Vanguard and Rearguard (1)

— Hanmaum Guwon Cult, 4th Floor —

A steady breath ghosting ticklish warmth against my shoulder coaxed my eyes open. My head cleared on the spot, and when I turned it, there was Joo Joohye, fast asleep with her arms wrapped around mine.

I rose with care, easing her long legs off my stomach and laying them back in place. Even as I settled her into a more comfortable position and drew the blanket over her once more, she didn't so much as twitch, sleeping on deep and dreamless.

No wonder she was this far under. She'd caught on that she was the last of the executives to come find me, and I'd pushed myself plenty hard last night consoling her for it. She'd drifted off smiling radiantly in the end, so no harm done.

I let my gaze wander over her body, still littered with the traces of last night's ferocity. The kiss marks carved across her pudding-soft breasts and her reddened, swollen pussy had my cock stirring back to life, but I held it in. The believers' festival was rolling on from yesterday into today—mine, however, was over.

As I smoothed the tangle of her bangs, I found myself recalling the experiment Joohye and I had run yesterday: whether I, too, could invoke the [Gate of Salvation] for an emergency escape, should Seoul ever corner us into a crisis we couldn't ride out.

The condition for the Gate to open was a wish for salvation. Yesterday, before getting down to some passionate alfresco fucking with Joohye, I'd yearned for rescue as sincerely as I could manage—and no gate had appeared before me. As I'd suspected, the [Gate of Salvation] couldn't be used as a two-way means of travel. In other words, it wasn't transport at all; it functioned strictly as an intake route.

"Tch... what a pain in the ass. So damn picky."

Clicking my tongue, I stepped into the shower room I'd lovingly furnished beside the bedroom.

"Mm-hm-mm―"

Humming a tune whose exact title I'd long forgotten, I washed myself down with hot water. When I pushed the door open, steam spilled out into the hall along with me; I toweled off my hair and extended my right hand. The cult leader's robes I'd prepared the day before came flying to me, drawn in by telekinesis.

Watching the robes drift closer, I lifted myself a few inches off the floor. Body suspended, arms spread wide—the robes settled over me of their own accord, fitting themselves seamlessly to the pose. Admiring the sight, I ran through my inventory one more time.

"On my own, I could hold out at least a year."

At this level, starving to death in Seoul wasn't a worry I needed to carry. Body washed, clothes on, inventory checked.

Pat, pat―

I brushed the wrinkles from my robes and stepped out of the bedroom. No sense waking Joohye. My shuffling footsteps echoed through the fourth floor in the hour before dawn, the corridor dyed a pale blue by a sun not yet fully risen. I walked on, cutting through the chill air that the warm light—just now peeking its head over the horizon—hadn't yet banished, down the central staircase and through a first floor still heavy with the festival's aftermath. Perhaps as a rebound from yesterday's excess, it was deathly quiet; I pushed open the main gate.

Creeeeak―

Through the widening gap, the group waiting for me in the garden lifted their heads.

"Cult Leader."

The Vice Cult Leader—back to her immaculate self after a single day—called out to me. Savoring the crisp dawn air to the last drop, I turned a slow smile on them.

"My, my! Whatever could be so important that you'd come out to greet me at this early hour?"

"Not at all, Cult Leader. It is only natural for a believer of the Hanmaum Guwon Cult."

"Hahaha― Yes. Yes, of course."

Seo Taesan's answer came steeped to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the brim in loyalty, and I gave his shoulder a friendly pat. The reverence and worship brimming in his eyes as he looked up at me said everything. To sum up Seo Taesan, now a faithful believer of the cult, in a single sentence: a loyal hunting dog that never once overstepped its master. No wonder he'd served as Kang San's right hand. Which was exactly what made it such a shame—if Seo Taesan had been an Awakened, I'd have made him Vigilante Captain without a second's hesitation.

Smothering that pang of regret, I took stock of the executives approaching me: Yoon Ayoung and Seong Gaeul, without a trace of yesterday's dishevelment anywhere on them. I gathered them both into my arms and passed along my instructions.

"The distribution center has plenty of time left on its deadline, so don't go worrying over it. It's because the Vice Cult Leader is here that I can head to Seoul with an easy mind. You understand, don't you?"

"Of course, Cult Leader."

"And Saintess—don't shut yourself up in your room just because I'm gone. Go make friends with the others your age in the executive office."

"Sob― Y-yes― Cult Leader."

"No crying now, either."

"Hic― Yeeees―"

Told not to cry, Ayoung only sobbed harder. I stroked her hair and let the embrace fall away. With measured steps I reached the center of the garden, then turned and smiled at them once more.

"As ever, I shall return with new believers."

"Return to us safely, Cult Leader!"

I looked down on them bowing low to see me off, right up until I passed beyond the Heavenly Barrier on telekinesis alone, then turned my gaze forward. Beyond the vast sprawl of Incheon, Seoul's great membrane rose faintly to greet me. Leaning into my flight, I studied the dark dome—nothing at all like the orange Heavenly Barrier I had thrown up around my own sanctuary. That place was my destination.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

FWOOOSH—!

Telekinesis seized my body and hauled it forward, shearing through the dawn air. In an instant I left Incheon's familiar skies behind and swept past what was probably Bucheon City. The robes flapping violently at my back told me exactly how hard the wind was blowing, but my Awakened body flew on without the slightest complaint. If anything, I had leisure enough to scout the ground below: a ruined city indistinguishable from Incheon, and beside it a lone green mountain. Tunnels and roads carved through that mountain, choked with abandoned cars. I whiled away the boredom watching zombies that still hadn't tired of circling the highways.

Less than five minutes into the flight, I fixed my eyes on the black barrier sharpening into focus. As expected, this was easy to a laughable degree—nothing like the trek to Daegu, where yet another pseudo-cult leader was waiting. All this took was spotting an enormous membrane and hurling myself at it in a straight line. I could have come to Seoul whenever the mood struck me, but I didn't regret setting out now. After all, the plan we'd laid down from the start was to build our house solid first, and only then begin operating outside.

With the black barrier now within arm's reach, I pushed my speed even higher.

SHWAAAAA—!

Like a meteor, I punched through the black barrier, both arms thrust out in front of me—just in case some ambush was lying in wait.

Ding—!

A message window bloomed before me the instant I cleared the barrier. I skimmed it in a flash and, guard still up, swept my eyes in every direction. Then I frowned at the wrongness that rolled off the place in waves.

This was the capital of South Korea, sealed away inside a black membrane. The world within that sudden barrier no one had ever managed to unravel was, on its face, no different from the world outside—cars abandoned in the streets, apartment blocks and high-rises looming with a dreary, desolate air. But there was exactly one thing that set it apart.

"...There isn't a single zombie."

Right up until the moment I'd crossed the black barrier, the roads had been swarming with them. Now not one was to be seen. No—there wasn't even a trace of them: no scraps of flesh, no spilled viscera littering the asphalt. Seeing pavement unstained by blood for the first time in ages, a flicker of genuine confusion crept into my eyes.

Well, what is this now?

Reading down the cascade of messages that had popped up out of nowhere, I sorted through the situation. An Awakened who rules Guro-gu. Complete a variety of missions to occupy it... Wasn't this literally instructing me to play land-grab with Seoul itself? So now, on top of Leader of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Hanmaum Guwon Cult, I'd be getting a second name tag?

Han Guwon, King of Guro-gu.

Ah...

Maybe it was because "Guro" hardly ranked among the badass English place names, but the sheer cheap-ass stink of the title made my temples throb. If there was a King of Guro-gu, then surely somewhere out there was an Arthas, King of Dobong-gu, too.

"Pfft—!"

Bursting into a hollow laugh at the internet meme that had ambushed me out of nowhere, I swept my gaze over my surroundings once more. So where, exactly, was I supposed to receive this "variety of missions"? And it had said I was the sixth to enter Guro-gu, hadn't it? Then where were the other five? And why, exactly—

"...has no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Awakened occupied Guro-gu yet?"

As I surveyed Guro-gu at my leisure, a familiar red caught my eye. The same red that had marked a build as impossible in Sanctuary Management now claimed an entire section of the district. My eyes lit up on the spot. Understanding: complete. So the structure was this—every mission completed granted dominion over a set zone of Guro-gu. And...

Obviously, those occupied zones could be stolen right off their owners' hands, same as anything in an inventory.

Whether he'd noticed my arrival or not, I saw someone come bursting out of a building inside the red zone. The head that popped out beamed up at me, and its owner came strolling over without a shred of wariness.

"Oh! It really has been a long time since an Awakened visited us! Are you a flight-type Awakened?"

I gave no particular answer to the lower-spec Kang San knockoff with the face of a freeloading leech. I merely carried on a very small deliberation in the back of my mind. Here, at this very moment, was the Awakened who'd sung so piteously about how desperately someone—anyone—needed to come, bounding straight for me.

Should I kill him and take the zone? Or talk first? And if that bastard became my believer... wouldn't his zone become mine, too?

Having decided on conversation for the time being, I thawed my frozen expression and broke into a bright smile.

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hahaha! Could I ask you to come down for a moment?"

"Of course!"

I touched down right in front of the leech waiting for me on the road and clasped the right hand he offered. The greasy bastard's face split wide, baring gleaming white teeth.

"A real pleasure! Might I ask where you've traveled from?"

"Of course. Daegu. I've flown a fair distance, so I'm a little tired, I'm afraid."

"Oh dear! You've run your mana dry!"

I slipped in a quiet probe at the bastard, who was clucking over me with a look of heartfelt sympathy.

"Although... when people meet like this, introductions are supposed to come first, aren't they?"

"Hahaha― Quite right, quite right. I am Seo Joowon."

"A pleasure, Mr. Joowon. I'm Han Guwon."

"Oh, that's rather an unusual name."

"I hear that often."

Midway through the smoothly flowing small talk, Seo Joowon gave my shoulder a light tap and turned to my clothes.

"Oh, and what is this outfit, may I ask? It's rather... how should I put it... religious?"

"Hahaha― Precisely. In a world turned to this, a man finds he needs someone to lean on."

"I understand, Mr. Guwon. Understand completely. And might I say, I envy you terribly! Flight, of all things—isn't that a truly splendid ability for keeping clear of the zombies?"

"It is. Thanks to it, I've made it to Seoul without a scratch. My family should still be alive in there somewhere."

When I conjured up a sheen of tears and tilted my gaze heavenward with wet eyes, Seo Joowon offered his consolation along with a hearty laugh.

"Oh dear, I came into Seoul carrying those very same feelings! It seems the two of us have a great deal to talk about—come, let's go to my building!"

"Your building?"

"Yes. It's presumably part of Seoul's special system. First, let's see to Mr. Guwon's weary—"

A sudden light flared, and even as Seo Joowon beamed through his answer to my question, his words cut off mid-sentence. The pillar of light pouring down from the black barrier stretched away to a mountaintop none too far off.

"Oh dear... it's beginning!"

While I checked over the mission window hanging in midair, Seo Joowon beside me was already running down the road, waving me along.

"You must hurry! There's no time!"

"Ah... y-yes, sir!"

With that artless reply, I deliberately fell into a leisurely run behind Seo Joowon.

'It really has been a long time since an Awakened visited us!'

The words Seo Joowon had greeted me with the instant we met. My skills and remaining mana, sized up before he'd so much as learned my name. My physical specs, covertly audited through those taps on my hand and shoulder. And on top of it all, a special mission erupting at far too exquisite a moment.

'This is... something I couldn't fall for even if I wanted to?'

Smiling faintly, I watched the bastard sprint headlong for Cheonwangsan.