The Department Store That Became Hell

There was a reason Baek Sihyeon's group had been assigned to Team 4.

The civilians committed to the department store operation numbered six per team, from Team 1 through Team 7—forty-two people in total. Command over them rested with an eight-man military command unit, but the structure also allowed the operation teams to split into two groups if circumstances demanded it.

The command unit would lead Teams 1 through 3, while Team 4—with Baek Sihyeon as its leader—would function as a second command element overseeing Teams 5 through 7.

Some members of the operation teams were older than Baek Sihyeon. Others had been at the National Assembly longer and had run more missions. Even so, the soldiers chose him. The reason was clear.

Slash!! Swish!! Sever! Thunk!!

His strength, visible at a glance, was part of it—but the greatest reason was survival rate.

"Junseok, thirty seconds."

"Go!"

"Ugh..!!!"

"Kyaaaaah!!!!"

Every time he was deployed, Baek Sihyeon played a more decisive role in saving lives than the soldiers with their guns, swinging his blade instead. His snap judgments were sharp, his sense of responsibility ironclad, and above all, he was lucky.

People everyone assumed were already dead came back alive because of him. He survived when he should not have. He completed missions even the soldiers had written off.

That was why, despite having joined the National Assembly only recently, Baek Sihyeon was the civilian the field soldiers trusted most.

"Casualties?"

"None."

"Good call, peeling off briefly to help Team 5."

"Thank y—"

"But next time, don't peel off yourself. Send Choi Junseok or Yu Eunseol. Your own team ends up in danger. Just now was too close."

"Yes, sir. Understood."

"Five-minute rest, then we move. Pass it on."

"Yes. Five-minute rest, then we move~"

Having cleared Yeouido Park, the operation teams sprawled across two buses parked a short distance away and took a brief rest.

"Ugh, I'm wiped..."

"Can't we just rest like thirty minutes and then go...? Time's the one thing we've got..."

"Right...? Sun's still high..."

They had every right to be exhausted. They had covered nearly seven hundred meters without a break, fighting zombies the entire way. Still, once they crossed the road they were on, the department store would be right there, so most faces were not too grim.

Most—but not all.

"Aigoo... stuck with you lot again..."

"Mister, what kind of thing is that to say? That hurts."

Choi Junseok—Baek Sihyeon's best friend since kindergarten—spoke up, and the grumbling man shot upright and shouted.

"I'm the one who's hurt! Being stuck with you!"

"He's right. Every time we're with you, something goes wrong. Makes me want to die from the stress."

"What are they, Conan? Accidents wherever they go..!"

"You think we want that to happen?!"

"Exactly! We're the ones who feel wronged!"

"Don't pick fights for nothing, and don't take it so hard. They're just talking."

"I know, but..."

"It just feels like they're saying it's all our fault..."

When Kim Seojeong—Choi Junseok's girlfriend—voiced her hurt, the snide ones sprang up and fired back.

"Then it is your fault! Isn't it?!"

"How is that our fault?!"

"Even on the same day, same mission, accidents only happen wherever you are! Everyone else finishes clean and comes back—why is it only where you are that things go wrong?!"

"Right! Maybe you're getting different quests and deliberately wrecking things?!"

"That's going too far!!"

Lee Jeongcheol—who in the original story should already have died at the hospital with the Spawning Ground—shot to his feet as well and shouted at them.

Then the middle-aged man who had been trying to mediate from the start tore into the snide ones with a sharp rebuke.

"Is there a single person here who hasn't been helped by these kids?! Choi, you barely kept your life thanks to them, and Jeonghak the same! Hyeoksu, the soldiers were about to leave you for dead and Sihyeon went and pulled you out—and you're talking like that?!"

"No, that's..."

"Wh-who's saying we're not grateful?! It's just that something keeps going wrong!"

"Yeah..."

"Enough! Did these kids make the zombies? Did they hold a ritual to summon them?! The world's gone insane and you're blaming kids who did nothing wrong?! Grown adults, honestly..!!"

"Mister, we're fine."

"Fine, my ass..!"

"We're really fine. And nothing's going to happen today, so don't worry too much."

Only when Baek Sihyeon—who had been focusing solely on recovering his stamina no matter what people said—spoke up did the situation finally settle.

The ones who had wasted their rest on pointless talk had to haul ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠themselves up with faces twisted in frustration at the time that had already slipped away.

A short while later, the standby order came down on the road with the department store entrance in sight. Captain Son Gijun, leading the command unit, pulled out his radio and attempted contact.

"This is Operation Team. Search Team, respond."

—......

"This is Operation Team. Search Team, respond."

—......

"Looks like something's gone wrong."

"Seems that way."

At Sergeant First Class Kim San's words—he was serving as deputy—Captain Son Gijun switched channels on the radio in his hand and tried the temporary control room.

"This is Operation Team. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Contact with Search Team has been lost."

—Stand by briefly.

The reply from the temporary control room did not take long.

—Enter. Priority mission is the quest. After that, attempt Search Team rescue based on on-site judgment.

"Acknowledged."

The order came down, and Captain Son Gijun began moving exactly as he always did—according to higher command.

Ting— Clack— Tap-tap— Rattle...

Psssshhhh!!!!

Smoke grenades with pins pulled were thrown around the cars they currently occupied and along both sides of the approach to the department store entrance, blanking the zombies' vision. From atop the cars where the operation teams waited, loud music blared from a phone.

"Kyaaaaah!!!"

"Kyaah!!!"

"Kyaa!!"

"Kyaaaaah!!!"

"Kyaah!!!"

"Kyaaaa!!"

"Kyaah!!!"

"Kyaaaaaaah!!!"

Zombies shrieked and poured onto the road toward the music. Soldiers bursting through the smoke swiftly and cleanly neutralized the ones trapped between the rising walls of smoke on either side, opening a path.

They reached the entrance with almost absurd ease. The soldiers passed through the main doors—shattered and caked in blood—and entered the department store.

Swish— Swish-swish— Swish— Swish— Swish— Swish— Swish—

While the soldiers fanned out like an opened fan with their backs to the entrance, muzzles covering every direction, the civilian operation teams also succeeded in entering the department store.

Rattle— Rattle— Rattle— Clack— Clack—

They set a white beam-projector screen on the floor and yanked the handle; it rose like a wall. It could not stop zombies by itself, but it blocked line of sight completely, buying excellent time for sealing the entrance.

That beam-projector screen bought them no time at all.

A red quest window floated before every eye. The rewards were good enough to cheer over, but the penalties for failure were appalling.

Something far more terrible waited beyond that.

"Wh-what the hell is that....?"

"A mantis..."

The name slipped from someone's panicked mouth. Yes. The monster before them looked exactly like a mantis—except it was large enough to look down on a human being.

A two-meter giant mantis. It brought catastrophe with it.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!"

A roar that filled the department store—open all the way to the ceiling—and the giant mantis charged with ferocious force. The civilians of the operation teams froze under that overwhelming presence. The soldiers of the special forces unit did not.

"Open fire!!"

At Captain Son Gijun's command, bullets poured into the charging giant mantis.

Tudududududududuk!!!!!

Countless holes punched through the pale-gray body; thick green blood sprayed. The giant mantis toppled forward and slid right to the soldiers' feet. Three rounds had struck its head dead-on. A message appeared before Captain Son Gijun's eyes.

One out of ten. More than twenty rounds expended. Even if three headshots killed one, thirty rounds would be needed. Command unit plus operation teams totaled fifty people. Simple math: fifteen hundred rounds required.

Captain Son Gijun realized the quest was impossible. No—he did not need to realize it with his head. It had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠already begun.

"Kyaaaaah!!!!"

"Kyaah!!!"

"Kyaaaa!!!"

"Kyaaaaa!!"

"Kyaaaaaaah!!!"

"Kyaah!!!"

"Kyack!!"

"Kyaaaaa!!!"

"Kyaaaa!!!"

Zombies toppled the screen the people had set up and poured in; the fallen ones were trampled flat under the flood, their shapes crushed beyond recognition.

"We're extracting!!!!!!"

Captain Son Gijun swung his muzzle rearward, pulled the trigger, and shouted. The other soldiers spun their muzzles toward the main doors in unison and fired. His voice rang out again.

"Baek Sihyeon! Secure the escape route!!"

"Let's go!"

"Everyone follow!!"

"Move!!"

"Hurry!!"

Aside from the single dead giant mantis, no other monsters were visible deeper inside the store. Baek Sihyeon and Yu Eunseol took the lead, guiding people in search of an exit—when suddenly:

Tadadadadak!!!!

The sound of something hard hammering the floor, and something burst out from the side, sowing chaos among those following.

"Uwaaaah!!"

"Ugh!!!"

"Ah...!"

"Save me!!!!!!!!!"

A desperate scream tore from one of the men who had been sniping at Baek Sihyeon's group on the bus. Leading the charge, Baek Sihyeon whipped around. His pupils shook violently at the sight of a man being dragged away by an ant the height of an adult male's waist.

But there was no time to look away.

"Sihyeon oppa!!"

"Ah..."

One was not the end. The quest had been issued simultaneously to all fifty people. That meant at least five hundred monsters existed inside this place.

"Kieeeeeee!!!!!!"

"Stat Amplification! Physical Enhancement!"

Baek Sihyeon even shouted skill names he did not need to voice aloud as he closed on the giant mantis rushing him almost as if flying, and swung his blade.

Kaaang!!!!!

No sparks flew, but the sound of metal on metal rang out as Baek Sihyeon's sword and the giant mantis's foreleg clashed in midair. Yu Eunseol did not miss the opening. She drew her sharp Japanese sword and cut across the giant mantis's waist.

Shaaat!!!

A clean hit. Yet Yu Eunseol was startled. She had swung with the full intent of bisecting the torso. The tough shell and muscle stopped her blade after only five centimeters into the side.

That much damage meant nothing to a giant mantis over two meters tall. Still—they were the protagonist's party.

Taat!!

Tadat!!

Tadadadat!!

Choi Junseok, Lee Jeongcheol, and even Kim Seojeong charged the giant mantis—when An Gyeongsu's voice cut through.

"Aim for the underside of the jaw!!"

He had named the exact weak point, but the three-person assault was blocked by a single remaining arm sweeping across.

With Baek Sihyeon's group at the front stalled, the situation deteriorated at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠terrifying speed.

"Kieee!!!"

"Kieee!!!"

"Kieeeeeee!!!!"

The giant ants that had been popping out one by one now numbered more than ten. People already struggling under that load looked up as giant mantises dropped from above.

Shaaak!!! Shaaaaak!!!!!

Two scythe-like arms scythed through. Heads, necks, and torsos were severed without resistance.

A scene of pure slaughter. The department store was hell itself.

Meanwhile, a gaze looked down on that hell from the second floor.

Rustle—

The sound of a crumpled snack bag. The man finished the last of a chocolate bar, grabbed the long steel rod he had leaned against the railing, and dropped straight down.

Tadak!!

The instant he landed, a giant ant that had been devouring a person it had dragged over turned its head and roared.

"Kieee!!!!"

Its hard shell was not enough. Not against a swing from a steel rod weighing over ten kilograms.

Kwajik!!!!!

The head shattered like frozen chocolate; green fluid sprayed upward. The man kicked off the floor and charged a giant mantis that had six people already clinging to it.

And then—

Sseuk—

Slightly bent at the waist, he raised the steel rod and caught the descending arm of the giant mantis.

Kaaang!!!!!

The deafening clang made Yu Eunseol, collapsed on the floor with her eyes squeezed shut, carefully open them.

"You...."

"Why is it you again?"

"What..."

"I was trying to save Baek Sihyeon."

"....Be—be careful!!!"

"Kieeeeeee!!!!"

Yu Eunseol's eyes went wide as she shouted. The giant mantis that had been blocked once was lifting its foreleg again, ready to smash down with full force.

But he blocked it far too easily. No—he deflected it.

Kigigik!!!!

Kang Juhan angled the steel rod so the descending foreleg slid off, and as he deflected the giant mantis's attack he shouted—driving his fist into its belly at the same time.

"I'm in the middle of a conversation!!!"

"Kieeeeeek..!!!!!!"