080 – The Intensity is From 1 to 7!# 2
“The Zombie’s Demon. Surrender. I will have Seugal execute my seven-step torture plan if you don’t surrender.
Step one is holding hands.
If you don’t surrender by tonight, we’ll move on to step two tomorrow.”
Seo Do-cheol felt his hair stand on end as he read the message from the abductor. The reason was simple: the email address, known only to him and his daughter, had been used, and there was a photo of his daughter, Seugal, holding someone’s hand while screaming in distress.
When he played the attached audio, a gut-wrenching scream pierced through the air.
–Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! You perverted freak!
At the sound of his daughter’s scream, Seo Do-cheol’s bl**d alternated between freezing cold and boiling hot numerous times. His vision blurred, dizziness overwhelmed him, and nausea crept up.
“Nam San-ho, you son of a b*tch!!!”
Seo Do-cheol was certain that the abductor was Nam San-ho. No one else would so openly reveal such a disturbing desire for his daughter.
‘…This is all my fault.’
He regretted it. Why had he even considered arranging an engagement between his daughter and a man like Nam San-ho?
All he had wanted was to fulfill his daughter’s wishes. To honor the promise he had made with his late wife.
As Seo Do-cheol thought about his daughter suffering somewhere, tears welled up in his eyes.
At that very moment,
Seugal was washing her hands with soap. She’d felt uneasy after holding hands with Hanamjin last night.
“Hanamjin, you crazy pervert!”
“Calm down.”
“What am I supposed to calm down for? You’re just spectating from across the river, so it’s fun to you, right? I can’t be the only one suffering like this. If you progress with him, then you must progress with me, too. If you don’t, I won’t cooperate!”
“What? That’s unreasonable!”
Though Yu Yeo-reum frowned, Seugal was already determined. If the Zombie’s Demon didn’t surrender, the intimacy level would increase every day. By step three, it was tolerable. By step four, she wanted it stopped. And if she couldn’t stop it, she wouldn’t suffer alone.
However,
to be honest, she couldn’t think of a better bait than this for Nam San-ho. He was a man with an overpowering possessive streak.
“The Zombie’s Demon is really Nam San-ho; he’ll reveal himself before reaching step two. That level of obsession made me want to throw up. He wouldn’t even let her talk to other men.”
In reality, Seugal’s engagement to Nam San-ho had come to an abrupt halt before it began because President Nam Tae-geon had rejected Seo Do-cheol’s proposal for engagement.
Though Seo Do-cheol felt humiliated, Seugal didn’t even give it much thought—at least, not until then. In some ways, she thought it was for the best.
“Nam San-ho was handsome, but not my type. I don’t like overly clingy men. And I’d heard some bad things about him.”
However, for some reason, Nam San-ho began to act as if the engagement still stood. If Seugal conversed with another man, Nam San-ho would intrude, and if she even gave other men a passing glance, it would provoke his fury.
“You should’ve seen how he knelt and demanded that the café worker, who asked for my number, retract the offer before filing a false s*xual harassment claim.”
The incident at N-Mart also stemmed from Nam San-ho’s obsession. That day, the bright full moon had weakened her powers. Nam San-ho had found her and started babbling nonsense, declaring, “Let’s run away and live together.”
“That freak thought I didn’t resist because I liked him. If he had dragged me away…”
Seugal resisted as much as she could. When she pushed him down the stairs, he rolled over and broke his neck.
He’s dead?!?
At first, that’s what she thought, but later, her mother’s ring that Nam San-ho had taken from her was found at the commemorative park. This meant that Nam San-ho was alive and the zombies that had tried to catch her that day were under his command.
The commemorative park, where her mother rested.
It was obvious Nam San-ho had anticipated her coming and had set the zombies loose to capture her. What a pervert.
“Why were you going to be engaged to such a man?”
“Because he was the president’s adopted son. When Nam San-ho eventually succeeds to the office and becomes president, I become the First Lady. Then, I would be a queen like the princesses in fairy tales, right? That was my mother’s dream.”
“Being a queen?”
“Living like a princess.”
Seugal recalled the promise she had made with her mother. Her mother had wanted her to live like the princesses in fairy tales, but in reality, she was being abused by her abductor.
‘Though, in a way, I guess I’m like a princess trapped in a tower.’
Of course, Seugal had met the real princess: the fairy princess ‘Kore.’
Shhh.
Seugal quickly pulled out the radio, taking advantage of the opportunity when Hanamjin was absent.
“This is good he didn’t notice.”
Chirp.
Seugal fiddled with the radio to contact Kore.
“Hey Kore, you remember the doll you last gave me? I found it under the bed.”
–What? That’s amazing! Then, we truly share the same space! You are also trapped in this ‘Room of Flowers,’ just like me!
The fairy princess was also trapped in the ‘Room of Flowers.’ It was exactly the same place where Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum were confined.
Well, there was a slight difference on this point.
“Is the name Hanamjin really unknown to you?”
–No, I don’t know it. Is it a famous name outside? The only similar name I know is Nam Tae-geon, who was some kind of legislator. Is that similar to our Fairy Elders’ Council?
President Nam Tae-geon had served as a legislator about twenty years ago. In other words, the ‘Room of Flowers,’ where the fairy princess was, was twenty years in the past.
–I will hide the doll you made under the bed again, see if it still exists twenty years later! It would be fun if this doll is still there!
When Seugal checked under the bed, she found an unfamiliar doll that had somehow appeared.
A very worn-out stuffed doll.
“It’s there.”
–Wow!
Yu Yeo-reum was curious. The miracle Seugal possessed was extraordinary.
‘Could we really be talking to someone from twenty years ago?’
Then she became curious.
Where is the fairy princess twenty years from now? If she’s not in this room, it must mean she has gone somewhere.
Seugal said,
“Boreum, if you remember us twenty years later, could you come back to this Room of Flowers and save us when Spring comes? The exact date is unknown, but it will be around twenty years from this spring.”
–Got it! Spring, twenty years from now! I’ll definitely remember!
A determined reply came.
Five minutes later,
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door where Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum were trapped.
Could the fairy princess have traveled twenty years through time and come to save them?
With a hopeful heart, Seugal pressed her ear to the door.
–Seugal, Yu Yeo-reum. Are you in there?
“…Who’s that male voice?”
#
Nam Woo-joo headed toward the old junkyard in City D to meet an old man who lived there.
“The smell…!”
Something smelled of decay, prompting Section Commander Jang Bo-reum to cover her mouth. Soon enough, zombies sprang up from somewhere in the old junkyard.
–Kyaahhh!
“Colonel!”
“Fall back!”
As Super Nova Nam Woo-joo was about to counterattack, a harpoon flew in from somewhere and pierced the zombie’s head.
Thud!
The end of the long rope-tied harpoon revealed an old man with a heavily scarred eye.
“I’m not going to salute! I’m a civilian now!”
The loud voice of the old man. Nam Woo-joo, holding his star-adorned military cap, asked,
“Are you Old Man Hugi?”
“Yeah!”
The old man dragged the zombie corpse and threw it into a bonfire.
Crackling. Quite a few zombie bodies were already burning, and the smell was so intense that Jang Bo-reum felt nauseous. She excused herself to find a restroom just as Nam Woo-joo approached the old man.
“I hear you know something about the ‘Fairy Princess.’”
“Of course I do. What season is it now?”
“Spring.”
“Spring, spring… let me see…”
The old man began counting on his fingers, from one to ten.
He seemed a little unstable. Long exposure to the demonic nature of Great Labyrinth does that to ordinary people.
But judging from his still robust muscles and alert posture despite his old age, he was undoubtedly an excellent soldier.
Nam Woo-joo, as a fellow soldier, asked,
“Lieutenant Hagi-hun. Where is ‘Kore’ now?”
“Don’t know. All she gave me was this, years ago…”
Shhh.
The old man pulled out an old and worn box and handed Nam Woo-joo a piece of paper from inside.
It was a letter.
It read as follows:
“Auntie, if you ever cease to appear in front of me, please go to the Room of Flowers on any spring day and save Gaeul and Yeorum on my behalf. There is a map drawn on the back of the letter.”
Room of Flowers?
Gaeul and Yeorum?
‘Could they be referring to Seugal and Yeorum?’
Nam Woo-joo thought of the missing Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum. Though he couldn’t understand why an old letter from ‘Core’ mentioned this, he couldn’t miss the only clue he had. The missing Seugal and Yu Yeorum might know ‘Core’s current whereabouts.
Flap.
When he flipped the letter, it contained a detailed map of ‘Great Labyrinth’ accounting for the maze’s constantly changing layout.
“I’ll head over to the ‘Great Labyrinth’ while you wait here with Old Man.”
Time was pressing, so Nam Woo-joo headed straight for the ‘Great Labyrinth’ to find the ‘Room of Flowers’. What looked like a dead-end wall was marked as a ‘door’ on the map.
Knock, knock, knock.
Nam Woo-joo knocked.
When the door wasn’t immediately answered, he marveled at the cleverness. If the girls were really inside, this meant the captor had extraordinary abilities.
Even to hide women within the Great Labyrinth!
According to the ‘Maze Entry Record’ he reviewed before entry, the perpetrator specific to the crime was only one.
Of course, more details would need investigation, best asked directly from the victims.
“I have many questions to ask you both regarding ‘Core’. I’ll break the entrance now, so stay away from the wall. If you get caught, you’ll get hurt.”
Clash!
Nam Woo-joo struck his hands. By condensing gravity with the power of ‘Star’, he formed a black hole causing a strong disturbance in the surrounding air. Just as he aimed to destroy the wall, an extraordinary event occurred.
Bam! Whistling…
A powerful shockwave radiated as a mysterious magic circle appeared around the corridor, neutralizing his attack.
“Even resisting my attack and showing just cracks? Indeed, this is fairy magic. This room must be quite important.”
Determination set in.
As Nam Woo-joo prepared to reveal his true power,
Swish-swish-swish.
His feet and vicinity were enveloped by thick darkness. It clung to the surrounding walls like sentient beings. He immediately realized this was not an ordinary darkness since lamp light couldn’t penetrate it.
Creak, creak, creak.
Beyond the pitch-black corridor, a peculiar sound came.
Clang, creak.
The metallic sound of something colliding.
“Who’s there?”
【I am the darkness within you.】
Puff!
Something sharp pierced through Nam Woo-joo’s chest.
Ripping through his ribs into his internal organs, the unknown spike left him dizzy.
“Cough!”
In this moment, Nam Woo-joo used his extraordinary mental strength to assess the situation. Whatever was behind the darkness should never be let out alive.
#
–Gr-r-r…
The little Yining, who was sleeping on my stomach, suddenly emitted an angry sound and flew anxiously around the room, waking me up.
“Zombie, indeed.”
Looking out the window, I saw a zombie loitering in our yard.
Wielding a club, I advanced to the living room and smashed the zombie’s skull.
Crack!
“Who dares to trespass into my yard without permission.”
Though I had fortified the yard with obstacles, somehow it had been breached. Having woken up so early, I decided to check the recent news.
“Super Nova Nam Woo-joo missing in Great Labyrinth!”
“Korea’s star in life-threatening condition…”
“Missing in the Great Labyrinth?”
How did that happen?
The ‘Super Nova’ couldn’t be easily trapped, save for one thing I already guessed, though it isn’t important now.
“Zombie Demon accepts Seugal kidnapper’s condition! Is Korea’s ‘Zombie Situation’ about to change dramatically?”
“New video reveal from Zombie Demon…”
A new video announcement from the Zombie’s Demon?
Already moving forward from just the first step of physical proximity? The bait must’ve been too tempting.
The content of the video was simple.
“To the Seugal kidnapper. Let’s meet and talk. I want to speak privately where we won’t be disturbed. I’ll send my contact to Seo Do-cheol.”
They want to meet?
It’s such an obvious trap.
But men tend to fall into traps even when they know it’s a trap.
Instead, I’ll take advantage and turn the trap around.
Ding-ding-ding.
“Father-in-law.”
Perfect timing, the important player just called.
