I'm Not a Noob, Though (Part 2)
So damn dark.
The B2 level I'd descended to along the elevator shaft wall was pitch black—you couldn't see an inch in front of your face.
My flashlight was utterly useless here.
Still, it was my only light source, so I had no choice but to rely on its feeble glow to push through the underground parking level.
The item I wanted was inside the bunker, accessible via B2.
...But seriously, I can't see shit.
Once I get some money, I'll snag a high-end flashlight somehow.
This thing's basically military surplus level.
Of course, top priority would be comms gear.
But that's ridiculously expensive.
To get anything decent, you'd have to head to Seoul and shell out a fortune, or scrounge parts and hand them off to a specialist.
Those specialists aren't exactly trustworthy either... but someone like Yechan, who supported the protagonist, seemed reliable enough.
Might pay to track him down later and throw some commissions his way.
Nothing says I can't hire out jobs myself.
Anyway, with no visibility, I've got no clue where I am.
I turned slowly in place, mapping out my surroundings.
This was once the military entrance to the underground bunker. Word was, when they built the bunker beneath Namsan Fortress, they retrofitted this spot for access.
The structure made it hard to spot from outside, and since it connected to nearby buildings, the entryway wouldn't get blocked unless the path collapsed entirely.
The parking lot entrance had crumbled under the weight of time, though.
The problem? They all got wiped out by some unforeseen variable.
I glanced down at the skeletal remains tangled around my feet. A skull in military fatigues. Another nearby in civilian clothes.
Backpack on that one—probably a hunter.
People had come here before me, it seemed.
And ended up dead...
I tore my eyes from the corpse with its shattered skull and clasped my hands briefly in prayer.
Poor bastards.
Even before possession, war news had been nonstop, but here the whole country had gone up in flames.
Should I count myself lucky that I possessed into a world decades after the war ended?
I shook off the reverie and moved on.
No time to dawdle here.
I wove through the skeletons, searching for the bunker entrance.
The B2 parking level had been expanded from a massive lot to connect to the bunker, making it a beast to search—especially with crap lighting.
Lucky I had a rough idea of the layout.
I pressed forward at a steady pace—not too fast, not too slow.
Partly to avoid crunching bones, partly because decades of neglect meant collapsed and cracked spots everywhere; one wrong step could mean a nasty injury.
...But mostly to avoid drawing the attention of the monster prowling this place.
It's awfully quiet, though.
Figured I'd hear something with a beast that size roaming around—big as a bear, no way its footsteps are stealthy.
Maybe it's holed up in the bunker.
Not great news for me, since I had to go in there.
Fighting that thing in tight quarters would suck.
Not that I doubted I could win.
In the original story, the protagonist hit this spot not long after the monster smashed through the parking lot vehicle gate, rampaged, and got taken down by hunters.
Mentioned three mid-tier hunters handled it, so it wasn't that strong.
Just grotesquely nasty.
I rolled a steel ball in my palm as I advanced.
My footsteps were the only sound echoing in this lightless void—straight out of a horror game.
The thought made my heart pick up speed.
...Haven't even encountered it yet.
At this rate, could I handle shit if it went down?
I steeled myself and kept moving.
How far had I gone? That's when I carefully stepped over a makeshift barricade of sandbags.
A scraping sound—like something dragging across the floor.
Instinct kicked in: I killed the flashlight and ducked behind the barricade.
Stench hit me.
A horrific reek.
I clamped my mouth shut to stifle the urge to puke and waited for the noise to fade. Just in case, I wrapped myself in repulsion force.
If I got spotted, I'd have to fight.
Colliding with it here, where I couldn't see shit, was a bad call. Better like the original—out in the open.
Outdoor space would give me the edge against something with degraded eyesight.
So... play the horror game protagonist and stay put.
Only after the sounds died completely did I stand and slip into the bunker entrance.
...Ugh, the smell.
Decades later, and the stench of that massacre clung like it never ended. I grimaced but pressed inward cautiously.
The deeper I went, the more the nose-numbing odor assaulted me... but no way to block it.
No gas mask, no filter—nothing fancy. Just tough it out.
Should get used to it eventually.
Probably.
I traversed the long corridor into a wide chamber.
Assembly area, maybe.
Flashlight on, I scanned around. Skeletons in uniforms littered the place, testament to the despair of that day—many gnawed to the bone, no doubt in agony till the end.
Whew. Enough sightseeing—find the item.
I roamed, hunting for an officer's remains. Lucked out; didn't take long.
Windpipe blown out where the brow ridge should be—gunshot, probably.
Suicide or frag grenade? No telling.
The original story only glossed over their backstory anyway.
Just set dressing for the protagonist's clues.
Rest in peace.
I fished a rusted key from the officer's uniform pocket.
This the one?
Now just hit the command comms HQ inside the bunker, grab the goods, and done.
I stepped from the chamber into what I figured was the corridor to the HQ building.
Dark hallway. My light didn't reach the end.
I passed walls crusted with blood that hadn't fully flaked off and stopped at a heavy locked door.
Worn plate read "Command HQ," though faded.
Flashlight showed dents, but it seemed intact.
Key in the lock—turned right.
Click.
Lock disengaged with a screech like tearing metal.
Won't that draw it?
Light off, I slipped inside silently and held my breath.
About five minutes passed—no sounds. I flicked the light back on and surveyed the storeroom.
"All rusted to hell..."
Who'd think valuables hid in a dump like this?
In the story, a bunker vet spilled the intel—but without that, no one'd bother.
High chance of getting mulched by that parking lot lurker.
I rummaged through the trashed HQ, heading deeper.
The musty stink and dust thick enough to choke on welcomed me.
Gonna inhale a lifetime's worth of dust here.
Grumbling inwardly, how long did I search?
Finally, I spotted my target.
"This is it."
In the suffocating depths of the expedition, I lifted the prize with a surge of emotion, gazing at it reverently.
A tablet whose purpose I couldn't guess, a USB, and a battered map.
I wrapped them carefully in cloth and stashed deep in my pack.
If I could power up this tablet, the data inside would be gold. Hell, the device itself was valuable—lost tech, incorporating humanity's forgotten innovations.
Time to bail—
That's when the nose-stinging stench hit.
It's here.
I dove under the command desk.
Right as I hid, wet, squelching footsteps approached.
"Sorry... I'm sorry..."
...It talks?
I muffled my gasp at the horrific voice—like multiple people overlapping.
"Hungry... let me eat..."
I held dead still, waiting for it to leave.
But the stink lingered.
How long would it take?
My heart pounded wildly.
Finally, the footsteps receded.
Gone?
Relief washed over me—
"There you are."
Instinct flared: I unleashed repulsion force across my body.
And then an explosion slammed into me.