079 – The Intensity Level is From 1 to 7! #1
Weeaaaaaaaaaaah-.
As it hit 6 PM, a loud siren echoed through the air.
It was the announcement that they would soon control the passage of regular citizens, as the sun was about to set.
“Please head home quickly, everyone! After 7 PM, there will be fines for those still out on the streets!”
The newly graduated Yunami Yu Yeo-reum, an Awakened One who had just begun her career as an active explorer after finishing at YingSaga Academy, shouted towards the people.
After 7 PM, only Awakened Ones like Yunami could freely roam the streets.
‘I wonder if my younger siblings are safely at home?’
Yunami, who was responsible for two younger siblings; a senior high student and a middle schooler, had a lot on her mind these days.
With the world having become dangerously unpredictable, she couldn’t let her guard down anymore.
“Hey, Yunami. Would you mind patrolling the abandoned factory today? We’ve received reports of suspicious clusters of people there last night,” someone asked.
“I understand.”
In response to the police’s query, Yunami checked her held flashlight and nodded her head.
Patrolling the dark streets late at night was one of the many responsibilities under the curfew that Awakened Ones were to carry out.
“Having an Awakened One on our team really makes us feel safer!”
Her face turned bright red from the attractive police officer’s smile.
Yunami bashfully scratched her nose.
“I’m just a 1st level Awakened One who hasn’t obtained a concept yet…”
“Still, you’re several times stronger than me. If something like a zombie were to actually appear, I think you would easily be able to take it down.”
Indeed, the difference between an ordinary person and an Awakened One was about as vast as the difference between a child and an adult. Due to this, Yunami was assigned dangerous areas and secluded alleys that regular people couldn’t patrol. This was both her advantage and her dilemma.
While passing through a worn-out and secluded alley, shining her flashlight around, Yunami noticed a cluster of figures with hazy eyes.
“Zo, zombies…!?”
The stench of rotting flesh confirmed that these were truly zombies. It was Yunami’s first time encountering real zombies since the curfew began.
“Requesting support! This location is—”
–KRAAAAAAAAK!
–KYAAAAAAAAK!
Before she could finish her call on the radio, the zombies charged at Yunami at alarming speed.
Her hair stood on end at the sight of the foul-smelling corpses rushing toward her.
“Oh… don’t you dare come any closer!!!”
Yunami wildly brandished the baseball bat she held as a weapon.
Puueek-!
Pakk-!
That way, several zombies fell. However, her hesitation to attack their heads proved costly, as a few collapsed zombies crawled towards Yunami, biting her ankle in a last-ditch effort.
Kwa-deg-.
“Aaaah! I’ve been bitten!”
Fear gripped her. If she didn’t act, she might d*e. If that happened, her two young siblings would be left alone, without parents and without a sister, facing a cold and harsh reality.
“You bastards!!!”
Even though Yunami was only a 1st level Awakened One who didn’t possess a concept, she had still undergone three years of training at YingSaga Academy.
“d*e! d*e!”
Puak-! Pwaaak-!
She managed to knock down all five zombies with her bat, breathing heavily with a mix of strange accomplishment and excitement coursing through her.
“Haa, haa… I, I can do it if I try.”
However, there was no room for excessive joy. Since she had been bitten, she could easily transform into one of them as time passed. With this in mind, Yunami opened her bag and pulled out a drink.
It was the rumored treatment, “Zero Cola Fresh.”
Yunami didn’t understand why cola treated zombie infections, but she had no other options. She unscrewed the pre-prepared cola and took a sip—it was the only way to deal with the situation.
Bul-bul-bul…
When she drank the cola, Yunami felt the unpleasant sensation in her ankle vanish as if washed away.
“…I’ve really healed!?”
Her mind filled with joy, like the refreshing bubbles of carbonation.
She had defeated a group of zombies and was cured by drinking cola.
‘I can do it if I try!’
Her moment of joy was short-lived.
Dobok, dobok-.
Someone was walking towards her from the darkness.
A zombie?
No, it felt different.
It was a man with his hands in his pocket.
“After 7 PM, movement by citizens is restricted! Please show your ID!”
Yunami shouted at the man.
The man, seemingly ignoring Yunami, clicked his tongue after inspecting the fallen zombies.
“sh*t, I thought I’d be turned back into a graveyard, but this? Blocked like this? Come on. And Cola is a treatment? Stop joking. It’s ridiculous—.”
“Excuse me! Please show your ID! Eh?!”
Yunami let out a baffled exclamation for one simple reason: the face illuminated by the flashlight was covered by a pale and expressionless mask.
“Where have I seen…”
The terrorist responsible for the “Zombie Crisis.” By the time Yunami realized this, it was already too late.
Click.
When the man snapped his fingers, zombies emerged from behind him.
“Huh…?”
The two were not your average zombies. They seemed more monstrous, with human bodies twisted and merged gruesomely.
One had thick, balloon-like muscles and clutched a massive hammer, while the other was slim and grasshopper-like, with unsettlingly sharp claws for hands.
“Catch her alive. Awakened Ones make excellent raw materials.”
Attempting to flee, Yunami soon found it futile. Upon regaining consciousness, she discovered herself locked inside a cramped, foul-smelling iron cage. Around her were more cages, containing others who had been similarly captured.
“Hey, where is this place! Let me out!”
Panic filled Yunami. As the man approached, reading her ID from her wallet.
“Awakened One Yunami. Graduated this year, a first-level Awakened One. Quite pretty, aren’t you? Lucky me. I generally prefer keeping beautiful women close to me as they are.”
Kook!
Cruuuc-
The man injected something into Yunami’s arm.
“In about a week, you’ll become one of my special masterpieces. Aren’t you happy?”
“Aaaaah!”
Yunami’s mind cleared instantly in reaction to the pain in her arm, fearful of what might happen should time pass.
“Please help me! Please save me!”
“You might know how we cured the infection, but there’s no way you know about my masterpieces and my army! You’ll never figure it out!”
Heeheehee…
The man began to laugh, a chilling and sinister sound.
“You’ll never find where I am! This place is my kingdom! Only mine! And Seugal too, she’s supposed to be mine only! Only mine!”
Realizing that no one would come to her rescue, Yunami fell into despair.
This was, after all…
# # #
“The Demon’s base is likely within the Great Labyrinth.”
After reviewing several possible locations where the Demon could be hiding, this was my conclusion.
A place easily accessible by Awakened Ones but not freely traveled.
In a world covered with CCTV, the only place to completely vanish is the Great Labyrinth.
That’s why I hid Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum in the Great Labyrinth.
“I’ve been told that there are multiple entrances to the Great Labyrinth.”
One is underneath YingSaga Academy.
Another is in the basement of the Seonam Group headquarters building.
And the others…
As far as I know, the coordinates within the Great Labyrinth differ depending on the entrance.
I thought that the Demon probably took over one of the unknown entrances to the Great Labyrinth and set up his base somewhere inside this labyrinth.
There would certainly be a significant number of zombies there.
“I must assume the worst case scenario—that there are special zombies.”
–Gweeiiing…?
“That’s right, special zombies. They’re like mutants. Hard to handle. I heard that Awakened Ones who become zombies turn into these. If you cross paths with them, running is your best chance for survival.”
How many unique zombies are lurking in that sickening kingdom of his?
Breaking through the inside directly would be tricky for me too.
But?
Rather than me going into his territory, all I need to do is lure him out. If he’s actually Nam San-ho, there’s no way he can resist my bait.
So for this purpose, I visited the ‘Flower Room’ where Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum were. As I walked in, Yu Yeo-reum and Seugal were immediately silenced after their recent whispering.
“You guys, what have you been up to?”
“What do you mean, dumbass? What we do is none of your business.”
Seugal snapped rudely back at me. Her frowning face was quite stubborn.
What about Yu Yeo-reum?
“Yu Yeo-reum, are you hiding something from me?”
“No.”
Shaking her head, it was clear that Yu Yeo-reum was terrible at lying.
I lunged at her.
“Illua-wait!”
I licked her neck!
Chup!
It tasted sweet.
But it was a tense sweetness.
“So you are telling lies.”
“…Wh-what?”
Yu Yeo-reum and Seugal were definitely hiding something from me.
What could it be?
After scanning around for a while, I noticed that Seugal’s bedspread was suspiciously bulging.
When I pulled it back, there it was—a doll. A roughly stitched doll of cloth and cotton.
“A doll?”
The faces of Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum turned ashen.
“Where did this come from?”
I thought I had this ‘Flower Room’ under complete control, but apparently not. A strange doll that I’ve never seen before?
Curious as that was, unfortunately, I didn’t have much time.
“Seugal, it seems I need to use you as bait to lure out Nam San-ho.”
“Use me as bait?”
“That’s right. That b*stard threatened to increase the infected by ten thousand people a day if he didn’t turn himself in. This is simply turning that around. If he doesn’t show up, we will proceed from ‘1’ to ‘7’.”
“What’s all this nonsense?”
“Stage one is holding hands.”
I grabbed Seugal’s hand. Naturally, she squirmed, clearly displeased.
“Let go, you pervert!”
Such an excellent expression.
The more Seugal hates it, the better the photos come out.
Snap!
“I’m planning to release these photos to the media. If he doesn’t turn himself in, we’ll move to stage two, which is hugging. Each day we’ll escalate the stages to pressure him to surrender.”
“…What’s stage three?”
Yu Yeo-reum asked, genuinely curious.
“Kissing.”
While living in a shack, I spent much time simulating numerous love scenarios in my mind. I resolved to follow a seven-step progression of intimacy if I ever had a girlfriend. Each step carried deep significance.
“So, this ‘1’ to ‘7’ refers to the seven steps of intimacy for a great man, Hanamjin. If Nam San-ho likes Seugal, he won’t be able to stand seeing her with another man, and he will eventually leap out like a frightened eel.”
Yu Yeo-reum was impressed.
“Sounds like a good progression. It also acts as a form of punishment for Seugal.”
Yu Yeo-reum seems to understand things.
Ten points to Gryffindor!
Then, with an ashen complexion, Seugal asked.
“Hey, what about stage seven…?!?”
“Don’t worry. We won’t get that far. If Nam San-ho truly likes you, he’ll bite at the bait by stage two? At most, we’ll reach stage four.”
“No! What the hell is stage seven?!”
So curious about my progression of intimacy?
That is understandable.
“Stage seven is ‘Grandchild, Granddaughter Riding a Hobby Horse’.”
“What? d*mn! What does a grandchild and granddaughter have to do with intimacy? Wait, then what’s stage four?! What is stage four?!?”
“Heheheh…”
“…Heheheh?”
My laughter turned Seugal’s expression into a puzzled face.
And then,
Her face twisted into an odd shape before exploding like a bomb.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!! You disgusting pervert!!! Why does it suddenly go from kissing to heheheh-?!?! You psycho!!!”
Seugal’s screams.
I recorded it all.
