Noisy Neighbor (4)
The truck quickly passed the road and entered a quiet warehouse district. It was a warehouse heavily fortified with sharp barbed wire and thick walls. The man guarding the entrance looked puzzled at the approaching truck.
"What's up, hyung? Why are you back so much earlier than scheduled?"
"Is there a problem with being early? Where's Park Young-hu hyung?"
"Pardon?"
As the gatekeeper stared in confusion, Jang Han-taek clicked his tongue and knocked on the truck door. The gatekeeper flinched and nodded.
"Uh, yeah, just drive inside first. He's in his room, so I'll go report."
Jang Han-taek nodded and drove into the massive warehouse. Inside were stacked containers and all sorts of military gear. He parked in the center. Quietly stepping out, Jang Han-taek scanned the area, then pulled an assault rifle and a grenade from a box.
Soon, armed organization members began emerging from the darkness. They looked like they'd just rolled out of bed, clothes half-on, but each gripped a loaded weapon tightly. Jang Han-taek sent them a silent hand signal.
His gaze turned to the truck bed.
Sorry, but.
Jang Han-taek wasn't betraying the organization.
I can't betray the elder over some puny Americans.
He'd never intended to betray in the first place. Having witnessed the elder's true power, he had no intention of submitting to mere U.S. forces. The elder was the pioneer of a new era, wielding authority beyond anything the Americans could possess.
One of the members guarding the gate approached.
"Hyung, is that guy in the truck bed the one?"
"Yeah, probably. The bastard who killed Lopez in Yongsan."
"You're amazing, hyung. How'd you trick him into coming all the way here..."
"It's all about using your head, you punk."
He couldn't admit it was because he saw no way to win with his own strength, so he'd sweet-talked the guy into coming. Jang Han-taek gestured secretly to the members. They nodded eagerly.
With countless guns trained on it, Jang Han-taek cleared his throat and knocked on the truck bed door. No response. A flicker of unease hit him, but he cleared his throat again and opened the door.
At that exact moment, Jang Han-taek yanked the pin and tossed the grenade inside.
Tick.
But the moment the door swung open, the sound of a tripwire snapping rang out. Before the grenade even left his hand, an explosion erupted from the truck bed. A storm of steel balls shredded Jang Han-taek and the members directly in front of the cargo hold in an instant. Then, chain reactions ripped through the warehouse packed with explosives, sending a massive pillar of flames skyward.
Thwack.
A crisp sound jolted Jang Han-taek awake. His blurry vision caught a dark silhouette splitting something's head in two.
Thwack, thwack.
Agonizing pain crashed over him belatedly. He tried to scream, but his body was shredded like a rag, leaving him unable even to writhe properly.
"Hngh, heuk, hngh!"
"What, you're up? You could've slept more."
The man who'd heard the groans pulled his hand axe from a corpse and muttered. Jang Han-taek looked up in disbelief. It was Ju Kang-rim. The man who should've been waiting to die in the truck bed was alive and well, massacring the organization members.
"Seeing you survive that mess, you must be an immortal. I was wondering for a while—your awakening ability lets you fake death, huh?"
"How... how..."
Jang Han-taek tried to rise, but both hands were pinned by some blade. It wasn't driven in deep, yet it wouldn't budge.
"That's called Bongshin-do. Anything with a soul can't pull it out with its own hands, even if it kills itself. So just sit tight. We'll talk more later."
Ju Kang-rim spotted someone fleeing into the warehouse shadows and bolted after them. Jang Han-taek couldn't grasp where things had gone wrong. Park Young-hu was the gatekeeper's name—and half his body lay sprawled beside Jang Han-taek now. Amid the flickering, roaring flames, Ju Kang-rim's silhouette danced like a ghost. Gunshots and shouts erupted sporadically, only to be swallowed by eerie silence.
Did he never board the truck bed at all?
Jang Han-taek had seen him get in and locked the door himself. No escape hatch. Unless he could cut steel.
But somehow he'd escaped, rigged a booby trap, and blown them all to hell.
How many died?
Jang Han-taek had told the gatekeeper to gather as many members as possible. Most waiting at the door probably perished in that first blast. Any survivors would be in no shape to fight.
"Looks mostly cleaned up. Any hidden cards left?"
Thud, thud.
Ju Kang-rim returned to Jang Han-taek. Dawn's light filtered in, offering no hope or escape.
Ju Kang-rim squatted behind him and swung the hand axe. The regenerating ankle severed cleanly.
"Gaaah, agh, hngh, heuk."
"Hey, immortal."
Ju Kang-rim bared his teeth in a grin and whispered.
"Let's chat."
"When... when did you figure it out?"
"Figure it out? Please."
Ju Kang-rim snorted.
"I never bought a word from you gangbanger punks. Who'd believe such obvious lies?"
Plus, a newbie from six months ago with authority over ghouls? Ju Kang-rim didn't know much about the Kangryeong faction, but he knew shamanic spirit arts were guarded secrets. Even his past-life self only knew basic necromancy, not true spirit summoning.
Jang Han-taek wasn't an immortal, but he clearly held a significant position.
"You said... you'd let me live if I stuck to the plan..."
"Never said I'd let you live. Just that I'd spare you from turning zombie."
Ju Kang-rim had never planned to spare him anyway. Betrayer or not, immortal or not.
Only then did Jang Han-taek grasp the situation. He'd been the one played—not Ju Kang-rim. The plan was always to ram the truck and explode it; his words meant nothing.
He wanted to weep blood at such ruthless cunning.
"Goddamn American bastards!"
"Curse away."
Ju Kang-rim had no reason to take it personally. Jang Han-taek ground his teeth and yelled.
"On the drive here, you talked like you were opening up!"
"Yeah, that part sounded genuine. Probably was. But honestly? That's when I decided you had to die."
Ju Kang-rim smiled coldly.
"Don't spew that self-justifying crap. In a world falling apart, that shit has no end. Think every zombie hunter made your choices?"
"..."
"Think I didn't see you gunning down your own men without hesitation, using ghouls like disposable tools? Figured I'd listen and play nice, so you could treat me like a sucker?"
Pity was a weak man's weapon. Jang Han-taek might've had no choice. Ju Kang-rim knew that better than anyone.
But that's why he couldn't forgive him. Those words weren't even truly Jang Han-taek's.
"You could've held the line anytime. But being an immortal? Means you already crossed it."
Crack!
Ju Kang-rim smashed the other ankle.
Jang Han-taek screamed again.
"Our short friendship's over—time for the real interrogation! You said an officer here would talk if I came. That was you, huh?! Thanks for the gift-wrapped package. Time to unwrap—or should I?"
"You bastard! No matter how you struggle, the elder will rule the new paradise to come!"
Ju Kang-rim grinned. Jang Han-taek shivered at the sight.
Ju Kang-rim's lips moved. Clear as slow motion, a soul-shaking incantation echoed.
"Jang Han-taek."
Thud.
The moment Saja Chohun activated, Jang Han-taek felt his body torn asunder. Like the legendary dismemberment torture from tales, executed on him. In that single call, he drowned in hell dozens of times a second.
Regaining his senses, gasping, he looked ahead. He'd bitten his teeth during the thrashing—fragments scraped between tongue and gums.
"You know Lopez betrayed too, right?"
"...What?"
"Think he'd betray on his own? Think you can take it twice?"
Jang Han-taek understood. Endure this pain again? Impossible. Physical agony could be borne, but this defied habituation. Adapting meant madness.
"Unwrap the gift, quick."
Ju Kang-rim pressed the hand axe to his forehead. Jang Han-taek's shoulders shook.
"Hic, hng, eung, hic, hng, ha, haha, hahahaha...!"
Suddenly, Jang Han-taek's sobs turned strange. Ju Kang-rim sensed the air shift. A chill grazed his neck. His Canine Eyes flashed.
Ghosts—rare since the zombie plague—swarmed toward Jang Han-taek.
Realizing something, Ju Kang-rim shouted Saja Chohun.
"Jang Han-taek!"
No reaction. Overwhelmed by ghostly voices, he couldn't hear.
"Hahaha, ha, haha! Hic, euheong, eohaha! Kekeke!"
Jang Han-taek convulsed, limbs twisting. Dozens of voices poured from his mouth—laughter, sobs, wails, roars, screams, cheers in chaotic frenzy.
Ju Kang-rim realized: possession. Summoning nearby spirits into himself.
Info on possession flashed in his mind.
B-rank ability? Power scales with souls summoned.
Possession was potent. It enabled movement despite wounds, granting superhuman strength. But the more souls, the higher the madness risk.
Best possessor I knew handled eight at once.
Ju Kang-rim gaped at the ghosts crowding Jang Han-taek—over fifty, all warehouse dead.
"Insane. Even an immortal can't handle that..."
"Kiyaaaaah!"
Bam.
Jang Han-taek twisted grotesquely, slamming his head down. Words were useless. If not mad yet, he soon would be. No one endured fifty souls.
He aimed to drag Ju Kang-rim as a companion in death.
Crunch, craaack.
Bones and muscles erupted, morphing into centipede-like horror. No trace of original form.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Bam.
Ju Kang-rim dodged, widening distance. Countless arms flailed past his face. One grab, and he'd be pulled in, assimilated.
Does a maddened immortal's possession warp like this?
Possession deformed the body, but this was extreme. Then he noticed: despite thrashing, part stayed grounded.
The Bongshin-do pinning his hands. It bound souls. No matter how many, they were tethered to the flesh, unable to escape the blade. Thus, Jang Han-taek couldn't charge—only mutate in futile rage.
Thrashing for thrashing's sake.
"Gonna need to tire him for another Saja Chohun."
Ju Kang-rim drew another card—the power used escaping the truck, steel-cutting strength for the hand axe.
Saingeom's constellations glowed, activating Han Min-seong's ability, Blood Rain.
"I offer ten years of lifespan to Saingeom."
Ten years vanished from his absurd 18,000-year total. Saingeom blazed eerie blue.