Arson (3)
Two hours later, I turned to Jeong Suhyun, who was cracking open a can of food now that my mana had half recovered.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
-Clang. Jeong Suhyun tossed the empty can onto the floor, grabbed his rifle and ammo bag, and stood.
"No need to switch this time?"
"It's lighter now."
True enough. With the weight down to a third, it had to be way lighter than the food bag. I nodded and opened the door.
"Whoa... shit..."
"..."
The Rocket Mart outdoor parking lot was straight out of hell. Chunks of flesh, scraps of organs, shattered bones, pools of blood. Without the smoking cars and faint white parking lines peeking through, it could've been another dimension entirely.
-Splash. We waded through the blood mixed with organ bits, heading back to the Rocket Mart entrance we'd used on the way in.
-Crack.
-Rustle rustle. At the entrance, we scraped the flesh and sticky gore off our shoes in the flower bed first. There was so much it wouldn't vanish just from rubbing on concrete, but better than nothing.
-Clack.
"...This is for real..."
Jeong Suhyun, cradling his rifle in one arm, finally spoke. Curious what he meant, I turned.
"It's fucking horrific."
But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes fixed downward toward the intersection, face twisted in a weird grimace.
"That so?"
Nothing much I could say. World ended thirteen days ago. My take—holed up at home after awakening magic—couldn't match his, raw exposure to human squabbles and zombie scraps at the community office.
"Yeah... just... seeing it hits different. Really feels like the country's fucked."
"Can't argue that."
Bloodstains. Charred cars. Dark houses. Stalled roads. Straight out of some game or movie—alien as hell.
But… our sentiment wouldn’t change shit.
"What're we gonna do, though? It's done. Let's move."
"...Yeah."
So I led him up toward the Rocket Mart intersection. Where cars and zombie packs once clogged it, silence hung heavy now.
-Thud thud. Atop the hill overlooking the full Rocket Mart sprawl, I peered down.
Hmm...
Perfect sightlines. Wrecked parking lot and EV charging station. Northdong building beyond.
-Hum. I conjured two Ice Spears, floating them dead over the charging station in the lot.
Flammable cars nearby... bodies and blood too, but...
Pondered the best way to blow it sky-high. Pure impact? Nice if it went up like an EV battery.
"Heh heh..."
Then Jeong Suhyun's creepy chuckle. Staring at the hovering spears, his face twisted into something unsettling, almost lecherous.
Chill up my spine, I scowled. "The hell's with you?"
"Nothing. Just... never dreamed this shit up."
His expression hardened wickedly. "We turning criminals now?"
True. Arson on a mega-mart. Normal world? Ten years easy. Fire department's toast, so massive blaze guaranteed.
"Worried? Head inside then."
World's toast. No judges left.
"Nah."
Yeah. Truth was, I didn't wanna go in either. Without that goddamn Status Window ping, I'd have noped out. His stance suited me fine.
"From up here, it's obvious. Something unimaginable's lurking inside."
As I mulled, he pointed at Rocket Mart. "Even with moisture, total blackout inside? Sketchy."
"Yeah?"
I eyed it. All glass save the stairs, yet zero interior visible.
"Yeah. 1F moisture? Fine, food storage."
"Makes sense."
1F stocked easy-access groceries and sundries. Twelve days on, meats, fish, dairy spoiling, spewing damp.
"1F checks out, but..." He pointed to 3F and 4F. "Higher up, block sun or moisture—shouldn't it get darker inside?"
"Now that you mention..."
I squinted. Higher floors vanished deeper into black. Not like 1F's faint green tint from sunlight—upper windows straight pitch.
"And check that 4F corner room."
He jabbed at the top corner. Black shapes wriggled there.
Like...
"...Hanged corpses."
"Not like. Probably are."
Blind spot from my entry path. Only visible post-zombie clear, up this intersection route.
"...Wise call skipping it, Junyoung."
Dozens dangling ceiling-spaced. Eerie sway. Worse—I'd basemented hours below them.
"Yeah."
Guy who smoked sixteen armed folks. Gotta be nasty. Tied to the seventh Ruin Fragment, no doubt.
Territorial flaw, though. Never leaves domain, whatever happens outside. Unknown ID, form, smarts. King in there.
But humans? Brains over brawn. Top predator that way.
Whatever's inside? Don't care.
Burn it all anyway.
"Sparks won't reach here?"
"Doubt it. Back mountain if shit hits."
"Decent distance."
"Do it. Ready to bolt."
"Got it."
I slammed the floating Ice Spears into the charging station.
-Kwachak. No visible reaction.
But I knew: precursor.
"Ice Spear." Three more conjured, stabbed in.
Then.
-Crackle crackle CRACKLE. Flames erupted from the station.
Chewing upward, spreading. Hit nearby cars but seemed shy of the mart.
"...Kinda weak?"
He clocked it, eyes flicking to me.
I plugged my ears, shook my head. "Nah. Ears, Suhyun."
"Huh? What the—"
- - - !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"!!!!!!"
He freaked, hands to ears. Massive roar below—station detonated proper.
-BOOM!BOOM!BOOM! Thunderclap blasts, lightning-style.
Flames swelled, devouring everything.
-WHOOSH! Zombie-strewn lot's wrecked cars ignite first.
-BANG!BANG! Vehicles pop one by one, inferno marching on the mart.
Bodies. Blood. Flesh. Bones. Concrete. Rebar. Cars. Blaze roars fiercer.
Soon licks our old underground lot and opposite indoor one.
"...Fucking nuts."
Jeong Suhyun gawked at the pyre, acrid black smoke.
Fire hits target: Rocket Mart.
-ROARRR. Flames belch smoke, clawing into 1F.
"We bolting or what?"
He snapped to, asking.
I shook my head. "Whatever's in there? Fire'll flush it."
"Ah..."
I narrowed on the front ablaze. No stir yet. Just roar, zombie rush, choking smoke.
But soon. Combustibles galore inside.
And.
- -KWAAAAANG! Barely after flames took hold—boom echoes. I spotted a massive shadow whip through 4F innards.
Blur-fast, but definite: from his flagged corner.
"Suhyun. You see?"
"...Yeah."
Cross-checked. Spawned remaining Ice Spears, lofted high. Locked every nerve on smoke-veiled Rocket Mart.