Ch.158Global Occult Association

Human waves.

A tide of countless people.

From telephone poles.

From the roads.

From surrounding shops.

Blood-covered people rush toward one spot.

The center of the intersection.

Where we are.

Heo Yoon reloads her shotgun.

Seok Hyunmin aims his gun at the closest one.

With gunshots, several fall, but it’s not enough.

“Dabin! Are you done yet?”

Heo Yoon shouts urgently.

“Just a little longer.”

In truth, I barely have the energy to answer.

I’ve been attempting anomaly observation continuously.

And maintaining anomaly observation takes a tremendous toll on both mind and body.

Familiar dizziness washes over me.

…The phone booth isn’t easy to spot.

What’s seeping in is madness.

The swarming people are interfering.

If we killed them all, wouldn’t things be easier?

Even as my body and mind are being drained, I feel an urge to grab something and swing wildly.

Crack-

Beside me, Jung Haewon’s crowbar is caught by a blood-covered hand.

“Help me over here!”

He looks desperate, but I almost envy Jung Haewon.

After struggling for a while, he ends up letting go of the crowbar.

Robin finishes off the fallen one with her pistol.

Blood sprays from the head of the believer shot.

And a bit of blood lands on my lips.

“Oppa.”

My senses return instantly.

It’s Daju.

She’s carrying me on her back and turning her head to look at me.

Daju has always had good intuition. Rather than detecting my strange state, she sensed something was wrong.

“Get a grip.”

“Yeah.”

But it’s not just madness seeping in.

Even Daju’s voice has tears mixed in.

“How much longer will it take…?”

Daju is crying steadily.

It’s because of exposure to the Foundation’s anomalous waves.

“I’m scared.”

“Just a little more. Hold on just a little longer.”

We’ve even removed our earplugs to deal with the urgent situation.

Right now, everyone is completely exposed to the Foundation’s anomalous waves.

“…”

Heo Yoon stands blankly.

In the middle of the crazed human wave.

“Hehe…”

Then she starts laughing.

Pulling at her hair and laughing wildly.

“Stop her!”

“Noona!”

Hearing my words, Seok Hyunmin rushes over and grabs both of Heo Yoon’s arms.

“Put earplugs on Yoon. Quickly.”

“I will, but you need to find the phone booth fast!”

Everyone’s nerves are on edge.

If we delay even a little longer, total annihilation is entirely possible.

I summoned my last bit of composure.

The phone booth leading to the Occult Association is right there.

“I already found it. Over there.”

“Can we clear a path?”

Seok Hyunmin asks dejectedly.

No matter how many crazed people we clear away, there’s no end to them.

Like a zombie movie, the blood-covered believers keep coming with their eyes rolled back.

“…”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

Despair seeps into my brain in the face of the overwhelming human wave.

No.

This can’t be the end.

The situation is getting worse.

Heo Yoon has completely lost her will, and everyone is breathing heavily from exhaustion.

Despite this situation, I’ve even managed to hold onto hope.

Is this the first time?

“We still have one card left.”

Even at this moment, I’m being carried on Daju’s back.

Daju hasn’t joined the battle yet.

“Daju.”

“Yes, oppa.”

“Put me down.”

Yoon Daju quickly sets me down on the ground.

Daju, who always flies around during battles.

Though mentally devastated, physically she’s not tired at all.

“And Serim noona. Just one more favor.”

“Yes, Dabin.”

“Can you do it?”

“I have to.”

Serim noona answers in a gentle but firm voice.

There was no need to explain the plan.

Everyone was already thinking the same thing.

Serim noona approaches Daju.

They hold hands and look into each other’s eyes.

Soon, Daju’s eyes regain their focus.

“It worked…”

“Unni?”

“I’m counting on you, Daju.”

Serim noona collapses on the asphalt.

It’s the side effect of overusing her ability.

Drip.

Blood flows from Serim noona’s face.

Tears of blood from her eyes.

Clear blood streams from her nose and mouth.

“Unni!”

I grab Daju as she tries to approach Serim noona.

Sitting on the ground, I look up at Daju.

My gaze reflects in Daju’s eyes.

Eyes more desperate and serious than ever before.

“Daju. You know.”

“…”

“I’m asking you too. Please.”

“I don’t know where that phone booth is.”

“It’s over there. There, in the alley right next to the bank building.”

“I just walk that way?”

“Yes. Then the phone booth will appear.”

Blood continues to flow from Serim noona’s face.

Serim noona’s body coughs and spits blood.

I hurriedly wipe the blood from noona’s face with my sleeve.

“And. The password. Remember?”

“3,5,1… I don’t know after that.”

“35129.”

The next wave is coming.

We’ve long been surrounded by believers rushing in from all directions.

“Now run. When you make contact, be sure to ask for help.”

I gestured for Daju to bend down.

“Keep your earplugs in until you arrive.”

I pushed the earplugs firmly into Daju’s ears after brushing her hair aside.

When I first met her, she had short hair. It’s grown quite a bit.

Now my hair might be shorter.

Yoon Daju bit her lip as she looked at me, then started running at incredible speed.

As something begins to run, the blood-covered believers all show interest.

“Blood… idol…”

Even the believers surrounding us all start moving toward where Daju is.

But Daju doesn’t look panicked at all.

“Move.”

Splat-

A face with rolled-back eyes bursts open.

Daju kicks the corpse’s chest and pulls out the crowbar embedded in its skull.

Daju doesn’t stop.

She grabs a blood-covered hand trying to catch her and throws the person over her shoulder.

Like rolling a bowling ball, the believer flies and collides with others, tumbling together.

“I said move.”

Bang!

Crack-

Believers clinging to Daju fall away in droves.

Still surrounded by blood-covered believers.

But Daju continues toward where I pointed.

And finally.

Daju reaches the destination.

“I made it!!!”

“Yes.”

My voice won’t reach Daju at this volume.

Drawing on my last remaining strength, I shouted toward Daju.

“YES!!! WELL DONE!!!”

Looking back, it’s a miracle I didn’t faint.

The backlash from forced anomaly observation.

Madness and depression seeping into my mind.

My head feels like it’s about to burst.

My consciousness flickers.

Gathering my strength, I shout one last time.

“Daju! 3! 5! 1! 2! 9!”

“I know!!!”

The last thing that entered my vision was a blood-covered hand.

And the voice of that thing echoing directly in my head.

“Offer blood to raise my idol and you shall gain freedom.”

The Fifth Apostle.

The embodiment of all disasters released by the Foundation’s “Professor.” Or the disaster itself.

“Ah…”

I can no longer resist.

My strength to resist was depleted long ago.

Now,

‘He’

is trying to

take me.

I repeat the instructions in my head.

“Blood… idol…”

“Oppa.”

“Oppa!”

An unfamiliar ceiling.

Wooden rafters support the center, with planks forming the roof around them.

The strange thing is, the roof seems to be growing larger.

“Ugh.”

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a huge cabin.

I feel like throwing up.

I’m lying in bed, and Daju is sitting by my pillow.

“Daju.”

“Yes, oppa.”

“We’re really alive, right?”

“Of course we are!”

Daju jumps up and down excitedly.

“Welcome to the Global Occult Coalition!”

Ah.

We succeeded. In the end.

Indeed. I’ve seen it in the Library documents.

The headquarters of the Global Occult Coalition is a cabin floating in a corner of the universe.

They say it expands infinitely as people increase, so it never gets crowded.

“What about the others?”

“They’re all receiving treatment. Everyone’s in better condition than expected, so they should wake up soon.”

“That’s good.”

I need to go see the others quickly.

I instinctively tried to put my feet on the floor, but reflexively curled my toes.

But it was too late, and weight was put on my broken ankle.

“Huh?”

I was prepared, but it doesn’t hurt at all.

Instead, I feel the pleasant sensation of a clean wooden floor against my bare feet.

I pulled back the blanket and checked my clothes.

Instead of the tracksuit soiled with blood and filth, I’m wearing comfortable patient clothes with bare feet.

My body, which had been soaked with sweat, has been cleaned thoroughly, making me feel completely refreshed.

“Oh right. There’s something I didn’t tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“…Why is my ankle fine?”

“There are people here with healing abilities. They kept massaging it while placing their hands on it, and it healed quickly.”

“That’s a relief. This too.”

“It really is!”

Daju smiles brightly for the first time in a while.

This is more like the real Daju.

Seeing her energetic appearance makes me feel good too.

As if I hadn’t been thinking about death just moments ago, I can even joke now.

“You really like it? Was carrying me around very tiring?”

“Not tiring. I liked it.”

“Huh?”

“Soft and warm… hehe…”

“Don’t come closer.”

“Why? Do you dislike me? No, I’ll just call you unni from now on. That’s okay, right?”

I hastily pulled up the blanket to cover myself.

“G-get away!”

“Unni~”

Daju jumps onto the bed like a puppy and burrows into my arms.

Though we seem to be thinking completely different things.

“I want to touch you a little more.”

“I said no!”

“You promised! And, and I risked my life too!”

“…”

I sighed deeply.

“Just for a moment. Really just a moment.”