Obsession
I figured as much. What these bastards pulled on me was an ambush that wasn't really an ambush.
Why? Because my preparations were already finished. It was time for the knife I'd slipped onto my wrist to shine.
I shoved my hand inside the sleeve of my stab-proof vest and yanked out the hidden blade.
And what was I going to do with it?
First, deal with this pig.
I drove the knife straight into the cheek of the fat bastard pinning me down.
"Aaaagh!"
The guy with a hole punched through his face screamed, then suddenly lurched upright.
No—my knife...!
The instant I regained freedom of movement, I scrambled up—and a kick came flying at me.
Min Doyoon and one other guy.
I could have used the bat or the knife, but... where the hell did they go?
The knife was still with me, but the bat had vanished. Seolhwa had the crossbow.
"Come on, then!"
Behind Min Doyoon, a shaggy-haired kid was closing in, swinging something viciously.
I didn't hesitate.
The fact that he was swinging to threaten me meant he was telling me not to get any closer.
I knew that. The moment I closed the distance in a flash, his swing didn't have a full arc—and it caught me in the shoulder.
"Ngh!"
Pain flooded through me, but in the same breath I threw him with a shoulder toss.
"Ugh!"
He hit bare floor and convulsed. Someone dove for the bat.
Min Doyoon.
But right then, an uneasy sound reached my ears.
Min Doyoon scooped up the bat and leveled it at me.
"Fuck! I'm gonna kill you!"
"Doyoon!"
The second one of their buddies shouted from behind, I stepped back.
Because the bastard I'd stabbed was charging me in a frothing rage, screaming something half-coherent.
"H-hey, Seongjun? What's wrong with you?"
At the same time I cut toward Seolhwa and the crossbow.
"Seolhwa! Get back! Stay clear!"
"Ah..."
I threw myself at the one running for her. His hand reaching for Seolhwa stretched out in something like slow motion.
But my hands locked around his waist first.
"Urgh!"
I climbed him and wrenched his arm the wrong way.
"Aaaagh!"
Meanwhile, on the other side, the one who'd turned zombie was thrashing like a madman—with my knife still buried in his cheek.
"Hah. Turns fast, doesn't he."
The reports had said it was nearly impossible to average out how long it took someone to turn. The difference could be seconds or days.
This one had been seconds. Right in front of Min Doyoon's eyes, he got savagely torn into.
Once Min Doyoon stopped moving, the zombie locked eyes with the kid next to him.
"No—aaaagh!"
They bolted in a panic, and the zombie tore after them in a frenzy.
Unintentional help. Nice.
Which left me with one job...
I ran to the bitten Min Doyoon first and split his skull with the knife.
Then every last one of the ones who'd gone down.
Cut off the chance of them turning before it started.
"Ah..."
Seolhwa sank to the floor still clutching the crossbow.
"Don't look. And don't stay here—go. The crossbow..."
I saw her flinch and hug the weapon tighter against her chest.
Don't push her. Seolhwa wasn't even at Lee Soyeon's level yet; getting her dependent on me still had a long way to go.
With her in this state she'd only get in the way, so I barked at her to leave.
"Go. Now!"
Seolhwa scrambled and sprinted toward the opposite side of the school.
First I had to scrub out every last unstable element.
The crossbow was gone, but that was fine. Their gear wasn't anything special anyway.
The zombies, though...
How badly had they torn up the auditorium?
From deeper inside, screams and crashing sounds were already rolling out one after another.
A full-blown mess.
I picked up the bat and headed into the auditorium.
"Kyaak... kuh... krrk!"
One of the boys was thrashing through a full-on transformation into a zombie.
I stomped the one trying to push up off the floor and drove the knife through him.
Quiet again... except a girl's scream rang out.
I followed the sound and found a girl who'd just been bitten, staring at me with hollow eyes—her face already twisting.
But the bigger problem was the zombie that had been chewing on her.
Still in its school uniform, it snarled at me.
No words needed. Kill it before there were two of them.
I charged. It charged.
The thing came at me like an animal, leaping—and my bat moved first.
They always rush. They always jump.
Knowing the pattern, I took the first strike.
A dull impact shoved through the bat and tore it from my grip.
But the result was excellent.
Its head burst, and the body dropped right beside me.
I didn't look back. I went to the girl. Her chest was already torn open, vessels bulging out.
"Save... me..."
"Too late."
"I said save me! Aaaagh!"
She went berserk and grabbed my collar with strength that wasn't normal anymore.
"You bastard... men are... so fucking... irritating—!"
A wet, ugly sound. I let the tension go out of the hand holding the knife.
I left her collapsed with the blade planted in her skull and went looking for the rest.
But even after sweeping the filthy interior of the auditorium, nothing showed.
"Don't they ever clean up?"
Trash everywhere—filthy blankets, half-eaten food left out in the open. No wonder Seolhwa had run.
Zombies were gone, more or less. They don't hide.
But there were still people left. Had I already killed more than seven?
I didn't know the exact number remaining.
I raised my voice across the auditorium.
"Hey! I got all the zombies! How long are you planning to hide? Come out and we'll settle this."
Playing the good guy—just enough to flush out the ones who'd attacked me.
"It's dangerous to stay here with zombies around! Come out and head back to the school, whatever. Just come out!"
I waited. From the far side, two kids crawled out from between the stacked materials.
A third came through the center doors of the auditorium.
"That all of you?"
"There was one more. He hid in the bathroom."
"Gather up. At this point, the only option is to throw yourselves on the school's mercy."
I herded the three of them and told them to grab their things.
"Take whatever you can carry, and hurry. I'm checking the bathroom."
I found the auditorium restrooms.
Most of them had been boys, so odds were the men's room. The guess was right.
"Hic... hic..."
A trembling voice from inside.
"Hey, come out! It's over. I killed all the zombies. We're going to the school."
"Hic... sob..."
Nothing but crying.
"If you got bitten, stay put and don't come out."
"N-no, I didn't."
The door opened and a sniffling, shaggy-haired boy stumbled out.
I pointed him outside.
"Go join your friends."
"Y-yes..."
In the brief second he passed me, a thousand thoughts ran through my head.
But I'd already decided, and decisions get executed.
There was no reason to leave any of them alive.
I turned and drove the knife into the back of his neck as he walked ahead.
"Ghk!"
That was his last sound. I finished the skull and walked out calmly.
Don't ask why I attacked. They attacked me first—that was enough. From the moment they came at me, I had no intention of letting them live.
"I'm not a nice guy."
I do what's convenient for me, for my own benefit. That's the rule here.
The remaining three were already moving, arms full of whatever they'd grabbed.
Understand why I told them to carry things?
Because like that, they couldn't move freely.
"Didn't see him in the bathroom. We'll move with just you three."
As they shuffled along loaded down, I targeted the one at the rear.
The dagger punched into his neck and came out just as fast. One down. Next.
The one who still didn't understand what was happening turned—and I put the dagger straight through his face.
"Waaaagh!"
A scream. The last one started flinging his armful of stuff away.
See? That takes time.
His legs gave out. He shook, then finally collapsed.
"W-w-why are you doing this?"
"Because I'm not that nice. That's all."
I decide everything. I choose everything. Lives included.
One by one I put the blades through their skulls and finished the cleanup.
I tore strips from their clothes, wiped the knife, and headed for the school.
Given the situation earlier, they might have shot me—so I'd told her to run while she was still hesitating. Now I had to figure out how to drag her back.
And the moment I started toward the school, Seolhwa appeared in front of me—with Gang Haseong.
Seolhwa's heart was pounding. She had no choice but to trust Gang Haseong now—that was the only truth she could hold onto.
The man standing there had delivered a massive shock to both her body and her mind.
The man who had crushed her and tormented her the night before.
It's wrong. I should shoot him right now...
What she didn't fully understand was that the male in front of her had already conquered her—and that her fear was pure instinct answering that fact.
She didn't have the nerve to pull the trigger, and the thought of shooting him felt strange. But she also knew perfectly well that he wanted her.
That was why she'd asked Gang Haseong to protect her if it came to it.
Teacher Gang Haseong is a truly remarkable person.
He always worked hard. He always protected people.
Gang Haseong stepped forward in her place, crossbow in hand.
"This child doesn't want to go with you."
"What?"
"I'm grateful you found Seolhwa. She won't be going to you."
Seolhwa's heart hammered. How would that savage male react?
"Hmm. Well, finding Seolhwa was a commission, wasn't it?"
"She made it clear she doesn't want to go. If that's not enough..."
Gang Haseong put a little more pressure on the crossbow. Jin Dohyuk snorted a laugh.
"Fine. Then I'll drop it. But give the crossbow back."
"Not now. Later. I judge you as a potential threat."
"Okay. Okay. Then I'll back off for now."
Watching Jin Dohyuk withdraw so easily left Seolhwa stunned.
That easy? After the way he came at me last night?
She should have been glad it ended without a fight—but a sense of betrayal was rising in her chest.
No. Teacher Gang Haseong is a million times better than a bastard like that.
She shoved the irritating feeling down and started up the stairs, satisfied for the moment.
"!"
She put too much force into the climb and felt a sharp pain in a very private place, stopping short.
Just big and crude. Nothing special. I don't need it.
She stood frozen in that ache until Gang Haseong's voice came from behind.
"What's wrong?"
"Haha—nothing. I guess I overdid it while I wasn't feeling well."
"Hmm."
Leaving his words behind, Seolhwa carefully climbed the rest of the stairs.
Under Gang Haseong's guidance she was shown to a small storage room, and she approached a mattress piled up like a bed.
"We've lost people, so there's room now. But you don't look well... Did something happen? With that man?"
The question stabbed straight into her chest.
For a second Seolhwa avoided his eyes, then shook her head.
"No. Nothing happened."
"...I see. And your mother?"
Seolhwa shook her head at the memory of her dead mother.
"I'm sorry. All I can offer is words."
"It's fine. Really. And I have you, Teacher. You're so much better than a violent man like that."
"Violent?"
Gang Haseong's brow twitched.
"Yes. I actually 'experienced' it—it was too much. The way he acts, everything."
"Experienced?"
"Yes. I got a clear picture of him while we were coming here."
Seolhwa didn't notice Gang Haseong's expression hardening.
Maybe the tension had finally left her. She sat on the mattress the way she always did—and the rebound wrenched a sound out of her.
"Ngh!"
"What's wrong?"
"I-it's nothing."
She tried to brush it off in a hurry, but Gang Haseong's face stayed rigid.
"You seem to be in pain somewhere."
"I... just don't feel well."
"Your hips?"
"No! Teacher, really—you shouldn't ask things like that."
She tried to laugh it off, but the air had already gone strange.