Chapter 25 Friend
Friend
Episode 26
"Huff... huff..."
Kang Yu-seong slumped against a cold wall, struggling to catch his breath. Torn bodies lay scattered along the corridor, but he was too shaken to register the carnage.
Park Si-hyun's irises had turned a snakelike crimson. The memory alone sent another chill through Yu-seong.
'What the hell was that?!'
He pushed away from the wall and stumbled onward. Somehow, the farther he got from Si-hyun, the more frightened he became. Every strange thing he'd witnessed since the outbreak now seemed sinister.
'I knew there was something wrong with him when he started butchering zombies. Did his ability turn him into a monster?'
Nothing human should have eyes like those. Every instinct Yu-seong possessed told him to stay away.
He made his way down the stairs, the emergency lights flickering overhead. Only then did he realize that his phone was gone.
'Ah, fuck...'
His stomach dropped. He glanced toward the fifth floor but couldn't bring himself to turn back.
'Whatever. I've still got my own ability, no matter what happened to that freak.'
+
Ability
----------------
「Copulate」
----------------
At first glance, he'd thought it was a worthless ability. But earlier, just making eye contact with Yu Hye-na had made her face flush hotly and go into heat like an animal.
'This ability is fucking amazing.'
「Copulate」 was an ability that could forcibly arouse any woman's senses and make her spread her legs in any situation. Just holding hands was enough to bring a woman to climax at will.
'Best ability a man could ask for. But there's this quest system.'
To have sex with women, he needed to complete simple quests. However, once all quests were cleared, any woman would become irresistibly drawn to him with supernatural allure and willingly spread her thighs.
That was how it was supposed to work, but—
'Park Si-hyun, that crazy bastard...'
Some other man had taken Kang So-eun's virginity instead of him. Not only that, he'd pumped her full of his cum raw until her womb was overflowing, dripping from her hole...
'Goddammit......!'
If he'd just had a little more time, Kang So-eun would have been completely under his spell, presenting her ass like a bitch in heat, but—
+
「Copulate」 Conquest
----------------
「Yu Hye-na (Completed)」
「Kang So-eun (3/5 Stages <Non-Virgin>) - When alone together, remain composed like a real man while subtly showing vulnerability to stimulate her maternal instincts」
----------------
But Kang Yu-seong smirked as he looked at the quest.
'...So Kang So-eun's secondhand goods now, whatever. Doesn't matter. Park Si-hyun's surrounded by insanely hot women anyway. Right. I'll just stick close to Park Si-hyun and slowly conquer them all. Ah, I should probably conquer Kang So-eun here too to get my dick wet. Just can't let Park Si-hyun find out.'
Just imagining stealing that bastard's women made him chuckle.
Would that idiot even know?
While he's breaking his back fighting monsters, the women who loved him would be screaming in pleasure as they got impaled on another man's cock, their bodies succumbing to ecstasy despite any lingering guilt toward you.
Could you even imagine a future where all women secretly crave only another man?
'Ignorance is bliss, I guess. After I've devoured every woman clinging to you, I'll kindly let you know. After all... no matter what anyone says, we're friends, right?'
Chuckling to himself, Kang Yu-seong continued descending the stairs. But something strange caught his attention.
"...?"
The people who should have been sheltering on the first floor had crowded onto the second. He frowned, then saw why.
─Kieeeeee!
Outside, zombies swarmed over one another in a grotesque living pile, climbing from the ground floor toward the windows above.
"Get desks against the windows! Anything you can carry—hurry!"
Professor Jang Hye-jeong was directing the defense. Exhausted survivors dragged desks and other furniture into place, fighting to hold the barricade together.
Yu-seong had no intention of joining them. Let everyone else get covered in blood and dust. He had other plans, and the desperate strangers around him meant nothing.
A woman's shout cut through the commotion.
"Yeon! We need barricades on the third floor, too! They're still climbing!"
The speaker was the student council's vice president. Yu-seong's eyes lingered on her face.
With her dyed-brown hair pulled into a ponytail, she usually projected the confident air of a reliable senior. Now she was struggling to hold the defense together as zombies reached the windows.
Yu-seong merely smirked.
Go ahead and fight to the death, you idiots. Especially the men. I'll just play the role of the useless bystander. Hmm, the vice president's pretty. Gotta have her.
『Designating "Kim Seon-hwa" as a "Copulation Target."』
And then...
"My mana's starting to run low... but I'll try."
A gloomy-looking girl caught his attention. She was petite, with short lavender hair, and her eyes were dull with exhaustion.
Her body and height are nothing special, but her face is cute enough. Might as well take her too.
『Designating "Yu Yeon" as a "Copulation Target."』
Ah, gotta add Professor Jang Hye-jeong to the list too. Bet she's lonely at her age.
『Designating "Jang Hye-jeong" as a "Copulation Target."』
By now, he'd picked out every woman who interested him.
He was still eyeing them when a familiar voice interrupted.
"Oppa...! Are you okay?"
Yu Hye-na hurried over from the corner where she'd been sheltering with her friends.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"Did something happen up there? You rushed off, and people were saying—"
"Ah."
Yu-seong remembered shouting at Jang Yeong-han before going up to the Dignity Maintenance Room.
He glanced around. A few survivors glared at him; others looked away as soon as their eyes met.
One person, however, approached with genuine concern.
Jang Yeong-han—someone Yu-seong and Si-hyun had both called a friend.
"Are you all right, Yu-seong?"
Yeong-han sounded sincere. Yu-seong had to fight the urge to laugh at his gullibility.
What a fucking idiot.
"Yeah. I'm fine~"
His mood was still foul after Kang So-eun got taken, but just thinking about Park Ha-rin or Park Se-eun was enough to get him hard again.
Let's just forget about that old hag.
"Where are Si-hyun and So-eun?"
Yu-seong was about to dismiss the question. Then an idea occurred to him.
"...Si-hyun's in bad shape. I think he's suffering some kind of aftereffect."
"Wha—?!"
Nearby survivors exchanged uneasy looks. A murmur spread through the crowd.
Oops... Park Si-hyun. Don't you dare die on me. I still need to use you as an excuse to get close to the women around you. So please, please—stay alive. It's for the sake of all women.
Even Yeong-han was stunned.
"S-Si-hyun...? Really?"
"Why would I lie about that? Go see for yourself if you don't believe me. Better take someone with you, though."
Yu-seong was delighted. The others were reacting exactly as he'd hoped.
'If Park Si-hyun and Kang So-eun are still out of their minds and going at it when they're discovered, the mood will turn deadly serious. Everyone'll be like, "You're screwing around in an emergency?" Then Kang So-eun will get ostracized by the other girls and left isolated.'
He only needed to wait until So-eun was isolated and vulnerable.
"H-Honey!"
He ignored Hye-na and headed over to Kim Seon-hwa, the vice president.
"Hey, Seon-hwa. Need a hand with anything?"
Seon-hwa looked up from the barricade, her brows drawn together in surprise.
"You want to help?"
『「Kim Seon-hwa」's 「Copulate Condition Stage 1」 has been fulfilled.』
Easy. Far too easy. Soon enough, she'd be his—
Bzzt—
Static crackled across his vision. He blinked against the sudden distortion as a message appeared where his ability window should have been.
『「Copulate」 is......... being transferred to a more suitable candidate.』
The letters ran together like ink in water, then gathered into another message.
『You are no longer qualified.』
"What...?"
+
Abilities
「Copu......
Yu-seong stared, unable to believe what he was seeing.
+
Abilities
「C...
The words were fading from his ability list. He reached out instinctively, as though he could catch them before they vanished.
+
Abilities
His ability list was empty.
The power was gone.
Despair swallowed him whole.
#
+
Abilities
The ability slot was blank.
"......"
Yu-seong had been glaring at his status window for what felt like hours. Not a single line had returned.
Hye-na sat beside him, worried, but her presence offered no comfort. All he could feel was the emptiness where his power had been.
'Who the hell stole it...?'
Someone else had been chosen to wield that power. The thought was unbearable.
"......"
He couldn't afford to sit there mourning it. Somehow, he would get it back.
At last, he forced himself to think.
'There's a leveling system in the status window. First, I need to raise my level.'
Without his ability, he had lost the advantage he'd been counting on. He would have to use whatever was available to him.
'I have to find the bastard who stole 「Copulate」 and take it back by any means necessary. If there's no way, I'll make one. First, I'll contact whoever I can and use those bitches if I have to.'
But first he needed his phone. That meant returning to the fifth floor, where Si-hyun was waiting. The prospect still made his skin crawl.
'Time to go.'
Yu-seong stood.
Just then—
"So-eun! Are you all right?"
"She hasn't been bitten, has she?!"
"Huh? N-no. I'm fine."
A sharp-eyed young woman had appeared on the stairs. Even in a plain suit, Kang So-eun carried herself with striking composure.
She answered the worried survivors awkwardly, then approached Yu-seong.
"Yu-seong. Si-hyun wants to speak with you. He's got your phone, too. He said to meet him on the roof."
Yu-seong's eyes widened at the mention of his phone. He studied So-eun, but she met his gaze without a flicker of emotion.
'Tch. Acting all high and mighty now when you were wagging your ass like a slut in front of Park Si-hyun...'
The timing suited him. Si-hyun had grown stronger faster than anyone else since the outbreak; for now, he'd be useful. If Yu-seong could find a way to regain his ability while staying close to him, all the better.
"Yeah? Thanks."
Yu-seong gave a dismissive wave and brushed past her.
Even as the others called to her, So-eun turned to watch him climb the stairs. Unease crept into her expression.
'Park Si-hyun...'
