episode_0283

Inside the meeting hall where the four people entered…

Aaaarrgghh…

A gore event was underway.

The main cast consisted of two men filled with resentment and the villain.

For a revenge story, I’d say this was the climax just before the ending.

“Aaaagh!! Please-! Pleaaaase!”

‘Hmph~ Perfect.’

The man named Park Moojin.

It seemed he knew how to use tools.

Two screams, each from a different voice, filled with pure agony.

Judging by the intensity of the screams, it was subtly evident that the two men’s resentment was no ordinary kind.

“…”

Listening to the gurgling sounds, my appetite completely vanished, so I subtly moved away from the spot.

It was a waste of time to just keep killing time like this.

While the two men were settling their grudges, I decided to search the building and began to move.

The community center itself wasn’t very large.

Each floor had facilities for residents.

Meeting rooms, wedding halls, civil defense waiting rooms, and so on.

What I confirmed was that there were clear traces of people having stayed in each space.

All cumbersome furniture had been removed, and spaces for rest had been created.

Evidence of eating, sleeping, shabby clothes, and dirty dishes.

The spaces still felt lived-in, only people were absent.

“…Hmm.”

I slowly walked down the hallway, opening and checking every noticeable door.

In a small storage room, I found some food.

More alcohol than food was a bonus.

No daily necessities or medicine were visible.

These guys were truly the type who had endured, intending to live only for today and then die.

I clicked my tongue softly and frowned.

When I went up to the 4th floor with no particular gain, I found a door roughly secured with a bicycle lock.

[Civil Defense Waiting Room • Small Performance Hall]

‘Is this it…?’

Before opening the door, I put my ear close to it.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any zombies inside.

Instead, I felt the presence of living people.

If I concentrated, I could even hear faint sobbing.

*Crack!*

I forced the lock open and swung the door wide.

“Ugh?!”

The moment the door opened, the stale air from inside rushed out, hitting me.

A fishy, disgusting… nauseating stench made my hand instinctively rise.

It was lukewarm compared to the outside air, adding to the discomfort. There were no windows inside, so no light entered at all. Ventilation was also non-existent.

‘Damn it… It’d be easy to get sick in here.’

I propped the door open so it wouldn’t close, then raised my flashlight and shone it inside.

*Whoosh—*

“Gasp?!”

The moment I cranked the brightness to boost, there was a reaction.

That was the start; I found people huddled and trembling beneath the seats.

‘…’

People trembling, unable to even lift their faces.

About twenty people, all women.

I thought they might calm down if I waited a bit, but instead, I started hearing sobs.

They seemed too terrified to even hear me speak.

‘What should I do…?’

As I scratched my head in awkwardness, one person got up.

“Wh-who are you…?”

The woman, shielding her eyes with her palm as if the light hurt them, couldn’t hide her trembling.

I pointed the light upwards and answered slowly.

“You can come out.”

“…Huh? Huh?”

“I said you can come out.”

*Thump!*

“Please save me! Save me! Please!”

“…”

“Sob… Ugh… P-please save… Ughhh…”

I lost my words watching the woman rub her hands together and force out tears.

As the woman who had gathered courage began to cry, the performance hall turned into a sea of tears.

It seemed they had misunderstood, but how badly must they have been treated to react like that?

“…Excuse me.”

“Waaah! Stop it! Please! Please! Mamaaaa…”

“Oh dear…”

Seeing them recoil just from a single word, I didn’t dare approach.

Park Moojin, Kang-doo.

Those guys are buying us more time.

Now that I think about it, their subordinates were too easily—

“…Who are you?”

A woman, leaning against the wall, stepped forward, gathering her courage.

Dirty, haggard, and considerably emaciated, the woman was almost naked.

There wasn’t a single unblemished spot on her exposed skin.

Cheeks swollen from beatings.

Large bruises and scabbed teeth marks.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the woman, who even emitted a metallic stench.

Anyone would react the same way upon seeing the faint glimmer of life in her almost dead eyes.

To her, whose chin even trembled slightly as if she was struggling, I slowly said:

“Uh, um… I’m just passing by.”

“…”

I was dumbfounded even as I said it.

“More importantly, what was that… oh, what was that pig’s name?”

“…Kim Gwanghyeon?”

“Ah. That bastard. He’s dying right now, so you can come out.”

“Huh…?”

“I said he’s dead, so you can come out.”

The bewildered woman reacted a beat later.

“D-dead, you said?”

As I nodded, the woman’s breathing quickened.

“I’ll leave the door open, so come out when you’re ready.”

After I announced it curtly and turned around, they finally began to react.

The sobbing subsided, and murmurs rose for a moment.

The women who had been huddled began to walk out on their own.

“…”

“You can come out.”

It was the woman I had just spoken to.

When I extended my hand to the woman who hesitated at the doorway, unable to step forward, she very slowly took my hand.

Soon after, like crossing stepping stones, the woman laboriously took her first step and poked her body outside the door.

“…Ugh!”

The woman, who looked up at me with wildly darting eyes, burst into tears once more.

*Clasp!*

“Waaahhh…”

A bad smell emanated from the woman who was clinging to my torso and wailing.

“…”

*Pat pat—*

Instead of pushing her away, I stood still until she calmed down.

Soon after, the women who followed, one by one, had similar reactions.

Supporting each other, linking arms and leaning on one another, the women all huddled together and cried their hearts out.

Amidst the continued sea of tears, the woman who had embraced me managed to collect herself somewhat.

“…Thank you.”

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

To the woman, who nodded slightly, I told her about the storage room where the food was and advised her to go there.

“Food?”

“Yes. Go and eat as much as you like.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Truly.”

The moment the word ‘food’ almost stopped the women’s crying.

Aaaaaaaaaah-

The women jolted violently at the desperate scream.

To steady their wavering eyes once more, I quickly continued speaking.

“That’s just that pig bastard’s scream, so don’t be surprised.”

“Pig… Kim, that bastard Kim Gwanghyeon?”

“Ah, yes. Him.”

Suddenly, the women’s eyes flashed with anger.

“Th-that son of a bitch…”

They stopped crying and gritted their teeth, spewing curses.

‘Ugh, damn it…’

I had the illusion that the temperature around those women suddenly dropped.

A chill completely unlike coldness ran down my spine, making it tingle.

“That man… no, where is that bastard now?”

The pitifully weeping woman vanished, replaced by a woman brimming with resentment and bitterness.

The other women were the same.

Every one of them was utterly chilling.

But.

“What would you do if you knew?”

“…I want to kill him.”

“Me too.”

“Me too-!”

Once one stepped forward, the others quickly followed.

Only three spoke up, but all of them revealed their malice.

I looked at the women’s venomous expressions and chuckled softly.

“…What’s so funny?”

Another young woman from behind asked openly.

Her weak voice wasn’t pleasant, as if she didn’t like my attitude.

“You want to kill him. Isn’t that it?”

“Th-that’s right.”

“By what right?”

“…Huh?”

“By what right do *you*?”

Their expressions, as they looked at me still wearing a faint smile, showed incomprehension.

“I understand you’ve been through a terrible ordeal.”

Seeing their half-naked, pathetic state, I could tell something precious to them as women had been shattered.

“But why—”

“You all couldn’t do anything, could you?”

A natural fact, pointed out indifferently.

“What do you mean!”

“Trapped and unable to do anything, what good is it to try and steal someone else’s spoils?”

“Sp-spoils?”

“Yes. Spoils. Isn’t the one who catches a hunted animal its owner?”

“Hey! We—”

“I know. That you’re victims. But so what?”

I didn’t avoid their murderous gazes.

“Inside there are two men, just like you, full of resentment. Those men hunted Kim Gwanghyeon. And now they’re ‘processing’ him. That’s all there is to it.”

“B-but…”

“Both sides have suffered injustice, but those two are taking their revenge with their own hands.”

I warned the speechless women in a low voice.

“Don’t even think about interfering.”

At the low, stern warning, the women pressed their lips shut and silently shed tears.

Their loosely clenched fists trembled.

I couldn’t fathom the pain of these women.

It was clear they were deeply resentful, wronged, and in pain.

Still, there was nothing I could do for them.

The two men hunted Kim Gwanghyeon.

I believed their resentment was greater.

Because while the women cried, they didn’t shed tears of blood.

I believed the right to Kim Gwanghyeon belonged to those two.

Though the situation was pitiful, the women had to be satisfied with coming out and hearing that pig bastard’s screams.

“…You. You’re not the police or a rescue team, are you?”

The woman who had clung to me asked cautiously.

“No.”

“…I see. Um, I know it’s shameless, but I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

I’d just gotten them out, and immediately a favor…

“I want to hear Kim Gwanghyeon scream up close.”

“…What?”

I was slightly taken aback by the unexpected words.

“…Can’t we? We won’t interfere, we’ll just listen.”

“Me too! Let me listen too!”

“Please. We’ll only listen.”

The argumentative atmosphere directed at me vanished instantly.

Whether they understood or not wasn’t important.

The women’s eyes gleamed with a different meaning.

Faced with their fierce reaction, I could only answer unenthusiastically.

“…If you only listen from the doorway.”

“Thank you.”

With what was more a permission than not, the women squeezed out their strength and moved forward.

They found their way well enough without me having to explain where.

Stoooooop!!!!

The screams echoing through the quiet community center led the women.

Slowly, awkwardly.

The women moved with difficulty, stumbling.

Arriving in front of the meeting hall where the pig bastard was being dismantled, the women collapsed onto the floor.

Even as they gasped roughly, they didn’t collapse.

They stared intently at the firmly closed door.

“Kill him!! Kill himmm-!! Shriek!”

*Cough choke!*

Kim Gwanghyeon truly was a persistent one.

His strength for screaming was slowly fading, but he still screamed vehemently.

To struggle and thrash about like that was a talent in itself.

But Kim Gwanghyeon didn’t know.

The more he resisted and acted up like that, the more pleasure and satisfaction the punishers felt.

It was already too late for regrets.

Even if he had begged for forgiveness and repented his wrongdoings from the start, he wouldn’t have died easily.

I judged Park Moojin to be a man with such a cold touch.

And now he was proving that fact.

‘…’

The women also kept their promise not to interfere.

The women, their breathing ragged, flinched each time a scream erupted.

Still, they didn’t close their eyes or turn away.

As if they had to.

Their eyes and noses grew red as they shed silent tears.

Still, they didn’t cover their ears.

People with different stances, separated by a single door.

Inside, two men performed their ultimate symphony.

Outside, the audience listened with utmost attentiveness.

The heart-wrenching concert continued for a little longer.