The Walking Temptress (2)
And then, this morning.
As if it were some kind of exchange, Kim Seyeon took Do Minhyeok's hand and headed for the Yumin Building — and from the Yumin Building, organized crime thugs came pouring into Daengdaeng Elementary School with ugly looks on their faces.
Having heard the story up to that point, Han Sora teared up and launched into her review.
"Th-that's way too sad a story! It's practically picaresque! Why would someone like Do Minhyeok go that far over Teacher Kim Seyeon…!?"
Sora. You really don't have to slap on outsider-otaku phrases like that.
"…The two of them were high school classmates. That shithead Minhyeok was already playing thug at school and kept sniffing around Unnie Seyeon one way or another. Of course, once Unnie Seyeon went to college, met her boyfriend, got married, and had a kid, he supposedly gave up… or so everyone thought."
Ohh. So it's basically a trashy melodrama.
…Now that I know the backstory, I really don't feel like getting involved. I don't even want to hear any more. The organized crime part bothers me too, but if they already reached an agreement, isn't that the end of it?
Of course, there was still a follow-up so horrific it would slap my complacent attitude clean across the face.
"But… that wasn't all. The real problem… the real incident… happened after that!"
This was where the true story began.
Park Seeun had ground her teeth and seethed with hatred at Do Minhyeok's rampage. In the end, though, she had no choice but to sit still for the sake of the people in the shelter.
The gangsters herded every last survivor in the shelter into the elementary school gymnasium. The moment everyone was gathered and wondering what the hell they were about to do—
"S-skeletons! Th-they're pouring into the playground!"
One of the thugs suddenly burst into the gym and shouted it in a panic.
The interior naturally erupted into a murmur. Park Seeun, thinking what the fuck is this bullshit all of a sudden, looked out through the gym windows at the playground.
"Oh my god! Everyone, run!"
The instant she saw them, she shouted to the other survivors.
The problem was that it wasn't clear where they were supposed to run. Gathering everyone in one place had been fine so far… but there was nowhere decent to flee.
Daengdaeng Elementary School had no proper escape route besides the front gate. The rear gate opened onto a main road — going out that way was suicide.
In the end, Park Seeun had no choice but to pick the worst possible route.
"T-to the rooftop. Hurry, to the rooftop!"
"Th-they're coming in!"
"Kyaaaaaah!"
"Somebody help meee!"
Kim Seyeon had already been led away by Do Minhyeok's hand toward the Yumin Building, and the survivors were helpless.
Park Seeun tried somehow to take command and fight back, but in the pandemonium of skeletons flooding in, she could barely manage to save a handful of people around her.
"Hey, you gangster bastards! What the hell are you doing instead of protecting us—!?"
Naturally, Park Seeun lost her temper and went looking for the thugs.
But not a single one was in sight. The big bruisers had vanished in the blink of an eye — leaving behind only the survivors who had made Daengdaeng Elementary their shelter, and the swarm of skeletons.
"Th-this fucking… these goddamn pieces of shit…!"
Park Seeun exploded with rage, yet somehow still managed to lead people and run.
They headed for the rooftop. Exhausted, they climbed up, locked the door, and those with the Blacksmith class used every scrap of ingenuity they had to reinforce it somehow. But even so…
"Uuhhhuuuhk…!"
"Hwaaaaaang…!"
"Oh no, oh no… our Jiyeon… our Jiyeon…!"
"We're done for, we're finished… uuhhhuuhk…!"
Of the seventy-five survivors who had once filled Daengdaeng Elementary School, barely twenty remained. And that was only counting the ones who still had enough strength left to make it up to the rooftop.
There was tragedy, and then there was this. No — it was an excessively, irrationally cruel tragedy. The skeletons had poured in as if on cue, and the gangsters who had promised to protect them had vanished in the blink of an eye.
In that moment, Park Seeun understood.
"D-don't tell me… those bastards planned this whole thing…?"
It wasn't that much of a stretch.
Among the Mage subclasses in Brave Saga Online, there was a class called Illusionist. Their offensive magic was weak, but they could create illusions to deceive low-intelligence monsters or cast mental domination and the like.
In the early game they could only make feeble illusions for simple sleight of hand — and if you figured they'd used that to lure the skeletons in…!
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Shit-Minhyeok, you fucking son of a bitchhhhh!"
Park Seeun pounded the floor with her fists and howled in fury.
But nothing got better. The people were one step away from simply stopping thinking altogether. There was almost no food on this rooftop. It wasn't even particularly safe. There were monsters that flew through the air, so standing out on an open rooftop was suicide. The only saving grace was a greenhouse roof for plant cultivation up there.
"Seeun, you can't just collapse here like this!"
Seo Hyejin. A woman who had been captured in an orc den not long ago and had barely made it back alive through hell and high water. She drew close to Seeun and whispered.
On XX Road in the northern part of XX District — the man who had saved them was very likely still alive. Go ask him for help.
"B-but… Hyejin Unnie! How am I supposed to go to someone who may or may not even be there…!"
"You find him. You can do it, Seeun. There's an emergency ladder over there, right? Jeongin and I will use illusion magic to mess with the skeletons' line of sight. While we do that, you climb down… and go to XX Road. However you have to — even if it means avoiding the main roads… find that man, and then…"
Park Seeun would never, for the rest of her life, forget the bitter smile Seo Hyejin wore in that moment, or the look of someone who had already let go.
"…If you can. I mean, if it's possible… don't forget us. Come save us. Okay?"
"U-Unnieee…!"
"Go. Hurry up and go! You idiot! Don't just stand there looking like you've given up — get moving!"
"That's right, Seeun! You were a national team prospect, weren't you! You can't die here!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Seeun Unnie, go! Hurry!"
And so every other survivor joined forces and shoved Seeun forward.
In that moment, Park Seeun understood. They knew. They knew, deep in their bones, how desperately Seeun had always run herself ragged for the survivors' sake. That was why, even with death closing in before their eyes… they wanted at least her to live.
So Park Seeun climbed down from the rooftop and ran. She ran and ran until the muscles in her legs felt ready to tear.
But…
"Hah… hah…!"
She was so drained that the world turned yellow before her eyes. She hadn't even been running for five full minutes!
Of course she hadn't. It had already been a week of hoarding and rationing what little food and water they had. On top of that, her body had just fought a desperate battle against skeletons and fled all the way to the rooftop. There was no way she still had the stamina to keep running for long.
Even so, she forced herself onward on pure willpower — until she happened to collapse into a nearby clothing store and blacked out from exhaustion…
Drip…
Having gotten that far in her story, Park Seeun suddenly choked up, and tears began streaming down her face.
It was a sight that made Han Sora cry out in despair, "Ahh, I just drank water, but if you cry like that your dehydration's only going to get worse…!"
"P-please. Help us… The people at Daengdaeng Elementary should still be alive. And please… Unnie Seyeon too… save her from those ungrateful bastards. I… I don't have anything I can give you, but…!"
It was a plea so raw the tears practically blinded her.
But… even after hearing all of that, my reaction hadn't changed much from what I'd been thinking halfway through.
This is a massive pain in the ass. Let's not help.
Okay, okay. Let's think about this rationally.
First of all, the streets are suspiciously overflowing with skeletons, and high-tier monsters are showing up too. Daengdaeng Elementary School is way down in the southern part of XX District — it's a pretty long distance. It's already been three hours since I found Park Seeun. There's no guarantee those people are even still alive.
And more than anything, why the hell… should I go save some other guy's woman? What do I even get out of saving her? Goodwill? Gratitude? That's all! She's someone else's woman! She's a married woman!
No… the two right here in front of me are still virgins, aren't they! And as a certified virgin-detector, my nose is telling me Park Seeun is definitely still a virgin!
Why the hell would I want to take a bite out of a rice cake that two other guys already stuck their mouths on and chewed first!
And there's one more thing.
Why did this Kim Seyeon person have to get tangled up with organized crime of all things! Why do I have to get mixed up with those kinds of bruisers — the kind you barely meet once in a lifetime! The kind of guys I couldn't even make eye contact with in real life!
I'm genuinely sorry for this Kim Seyeon woman, but getting involved with gangsters is her karma, not mine, right? Shouldn't we just look at it as the accumulated entropy of Kim Seyeon's own life finally blowing up in her face?
So as truly regrettable as it is, I have no choice but to pick the game-style option that goes, [I lack the means to aid thee, and for that I am sorry]—
"To snatch away a married woman who already has a husband in such a manner… 'tis an outrage against heaven and earth! I shall never forgive this!"
…Lawful Good, you absolute—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Read the goddamn room, you fucking bastard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"O-O-Oppa…?"
"Pardon…?"
Fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuck!
I held it in. I really, truly held it in — I busted my ass trying to keep that Lawful Good haoche from spilling out in front of Sora, and it came flying out anyway!
Why the hell are you suddenly making your presence known, Lawful Good!
Did that story just now move you or something? It's nothing more and nothing less than the kind of everyday(?) incident that happens in a zombie apocalypse. What the hell made you floor it and jump out like that!
…Don't tell me?
Lawful Good, do you have a thing for married women? Are you the type who gets hot… drawn to mature, experienced women who've been married?
Or is it an extreme netorare-hate streak? Is your revulsion toward NTR so massive you literally couldn't stand it? Judging by that whole "married woman" rant, getting one half of a functioning couple stolen through something like blackmail pulled your trigger hard, huh?
Well, story-wise, the protagonist of Dragon Gate RPG does have a route where his quasi-lover gets snatched away in the most ridiculous way later on…
But that's a game, and this is reality! Nobody has ever stolen anyone from me! My last unrequited crush ended in high school! That was over ten years ago already!!
Hoo… fuck…!
As completely fucked as this is, once this values-obsessed bastard goes on a rampage, how am I supposed to stop it? In the end I gritted my teeth, tracked down that orc den I never wanted to go near, and slaughtered every last one of them! The EXP was pretty sweet, though!
"Tell me the precise location of Daengdaeng Elementary School. I shall save the people… and your unnie as well."
Fine. Go ahead and do whatever the hell you want, Lawful Good! I give up!
April 9th. Daengdaeng Elementary School.
It was the hour when the afternoon sun was sinking.
No massacre had broken out on the rooftop. Even so, some of them had already given up.
"Unnie… in about thirty more minutes, even this rooftop door…"
"…Yeah."
Seo Hyejin answered weakly.
Those with the Blacksmith class had poured every last ounce of their strength into barricading the rooftop door with their class skills, over and over. They had torn up every scrap of material they could rip free on the rooftop and reinforced it again and again. But even so…
Thud. Thud. Thud!
The skeletons showed not the slightest sign of tiring. They looked ready to keep at it until they had torn the flesh from every last survivor gathered on that rooftop.
From Seo Hyejin's perspective, the fact that the skeletons weren't climbing the walls was practically a miracle.
Ugh… I just imagined something disgusting.
If those skeletons really did scale the rooftop walls and poke their skulls over the edge, Seo Hyejin was confident she would faint standing right where she was.
Instead, she slumped down with her back against the rooftop wall.
It felt as if every drop of strength had drained from her body.
No — it wasn't a feeling. It was the truth. Everyone on the rooftop was completely exhausted, thanks to the extreme tension and the relentless threat of skeletons hammering on the rooftop door.
…I guess this really is the end.
At least they had managed to get Seeun away. That much brought a flicker of relief. They had somehow manufactured a reason to send that kind-hearted girl far from this place.
It wasn't as if the others up here hadn't thought of the idea themselves — climb down the emergency ladder and run. But that plan had too many problems once dozens of people were on the ground. Hiding and moving both became nearly impossible. In the current situation, it would have been no different from committing suicide in a different direction.
So unless you could run like Seeun and had the skill to match, bursting out into the streets and surviving was impossible. No — setting Seeun aside, every person on this rooftop already knew it in their gut. That going on living any longer simply wasn't possible.
Seeun… just don't come back. Somehow, just stay alive. We'll give up here.
Remembering that young girl who, to the very last moment, had sworn with a desperate face that she would definitely find that man and bring him back, Seo Hyejin let out a faint, dry laugh.
Ah, but still… if the man who saved us from the orc den actually came, a pack of skeletons like that… he might blow them all away in a single breath…
She let that miracle-tier delusion drift through her mind as well.
.
…
……
………
BOOOOM!
It was the moment imagination became reality.