No More Room in Hell (6)
His consciousness was hazy. "...Ugh."
Without even knowing why he was here or how he had gotten into this state, and with no time to even form the thought, Hwang Ye-chan opened his eyes.
He had been born after his parents—his father a pastor and his mother a believer from birth—joined the cult. Naturally, Hwang Ye-chan had become a proud follower of the New Heaven Rapture Mission Church and a member of the youth choir.
The choir was more than just people who sang hymns. It was an elite training ground for climbing to the pinnacle of power. Its members were the core personnel, the ones entrusted with the church’s most important affairs and destined to become its leaders.
Hwang Ye-chan was merely a choir member, but he had dreams. He dreamed of becoming one of the privileged few granted permission by the cult leader to “be fruitful and multiply,” to take a wife and even concubines among the highest ranks.
That dream was now shattering to pieces right here—on top of his own scattered skull, amid torn flesh and blood.
“My head…”
Even as he groaned, the situation refused to sink in. He rolled his unfocused eyes and saw—
“...Ah.”
Unrealistically, it was his friend with his head split open and a kitchen knife buried deep in his skull.
He didn’t even have time to let out the breath that had caught in his throat. Before he could, an “Ah” of surprise came first. As he instinctively turned his head, what he saw was—
“You’re awake.”
A girl letting out a soft giggle. “Ehehe.”
The moment he saw that face, the scream rising in his throat died. She was beautiful. Gentle eyes, a soft expression, perfectly balanced features, and a warm, smiling gaze.
Even in his dazed state, Hwang Ye-chan stared blankly at the girl’s face.
“Is now really the time to be memorizing faces?”
The sudden voice made him flinch. The scolding tone snapped him back to his senses.
“...Kang Hyun.”
Kang Ahyeon and Kang Hyun.
He glared at the unfairly handsome man. Only then did he realize he was tied up.
“Untie me. Let me go.”
Even while looking into those cold eyes, he barely managed to speak.
“You don’t actually want to fight the whole choir, do you? Even without me, there are still thirteen… no, twelve more.”
One was already dead with his head split open. The sight of the corpse made his stomach twist, but he could endure it. He had grown used to it. At least for now, he couldn’t afford to show weakness.
That was the judgment behind his words, but then he heard something clatter across the floor and swallowed hard.
Several of the objects were familiar. A hammer, a hand axe, a saw. Tools and farm implements that some of the choir members had used as weapons.
Only then did the memory of what happened before he lost consciousness return. The screams. The chorus of cries from multiple choir members, the sound of something collapsing that he heard while running toward the entrance.
The friend in front of him now, dead with a kitchen knife buried in his throat. The club that had flown straight at his own head.
Only then did Hwang Ye-chan’s face begin to drain of color.
Glancing nervously at the man, he finally spoke, lips trembling.
“You monster bastard.”
No matter how hostile their relationship had been, no matter how much they had planned to harm each other first, to go this far—
Kang Hyun, however, barely reacted to the accusation.
“If it means surviving, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”
At that indifferent attitude, he ground his teeth but couldn’t argue. It was true. Humans would do anything to survive. Especially in a place like this.
There was no point in arguing about disobeying the cult leader’s orders and wandering around.
Kang Hyun dismissed him and yanked the kitchen knife from the corpse. A sickening crack came from the split skull.
“Where are the supplies?”
He lowered his stance. Brown eyes that resembled Kang Ahyeon’s, brown hair, sharp eyes glaring out from beneath slightly curly bangs.
“What do you have on you?”
When Hwang Ye-chan didn’t answer, he lifted the blood-dripping kitchen knife.
“Where did you come from?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Really?”
He stood back up. Hwang Ye-chan watched the knife slowly rise in his vision.
“Then di—”
“Oppa.”
At that moment, Kang Ahyeon stepped in front of her brother. Even when Kang Hyun frowned, she didn’t move aside.
“What?”
“I’ll… talk to him.”
The tension was thick. Hwang Ye-chan’s life now rested entirely in Kang Ahyeon’s hands.
He looked up at her with pleading eyes. Kang Ahyeon, who had been blocking her brother, slowly turned around. Her expression was filled with worry, apology, and resolve.
Hwang Ye-chan quickly decided on his future grandson’s name—so he could say it anytime. He framed this current scene in his memory like a picture.
“I’m sorry… Oppa’s gotten a little sensitive lately.”
“Ah, no. It’s okay…”
“Really? You’re sure it’s okay?”
Her drooping eyes looked genuinely concerned. With her naturally gentle features, the expression made his heart melt.
Kang Ahyeon lowered herself to his eye level with that same look on her face.
“You understand we had no choice if we wanted to survive, right? We never meant for it to happen like this. It was all just a coincidence…”
“What… what happened?”
“Zombies suddenly appeared… The choir members fought them off, but the monster in the parking lot heard the noise and came looking.”
The parking lot. The choir had originally numbered thirty. Sixteen of them had died securing it.
He nodded. That part really couldn’t be helped.
“Still, we feel responsible for how things turned out. Oppa may sound harsh, but… he’s trying to protect everyone. You’re the only one left, Ye-chan. You can’t protect the others all by yourself…”
He understood what she wanted to say immediately, but he stayed silent just to hear more of her voice.
“So we’ll protect you. Even if that wasn’t the case… you’ll need help anyway. We’re just trying to take responsibility…”
Her voice grew smaller, as if she were discouraged.
Only then did Hwang Ye-chan realize his attitude might have come across as rejection. That was why she seemed downcast. She really did have a kind heart.
“Don’t you want to go back? We’ll support you on the way…”
Hwang Ye-chan wasn’t rational enough to refuse that kind of persuasion. And Kang Ahyeon’s acting was far from ordinary.
Since childhood, the girl had been forced to act in order to proselytize. She had devoted herself to becoming the perfect daughter, the good child who met everyone’s expectations. It had been more than enough to make a clever girl precocious.
Kang Ahyeon knew exactly how to use her appearance, personality, perception, and acting. Just like now.
“If you don’t tell us…”
“Oppa. Please.”
“No, but this bastard—”
“Don’t be like that… O-oppa, that’s why people don’t like you!”
Kang Hyun frowned in clear displeasure. Kang Ahyeon positioned herself between her brother and Hwang Ye-chan as if to shield him.
To Hwang Ye-chan, who had no idea it was all an act, it was the sweetest possible honey trap.
“Y-you’re really just letting me go?”
In the end, Hwang Ye-chan fell for it.
“...Ah, yes! I promise! Pinky swear!”
She smiled brightly and held out her pinky finger. Even her deliberately childish gesture felt cute to him, so he smiled back. When he realized he couldn’t lift his own hand because he was tied up, he let out an awkward “Ah,” but even that seemed adorable to her.
“Oppa’s only acting like that because he’s scared. Please understand, Ye-chan.”
Indeed, everything felt like nothing more than a misunderstanding.
It was only natural for people attacked by Yoon Jeong-ho in room 808 to fear others and run. It was natural to fight back when assaulted. The zombie horde and the parking lot monster attacking had simply been bad luck.
It was perfectly reasonable to think that way. Kang Ahyeon had only run away. She couldn’t control who the zombies attacked.
The dead were tragic, but Hwang Ye-chan had discovered something far more important: Kang Ahyeon’s attitude as she defended him.
This clearly meant she had feelings for him. Or at the very least, she held some goodwill and interest toward him.
Humans had always been like that. It was easy to trust beautiful people. Their fake smiles and feigned interest were so easily mistaken for sincerity that people let themselves be swayed.
Kang Ahyeon knew this well and used it perfectly. Before he could even grow suspicious about the fact that they still hadn’t untied him, he had already told them the location of the shelter. Only then did she drop the act.
“Mm-hmm, so that’s where it is… Thank you for trusting us.”
“I—”
Hwang Ye-chan, who had been returning her bright smile, widened his eyes at the feeling of cold steel digging into his throat.
The blade slashed across his neck faster than he could react. Blood gushed out. With his hands tied behind his back, he couldn’t even clutch the wound. He stared at the flowing blood before his face fell forward into the growing puddle.
Twitch. Twitch.
Shivering from the cold, he finally understood the look Kang Hyun had been giving him.
It had been pity.
*
“All done!”
When Kang Ahyeon stood up, I looked down at Hwang Ye-chan collapsed on the floor, face buried in his own blood, and felt a twinge of sympathy. The poor bastard had died because he never realized what kind of girl Ahyeon really was. Even I hadn’t known until recently.
Normally, when someone smiles that sweetly, you’d never imagine they were capable of stabbing you. But this was the same girl who had stabbed her own parents to death.
Still, it was going to happen one way or another. Either he died after I tortured him, or he died comfortably by my sister’s hand. Out of the two, this was the better option. A good death, all things considered.
And now that the bastard had given us the location of their base—the shelter—our next move was simple: go there and secure their supplies.
“Oppa, aren’t you tired? Want to rest a little before we head out?”
“Maybe. By the way… is this all the stuff they had?”
“Yup, that’s everything! The rest must’ve been taken when they got eaten.”
Kang Ahyeon pointed at the weapons lying on the floor. I scratched my head.
The plan to wipe them out had been simple. Use the zombie horde. Open room 806 so they’d have to fight the zombies, then drive the survivors into room 808 and finish them off.
What I hadn’t planned for was the monster variant in the parking lot. The thing reacted to sound and ate both zombies and humans without discrimination.
That was why, even though there were supposedly fourteen choir members, we had only recovered four weapons—including the one from the now-dead Hwang Ye-chan.
As for the corpses, aside from Hwang Ye-chan and Kang Chan-song in this room, not even a trace remained. That alone made the variant monster in the parking lot something we needed to avoid at all costs.
Unless our stats rose significantly. Which they hadn’t. Not yet.
I had no idea how high the stats would need to be to take it down. Maybe two hundred Strength? Who knew.
Anyway, that wasn’t something to worry about right now.
There was only one thing that mattered at this moment.
The choir’s base. The shelter. And my stats.
I looked at the four whole stat points I had gained. This came before worrying about the shelter.
And since I had earned four points, I decided to look at the skill I had left neglected for so long.
Insight: Inactive
Greed: Inactive
I boldly invested two points into Strength.
Strength 3 → Strength 5
One point into Agility.
Agility 3 → Agility 4
And the last point into Greed.
Insight: Inactive
Greed: Active
└Level: 1
The flickering status window changed, and I widened my eyes at the message that appeared right below it.
※ What is Greed? ※
Greed is your unique skill that allows you to steal the techniques possessed by the beings you have killed.
The degree of plunder grows in proportion to the skill’s level.
I felt the corner of my mouth rise without realizing it and murmured softly.
“...Yeah, let’s just head out now.”
The guilt of murder faded quickly beneath a sense of accomplishment.