Weeeeeee-
When it turned 6 PM, a loud siren went off.
It was a signal to restrict the movement of ordinary citizens as the sun would soon set.
"Everyone, please return home quickly! Those who are still on the streets after 7 PM will be fined!"
Yoo Na-mi, an Awakened who had just graduated from Hero-mili School this year and became an active explorer, shouted to the people.
Only Awakened like Yoo Na-mi could freely roam the streets after 7 PM.
'I wonder if my siblings got home safely?'
Yoo Na-mi, who had to take care of her two younger siblings, a high school senior and a middle school sophomore, had many worries these days.
It was as if the world had become dangerous and she couldn't let her guard down.
"Excuse me, Ms. Na-mi. Could you please patrol the abandoned factory today? We received a report that suspicious groups were seen there yesterday."
"Okay."
Yoo Na-mi nodded, checking the warning light stick in her hand at the police officers' question.
Patrolling the dark streets late at night was also the duty of the Awakened under martial law.
"It's really reassuring to have an Awakened on the team!"
Yoo Na-mi's face turned red at the handsome police officer's smile.
She scratched her nose awkwardly.
"I'm still a First-Awakening Awakened who hasn't even acquired a concept..."
"But you're still many times stronger than me. If something like a zombie really appeared, I think Ms. Na-mi could easily take it down."
Indeed, the difference between an ordinary person and an Awakened was as great as that between a child and an adult.
That was why Yoo Na-mi was in charge of patrolling dangerous areas and secluded alleys that ordinary people could not patrol.
That was the problem.
While shining her flashlight as she walked through the alleys of an old and rundown neighborhood, Yoo Na-mi spotted suspicious figures gathering in small groups with blurry eyes.
"Zo-Zombies...!?"
The stench of decay was strong, so they were definitely real zombies.
Two days after martial law.
This was the first time Yoo Na-mi had seen real zombies.
"I need backup! I'm at─."
━Graaaaargh-!
━Kyaaaaargh-!
The zombies rushed towards Yoo Na-mi, who was shouting into her walkie-talkie.
Yoo Na-mi's hair stood on end at the sight of the unpleasant corpses rushing towards her at high speed.
"D...Don't coooome!!!"
Yoo Na-mi wildly swung the baseball bat she was holding like a weapon.
Thwack-!
Crack-!
Several zombies fell.
But the problem was that she felt reluctant to hit them in the head. Several zombies that had been knocked down desperately crawled and bit Yoo Na-mi's ankle.
Crunch-.
"Aaaack! I've been bitten!"
She was suddenly terrified.
If she stayed like this, she might die.
If that happened, her two siblings would be thrown into the cold reality without their mother, father, or even their older sister.
"You bastardsssssss!"
Although she was a First-Awakening Awakened who had not acquired a concept, Yoo Na-mi had also been training at Hero-mili School for three years.
"Die! Die!"
Crack-! Thwack-!
She was able to knock down all five zombies with her bat and, breathing heavily, she was filled with a strange sense of accomplishment and elation.
"Haa, haaa, I-I can do it if I try."
However, she couldn't just be happy.
Since she had been bitten by a zombie, she might become like them after some time. So Yoo Na-mi opened her bag and took out a drink.
It was 「Zero Cola Fresh」, which was known as a cure.
Yoo Na-mi couldn't understand why cola was a cure for zombie infection. But now she had no choice, and the only solution was to drink the cola she had prepared in advance.
Gulp, gulp-.
As she drank the cola.
Yoo Na-mi felt the unpleasant sensation in her ankle disappear as if it had been washed away.
"...It's really cured...!?"
Like a refreshing carbonated drink, Yoo Na-mi's head was filled with joy.
She had fought against a group of zombies and won, and even cured the infection with cola.
'I can do it if I try!'
But that joy was short-lived.
Stomp, stomp-.
She heard the sound of someone walking from the darkness.
Zombies?
No, it felt different.
He was a man with his hands in his pockets.
"Movement of citizens is restricted after 7 PM! Please present your identification!"
Yoo Na-mi shouted at the man.
The man, as if he hadn't heard Yoo Na-mi's words, clicked his tongue while looking at the fallen zombies.
"Fuck, I went through all that trouble grave robbing because of these guys, and it's stopped this easily? And cola is the cure? Don't be ridiculous. Stupid─."
"Hey! Please present your identification! Huh?"
The reason Yoo Na-mi made a dazed sound was simple.
The man's face, illuminated by the flashlight, was covered with a white, featureless mask.
"I've seen that somewhere..."
The terrorist who caused the 「Zombie Crisis」. It was too late when she realized it.
Snap-.
The man flicked his fingers, and zombies appeared from behind him.
"Uh...?"
Those two were different from ordinary zombies.
They were closer to monsters created by strangely twisting and combining human bodies than zombies.
One was muscular and thick, like an inflated balloon, and held a huge hammer, and the other was unpleasantly thin and agile like a praying mantis.
Scratch, scratch-.
Sharp blades were attached to its hands like fingernails.
"Bring them alive. Awakened are excellent materials in themselves."
Yoo Na-mi tried to escape, but it was impossible.
When she came to her senses, she was trapped in a cramped and smelly iron cage.
There were many iron cages around her, and many people were trapped in them like her.
"Wh-Where am I?! Let me out!"
Yoo Na-mi panicked.
Then the man in the white mask approached and took out the ID from Yoo Na-mi's wallet and read it.
"Awakened Yoo Na-mi. A First-Awakening Awakened who graduated this year. You're quite pretty. You're lucky. I like to keep pretty women as they are by my side as much as possible."
Poke-!
Swoosh-.
The man injected something into Yoo Na-mi's arm.
"Just wait about a week and you'll become my special masterpiece. Aren't you happy?"
"Aaaack!"
Yoo Na-mi snapped out of it due to the pain in her arm.
She was afraid of what would happen if time passed like this.
"Help me! Please help me!"
"I don't know how you guys found out about the infection cure, but would you know about my masterpieces and the existence of my legion! You absolutely wouldn't!"
Hehehehe-.
The man began to laugh ominously and sinisterly.
"You don't even know where I am! This is my own kingdom! Only mine! And Seo Ga-eul is the same. She should be mine too! Only mine!"
Yoo Na-mi despaired.
Because she realized that no one could come to help her.
Because this place is...
# # #
"The Zombie Demonkin is probably in the 「Grand Labyrinth」."
I reviewed several places where the Zombie Demonkin might be hiding and finally came to a conclusion.
A place that Awakened can easily access.
Yet, a place where they cannot move around freely.
In a world covered with CCTV everywhere, the only place where one can completely hide is the Grand Labyrinth.
That's why I hid Seo Ga-eul and Yoo Yeo-reum in the 「Grand Labyrinth」.
"As far as I know, there are several entrances to the 「Grand Labyrinth」."
One is in the basement of Hero-mili School.
One is in the basement of the South-West Group's headquarters building.
And the rest.
I know that the coordinates inside the Grand Labyrinth also change depending on the entrance.
I thought that the Zombie Demonkin might have occupied one of the unknown entrances to the Grand Labyrinth and built his own base somewhere in that labyrinth.
He must have piled up a lot of zombies in there.
"In the worst case, we have to assume that there might be special zombies."
━Gyuuing...?
"Yes, special zombies. They're like mutants. They're tricky to deal with. I heard that's what happens when Awakened become zombies. If you meet them, running away is the best course of action."
How many special zombies would there be in his disgusting kingdom?
It would be difficult for me to break through it head-on.
But?
If I don't go to his area, but instead lure him out, that would be enough.
If he's really Nam San-ho, he won't be able to resist my bait.
With that in mind, I visited the 「Flower Room」 where Seo Ga-eul and Yoo Yeo-reum were. Then Yoo Yeo-reum and Seo Ga-eul, who had been whispering until just now, shut their mouths.
"......"
"......"
Yoo Yeo-reum and Seo Ga-eul began to watch each other's reactions.
They seemed to be hiding something.
It's ominous.
"What have you guys been doing?"
"What's it to you, asshole? What we're doing is none of your business."
Seo Ga-eul snapped back bluntly.
Her frowning face looked quite picky.
Then what about Yoo Yeo-reum?
"Yoo Yeo-reum, you're hiding something from me, aren't you."
"No."
She shook her head vigorously, but Yoo Yeo-reum was really bad at lying.
I lunged at Yoo Yeo-reum.
"Comeeeere-!"
"Ah, I told you not to do that!!!!"
I lick Yoo Yeo-reum's neck!
Lick-!
It tasted sweet.
But it was a tense sweetness.
"The taste of a liar, indeed."
"...Wh-What!"
Yoo Yeo-reum and Seo Ga-eul were hiding something from me.
What could it be?
After looking around for a while, I noticed that Seo Ga-eul's bed sheet was bulging in a round shape.
I lifted it up and revealed the object.
It was a doll.
A crudely made doll of cloth and cotton.
"A doll?"
Seo Ga-eul and Yoo Yeo-reum's faces turned pale.
"Where did you get this?"
I thought I had complete control of this 「Flower Room」, but was I wrong?
A doll I hadn't seen before suddenly appeared.
I had a lot of questions, but unfortunately, I didn't have much time.
"Seo Ga-eul, I think I need to use you as bait to lure out Nam San-ho."
"Me as bait?"
"Yes, he threatened me that he would increase the number of infected people by 10,000 a day if I didn't turn myself in, right? We're going to use that in reverse. If he doesn't show up, we'll go from 「1」 to 「7」."
"What are you talking about?"
"Level 1 is holding hands."
I held hands with Seo Ga-eul.
Of course, Seo Ga-eul openly disliked it and struggled.
"Let go, you perverted bastard!"
It's a very good expression.
The more Seo Ga-eul dislikes it, the better the picture will come out.
Click-.
"I'm going to release this picture to the media. If he doesn't turn himself in, we'll have to move on to level 2. Level 2 is hugging. We'll go through these levels every day and urge him to turn himself in."
"...If level 1 is holding hands and level 2 is hugging, what's level 3?"
Yoo Yeo-reum asked.
She seemed to be genuinely curious.
"Kissing."
I spent a long time in the shack, experiencing loneliness, and ran many dating simulations in my head.
I had decided that if I got a girlfriend, I would progress the skinship according to 7 levels, and each level contained profound content.
"So, 「1」 to 「7」 means Ha Nam-jin's 7 levels of skinship. If Nam San-ho likes Seo Ga-eul, he won't be able to stand her having skinship with another man, and he'll eventually jump out like a minnow that's been salted."
Yoo Yeo-reum was impressed.
"It seems like an appropriate pace. And it seems like it's a painful punishment for Seo Ga-eul."
Yoo Yeo-reum knows what's up.
10 points to Gryffindor!
Then Seo Ga-eul, whose face had turned pale, asked.
"Hey, then what's level 7─!?"
"It's okay. It won't go that far. If Nam San-ho really likes you, he'll take the bait at level 2? At most, it'll be level 4."
"No! What the hell is level 7!"
She must be curious about my skinship progress.
It could be.
"Level 7 is 'giving piggyback rides to grandchildren'."
"What? Fuck? You said it was skinship progress, so why are grandchildren suddenly popping up? No, wait, then what's level 4! What's level 4!"
"Ehehe."
"...Ehehe?"
Seo Ga-eul's expression froze at my laughter.
But only for a moment.
Her face twisted strangely and then exploded like a bomb.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaack!!! You perverted bastard!!! Why did it suddenly go from kissing to Ehehe!!! You crazy bastard!!!"
Seo Ga-eul's scream.
I recorded it properly.