episode_0157

We left the theater and continued moving.

As soon as you leave the theater, you hear a faint radio signal.

– Silver beetle.

– Square wallpaper.

This may not make you go crazy right away, but it is dangerous in the long run.

Radio waves being transmitted by the Foundation.

In addition, the influence of the ‘Fifth Apostle’ cannot be ignored.

In this situation where two things overlap, even the smallest anomalies must be carefully checked.

The question is how.

Because they are wearing earplugs, conversation is almost impossible unless they shout loudly.

The easiest way to find out what condition someone is in is to just talk to them.

I’m in a state where I can’t do that.

‘Sister.’

I looked towards Se-rim.

Sister Se-rim reads my thoughts.

‘Yeah, Dabin.’

It is a communication that is achieved through thought alone, using Sister Se-rim’s ability.

‘This might be difficult, but just take a moment to check in with other people. Can you do it?’

‘huh.’

‘The most important thing is your safety, so I’ll check on your health. Okay?’

‘Okay, I got it.’

Sister Se-rim checks on each person one by one to see how they are doing.

‘The influence of the radio waves sent from the Foundation is still faint? Rather, the influence sent by the ‘Fifth Apostle’ is greater. Like wanting to drink blood, or wanting to kill someone. Also… … .’

‘Sister. Up to there.’

There is cold sweat on my sister’s forehead.

Then he told the same thing to Yebin.

‘Yebin, if anyone else is acting strange, let me know right away. Got it?’

‘Yes, Dabin.’

‘If other people have strange looks in their eyes or mutter strange things, they should tell me first.’

Yebin nods her head vigorously.

Although most of the library management system is now unusable, Yebin and I are still connected through it.

It is still unknown why.

Perhaps, Yebin also gained the ability as a ‘superpower user’.

So, it might be possible to communicate in a similar way to Se-rim.

We arrived at the elevator just talking in our minds.

Tick.

Seok Hyun-min, who pressed the button, opens his eyes wide and looks back at us.

Tick. Tick.

The elevator, which was working fine when I first came in, now doesn’t move at all.

The lights are off and the buttons don’t work properly.

‘Dabin. What’s going on?’

‘It seems like the elevator is broken. Hyunmin hyung is still checking it.’

Seok Hyun-min pressed the button repeatedly, but the elevator never worked.

Soon after, Se-rim also brings up the same topic.

‘Dabin. Is the elevator broken?’

‘Yes. I think I’ll have to go down the stairs.’

‘Then I will pass the information on to other people.’

‘Don’t force yourself, just use your card.’

‘I’m still okay.’

‘You should save it for when it counts.’

After stopping Se-rim from using her ability, he used a communication card to share his opinion with everyone.

The conclusion is that we should use the stairs.

Fortunately, there was no one near the emergency exit.

If there’s one thing that bothers me, it’s the amount of tea.

Not only did Daju carry me up until now, but now she has to carry me down the stairs as well.

“Dajuya.”

When I lower my head and speak, the people around me react as if they are close to me.

“Isn’t it hard?”

“Hmm. A little?”

Even after answering, Dazhu doesn’t take her eyes off me.

“… … .”

“… … ?”

Then he smiles and looks at me and says:

“Brother. You know?”

“No. What?”

“Hey. You know everything.”

“If you ask me to do something weird, I will never do it.”

Lower floor, accessed through the emergency exit.

There was a large supermarket located just below the theater.

As expected, the door is closed and the lights are off.

I briefly thought about grabbing some food, but decided against it.

There is enough food.

You may receive support from the Occult Society later.

Above all, there are many opportunities to secure food.

There are many marts and convenience stores in other places too.

The important thing is to overcome the immediate danger.

You have to go down one more floor to get to the first floor.

I got down safely last time, but this time it feels different.

Outside the emergency exit door.

A strong ominous aura is felt behind the iron gate.

Everyone was standing there with their heads held high, as if everyone else felt it too.

‘We have to stop here.’

‘Yes, Dabin.’

‘I’ll stop the others. Can I use my powers this time?’

‘Yes. You must tell me as soon as possible.’

Sister Se-rim closes her eyes for a moment and then conveys the same message to everyone nearby.

‘We have to stop here.’

People’s movements stop at the same time.

And then something comes.

“Get away from the door! Quickly!!!”

As soon as I shouted, the steel door began to rip open with a loud noise.

Dddd …

Seok Hyun-min and Heo Yun each raise their weapons.

Daju walks backwards while carrying me on her back.

It was at that very moment that the rest of the people behind them also began to slowly walk forward in preparation for the battle that would follow.

Boom!

The door flew open as if it had exploded.

The iron door was torn into many pieces and scattered on the floor, as if a balloon had burst.

But there is no one behind him.

The iron gate, which had been intact, was torn apart and smashed by itself.

…now you can see inside the emergency exit.

The air glows gray in the dim sunlight.

Down there, the stairs were literally packed with people.

People, regardless of gender, naked and covered in blood.

There appear to be at least several hundred of them.

‘What the heck? How come there are so many!?’

‘Dabin. What should I do?’

Se-rim and Ye-bin are both startled at the same time.

I took a calm breath.

‘Don’t panic, stay calm. Okay?’

There is no time to panic.

‘This is the only passageway, so we have to get through here no matter what.’

‘Can you do it?’

Sister Se-rim asks without even adding a question mark.

I will answer briefly.

‘Take off your earplugs first.’

Must do.

Even if it means taking some risks.

***

A little later. The large mart we were in.

A shopping cart full of items appeared near the checkout counter.

Since you’ve swept up things in such a haphazard manner, it’s hard to even turn properly.

“Run!”

At the sound of my voice, everyone starts running, pushing shopping carts.

I was carried by Dazhu from behind and watched out for enemies coming from the surrounding area.

“There’s a guy in front!”

Even as we were haphazardly packing our shopping carts, the ‘believers’ of the fifth apostle crawled out of the emergency exit and followed right behind us.

Up until now I’ve just been running away, but now it’s different.

The cart’s direction is now towards them.

“Just go ahead and hit it!”

Heo Yun shouts in a loud voice.

Everyone gritted their teeth, and the shopping cart accelerated even faster.

Boom-!

The naked ‘believer’ was lifted into the air, then pushed away and flew away to a far away place.

Now that it’s accelerating, this isn’t just another shopping cart.

A literal destroyer. It can blow up everything in front of it.

“Just go to the emergency exit!”

“We have to keep our balance! If this falls, we’ll all die!”

My voice and Heo Yoon’s voice echoed in the dim second floor.

Push-!

Robin picks up his pistol and kills one of the ‘believers’ who was coming in from the side.

But he doesn’t slow down and follows the cart.

“Just keep going like this! Just a little more!”

Seok Hyun-min and Jeong Hae-won also scream with all their might.

“Let’s go!!!”

“Let’s goeee!”

Finally, we reached the emergency exit.

The ‘believers’ who were unable to get upstairs are looking this way with bloodshot eyes.

This is the realm of blood, touched by the hand of the ‘Fifth Apostle’.

Why does the sacrifice come here on my own feet?

Even with all my might, squeezing out every bit of strength I had.

Perhaps, that is what you are thinking.

“Okay! Push!”

“Push!”

“Push forward with your weight!”

Kkwuddudduk!

The corner of the stairs touches the wheels of the shopping cart.

The wheel support makes a loud noise as if it might break at any moment.

“Just a little more!”

It must have been a really brief moment.

Time seemed to stretch out.

Everyone squeezed out all the strength and mental power they had and focused solely on pushing the cart.

Kaang!

With a refreshing sound, the cart rolls down the emergency exit.

Crunch!

thud!

thud!

thud!

thud!

The fate of the ‘believers’ who covered the emergency exit was one of two.

You could get hit by a cart and go flying, or get crushed under it and break a bone.

Objects pour out of the tilting cart and fall upon the surviving ‘believers’.

The flowerpot on top flew quite far and hit the male ‘believer’ directly in the head.

Naked men and women screaming wildly. Colorful piles of luggage crush the bleeding, maddened people.

I leaned toward Dazhu and said.

“Now let’s run too.”

“Yes, brother.”

To everyone else too.

“Run right now!”

The cart is still rolling downwards.

We sprinted down the stairs, following the path the cart had carved out.

“Ugh. Gasp… … .”

Even Yun Da-ju was out of breath.

I finally came down to the first floor.

But I can’t rest yet.

Rather, the situation took a turn for the worse.

Everyone’s facial expressions harden simultaneously.

Sister Se-rim speaks in a trembling voice and points to one side of the building with her finger.

“Dabin. Over there… … .”

Red wall.

On that wall, countless people were stuck naked and breathing.

People with their arms and legs spread out in a large shape, clinging to the walls of the building.

People are piled up in layers.

It looks like a tangled web of bloody vines.

It also looks like one giant curtain.

There is a hole in the middle of the membrane, so air can flow in and out as the membrane expands and contracts.

Phew.

Phew.

And after a while.

Something unbelievable happened.

Inside the hole, a naked woman crawls out, covered in blood.

The hole is so narrow that the woman has to use both arms to pull herself out.

Behind him is a tall, thin man. Behind him is a man with wrinkles all over his body. Inside the hole, new believers crawl out in a line.

All naked.

His whole body was covered in blood, and his cloudy eyes were lifeless.

Those red walls, like a womb, are giving birth to new believers.

There was no time to be in shock.

The newly born believers all turned their gaze in this direction.

“Get out of here quickly.”

“Yeah.”

Heo Yun takes the lead and finds the door.

As you open the main door of the building and go out, you can see the street.

The red wall has been regenerating and giving birth for quite some time, and the streets are already covered with believers.

“… … .”

Everyone is silent.

Again, everyone is looking at me.

Daju barely opens her mouth to speak.

“Brother. What should I do now?”

“… … Wait a minute.”

I concentrated my mind.

Surely there must be a passageway connecting to the Occult Society nearby.

‘Phone booth.’

The association’s ‘phone booth’ seeks out crowded places.

In a place with this many people, there’s bound to be one on every street.

The way to find it is to utilize anomaly observation.

A familiar dizziness shakes my mind.

‘Please. Just a little more.’

While praying silently.

I kept turning my head to find the ‘phone booth’.