Unstoppable (8)

Unstoppable (8)

“Mom? There’s nothing on the table…”

“Sit quietly and wait. It’s something special, so it’ll be coming from outside.”

Right after Jina went into the basement.

Yoo Ji-young went back upstairs and brought Park Tae-jun, who was left alone, down to the kitchen. However, he couldn’t help but be confused by the scene at the dining table.

There wasn’t any food at all, just empty plates everywhere.

“Um… Will it take long?”

“No. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Park Tae-jun had no choice but to sit down, but he could instinctively sense that something was already off about the atmosphere.

Anyway, the corrupted worm cluster wearing the skins of the family members no longer tried to hide.

Sweat began to form on Park Tae-jun’s forehead as he cautiously observed the situation.

“…Mom. It seems we’re short one chair here.”

He carefully opened his mouth. Compared to the number of people eating, there was one chair and one set of tableware missing.

And the moment she heard those words, Yu Ji-young revealed her teeth in a grin.

Unlike before, this artificial and awkward smile was a chilling one, like a mask forcing its corners up, as if pulling up the corners of her mouth.

“You are… my mom, right?”

Park Tae-jun bit his lip and unconsciously blurted out those words.

A desperate feeling of denial in his heart, even as his reason made him doubt. He wished that she would even be indifferent to him like before, as long as nothing had happened to his mother.

“Be a good boy, will you?”

Yu Ji-young, seeming to find Park Tae-jun’s reaction amusing, spoke without losing her smile.

“Before I break your arms and legs.”

However, the words that followed made Park Tae-jun doubt his own ears.

“M-Mom…”

“You can look forward to it. The delicious food made from the girlfriend you brought home will arrive soon. After eating that, you’ll become one with us too.”

Now Yu Ji-young, or rather the corrupted worm cluster occupying her body, no longer hid its true nature.

Park Tae-jun’s eyes widened and he began to tremble. The aura she emitted was that of a predator. His body, crushed by that presence, froze and stiffened in real-time, making it difficult even to open his mouth.

‘N-No…’

With his mind blank from the great shock, Park Tae-jun’s mouth gaped open. At this moment, more than his transformed parents, he thought of one person’s face. The face of the girl he had brought to this house today.

“Ungh?!”

“This is!”

However, at that moment.

The atmosphere among the corruption worm clusters in the kitchen suddenly changed. They were a collective life form connected as one. Of course, they could sense when some of their own were in trouble somewhere.

“But the connection was cut off. How on earth!”

“Shut up. Go and check it out!”

But what was happening in the basement right now was something even they couldn’t have anticipated.

The 50-something housekeeper with a grim expression on her face gritted her teeth, and Yu Ji-young urged them on. Soon, the housekeeper and the attendant knight left the kitchen and rushed to the basement.

“It seems there’s been a small disturbance. But don’t worry. There shouldn’t be any problem with the food!”

“Wh-what have you done to Jina?!”

Park Tae-jun clenched his fists at the sight of her now snarling with a distorted face, having dropped even the minimal pretense of acting.

‘Don’t lose yourself. No matter what happens, overcome it and become stronger. Only strong men can get what they want.’

At that moment, the words Jina had told him earlier flashed through Park Tae-jun’s mind. Strong men get what they want. That surely applies to their women as well.

“What have you done?”

“I need to go see Jina.”

“How dare you, are you talking back to your mother?!”

She stuck out her blackened and elongated tongue, laughing mockingly at Park Tae-jun, who had jumped up from his seat with a trembling body.

“You, you’re not my mother.”

Park Tae-jun hastily grabbed whatever was nearby. The reason he showed this level of mental strength, despite trembling in fear from the oppressive aura, was ironically thanks to his experience of being possessed by the Mammoth’s evil spirit.

At least he already knew how dangerous this world could be, and that anything could happen.

“Such insolence! How dare you!”

She became so enraged at Park Tae-jun’s unintentional display of courage that veins popped on her forehead, and she let out a scream while shooting out her black tongue that had elongated like a tentacle.

“Kehuk…”

“Ugh…”

However, the tip of the tentacle didn’t reach his body.

This was because an explosion and shock that erupted from outside, precisely near the basement, had reached all the way to the kitchen.

‘Ah… it hurts…’

Park Tae-jun, who had been thrown into the air along with the furniture and slammed onto the floor by the shockwave strong enough to break through the not-so-thin kitchen wall, curled up and panted with a grimace on his face from the sharp pain felt throughout his body.

There was only a ringing sound in his ears, and his vision was blurred by the thick dust.

In that situation, Park Tae-jun saw a figure standing in front of the broken wall.

Standing on the corpses of the corrupted parasite clusters that had revealed their horrific true forms but were torn apart in a single blow, a girl with long black hair fluttering stood on her own shadow that had been rippling throughout the house, her red eyes gleaming.

‘Taquilath.’

It was an unmistakable face.

Currently the most famous magical girl. The strongest magical girl. The scariest magical girl.

And, a magical girl who exuded a strangely familiar atmosphere.

Taquilath slowly walked towards him. Park Tae-jun, without realizing it, grabbed her ankle.

“In the basement… there’s a person… Jina…”

“I know.”

He forced out the words while panting. Taquilath nodded, looking down at him without saying much.

“She’s safe too.”

“That’s a relief…”

In the end, he couldn’t endure any longer. Takiras watched as Park Tae-jun lost consciousness. As he had said, the boy had shown a strong side.

“As a scout, I’m interested.”

“What nonsense is that?”

“Boys have a bit of a penalty compared to girls, but even considering that, he’s excellent material. Severe wounds, overcoming, mental strength, and so on. He might even become a fairly outstanding magical girl.”

“You sick perverts. You’re just as messed up.”

Takiras openly sneered at Ren’s words. But despite that, she nodded.

“Sorry, but I can’t give this kid to you. I’m interested too.”

She slowly cradled the unconscious Park Tae-jun in her arms. Although Tae-jun was 160 cm tall and taller than her, that didn’t matter anyway.

*

“What on earth is this..!”

“Oh my God! Quick, call 119!”

An explosion and fire broke out in what was a perfectly fine mansion.

It was unthinkable for such a terror-like incident to occur in this neighborhood, known as a representative wealthy area where the homes of the powerful and rich were gathered.

“B-Boss! Madam! Tae-jun…!”

Manager Jang Woo-seok, who had been on the phone outside, turned pale and ran into the house, pushing through the murmuring crowd.

The house, now in chaos, had part of it blown open as if hit by a bomb. It was such a scene that if anyone had been caught in it, there was no way they could have survived.

“Ah…”

“What are you staring blankly at, manager? Go and bring the paramedics.”

However, Jang Woo-seok couldn’t enter the house. The being that kicked open and came out through the thick front door, tilting its head, spoke to him as if giving an order.

For a moment, his eyes, their cognition halted, shook violently. The person docilely cradled in the arms of this most terrible being was someone he was supposed to take care of.

“This kid is safe. He’s just unconscious.”

“C-Could it be you…”

“You must have felt something was off. Except for this child, all the members of this house, including the owner Park Ji-tae, were monsters wearing human skin, a colony of corruption parasites.”

Takiras moved the shadows to throw something on the floor. The things that fell with a splashing sound and spraying saliva were grotesque monsters integrated with human flesh, horribly torn apart and glistening with black slime.

“Ugh…”

At this horrific sight, he gritted his teeth and barely held back his nausea, but some of the residents who were glancing around had already screamed in shock and started vomiting.

“The, the ambulance will be here soon.”

Jang Woo-seok, who had been watching cautiously, managed to maintain his composure as he carefully took Park Tae-jun from Takiras.

However, contrary to expectations, Takiras didn’t leave immediately but instead looked up at him and spoke.

“I forgot, call the police or Management Bureau officials too.”

“What do you mean…”

“There’s something I need to tell those stupid idiots. I mean you citizens who don’t know anything. It’s annoying, so you move.”

Takiras casually ordered him around as if asking him to run a simple errand like buying ice cream.

But Jang Woo-seok had no time to worry about such things right now.

The meaning of what Takiras had just said was that significant.

She, who had been treated as a disaster-level threat with barely any proper communication until now, was declaring for the first time that she would communicate with the world on her own initiative.

“No. Just tell them I want to hold a press conference. Quickly, time is precious.”

And she was doing so by skipping all the intermediate steps.