The One I Absolutely Must Meet
Having widened their search radius and spent the entire morning hunting for An Gyeongsu, Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok stepped into the building with deep, weary sighs.
"Let's just check this place and head back if he's not here.."
"Alright.."
Baek Sihyeon answered Choi Junseok's words with a drained voice, swinging his sword with his somewhat awkward left hand as he cut down the zombies that charged at them.
His arm wasn't completely broken like Park Mingu's, but the fight with the Guard had left him injured in the right arm and various other places across his body.
"Hey, you rest for a bit. I'll take care of the rest."
"I'd appreciate that."
While the relatively uninjured Choi Junseok finished off the remaining zombies, Baek Sihyeon sat down for a short rest and began speaking as if airing a grievance.
"Honestly, I'm not looking for Gyeongsu.."
"What?? What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Kyaak!!"
"Augh..!!"
Baek Sihyeon stared blankly at Choi Junseok fighting the zombies before continuing.
"I didn't have the guts to face Mingu.. so I ran away.."
"......"
Choi Junseok finished off every last charging zombie without a word of reply, then collapsed into a sitting position, breathing hard.
"Same here."
"What..?"
"When Jaeyeol was fighting that monster, I couldn't even work up the nerve to help.."
"......"
"And when Jaemin yelled that we should go to Juhan hyung, I honestly felt relieved. Even while we were running away and leaving only Jaeyeol behind... Ah... maybe we can still survive. That thought hit me."
"Junseok-ah.."
Having laid his heart bare, Choi Junseok forced a bright smile toward the somewhat sorrowful look Baek Sihyeon was giving him, then sprang to his feet.
And he made a vow.
"I want to get stronger. No—I will get stronger. I never want to run away like a coward again."
"Yeah. Let's get stronger. Like Juhan hyung."
"But why is that hyung so damn strong?"
"Right..? Sometimes he seems more like a monster than anything... It's not like his stats are that much higher..."
"That hyung has a ton of skills, though~ If you look closely, isn't it just skill carry?"
Choi Junseok tossed out a light joke to break the heavy mood, but his expression suddenly hardened.
Baek Sihyeon's did the same.
"Hey.. you hear that too..?"
"I hear it. Let's go."
"Yeah."
Choi Junseok and Baek Sihyeon had heard something, and they began moving toward the sound.
A short while later they arrived at its source.
"Hic... Hueuk... Hic..."
"Is someone there..?"
"G-ghosts don't exist, right..?"
"Don't say weird shit..! Hello! Do you need help? H-hello!!"
"Why are you running?! We're not bad people!!"
Inside the dark office, the person who had been sobbing pitifully suddenly leapt up and fled.
Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok scrambled after them and, before long, succeeded in catching the runaway.
Then their eyes went wide with shock.
Because it was none other than An Gyeongsu.
"Gyeongsu-ya!!"
"An Gyeongsu!!!"
Covered head to toe in thick, hardened scabs of dried blood, An Gyeongsu thrashed wildly to shake off the hands of Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok that were holding him.
"Let go! Please let go!!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why are you running?!"
"Gyeongsu-ya, calm down! It's us!"
"Hic.. Hic hic..."
An Gyeongsu began sobbing again and collapsed onto the floor.
Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok released their grips on his shoulders and arms, squatted down, and examined the weeping An Gyeongsu's condition.
"Are you hurt?? Why are you shaking so hard?"
"Are you okay?? What the hell happened?!"
"S-sorry... I was so scared... so scared... Hic... I ran away and left you guys...."
"You... ran because of that..?"
"Hic... Hueuk..."
"Hoo... It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"Yeah. As long as you're alive, that's enough. That's all that matters."
Believing he must have felt the same way they had, Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok comforted An Gyeongsu.
Time passed, and once he had calmed a little, An Gyeongsu carefully asked,
"B-but... Jaeyeol is...? Is Jaeyeol.. okay..?"
"That's...."
"He's okay for now. He hasn't woken up yet, though."
"A-ah, is that so?"
"Huh??"
"What..?"
It wasn't only Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok who were startled by the sudden, jarringly different tone of voice.
An Gyeongsu, who had momentarily broken character out of pure joy at the news he had most wanted to hear, quickly resumed his act.
"A-ah, no... But... Can I.. go back..?"
"Of course!"
"What kind of question is that?! Let's go already. Everyone's worried sick about you."
"Th-thank you.... But Sihyeon-ah.. Junseok-ah... Can I ask one favor..?"
"A favor?"
"Spit it out. What is it?"
"Well.... Could you keep it a secret from the others that I ran away..? If they find out I ran away by myself.. I'm scared everyone will hate me... so scared..."
"You're worrying about nothing. Anyway, got it. We'll keep it secret."
"But what should we tell them..?"
"There's a wall in the Spawning Ground that breaks easily. A wall that leads into another tunnel. Just say you got attacked by zombies and fell through there."
"A... I-I see.."
"Y-yeah.. okay.."
"Thanks.."
And so An Gyeongsu returned to the commercial residential building while Kang Juhan was away.
Everyone was overjoyed that An Gyeongsu, whom they had all thought dead, had come back alive, and An Gyeongsu shed tears, saying he was sorry for making them worry.
"What?! Only Juhan hyung and Eunseol?!"
In the middle of everyone gathered for a meal, Baek Sihyeon shot to his feet and shouted the moment he heard that Kang Juhan and Yu Eunseol had left for Cheongdam-dong.
"Where in Cheongdam-dong?! No—why just the two of them?!"
"We don't know why just the two of them went, we don't know where in Cheongdam-dong they went, and they said they'd be back within two days at the latest."
"I'll go too!"
"Is Cheongdam-dong some hole-in-the-wall shop? How are you going to go when you don't even know where they went?"
"But..!!"
"They said within two days. Just wait. And with everyone lying there like that and no Juhan hyung around, if you leave too, what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"......"
While everyone's attention was fixed on Baek Sihyeon, An Gyeongsu rose from his seat as if it were the most natural thing in the world, carried the empty bowls and spoons to the sink, and headed for the living room.
Then, just as naturally, he walked into the master bedroom where Yang Jaeyeol, Cha Suho, and Park Mingu were lying.
"Gyeongsu-ya."
"Go eat, Seonye-ya."
"It's fine. I'm not hungry."
"You can't skip meals. The person nursing them can't get exhausted. I'll watch them, so go eat even a little."
"A... okay.. then please. Tell me right away if they wake up."
"Got it."
The moment Kim Seonye, who had been keeping watch at Park Mingu's side, left the master bedroom, An Gyeongsu's expression flipped. With a chillingly cold face he stared at the three people lying on the beds.
I made up some excuse, but Kang Juhan would be even more suspicious. Should I change my appearance before he returns? If it's one of these guys, no one would suspect a thing. So who should I eat? The most annoying one, Yang Jaeyeol, would probably be best?
Yang Jaeyeol and Cha Suho were hard to rank in terms of raw strength.
But having personally witnessed Yang Jaeyeol get up and fight the Guard even in a state where dying wouldn't have been strange, An Gyeongsu judged Yang Jaeyeol more dangerous than Cha Suho.
Sss—
An Gyeongsu's hand reached toward Yang Jaeyeol's face.
Predation only worked on the dead, so he absolutely had to kill him.
But he couldn't kill him right now.
He had to kill him without anyone knowing, devour him, and become Yang Jaeyeol.
Just as his hand slid from Yang Jaeyeol's face down toward his neck and he was about to pull it back—
"I'm not asleep."
"......"
At Won Gihun's voice, An Gyeongsu's expression froze for an instant. He casually pressed a hand to Yang Jaeyeol's forehead once, then sat down in the chair Kim Seonye had vacated.
And with a perfectly calm, kind face, he looked at Won Gihun, who was sprawled out on the floor.
"Gihun hyung, are you badly hurt too?"
"Moderately. But I've got enough left in the tank to beat the shit out of bad bastards."
"Haha... You seem fine, then."
An Gyeongsu turned his head with an awkward smile and gazed out the window, a chilling smile curling his lips.
That guy would be perfect.
An excellent meal.
Kang Juhan's closest friend, and unlike the three who had someone glued to their side almost twenty-four hours a day, he could be lured outside.
The ideal person to secretly swap appearances with, grow stronger right beside Kang Juhan, and wait for the right opportunity.
Having set his new target, An Gyeongsu began laying out a plan in his head.
Jeong Sora... I can lure him with that bitch from the department store.
Cheongdam-dong was the place Baek Sihyeon's group visited after clearing the water purification plant quest in Seongsu-dong.
And it was also the location where that event took place.
The event in which every member of the party except Baek Sihyeon lost to Yu Eunseol.
Which meant that here, Yu Eunseol and Baek Sihyeon's group would come into conflict.
"Just how far are we going?!"
"We're here."
But I couldn't take that event alone.
With the difficulty raised, the party needed to grow even stronger.
From that perspective, bringing Yu Eunseol to Cheongdam-dong could be called a mistake—yet there was still a reason I had deliberately brought her.
Cheongdam-dong was also a place where Yu Eunseol personally grew a great deal, and more than anything, I needed her if I was going to take that person with us.
"You should at least tell me where we're going and why, shouldn't you?!"
"Why are you yelling? I can hear you fine if you speak quietly."
"Haaa.... So just tell me already. Being alone with you is extremely uncomfortable."
"Do something about that form of address."
"......"
Even after my correction, she stared straight at me as if she had zero intention of changing it.
"Fine~ Call me whatever you want. If you already think of me as your husband after one round of sex, I'll understand."
"W-what are you talking about?!"
"You. That's a term married couples use."
"Don't say such nonsense!!!"
Yu Eunseol shouted and stopped walking. I likewise halted my busy legs and lifted my head.
A luxury villa that looked like it easily cost tens of billions of won.
A rich neighborhood packed full of villas just like it.
Somewhere in this neighborhood was the person I was looking for, and the person Yu Eunseol was looking for as well.
Well, in Yu Eunseol's case, "someone she absolutely wants to meet once" was probably the more accurate way to put it.
By the way, in the webtoon she had simply appeared in front of Yu Eunseol on her own—was hoping for that kind of luck a little greedy?
"If you say that again I won't let it—"
"Shh."
"......"
"Good girl."
"Sss...!! Stop joking around!!"
"Who's joking?"
"Yes..? Ah...."
Yu Eunseol noticed it too.
Buried under the roars of the pursuing zombies, the screeching of insects and the clash of weapons were coming from a short distance away.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
"Anyway, you're nicer than you look."
"......"
Judging by her usual expression and behavior that radiated cold air, she looked like the type who would never help anyone—yet in reality she had an absurdly kind personality that helped others more than anyone else.
"Kieeeeee!!!!!"
"Kkieek!!!"
"Kieeeee!!!"
"Kkieek!!!!"
One mantis and three ants.
"Enough?"
"Yes."
"I'll lure the zombies somewhere else... Those are people talking, though..!! Sigh..."
Before I even finished speaking, Yu Eunseol had already sprinted toward the people fighting the insects. I shook my head and turned around.
I needed to send those guys somewhere else first.
"There's a lot of them.. Come! Come! Follow me in an orderly fashion~"
"Kraaaaak!!!"
"Kraak!!!"
"Kraaaa!!"
"Kraak!!!"
"Kraaaaa!!!"
Leading the zombies that came pouring after me like I was the neighborhood boss, I headed out toward the Olympic Expressway side, then returned to the neighborhood full of villas.
A few zombies were still chasing me, but I had shaken off most of them, so this number was no real problem.
Just the right amount for me to handle alone.
Puck!! Pububuck!!! Puck puck!!!
I swung Mook with gusto, beating down a whole pile of zombies, then moved to the place Yu Eunseol had run toward.
And whether it was luck or whether fate had simply decided we would meet this way no matter what—
"......"
"......"
Yu Eunseol had met the person she absolutely wanted to meet once, and I had found the person I had been looking for.
Because they were the same person.
That person was...
"Mom...."
"Eunseol.. is that you..?"
Yu Eunseol's mother.