The Transformed Gopchang Alley (2)

The alley was buzzing with noise.

"Ssaem. What's going on here?"

"I don't know either. It's like everything's exactly the same as before this whole disaster started."

The people filling the street were all ordinary. Not a single one of them carried unusual weapons or wore armor — they were regular civilians, plain and simple. Monsters swarmed just beyond this neighborhood. So how was it that this stretch of alley alone had none at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all?

Let's go find my parents first.

If this place really was safe, nothing could be better. My parents would still be running the gopchang restaurant, same as always.

"Ugh, I'm starving!"

"Right? When you're in Daegu, it's gotta be gopchang."

Everyone followed me deeper into Gopchang Alley, noses twitching at the aroma drifting through the air. The smell of grilling meat spread thick and rich in every direction — so tempting I nearly walked straight into a restaurant myself.

"Jin-hwan! Where do you think you're going?!"

"Huh?"

We'd been walking along just fine, and then I looked over to find Jin-hwan standing right in front of a restaurant entrance. The gopchang smelled incredible, sure, but we didn't have time to be doing this—

"Where is everyone going?! Snap out of it!"

"Gopchaaang~"

"It smells so good~"

"Gopchang, gopchang~"

It wasn't just Jin-hwan. Ah-ra, Jin-ri, Nam-hoon — even little Ji-ah. Every last one of them had been drawn in by the smell, drifting toward the restaurants lining the alley.

"This is bad."

To me it was nothing more than an ordinary gopchang smell. Apparently that wasn't the case for anyone else.

"Damn it!"

There was no way I could stop the students from scattering in every direction by myself.

"Give me a hand here."

The ten summoned lizardmen split up, two to a person, and moved in to keep everyone from walking into the restaurants. Or at least, they looked like they were going to.

"...Not you guys too."

Had the smell gotten to the lizardmen as well? They seemed to be herding people back, and then they started swaying on their feet and drifting toward the restaurants themselves.

"Goddamn it. What the hell is this?"

I still had no idea what was going on, but I forced myself to focus, scanning the surroundings and trying to figure out what to do next.

That was when Ji-ah caught my eye. Little Ji-ah, all by herself, was walking into a gopchang restaurant. The others could probably protect themselves if it came down to it. Ji-ah almost certainly couldn't. I broke into a run.

The door rattled open. Ji-ah stepped inside, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I slipped in right behind her.

The scene that unfolded was exactly what you'd expect from any gopchang restaurant in the country.

"Hey! I'm telling you, back in my day—!"

"Ma'am! Another bottle of soju over here!"

"This is amazing, right? Don't eat it yet — I need to get a shot for Instagram."

People sat at every table, happily devouring gopchang. Looking at it, the place seemed like a perfectly ordinary restaurant. Nothing wrong at all.

Where's Ji-ah?

I swept the room and spotted her. She'd already claimed a seat and was sitting there waiting for her order to come out.

"Ji-ah! We're leaving."

"No! I wanna eat gopchang."

"We have to go. You can eat gopchang later."

I hauled her up off the seat — she was still trying to stay put and eat — and made for the door as fast as I could.

An old man stepped into my path.

"Heh heh. Where d'you think you're going? The gopchang's almost out. Stay and eat."

"I'm sorry. We don't have time for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that."

"What's the big hurry, hmm? Haha."

I tried to slip past him. He slid with me, blocking me left, then right, no matter which way I turned.

"Excuse me. Coming through."

If this restaurant was like this, the others were probably in just as much danger. I needed to get out of here and go save everyone else.

I reached the door — and every customer in the place stood up at once.

"Eat the gopchang before you go!"

"Why won't you eat this delicious gopchang?!"

"Gopchang! Gopchang! Gopchang!"

They came toward us in a slow, tightening press. Soju bottles and utensils filled their hands, and they looked ready to lunge at any second.

This is way more dangerous than I thought.

They looked like they were being controlled. Was the gopchang the cause? If this place was like this, the people who'd gone into the other restaurants would be in the same situation.

"Sorry about this."

I sprinted for the door and kicked it clean off its hinges, bursting out into the alley. Then I swept the street with a glance.

Which ones did they go into?

I rolled my eyes over the restaurants, trying to remember. I couldn't place all of them, but I locked onto one person first.

Jin-hwan went into that one.

There was a reason I was looking for him before anyone else. Jin-hwan had the ability to cure status ailments. If that skill worked here, we might be able to get a handle on this.

"Eat the gopchang!"

"Gopchang! Gopchang!"

"Delicious gopchang! Come on, try some~"

The people I'd left behind were already pouring out through the wrecked doorway, coming after us.

I dodged the bottles and dishes they hurled, threw open the door of the restaurant Jin-hwan had gone into, and stepped inside.

It was the same as the last place — customers eating gopchang at every table, and Jin-hwan sitting in a seat just like Ji-ah had been. A glistening plate of gopchang already sat in front of him, given its first grilling, looking almost radiant in its perfectly cooked glory.

"Thanks for the meal!"

Jin-hwan's chopsticks stabbed down toward the meat. He lifted a piece and brought it toward his mouth—

"Hey! Snap out of it! Don't eat that!"

I cracked him across the back of the head before the food could reach his lips. He toppled straight off his chair and hit the floor. Maybe I'd hit him a little too hard. One blow, though, was nowhere near enough to bring him around.

"Ehehehe. Gopchang! Gopchang!"

He bounced right back up and made for the plate again. I used my open palm this time, slapping him across the face to try to knock some sense into him.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

If you're thinking this was payback for what he did to me in the classroom, you'd be wrong. I was purely, genuinely trying to snap Jin-hwan out of it. I mean it. Well... maybe there was a tiny bit of personal satisfaction mixed in.

"Ssaem! Stop hitting me! Why are you hitting me?!"

After a few slaps to the cheek, Jin-hwan finally seemed to break free of the gopchang's hypnosis. He looked like he'd come back to himself.

"Hey. Use your status ailment skill on yourself, quick. Then on Ji-ah too."

"Huh? Wait... why am I even here?"

Jin-hwan looked around, clearly unable to make sense of how he'd ended up in this restaurant, but he followed my instructions anyway and started casting.

He used the skill on himself first, then turned it on Ji-ah.

"Ji-ah. You okay now?"

"Huh? Did something happen?"

Thankfully, Jin-hwan's skill seemed to take. Ji-ah was back to her senses.

"But why are these people acting like this?"

Jin-hwan hadn't touched the gopchang, and now the customers were closing in on us the same way they had at the last restaurant. He watched them warily.

"I think they ate the gopchang and ended up like that... Want to try your skill on them too?"

"Okay. Got it."

Jin-hwan nodded and cast on the nearest person.

White light spilled from Jin-hwan's hand and wrapped around the man in front of him. But—

"...Nothing's changing?"

Was the skill useless here? Or was this not a status ailment at all? The man kept behaving exactly as he had before.

"Let's get outside first."

We slipped past them and back out into the alley — and now most of the people from the other restaurants were coming toward us as well.

"What on earth is going on?"

"I-I'm scared..."

Jin-hwan and Ji-ah were seeing this for the first time. A crowd of people advancing on them like that would be terrifying.

"Wait! That's Ah-ra and Jin-ri over there!"

Jin-hwan had spotted them through a gap in the crowd and shouted.

"Big sis Ah-ra! Big sis Jin-ri!"

Ji-ah called out too. Neither of them reacted at all.

Then Jin-ri turned, and her staff came up, aimed straight at us.

Wait. She wouldn't—

I froze for a split second, telling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself there was no way.

A Fire Ball burst from Jin-ri's staff and came screaming toward us.

I yanked a plate from my inventory and threw it up just in time to catch the blast. But of course that wasn't the end of it.

Ah-ra summoned Roa and sent the spirit charging straight at us.

"Jin-hwan, look after Ji-ah."

"Yes! Got it."

I left Ji-ah with Jin-hwan and swung my knife at Roa in the same motion. The spirit slipped the cut with ease — and immediately opened its mouth, blasting a water cannon at my chest.

I started to raise my shield to take it, and Jin-ri's follow-up came in right on cue.

Crap.

If I'd blocked that water with the shield, I would have been wide open for Jin-ri's lightning. I twisted aside, let the water cannon tear past me, and caught the Lightning on the shield instead. No real damage.

This is actually pretty intense.

Ah-ra and Jin-ri's combination attacks were better than I'd expected. Not a serious threat to me yet — but still.

They both ate the gopchang, didn't they.

Ah-ra and Jin-ri must have gone into a restaurant and actually eaten the food.

I'll have to knock them out.

There wasn't time to look for another option. Jin-hwan's status ailment removal hadn't worked on the crowd, so the best move was to put the two of them down and see what happened from there.

"Ssaem! The lizardmen are coming!"

"Huh? Oh. Right. Damn it."

The lizardmen I'd summoned. They must have eaten the gopchang too — they were walking toward us now, weapons in hand. I'd already tried to dismiss them, but they were out of my control. The command wouldn't take.

Getting out of this place was going to take more of a fight than I'd hoped.

—KRAAAAH!

Ah-ra, Jin-ri, the lizardmen, and every last one of those controlled civilians besides... Looks like I was going to have to put some real power into this.