Three Against One
Seo Hamin was a crazy bitch, sure—but Seo Hayun was the real enigma.
I still had no idea what kind of person she actually was.
Could a woman who’d lost her virginity against her will to a complete stranger really walk around looking that sunny?
"Really?? You’re twenty too??"
"Yeah."
"Kyaa~!! Me too, me too! But you’re seriously pretty! Are you an idol? An actress? Or a trainee or something??"
"……"
"Ah… you’re an I, huh..? Am I coming on too strong..?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry.."
Kim Seojeong’s casual mention that Yu Eunseol was also twenty had sent Seo Hayun into a full-blown excited chatter—until Eunseol’s ice-cold replies deflated her completely. The moment Hayun’s shoulders slumped, the guys around them exploded into action.
"She’s always like that!"
"She doesn’t even answer us!"
"Right! The kid’s got zero manners… no, wait—she’s just super introverted, so the fact she answered at all is already huge!"
"Looks like Eunseol likes Hayun too~ Hahahaha"
"Really..?"
"Of course!"
"Totally!"
"For real!"
"Obviously! Who could hate you~ Hahaha"
"Eunseol, is that true..?"
"……"
"Doesn’t seem like it.. Hiiing…"
"Hey..!!"
"Just answer her already!"
"What’s so hard about it?!"
"That ice witch..!!"
"……"
Even with all four of them ganging up on her, Yu Eunseol didn’t so much as blink.
How the hell were those idiots planning to deal with the fallout later?
"They’re having a blast..!"
"Men, I swear..!!"
"Ha! Unbelievable..!"
Min-gu was casually dating Seon-ye, Jae-min was with Jeong-yeon, and Yeong-hun with Hui-jin.
And yet here they were, still charging in like heroes.
Jae-yeol was still just a kid too, apparently.
Watching him act exactly like that idiot trio made it obvious.
Of course, Jae-yeol had spent ten years pining after Na-ri only for me to snatch her away, so he no longer had anyone’s feelings to tiptoe around.
But what now?
I’d already held the grand opening ceremony with Seo Hayun.
Was I about to get stabbed to death by Jae-yeol over this?
"Hayun, didn’t you say your sister’s waiting? Shouldn’t you head back already?"
"Ah, right! I have to go right now! Unnie’s gonna worry!"
Only after she’d washed up, eaten a full meal, polished off dessert, and chattered away until her food had settled did Ji-hye’s reminder finally jog Seo Hayun’s memory. She shot to her feet with a sudden shout.
Even Baek Sihyeon and Choi Junseok, who’d been holding back until now, jumped up.
"Let’s go! I’ll take you!"
"You just follow us!"
"Yes! Thank you, hehe~"
"Ah…"
"Whoa…"
That smile of hers was enough to draw genuine admiration—but she still needed to read the room a little better.
"Hoho..! Junseok..?!"
"……"
Kim Seojeong’s voice was smiling, but her teeth were clenched. Choi Junseok dropped right back into his seat.
Baek Sihyeon, however, stole a glance at Yu Eunseol, then at me, hesitated for a second, and walked over to the entrance hall to grab the sword leaning against the shoe cabinet.
And why the hell were the rest of them getting up?
"Then we should go with you at least."
"You never know what might happen."
The idiot trio stayed glued to their seats, too busy reading the college girls’ moods, but Su-ho and Jae-yeol—who had no one to answer to—bolted up and joined Baek Sihyeon waiting by the door.
Still, one of the three—Su-ho, Jae-yeol, or Baek Sihyeon—had to stay behind.
With me gone, leaving the three strongest fighters empty-handed made me uneasy.
"Then you stay."
"That works."
"I’ll be back."
"What is this, a fan meeting?! Get your heads on straight, all of you!"
In the end one person had to remain, and rock-paper-scissors crowned Su-ho the loser.
"I’m heading out."
"……"
"Don’t look at me like that! I have to go! I’m the only one who saw what happened! I need to explain it!"
"Who said anything? You unlucky bastard."
"…Going."
Leaving Su-ho behind—still shooting me resentful glares even though I hadn’t even played rock-paper-scissors—we stepped out of the house.
Our first stop was the building where I’d met Seo Hayun. From there we followed her lead.
"Those oppas are insanely strong… almost as strong as Unnie… wow.."
"Seo Hayun."
"Yes?"
"Let’s keep it a secret from your sister."
"Keep what a secret?"
"What we did."
"……"
"If it hadn’t been me, those bastards would’ve gotten you instead."
"That has nothing to do with it, does it?! The fact that I was forced doesn’t change!"
"Was it really forced?"
"O-of course it was! If that wasn’t force, then what was it?! D-don’t you dare think I wanted it—that’s a complete delusion! There’s no way I’d ever… want something like that…."
I still wasn’t entirely convinced.
The first time I pushed in, the way she’d provoked me again the moment I pulled out—too many suspicious little details.
Of course, the way she’d sobbed and begged with her whole heart made it hard to be sure.
"We’re here."
Closer than I expected.
Even with Jae-yeol and Baek Sihyeon showing off and cutting down a fair number of zombies along the way, it still only took a little over ten minutes.
If we’d ignored the zombies and focused purely on moving, it wouldn’t have taken ten minutes at all.
The webtoon never really showed this place properly, but they’d picked a damn good spot.
A high wall that looked well over two meters, and a luxury villa with an exterior that screamed money.
The vehicle entrance was sealed tight behind a shutter, and the main pedestrian gate was a massive, solid door locked shut—perfectly protected from any zombie threat.
But it was incredibly noisy inside.
"Somebody stop her!!"
"Hamin-ssi! Calm down!"
"We got hit too!!!"
"U-Unnie!! I’m here!! I’m right here!!!!"
Seo Hayun shouted urgently at the commotion coming from beyond the wall.
That only made the rest of us more urgent.
"Kraaaagh!!!"
"Kraagh!!"
"Kraaaa!!"
"Kraaaaagh!!!"
"Kragh!!"
"Kraaaagh!!!"
Even if the ones chasing us were still a bit behind, the zombies packed around the villa walls all turned as one and charged the moment we stepped out of the alley.
"If you scream now..!"
"We need to find somewhere to hide for a second…"
Jae-yeol and Baek Sihyeon, panicking, spun around looking for cover—but we didn’t need to hide anywhere.
Clack—
The closed main gate swung open, and the zombies started dropping.
Thud!! Thud-thud!! Slash!! Slice! Thud!!
I’ll admit it.
She was incredible.
Wasn’t she stronger than Jae-yeol or Baek Sihyeon right now?
Without skills, even I might have trouble putting her down.
That was how strong Seo Hamin was.
"Hayun!!"
"Unnie!"
Inside the walls was a surprisingly spacious courtyard.
From the wall to the villa looked a little over ten meters, and the long villa itself stretched more than forty meters sideways.
Even a rough estimate put the open ground at over five hundred square meters, and more than fifty people were gathered there.
Surrounding us.
But all those eyes weren’t focused on us.
They were locked on three thoroughly panicked men and one woman.
The three bastards I’d beaten unconscious earlier, and Claws.
"W-why are you here…"
"Fuck..!"
"Damn it…!"
"……"
"Unnie, what did those people say?"
"Someone showed up and kidnapped you. Said they did something terrible to you. Is that true?"
"No, it’s a lie."
"A lie?! Hey, Seo Hayun! Tell the truth right now!"
At Claws’ sharp cry, Seo Hayun pointed at the four of them.
"That unnie ordered those oppas to… force themselves on me! And that trash said next time he’d do both Unnie and me together…!!!"
"Enough. You don’t have to say more. That’s plenty. Now it’s your turn. The victim herself is saying this—are you still going to deny it?"
"That’s…!"
"Ah, fuck!! Fine! We were gonna fuck her?! Happy now?!"
"What?"
The big guy who’d subdued Seo Hayun last started shouting as he looked around at the crowd.
Like some kind of independence fighter.
"In a world like this, a man wants to do a woman—what’s wrong with that?!! Everyone here feels the same! You all want to!! How long are you gonna keep living under that bitch’s thumb?!"
"He’s right! Seo Hayun, Seo Hamin! When else are you ever gonna get to fuck bitches like that?! Overwhelm them with numbers and they’re nothing!"
"You crazy bastards! What kind of bullshit is that?!"
"Hyung-nim! How long are you gonna keep watching your wife’s face! You want young girls too, don’t you! You told me you wanted to fuck them!"
"Hey!!! When did I ever?!!"
"You said that?!"
"N-no! Why would I say something that insane?! Absolutely not!!"
"Bullshit. Is there a single man here who hasn’t said he wants to eat those bitches?! There isn’t!!"
"Yeah! Let’s all be honest!! The world’s already fucked! We’re all gonna die anyway! Let’s just live doing whatever the hell we want!!"
Talking that openly could actually sway people.
That was the instinct and nature of the male animal.
But instinct or nature, both bowed their heads before overwhelming power.
"Stop talking nonsense!! Unnie! Punish them!"
"No. What punishment? They’re not children."
"Unnie…!!"
"Adults don’t get punished. They take responsibility. That’s what being an adult means."
"Responsibility..?"
"Yeah. Give it here."
Seo Hamin took the dagger from Seo Hayun’s hand with her left.
She already held an identical dagger in her right.
Two daggers.
Those were Seo Hamin’s weapons.
Whoosh!!!
She spun and casually swung one dagger; two of the three men stumbled backward.
"W-what are you doing?!"
"You really wanna go against us?!"
The two panicked men shouted, but the big guy who hadn’t retreated said nothing.
No—he couldn’t say anything.
Instead he clutched his throat with both hands.
Trying to stop the blood leaking between his fingers.
"Ghk…!!!"
"Kyaaak!!!!"
"H-Hamin!!"
"What the hell are you doing?!!"
"This isn’t right!!"
"Killing people…"
Shocked voices erupted from every direction, but for Seo Hamin this was only the beginning.
"You crazy bitch!!"
"……"
One of them closed the distance fast and brought his sword down on Seo Hamin.
The gap in skill was simply too wide.
Thud!!
Ssshk—
The hand still gripping the sword dropped to the ground, wrist cleanly severed, and the dagger already buried in his throat was yanked free, sending blood spraying like a fountain.
The last man’s face went deathly pale; he spun toward me and tried to run.
Thud!!!
The sharp tip of a dagger punched straight through his chest.
Then the tip vanished back into his body as he crumpled to the ground.
"……"
"……"
Seo Hamin, who had killed three men in an instant, locked eyes with me.
Her gaze was as indifferent as Yu Eunseol’s; she flexed her fingers around the blood-dripping daggers while staring straight at me.
Then she leveled one dagger at Claws, who was trembling on the ground, and asked a question—
while never taking her eyes off my face.
"I can spare you. So be honest."
"Uuuung…!!"
Too terrified even to speak, Claws nodded frantically. Seo Hamin kept staring at me as she continued.
"The person who kidnapped her. The one who did something terrible to Hayun. Is that true?"
"No, Unnie! Nothing like that happened!"
"Seo Hayun, I didn’t ask you. Answer. Is it true?"
"Uung..!!!"
"……"
Shit.
Desperate to live, Claws nodded hard, confirming it was true—and in that same instant Seo Hamin vanished from in front of me.
Acceleration, same as Jae-yeol’s?
Fast.
Dropping so low she was almost sitting on the ground, Seo Hamin closed in and swept her arm upward, aiming the dagger at my throat.
Whoosh!!!
I leaned my upper body back and dodged the swinging blade—but her real target wasn’t my neck.
Clang!!!
The dagger in her left hand slammed into the spot where my foot had been a second earlier.
Draw the eyes upward, then strike the unguarded lower half.
A solid attempt, but it still fell just short of completely outrunning my dynamic vision and reaction speed.
Of course that wasn’t the end.
Taat!!
Seo Hamin kicked off the ground and launched herself upward, reverse-gripping the left dagger and sweeping it up in a rising cut.
Or rather, she tried to.
If my right foot hadn’t lightly pinned her wrist first.
Whoosh!!!
Undeterred, she reversed the right-hand dagger she’d swung in the first attack and aimed the tip at my temple.
Was that all she had?
I couldn’t fully subdue her like this, but she was more manageable than I’d expected.
And what the hell were those two doing?!
Acceleration!
Acceleration
The moment I activated the skill I ducked, then threw my body sideways and rolled across the ground.
Because two blades came slicing through the air with murderous force.
"Hey! Are you insane?! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!!"
I was so flabbergasted I actually shouted.
Jae-yeol and Baek Sihyeon, both still pointing the tips of the blades they’d just swung at me, opened their mouths at the same time.
"Not content with Na-ri..!!"
"You did that to Eunseol and now again..!!"
"……"
Their own words left Jae-yeol and Baek Sihyeon speechless; they turned their heads and stared at each other.
"……"
"……"
What the hell?! Why are you exchanging looks like that?!
Nod—
Nod—
Don’t you dare nod at each other!!!