Walls Have Ears
"Hah— hahh!"
"S-shit... that fucking hurts!"
"Thought I was gonna die, boss!"
The bandit gang, fleeing in utter panic, scrambled into the shelter of a nearby crumbling ruin. Their condition after Jeong Hoon's thrashing was a sorry sight, though still better than the moment right after the beating — all except for one of them.
"Ah... I can't feel anything down there. What's going on with me?"
"Let me see... whew. Yeah, that's done for. Completely gone. Looks like your sex life's over for good."
"W-what? Doc, what the hell are you saying?! I— I can't—!"
The bandit who had received Jeong Hoon's special brand of punishment clutched his lower half and howled. Of course, all he got for his trouble was mockery from his comrades.
"That idiot. That's what you get for drawing aggro with the whole chicken-coop line. So what if a woman like that is married?"
"Right? As long as she tastes good, who cares! Not that we'll ever get a taste..."
"Hey, you never know. Once those monsters butcher them—"
"Oh, shut up, you bastard! What good is a corpse gonna do you?!"
Trading empty banter, they caught their breath. Business hadn't been great lately as it was, but today had been the absolute worst of the worst. Instead of gaining anything, all they'd gotten was a beating and a world of pain.
One of the bandits, sprawled out and catching his wind, suddenly spoke up as if something had just occurred to him.
"Hey, boss!"
"Ow ow ow... what is it, damn it?! Can't you see I'm busy?"
Still rubbing his throat where Jeong Hoon had seized him by the collar, the leader snapped irritably at his subordinate. The underling, oblivious as ever, pressed on with his question.
"About that scary-looking guy earlier. Why'd you keep quiet about that story?"
"What story?"
"The party story! About a week ago — the ones who cleaned out every police station in Gangnam for weapons, gathered up survivors, and crossed over into Gangbuk!"
Even as he spoke, the underling recalled the leader of that party. Better-looking than the man they'd met today — a blond guy who seemed more suited to modeling than combat. Plenty of women trailing after him, too. Somehow he'd felt all flash and no substance on the surface, but the weapons in his hands had been anything but flashy. They'd been armed with gear looted straight from police stations.
They'd invited the bandits to join them, but the gang's leader had refused — with an ulterior motive, of course.
Even they could feel that something was off about the atmosphere in Gangbuk. The Administrator had only started going on about Area Bosses spawning "yesterday," but the ominous air rising from Gangbuk had been building for well over a week.
"You dumb bastard!"
Thwack!
The leader cracked his subordinate clean across the crown of the head. Already aching from the earlier beating, the underling clutched his skull and screeched.
"Gyaah! Ow ow ow! That hurts, boss!"
"I hit you so it'd hurt, you stupid bastard! What the hell were you doing when we ran into that party a week ago — not listening? No, not a party. More like a full-on raid assault force! The guy was leading a group ten times, twenty times — no, thirty times bigger than those five earlier! You already forget what they told us on their way out?"
"W-what did they say?"
Thwack!
"Ow! You hit me again! Same spot! It hurts so much!"
"You absolute blockhead! They warned us not to tip off anyone who looked like they came from outside Seoul! Did you not see those people?! The names, the vibe — everything about them screamed they weren't from around here! Your brain doesn't just not work, it fucking refuses to work! What the hell were you even doing before you took up banditry, you useless piece of shit?"
"What do you mean, what was I doing? You already know— ow!"
"That's not what I'm asking, you idiot!"
The bandit leader and the underling who'd asked the question went way back — from before the collapse, even. How could they not know each other, when they'd been grinding ranked matches at the same PC bang? The two of them had met trading insults on a certain community board, formed a party, and gamed together for years.
Of course, their dynamic back then hadn't been all that different from now.
"But boss!"
"This bastard for real... what now?"
And that part of him that absolutely could not leave a curiosity unsatisfied, even after getting smacked around — that hadn't changed either.
"Honestly... don't you think everyone who went up to Gangbuk is already dead? Guns or no guns. I mean, we never even heard any gunfire, right? If they really cleaned out every police station and hauled all that firepower north, we'd have heard at least some of the shooting down here in Gangnam. But we heard nothing. Because they all died before they could fire a shot. Right?"
Faced with his subordinate's surprisingly persuasive argument, the leader reacted with the same passionate intensity as before.
"...Ah, crap!"
The leader wasn't exactly a genius either.
In other words, they were both idiots.
The moment I set foot on Yeouido, I murmured to Kim Seyeon.
"...It would seem a reliable defensive measure for Yeouido's southern approach is essential."
Kim Seyeon answered while covering her child's eyes.
"If we flood the waterway a bit and build up the embankment, it should be fine."
Unlike the north side of Yeouido, only a narrow stream flowed along the south — and that stream was packed solid with a considerable number of corpses.
Looking at it set an uneasy feeling crawling up my spine. Could something truly formidable actually be living on Yeouido? Whenever these kinds of strange phenomena showed up—
"O-oppa. Don't worry too much."
Maybe it was the deeply troubled look on my face as I scanned our surroundings. Han Sora rested a hand on my arm and spoke up.
"Hm? Sora?"
"F-from what I can see, there weren't any unusual monsters. If anything, how desolate it is might be the real concern... b-but at the very least, the chance of an Area Boss being here is extremely, extremely low!"
Coming from Han Sora, who had the best vision among us, the assessment carried real weight. Seriously, who the hell nicknamed Archers "Abung"? She was showing off near map-hack levels of reconnaissance ability (Sniper-class exclusive)!
The further we carefully advanced, the more Han Sora's testimony proved true. Zombies shuffled along the streets here and there, but their numbers were genuinely sparse. A gloomy atmosphere hung over everything, yet there wasn't a trace of the kind of killing intent that pricked the skin.
Instead, Han Sora spotted something truly strange.
"O-o-oppa! N-no... everyone, th-there!"
Where Han Sora was pointing stood a great bridge — the one north of the National Assembly Building.
Nothing particularly stood out at first glan— wait... ah!
"Zombies and monsters. The largest concentration we've seen so far."
"Th-that's quite a lot. And besides..."
"They're all... moving toward Gangbuk, aren't they?"
Narrowing our eyes, we all took in the same phenomenon.
Zombies and monsters, crossing the bridge, walking north — always north.
The moment those bandits' testimony became reality.
"...Looking at this, something is seriously wrong in Gangbuk."
"I thought something felt off too..."
"Th-there's... some kind of dark energy hanging over it."
Our gazes were stolen by Gangbuk beyond the Han River. I'd thought we'd grown used to the heavy cloud cover and dreary weather that had settled in since the collapse.
But within a single day of entering Seoul, I could tell that the Gangbuk area carried a far more oppressive, gloomy aura than anywhere else.
And if my geographical knowledge wasn't failing me, the epicenter seemed to be what I estimated as JR District — the heart of Seoul. The dark energy appeared to be radiating outward from there.
What on earth could be the reason?
"...So it's confirmed. There is no Area Boss on Yeouido."
"Right. That's one less thing to worry about."
At least we'd dodged the worst-case scenario.
We pushed into Yeouido's central district. Geumyung-ro came into view almost immediately — the headquarters and Yeouido branches of banks that had once served as the first and second pillars of the financial sector.
All of them half-ruined, of course. The fact that the ST Building still held its outer shape looked like a miracle. Though I supposed this was the proper face of a world in collapse.
"That building there."
I pointed at the structure bearing the ◆◆ Bank sign.
◆◆ Bank. The kind of bank most people in the Republic of Korea probably had an account with.
Not because the service was particularly good — it just had so many branches that people opened accounts for convenience. Myself included. Not that having an account meant I had money. Last I checked, I think there was about fifteen hundred won in it.
I'd gotten so sick of the bank's app constantly shoving product ads in my face that I'd deleted it... never imagining I'd end up visiting their headquarters like this. This building, desolate, windows shattered here and there — the perfect apocalyptic specimen.
Approaching it posed no problem either. To be more honest... the lack of threat was almost disappointing. All right, if that's the case...
"Wait here. I shall go inside and confirm."
I judged that going alone would pose little threat to the four of them. After asking the three women and Seo Minji to wait near the bank building, I entered alone.
Tap-tap-tap!
And then I unleashed the full speed of my Agility 18 like a horse with the bit between its teeth.
The moment I vaulted through the shattered front glass, a zombie shambled into view ahead of me.
CRACK!
"Uwor—glurk?!"
Before it could even look at me, the zombie's head separated from its torso.
You have slain a Zombie!
Experience Gained: 13(Shared with party)
Gold Gained: 1(Shared with party)
Without hesitation, I found the emergency stairs and ran.
Creeeak!
I opened the door and went down, down. I didn't forget to switch on my flashlight. It was pitch dark, after all.
And if a monster came charging out of that darkness... so what if it did? What exactly was it going to do to me?
Clatter-bang-thud!
I thundered down the stairs as loudly as I could, making damn sure everything could hear me coming.
Fortunately, the emergency stairwell lights were still working. That was a relief, at least. The moment I spotted the wall marking for Basement Level 2, I kicked the emergency door open.
BOOM!
"..."
Silence. Quiet enough that I could hear a bug buzzing past my ear. Flashlight on, I began exploring the interior, braced for monsters to come lunging out of the wide open spaces of a building this large.
...No, wait. Considering my base specs, why bother bracing myself at all?
Right. Time to be bold.
"Son Minsu! Minsu!"
I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
Then I quickly pulled an iron sword from my bag, sweeping the flashlight around in preparation for any charging zombies or monsters.
...Silence.
Nothing approached. No answer came. I was starting to wonder what was going on when a chill suddenly ran down my spine.
Don't tell me... he's already been got?
"Son Minsu! Where are you?! I've come to save you! It's your friend, Jeong Hoon!"
Once more, I roared my friend's name.
Again, no response.
Damn it...!
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Figuring I should at least do a full circuit, I took off running.
Sweeping the flashlight around, I checked every single room on Basement Level 2, one by one.
No corpses. Nothing. Well, of course not. Any corpses would have already turned into zombies... wait. Huh?
"This is..."
A stench hit me. The rotting smell of severed arms, legs, and torsos. Human, naturally. A few heads were scattered nearby as well. More precisely — formerly human. Zombie remains.
They'd been dead at least three days, that much was certain. It was a convenience store on Basement Level 2.
Ugh, and the stink of spoiled frozen food from inside, too.
Wincing, I carefully stepped inside.
...Bingo. This was definitely the place. A makeshift barricade had been built across the entrance, roughly waist-high, to keep anything from getting through easily — constructed from the store's own display shelves, of course.
Shining the light past it, I could see signs that someone had been sleeping there. A filthy blanket lay crumpled on the floor.
And on top of that blanket... a white scrap of paper caught my eye.
Without hesitation, I climbed over the barricade and approached the blanket. I picked up the note.
Just in case, I quickly swept the flashlight around the interior of the convenience store. Still nothing came at me. And there wasn't much left inside, either. All the daily necessities and essential supplies had been thoroughly cleaned out long ago. What remained were bulky items and frozen goods, more or less. Ah — they'd left some of the expensive liquor behind, too. Whiskey, wine, that sort of thing.
...This was no time to be eyeing booze. Carefully, I unfolded the crumpled note. The scrap smaller than my palm instantly expanded into something the size of a full letter.
I read it carefully from the start.
And without thinking, I muttered aloud.
"You're alive, Minsu."
The contents of the note were a bit cryptic, but it was a tremendous relief all the same.
Of course, whether Minsu's judgment in choosing that path had been right or wrong was another matter entirely.
"Come ooon. Just make the call right here, right now, nice and clean! Let me into the party, hurry up! Send me a party invite already! Where else are you gonna find a cute, gorgeous, sexy magical girl who can actually cast spells, huh?"
"Like I keep saying, nothing gets decided until Hoon-oppa gets back."
"Th-that's right...! Who just decides they're coming with us like that...? And dressed like that... trying to seduce who, exactly...!"
"Oh myyy? Did I just hear the voice of a girl getting jealous over someone else's body? Or is this Yun Mina's hearing so bad she misheard~?"
...An uninvited guest's voice drifted in from outside.
A woman's voice I'd never heard before. She seemed thoroughly occupied bickering with my party.
Even if the monsters and zombies around here were sparse, her volume seemed way too loud.
"W-what are you even— ah! I just figured it out! I-it was you, wasn't it?! The one stalking us and peeping from far away! Y-you were watching us through a telescope!"
"Well, yes, but is that somehow a problem? Observing through a telescope is only natural, isn't it? In a world this dangerous, you can't really fault someone for keeping an eye on their surroundings~"
"U-uuugh...!"
Sounded like Han Sora had just taken a solid hit. But why was Kim Seyeon being so quiet?
One thing was certain — there was no more point in just eavesdropping.
"Anyway! Until oppa gets here, talking to us is completely usele— oppa!"
"J-Jeong Hoon-oppa!"
I stepped out of ◆◆ Bank.
And there they were. In the small garden near the bank, my two women were having a little chat(?) with an unidentified woman.
She wore a worn lab coat like some kind of doctor, and underneath it a sultry black outfit with a plunging neckline. Her hair was about the same length as Han Sora's, with a distinctive wave to it. Her red eyes — similar to Kim Seyeon's — held a clear spark of interest in me.
The surprising part was that this uninvited guest was a beauty on par with my own women.
N-no! That's not the important thing... first, I needed to ask Park Seeun and Han Sora something.
"Seeun, Sora. Where is Teacher Kim Seyeon?"
"Ah, Minji needed the bathroom... so she went into a nearby building."
"We tried to go with her, but she said she was fine. Ah, there they are now!"
Following Park Seeun's pointing finger, I saw Kim Seyeon and Seo Minji emerging from a building.
Whew. Relief.
All right, then...
"Oh myyy, finally getting a look up close. Nice to meet you, Jeong Hoon-ssi? Or should I call you oppa like everyone else~?"
I turned my attention to this provocatively dressed woman, who was tracing a finger along her lips and making no secret of her interest in me.
"And you are? For what reason have you sought us out?"
"Oh myyy... what a peculiar way of speaking. Are you a historical drama otaku, by any chance?"
"...I asked who you are."
The woman before me grinned and stretched her arms high overhead.
Whoa — thanks to that dress... the cleavage is even more blatant!
N-no! I've got Sora and Seyeon and Seeun(?), damn it!
Get a grip. Falling head over heels for some mystery woman makes no sense!
"My name is Yun Mina. Twenty-five! Grad student who's almost done with her master's! Profession: Mage!"
The woman introducing herself with a wink looked both alluring and, at the same time, like a harbinger of a very unsettled future for our party.