Ch.72MOTHER (4)

First the blood vessels spread like a web, then flesh fills in around them.

Red tissue instantly filled the warehouse.

Even more horrifying was that eyeballs were growing on top of it.

Eyeballs of different sizes appeared everywhere, blinking to their own individual rhythms.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

It felt like we’d entered the belly of a massive organism.

Overwhelming terror. To escape it, I had to think about something else.

I desperately spouted nonsense along with Jung Haewon.

“This is plagiarized from Zerg.”

“Yeah. Like the creep that forms around a hatchery.”

“Even a school kid knows StarCraft?”

“It’s a traditional game.”

Drip.

Light entered the previously unfocused eyeballs.

As the eyes moved, the surrounding flesh covering the warehouse walls quivered.

Drip.

The eyeballs rolled and all turned toward us at once.

Pupils of various sizes contracted.

Blinkblinkblink.Blink.Blink..Blink.Blink..

Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.

Blink.Blink.BliBlink.Blink.nk.Blink.Blink.

Blinkblinkblink.Blink..Blink..Blink.Blink.

Blinkblink.Blink..Blink.BliBlink.Blink.nk.

Blink.Blink.BlinkBlink.Blink.Blink..Blink.

Blinkblink.Blink.Blink.Blink..Blink.

BliBlink.nkBlink.Blink.Blink.Blink..

BliBlink.Blink.Blink.nk.nk.Blink.

BliBlink.Blink.Blink.nkBlink..

BliBlink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.

“Aaaah, huaaaaaah!!!”

“Urrrgh…”

Jung Haewon collapsed on the floor, screaming as he crawled backward.

A frightened girl-like voice escaped from my mouth too. No. That’s appropriate right now.

No matter how strong-willed a person might be, it’s impossible to keep your wits in here.

Fear washed over me like a wave, sweeping away all thoughts.

And then, the thread of reason I’d barely maintained snapped with a crack.

I’ve never seen anything this horrifying in my life.

Thump. Thump.

Now blood was pulsing everywhere I looked.

From walls to floor, everything. The thin layer of tissue undulated as it accepted new blood.

“No. This… I’ve seen this before.”

I barely managed to breathe in.

“Don’t you remember? When the emergency broadcast came on. It was stuck to the windows then too.”

“Urrrgh. Uuuugh…”

“We need to get a grip.”

We managed to solve it somehow back then, so we just need to keep our wits about us now.

I passed by the sobbing Jung Haewon and looked for Yoon Daju.

Since when?

I couldn’t see Daju anywhere.

“Daju. Yoon Daju! Where are you!”

“I’m right here!”

It was just too dark to see properly, but Yoon Daju was nearby.

“I-I’ll turn on the flashlight.”

Even though all the lights had gone out earlier, the warehouse was unnaturally dark.

I turned on my phone and pressed the flashlight button.

Yoon Daju’s figure immediately appeared.

Daju, tightly gripping a hammer, turned around and spoke.

“Let’s get out of here quickly.”

“No. We have to kill it here.”

Seeing everyone safe, my fear subsided a little.

I was gradually adapting to the surrounding darkness. Even where the light didn’t reach, I could make out rough outlines.

I calmly organized a plan.

“If we leave that thing, it’ll cover the entire apartment. We need to destroy it before that happens.”

“Can’t we just run away?”

“No.”

Above all, we can’t abandon the 7th floor.

It’s almost the only safe place in this apartment.

“Alright.”

Daju nodded reassuringly.

She’s only slightly taller than me, but in this situation, her presence couldn’t be more comforting.

“Oppa! Duck!”

Whoosh-

Daju shouted and swung her hammer.

Splat!

A tentacle flying from behind literally burst apart.

Blood and flesh splattered over my head.

“Phew… Are you okay, oppa?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I brushed off the horrible things stuck to my body.

Then I pointed to the innermost part of the warehouse, where the vibrations were strongest.

“That’s the heart. We need to destroy it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I saw it clearly earlier.”

Information I’d observed with a Librarian’s insight.

In the deepest part of the warehouse, where the columbarium used to be, the creature’s massive heart was filling the space.

“Huuuuaaaargh…”

Jung Haewon made strange noises while rubbing his face.

He’s gone mad from the constant fear.

“Looks like he won’t come to his senses.”

Daju sighed deeply as she spoke.

“So it’s just the two of us?”

“Yeah. Seems that way.”

Even in this situation, Daju stuck close to me and started kneading my shoulder.

“What are you doing, you crazy girl?”

“This might be our last moment together.”

“Sigh… Let’s just finish this quickly.”

Is this normal behavior between girls?

Still, considering what Daju went through in the past, it’s not that hard to understand.

This must be how she finds stability.

“Hahahahaha!!! We’re all going to die here!!!”

Jung Haewon laughed maniacally as if his middle school syndrome had relapsed after three years.

“We’ll all die and become food for it!”

Thwack-

Jung Haewon collapsed to the floor.

Daju wiped her hand and raised her head again.

“Let’s go, oppa.”

“Wait. Let me grab this first.”

I bent down and picked up a container from the floor.

It was gasoline that had been taking up space for a while.

I’d regretted bringing it, never thinking I’d use it like this.

“What’s that? Do you have fire?”

Even while talking, Daju skillfully swung her hammer to deflect an incoming tentacle.

“Yes.”

“How are you going to use it?”

“It’s a last resort. We’ll sprinkle this as we move, then throw fire from a safe place at the end.”

All the supplies gathered in the warehouse would burn.

It might be a problem to extinguish the fire later, and we might not even be able to set it from a safe place…

But we have to kill this thing here.

“Then, it would be better if we could destroy the heart ourselves. Without using fire.”

“Right.”

The problem is how unlikely that is.

The distance to the heart is farther than expected. We need to run from one end of the warehouse to the other while avoiding flying tentacles.

Plus, it’s uncertain if we can destroy it with just a hammer.

Just as I was calculating the distance…

“Huaaaargh!”

Jung Haewon, who had regained consciousness, was screaming behind us.

Tentacles growing from the floor began wrapping around him.

“Nooooo!”

“Haewon!”

Slurp-

Before we could do anything, Jung Haewon disappeared beneath the floor in an instant.

Like being eaten by a snake, the shape of his body swallowed by the thin tissue was clearly visible.

“Aaaaargh! Huk. Huaaaargh!”

Jung Haewon struggled and screamed frantically.

But the creature’s skin wouldn’t tear easily.

Either it’s surprisingly tough, or Jung Haewon is too panicked.

The flesh covering the floor stretched until its capillaries were visible, but it absolutely refused to tear.

“Should I hit it with the hammer?”

“No. I have a knife.”

I took out a knife from my pocket and cut into the flesh.

The heavily stretched tissue.

I plunged the knife deep into it.

“Stay still!”

Being careful not to let the blade touch Jung Haewon trapped inside, I carefully cut through the empty space beneath the flesh.

Slash-

The sensation of cutting through tough meat transmitted to my hand.

A membrane about 3 cm thick with elasticity. Jung Haewon’s head popped out through the split gap.

“Puha!”

“Huk-huk-huk…”

Seemingly on the verge of suffocation, Jung Haewon gasped for air as soon as he emerged.

Yoon Daju approached and helped him up.

“Sorry. I didn’t expect this to happen.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“It’s good you don’t know. Nothing. It’s nothing.”

As if he truly didn’t know anything, Jung Haewon just blinked stupidly.

I patted his back.

“Anyway, you need to pull yourself together too. Otherwise, we’ll all die.”

“I just came to my senses. I was in shock.”

“Really? Then hold this for me.”

“What is this?”

“Gasoline.”

“Ah… To set fire… But won’t we get caught in it too?”

“That’s why it’s a last resort. Don’t be dense.”

Leaving the frustrating Jung Haewon behind, I shined the flashlight toward the inner part of the warehouse.

In the unnaturally dark warehouse, two figures stood in the middle.

“Noona. We can’t stay here. I’ll try to do something, so let’s get out of here first, okay?”

“No.”

“Please come to your senses!!!”

“No… I’m staying here… I’ll stay with Hayul…”

Seok Hyunmin trying to leave somehow, and Heo Yoon refusing to budge.

“Let’s go.”

I spoke in a heavy voice and took a step.

It’s a distance we could reach in a full sprint, but the path won’t be smooth.

“Ugh.”

Jung Haewon, who accidentally stepped on an eyeball on the floor, grimaced.

The floor was covered with flesh, making it bumpy, and we didn’t know when we might be dragged down like before.

Then, the creature began to attack aggressively.

The wriggling lumps of meat gathered to form the shape of a massive arm.

Daju gripped her hammer tightly.

“Is it trying to stop us from reaching the heart?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

With so many eyes, it must be aware of the situation.

“Be careful.”

I quickly pulled Jung Haewon away.

Bloody foam was bubbling beneath his feet.

“Watch the floor as you move.”

“…Yes.”

The deeper we went, more tentacles emerged from the floor.

These weren’t the smooth-surfaced tentacles you’d see in movies.

Tightly packed muscles bulged unevenly, and blood vessels wrapped around the tentacles pulsated in rhythm.

Tentacles that had accumulated so much power that their red tissue turned white.

Can we really break through those?

Jung Haewon spilled a little gasoline on the floor.

“I-is this how I should do it, noona?”

“You need to splash it generously for it to catch fire. Idiot.”

I snatched the container and poured oil toward the tentacles.

The gasoline splashed out with a satisfying sound.

“I’ll do it, so you just keep an eye on our surroundings with Daju. Let’s keep moving.”

“Yes.”

“Daju, can you break through?”

I turned to look beside me, but Daju was already gone.

Instead, a cheerful sound came from ahead.

Daju had instantly taken down one tentacle. As easily as breaking roadside grass.

Splat!

Daju swung her hammer with all her might again.

The flesh of the burst tentacle dropped to the floor.

“Run quickly! Before it regenerates!”

…It seems I had underestimated Yoon Daju.