And she wasn't the only one. Several other fucked-up signals pinged in his head from different spots in the building.
Not far ahead, Lee Eun-yoo was trying to make a call on her phone when she missed a step. She tumbled hard down the stairs, pain shooting through her body as she let out a sharp cry. Then she heard heavy footsteps coming from behind.
At the same time, a girl's voice cut through the tension.
"You used taekwondo back there, right? I think I've seen it on TV," Yoon Ji-soo said. The silence and creepy atmosphere were getting to her, so she forced some small talk with Ivan. He looked way more approachable than the stone-faced burned guy.
"Taekwondo?" Ivan chuckled. "That shit's fine for breaking boards. If you want to actually fight, I wouldn't recommend it."
"Really? They always look so strong on television…" She suddenly pointed. "Wait, there's someone lying there."
Lee Eun-yoo glanced up at the three of them, then quickly pretended to scroll on her phone. "Don't mind me. I'm just resting."
Suddenly Ivan looked to the right. A red-dress figure leaped onto Pyeon Sang-wook's back and sank her teeth into his shoulder.
Pyeon Sang-wook stayed ice-cold. He grabbed the woman, flipped her over his shoulder, and hurled her straight at Ivan.
Ivan sidestepped the flying Hungry Woman and booted her hard into the wall.
Boom!
Dust exploded everywhere. The infected bitch opened her rotting mouth and kept screaming "I'm so hungry!" at him.
Yoon Ji-soo's face went white. The baseball bat shook violently in her grip.
"Really? You had to throw her at me?" Ivan grumbled.
Bang!
He kicked her again with both hands still in his pockets. Blood sprayed from the woman's mouth and splattered across Yoon Ji-soo's face.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!
A relentless barrage of kicks slammed the Hungry Woman into the wall until she was embedded in it at a sick, twisted angle.
Cracks spider-webbed across the concrete. Chunks of plaster rained down in clouds of dust.
"Dead?" Pyeon Sang-wook touched the bite mark on his shoulder and walked over. He bent down, grabbed the Hungry Woman by her bloody hair, and lifted her mangled body up to his face. The apartment number stamped into her forehead told him exactly who she was.
"So it was you."
Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she bared a mouthful of jagged fangs at him.
Bang!
Pyeon Sang-wook's face stayed completely blank. He just slammed her skull into the wall.
Once. Twice. Three times. Harder and meaner than Ivan had. Blood splattered everywhere, painting the concrete red.
Only when she finally stopped twitching did he drop the crushed mess of bone and brains at Lee Eun-yoo's feet.
"Ah!" Lee Eun-yoo flinched hard and scrambled over to hide behind Yoon Ji-soo.
"Hey, mister, don't you think that was a bit much?" Yoon Ji-soo complained.
Not long after, the group reached another stairwell landing and found a man crouched in the corner, muttering to himself.
"That fucking Manager Han… I worked my ass off for you all these years, loyal as a dog."
"And what do I get? The second shit hits the fan you pin everything on me and fire me. What did I do wrong? That wasn't even my responsibility!"
The man punched the wall, teeth clenched. "It's all this shitty world's fault… It's always been like this. Lies, betrayal, passing the buck… I was just too fucking naive."
From the rant, Ivan could tell the guy used to be a hardworking salaryman who got thrown under the bus by his boss. Years of workplace bullying had turned into pure venom. Right now his biggest desire was to murder that Manager Han.
Extreme emotional collapse or on the verge of one.
Total despair toward the world.
A single, overwhelming desire.
All three conditions Ivan had figured out. Which meant…
Just as expected, the man twisted around to stare at Ivan and the others. His body started contorting, two thick streams of nosebleed running down his chin and dripping onto the floor. He kept muttering "Manager Han… Manager Han…" over and over.
He'd already mistaken the three of them for his hated boss.
His infection was faster than the Hungry Woman's. Stronger desire, faster turn.
Right as he lunged at Ivan, Ivan frowned. The guy looked weak as shit. No need to even analyze him. Ivan kicked him hard without a word, sending the man flying backward.
Perfect timing. Jung Jae-heon appeared right behind the guy with a long blade in hand. One clean swing and half the man's head flew off in a spray of blood and brain matter.
"Is it dead?" Yoon Ji-soo asked, voice shaking.
She'd just watched the whole monstrous transformation for the first time. The idea that these nightmares used to be people made her stomach turn.
"Should be," Jung Jae-heon said, flicking blood off his sword. "What are you all doing here?"
"Our phones have no signal. We can't call for help, so we're heading to the rooftop. Maybe we'll get better reception up there," Yoon Ji-soo explained.
Jung Jae-heon's face turned serious. "It's not gone. The signal's just extremely weak. Probably means the cell towers outside are down."
While he was talking, every phone in the group buzzed at once.
"Emergency disaster alert… Is it an infectious disease?" Lee Eun-yoo pulled out her phone and read the message quietly.
It was from the Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Short and brutal: National disaster alert. Anyone showing symptoms—nosebleeds, fainting, aggressive behavior—must isolate immediately.
Downstairs, the rest of the residents got the same text. The words "national disaster" hit them like a gut punch. Some people broke down crying, refusing to accept it.
"Let's go. Everyone back to your rooms. No point staying out here," Ivan said. Before leaving, he gave the half-headed corpse on the floor one last meaningful glance.
These monsters were tough bastards. Even with half its skull gone, the thing was definitely still alive.
...
The next morning, Cha Hyun-soo woke up from his blackout with a massive gap in his memory. He walked to the window and slowly pulled the curtains open.
The world outside looked like pure apocalypse. Black clouds of crows filled the sky. Buildings were wrecked, some burning like giant torches.
Cha Hyun-soo stared blankly at the nightmare.
Then his nose started gushing blood uncontrollably, like a faucet turned on full blast.
He clamped his left hand over it, but the blood kept pouring out, quickly coating his chin. A flood of old memories slammed back into his head.
___
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69