The Butcher's Blade
I had ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. “Agh, fuck…”
It felt like I’d been writhing on the ground groaning in pain for at least ten minutes, but my body showed no signs of improving. Still, it was easier to move than before, and I could finally breathe properly. A little while ago I really thought I was done for, no way out. “Seriously…” If I’d known this would happen I would’ve stayed on guard. I never expected the thing to stab instead of swing. Anyway, I figured taking one hit wouldn’t be fatal, so I planned to drop the Guard first and then finish off the Butcher. Clearly I’d miscalculated.
Still, after some time passed I could move again. “Stupid bastard…” Now I was seriously thinking I needed to learn martial arts. The zombies had grown too clever to rely on raw toughness alone. Whether it was bladed weapons or hand-to-hand, I had to reach a level where I could actually use them properly. If only I had the time, I’d get Kang Siwoo to teach me boxing for real.
“Wait, bladed weapon?”
My eyes fell on the Butcher’s corpse. Even in the middle of that chaotic brawl, his right arm remained perfectly intact, not a single tooth mark on it. And I just happened to need exactly that kind of blade. The only weapons I had were Beopbong and my fists. There were times I needed to slash instead of smash, and it had been inconvenient as hell.
“…”
I planted my foot on the Butcher’s shoulder and glanced around. Then I grabbed whatever usable kitchen knives I could find in the prep room and went to work. I heated them, sliced with them, and eventually forged a pretty decent greatsword. Using the shoulder bone as the pommel would look pretty cool when I swung it. Just in case, I wrapped spider webs tightly around the arm bone for a grip. Finally I tied the sword to my bag, took a stance, and tested it.
“Good. Fits perfectly.”
I’d tied it well enough that the tip didn’t drag on the floor. When I drew it there was a slight resistance, then it came free smoothly. Honestly I didn’t know the first thing about swordsmanship, but since it was a greatsword I figured I could swing it like Beopbong. Perfect timing to test it out, too. So I slammed the cafeteria door shut and stepped outside. No time to hesitate in there anymore. The sound of countless spiders scurrying across the ceiling, that clicking chorus, was already echoing everywhere.
“…!”
Spider webs came flying instantly. I swung Beopbong in a figure-eight to bat them aside, then kicked the nearest spider square in the body. It flew back, slammed into the wall, and flipped onto its back. The others immediately joined the attack.
“Kiaaaaaaaa!”
“Will you shut the fuck up?!”
I smashed the lead spiders with Beopbong and kicked them flying. The ones dropping from the walls I either punched down or ducked under. I needed to move to a wider area. The narrow hallway meant I could only handle a few at a time, which was an advantage, but it also made swinging Beopbong awkward. So I kept one hand swinging it for defense and sprinted for the open space.
The high school building was shaped like a square, so outside there was another corridor connecting the annex and classrooms. That was where I froze solid.
“…”
Spiders were plastered all over the building walls. Every single one of them started screeching at me. I swept the area with my flashlight. Guard Spiders. Soldier Spiders. The ones with green stripes and protrusions sticking out of their mouths were Spitters. Every variant you could call a spider subspecies was here, and there were clearly several hundred of them. The sight alone was enough to crush your spirit. It even made me flinch with fear for a second.
On top of that the spiders began threatening me with different behaviors—throwing things, groaning. The Spider King or Queen hadn’t even shown up yet and their army alone was this overwhelming. More spiders were still pouring out through the open windows. I couldn’t help but laugh. If this was a horror movie, it was perfect. Things that used to be people, stuck all over the walls, gathered here to devour or incapacitate me. If this wasn’t a horror movie or game, what the hell was it?
But strangely, I didn’t feel scared. There was no reason to be.
“…”
Those unidentified balls the spiders had been throwing from the walls earlier. When I shone my flashlight on them, I finally understood. They were human heads. Sucked completely dry of fluids, everything below the neck eaten away. The heads of survivors who had died with faces twisted in agony.
“You fucking bastards…!”
I was a little—okay, a lot—pissed off. So I punched the building wall. A tremendous sound rang out as brick fragments rained down. That was the signal. The spiders dropped from the air like lunatics, all aiming for me.
Without hesitation I gripped Beopbong in one hand and drew the blade with the other. The first to charge was a Soldier Spider. It opened its jaws wide, fangs aimed at me. But nothing could stop me now. I swung Beopbong once and smacked the surroundings with the flat of the blade. That alone sent the spiders in front shattering and flying through the air.
Before the debris even landed, something bit me from behind. Then venom came flying from a distance and splattered across me. The area was too open for one person to handle and the spiders were too numerous. But it didn’t matter.
“Kiaaaaa!”
“Kiaa…!”
A storm of violence erupted. It wasn’t the first time I’d been surrounded by zombies anyway. I was used to it now—shaking off the spiders clinging to my back, ignoring the burning pain, and swinging my weapons. The Guard Spiders that tried to form defensive lines were smashed apart along with their comrades. The spiders and Spitters spewed webs and venom but I paid them no mind. Without even time to catch my breath I focused on swinging my weapons and killing every spider I could see.
The spiders looked panicked. Yeah, that made sense. They were probably wondering how I was still moving fine after getting drenched in venom.
“I don’t know either.”
I kicked away the approaching Guard Spider and swung the blade in a wide arc, slicing two falling spiders in one go. At this point it felt like I’d completely given up on being human. A normal person would’ve been paralyzed and turned into a meal long ago. Or melted into a puddle by the venom. But other than the wounds feeling extremely hot, I had no particular symptoms. When I wiped the venom off with my hand, it just came away.
“…!”
But there were way too many spiders. I’d probably killed over a hundred yet their numbers barely seemed to drop. Only then did a flicker of regret hit me, but I had no intention of running. No—after seeing what these bastards had done, I didn’t want to run even if it meant dying. Among the heads they’d thrown earlier there had been a child’s as well.
So I gritted my teeth and slammed my back against the wall. The spider that had sunk its fangs into me died instantly from the impact. I crushed the heads of the Guard Spiders charging from the sides with Beopbong and roughly swatted the ones dropping from above with the flat of my sword. It was ridiculously inefficient. If Kang Siwoo had seen it he would’ve found the style pathetic. Basically I was just holding a bat in each hand. But right now this was the best I could do.
I swung my weapons like a madwoman, stomping and resisting. Most of the Guards and Soldiers were dead now, so the regular spiders tried to face me. They were little more than workers and couldn’t handle me at all. Soon nearly everything except the Spitters had been wiped out. The spiders seemed to be considering retreat. I saw them abandoning the corpses of their fallen and fleeing somewhere.
I briefly checked my body’s condition. It was obviously critical. Only because it was me could I endure this much. If it had been Kang Siwoo or Noh Changhun they would’ve died long ago. Blood flowed, stopped. Flowed, stopped. Venom oozed from the torn wounds. My clothes were so shredded they were barely holding together. Beopbong, which had fought so well all this time, was now warped. It looked like it could only handle one or two more fights before it stopped working entirely.
“Fuck…”
More than my body being injured, the thought of losing Beopbong made me angrier. So I laughed for a moment. It carried several meanings. I’d used it constantly since first meeting in Jangyu, and whenever I fought alongside Noh Changhun I always had it with me. Still, it was fortunate I could use it a few more times. Once I finished the spiders I wouldn’t need it anymore anyway. After that I could take it to the blacksmith in Dong-gu for repairs.
“…”
Hallucinations flickered at the edge of my vision. Auditory hallucinations rang in my ears. Scents that shouldn’t be here drifted past. The smell of delicious food. When I came to my senses I was vomiting, forcing out clotted blood, leaning on Beopbong like a cane. I could still run if I wanted to. But I didn’t feel like running. I didn’t need rest either. Before anything else, I wanted to kill every zombie here.
I didn’t think of myself as a hero or anything like that. Because from the beginning I was a bad person. Just look at the reason I ended up here. “But still… it pisses me off.”
This was reality. The survivors were all living, breathing people. That was true for Lee Yeji, for her father, and for her mother. The people who were now only heads had originally been living, breathing human beings. People who felt pain, got angry, and kept living. It wasn’t that characters in a novel had died. People had died. That was why the rage burned even hotter.
Even if my body was in bad shape, I had no intention of stopping. If I was about to die, an even greater strength would surge through me anyway. So without hesitation I started climbing toward the second floor of the annex where the spiders were hiding.