Floor 6, The Lost World of the Contaminated (5)

I twisted my wrist, swung the mace around in a full backward rotation, and brought it crashing down.

Carried by its own momentum, the mace split the zombie's skull open like a smashed watermelon.

"Hah! Hah!"

The group who'd led the zombie horde toward us collapsed to the ground the moment we passed, gasping for breath.

Of the five who'd stumbled into us, only three had survived. Unfortunately, two of them had gotten tangled up with each other while fleeing and vanished into the horde.

"Sir!"

"Bash!"

The ahjussi shouted something odd and shoved his shield forward roughly, then immediately drove his sword into the zombie he'd knocked off balance.

...Did he just call out his skill out loud?

Granted, even priests announced their skill names sometimes, but...

That didn't seem like an actual skill.

He hadn't done it in the earlier fight, either. Was he just getting a little more comfortable in combat?

Well, he had said he was a fan of fantasy novels. That was a good thing—it meant the ahjussi was finding his footing in battle.

"Hah... thank you!"

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Once we'd cleared out the zombie horde, the survivors bowed their heads again and again.

Three sturdy men, all carrying swords—they looked like warriors.

"How on earth did you make it all the way down to the subway with skills like that?"

"We were heading toward Chungmuro when the zombies suddenly surged to the opposite platform. We slipped through in that gap..."

"Chungmuro, you say?"

"Yes, we live near Chungmuro. But what's that...?"

One of the surviving men turned his gaze toward the strange egg sitting behind us. Simple curiosity?

Except there was a faint glimmer of greed in his eyes that said otherwise.

'Save a drowning man, and he demands you hand over your bundle. That's how the saying goes, I guess.'

Honestly, it was absurd.

His eyes kept darting—again and again—toward the egg and the accessories.

Right in front of the people who'd just saved his life, and that stuff was still all he could think about?

"We found those. Keep your eyes to yourself."

I hadn't meant to, but a prickly reply slipped out on its own.

The man must have picked up on my mood, because he scrambled to explain himself.

"Oh no, I don't covet them one bit, I swear. I was just curious, that's all... Were you all also headed toward Chungmuro?"

"Mm-hm, we were headed that way too."

The bald ahjussi answered smoothly. He'd clearly noticed my irritation.

The stiff atmosphere loosened up a little.

"That guy... is it just me, or is something off about him?"

"No, we should kill him here."

"Huh?"

I whispered to Ha Heijeong, and that was the startling reply I got. Kill him?

When I turned to her in surprise, she was glaring at the man, brow furrowed, eyes sharp as knives. Genuinely furious.

"That guy is straight-up trash. Backstabber. Betrayer. Honestly, I'd love to put him down right here, but for now... there's nothing we can do."

"Keep an eye on him. I'll watch him too."

I gave a small nod. It was an agreement, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'd killed plenty of things that looked like people, but I'd never once imagined killing an actual human being.

Things-that-looked-human and humans were different—the psychological resistance was on another level entirely.

'I always figured I might have to, someday.'

But now that it was staring me in the face, it left me uneasy.

No. Don't think about that yet. All she said was to keep an eye on him.

Let's just get back to what we were doing.

"Ahjussi, would you like to come stay at our place too? It's pretty spacious."

"Hmm, I should ask my group first."

"Wow, but you were seriously amazing back there! You startled me. Block with the shield, stab with the sword—just like that!"

"Aw, come on~ Suhyeok over here was the real deal, not me."

Somehow the ahjussi and the man's group had already introduced themselves to one another and were chatting away with laughs.

Meanwhile, I quietly called Dobby over and approached the egg. I gathered up the elixir, the ring, and the necklace and handed them to Ha Heijeong.

"You should take the ring and the elixir. I'll just keep the necklace."

"Yeah, got it."

She tucked the elixir away and slipped on the ring. It must have been decent quality, because I felt my body grow just a touch lighter for a moment.

Exactly as the ring had promised, my stats had edged upward. Strength +4, Agility +2, Constitution +4, Magic +2. The Essence of Lightning had even leveled up by one.

Now it was time to deal with the strange egg.

"Dobby."

"Kkiik! Purify!"

A radiant light settled over the egg, which looked as though it had been blackened by corrosion. Nothing changed.

Was I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠imagining things? Well, Sixth Sense wasn't always reliable.

Huh? Didn't it just flinch for a second there?

"It flinched just now, didn't it?"

"Hmm, hard to say."

"Dobby, one more time."

"Kkiik! Purify!"

Flinch. This time I was sure. A movement so subtle you'd miss it if you weren't concentrating.

The egg had definitely reacted.

"Chloe, Harin. You two can cast Purification, right?"

"Yes."

"Let's all cast it at once."

When the three priests cast their Purification together, the radiant light grew even brighter.

And then, at last, came a crisp crackling sound—and the black husks enveloping the egg peeled away and fell to the ground.

"So what were you originally supposed to do with it?"

"They said if you break the egg, a key comes out. And there's a movie-related media center underneath Chungmuro Station, so..."

"So you weren't the one who broke it?"

"Mm, that's just what I heard. They said there's a hidden door inside that media center. The plan was to slip in there and hide out for the rest of the time."

Ha Heijeong and I were sitting in the traitor's apartment near Chungmuro Station, talking over how the hidden mission had changed.

In the notification's description of the egg, the word 'contaminated' had been erased.

'A good sign, but...'

The problem was that we had no idea what we were supposed to do next.

The hidden mission Ha Heijeong knew about had changed completely.

"So by purifying the egg, we just lost our safe hiding spot."

"...Once the time limit hits the 24-hour mark, the 'Queen' appears."

"The Queen?"

"Yeah. A monster. Honestly, I don't know if even you and I as we are now could take it down. It spawns at a random location, too. The people who ran into the Queen on the first cycle were pretty much all wiped out."

Ha Heijeong trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. Hmm, the Queen, huh. Wouldn't the reward for killing it be huge?

And then, just then, Ha Heijeong let out a gasp as if something had struck her.

"The egg! Isn't this thing supposed to be given to the Queen?"

"Oh, right. It's no ordinary egg, so odds are ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠good it's the Queen's own. Simple. Hey, why are you only thinking of that now?"

If you knew about the Queen, it should've been easy to connect the dots.

At my jab, Ha Heijeong's face scrunched up in a scowl.

"Th-that's not fair, the hidden mission I knew changed completely, so of course I was thrown off. You'd have been exactly the same in my shoes!"

"Sigh. So mages can't use their heads after all."

"Wow, damn. Hearing that from you of all people is infuriating. You're the one with zero magical talent."

"Mm-hm, but I'm a warrior now. Currently ranked number one~"

I teased her with a liveliness I hadn't felt in ages, and the look on Ha Heijeong's face turned dangerous. Yep, time to stop here.

Push it any further and who knows what fate would befall me.

Thirty-seven hours left. That meant we still had thirteen hours before the Queen appeared.

Were we supposed to just rest at this apartment the whole time?

"So what do we do until the Queen shows up?"

"Originally, you just grab the key and go. There are these guys called Projectors—you were supposed to farm achievement points hunting them down before hiding."

"And not hunt the Queen?"

"That was way too long ago. I'm not certain how strong the Queen actually is. No reason to gamble our lives on a risk like that."

Huh. If the Queen was really that strong, weren't we in serious trouble too?

Listening to Ha Heijeong, I suddenly felt anxious.

"Hey, Heijeong. If we're not careful handing over that egg, we could die too, right?"

"No, if this is the Queen's egg, we're fine. The Queen isn't contaminated. It'll just be looking for the humans who killed its own kind. Worst case, we run."

"Really?"

She said it all so matter-of-factly that my anxiety began to melt away.

Had she already prepared a separate escape route? Well, she'd regressed, so she probably had all sorts of tricks up her sleeve.

"So let's rest up until the Queen appears. Otherwise we might end up running for our lives for twenty-four hours straight."

Hmm. So she hadn't thought of any specific plan after all. Well, either way, it seemed like we'd have to face the Queen eventually to clear the hidden mission.

Fine, then. Yes, let's rest. Catch some sleep, even.

Looking around, I saw the rest of the party, fresh from their showers, sprawled out chaotically all over the place. Some were asleep, some just staring blankly into empty air. Still, wouldn't it be better to set up a watch rotation before sleeping?

"Everyone, wake up for a sec. Just in case, let's set a watch schedule before we rest."

On paper, we'd rested plenty by then, but it hadn't been a particularly satisfying rest. The reason was our host.

Jo Hyunsoo. The man Ha Heijeong had told me to keep an eye on.

It would've been a bit much to explain him separately to the others, so Ha Heijeong and I had taken turns staying awake.

Would the others ever know about our effort? Once more trust had built up between us, I'd have to tell them about today, too.

"Everyone ready to go?"

When Ha Heijeong told them the Queen would appear with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠24 hours left on the clock, the group split down the middle.

To go, or not to go.

"If you don't want to come, don't come. Don't tag along and then blame me when things go wrong."

Ha Heijeong was cool and blunt with anyone who wavered. In the end, six of us moved out.

Me and Ha Heijeong, the ahjussi and Seo Harin, Cole Sprouse, and Dobby.

Chloe said she didn't want to court any more danger and stayed behind in the apartment with the three men.

Truthfully, the bigger reason seemed to be that things had soured between her and our party, but none of us said anything about it.

'Honestly, things were a little awkward with her anyway.'

The one who worried me was that man, Jo Hyunsoo. Backstabber trash—that was how Ha Heijeong had described him.

Shouldn't we warn the people staying behind to be careful?

"Hold on, I forgot something."

Just as we were carefully stepping out of the apartment entrance, Ha Heijeong suddenly turned back around.

Her staff, her clothes, her necklace. Nothing looked missing to me?

"Really? I'll come up with you."

"No, hide in the security office for a minute. I'll be right back."

I turned to go with her, but she flatly refused. What was that about? Did she leave her, uh, monthly supplies behind or something, with all that had happened today?

We had grabbed all sorts of things at the convenience store before entering the apartment, but that was the only explanation my short-sighted brain could come up with. Sure, that could make things a little awkward for her.

About five minutes must have passed. I was just starting to feel uncomfortable, all of us huddled together in the tiny security office, when Ha Heijeong finally came back down.

"I was a little uneasy about something, that's all."

Ha Heijeong whispered quietly with a relieved face. Uneasy? About what—had her stomach acted up suddenly? Hmm, that could happen, I supposed.

Let's all agree to respect that bit of privacy.

"Kkieeeeeeeek—!"

Right on schedule, the notification refreshed. At the same moment, a spine-chilling shriek echoed from far away.

Ten o'clock direction from the apartment entrance. Beyond the main hospital, I could make out the Great Theater in the distance—a place we'd passed on the way here.

"That's toward Chungmuro Station."

For a spawn location that was supposed to be random, we'd gotten lucky.

Ha Heijeong had said even she didn't know how far the sixth floor stretched.

If our luck had been bad, we might have had to roam all of downtown Seoul hunting for the Queen ourselves.

"Let's go."