The Fifth Wave, Part 2
"Oppa, what's wrong?"
Jian reacted the instant Saebyeok jolted awake, his breath ragged and heavy.
"A dream... I had a dream. Somewhere familiar... and I saw a summoning stone there."
"What?"
"A place we visited pretty recently. There were a ton of zombies... underground. A massive swarm, maybe over a hundred of them. It was a fairly large subterranean space."
"Could it be that place? The... I can't recall the exact name, but where we went looking for the Rotten Lycan summoning stone? You mentioned in passing that it was a dud, that there were only zombie mobs down there..."
"I'm not sure. I can't remember clearly... What time is it? How much do we have left?"
"About forty minutes. The sun just went down, too..."
"Let's check it out anyway... Or is that too reckless of a gamble?"
"No," Jian said, her gaze steady and resolute as she met his eyes. "It's your skill, isn't it? I trust you, Oppa. Besides, the people at the mart have gotten a lot stronger now. I think we can trust them with this much..."
"..."
"To be honest, I don't know exactly what it is you're after, Oppa. But I don't want you carrying so many worries and burdens entirely on your own."
"Unni is a hundred percent right!!!" Heejin chimed in, her eyes sparkling with enthusiastic agreement.
"Hey, it's not that deep..."
"Oppa! You're the Descendant of the Great Dreamer, aren't you?!"
"You really..." Saebyeok chuckled despite himself.
"Of course! I'm the Black Saint, remember? Have some faith in us!!"
"Haah..."
While Heejin was hardly a powerhouse in battle, tonight her words carried an odd, comforting weight. Bolstered by their encouragement, Saebyeok decided to make his move immediately.
"First, both of you grab gas masks... Heejin, wear at least a standard one. They looked like mushroom things in the dream... Grab some Molotovs, too. And... water. It's a waste of drinking water, but we might need to wash off if things go sideways..."
"Yahoo! Understood!!"
"Oppa, but she can't run fast..."
"Not true! Unni, I can run very well!"
"..."
Jian stared at Heejin with an expression that practically screamed, What on earth are we going to do with her?
"If she falls behind, we leave her," Saebyeok said. "I'm going to check in with Doyoung-hyung and head out immediately, so get ready."
"Spores? You're saying dormant zombies reconnect through fungal hyphae? No, wait... more importantly, you weren't a Lancer or some spear-wielding class?" Doyoung was utterly bewildered by Saebyeok's sudden revelation.
"Hyung, keep my class strictly confidential. Especially from the cathedral group. They seem to view anything like it as a curse, so there's no need to stir up trouble."
"Got it. Is Jian one too?"
"No, she's definitely a Berserker."
"Yeah, she was terrifying last time. Still, if we can pinpoint the spawn location right from the start, that makes our job infinitely easier... We have to keep watch through the night anyway, so we're not losing anything."
"Then I'll head out right away."
"Yeah... take care out there."
"Look after the mart for me, Hyung."
"Aargh! Don't lay that pressure on me! We need more hands if I'm gonna survive this..."
"Haha, nothing we can do about that right now. Hang in there a bit longer. Who knows? Maybe the right person will magically pop up out of nowhere."
Saebyeok had introduced his class to Doyoung vaguely as something akin to a 'Seeker' rather than revealing its true title. He explained that, on very rare occasions, he received precognitive dreams, and that this was the first time one had hit him like this. While there was always a chance the dream was inaccurate, minimizing conflict in this godforsaken apocalypse was the top priority.
Even if no monsters had spawned there, Saebyeok planned to torch the building regardless. Its location made it difficult for fire to spread to adjacent structures, and burning down that specific building might trigger a systemic reaction—or at least eliminate a potential hazard. Convinced by the logic, Doyoung had readily given his blessing.
When Saebyeok returned to the rooftop, he spotted Heejin already decked out in the shop-bought tactical gear—the very same uniform he and Jian wore.
"Huh? When did you buy that?"
"Well... Shasha wasn't selling anything else, so I grabbed this! Hehe, couple look! Yay!"
Saebyeok turned straight to Jian. "How many Molotovs did you pack?"
"Six."
"Should be plenty... Let's move!"
"Oppa, she doesn't know how to rappel."
"..."
Saebyeok let out a heavy sigh, looking at Heejin with sheer exasperation. "Hey... if I tell you to stay behind, you won't listen, will you?"
Heejin nodded with violent enthusiasm, doing everything in her power to display her stubborn resolve.
"Haah... I'll carry you down on my back. At her weight, it shouldn't be an issue..."
Smack!
Jian planted a firm hand on Heejin's back.
"Ow!! Unni!! That hurts! I'm going to die by your hands before a monster even touches me!"
"I hit you as gently as I could."
"Unni!!" Heejin squawked in protest.
Even so, she had the sense to keep her voice down, mindful of the night.
"Let's go. Hop on."
Saebyeok hitched Heejin onto his back, gripped the rope, and descended the mart's exterior wall with practiced care. Once at the bottom, he set down a beaming Heejin and loosely rotated his wrists and ankles to shake off the tension.
The moment Jian touched down, Saebyeok broke into a sprint toward the commercial building that once housed the animal clinic.
Jian kept pace with effortless ease, while Heejin gave it everything she had... but in the end, Saebyeok had no choice but to throttle his speed.
"Huff, huff... I... I even used mana circulation... to boost myself...! Huff, how... how is the gap not shrinking?!"
"Shh! Keep it down! It's nighttime!"
"Haaa! Huff! Huff!"
Once Saebyeok and Jian matched her stride, a little color returned to Heejin's flushed face.
"Hold up! Everyone, stop!"
"..."
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
"Jian, how many minutes left?"
"Two minutes."
"Then you and I put on our shop-bought gas masks... Heejin, take your time."
With their gas masks secured, Saebyeok and Jian tracked the seconds on their watches. The moment the countdown expired, they breached the entrance.
Heejin trailed behind, donning an emergency fire evacuation mask scavenged from the premises.
Gaping holes still riddled the walls, bearing scattered scars from Saebyeok's previous battle. Moving like soldiers sweeping an urban combat zone, the three descended into the hollow depths of the basement. Hand signals flashed between them, eyes constantly sweeping the rear as they advanced.
Decaying zombie flesh littered the ground. In the center of the space, cleared out as if swept clean by unseen hands, stood the summoning stone.
Along the far wall, a cluster of bizarre mushrooms was already materializing into reality.
Saebyeok drew his spear and gestured toward the fungal growth, shooting Jian a sharp glance. In a single fluid motion, his spear thrust forward to pierce the summoning stone just as a Molotov cocktail arced through the air toward the mushrooms.
Crash! Booom!
With the crystalline screech of shattering glass, the summoning stone fractured into oblivion.
Clatter! Whooooosh!
The mushrooms burst into raging flames.
"Heejin, throw one across to the far side!"
Saebyeok wrenched his spear free, hurling Molotovs onto the shattered remnants of the stone and the pile of zombie corpses.
As the system messages unfurled before his eyes, Saebyeok hurled two of the three remaining Molotov cocktails against the walls most prone to catching fire.
It has been decided to grant 100,000 CP to Kim Saebyeok for destroying the summoning stone.
The administrators applaud this cosmic record.
Saebyeok's eyes widened to the breaking point at the staggering reward. But with no time to dwell on it, he had to see their plan through to the end. Without hesitation, he tossed the final Molotov into what appeared to be the animal clinic's storage room, and the trio beat a swift retreat into the night.
"Oppa, can I take this off now..."
Saebyeok told Heejin to wait, refusing to take any chances. Jian produced large jugs of water from her ring's dimensional inventory, and the three drenched themselves thoroughly from head to toe. Soaked to the skin, they returned to the mart and headed straight for the showers.
Every piece of clothing and gear was rinsed thoroughly before being thrown into the washing machines.
Doyoung, who had been watching from a short distance away, stepped forward as Saebyeok emerged.
"The summoning stone?"
"Cleared."
Clap!
Their hands met in a crisp high-five.
"They called it a 'cosmic record'?"
"Oh, damn!!"
"Hyung, you know there are still sixty-five more to go, right?"
"Ah, fuck... Still, at least we can rest easy tonight."
"We really caught a break. If those mushrooms had scattered spores across the whole district like I saw in the dream... it would've been an absolute nightmare."
"Man... lately I've come to deeply respect the scholars who wrote plant and animal encyclopedias. Thinking about it now, the natural world is so damn uncharted. Ugh..."
"Haha, yeah. I feel the same respect." Saebyeok chuckled, roughly toweling his damp hair. "Hyung, I'm not going to sleep anyway, so call me immediately if anything happens."
"Will do. Good work, kid!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Ah!! Oppa, you're so lucky! A record and a hundred thousand points!!"
"Wait, did that broadcast to everyone?"
"I don't know how it looked on your end, Oppa, but a prompt popped up for me: 'New Record: Summoning Stone Destroyed in Record Time — 100,000 CP Awarded.'"
"That could get complicated..."
"Huh? Why?"
Seeing Heejin's innocent bewilderment, Jian stepped in.
"It could sow division. People might get blinded by greed and start acting recklessly on their own."
"Oh, come on! No way!!"
"Jian's right," Saebyeok said quietly. "Human greed and madness are completely unpredictable. When it comes to stuff like this, we have to stay on high alert..."
Jian gulped down a cup of water before speaking her mind. "Still, if... if people really start pulling stupid stunts, I'm going to be furious. Think about how much CP you've donated to the mart, Oppa... They have no right to complain. And look at how fiercely you've fought for everyone. Honestly, I don't think anyone here is quite that shameless."
"Yeah. For now, all we can do is trust them..."
Even so, hearing the phrase 'cosmic record' had given Saebyeok an undeniable thrill of satisfaction. He allowed himself the small luxury of cracking open a lukewarm sports drink.
Gulp, gulp.
"Phew! That's the stuff..."
"Oppa, you sounded like a total middle-aged ajusshi just now."
"Let a guy have his moment, would you?"
"Kekeke, okay, okay~"
"Just to be safe, you both know to gear back up the second the combat suits finish drying and stay on standby, right?"
"Of course!!"
"Understood."
Though all three shared a lighthearted laugh, beneath the surface lingered a sharp, unspoken tension—waiting for what the night might bring.