The Vanguard and the Rearguard (5)

The Vanguard and the Rearguard (5) — Hang-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul

Night ended over Seoul, and morning broke once more.

The zombies that had shaken the earth vanished as if they'd been a dream, and the city sank back into slumber.

The only proof that last night's hell had been no dream was the shattered glass left by the steroid-swollen zombie, and the warped, web-like craters gouged into the shopping street below.

Beyond that, everything was exactly as it had been when I'd first crossed the barrier.

Paradoxically, that was what struck me with the sharpest sense of wrongness.

Having recovered to peak condition in the bedroom on the floor beneath the penthouse, I approached the barrier again.

Just as I hadn't been able to observe Seoul's movements before entering, nothing outside was visible from within Seoul. A mysterious black membrane isolating each side from the other.

I slowly extended my right hand and pushed it against the black barrier, applying force until it slipped through the other side.

Ding—!

Nodding at the warning message I'd half expected, I withdrew my hand.

"So you can waltz in whenever you like, but walking out's another story."

Still, it beat certain pink establishments I could name. At least this place had a concrete escape item called a Return Stone.

More than that, though, the question of why kept circling back around to interrogate me.

Why drape a membrane over the capital of South Korea, of all places?

Why trap the awakeners who entered, then impose this district system?

Why create missions and pit everyone against each other, effectively engineering a battle royale?

"Hmm... come to think of it, why am I suddenly wasting brainpower on this?"

Throwing out questions with no clues to work from did nothing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but make my head hurt.

Like Seo Joowon yesterday, I lightly shook myself free of the useless musings. Serious contemplation fit for philosophers was worth absolutely nothing in this moment. All I had to do was keep doing what I'd always done—claim victory and profit, over and over.

My goal wasn't to reflect on a broken world. It was to create a new one.

Besides, it had been quite a while. A moment of raging free, entirely on my own terms, with no one's eyes on me.

I remembered the moment I first woke from that sleep and met the zombies on the first floor of the apartment building. Just as it had been back at Hanmaum Apartment, I was the last survivor of this Guro-gu.

"Hanmaum Apartment mode: on."

Crack-krkrk—!

I kicked off the ground, crushing a patch of asphalt underfoot. Telekinesis smoothly wrapped around my body as it shot up into the air.

The view of Guro-gu, no different from yesterday, welcomed me.

My green territory, grown a little wider than Seo Joowon's red one, caught my eye first. I still had a long way to go.

"Missions. Where are the missions?"

So finding the missions Seo Joowon must have completed a few times was more urgent.

As I swept through all of Guro-gu from top to bottom, a new system message appeared.

With those two lines, all of Guro-gu flashed briefly. My eyes, momentarily scrunched against the excessively bright light, opened and surveyed Guro-gu again.

The daily mission had refreshed, so something was bound to look different from before.

"...Found it."

My gaze sharpened on buildings radiating an abnormal, brilliant light unlike their neighbors. Without delay, I descended toward the nearest of the five glowing structures.

Fresian Apartment, Building 101.

Building 101 alone glowed with light that practically beckoned me. As I moved to enter it for reconnaissance, the system message updated.

Ding—!

"Ha. Out of nowhere, I'm getting treated like a newbie."

There's such a thing as a newbie with maxed-out combat skills? Wait a second—if it's Tutorial difficulty, doesn't that mean the rewards will be garbage too?

I hurriedly pulled up the mission window to look for a difficulty change, but no such option existed.

"Uh... hey, System. Mind if we have a little chat? It's been a while."

Oh, I get that it's a Tutorial just fine.

But the tone—what was it, a kindergarten teacher telling kids to hold hands and look both ways before crossing the street? Seeing it repeat the same line over and over like that, I figured complaints would bounce right off it.

"Fine, fine. I heard you."

I decided to play along with the system's nagging rhythm and entered the system-certified Tutorial—Fresian Apartment 101—nice and slow. Naturally, I made sure to keep watch on my surroundings, exactly as the system wished.

Skreeeeee—

Reading the freshly updated system message once I was inside, I felt an odd, pleasant sensation—like the system had my back. Just as the message said, I glanced up toward where the roar had come from.

To clean out the apartment, I'd have to exterminate the zombies upstairs, of course.

Tap-tap—tap-tap—

I began climbing the apartment stairs, their air heavy with gloom. Thanks to sunlight spilling through the windows on every floor, I didn't need a flashlight like yesterday.

As I passed the second floor and climbed toward the third, my ears caught a faint sound. The sound of someone dragging their feet around in circles. Needless to say, it was a zombie.

No joke—it was dead serious about this being a Tutorial.

I let out a hollow laugh as I reread the system's final line. A regular zombie, not even a mutant, and it was acting like the thing was some horror-movie monster. Slip past or eliminate, it says.

"Can't say I'll be doing that."

My whispered answer reached the third floor. And instantly seized the wandering zombie's full attention.

"Skreeeeee—!"

The howl it unleashed shook the entire building, rallying every zombie in the apartment. I extended my hand toward the pack of them thudding up the stairwell, drawn by the sound.

Sreeeeek—

Before the system message could even finish printing, the zombie's body came apart.

"Hm? What was that, System?"

I dropped its head to the floor and resumed my leisurely climb. The footfalls of zombies thudding down toward me from above echoed on and on.

"Ah, the first day keeps coming back to me today."

Was it because I was killing zombies in an apartment again, just like back then? The only difference was that the zombies following me now were descending from above instead of trailing behind.

Dozens of zombies came shambling down the glowing stairs and met me head-on. I extended my hand, mechanical as clockwork.

My eyes darted left and right, tracking the necks of the zombies charging at me.

"Skreeeeee—"

Sreeeeeeeek—

Their bodies dissolved like a wave breaking. Keeping time like a metronome—thud, thud—their heads hit the floor, and I stepped lightly over them.

Over the corpses and on, without a single pause, walking steadily toward the top floor where the mission's objective presumably waited. Small waves of regular zombies had been old news since the day I awakened.

[……]

I couldn't hold back my laughter at the system, cut off mid-message.

"Whoa there, System, you're gonna crack my molars!"

The instant I confirmed this really was a Tutorial, I picked up the pace. If it was nothing but regular zombies, there wasn't a reason on earth to creep around cautiously.

Leaping a full floor with each jump, I arrived in one go at the apartment's highest point—the 49th floor.

"Somebody, please help me! Is anyone there?!"

Out of the four front doors, only one was closed—and from behind it, someone was calling out to me. A voice that dripped with softness, the kind that made you want to rush over and help just from hearing it. A voice I was rather familiar with, in fact. I couldn't stop the grin from leaking out.

Ah, so this is the Tutorial's climax, huh?

Even in a plain old message printout, I could oddly sense the system's smug triumph.

"Somebody, please help me! Is anyone there?!"

Same tone, same sentence, over and over—as if someone had recorded it on loop.

"I wonder if those little bastards are stuck in the ceiling too?"

Crack-krkrk—!

I crushed the closed door flat with ease, then stepped inside with my eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"Somebody, please help me! Is anyone there?!"

A careful ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠survey of the living room turned up nothing. The source of the voice wasn't the living room, but a bedroom sealed shut behind a white door.

Ignoring the system rambling out yet another message, I opened the bedroom door. Just as predicted, something trapped in a sack wriggled and cried out to me with desperate longing.

"Ah! Thank you! P-please come inside and get me out of here!"

Oh, for the first time it says something other than save me.

With a bored expression, I reached a hand toward the ceiling. Right on schedule, a single Sound Stalker was poised up there, preparing to ambush me the moment I entered the room.

Crack-krkrkrk—!

I crushed the Sound Stalker's body like paper in one squeeze. In the same motion, I projected telekinesis into the sack holding the henbane zombie as well.

Sreeeeek—

Rotting blood sprayed all the way up to the ceiling through the sack, torn clean in half.

When the shrilling voice fell silent, the system messages stopped printing too, one after another.

"That's it?"

At my casual echo of the question, the system—silent for a long stretch—finally updated its message.

Ding—!

Oh, so the higher difficulties hadn't shown up because I hadn't cleared the Tutorial. Clear Easy, Normal appears, and after Normal there'd be something even higher—that kind of ladder, I guessed.

As I nodded slightly, the remaining messages printed out in succession.

"Gaeul was right."

A Health Recovery Potion. The first genuinely item-shaped item since my awakening sat there waiting for my choice.

But my hand never moved toward it. My ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes had been locked on the second reward from the very start.

"...Rescue the residents."

For a cult leader, there was no greater reward than people.

The instant I selected option two, a cluster of light drifted down from the ceiling. The languid glow slowly shaped itself into two human figures—then faded away. Where the white light departed, a man and a woman slowly opened their eyes.

"Uuugh..."

The man, regaining his senses first among the two, clutched his head and stared at me. His eyes trembled faintly, betraying bewilderment and fear.

"Wh-where am I?"

I looked down at the two of them without answering. Not a trace of mana anywhere on them. Two perfectly ordinary civilians had descended before me.

So Seo Joowon wasn't chopping heads off outside, after all.

That meant he'd also rescued civilians as mission rewards. Our goals couldn't have been more opposed, though.

"Kyaaaaak—!"

The woman, coming to her senses late, screamed and thrashed. Probably thanks to the corpses of the henbane zombie and the Sound Stalker I'd killed. Hearing her shriek, the man also noticed the black blood soaking the floor.

"Wh-what is thaaat―! It's—it's bloooood!"

A reaction from someone truly seeing blood for the first time in ages. It was the exact opposite of the elderly shoppers at the department store and the survivors of Star Light Church, who'd all been numb to it.

"Wh-what is this! This is our apartment, isn't it! A-aren't you the girl from next door?"

"*Sob sob*—sir, did you kidnap me? P-please let me go before the police come. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"Wh-what nonsense is this! I—I saw the news and haven't stepped one foot out of my house! How are we even here? I'm a victim too, you know!"

Listening to their exchange, I confirmed it. Talk of kidnapping and police, and mention of the news—a thing I could barely remember existing anymore. These two were residents of this apartment who'd vanished before the zombie outbreak had even reached its peak. The moment the membrane swallowed Seoul, they must have disappeared in an instant.

"*Hic hic*—is that really true?"

"That's what I've been saying! Now hide behind me, quick. Don't you see that weirdly dressed man over there?"

"Yes? Huh? Kyaaaaaak―!"

Why is her reaction to seeing me bigger than when she saw the corpses?

The man, hiding the woman behind his back, clenched both fists and squared off against me. He seemed to be trying to speak calmly, but he couldn't hide the way his Adam's apple bobbed rapidly.

"That's right! I'm not supposed to leave the house, I have to c-call Mom, and I have to call my little siblings too..."

I beamed at them, said nothing at all, and simply stepped aside. The two, who'd been warily watching my every move, scurried out of the bedroom in a flash. And I followed behind them, utterly unhurried.

At the sound of my footsteps, their scramble quickened.

"Aaaaaaah!"

The man leading the way, skipping down the stairs two and three at a time, shrieked and collapsed onto the steps. The headless corpses arrayed before him were the very heart of a gore film.

"Wh-what is aaall this―!"

"Kyaaaaak―!"

The woman, discovering the gruesome scene late, wailed behind him.

Tap-tap—tap-tap—

Seeing me trailing slowly behind them, the two shuddered violently, faces drained white with terror. To their eyes, I must have looked like a psychopathic killer toying with them at leisure. Their trembling, corpse-climbing flight was a horror movie in itself.

"D-don't come any clooooser! Don't follow meee!"

"S-sir, come with meee! D-don't leave me behiiind!"

I kept walking after them, slow and steady. The long forty-odd flights of stairs finally ended, and the pair fled out of the apartment and further into the open.

Still too absorbed in their flight to notice anything strange, they stopped just beyond the apartment's main gate. Standing frozen there, blinking around at their surroundings, I stopped beside them and took in the city together with them.

The cars and pedestrians that used to hurry back and forth. The shop owners waiting on customers in restaurants and stores. Not even an unnamed bird perched on a branch. A city that had fallen silent.

With their mouths hanging open dumbly, they perceived the most stunning presence of all. The pitch-black, unidentified membrane shrouding Seoul. As if all the screams they'd let out until now were lies, the city's silence spread to them, contagious.

Watching them, completely lost, I thought: the disaster was only beginning now. Unlike the people who'd endured and endured until this point, they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have to shoulder all at once the despair that had been standing still for them this whole time.

It'll be hard. Painful. And heartbreaking.

A smile spread across my lips of its own accord.

And so, they'd go looking for someone to depend on.

"Wh-what on earth is that...?"

Just like the cliché, they didn't even ask if it was a film shoot or a hidden camera prank. The sheer reality of that black membrane planted its weight on them without bothering to pass through such foolish questions.

"It's a door. Though a door that doesn't open."

At my careless answer, the two who'd been staring blankly at the membrane turned to look at me. They no longer ran away or wailed. They didn't leave the one being in this city who still moved and spoke.

There was a reason cults confiscated communication devices and confined people in the same space. Those sharing a space, without even knowing it, take their color from whoever stands beside them. Seoul under this black membrane was a naturally formed, perfect field for evangelism.

I gazed down at Guro-gu beneath the membrane once more. Apartment complexes packed in far, far too densely. I could see the countless ordinary people who must be preserved inside them.

"S-sir, who are you?"

The first question worth answering among everything they'd said. Looking at them, asking me with eyes trembling all over, I smiled benevolently.

It was time to become someone else again—not Han Guwon, but the cult leader of the Hanmaum Guwon Cult. An inescapable prison and a calamity to blacken the night. Me, standing alone above them as they sank into grief and wailed.

"I am your guardian, and your guide."

Suddenly, the life of a man once venerated as a god floated to mind. What had they called the period when he spread his teachings to people who didn't believe in him like this? The period of ministry? His public life?

No.

In this city where even time stood still and even the gods slept—

"I am the cult leader of the Hanmaum Guwon Cult."

The hour of the Second Coming had arrived.