Chapter 7. Mutants.
Chapter 7. Mutants.
The sight before us was beyond belief.
If I had to describe it... it was nothing short of a 'hatchery'.
The reason I thought of a hatchery was the movement I could feel stirring inside their swollen bellies.
Chu Seong-geun, the old man, furrowed his brow and shut his eyes, and Kim Ji-hee, unable to hold back any longer, vomited.
The other soldiers who witnessed the scene couldn't hold themselves back and threw up as well.
"Those... are still alive."
At first glance, I thought they were corpses, but they were breathing — however faintly.
"Is it... even right to call them alive? Just what happened here..."
ㅡ Kriiiiiik!!!
We all looked toward the sound.
The bizarre monster clung to the wall, its human mouth split into four parts and four tentacles sprouting from its back.
Yes. If I had to describe it, it was a grotesque, spider-like creature shaped like a human.
As if displeased with our presence, it glared at us and let out a bizarre cry.
ㅡ Swoosh!!!
I deflected the sudden strikes from its tentacles and stared at the creature.
'Not only can the tentacles stretch, but they attack freely? Awakened Ones might be able to handle it, but it's too dangerous for ordinary people. I'll kill it here.'
I threw out slashes at its tentacles and limbs, intending to capture it alive and examine it more closely.
'Even though I held back, it dodged? Interesting guy. Just die.'
With the attitude of "dodge this if you can," I unleashed indiscriminate slashes.
ㅡ Shk-shk-shk-shk-shk.
The thing fell to the floor in chunks of meat.
"It seems this thing is using the victims' bodies somehow to breed strange lifeforms..."
Kim Ji-hee, who had somewhat recovered her senses, seemed to think for a moment before speaking to us.
"Personally... I think it's laying eggs inside people's stomachs and using their bodies as nutrients to grow them..."
'What the fuck... That's disgustingly vile.'
As I listened to Kim Ji-hee and surveyed the victims, I suddenly made eye contact with one of them.
'K-kill... me...'
Reading the plea on the victim's lips, I couldn't stomach the horror any longer and gave them peace before they could feel any pain.
At that moment,
ㅡ Crackle... "This is Warehouse Team, there's a monster... Aaagh!!!"
ㅡ Kssh... "Something weird inside the ammo stora... Splurt... Shk-shk!!!"
'This thing isn't alone!'
"Mr. Chu, Ms. Ji-hee, I know it's hard to understand, but trust me and stay put. I think there's another one elsewhere."
With that, I erected a qi barrier around them.
I had already detected the locations of the other teams.
ㅡ Boom!!!
Arriving first at the ammunition depot, I found soldiers already dead and Chaeyeon, coated in some strange slime but still holding on.
Kim Ji-seok was also there, lying covered in the same slime.
'So it had more than just tentacles?'
"Si...hu... it's dangerous..."
"It's okay. You held on well. Wait here for a moment."
Without even taking a moment to check on their safety, I slashed the entity to death, gave peace to the people bound to the wall, and then ran back to the warehouse team.
But unfortunately, all the members of the warehouse team were already dead.
And there were zombies with green skin, unlike the normal ones.
Judging by the burst stomachs of the corpses behind them, those were 'hatched entities' that had torn their way out of the bodies.
After cutting down the tentacle creature, I examined the hatched entities.
'There's no change in outward appearance. What's different about them?'
Then the green-skinned zombies all rushed at me at once.
ㅡ Graaarr...
But as they charged, they stopped, as if they were 'wary' of me.
'These things... do they have some kind of reasoning? Their physical abilities seem oddly better than normal zombies, too.'
As I observed them, I felt that while they had no intelligence, they did possess some degree of animalistic instinct.
'I see... they're not being rational, they're instinctively avoiding me.'
In the end, I killed them all, gathered the dog tags of the fallen soldiers, and then returned to Chaeyeon.
Fortunately, the slime covering Chaeyeon seemed only meant to immobilize her. Kim Ji-seok, however... I hadn't noticed before because of the slime, but he had multiple holes in his stomach and was dead.
I also collected the soldiers' dog tags there, hoisted up Chaeyeon, who was merely unconscious, and carried her to the main building to lay her down.
"What on earth happened? And what is this barrier?"
"I'll explain that later. Please treat Ms. Ji-hee."
"I'm already treating her. She has no major injuries and is just unconscious right now."
Relieved, I explained the situation to them.
"What is the world coming to... The operation was a success, but the casualties are absurd..."
"And more importantly, as I moved between the warehouse and the ammunition depot, I realized that tentacled creature was deliberately trying to capture Awakened Ones alive."
"Then all those people who were caught were Awakened?"
"No, they weren't Awakened. If there had been that many Awakened Ones, the unit wouldn't have fallen so easily. But here's my guess..."
I told them my thoughts.
That they could hatch using the bodies of ordinary people, but using Awakened Ones as hosts would produce even stronger entities.
"And the entities that came from ordinary people are also stronger than regular zombies, and seem to possess a faint trace of reason."
The old man's expression was one of someone who had just heard something he really didn't want to know.
"..."
"For now, it's gotten dark, so let's report the situation over the radio, rest for the day, and head back tomorrow."
* * * * * * *
When morning came, we returned to the shelter. Colonel Park Jeong-geun and my group were waiting out front, as if they'd already heard everything.
"I've heard the whole situation. Creatures that possess reason unlike normal zombies... and that breed using humans as hosts..."
Seeming unwilling to say any more, he shut his eyes tightly.
"In any case, I would like to say the operation was a success... but we lost far too many precious lives..."
"What do you plan to do now?"
"Fortunately, we've secured food and enough weapons, so we intend to arm the survivors with military experience. Are you planning to leave, Mr. Cheon?"
He spoke with a regretful expression.
"Yes. My original purpose in coming here was to find out the whereabouts of an acquaintance."
"Still... please don't leave right away... The casualties are tragic, but the other survivors need hope right now..."
"I won't leave immediately. We fought together as comrades, so I'll at least say my goodbyes before I go."
With that, I returned to my group.
While we were resting, Colonel Park Jeong-geun entered the auditorium, followed by Captain Lee Gyu-seok and other officers.
They looked around and, one by one, made eye contact with me.
"May I have your attention, please. The operation to retake the military base was a success. We have now secured sufficient arms and food, but let us take a moment of silence for those who sacrificed their lives for the mission."
As soon as the success was announced, cheers erupted, but after the final words, the crowd fell solemn once more.
They, too, must have realized they owed their continued survival to those who went out and risked their lives to fight.
'Still, this group is humane enough to know gratitude.'
"But success is still success. Tonight, we'll distribute more food than usual and a little alcohol. I'll see you all at dinner."
As he finished speaking and stepped down from the platform, he looked at me and signaled with his eyes to follow him.
When I approached him, he spoke as if he had been waiting.
"Mr. Cheon... Ms. Chaeyeon has regained consciousness. Would you like to go see her?"
"That's good to hear. Can I see her right now?"
In the tent that served as a makeshift infirmary with a few cots, the old man was already there.
"Ah, there you are. She simply fainted and woke up. It's a relief there's no serious injury. Now, let the two young ones talk. If I linger any longer, I'll be hearing I'm a clueless old geezer."
The old man cracked a joke and stepped out of the tent.
"Sihu... you said you're leaving?"
If it were up to me, I'd want to take her with me, but things couldn't always go as I pleased.
I said nothing, but Chaeyeon smiled a quiet, knowing smile.
"You know what? When you're flustered or lying, your eyebrow twitches just a little."
"..."
"You were like that even back in school. The reason you were deliberately cold toward me was because you were afraid I'd get caught up in your mess."
She was right. Even back then, there was no reason for her to hang around someone like me, who had such a bad reputation.
"I'm coming with you, and so is the old man. No, we are coming with you. So don't ever say we can't."
"You're not even going to ask the old man's opinion?"
"I already talked it over with him before you came. And I told the colonel in advance that we'd be leaving."
"Hm... I'm glad if you're coming with me, but it's dangerous outside."
"I can't wait any longer. I waited for you to come to me first, and look—the world's turned into this mess."
She blushed, as if embarrassed by her own words that sounded like a confession.
"Anyway, we are definitely coming with you, so get that through your head!"
"Alright... have it your way. But when did you and the old man get so close, anyway?"
And Chaeyeon began to tell the story of how she had come all the way from her old home to here.