shelter and having lived his entire life there, there was no way he could know about the outside situation.
“Well…”
“I don’t know everything either. Getting here was purely luck.”
“…”
Seo Won showed Haru his arm.
“There might be other people like me somewhere. Of course, there might not be. But there’s already an exception right in front of you, isn’t there?”
To Haru, who was speechless and gaping, Seo Won smiled gently.
“There are probably many more things in the world that we don’t know about.”
“…”
“So let’s not conclude that something is impossible.”
He cleverly layered reasonable arguments over the facts. Haru had no choice but to be convinced. As Seo Won said, there was already an exception right in front of him. While he couldn’t completely understand, he could grasp what he meant.
Scratching his head, Haru nodded, saying he understood.
Having barely gotten over one hurdle, Seo Won smiled brightly while inwardly feeling relieved. Then he made eye contact with Baek Rak, who was silently saying something.
Seo Won followed along word by word in his mind, then immediately recognized the word and furrowed his brow.
‘Conman.’
Conman, he said.
There wasn’t a single grain of falsehood in what he had said. Of course, if asked whether it was believable, he couldn’t guarantee it.
Anyway, the result wasn’t bad. It was like closing your eyes and playing peek-a-boo, but for now, this was the best approach.
Seo Won and Haru silently stared at the riverside. During the awkward silence, the water tank filled more than halfway. They were waiting for it to fill completely when it happened.
Baek Rak and Haru suddenly jerked their heads up. The two looked toward the sky above Yeouido and urgently shouted,
“Yoon Seo Won! Get to the driver’s seat right now!”
“Get ready to leave!”
Though startled, Seo Won immediately grasped the situation and climbed into the truck. After starting the engine and releasing the parking brake, he looked in the side mirror. A black object was rapidly approaching, casting a shadow over the red sky.
Even from a distance it looked fast, but seeing it up close, its speed was beyond imagination. In the brief moment Baek Rak and Haru were organizing the hose, Yeouido had already turned pitch black.
Creatures awakened one by one, their red eyes glowing as they looked this way.
Seo Won swallowed dry saliva and placed his hand on the gear, ready to depart immediately.
As soon as he made eye contact with the two who had finished organizing the hose, Seo Won immediately moved the truck.
“Yoon Seo Won! Drive at full speed!”
At Haru’s shout, Seo Won changed gears and continued to increase speed. But the darkness had already passed the riverside and caught up right behind them.
The sound of creatures awakening could be heard.
Kiiiiiiaaaak!
The truck was instantly swallowed by darkness, and simultaneously, red eyes sprouted from all directions.
Unable to see ahead, Seo Won hastily turned on the headlights. Then a creature rushed at him from the front, its mouth torn wide open. Too shocked to breathe, Baek Rak shouted,
“Floor it! Keep running!”
Baek Rak, who had rushed forward, began wielding his blue sword against the creatures. There wasn’t even time to be overwhelmed by their tremendous numbers. Seo Won gripped the steering wheel tightly and drove the truck at maximum speed.
Bang! Bang! Crack!
But the creatures quickly caught up to the water-laden truck’s speed. They clung to the truck from all sides. Then one that had latched onto the door stuck its claws between the security bars and shattered the window.
Glass poured into the driver’s seat with a sharp sound. Seo Won crouched down but didn’t slow his speed.
A second attack immediately followed. A long tentacle shot through the bars toward his face, and Seo Won hastily ducked his head.
However, the tentacle couldn’t even enter the driver’s seat and was pushed back outside. Not knowing what had happened, he raised his head to see Baek Rak, who had been fighting up ahead, looking at him. Turning his body again, he dealt with the creatures rushing at him.
“…”
Had Baek Rak dealt with the creature hanging on the driver’s door?
“Park Haru! Protect Yoon Seo Won first!”
“Ah! Damn it! I can’t get to the front!”
Seo Won came to his senses and looked out the car window. The urgency was evident in the teal arrows flying wildly around. Haru, who had been on the water tank, couldn’t even reach the driver’s seat and was caught by creatures.
Realizing the unavoidable situation, Baek Rak positioned himself on the truck’s front bumper. Seo Won looked at Baek Rak’s back in front of him, then looked ahead again. His heart pounded at the swarm of creatures pouring in like a tsunami.
“This is okay, right?”
At Seo Won’s trembling voice, Baek Rak said while fighting creatures,
“You won’t die, so don’t worry. Just keep driving!”
“Hitting creatures is slowing down the speed…”
“Just a little more to go.”
How much further do we have to go…
Unable to ask, he gripped the gear knob tightly.
This wasn’t the first time seeing creatures up close. He had been chased as soon as he arrived in this world, and had encountered turncoats too. He had faced them more than three times when Yeongdeungpo Station shelter was attacked. But he had never been surrounded like this. He was completely encircled.
“…There are too many.”
Thousands, tens of thousands of bright red eyes flickered as they rushed at him in the seamlessly dark space. From the front, from both sides, from behind.
Every time they rammed the truck with their entire bodies, the vehicle swayed violently. The side mirrors had already fallen off, and with the broken glass, rough wind whipped through harshly.
It was a mind-numbing situation.
Seo Won breathed heavily while staring at Baek Rak’s back. He was earnestly swinging his sword as if trying to keep his promise to protect him.
Clatter! Bang!
But the car was rapidly falling apart.
The security bars on the driver’s and passenger seats were torn off. With the glass also shattered and gone, they were directly exposed to the creatures’ attacks.
It felt like floundering in darkness with no exit.
“Yoon Seo Won! Get a grip.”
“Huff, this is… insane.”
“We’re almost there!”
Baek Rak’s urgent voice pierced his ears. Seo Won trembled and shook his head vigorously.
“…Damn it.”
“Keep running! Just keep running!”
“Is Haru… okay?”
“I’m here! I’m here! I’m fi-, ugh! -ne!”
At Haru’s shout from the water tank area, Seo Won let out a long breath. As Baek Rak said, if they went just a little further, the shelter would be visible. Having run this far, it should soon come into view…!
“Huh?”
Then, while driving the swaying truck and watching the front, Seo Won witnessed a strange sight.
The creatures that had been attacking like mad suddenly parted left and right like the Red Sea splitting. The pouring attacks stopped, and the ones ramming the vehicle disappeared.
Around the battered truck, only darkness remained, with not a single red eye left. Only then could he see faint light in the distance. The sparsely arranged, regular lights were the illumination of Yeongdeungpo Station shelter.
Bewildered, Seo Won asked Baek Rak,
“Why did they all suddenly disappear? We haven’t even entered the safe zone yet.”
“…”
But Baek Rak only glared straight ahead silently. With even the high beams on, he could see the distant road, and at the end of that light, something was swaying.
“Fuck, why now of all times…”
Haru, who had been on the water tank, was now hanging on the driver’s door, cursing. Wondering what was wrong, Seo Won looked at Haru, who was glaring straight ahead like Baek Rak.
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Whatever’s in front, just think about running it over and keep driving.”
“…What are you talking about? Run it over?”
It was incomprehensible. What on earth was happening? But whatever had been visible at the end of the high beam’s light finally revealed its identity.
Seo Won squinted and looked at it.
Two legs, a torso, both arms, and a head.
At first glance, it looked human, so he wondered if it was a turncoat.
But it wasn’t a turncoat with black skin and red eyes. It was a man wearing pants and a shirt, with pale skin just like Baek Rak and Haru.
“…What, why is there a person?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
