Chapter 95: Lee Bong-nam
Chapter 95: Lee Bong-nam
Side Story 3. Lee Bong-nam
"Sir, we secured the photographs. Give the word, and I believe we can obtain even more explicit evidence."
"No, this is more than enough. Thank you for your hard work."
"Your wife proved extremely cautious. My men had to work much harder than expected, so I should probably give them a little extra compensation..."
"Ha ha. Of course. I'll bring something generous when I collect the files. Yes. Goodbye."
Beep.
When the call ended, Bong-nam wiped the smile from his face and irritably loosened his tie.
"Thieving bastards. We already agreed on the price, and now they think they've found a complete sucker."
One week earlier.
He had hired a private investigation agency to gather evidence of his wife's affair.
His young wife was ten years his junior.
What had once been only suspicion had hardened into certainty.
Lee Bong-nam was the manager of the Vietnam Section under the Asia Department of Hana Trading's Overseas Sales Division.
Born into poverty, he had graduated from a prestigious Seoul university and joined a stable midsized company.
He was a self-made man who had studied until his nose bled while working part-time, without even the benefit of the cram schools everyone else attended.
His natural looks were unremarkable, but meticulous grooming and a kind smile had always earned him goodwill.
In truth, however, he was calculating and meticulous, never allowing his dark inner nature to show.
"There you are, Manager Lee."
"Ah, Mi-jin. Would you like some coffee?"
"No, thank you. The Planning Office sent me. They're asking for you."
After secretly speaking with the private investigator, Bong-nam had entered the break room and was calming his stomach with cold water.
He had been contemplating the best way to avenge himself on his unfaithful wife when his subordinate found him.
"I think Director Kim is there."
"Is that so? Thank you. Let me see... It's almost lunchtime, so if this goes well..."
"One moment, Manager Lee. Your tie..."
The young woman in her twenties stepped close to Bong-nam.
She straightened the tie he had yanked loose, winked, and left the break room.
The woman who vanished with only the heavy scent of cosmetics lingering behind was Bong-nam's office wife.
She was a contract employee whose ambitions were perfectly clear, and she had easily entered a sexual relationship with him.
Rules for thee, but not for me.
Bong-nam possessed a strongly possessive nature.
Women naturally became objects of that possessiveness as well.
Moreover, after being deeply wounded in his youth by a woman he believed he genuinely loved, he had developed a severe habit of womanizing.
That woman had told him directly that she hated small dicks and left him.
His far-below-average size remained a profound source of pain thereafter.
He had abandoned love and spent his life obtaining women through money.
Bong-nam had endured experiences that perhaps inevitably produced his perverse tastes and warped view of women.
'Fucking bitch. She has nothing except her face. I took pity on her and gave her a life, and she cheats on me?'
He was already stressed after being passed over for promotion for years. Learning that the woman he displayed as a trophy wife was having an affair sent fury boiling through him.
Bong-nam waited for the elevator and struggled to control his anger.
Alone inside, he relaxed his facial muscles and practiced his smile several times.
He warmed up his voice, sprayed oral freshener, and mentally reviewed Director Kim's recent activities.
In a family-run company, he had to attach himself to Director Kim if he wanted to rise any higher.
Ding.
"Secretary Kim? What's wrong with you first thing on a Monday morning?"
"..."
"Wake up, Secretary Kim. Secretary Kim!"
At first, Bong-nam assumed the man had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
But sensing something wrong, he roughly shook Secretary Kim outside the Management Planning Director's office.
Thump. Thump.
At that moment, a loud commotion sounded beyond the window.
The crash of collisions, people screaming, and then—
"Kyaaak!"
Bang!
"Ah, Director Kim. Did you have a pleasant weekend...?"
"Manager Lee? Do something about that."
"Pardon? What do you mean...?"
"Quickly!"
Director Kim rushed out with panic contorting her face.
At her frantic insistence, Bong-nam entered the Planning Director's office in confusion.
Inside, the director, a man in his fifties, was gnawing on a young female secretary's chest.
He tore at her so violently that bone showed.
#
Bong-nam survived alongside Director Kim.
His consistent exercise proved enormously helpful.
Assistant Manager Jeon—whom Bong-nam had always regarded as little more than a loyal dog at the office—also survived and joined them.
However, they failed to escape the company building.
The first through fifth floors were packed with more zombies than they could handle.
Ultimately, they decided to ration their limited food and endure as long as possible.
"Status Window."
* Transformation: Eloquence
* Persuasion (9)
* Available Points: 0
Bong-nam concealed his true ability from the group.
To avoid suspicion, he claimed that his attacks dealt increased damage to zombies.
Transformation: Eloquence reinforced the lie so powerfully that Director Kim and Assistant Manager Jeon couldn't even begin to doubt it.
'My ability is a double-edged sword. If I reveal it honestly, they may question everything I say.'
Thus, Bong-nam naturally became the group's leader.
Whenever he presented a course of action plausibly, Director Kim and Assistant Manager Jeon followed it.
As an experiment, he once proposed jumping from the sixth floor, but even his ability couldn't make them accept something so extreme.
They gradually lured out and killed zombies while investigating the nature of their abilities.
Several days passed as they endured in that manner.
Director Kim's ability detected that Tae-sik and Seon-yeong had entered and left the building.
According to what Bong-nam had heard, her ability was Transformation: Assimilation.
Its first Sub-trait was Emotion.
Through it, Director Kim could sense the emotions of nearby people and zombies and determine their locations.
She could broaden or narrow the range by adjusting the intensity and could even transmit her own emotions to a target.
But the ability carried severe side effects and was extremely difficult to understand or control.
"Is that true?"
"Yes. They're inside the building now."
"This could become either a crisis or an opportunity for us."
The next day, Tae-sik and Seon-yeong returned to the building.
Watching through a window, Bong-nam realized that they had come to scavenge.
"Then I'll approach them first and test the waters. We need to determine what kind of people they are..."
To the Hana Trading group, Tae-sik and Seon-yeong were formidable survivors who had eliminated an enormous number of zombies.
Even so, Bong-nam believed his ability could at least prevent the worst possible outcome.
Their provisions were nearly exhausted, so they desperately needed a breakthrough.
"Hyeon-seung, say nothing. Be ready to use Gravity Field if anything goes wrong, and wait for my signal. Director Kim, act somewhat immature and prickly. It would be best if they lowered their guard. Now, for the first scenario..."
The Hana Trading group developed a thorough plan before descending to meet Tae-sik and Seon-yeong.
They divided the strangers' possible personalities and responses into scenarios and reviewed a contingency for each.
Bong-nam presented himself as trustworthy, while Director Kim played a selfish, arrogant daughter of wealth.
In truth, Director Kim was already much like that.
"We're not zombies. We're human! We saw the two of you enter and came down. May we speak?"
That was Tae-sik's first meeting with the survivors from his client company.
Even amid the unreal circumstances of a zombie apocalypse, Bong-nam never revealed his true nature.
From the first day, even before Director Kim, he performed the role of a thoroughly rational and kind man.
His mask deceived even Tae-sik's instinctive danger sense.
#
With Tae-sik's help, Bong-nam successfully established an independent base.
Through his ability, he compelled Director Kim and the middle-aged officetel resident to participate actively in zombie hunting.
His ability gradually developed, and the group even rescued additional survivors.
Throughout that period, he maintained contact with Tae-sik and preserved their friendly relationship.
Although Bong-nam found Tae-sik intimidating, the sight of Seon-yeong made him determined to possess her.
At the first opportunity, he intended to eliminate Tae-sik and take her.
Then came a day much like any other.
As scavenging nearby became increasingly difficult, Bong-nam considered relocating the group's operating area.
Slurp, slurp, schluuuck—
Director Kim knelt before Bong-nam and diligently sucked his small cock.
"Ugh... I'm coming. Take it all the way down your throat."
Director Kim easily swallowed his cock to the base.
Even then, the head barely reached the roof of her mouth near the uvula.
* Transformation: Eloquence
* Persuasion (27), Brainwashing (79), Speech (36)
* Available Points: 0
As Bong-nam gained more Sub-traits, the other survivors gradually became his puppets.
Whenever they hunted zombies, he concentrated all the Available Points on himself, taking even the others' shares.
On the day his concerns reached their peak, Bong-nam's group encountered a Mutated Zombie exactly as Tae-sik had warned.
"Ah, fuck! Do something. Use every goddamn ability you have."
The Mutated Zombie overwhelmed Bong-nam's group with physical capabilities on an entirely different level from those of Ordinary Zombies.
They had already thrown the later survivors to it as human shields. Only the middle-aged woman and the original Hana Trading members remained.
Then it abruptly stopped.
The rampaging Mutated Zombie suddenly froze.
Even Hyeon-seung's Gravity Field had failed to restrain it, yet now it stood motionless and stared at Director Kim.
"What's this? Kim Seung-hee, what did you do?"
"I used my ability as instructed."
"What? How?"
"I simply addressed it in my head the way I would a dog: 'Good boy,' or 'Stop.'"
Bong-nam rapidly considered the implications.
Then the survivors killed earlier rose again as Mutated Zombies.
"Shit. Use every ability again. Try it."
Kwaaah—Thud.
As if by magic, they too ceased attacking.
"What the... Ma'am, are you using your ability as well?"
"Yes. I have been using it for some time."
Blood began trickling from the woman's nose.
The zombies started twitching again.
"Ah, fuck. It'd be nice if these zombie bastards would just sleep or something."
"Understood."
As soon as she answered, the zombies closed their eyes as though falling asleep.
"Wow..."
Afterward, Bong-nam conducted experiments with Director Kim and the middle-aged woman.
They were life-threatening experiments involving zombies.
In truth, Assistant Manager Jeon Hyeon-seung was the one whose life was at risk.
The middle-aged woman possessed Telepathy.
Director Kim possessed Assimilation, which had gained the additional Sub-traits Stabilization and Berserk.
By accident, Bong-nam discovered that the synergy between those abilities allowed them to control zombies.
As an added windfall, the sacrificed survivors rose as Mutated Zombies, placing five of them under his control at once.
"With this, we might actually have a chance..."
Mutated Zombies could command Ordinary Zombies.
Director Kim and the middle-aged woman could control those Mutated Zombies.
And Bong-nam had already brainwashed both women into serving as his puppets.
Bong-nam and the client-company survivors diligently searched the surrounding area.
They absorbed wandering Ordinary Zombies into their forces while searching for Tae-sik's residence.
Tae-sik had said his group had grown, so Bong-nam expected their home to stand out.
He found Tae-sik's base more easily than expected.
Director Kim's ability detected an apartment complex containing a large concentration of survivors.
Watching the entrance through binoculars, Bong-nam confirmed that it was Tae-sik's stronghold.
"This time, merely test their defenses and withdraw. Whatever happens, you must not kill Seon-yeong."
"Understood."
Bong-nam had worried that Director Kim might accidentally annihilate them, but the concern proved laughable.
They led a horde into the first raid, only to discover that Tae-sik's combat strength far exceeded expectations.
The group's defensive preparations contributed, but even a Mutated Zombie was helpless before Tae-sik.
"Shit. Does no one have a useful idea?"
"..."
The survivors, reduced to puppets, offered no answer.
The client-company survivors gradually lost their humanity.
His own ability left Bong-nam increasingly lonely.
The lonelier he became, the more he coveted Tae-sik's companions.
They too would gradually become dolls after he obtained them, but at least for a while he could feel human warmth.
And if he was choosing dolls anyway, he preferred them younger and prettier.
"Let's go. I'll infiltrate and help destroy them from the inside. Hyeon-seung, watch for an opportunity and attack Kim Tae-sik if he gets separated from the others."
"..."
"Those bastards have stockpiled plenty too. There's nothing left to scavenge around here anyway. We have to move."
"..."
"Fuck. At least answer me."
"Yes."
"Understood."
Cornered by Tae-sik's search, Bong-nam proceeded with a second raid.
The man who had always been calculating and level-headed was growing blind with greed.
In truth, he was being influenced by Director Kim's Assimilation.
Each time she used her ability, Bong-nam was affected as a bystander and was growing increasingly emotional.
They had been a poor match from the start.
The hastily conducted second raid had many variables.
The boar and the dog pack.
And even the walls, which had been reinforced another level.
"Fuck... I can't punch through those. Should we turn back even now..."
But the sight of the women who had come up on the walls seized his gaze.
Provisions and young women.
Bong-nam felt as if he had stuck his hand into a narrow-necked jar.
He couldn't pull his hand out while clutching the contents, but blinded by greed, he also couldn't let go.
His deliberation dragged on, and in the end, Tae-sik drew near.
He was discovered by him and carried inside the wall.
This was the last opportunity.
He continued to agonize over whether he should just pretend to be a victim himself, join Tae-sik's party, and bide his time.
'A boar, of all things... What do I do...'
Bong-nam knew his own party was dead, because the telepathy link maintained by the woman's ability had all been severed.
Yet he felt not a trace of sadness.
In this changed world, he had lost even the bare minimum of humanity and was gradually becoming a monster, but Bong-nam was completely unaware of it.
"Manager Lee. Manager Lee!"
"Ugh... Seon-yeong? What is all this...?"
"I think Tae-sik brought you back from somewhere. We don't really know the details ourselves either..."
"And Mr. Kim? Don't tell me... he's outside all alone?"
When Bong-nam pretended to regain consciousness, he found Seon-yeong and the other young women before his eyes.
To Bong-nam, who had only been seeing the woman and Director Kim, Seon-yeong's face, glistening with sweat, looked overwhelmingly beautiful.
Tae-sik had been left outside alone with the monster boar on a rampage.
It was the perfect chance to deal with him.
"Everyone. We have to go out and help him. That is the right thing for us to do. It's the way to repay his kindness."
Bong-nam incited the Raid Party Members.
He expected that if he could just deal with Tae-sik, he could somehow hide inside the apartment with the other women and his own world would unfold.
"Sir! We must deal with that boar, too."
With more focus than ever, Bong-nam used his ability on Tae-sik.
Seeing his ability work successfully even on that monster of a man, he inwardly cheered.
'It's almost done.'
Swooosh—Thwack.
Tae-sik suddenly spun around and hurled his baseball bat at Bong-nam.
'Why...'
For a fleeting moment, Bong-nam felt a sense of doubt.
Tae-sik had very clearly been diving into that blazing inferno.
He wasn't aware that while he had been concentrating his ability on Tae-sik, Ga-yeong, who had developed a slight immunity to mental-type abilities, had come free.
Because the Status Window is unkind.
Bong-nam had inflicted tremendous harm on Kim Tae-sik's Raid Party, but he himself died in vain, having failed to obtain what he wanted.
Seon-yeong approached Bong-nam, who was barely clinging to a slender thread of life.
'Fucking hell... she really is pretty.'
Stab.