Learning

"Everyone, listen to me."

A clever monster. This was going to be a pain.

"That's bait. It's caught. Dr. Myung, I think you can see it."

"Huh?"

"Look at the ankle. Carefully."

"The ankle... ah!"

Dr. Myung seized the squad leader's arm at once and dragged him backward.

"Hey—what is it you two are seeing?"

"Where's everybody going...?"

Tough luck for the sentry. There was no way to save him. Once that thing had a hold of him, he was as good as dead. About time I brought out the Backscratcher.

"Hey, Postman!"

"I'm aiming. Don't yell in my ear. There's a monster behind the sentry."

"A monster...?"

The squad leader swung his light, without thinking, toward the space behind the sentry.

Kweeeek!

"Oh, fuck!"

"Get that light off it!"

The monster took another mouthful of light.

"It doesn't just get stronger for a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment when the light hits it. It charges, like a battery. Never shine a beam straight at that thing."

Even so, I couldn't kill the flashlight entirely. Then I wouldn't be able to see a thing.

"If you can't hold an aim, light the wall or the floor."

"R-right."

"So what do we do? Why's that squid acting like this?"

How should I know what it was thinking.

"I'm still alive, right...?"

The sentry began to walk, and the posture was grotesque. He wasn't moving of his own will. Not even the way his head was held up. A tentacle was probably hauling on the back of his skull. A faint scrape of metal crossed the floor—the heavy body being dragged. Friction would slow it, but dragging would tire the tentacles less than lifting the whole mass into the air. So that was how it had come this far without a sound. It had been moving like that.

"You're not going to save me, are you...?"

By now Dr. Myung and the squad leader were backing away on their own, with no word from me.

"Is there really no way to get the sentry out?"

"No."

"No hesitation at all..."

"Don't nurse a false hope."

If all it wanted was to attack us and turn us into zombies, it had no reason for a stunt like this. It wanted something else.

"Dr. Myung, light the right wall. Squad leader, the left."

The two of them moved as one.

"Good. Now angle it just a little toward the monster."

The light crept inward, narrowing. And then—

Krhl.

The sentry stopped.

Dining on the light, are we?

Not a chance.

"Dr. Myung, kill your light. Squad leader, angle yours back out."

Click.

"My gut... my gut doesn't feel right..."

The sentry started walking again.

So the light is the point.

Understood.

"Everyone, lights out."

Click.

I killed mine as well. Absolute darkness took the underground.

Krhyul...

Its temper went foul.

Eyes open or shut, I saw the same nothing. Every sense but hearing might as well have been dead. I could hear people all around me, and of them the sentry's pained breathing carried best. The thing's eyesight wasn't much better than a human's. It would be just as choked, with nothing in front of it. But we had a way.

"Dr. Myung."

"It's holding still. Not coming closer, and not pulling back."

"Good."

Hesitating to approach, because it couldn't see? All right. What are you going to do?

"...It's still just sitting there?"

"The brooding type. I'd never play chess with one of those."

It believed that getting close to a person meant it could receive light. It would have learned that already.

"Am I... having a nightmare...? Am I already dead...? Why won't you save me...?"

Looks like the nightmare's mine.

Anyway.

It must have started the moment the six of us first came crashing in. The noise would have drawn it at first. Then it met the Gentleman and the sentries.

The three of them had been getting ready to cross a narrow crawl hole. One of them would have been holding a flashlight. The instant the monster showed itself, that beam would have swung onto it—as sure as watching a flame catch. It got a bellyful of light, and that was as far as it went. Whether the flashlight shattered when it fell or the battery simply popped loose, the light vanished in a blink. That was the moment the monster's thirst began.

Realizing someone was still on the far side of the crawl hole, it threw a shell casing. Not from any sophisticated intent to test our reaction. It had only wondered whether light might come out.

Either way, it got light a second time.

The moment it learned, completely, that people could make light.

"I-it's moving!"

"More detail."

"It's not coming closer... something's writhing?"

Ting. Tik.

A shell casing came flying in and rolled across the floor.

Moving exactly as it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had learned. Don't give it a reaction.

"It keeps... writhing?"

What was it trying to throw this time.

"Everyone, get behind me. Something might come flying."

The thing went quiet again.

"Movement?"

"None. It's holding still."

A standoff in the dark. Once your eyes finished adjusting, there ought to have been something to see, and there wasn't even the suggestion of it. A cold space without a single point of light. Exactly the sort of place Elder Heo had been looking for.

"Um... hello...?"

The sentry still didn't seem to understand any of it. Too great a shock, maybe.

"Why isn't anyone answering...?"

"Shh. Stay still."

"It hurts a lot. If you'd just get me out—"

"The squid's writhing again!"

"Finished thinking? Slow as filth."

The conclusion it reached was the one I'd expected. Throw something else, and watch for a reaction.

"It's too dark in here, isn't it...? I can't see anyth—aaagh!"

I hadn't guessed what it meant to throw.

"Aaaagh!"

Incoming.

Whump!

Something flew in and struck the shield I'd thrown up in front of me. It didn't feel solid. It clung to the shield. A tentacle? Had the thing reached out an arm?

Thump.

Then it dropped off. I switched the flashlight on and checked the floor. An arm. I'd been right about that much. Just not the monster's.

"Woo Jungkook! What was that just now? What came flying?"

"Shh."

I shifted the beam onto the wall and, by the indirect light, checked the sentry.

"Aaaagh... aagh...!"

A throat wringing out a scream. His limbs—no, the three he had left—were being hauled backward. At the same time a tentacle seemed to be shoving at his waist from behind, and his body bent into the deep curve of a bow.

"Kagh...!"

The pain had reached its limit.

"P-Postman! He's going to die like that!"

"Dr. Myung, light the wall for me."

"Got it!"

Chk.

The Backscratcher. One shot would do.

Bang!

"..."

The screaming died away. The round had punched clean through the sentry's forehead.

Krhyul...?

The body went slack, and the thing stopped pulling. It sank into another long think. I ought to make the thinking easier.

"Lights out. From here on, no matter what happens, you do not turn them on."

It understood that in the dark, no one could see ahead. Take the watching eyes away, and anyone gets honest. Go on. Do whatever you like.

"The squid's moving strange."

"Tell me exactly what you see. Keep going."

"It's shifting the sentry this way and that... like it's handling a doll in midair?"

Checking on a sentry who had suddenly gone quiet.

"It feels like it's looking him over from every side."

Does it not understand death?

"Postman! Shouldn't we attack? There's no hostage any—"

"No. We absolutely do not attack. That's how we stay alive."

If I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was right.

"Dr. Myung. Continue."

"Right now it's... like it's gathering both his legs and grabbing them—ah!"

Thud. Thud.

I could picture it well enough without looking.

"...I can't watch."

"You did enough."

Thump.

Something was flung aside. Then the familiar scrape of metal on the floor, drawing farther and farther off. Once I was sure the thing had gone, I turned the flashlight on. Emptied out, Dr. Myung folded down where she stood.

The room that worked the beacon.

We dragged the sentry's corpse in here.

Click.

A closed space. In here we could use the lights as freely as we liked. I took the head off the body at once. There was a monster's bite on the calf, so of course I had to. Leave him like that and he would turn into a zombie.

The bite showed no trace of bleeding. A wound made after death. It had probably bitten him just before throwing him aside—the instinct to make a zombie switching on only after he had stopped being useful.

Dr. Myung was wedged into a corner, not moving a muscle. The look of someone who had given up on understanding. The squad leader was different.

"Why isn't that thing attacking us?"

It didn't feel like a curious nature so much as a man with no choice, someone whose job was to put the monster down. He'd already called for support. There would be a responsibility in that, too: don't pile up any more corpses than this.

"A monster normally moves on instinct alone. The instinct to bite a person and make a zombie. A boss-class specimen is a little different."

"A little? That was a hell of a lot more than a little."

"A thing that can manage higher-order thought doesn't get dragged around by instinct alone. Same way a person doesn't spend a whole life focused on eating and shitting."

If it had been born naturally in this underground space, it made sense. A trait that grew stronger in light—except no light ever reached down here. No power running, and so no lamp of any kind. From the moment it was born until it met us, it had never once tasted light. Then it did, for the first time, and the flood of strength must have blown its dopamine wide open. The pleasure was brief. Darkness followed. The thing came to crave that pleasure more than instinct.

"It believes that if it attacks people, the light disappears. It would have learned that the first time it jumped the Gentleman and the sentries."

By now it would have learned what happened when a person died, too.

When a person dies, it doesn't get to see the light. I hoped it had learned that for certain. There was also a feeling that it didn't understand death itself. Maybe because it had been alone all this time.

"Anyway, this works out. It shouldn't attack us over anything ordinary now. It's a slow thinker, so we move fast and make straight for the surface. Even if we run into it on the way out, we just pick up speed and push through. Dr. Myung?"

"Yeah."

"You understand?"

"Yeah..."

"Say it."

"Move fast and get out. Even if we meet the squid, ignore it and just get out fast...?"

"Good. Squad leader?"

"Hah... I got it."

One last thing.

"Any spare flashlights in the station?"

"There aren't."

"Then take care of the one each of you has. If it comes to a crisis, leave the flashlight behind while it's still on. It might work as a lure."

"I see."

"Got it."

"Don't throw it. If it smashes and goes out, it's useless. Set it down gently on the floor."

Dr. Myung got to her feet, dragging every step. She looked ready to cry at any moment.

"Good. You got up on your own."

"...If I'd stalled any longer, I had a feeling you'd start rushing me."

So long as she knew.

"Postman. Can't you just tell us what you actually are?"

"You don't trust a man's word, do you. I told you, I'm a postman. We can bet on it. Put up three Cores."

"Tsk..."

"It's true, so believe it."

"I've met a few hunters myself. Looking at you, I start to wonder if what I saw before even counted. I've never seen a human read a monster this well."

Well, among hunters, there probably wasn't one born with a body as poor as mine. I'd dragged myself this far by effort after the fact, but I was born weak, and the limits were plain. Whatever I lacked, I had no choice but to make up with my head.

"Small talk later. Then let's head—"

"Ah. While you've got it figured out, one more."

"Hm?"

"Doesn't something feel off? I get that it wants light. So why did it run at the end? We were right in front of it, weren't we? Didn't it think we could make light?"

Tsk. I really hadn't wanted to get into that. Nothing for it.

"It didn't run."

"Then what?"

"Think about it. Just now, while it was putting on that hostage show, it got to see light again. Only for a moment."

"It did, but that's... ah!"

There were still hostages left.

The Gentleman, and one sentry.

The Waste Disposal Squad moved fast, trying to save even one more life. Thanks to that, the ones who had left first to carry out the wounded were already back at the subway station.

"Huh? Where'd everybody go?"

"Fuck. Did that bitch Myung Hwa-young run off after all?"

"What are you talking about? We stuck a whole crowd of watchers on her."

"Then why isn't she here!"

"The watchers are gone too. Maybe they just moved somewhere."

"Think they went down below?"

Every flashlight they were holding swung toward the underground at once.

"Come to think of it, the squad leader said he had something in there to recover, didn't he?"

"Wait around and they'll be back soon, then."

The lights came back up together.

"Hey. Want to go down and look?"

"What for?"

"Aren't you curious? Don't you remember that postman bastard going on and on about the platform?"

Click.

He alone switched his flashlight back toward the dark below.

"Heh. I've already been. They even threw me on the track work."

"Oh, for real?"

"Nothing to it."

"Ah, killjoy."

"Save the battery."

Click.

"Don't listen to that asshole. He's the kind of bastard who'd eat gimbap—those seaweed rice rolls—and still say it tastes like nothing."

"Gimbap doesn't taste good? That's what he says?"

"It really didn't."

"See? My point exactly. Don't listen to that asshole."

"Yeah. I ought to see it with my own eyes."

Click.

He started down the stairs, taking his time.

"You're actually going?"

"We've got a fine excuse, too—we came in looking for that bitch Myung Hwa-young. When else are we gonna get inside?"

"It's a little tempting..."

"Want to go down just one floor?"

Click. Click.

Everyone picked up a flashlight except the one who had said the gimbap tasted bad.

"Perfect. You've already seen it, so no need to look again. You stay there."

"...Damn it!"

Click.

Even the last of them joined the others.

"Save the batteries. Only you leave yours on."

"Ah, why me."

"The one in front always has the light. That's how it works."

"Fucking hell."

The little expedition down a single floor didn't take long.

"Sooner than I thought?"

"So where's the platform, then."

"Gotta go down one more."

"At this rate we'll be there in no time."

"Way looks blocked, though. See that collapse over there? That's the way down."

"Tsk. So we're screwed."

"Heh... You know who I am. There's another way."

"Ohhh!"

They followed him onto another path.

"...Blocked here too."

Blocked again.

"Oh, look down! There's a hole!"

"No shit. Who punched a rat hole through here."

"We go through this?"

He tried at once to fit his head through.

Thoom!

"Whoa—scared the shit out of me. What was that just now?"

"Something fall?"

"I got through first... huh?"

A wet touch.

"What's wrong?"

"Blood... there's a ton of blood pooled in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here?"

"Huh?"

"Doesn't look old. What is this?"

And then—

Krhyul...?

"Sh-shit!"

"It's a monster!"

The lead man's beam swung onto it.

Kweeeeek! Kwek!

"Holy fuck!"

"Run! Run!"

Shwip!

"Aagh! It's got me!"

"What the hell is going on!"

"I can't see!"

"Shoot! I said shoot!"

Bang! Ting!

"M-metal!?"

Shwip. Thud!

"Aagh...!"

"I can't see! Where!"

"Lights on! Everybody, lights on!"

"There! Right there—!"

Thud!

"Everybody, lights on!"

"Lights!"

Thud...

.

.

.