A Midnight Game of Tag
I ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. Noh Changhun slowly swept his flashlight around. The beam followed the movement of his hand, scanning the surroundings. For now, everything visible looked fine. There were no signs of life, and no ghosts either. Well, there shouldn't be any in the first place. Noh Changhun looked at me and let out a snort of laughter.
"What? Crazy bitch?"
"…Sorry."
"Ah. Please no."
I'm a scaredy-cat. I hate the dark, and I'm scared of pretty much everything. Zombies are less scary because I can just smash their heads in, and darkness isn't so bad if I have a light source. But the only guy holding the flashlight was acting like this, so of course I got scared.
Noh Changhun seemed to find my reaction genuinely amusing.
"You… son of a…"
Noh Changhun carefully narrowed the beam. The flashlight that had been lighting up a wide area now focused into a brighter, narrower cone. I pressed myself tightly against him. It was already scary enough in the dark, but making the surroundings even darker was unbearable. Just in case, I grabbed his arm firmly and moved forward with him.
Noh Changhun slowly scanned the area and let out a low groan.
"Why?"
"Yeji. Look closely at the walls. And the floor too."
"…Hunter?"
There were scratch marks on the shop walls, as if made by fingernails. But they were deeper than the ones I remembered from regular hunters. Even when I got closer to inspect them.
"What kind of variant was this again?"
"Bounty Hunter."
"Bounty what?"
"Bounty hunter."
"Ah."
It finally clicked. A Bounty Hunter was a higher-tier variant of the regular hunter. They still roamed in packs and tore survivors apart, but Bounty Hunters specifically targeted more experienced and cunning survivors. People who'd built up some experience and held positions of importance in their communities. The kind of key personnel whose disappearance would threaten the community's very survival. In the original novel, the protagonist's circumstances meant it only got a few lines of mention, but I knew how dangerous they were. After all, hadn't I fought hunters directly before?
"But aren't those things weak?"
The official guide had made it crystal clear. Even though they were called Bounty Hunters, if you could take on a monster alone, you could defeat them. I was a Monster Slayer. No matter how many Bounty Hunters showed up, they wouldn't be a problem for me. I'd just smash their heads equally in front of my Beopbong and be done with it… or so I thought.
What about the others?
"Ah."
"The other people?!"
"…"
There were several ways to deal with hunters, but one thing was always required: someone who could withstand their attacks. Either someone like Kang Siwoo, who could deflect attacks with overwhelming skill and experience, or someone like Noh Changhun, who could block them with raw defensive power. Or like me, pushing through with regeneration in a brutal brawl. There was no way the others could manage that.
"Why?"
"That's a relief to hear, but…"
It looked like a midnight game of tag was about to begin. At the very least, we needed to figure out if a Bounty Hunter had been staying here recently. There was nothing more horrifying than finding zombies in a place you'd thought you'd already cleared. And because it was a high-tier variant, we couldn't even send regular survivors to investigate. After all, zombies were beings that had evolved purely on instinct.
"So what do we do?"
Writer. That word carried a lot of weight. There was no one who knew more about this novel than the man standing in front of me. He would definitely locate the Bounty Hunters as if he'd been waiting for it. Above all, he was my precious friend, so I had no choice but to trust him.
"Alright, I trust you."
"Consider it an honor. If I'm with you, I could go to the ends of hell itself."
"The airport, you idiot."
Noh Changhun let out a small laugh. Then he said we'd pick up the pace a bit and gradually increased his speed. I matched his pace. With my Beopbong slung over my shoulder so I could swing it at anything that appeared, I ran like I was jogging.
Noh Changhun began moving through the shopping district at a considerable speed. It didn't feel like he knew the way. It was more like he was solving a math problem by plugging in formulas. Like he knew that in this situation, we had to head to a place like this. Thanks to that, I was the only one suffering. It wasn't that I was out of stamina, but the feeling that darkness was chasing me from behind was awful. I was already tense, so even the slightest oddity in the surroundings made me react.
Eventually, when Noh Changhun stopped to look around, I silently grabbed his hand. It wasn't like either of us would be in danger just because we were missing one hand. Noh Changhun seemed to understand the situation and only gave me a look that said I was pathetic. Then, as if something still bothered him, he tossed the flashlight to me and gestured.
"What? Are they usually there?"
"Okay. But aren't you going to crouch down?"
"Whoa?!"
Noh Changhun lightly grabbed my waist and lifted me up. Then, without much effort, he hoisted me onto his shoulders in a piggyback position.
"Fine. Um…"
Sitting on his shoulders definitely gave me a wider field of view. Thanks to that, I quickly spotted the tallest building. A red cross that would have been brightly lit even at this hour rose above the shopping building across from us. I gauged the direction for a moment.
"Five o'clock. Just go straight ahead and turn at the side street and it should be there?"
"What? I thought you were giving me a ride."
"I'm not a kid, but…"
Noh Changhun grabbed my waist again like before and carefully lowered me down. I thought he'd just drop me, but it was surprisingly gentle. I slipped my hand through the flashlight strap, wrapped it around my wrist, and picked it up carefully.
Noh Changhun made a frustrated face at first, but soon relaxed his expression.
"Exactly. Let's just go."
"Yeah, yeah."
I adjusted the flashlight to spread the beam wider. Now I felt relieved. There was nothing particularly scary anymore, so I could run without worry. This wasn't the first time I'd gone out at night anyway.
Noh Changhun lightly hopped in place a few times. Then he gave a signal and started running ahead. I matched his pace and ran too. The beam of light shook back and forth in time with my running speed. Noh Changhun moved like someone who'd gotten used to running through places like this. Even though the ground was littered with abandoned cars from the outbreak and broken obstacles, his speed didn't slow at all. He just hopped over them one after another, which was honestly impressive from my perspective trying to keep up. When he planted a hand on the roof of a sedan and lightly vaulted over it, I was at a loss for words. The only reason I could follow was because I'd built up some experience. A normal person would've fallen behind long ago.
Then suddenly Noh Changhun stopped and muttered blankly.
"Is something there!?"
"No, what did you see?"
"…A survivor?"
It was a relief that it wasn't a zombie, but there was no reason for a survivor to be here. This area was one where the military had personally cleared out zombies and gathered survivors. There shouldn't be anyone who would refuse the military's rescue. If they had a reason to refuse, it would mean they had something to hide.
Just as I was organizing my thoughts and about to ask, Noh Changhun, who had started speeding up again, spoke.
"A woman…?"
"You sure it wasn't just the angle?"
"Fair enough."
For now, we had more urgent matters, so I'd ignore it, but something felt off. It was strange for a survivor to be out alone in the middle of the night. It was also strange that they'd been hiding out while refusing the military's help all this time. But there was nothing we could do about it right now, so we quickly headed toward the church with Noh Changhun.
Noh Changhun opened the door in an instant and stepped inside. I suddenly felt worried.
"What about zombies?!"
"No, the Bounty Hunter!"
"…!"
Noh Changhun, who had been running up the stairs, planted his foot and steadied himself. I could tell what he was about to do. A crudely built barricade was blocking the staircase. With a loud bang, Noh Changhun smashed the barricade hard. In an instant, he hurled several pieces of furniture aside to clear a path, then reached out and grabbed my arm.
"What? There really is one!?"
I whipped my head around. The flashlight beam followed. A sign on the stairwell wall said the church was on the 8th floor.
"God damn it!"
A curse slipped out. Of all places, it had to be at the very top. And this building. The walls were covered in scratch marks, making it look like something straight out of a horror movie. The atmosphere was gloomy, and it wouldn't be strange if something jumped out at any moment, which made me even more anxious. Still, since Noh Changhun was running up, I followed suit and ran after him.
"Yeah, I can tell that much."
"How?"
"So they're claiming it as their nest? By setting up that barricade?"
The two of us raced up the stairs like mad. Before long, Noh Changhun kicked open a door and burst into the church. Fortunately, there were Bounty Hunters there. But they were all dead.