An Gyeongsu's Beginning

After the Licker's corpse vanished from the bank building, Kang Juhan checked An Gyeongsu's Status Window inside the insect-infested Yeouido department store.

Pitiful stats. A skill that did nothing but identify weaknesses.

Juhan confirmed it with his own two eyes.

Of course, Baek Sihyeon's group — the ones who had traveled with them all the way to Yeouido — had seen An Gyeongsu's Status Window as well. And yet not a single one of them ever noticed the existence of the Predation skill he had possessed from the very beginning.

So how had An Gyeongsu managed to hide it?

"KRAAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAA!!!"

"KRAAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAGH!!!"

When the zombies first appeared, on a street quite far from the café where Baek Sihyeon and Yu Eunseol were working part-time, a man stopped walking and stared blankly up at the empty air, his face a mask of disbelief.

Black letters floating in midair.

Even though the street was crowded with people, no one else seemed able to see them — they walked past without so much as a glance.

"What the hell is this…"

Panicked, the man hurried away, trying to escape the black letters. But no matter how far he walked, he couldn't shake them off.

"What the hell…"

"What's going on? Are they filming a movie over there?"

"Whoa~ those look like real zombies."

"Right?"

"……"

The sound of people talking made the man turn his head toward where everyone was looking.

"KRAAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAAAA!!"

"……"

Zombies.

Across the road, zombies straight out of movies and webtoons were shrieking and tearing into people.

Faced with a scene so impossible he couldn't tell if it was real or a dream, a quest appeared before the man's eyes.

Murder.

The weight of that single word froze the man in place.

And then —

Thud!!

A woman came barreling out of a building along the street and slammed straight into the man who was standing there dazed.

"Kyah!!"

"Ugh..!!"

Both of them went down. The man toppled sideways; the woman landed hard on her rear.

If anyone was at fault, it was the woman who had come flying out of the building without looking where she was going. But there wasn't a shred of apology in her.

"Fuck..! Why the hell are you just standing there, you piece of shit?!! You fucking retard..!!!"

"……"

Small, scrawny build. A meek, gullible-looking face. And he'd fallen over after colliding with a woman. She decided there was absolutely no reason to be afraid of him — so instead of an apology, she spat curses.

She also had backup.

"Who the fuck are you, you little shit!!"

"……"

His arms, bare beneath a short-sleeved T-shirt, were covered in tattoos. The tattooed man roughly hauled the other man to his feet and glared at him like he wanted to kill him.

"Babe, just leave it! This is so fucking unlucky..!!"

"Consider yourself lucky today, you son of a bitch..! Baby, you okay?!"

"……"

At the woman's urging, the tattooed man shoved him hard and turned away. Both of them — the man supporting her, the woman getting to her feet — looked desperately rushed, as if they'd seen something they shouldn't have inside that building.

Meanwhile, the man still sitting on the ground, staring blankly after them, watched the black letters reappear before his eyes.

He got up and went after the couple who were hurrying away. Then he grabbed the tattooed man by the shoulder.

"Hey."

"What the fu—"

The tattooed man turned around and never finished the sentence.

Shhk!!

The small knife the man always carried in his pocket was buried in the tattooed man's throat.

"O-oppa……"

"Ghk...!!!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Blood sprayed from the tattooed man's neck as he collapsed, and the woman screamed. A murder on the street in broad daylight. But the man didn't run. Instead, he crouched in front of the tattooed man — who was clutching his throat, choking on his last breaths — and grabbed a fistful of his hair.

"What was that? Say it again, you son of a bitch."

"Ghk...!! Ghk....!!!"

"Pathetic piece of shit."

He had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠committed murder without a single moment of hesitation. This was the man's first kill. The first time he had ever actually used the knife he always carried in his pocket. And yet he felt none of the fear, terror, or guilt that should have come with taking a life. What he felt instead was liberation.

He had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been small and weak since childhood. Constant illness meant he spent more time in hospitals than at school, and with poor parents on top of that, being bullied was just a fact of daily life. Always suppressed. Always shrinking into himself. That version of him had felt so pathetic, so wretched — and now, with his first taste of murder, he felt a catharsis and a freedom beyond words.

At the quest completion notice floating before his eyes, the man smiled.

"Heh...!"

This was fun. The situation he was in right now. And he was certain it was only going to get more fun from here.

He had no idea who Baek Sihyeon was. Didn't care, either. He simply read the Skill Manual.

"Aaaagh!!!"

A scream right in front of him made him look up. A man with a small, scrawny build similar to his own had seen the corpse lying in a pool of blood, and his legs had given out — he was crumpled on the ground.

It was An Gyeongsu.

The black letters appeared before his eyes once more. The man stood up, stepped over the sprawled corpse, and walked toward the cowering An Gyeongsu.

"D-don't come near me..! Stay away!!!!!"

An Gyeongsu's shriek turned into a scream.

Shhk!! Shhk-shhk-shhk!!!

Knife after knife tore through skin. Screaming, begging for his life, An Gyeongsu finally stopped breathing.

"Predation."

This was An Gyeongsu's end — and An Gyeongsu's beginning.

Crunch!! Crunch!! Crunch!!

Not a single bone fragment remained. An Gyeongsu was swallowed whole by an enormous mouth, vanishing without a trace. The man's hand transformed into that massive maw as it consumed him, and he trembled violently under the wave of pain that followed.

"Ugh..!! Uuugh...!! It hurts..!!!!!"

He writhed in agony for a long time. When the pain finally subsided, he looked at his reflection in a shop window along the street and smirked.

"So from now on, I'm An Gyeongsu, huh? Heh heh...!! Ah.. maybe I should've eaten someone better, though? These stats are garbage."

Face, body, voice — even the Status Window — all transformed into An Gyeongsu's. Of course, the man could still call up his real Status Window whenever he wanted. But right now, checking stats was less important than getting out of these blood-soaked clothes.

"Take them off."

"What the hell! Let go of me!"

"Or die."

"You're insane... ghk....!!"

An Gyeongsu stabbed a passerby in the stomach — and immediately realized his mistake.

"Ah, if I kill them, the clothes get ruined."

"KRAAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAGH!!"

"KRAAA!!"

"KYAAAGH!!!"

"Somebody help me!!!"

"Save me!!!!"

On a street filled with the roars of zombies and the screams of people, An Gyeongsu scanned his surroundings, spotted a clothing store, and began walking toward it — with a calm so complete it was almost serene.

Support the growth of the people.

Destroy the Spawning Ground and kill the Queen.

Reach the Queen's resting place via the designated route.

Two days had passed since clearing those three quests. The strange thing was that the white quest I'd assumed was a chain quest hadn't continued.

"Is the good god just ridiculously petty? Fifty points is still too damn little, though. Sigh.. the ones who have the most are always the greediest. What kind of god is this cheap?"

Whether the god was listening or not, I cursed him as I climbed the stairs.

"Oppa, you're back?"

"How are they?"

"Still the same... no one's woken up..."

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Of course!"

I went up to the third floor and entered the master bedroom with Jeongyeon. They'd moved the bed from the small room into the master as well, so Mingu, Jaeyeol, and Suho were laid out side by side on two beds while the women took turns nursing them. The one watching over them with the most devotion — barely sleeping at all — was Seonye.

"Oppa.. I'm really sorry for asking again and again, but... they're ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going to be okay, right..?"

"……"

Once again, I couldn't give Seonye the answer she wanted to hear. The positive side was that, outwardly at least, their condition had improved a lot. No — at this point, they looked almost completely fine. The problem was that they still hadn't regained consciousness.

"Hmm..."

But was this really okay? Would they wake up? Should I go to Yeouido and bring back Lee Hyeongmin, the doctor? No — even if a doctor looked at them, what would he find? No matter how skilled he was, without any medical equipment, I doubted he could figure out why kids who looked almost perfectly fine on the outside still wouldn't wake up.

And what the hell was that guy doing?

Not on a bed — there was one more person lying on the floor. Gihun. And he wasn't just lying there. He had the empty glass bottle that had held the Recovery Potion clamped in his mouth like a toddler with a baby bottle.

"Why's he doing that?"

"He keeps sucking on it, saying there might be a little left.. He's already rinsed it with water and drunk it several times.."

"Sigh..."

"Don't sigh at me! I'm doing this because I'm in pain! My leg is actually broken, okay?!"

"Stop getting in the way of people trying to nurse the others and get out to the living room."

"I'm a patient too! I need nursing!!"

"Ugh, this pain in the ass..!! Sigh... Everyone's exhausted already, so please look after this nuisance too."

"Yes, don't worry."

"We've got him covered, so don't stress about it."

"What about Sihyeon and Junseok..?"

"They went out looking for An Gyeongsu again."

"Is he... still alive...?"

At Kim Seojeong's question — she'd spent even more time with An Gyeongsu than we had — I gave her shoulder a reassuring pat and headed out to the living room.

Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok were still searching for An Gyeongsu, even though neither of them was in great shape. I'd helped them the first day. We searched the burned-out Spawning Ground and everything around it, but there was no sign of An Gyeongsu anywhere. So I decided he was dead, and stopped helping the two of them. I wasn't about to waste time and energy for nothing.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Jaemin. Yeonghun. Come here a second."

"Yes."

"What's up?"

I took Jaemin and Yeonghun — who'd been hovering by the door — up to the rooftop.

"I'm going to be gone for a bit."

"Where are you going?"

"When are you coming back?"

"Cheongdam-dong. I'll be back within two days at the latest."

"Two days??"

"Why Cheongdam-dong??"

"There's someone I need to meet. Ah, and Yu Eunseol's coming with me."

"Just you and Eunseol??"

"This hyung is looking real suspicious..!"

"What's suspicious about it, you punk! I've got business over there. Who knows — maybe I'll find a way to wake up the kids who are still out cold."

"Really??"

"How??"

"Never mind that. Anyway, Sihyeon and Junseok are out hunting for An Gyeongsu, and Gihun and Jeongcheol-hyung aren't in great shape either. You guys are banged up yourselves, but you know you're the ones who have to hold this place down, right?"

"Of course! Obviously!"

"Just trust us, hyung!"

"If something happens, don't hold back. Be as brutal as you need to be — even if it feels like overkill. No matter how many people you have to kill, protecting the people who need protecting comes first."

"Yes."

"Yes."

The third floor was set as a safe zone, so it was secure from zombies and insects. But it wasn't safe from people. The villa residents and the department store crowd didn't worry me even if they came in a mob — Jaemin, Yeonghun, and Seo Hamin alone would be more than enough even without me. But the story difficulty had gone up, so I couldn't rule out the possibility of survivor groups appearing that never showed up in the webtoon — like those thugs from Yeouido. That was why I'd brought them up to the rooftop.

"What are you doing?"

"Building a signal fire."

"A signal fire??"

"Yeah. If anything happens, light this. Grab some oil and soak it in advance."

I'd stacked a pile of wood on the rooftop — broken-down desks and bookshelves. I wasn't sure if it'd be visible from Cheongdam-dong, but with no other means of communication, I figured I needed something like this or I'd never stop worrying.

"Hey, hyung."

"What now?"

"If you say you're going somewhere alone with Eunseol, do you really think Jihye-noona and Nari are just going to sit still?"

"Nari probably will. She's too busy nursing Jaeyeol."

"True. What about Jihye-noona, then?"

"Knowing her personality, she'll definitely try to tag along... What do you think, hyung?"

"……"

Jihye coming along? Then Seo Hayun would want to come too, and if Hayun came, Seo Hamin would follow. Jihye and Hayun I could maybe manage — but for the group's safety, Seo Hamin absolutely had to stay here.

"Hey, go get Yu Eunseol for me. Quietly."

"If we just say we want to talk to her, she'll completely ignore us."

"Agreed. High chance she pretends she didn't even hear us."

"Tell her I called for her. And if she doesn't come, say I'll tell everyone about what happened back then."

"Huh??"

"What happened back then?"

"Stop asking questions and go! Shoo! Shoo!"

"What are we, flies?!"

"Is that how you ask someone for a favor?!"

I shooed Jaemin and Yeonghun off the rooftop like flies, and before long Yu Eunseol came up.

"You son of a—..!!!"

"Don't get mad. I just said that to get you up here."

"Haaaah...! If you have something to say, say it fast."

"Let's go."

"....What??"

"Follow me."

"W-why should I?! Where are we going?!"

"Just come along~ If you don't, I'll tell the kids everything. About the clinic and the department store...."

"Shut up!!!!!!"

And so I left for Cheongdam-dong with Yu Eunseol. Because if it was that person — maybe they could wake the kids who were sleeping like the dead.

Someone was watching Kang Juhan and Yu Eunseol leave the mixed-use residential building.

It was An Gyeongsu — the very person Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok were desperately searching for.

"Where are they going?"

He was curious about where Kang Juhan was headed. But there was something he was even more curious about.

"Will Yang Jaeyeol remember me?"

Honestly, it was nothing. He could just say he'd run away because he was scared. But An Gyeongsu knew. He knew that Kang Juhan already suspected him, and that every time Juhan left, he assigned someone to keep watch. So if An Gyeongsu disappeared alone again and came back looking perfectly fine, the suspicion would only deepen — or harden into certainty.

"Kang Juhan, Yu Eunseol... should I give it a shot?"

Watching their retreating figures grow smaller, An Gyeongsu ran the numbers. If he fought Kang Juhan right now, who would walk away alive?

"Not yet. Let's wait a little longer."

When he'd committed that first murder, there hadn't been a shred of hesitation. But after living alongside Kang Juhan and witnessing his power up close, a faint reluctance had taken root. Now that he'd also consumed a Guard Zombie, he didn't think he'd lose — but for the sake of clearing the quest cleanly, caution was still necessary.