17. Guilty Pleasure. (2)

[Soo-hyeon. I think I’ll be late again.]

[−−… Always staying out overnight?]

[I think I’ll get in around dawn.]

[I’ll sleep in my room, then.]

Huh?

Did she plan to wait for me in the attic?

I chuckled and sent a reply.

[If anything happens, send me a message.]

[Bro]

[Yeah?]

[Don’t get hurt.]

[I won’t. Don’t worry.]

I put my phone away and lay down.

The chair I threw downstairs made the calligraphy academy office quite spacious.

There was a charger on the desk.

I plugged in and started browsing YouTube.

It’s almost the end of the second week of the apocalypse.

The news is no longer updated.

No broadcasting station is airing new content.

The regular broadcasts that were once flooded with news after the apocalypse are now just static.

Cable TV, which used to play reruns endlessly, no longer works.

The only things still alive are a few communities and YouTube.

Even if YouTube shuts down by the end of the third week, it wouldn’t be surprising.

It’s amazing that communication is still working at all.

The new popular videos on YouTube are almost entirely about the Human Beasts.

It seems that nationality and language no longer matter. Videos from all kinds of countries are recommended and trending.

There’s no reason to watch a video uploaded from Yemen or Honduras here in Korea.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even find them if I scrolled down.

But they’re right there.

…There’s only one reason for this.

The number of YouTubers uploading videos has decreased. Both in Korea and around the world.

There are still survivors, but they are just trying to survive.

They are living on the brink of death.

It’s quite rare to find someone with the leisure to shoot and upload videos.

So, the current YouTube is dominated by a few YouTubers who upload videos obsessively.

These people upload a video every 10 minutes or every hour, live-streaming to announce that they are still alive.

…It looks like they’re driven by fear.

They’re so afraid that they might die if they don’t do this, so they obsessively upload videos.

It’s the only thing they can do.

Most of the videos are like this.

A messy room filled with candy wrappers and dirty disposable cups, with just a face appearing in the video.

I don’t want to watch this kind of thing.

As I scrolled down, drone videos started to appear.

Oh… Manhattan?

The date…

Yesterday.

I clicked on it.

And 5 seconds later, I jumped up from my seat.

“…Crazy.”

The Human Beasts in the Madison Square footage.

The Human Beasts in the Incheon footage.

The Human Beasts in Incheon and Madison Square were walking.

Like drug addicts, they were wandering aimlessly, stumbling along as if they were being swept along by the crowd.

The YouTuber spoke urgently.

“Look! Look what’s happening. Did you guys see that?! Those, how do I call that… Thing? I don’t know, but those… Animals. Grab each other, step on themselves, and, and…”

What the hell is he saying, damn it.

I can’t understand a word.

But I get the message the YouTuber is trying to convey.

The drone he launched.

The drone captured a massive mountain of Human Beasts.

It can only be described as a mountain.

They were running from all directions with incredible momentum, grabbing and trampling each other, climbing up the buildings.

The ones at the bottom must have been crushed to pieces.

It’s like a giant swarm of bees.

At least tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Human Beasts were climbing the buildings, grabbing each other, tearing at each other’s heads, and crawling up.

They were chasing a single goal.

A helicopter that had landed on the building’s rooftop.

The helicopter was making a loud noise, its propellers spinning.

They were drawn to it.

The massive noise and wind pressure from the helicopter were attracting them.

That’s the only explanation.

People were boarding the helicopter.

Survivors.

People who had survived.

They were running to escape.

The Human Beasts were crawling up the building.

I don’t know how they can do this.

They were trampling and crushing each other, the flattened ones becoming the foundation for others to climb over.

They were crawling up the building like a giant mountain.

The survivors boarded.

Everyone was on board.

At the same time, the Human Beasts that had crawled up to the rooftop started to attack.

They were swarming from all directions.

Someone inside the helicopter fired a gun.

A few Human Beasts fell.

Those whose heads weren’t shot through got back up and ran.

The helicopter slowly lifted off.

The Human Beasts grabbed the helicopter’s landing gear.

Others grabbed the ones who had grabbed the landing gear.

And a Human Beast ladder started to form.

The Human Beasts kept climbing up the ladder endlessly.

The helicopter wobbled.

It didn’t gain enough altitude.

It swayed left and right on the rooftop.

It was trying to escape the rooftop.

The people inside the helicopter fired their guns wildly.

The Human Beasts were clinging to the helicopter’s landing gear like a liquid monster, crawling up frantically.

And the helicopter lost its balance and tilted to the side.

It had moved away from the rooftop.

But it couldn’t regain its balance.

The helicopter plummeted.

Right into the middle of the Human Beasts.

A massive explosion occurred.

The YouTuber was babbling urgently.

And the video ended.

“…………”

I slowly put down my phone.

What did I just see?

Those things… Can they do that?

Climb a building…

By trampling and crushing each other?

…It was foolish to think they couldn’t open doors.

Whether they can open doors or not is irrelevant if they can do that.

I replayed the video.

I watched it from the beginning again.

The sound…

They must be drawn to the sound, right?

When I watched the video again, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.

I was too shocked by the sight of hundreds of thousands of Human Beasts swarming and climbing like a swarm of bees.

The surrounding buildings, large and small.

The distant houses.

The windows were shattering.

And through the shattered windows and doors, Human Beasts were pouring out.

They were gathering, and the already massive swarm of Human Beasts was growing even larger.

If the sound stimulates them, it means that not only the Human Beasts wandering around, but also those hiding in buildings and elsewhere, are being drawn out.

“……Ha……”

…It’s not the time to feel relieved just because we can kill a few dozen.

If this swarm attacks our street, if it swarms the mart building in the same way, no one can survive.

No matter how sturdy the glass walls of the building are, they can’t withstand this.

When the pressure reaches a critical point, the glass will shatter, and the Human Beasts will pour in like a wave.

…If we use the building, we need to fortify the entire building.

We need to dismantle cars and use everything we can to create a safe zone.

…We need time for that.

How many people do we have on our side?

The grandmother and the baby are useless.

How many people can actually do something?

Six inline skaters, Soo-hyeon, Ye-eun, So-eun, Hoon, Ddong-nae, and the nurse.

…Twelve people.

Can we fortify the entire building with just twelve people?

…Is it even possible?

…We need more weapons too.

Damn…

There’s too much to do.

We need to find my family, but we can’t leave like this.

If I leave to find my family and encounter that swarm of Human Beasts, I’ll die.

Even if I manage to hide, I’ll starve to death.

…I need to get stronger.

We need more weapons.

We need to prepare.

…But how?

“…Phew…”

I have no idea.

I lay down, pressing my forehead.

People are probably cleaning up bodies and dismantling cars right now.

…Do the Cockroaches know about this?

There are about thirty or forty of them, so they probably do.

I need to discuss this with Soo-hyeon later.

For now, I’ll do what I can.

I closed my eyes.

Midnight.

There were only eight of them left in the 8th-floor manga room.

I dealt with them using two Accelerations and came down to the 2nd floor.

I didn’t level up.

Damn.

I knelt on one knee at the L-shaped 2nd-floor staircase and looked down.

The chair I threw was lying on the floor.

The entrance…

…Should I deal with the entrance first?

I looked up.

The 2nd floor is the mart.

The 3rd floor is the warehouse and, probably, the office.

…I’ll clear the office first.

I went up to the 3rd floor and drew my sword.

Swoosh-

I slightly opened the door.

Creak, creak-

It’s coming from quite far away?

Looking inside, I saw boxes piled up to the door.

There are large metal shelves, and it seems that this side leads directly to the warehouse.

Is that because the elevator is on the side?

That means the office is straight ahead.

I listened carefully and entered.

I quietly closed the door and drew my other sword.

Swoosh-

The large shelves filled with boxes.

…Hmm.

“Suck it.”

I shouted.

“Alio Olio!”

Um.

It seems my subconscious suddenly wanted spaghetti.

“Kraaaah!”

Bang!

The sound of shattering glass and growls came from all directions.

I smiled.

Come in, you bastards.