Chapter 27: Episode 27

I found myself inside a derelict concrete building that felt like an ancient ruin. The full dungeonization hadn’t started yet, but the city itself was already a dungeon in more ways than one. As I walked through filthy alleys littered with trash, I occasionally spotted their inhabitants. A middle-aged man with lifeless eyes, reeking of alcohol, stumbled into a wall. As if it were too much trouble to get up, he simply lay down and fell asleep on the spot.

I turned into the next alley. A woman sat on a cobweb-covered stoop, chain-smoking as she watched me intently. Her body was loosely wrapped in rags, revealing blackened, grimy legs. Her hair was a tangled, disheveled mess.

“An outsider?” she asked. When I met her gaze, she grinned and held up a single finger.

“$10.”

A wave of nausea rose in my throat, and I turned away. “You need to evacuate the city. Monsters will appear soon.”

“$9.”

There was no room for conversation. Most of the people I’d seen here were the same. No matter how urgently we warned them, words alone couldn’t move those who seemed to have lost their will to live. It would be like this until the disaster struck for real.

As I walked away, she called after me, “Not for that? There’s only one reason a city person comes all the way out here.”

I said nothing.

“Or are you a hunter? If it’s about monsters, don’t worry. That kid will take care of it.”

’A kid?’ I turned back, wondering what she meant, but a group of men reeking of stale liquor were shuffling toward me. A confrontation with the residents would do no good, so I quickly made my exit.

After wandering through the squalid alleys, I found a building of a suitable height and made my way up. The monotonous creak of my footsteps on the stairs echoed in the silence. On the second floor, two men lay passed out amidst a scatter of Go-Stop cards and enough empty soju bottles to trip over, the air thick with a foul stench. I continued up to the fourth floor, which was deserted.

I took a speaker from my pocket, connected a cable, and hung it out the window before putting my phone to my ear. “I’m done on this side.”

“We just finished as well, Tower Master,” Seojin reported.

“Then hold your position. The security here is terrible, so take good care of Bora.”

“Oh, Yusin! Are you worrying about me right now?” Bora’s cheerful voice cut in.

I ended the call and sank onto a half-broken chair, taking a moment to breathe. I was exhausted, even though I hadn’t done much. I stared blankly out the window. The city’s atmosphere was so diseased that just being here seemed to drain my energy.

As I rested, my gaze drifted down to the street below. ’These people are a real piece of work.’ I saw someone not just staggering, but crawling on the ground. It had become a familiar sight since I’d arrived, and I was about to dismiss it.

’…Wait.’

Something was wrong. The figure began to twist violently, as if having a seizure, flailing its arms and legs. It wasn’t human anymore.

’Screee!’

’Kriee!’

’It’s started.’ I summoned my magic and bolted down the stairs as screams began to erupt from all over the city.

* * *

’VROOOOOM!’

A luxury import sped down the highway, its engine roaring. The man in the passenger seat had one arm draped out the open window, a cigarette dangling from his other hand. His name was Ma Jongguk, a certified rank-5 hunter, and he was not in a good mood. He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and glanced into the back seat at the three rookies—the guild’s rising stars, all aiming to pass the certified hunter exam this year.

’Why the hell am I on babysitting duty?’ he fumed silently. His colleagues were out on joint-guild raids while he was stuck chauffeuring these kids with provisional licenses to some grade-2 dungeon. What a rotten fate.

Jongguk flicked his cigarette out the window and turned his head. “How much longer?” he barked at the driver, a middle-aged man to whom he showed no respect.

The driver answered nervously, “We’ll arrive in about three hours.”

“Ah, shit, it’s so damn far. Seriously.”

In the back, the rookies flinched, stealing wary glances at him. The thought of wasting a whole day like this made Jongguk’s irritation boil over. He wanted to rough up the damn prospects out of sheer frustration, but he couldn’t. This babysitting gig was a form of punishment from the guild. He had to behave this time.

“What the hell?” Just then, a strange sight caught his eye. A crowd of people was scrambling onto the highway. “Stop the car.”

’SCREEECH!’

The car slid to a smooth halt, and the people swarmed it.

“P-Please save us! Please give us a ride!”

“Monsters! The monsters…!”

Jongguk rolled down his window, his face a mask of annoyance. “You have to explain what’s going on if you want a ride or for me to kill some monsters.”

“Kill the monsters? C-Could you be…?”

This was the moment Jongguk savored most. As if on cue, he pulled his hunter certification from his inner pocket and flashed it. “Rank-5 certified hunter, Ma Jongguk.”

“Ooh! A real hunter!”

“Please help us! Zombies have appeared in our town!”

“Zombies? Which town?” After getting the address, Jongguk smirked. “Don’t overreact. Your neighborhood probably just turned into a dungeon. They won’t leave their territory.” He immediately rolled the window back up and ordered the driver to move. “Well, what a windfall. Old man, put that address into the GPS. Let’s go.”

The driver looked at him, surprised. “B-But the guild’s schedule… Everyone will be waiting.”

Jongguk sighed dramatically and lifted his leg.

’CRASH!’

The window next to the driver’s seat shattered from a single kick. The driver yelped, twisting away from the spray of glass.

“Ah!”

“Shit! Keep your hands on the wheel! Hey, who did I say I was?”

“C-ceritfied rank-5 hunter Ma Jongguk…!”

“First time working in this field? The hunter profession is one big variable. A dungeon appears? You go, no questions asked. If you question my orders one more time…”

In the end, the driver turned the car as instructed. Jongguk grinned, propping an elbow on the broken windowsill and resting his chin in his hand. ’What a stroke of luck,’ he thought. ’If I play this right, I could make a real killing.’

* * *

A city’s ‘dungeonization’ happened in the blink of an eye. Just like in the movies, monsters were popping out from all directions. And, just as Seojin had predicted, they were zombies. They looked much as I had imagined: bodies covered in gruesome inflammation, flesh rotting off the bone. They shrieked with their eyes rolled back, stretching out pale, grasping arms. I was frantically fending them off while trying to evacuate the slum dwellers.

“Ugh, ahhhhhh!” a homeless man in front of me screamed as he fled.

A zombie caught his leg, tripping him, and opened its mouth wide to bite into his thigh.

<Rapid Arrow>

A volley of golden arrows materialized in the air and slammed into the zombie’s head. In that brief opening, the man scrambled away.

“This way! Get out of the city!” I yelled, pointing him toward safety.

After confirming he’d escaped, I turned my attention back to the monster. I thought I’d landed a critical blow, but despite the arrows in its skull, the zombie was still striding forward. For a rank 3, it was damn tough.

I kept it at bay with another burst of Rapid Arrows while scanning my surroundings. From a nearby alley, nearly a dozen more zombies were swarming toward me. I began to retreat, contacting Seojin. “Start it.”

On my signal, alarms blared throughout the city.

“Emergency situation. This is an emergency situation! Monsters have appeared. Please evacuate to a nearby shelter promptly through the emergency exits!”

The sound of sirens blanketed the city. We were playing a warning broadcast downloaded from the hunter website through the speakers we’d installed in various buildings to alert anyone still inside or asleep. It also served another purpose.

It was a move to lure the sound-sensitive zombies into empty buildings. As a few of the zombies chasing me peeled off toward the blaring alarm, I finally had a moment to breathe.

“Yusin! This side is all clear!” Bora, who had been handling those coming from the opposite direction, waved and ran toward me.

“Yeah, good wor—”

Suddenly, my pupils dilated. The stone wall to my right crumbled as a zombie burst out with its arms outstretched, heading straight for her. She was so shocked that she froze on the spot.

’Too far!’ I tried to cast a Shield, but she was outside the range of ‘Remote Casting.’ Just as the zombie’s gaping maw was about to close on her neck, it stopped dead.

’What?’ The zombie shook its head as if rebooting, then its gaze snapped elsewhere. Ignoring Bora completely, it broke into a run in the new direction.

“Bora! Are you okay?” I yelled.

Bora, who had collapsed to the ground, stared blankly for a moment before shouting back, “I’m fine! More importantly, there’s a resident over there…!”

The zombie that had been about to attack her had changed its target to one of the slum dwellers. I hastily chanted an attack spell.

<Ice Javelin>

An ice spear materialized at maximum speed, pierced the zombie’s leg, and pinned it to the ground. With the creature immobilized, I shouted to the fallen resident, “Use this chance to escape!”

“Th-Thank you!” the man cried, scrambling to his feet and fleeing.

I approached the pinned zombie. It snapped its jaws at me, trying to bite. I threw up a Shield, and the unintelligent creature gnashed its teeth against the barrier, struggling uselessly. ’It’s just a normal undead. What was that about?’

With a sigh, I brought Gauntlet on my right arm down on its head.

’Crack!’

A blue spark flew as the zombie’s skull slammed into the ground. I stomped on its back to hold it down and plunged the player-exclusive dagger I carried into its neck.

I put my weight into the blade and twisted. The creature’s flailing limbs gradually stilled, then went limp. I’d killed plenty of monsters, but ending the life of something that looked so human was never pleasant.

“Yusin!” Bora called as she ran up to me.

I pulled the dagger free, wiped the black fluid on the ground, and sheathed it at my belt. “Thank goodness. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks.” I thought she’d be terrified, but she just smiled bravely and brushed the dust from her clothes. “But what was that all about? The zombie ignored me and went for the resident, right?”

“That’s what it looked like to me, too.” I’d never heard of undead being selective about their targets. But that wasn’t the most pressing issue. “If the zombies are deliberately targeting the residents, that’s a problem. Are you okay to keep fighting?”

“Of course!” she said, her voice firm.

A piercing scream echoed from a nearby building, followed by the crash of toppling furniture and the sharp, inhuman cry of a zombie.

“Let’s hurry,” I said.

“Right!”

* * *

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