Falcon Gang (4)
The uproar that erupted in the shantytown outside the Mokdong Settlement dealt me a severe shock.
The reappearance of that nauseating presence I was certain I had wiped out.
And the existence of a virus from the so-called “other world” that was supposed to have vanished.
These two things kept circling endlessly through my mind, triggering a pounding headache.
Just how on earth are these things connected?
As for the existence of the evil god, well—he was a god, so I figured he had left his traces here and there. Wherever negative emotions and evil existed, that was where he was present. That was why his footprints remained on this Earth that had fallen into such chaos.
And the other problem—the virus. Wasn’t it obvious what that was? It meant those lunatics who experimented with the virus from the other world were still around. In that other world, the setting had been that a single virus spawned all sorts of variants, so it was probably similar here.
“Haa, this is turning into quite the big deal. I thought it was just about finding a runaway kid.”
I said, pressing my forehead, while Uncle Dusik looked around, searching for any remaining clues.
“You’re right. About that virus—I played a few games like that when I was young, so I get the gist. That there are people in reality doing the same crazy things as the corporations or villains at the center of those incidents.”
“When I was calming the situation earlier, I heard from the old man that the person we just took down seemed to be the one Ara had talked to.”
“You mean the person we were looking for, the one who got information from the gang for us?!”
Uncle Dusik, who had been rummaging through the half-burned bookshelf, turned his head and looked at me with a surprised expression.
“Yes. Doesn’t that mean this whole thing might be the gang’s doing? Giving information and then silencing them, or something.”
“Hmm, I don’t know. That Han Jin-o fellow is unexpectedly thoughtful at times, but he’s also known for being temperamental. So rather than cooperating with other gangs, he’s more often hostile toward them.”
“Ah, seriously! The more I think about it, the less I understand what’s going on.”
I kicked a half-burned chair in frustration, but Uncle Dusik lifted me up.
“I’ll investigate here a bit more with the others, so you go rest, Charlotte. No matter how strong you are, it’s better to rest properly in case of unexpected situations.”
“Ugh… Yes, okay. I should rest a little. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. When you’re tired, your head doesn’t work and you get irritable, so don’t worry and just rest.”
I left the burned building as I was and returned to the lodging. After glancing at Yeonseo sleeping, I flopped face-down onto the bed next to her. I had been full of irritation, but the soft sensation made me lose consciousness right away.
After Charlotte went to rest, Ho Dunsik called people over and began investigating the surroundings more thoroughly.
In truth, he had felt something off ever since first meeting the man who brought that note, but at the time he had been so desperate to find news of Ara that he ignored the feeling. Seeing Charlotte fight that monster just now made him think he should never have ignored it.
While investigating with a few others, he found a blackened glass bottle among the bookshelves.
“This is… what on earth…?”
All he could tell from the blackened glass bottle was that something had been inside it; he couldn’t tell what it had been. Still, just in case, he pocketed the bottle and was about to turn and leave when—
Crack! A sound like something breaking under his foot made him look down.
There, beneath him, was a symbol that should not have existed here.
“Th-this!! Damn it! When did those bastards get in?!”
His face, flushed red with rage rising to the top of his head, looked like that of an angry goblin. The broken object he picked up from under his foot was a brooch shaped like a tower.
“The Obelisk Cult…! This… things are definitely taking a strange turn…!”
He immediately dashed out and headed to where Kang Hancheol was, then gathered a few people including his trusted Chunsik and began holding a meeting. The commotion in the settlement before dawn was no different from a time bomb about to explode.
“Mmm… how long did I sleep…?”
Rubbing my eyes and looking out the window, the sky was still a little dark but glowing with light, so it seemed to be dawn.
“Haaawn~ I didn’t sleep deeply, but maybe three or four hours…”
Looking to the side, Yeonseo was still sleeping soundly, facing the wall. Dragging my sleepy body, I went into the bathroom, washed my face simply, did my business, and was thinking about the meeting with the gang today when—
Wait? Come to think of it, there was someone who knew who that man was? And they said they saw him meeting with a girl named Ara?!
I quickly kicked open the bathroom door, changed clothes, and started running to find where Uncle Dusik was.
“If I find that person, I might be able to find out where that kid went!”
Asking various people along the way, I ran into Uncle Chunsik, who was gathered with a few people pointing at various places.
“Uncle! Do you know where Uncle Dusik is?!”
“Huh? Ah, Charlotte. Big Brother is currently talking with Big Brother Hancheol in the office.”
I headed straight there, thanked him, and started running again. Arriving quickly at the office where the two uncles were, I knocked on the door and went right in.
There, the two uncles who looked like they had stayed up all night looked at me in surprise, and Uncle Kang Hancheol opened his mouth toward me.
“Charlotte? What’s the matter? You seem to have come in a hurry.”
“Well, it’s… Huh? What’s all this?”
Next to the note sent by the gang was a broken tower-shaped brooch and a glass bottle with black scorch marks remaining from the fire. What was peculiar was that from both the brooch and the glass bottle, I could feel the faint traces of the evil god. Very thin black threads were moving from both of them toward the sky.
“Ah, those are what we found there yesterday.”
Uncle Dusik handed me a cup of coffee and continued speaking.
“First, that glass bottle was hidden between the bookshelves, and something had clearly been inside it, but I don’t know what. But just in case, I brought it for later. And this brooch… is their emblem. The emblem of the Obelisk Cult.”
“Those cultist bastards?!”
“Yeah. We definitely drove them out when they came to the settlement before, but at some point they must have snuck into the shantytown outside the settlement and been lying low.”
“Ha! So they were targeting us from the start?! That’s why they contacted Ara, Uncle Hancheol’s daughter, and sold the information?”
At those words, Uncle Hancheol slammed the desk.
“Damn it! I should have looked around more carefully! Those bastards!”
“Big Brother, don’t take it so hard. It’s already water under the bridge, isn’t it? And I should have heard more about those guys for sure too.”
The two uncles began blaming themselves with gloomy and bitter expressions, each saying it was their fault.
“W-wait a minute! Stop that and listen to me. Uncle Dusik! You said yesterday there was someone who saw Ara talking with that man, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. The old man who stood in your way said so, didn’t he?”
“Yes, so do you know where that elder is?”
“If it’s him, well, he’ll probably be sitting in a chair near there like yesterday. But why?”
“So if he saw the two of them meeting, maybe he also saw where Ara went or heard her destination?”
“I-is that true?! Hey, Dusik! If that’s the case, there’s no need to go along with the gang’s demands, so go check quickly!”
At the news that he might find his daughter’s whereabouts, Uncle Hancheol stood up from his chair and shouted, and Uncle Dusik and I immediately left the office and headed for the shantytown.
When we found the elder in the shantytown and asked him—
“Ah, did I hear the conversation between that kid and that man?”
“Yes, Elder. Did you happen to hear anything, or do you know which way the child went?”
“Hmm, unfortunately my ears are bad so I couldn’t hear the conversation properly, but I did hear them talking about a ‘station.’ And the direction… well, I saw them pointing toward the south gate of our settlement.”
“Thank you! Uncle, is there any place that comes to mind?”
“Hmm, ‘south’… and ‘station’… then Mokdong Station would be the most likely! After all, that place would be better for hiding out than Paris Park.”
“Then we should head there… right?”
The moment the two of us found where Ara had gone!
“H-hey, Mr. Kim! What’s wrong?!”
“Grandma!!”
“Honey?! What on earth is happening!!”
“Gaaack… kuh… uwaaaargh…”
People began appearing one after another, lying on the ground, vomiting blood from their mouths, their bodies trembling and convulsing. I couldn’t tell what on earth had happened.
But one thing was certain.
The plaza of the shantytown, full of people living peacefully. That place was now turning into a hell filled with “lumps of meat” that were bleeding, eyes rolling back, convulsing, and gradually losing their human form.