Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Virgin Ghost Yi-hwa and Evil Spirit Emel (10)
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"The fire truck's coming!"
Da-hee said urgently.
The police would probably arrive soon too.
"A half-assed response will just pile up more bodies."
Her tone held zero delight at the fire truck's arrival.
"Which way's the right staircase?"
Byung-su asked Da-hee as he grabbed the head of a charging female corpse and smashed it into the skull of another lunging from the left, shattering both.
Once inside, it was easy to lose track of left and right in the building.
"Over there, looks like the door next to the bathroom leads to the stairs."
The spot Da-hee pointed to was about twenty meters away.
Not too far, but corpses swarmed the area.
More would attack from behind while they moved.
"I'll clear a path. Park reporter, Da-hee—you two open the door and get in. On three, we move together."
Byung-su raised his hand, counting off fingers.
On his signal, the three bolted simultaneously.
Running ahead, Byung-su punched clinging corpses and shoved them aside with his left shoulder, carving out space.
"Come on! Over here!"
The corpses surged toward Byung-su's shouts.
They bit his left arm, clawed his face, hung off his shoulders.
His left arm—transformed into the front paw of a near-dragon Imugi, covered in tough scales—took no damage from their teeth.
Fallen corpses grabbed at his legs, lunging to bite his thighs.
Byung-su dragged them along as he advanced, corpses dangling from him.
"Keep running!"
To give Dong-jin and Da-hee room, he pulled as many corpses toward himself as possible.
In the gaps, he swung his left arm at two charging at Dong-jin and Da-hee, sending them flying.
Even the one crawling and clinging to his arm went airborne with the swing.
Then he snatched the nape of a corpse about to pounce on Da-hee's back and hurled it away.
Fifteen meters to the door.
Dong-jin and Da-hee sprinted for all they were worth.
Da-hee scattered shield talismans as she ran.
Papapak.
Invisible walls sprang up haphazardly where the talismans landed, forming a maze.
Dong-jin, ahead, yanked open the stairwell door.
Nothing inside the stairs.
Da-hee followed, calling back.
"Hurry! Uncle, hurry!"
Byung-su charged with four corpses latched to his arms and back.
He punched blocking heads aside as he ran.
Kwagwang.
He slammed into the wall Da-hee had erected in the empty space, didn't stop—swung his left arm to shatter it and barreled through.
The air cracked like breaking glass.
Like a raging bull, he smashed everything in his path.
Corpses clinging to him peeled off as he burst through the invisible barrier.
Dong-jin slammed the door shut the moment Byung-su entered.
"Team leader! You got bit bad."
Dong-jin asked fearfully, eyeing the bites.
"Just the left arm. I'm fine. Imugi arm probably won't turn me zombie. That's what I think, anyway. Speaking of, was there a wall back there?"
Byung-su's clothes were shredded at the arms, legs, shoulders.
Blood trickled from bites on his left arm, but the wounds were already closing.
Astonishing recovery.
"Team leader, you're really not gonna turn, right?"
"Who knows. I think not, but the world doesn't always go as planned. Why?"
Instead of answering, Dong-jin clutched his iron stake like a treasure.
"Whoa! Uncle, you're insanely strong."
Da-hee gaped at Byung-su's feat of smashing through the invisible wall.
"This arm? Front paw of an Imugi that almost became a dragon. Worried about the patients in the wards—did they evacuate? Let's head up. How many floors?"
If ward patients got attacked, the corpse count would be unmanageable.
Da-hee paused on the stairs and called Mi-hee.
The fire alarm had stopped, and the fire truck sirens faded too.
* * *
Mi-hee, atop the roof, sensed the distant fire truck sirens drawing much closer.
She moved toward the sound and peered down at the road.
Others who'd fled to the roof stared that way too.
A procession of fire trucks and police cars approached.
Relief washed over the rooftop crowd—they'd be rescued soon.
Two shield talismans left, but useless up here.
No word yet from her brother Baekho, who'd said he'd follow soon.
Mi-hee cautiously dialed him.
Five rings before he picked up.
"Oppa, you okay?"
Mi-hee checked on him first.
—Oppa busy now. Yi-hwa too. Right emergency stairs, 7th floor. Tons of corpses chasing. Patients evacuate okay?
Baekho spilled the situation fast in his slow Chungcheong drawl, covering everything.
Voice thick with exhaustion.
"Yeah, evacuation broadcast worked—they all made it to the roof."
—Good. No more victims then. That's what matters.
Baekho's tone brightened.
Mi-hee caught the spark in his voice and shared the good news.
"Fire trucks and cop cars are almost here! Just hold on a bit."
—What? That's bad. Big problem. More deaths coming. Call back later.
Baekho sounded rattled.
Mi-hee finally realized something was wrong from his reaction.
Her phone buzzed again.
Da-hee.
* * *
On the stairs from 7th to 8th floor, Baekho and Yi-hwa faced off against corpses behind a shield talisman wall.
"Wish we had a Byeokryeokjang."
The Byeokryeokjang unleashed immense physical force.
Summoned a giant hand in midair to wield freely, but only Da-hee could draw it—took days of practice.
No time to draw one now, and against Emel, they'd figured it unnecessary.
"Handy against corpses, though. Shame."
This hospital was eight stories. Keep retreating, and corpses would overrun the roof.
"Least we got shield talismans. Patients evacuated, no new corpses yet. So far."
Baekho said to Yi-hwa, a step ahead of him.
No reply from Yi-hwa.
Her focus elsewhere, maybe hadn't heard.
Yi-hwa stared past the invisible wall at the corpses on the stairs.
Their line snaked around the landing down to the 6th floor.
Emel stood tall amid the bleeding, torn corpses—her beauty jarringly grotesque.
"Down to fifty-three. Including Emel. As we fall back, thin their numbers max."
Yi-hwa stated her assessment to Baekho instead of answering.
She'd been counting.
White smoke billowed thicker from Yi-hwa's body.
"Patients safe, no new victims."
Baekho echoed her.
"Heard you. Don't repeat."
"Yi-hwa, trouble. Firefighters and cops arriving—they'll be fresh victims."
Baekho told her calmly.
Yi-hwa turned, expressionless.
"No time. Baekho, when that wall cracks, we don't retreat this time. We advance."
To head downstairs, stop more deaths.
"Too risky. Yi-hwa, thin 'em out, wait for armed backup."
"Right choice? Sacrifices mount till then. Some'll slip away. Tough call."
Even cool-headed Yi-hwa faltered.
Cracks spiderwebbed the invisible wall.
Baekho and Yi-hwa pondered advance or retreat, staring at the fracturing barrier pushing toward them from the corpses.
Yi-hwa gripped her sword tighter, eyes on Baekho—resolved to charge and end it.
"Let's go! Baekho."
That instant, Baekho pointed down the stairs.
"Something's off down there."
Through the railing gaps, someone bounded up.
Tall guy, heavy footfalls echoing.
No clue from where, but probably 1st floor up.
Blood-soaked rags for clothes, he barreled into the 6th-floor corpses at full speed.
No pause—he shouldered them aside, left hand snatching and flinging corpses indiscriminately.
Thrown ones smashed into railings—bones snapping—tumbling down or rolling off walls.
Corpses swarmed the charging man, biting and clinging, but he didn't flinch, plowed on.
A path cleared amid the flung corpses.
Straight to Emel in the pack's center—he grabbed her face with his left hand, hoisted her high.
Emel caught off-guard, no chance to dodge.
His left arm gleamed unnaturally blue, fingers hooked like talons.
Fire erupted on Emel's captured face.
The man, shorter than Emel, overpowered her with brute strength.
He slammed her head back against the wall.
Her skull split, blood spraying.
Grinding her head along the wall, he bounded up the stairs.
Corpses blocking him got shoved by his shoulder.
He swung the gripped Emel like a flail, knocking corpses down the stairs.
At the invisible wall, he called to Yi-hwa beyond.
"Huh? Yi-hwa-nim! No time anyway. I'll head down first—deal with these and follow."
"Kim reporter-nim! Here for the story?"
Byung-su ignored Baekho's question, spun, and chucked Emel down the stairs.
She spiraled like a screw, slamming railings all the way to 1st floor.
Bone-cracks echoed with each hit.
Byung-su charged down harder than he'd come up.
Corpses sucked toward him like a black hole.
He crushed charging ones' skulls in his grip or hurled them down.
Fallen corpses on the stairs—heads burst underfoot, ribcages caved as he descended.
Something snapped with every step.
Seconds later, at 5th floor, he vaulted the railing straight to 1st.
Bouncing off railings like a screw, left arm springing him down.
"Da-hee's 'uncle' was Kim the reporter."
Yi-hwa slashed the invisible wall with her sword, clearing a path.
Only six corpses left standing where Byung-su's storm had passed.
* * *
Da-hee and Dong-jin on 2nd-floor stairs watched bodies plummeting.
Those hitting 1st-floor ground had shattered skulls or snapped spines—none rose.
Then Emel, face aflame, dropped.
"Aaak!"
She crashed onto the piled corpses, shrieking horribly.
Writhing long minutes from the impact, joints popping as she finally staggered up.
Her neck wrenched severely.
Emel clawed at it with both hands, trying to realign.
As she did, Byung-su dropped from above.
His left arm clubbed her crown, cushioning his fall before he flew into the wall.
"Aaak!"
"Ugh!"
Emel and Byung-su screamed together, collapsing.
Da-hee and Dong-jin wheeled and raced to 1st floor.
Byung-su was already up, stomping twitching corpses' heads.
"Team leader, you okay?"
Dong-jin called worriedly from the stairs.
"Hurts like hell. Won't kill me, though. Owed my life to this left arm. Ow... my back."
Byung-su grimaced, finishing off the twitchers with his feet.
But Emel was gone amid the mess.
"Da-hee, wall off the lobby—keep firefighters from bumping into these things."
Byung-su opened the emergency door to the lobby, telling Da-hee trailing him.
Patients safe above; time to clean the lobby corpses.