Stro Lava's Feast
Song Jae-ok's eyes widened in terror.
Slap.
Maeng Gyu-pil's hand struck her plump cheek with a resounding crack.
Tears welled up in Song Jae-ok's eyes as she sniffled, stripping off her clothes one by one.
She was down to her underwear.
"Take it all off."
"...O Deputy, why are you doing this?"
Maeng Gyu-pil grinned and peeled off his masking mud.
Song Jae-ok's mouth fell open. No scream escaped—only her breathing grew ragged.
She stripped off her underwear too, standing there completely naked.
Maeng Gyu-pil smiled slyly, bending slightly at the waist as he raised his right hand, extending only his middle finger. The finger began to writhe and elongate.
"This is a Stro Lava. Very expensive. Worth several years of your salary. And raising it costs twice that—it's got such a picky appetite. Plus, I had to cut off my finger for this guy. Anyway, what I'm saying is, it's going to crawl up through your nose straight to your brain. It'll hurt a little—just a tiny bit—so bear with it. You'll die here, of course, but you'll live on forever inside me. Doesn't that make you happy?"
Yellow liquid trickled down to the floor. In her terror, Song Jae-ok had wet herself.
At that moment, the Stro Lava burrowed into her nostril.
Maeng Gyu-pil clamped his left hand over her mouth.
* * *
Bang Su-cheol, sprinting toward the Core Storage Room 1 office in the Core Country sector, rounded a corner and collided with a woman.
He was the one who stumbled back and fell.
"Watch where you're going!"
"...Sorry."
"What happened, anyway? A lockdown in headquarters? Did someone steal a core?"
Bang Su-cheol scanned the woman's face, especially around her forehead and ears, searching for traces of masking mud. But on her, it looked perfectly natural. Besides, masking mud couldn't hide a figure like hers.
"There was an external intrusion."
"Oh god, that's scary. They breached HQ? Probably after the cores, right? I have no idea how we're supposed to work now. Hey, I'm scared—could you escort me to the sector exit?"
"That area's safe."
Meaning, go by yourself.
"...I'm really frightened."
"It's just a short way."
"Please?"
Feeling her cling like a leech, Bang Su-cheol pretended not to hear and bolted ahead.
The Core Storage Room 1 office was empty. So was the counter in the core room right next door—the spot where the villain claiming to be O Jae-gyu had taken the call.
Did they kill O Jae-gyu to get him to pull cores from the storage room? Looks like I'll need to compare the inventory list with the actual stock.
But something felt off.
O Jae-gyu was just a deputy.
With his authority, he could only withdraw a tiny amount of cores. To take even a kilogram would require approval from a section chief, at least—or the director.
Heavy footsteps echoed.
Bang Su-cheol snorted. The security team was finally starting their sweep.
Guards fanned out, pistols at the ready. No shots yet—they hadn't spotted the villain.
"Over here!"
Someone shouted.
Bang Su-cheol caught the tension in the voice and broke into a run. He beat Section Chief Jeong Yong-min to the restroom and froze at the sight of a woman slumped on the toilet.
Pale skin, bloodshot eyes, yellowish liquid dripping from her nose. Not a stitch of clothing on her naked body.
Bang Su-cheol's eyes widened as he recognized her face.
It's that woman!
He spun on his heel and raced for the sector exit.
The security checkpoint was deserted.
"Did you see a chubby, chatty woman?" Bang Su-cheol demanded.
"She passed through about five minutes ago. Why?"
"She's the villain."
"Haha, good one."
Ignoring the guards who wouldn't listen, Bang Su-cheol burst out of the sector and scanned the surroundings.
How to get out of HQ as fast as possible from here? He had his answer in an instant and dashed for the emergency stairs.
Gasping for breath at the main entrance of the Association HQ, Bang Su-cheol sharply surveyed the darkened surroundings. Across the road, a woman of similar build was walking away.
Ignoring traffic, he jaywalked straight to her and blocked her path.
"...What do you want?"
The startled woman pulled out her earbuds and looked at him.
"My apologies."
It wasn't her.
Frustrated, Bang Su-cheol yelled in annoyance, and passersby began giving him a wide berth.
From his hiding spot in a nearby alley, Maeng Gyu-pil watched Bang Su-cheol for a long moment before vanishing into the shadows.