In the House, Part 17
When Supervisor James was destroyed, Lee Jun-ho froze. It felt as if time itself had stretched to a crawl.
Flutter.
The bloody corner of his eye twitched. What did I just see? James's head just exploded.
Is this real?
Jun-ho blinked repeatedly, then reached up to pluck fragments of brain matter that had splattered into his ear.
"What—what do you think you're doing?!"
Jo Woon lunged toward Seol Ha-woon, but Jun-ho blocked his path. He asked on Jo Woon's behalf, "What the hell did you do?"
His face contorted, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
He didn't know why.
But a searing, white-hot rage welled up inside him. Flashbacks of James flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern—James smiling foolishly as he opened the gate, excitedly explaining the ship's layout, guiding them forward.
It was an emotion Jun-ho himself couldn't quite comprehend.
Supervisor James was just another Labyrinthin. He shouldn't be any different from the countless entities Jun-ho had slaughtered in the Situation Labyrinth. Just because they had spent a mere three days together?
"..."
Yun Hwa-rim felt the same. Usually bright and cheerful, she had sunk into a cold, heavy silence.
And...
"Blood... splattered on me."
Kate, her hair drenched in crimson, glared at Seol Ha-woon with a face as pale and rigid as glass. Ha-woon stared back at her blankly.
She wasn't angry because he had killed their guide; she was angry because blood had ruined her appearance.
It was a remarkably unique reaction.
"...He was a comrade who helped us from the very beginning," Kate corrected herself, as if realizing her slip of the tongue a moment too late.
"He was an enemy. If I had warned you beforehand, it would have given him time to react."
"An enemy? What kind of enemy?!"
Jo Woon gripped his spear shaft, his jaw trembling violently.
Kate asked calmly, "What do you mean by 'enemy'?"
"A cult of psychos seeking immortality. The masterminds who caused this zombie outbreak."
"Do you have proof?!"
Jo Woon was a warrior who could not tolerate injustice. He was rigid, upright, and utterly inflexible.
"Proof that everyone can accept!"
"Ugh, please..."
Kate rubbed her temples. The sound of the head exploding had already left a ringing in her ears.
"My intuition," Ha-woon said.
He looked down at James's blood-stained terminal. A name was displayed on the active screen's call log.
Dealing with a monster like Eldia had kept his senses razor-sharp; encountering such a clumsy amateur in comparison felt like a massive letdown.
How could a fellow supervisor not know a celebrity like Julione?
"Intuition? You expect us to accept that?!"
Jo Woon barked, still unable to comprehend. Jun-ho squeezed his eyes shut.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Kate swung her spear. The razor-sharp edge sliced cleanly through Supervisor James's outer coat. Tucked against his waist was a mana bomb.
"...Ah?!"
Jo Woon's eyes widened. Jun-ho swiftly drew his sword. In a flash, the bomb was sliced into three neat pieces, and the countdown halted.
Kate let out a soft sigh.
"I did think his jacket looked unusually bulky from the start."
"..."
Ha-woon watched her in silence.
Liar. Cultists whose sole purpose was immortality would never resort to self-destruction.
Kate had slipped the bomb onto James's corpse when no one was looking, creating instant, visible evidence.
Simply because she couldn't be bothered to argue.
"Was he planning to blow us all up if things went south?" Kate continued smoothly.
Jun-ho looked back and forth between James's torso and Kate.
"...Are you sure that bomb was originally on James?"
Kate brushed off his suspicion effortlessly.
"You saw it yourself, Jun-ho. And since when did we start speaking so casually?"
Her tone was sharp, her expression freezing over. In contrast, Jun-ho flashed a broad grin.
"Oh? Should I call you Empress Kate instead?"
Kate tilted her head slightly, silent.
She never went out of her way to pick fights, but she never backed down from one either. Yielding even once would tarnish her family's prestige.
Jun-ho, on the other hand, was a collision waiting to happen, rarely caring about the consequences.
They were a terrible match.
Kate's gaze turned icy, while Jun-ho's eyes curved like a sly fox's.
"You two, stop this," Jo Woon intervened, stepping between the two 'real' explorers.
"Enough," Ha-woon said, tossing down a rope.
"Either way, if you want to stay here with the corpse, I won't stop you."
Jo Woon quickly grabbed the rope.
"...Understood, Mr. Shol Ha-woon. Where should we go?"
Ha-woon flinched.
"Shol Ha-woon? What is that?"
"My tongue slipped."
How does a tongue slip so badly that every single syllable gets scrambled?
"...Everyone, move. To the Esmos."
"Yes."
Jo Woon climbed up first, followed by Kate, then Yun Hwa-rim...
"James had a bomb strapped to him?" Jun-ho muttered to himself, as if asking for Ha-woon's opinion.
"The supervisor was your enemy from the start. Don't get too attached," Ha-woon replied.
"..."
Jun-ho swept his hair back, let out a rough sigh, and grabbed the rope.
Left alone, Ha-woon glanced at James's terminal.
It undoubtedly contained definitive proof of James's collusion with Eldia, but he left it where it lay.
She was surely alive somewhere, listening to this conversation.
Kate's group crossed over the ceiling tape near the ventilation shaft, where Seo Ji-woo's Gravity Field caught them gently.
"...Why does everyone look like that?"
No one answered. Their faces were grim.
Ji-woo looked around, counting heads.
"There are only four of you. Wasn't there one more?"
"I killed him," Ha-woon answered.
"...Huh?"
"He was on Eldia's side."
"Ah... I see. Well..."
There had been no need to smash his head in right away. He could have explained things more calmly.
But the imbalance between his mana and physical stamina was simply too severe.
The lack of physical strength compared to his massive mana pool caused overwhelming fatigue, and fatigue made him irritable.
Mages in media were usually depicted as having terrible personalities.
Perhaps this was the reason why.
"Now, you guys head to the Esmos."
Ha-woon sat on the edge of the vent. Kang Hyun looked at him.
"What about you, hyung?"
"I need to touch it. The Substance."
"Here?"
"Yeah."
Kang Hyun stared at him quietly before nodding.
"Alright. Come back quickly."
His expression was strange—an empty, hollow sensation lingering beneath his polite mask.
"...I will."
As the group crawled away through the shaft, Ha-woon closed his eyes. He took a deep, steadying breath, recalling the teachings of the mage Tae-woo.
"Haa..."
His Concept.
Within it, he infused his Flame of Cognition.
What he desired, the trick he wished to play on reality, was—**Penetration**.
A bullet that ignored all obstacles, destined to strike its target without fail.
Thump.
His heart squeezed with a sudden, crushing contraction. Clutching his chest, he leaned forward, exhaling a ragged breath as he raised his hand.
A bullet materialized.
A physical manifestation of Seol Ha-woon's existence brought into this world.
He ejected the pistol's magazine, loaded the single bullet into the chamber, and slid the slide back with a sharp clack. He extended his arm, aiming.
The target lay far beyond the sights, in a research lab capsule too distant to see from this ventilation shaft.
Aiming at the Substance trapped within...
Fire.
The bullet traveled slowly. In reality, it was slow—about the speed of an arrow. It couldn't be helped. It was a bullet projected with the excessively heavy concept of 'absolute hit.'
The more one demanded, the more destructive power was sacrificed.
Tap.
The bullet touched the Substance.
Immediately, a violent wave erupted. Massive, shimmering concentric circles rippled outward like a heat haze around the Substance.
It was likely experiencing physical pain for the first time in its existence.
Ha-woon heard the Substance's scream. As the vibration tore through the research lab, the zombies on the ground began to thrash wildly.
"..."
He had seen a similar scene once before.
In that desert, where children had been imprisoned and used as human batteries—the tragedy Seo Ji-hyuk could not bear to watch...
"...Just wait a little longer."
"I'll free you soon."
On the Esmos ship.
"Over here! Everyone, come this way!"
Survivors who heard the broadcast were gathering one by one.
"So many..."
Im Hae-jun's eyes widened as he looked at the crowd. There were far more than expected—nearly several hundred people.
How had they survived for three years?
"Everyone! Please pay attention!"
Seo Ji-woo shouted. Beside her, Truck was holding a microphone.
"Survivors, if possible, could someone please make a broadcast using this terminal? There must be others still hiding, unable to trust us yet!"
"...Yes. I will go first."
A plump, middle-aged man raised his hand. Truck handed him the microphone.
"Testing, testing. Can everyone hear me? My name is Romeo."
The voice echoed, amplified. Ji-woo almost smiled at the highly unfitting name 'Romeo,' but she forced herself to hold it in.
This was not the time.
"I am a foolish husband who abandoned his only wife. When my wife was dying, I intended to become a monster and remain with her forever."
"..."
She was glad she hadn't laughed.
He really was a Romeo. This was why one shouldn't judge by appearances.
"But even as she turned into a zombie, she restrained herself and left me a note, begging me to live. So, if there is anyone out there who, like my past self, feels ashamed of their survival... it is alright. You did not survive in shame. You survived with pride. Please, everyone, make your way to the Esmos..."
At the core of the mothership, crawling with zombies.
The ceiling connecting to the ventilation shaft was sliced open by mana, and a figure dropped through the gap.
Eldia.
"...Phew. You're safe."
She looked at the Substance from a distance, then stood before the supervisor's office. Her own authority had been revoked, but she had anticipated this. She opened the door using the credentials of another researcher she had prepared in advance.
*Hiss.*
Beyond the gate, she finally reached the precious data.
Just as Eldia took her first steps toward the supervisor's main computer...
*Step.*
A chilling presence manifested. Like a freezing wind, a heavy gaze swept over her. She spun around.
In the corner of the supervisor's office, buried in the darkness of the internal CCTV's blind spot, sat a long-haired man.
Seol Ha-woon.
Leaning on his cane, his eyes glowed with a faint blue light.
"You're badly hurt."
Half of Eldia's body had been charred in the spaceship explosion. Irreversible burns covered her face and body.
"...Thanks to you. Gratefully."
"I'll tell you in advance. There are no meaningful clues in the data you're looking for." Ha-woon's voice was devoid of warmth. "If immortality were possible, I'd gladly give it to you, but unfortunately, zombie mutation is the end of it."
Eldia glared at him and placed her hand on the console. "That's—"
In that instant, Ha-woon fired his pistol. *Bang!* Eldia deflected the magic bullet, which was aimed precisely at her head, using her mana.
"Cowardly. I won't fall for that twice." One corner of her mouth twisted. "Idiots like you wouldn't understand this data anyway."
"The truck is smarter than you."
"You still trust that brainless maintenance worker? I'd rather trust a dolphin—"
"No. The actual truck."
"...What?" Eldia's face contorted.
"Even a piece of scrap metal is smarter and more considerate than you."
"Ha." Eldia let out a hollow laugh, but her expression quickly hardened. "You're planning to abandon this ship anyway. If so, leave it to me. With this data, I can open a new horizon for humanity that you can't even fathom—"
"The reason I don't kill you right now," Ha-woon interrupted.
Eldia stared at the man standing before her. He was still an incredibly difficult human to read.
"Is curiosity."
Villains. The driving force behind those who committed acts completely beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
"I've always wanted to ask. Why does someone like you commit such subhuman acts?"
Eldia had taken tens of thousands of lives. Just for her own longevity, she had dragged an entire city into hell. She fit perfectly into the category of a villain.
"...You're curious about that? It's just nice to live long."
Ha-woon's eyes narrowed sharply.
Eldia looked back and forth between Ha-woon and the data. She needed to buy as much time as possible for the download.
"Fine. I'll tell you. I'm only twenty-nine." She toyed with the console with a hand that was half-stripped to the bone. "I was born into one of the most prominent families in the stellar system, and I graduated from the top interstellar university. I became the youngest supervisor at just seventeen. Do you have any idea how monumental that is?"
Staring at the data, she reminisced about her past.
"I thought I could do more, achieve even greater things."
Graduating at the top of her class, being appointed as the youngest supervisor of the Cosmos, receiving praise as a genius who would lead the universe... She had taken it all for granted. She had mistakenly believed those were merely passing steps in the grand life of the great 'Eldia.'
"But then, they told me I was terminally ill. They said even if I replaced my organs and periodically washed my brain, I had five years at most."
In an instant, her entire career collapsed. Her reputation, wealth, honor, and endless ambition—everything she had built—was dragged down to the absolute bottom of the abyss. Her life, which had always shone like a star, was shattered.
"I was twenty-four then. Funny, isn't it? In an era of interstellar travel, to be brought down by a mere disease..."
Mana could not cure human illnesses. In fact, mana was often the cause of them.
"Someone like you, whose tomorrow is guaranteed, wouldn't understand."
Eldia's left eye gleamed. With her eyelid gone, she could no longer close it.
She recalled the past.
Her childhood, secretly reading books in her mother's study; nights spent absorbed in research at the university; standing on the podium presenting her first paper to the professors.
"The reason I want this Substance..."
Those ordinary days, the times she had mistaken as mere stepping stones to achieve her dreams, were actually her precious, irreplaceable 'life'...
She realized it too late.
"Is to hold onto my tomorrow."
Eldia's burned lips curved into a faint smile. It was a smile stained with a complex mixture of despair, madness, and hope—like a dying star.