Law of Turmoil (2)
Law of Turmoil (2)
A few days earlier.
"Uh... so, you two are heading to the 2nd floor?"
"Yeah. We'll go to the 2nd floor and get the prep work done in advance. If anything unexpected happens, you send the signal via message."
Kim Ha-yoon wore a sour expression.
To sum up what he'd said, it went roughly like this:
First, if the Old Man's crew made a bold move and forced an escape, she alone would head down to the 1st floor with them and observe the situation.
Second, while the two of them were on standby on the 2nd floor, if things started smelling fishy, she was to alert them immediately via text.
And finally, third — he'd use that damned crowbar to collapse the ceiling and crush every last one of them together with Ha Hui-ryeong.
"But that turns everything into powder. If there's no debris left, wouldn't that be pointless?"
"That's why I've been testing it in all sorts of ways. It might seem all-purpose, but anything with mass, like cement or stone, doesn't disintegrate right away. It splits into large chunks first, then crumbles into smaller pieces. That gap in between is more than enough to crush those bastards."
...So that's why he'd been swinging his crowbar at random objects during every scavenging trip.
"Will that actually work?"
"It'll work. A sudden downpour of rocks from above your head — how many of them are gonna be able to react? Well, even if a few survive, Hui-ryeong can clean up the rest at her end."
And then.
"You take the stairs up to the 3rd floor. We'll follow and regroup with you."
"Uh... what about Jeong Ji-min, that person?"
Ha Hui-ryeong answered that question in his stead.
"Leave her. If she's sharp enough, she'll follow you. If not, she'll pick the wrong side and get crushed to death."
Cold-blooded as ever, I see.
But Kim Ha-yoon hadn't grown that attached either, so she nodded in agreement.
"Got it. So, what's next?"
"Simple. The way I see it, there's definitely someone among that Building Representative's gang who can control zombies. If that bastard brings zombies after you, go into the building I've already opened up and jump out the other side."
"...From the 3rd floor?"
"Guess I didn't explain enough. You've got your ice, right? Use it to make something like a slide, figure it out somehow."
"Hah... ordering another difficult task, aren't you."
Kim Ha-yoon let out a short sigh.
She'd never tried it before, but it wasn't an entirely impossible request.
With a bit of concentration, it could probably be done.
That was when it happened.
"Oh, right. And Kang Ha-rin — take care of that woman too."
"...Why her?"
He subtly closed the distance and whispered quietly enough that Ha Hui-ryeong wouldn't hear.
When Kim Ha-yoon gave him a questioning look, he just smiled meaningfully.
...Seriously, the guy's got a dick for a brain, that much is obvious.
She cast a withering glare at him for a moment, but in the end, she accepted his request.
"...Fine. But I have a request too."
"What?"
"That person's younger siblings. Can I look after them too?"
"Ah... well, if it's doable. But make that woman your top priority. Absolutely, absolutely top priority."
Kim Ha-yoon nodded.
That was enough for her.
*
"Everyone to the 3rd floor! Run to the 3rd floor right now!"
Kim Ha-yoon shouted that and immediately sprinted toward the stairs.
Kang Ha-jun's group, having barely survived thanks to the ice Kim Ha-yoon had generated, followed behind her without a word of complaint.
Honestly, it was hard to grasp what had just happened.
The ice that suddenly appeared above their heads, the ceiling collapsing with a deafening roar, and those zombies rampaging after losing their master — all of it.
Every single thing defied common sense.
So for now, they quietly followed the lead of Kim Ha-yoon, who seemed the calmest of anyone here.
'What the hell, what is this! What in the world...!'
Kang Ha-rin and Kang Ha-jun, each clutching a younger sibling, sprinted up the stairs in a daze.
That was when it happened.
"Kyaak! You fucking bitch! Are you out of your mind!? Let go of me right now!"
Jeong Ji-min, following behind, let out a piercing shriek.
The target was her boyfriend, Seong Jin-woo.
Seong Jin-woo, who had been barely keeping up while desperately ignoring the pain climbing up his leg, finally tripped on the section climbing to the 2nd floor.
"W-would you let go if you were me...? Even if I die, I'm not letting go. Come on, lovers should die together! Huh!?"
And by sheer coincidence, he'd grabbed onto Jeong Ji-min's ankle as she moved ahead of him.
"You son of a bitch...!"
Thwack!
And that's when it happened.
Without a shred of hesitation, she kicked her boyfriend square in the face.
"Aaaargh!"
Crunch.
In the end, Seong Jin-woo tumbled helplessly down the stairs, rolling end over end.
Sent flying backward by the merciless kick, he had the rotten luck of his neck snapping in the process.
A truly miserable way to go — you couldn't get much more pitiful than that.
"Hah...! Hah...! That's why you shouldn't have done something so stupid! You brought this on yourself!"
Jeong Ji-min, unable to bear looking at the sight, squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again.
The agitation wouldn't subside.
Despite the words she'd spat out, her mind went blank and her stomach churned.
Strange letters floated before her eyes, but she had no leisure to examine them.
-GraaAAARGH!
-Grruurrggh!
The zombies had been creeping up from below, so Jeong Ji-min barely managed to hold onto her wits and hurriedly climbed the stairs again.
As she steadied her trembling breath, they had already reached their destination — the 3rd floor.
They followed Kim Ha-yoon, who was moving ahead.
A glance down the hallway showed the surrounding area teeming with zombies.
Kim Ha-yoon sprinted down the corridor and abruptly ducked into a unit with its door wide open.
They followed without knowing why, and Ha-yoon, who had flung the window wide open, turned her head back to check the headcount.
Kang Ha-rin, Kang Ha-jun, Jeong Ji-min, two adult men, two young children, and even Ttaekttaeki Yeonggam on top of that.
Wasn't this more than expected? That man was definitely going to complain about this...
"A car! Does anyone here have a car?"
Whatever. He could figure out what to do with the rest of them on his own.
The one who answered Kim Ha-yoon's question was Old Man.
"I've got one!"
"Is it big enough to fit all these people?"
"It's a Bongo, so if we load 'em in the back, we'll manage somehow! But why're you askin' all of a sudden!"
"Please drive well...!"
Having answered, Kim Ha-yoon refined the shape of cold frost in her mind.
She envisioned a long, smoothly curved form.
Sssss.
And so, a long ice slide stretched from the window all the way down to the ground.
"Get on!"
With Kim Ha-yoon sliding down first, one by one, the people threw themselves onto the slide.
As they made their way toward the underground parking lot, Kim Ha-yoon recalled the faces of two detestable people.
People she hated enough to want dead — yet now, bound by a strange, ill-fated connection that had turned them into a community of shared destiny.
'When the hell are you two coming...!'
*
Crunch!
[Congratulations! You have eliminated the trait 'Necromancer'! You acquire all coins held by the target!]
[Coins held: 67 > 525]
[You have killed a Preliminary Player. Points are awarded.]
[Coins held: 525 > 535]
[You have killed a Preliminary Player. Points are awarded.]
[Coins held: 535 > 545]
[You have killed a Preliminary Player....
....
Along with the sensation of splitting bone, multiple notification windows popped up before my eyes.
Oh? Could this be a jackpot?
I'd just attacked whoever I could while falling, and by sheer luck, I'd apparently taken out the one with the ability.
"Pffahaha! This is fucking hilarious. All that bullshit posturing, and this bastard was the culprit after all?"
Plus, a good number of them had been crushed to death under the debris, because a decent pile of coins had stacked up.
I wore an exhilarated grin for a moment.
"What, what the hell is this...! What do you think you're doing!? What happens now that you've killed that bastard!? He was the one holding the reins on the zombies, you crazy fucking lunatics...!"
A large thug, who'd somehow survived, clawed his way out from the wreckage and spewed fury.
His murderous, bloodshot glare was quite stimulating.
"Kek, what's that got to do with us? We're getting the hell out of here anyway?"
Ha Hui-ryeong answered, standing cockily with her weight shifted to one leg.
His expression twisted even further.
"You piece of trash...!"
"I'll own that. But you know you're no better, right? I hear you've been buttering up easy marks and having a real fun time playing with them."
In other words, spitting at his own reflection.
"We did it for the greater good! Don't you dare put us on the same level as whelps like you!"
"Hui-ryeong-ssi, you hear that? The greater good, he says?"
"Ridiculous. The ravings of a lunatic pretending he's got convictions. A pig in heat who happened to pick up a few fancy words somewhere."
Blatant mockery.
At that, he instead calmly steadied his breathing.
As if he'd resolved something, he continued with composure.
"...Ha, fine. Maybe this actually works out. I'd been planning to get rid of that bastard sooner or later anyway. He was far too small-minded to aim for greater heights."
"Pretty relaxed, aren't you?"
When I said that with a sneer, the bastard smiled as well.
Wearing a grin so wide the corners of his mouth practically reached his ears, he stretched his arm out toward us.
In that instant, an ominous chill shot down my spine.
That stance — it was a motion meant to launch something.
If I had to put it in martial arts novel terms, was it something akin to a technique?
But fortunately.
"Too late, dumbass!"
Kyahahahaha!!!!
Ha Hui-ryeong, whose instincts were especially sharp, had read it first and burst into wild laughter as she bolted forward in a single burst.
Scattering a blue trail and closing in on him in a flash like a thunderclap, she threw a jab so fast it left no afterimage.
Thwack! Crack!
"Kuh-heuck...!"
One to the solar plexus.
And one to the jaw.
The blows, landed precisely on his vital points, brought the muscular brute to his knees in an instant.
"You little shit, you're way too obvious with it! Huh!?"
Bam!
Then she pivoted her body a full rotation and sent him flying toward me with a spinning hook kick.
Thanks to the ability she'd recently acquired, her already superhuman physical capabilities seemed to have doubled.
"Nice pass!"
Without panicking, I matched her rhythm.
Taking a batter's stance, I swung with all my strength and smashed his head.
Crunch!
The crowbar, lodged in his eye socket, split his face clean in half.
And then the 'Decomposition' attribute triggered, turning his massive body into powder in an instant, starting from the point of impact.
[Congratulations! You have eliminated the trait 'Fire Demon'! You acquire all coins held by the target!]
[Coins held: 615 > 838]
That's quite the haul.
Which meant this bastard had quite the karmic debt piled up, too.
Feeling a touch of satisfaction, I shouted to Ha Hui-ryeong.
"Hui-ryeong, let's bail! There are a fuckton of zombies, seriously!"
"Okay!"
Just as the bastard had said, the zombies whose reins had been loosed were flooding into the lobby.
...They really did bring a shitload of them along, huh.
If any more swarm in, even the two of us won't have an easy time handling them.
Time to stick to the plan.
"Five ahead! Ha Hui-ryeong, Million Volt!"
"Ah, shit! I know without you saying it, so cut the useless chatter and just run!"
Crackle!
Ha Hui-ryeong grumbled but diligently followed my instructions.
She hurled the Lightning Bat at the zombies blocking the staircase.
In an instant, her form scattered into blue sparks, then reappeared at the spot where she'd thrown the bat, spreading electric current in all directions.
-Grrararrgh!!
Under the sudden electric bombardment, the zombies near the entrance flopped around like fish out of water.
'Wait, is she seriously just like that fruit...?'
Leaving a somewhat ambiguous impression behind, I chased after her as she led the way.
When we finally reached the promised location, what we saw was a long ice slide.
"Wow, our Ha-yoon actually pulled this off? She's really got a knack for this ability, huh?"
"Well, I'll give her that. And look, there they are."
"Where? Ah... running hard, aren't they?"
Though it looked like there were an awful lot of small figures tagging along.
Even with quite a few people in tow, she was using icicles like flying swords to punch through the zombie horde.
She's got good instincts.
'But where did that woman I said to prioritize go?'
As I scanned the ground, my eyes darting around, I couldn't help but flinch in alarm.
"Ah, noooo!!"
For some reason, she was isolated at a considerable distance with Old Man.
Worse, she was hobbling as if she'd twisted her ankle, and Old Man, trying to protect her, was in a serious state — chunks of flesh torn off him here and there.
It looked like Old Man was already done for. No, more importantly, that woman...!
"Hey, Hui-ryeong! Emergency! Rescue that woman first!"
"What, what!?"
Leaving the flustered Ha Hui-ryeong behind, I hurriedly threw myself onto the slide.
Whooosh — I slid down smoothly, landed on the ground, and immediately sprinted toward Kang Ha-rin.
"Hey, you crazy bastard! What do you think you're doing bolting off like that!?"
Ha Hui-ryeong, startled out of her wits, overtook me in an instant and surged ahead.
Crackle!
Lightning struck, silencing the zombie horde threatening from all sides.
I ran in a frenzy.
At the end of that frantic dash, there they were — Old Man, gasping for breath, and Kang Ha-rin, her face smeared with tears.
"Old Man, you did great. You're a real adult."
"Heh heh. Hearin' that from you lot... huff, doesn't make me happy one bit..."
He looked like he could draw his last breath at any moment. Perhaps he was on the verge of losing consciousness.
"You know you're already beyond hope, right?"
"I know... didn't have much time left anyway... hack, cough... well, this about does it, don't it..."
As Old Man coughed up blood and slumped to the ground, Ha Hui-ryeong trudged toward him.
"Ttaekttaeki Yeonggam. I always thought you were a nobody of an old man with all your grumbling, but I guess I misjudged you. You're surprisingly cool, you know? So, so... I'll send you off comfortably."
"I could do it, you know?"
"No. I'll do it. Yeah, I think I need to do it this time."
After taking a deep breath, her eyes finally filled with resolve.
Meeting her gaze, Old Man chuckled as he always did.
"Don't go makin' a big meaning outta it... I'm just an old man who'd've died of old age anyway..."
"I will. Without you having to tell me. Even if you hadn't said that... I would."
Whoosh.
The iron club swung.
Crunch — tracing a clean arc, it crushed Old Man's head in a single blow.
"Hoo..."
Ha Hui-ryeong twirled her bat to shake off the blood, a complicated expression on her face.
The way her gaze suddenly fixed on empty air — it looked like she'd finally started seeing the system windows too.
I'd ask about that later... For now, I had to deal with this woman first.
"Hey, they're gonna swarm us again soon, you know? Even I can't carry that woman and break through the front line. Just so you know."
"I know. I wasn't planning to make that unreasonable a demand anyway."
Watching Ha Hui-ryeong put on a slightly relieved expression, I unfastened my pants.
Her pupils dilated massively.
"Hey, you crazy fuck...! You want to do that right now, in this situation!?"
"I know what you're thinking, but don't misunderstand. I'm merely... conducting a rescue operation."
"No, what kind of bullshit—"
It was understandable that she'd find it absurd.
But there was a reason behind me suddenly pulling my pants down.
-Physical abilities greatly enhance during intercourse with a female.
-You can fixate your genitals to the target.
-You can treat the target of intercourse as equipment.
Yes — the moment for 'Yin-Yang Unity' to finally demonstrate its power...!
Schwing.
I shifted my gaze and looked at Kang Ha-rin.
She'd been sobbing, but when I approached with my pants down, she looked clearly flustered.
"Wh-what is it? What are you doing...?"
"Strip."
"E-excuse me?"
"I said strip."