Chapter 9. The Awakening (2) (2/2)
“But!”
“But, but, but. Kiss my butt, instead. Hey, you're also an Invited, so you should've realized it by now, too.”
Kang Seok smirked and offered his hand to Yi Seol-Ah.
“Let's stop bickering over this, okay? Seol-Ah, why don't you join up with us? Your brother's Sungjin, right? I'll take him under my wings, too.”
“….Why are you willing to let us tag along with your group?”
“That's obvious, isn't it? Unlike them, you two are going to be very helpful for us.”
“You're a very callous person, aren't you?”
Yi Seol-Ah's expression showed how disappointed she was, while her words slowly but powerlessly leaked out of her mouth.
“I thought you were a good person, too….”
Kang Seok shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and raised his hand up high.
“Hey, man! What about you?”
The ‘you’ he was referring to was a certain youth standing there minding his own business a short distance away from them— Seol.
“Don't you want to get this stupid Tutorial over and done with as soon as possible? I'm sure we'll finish up real fast if you join us.”
Although the whole situation had turned out into a strange farce, it really didn't matter in the end. Right now, even an idiot could figure out Seol's unknown worth.
After all, he was someone not even the Guide couldn't talk down to. He was, in other words, someone special.
“Please, help us!”
Even Yi Seol-Ah pleaded with him.
“Please, help these people! Don't abandon them, please!”
Seol couldn't help but feel like he was stuck in a rock and a hard place, what with being singled out like this.
On one side, Kang Seok and on the other, Yi Seol-Ah.
And on one side, the Invited, and the other, the Contracted.
One side talked about the reality of the situation, while the other tried to appeal to his emotions.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, when faced with such a choice, Seol instinctively activated his ability. The entirety of the assembly hall was bathed in a cacophony of colors.
'What the…?'
For a moment there, Seol mistakenly thought that he was sinking into a sea of blood.
And no, it turned out that he didn't make a mistake.
The colors of the blocked-up exit had changed from orange to green; instead, it was Kang Seok who was shining in orange now. There was no color shining from Yi Seol-Ah at the same time.
However, Seol couldn't afford to mind these changes in color at this moment. Why?
Because, the entire floor was dyed in the deep shade of red, that was why. It was as if he was looking at a sea of blood.
'…Immediate retreat recommended, wasn't it?'
….Just as Seol thought this, a loud alarm bell went off inside his head.
Bump!
Suddenly, the wooden floor of the assembly hall quaked upwards. The aged wooden floorboards began tearing up, pieces violently flying off one by one. People had to perform unsteady dances while trying to regain their lost balance as the floor rumbled.
“W– what the hell!?”
“An earthquake?”
That line of thought proved to be far too lackadaisical for the current situation.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The floor exploded as if a bomb had gone off. And from between the gaps of flying bits of wood, a lengthy and rotting arm shot out. There were six hook-like things attached to the end of this arm.
The arm drew a short but sharp arc in the air and came down to the floor, before grabbing the hair of the totally dazed and stiffly standing Yi Seol-Ah, proceeding to drag her down the newly-created hole.
“Kyaaaak!!”
Yi Seol-Ah’s head slammed into the floorboard with vengeance and bounced up, and like a golf ball rolling towards the flag hole, she got rapidly sucked into the gaping black hole on the wooden floor.
“Noonaaaa!!!”
Yi Sungjin pounced on the upside-down pair of legs kicking helplessly in the air.
“Heeeeelp!!”
That cry sobered up everyone right away, and the crowd rushed in to grab hold of Yi Sungjin, as he too was getting dragged into the hole as well. As the ten-odd pairs of hands tugged and pulled and yanked, shoes flew away, and then, even loose socks came flying.
Amongst the hectic chaos, somehow some people managed to grab Yi Seol-Ah's flailing legs and ankles, and from there, a desperate tug of war unfolded.
“Hold on!! Don't let go!”
“Pull up!! I said, pull them up!!”
The whole place descended into pure, unbridled chaos. Cries and shouts were roared out; no one dared to hold back as they struggled hard.
Even with the combined strength of ten plus men, Yi Seol-Ah couldn't be pulled out of the hole. They were being roughly rocked from side to side due to the sheer force pulling down from below, causing many to lose their grips and crash to the floor.
“Euahahah!”
“Hey! Don't let go!”
It was then.
KYAAAAAAAK!
The scream was definitely from Yi Seol-Ah, yet the horrifying screeching tone made it seemingly impossible for a human to issue such a sound.
Splash!
And from the hole, red liquid exploded upwards. It was like seeing a blender stuffed full of tomatoes switching on but with its lid not closed, and then, crushed bits of flesh and juice were flying off everywhere.
The crimson blood rained down like a small fountain.
“Noona!! Noonaaaa!!”
Her legs that were kicking and twisting until now, suddenly went dead straight and still. All of her ten toes curled up simultaneously; her thighs trembled; and then, just like a puppet with its strings cut, her knees folded. A certain sickening sensation of something being cut was transmitted to the hands of everyone trying to pull her back out.
The pulling force from below was suddenly gone. Everyone fell back hard on their rear ends with loud thuds.
Among them, a man was rubbing his aching butt. And while frowning, he took a look at his hands.
He was still holding onto a slender ankle. Below that, a smooth, rather shapely leg. Even further below, a blue skirt soaked in blood.
Beyond that…. he couldn't see any other connecting body parts. All he could see was some remains of crushed intestines and bits of mangled flesh.
“Aaa…..”
He saw the shape of something human slowly rising up from the hole in the floorboards.
“Aaah….”
Its long, unkempt hair seemed to dance around unrestrained, caked with blood and bits of human flesh from top to bottom.
“Aaah, ah…..”
Its head was at least four times the size of a grown adult man's head. And there was a single giant eye that took up almost half of that large head.
“Ah, ah, ahhhhaaaack!!”
The man couldn't hold it back any longer and screamed. He got up as quickly as he could and ran for his life. He didn't know where to, but as long as he could get as far away from that creature as humanly possible, he'd be fine with that.
Soon, pure chaos descended on the assembly hall. There was no other fitting description. People got utterly, completely terrified by the creature's grotesque appearance, and while screaming their heads off, they scattered everywhere.
'….My, my thoughts are….' ;
When Seol regained his own wits, he found himself running towards the blocked up door.
'Why….'
It should be normal to hear all that crazy chaos unfolding all around him, yet, the noise got progressively less and less prominent, fading into nothingness. Everything seemed to crawl down to slow motion as well.
Everything, even the man busy pulling and chucking away the chairs blocking the exit; even the nightmarish creature that had fully revealed itself from the hole, extending its long limbs like a spider and starting its assault on the fleeing crowd….
Every one of these little things, they were unfolding in slow motion for him to watch without missing anything.
'Why….'
He found it very difficult to breathe. Sweat drops falling on his eyes spread out like paint and blurred his vision.
'Why….'
How many would die here today? The footing was already slippery from the blood. And it had also gotten sticky.
His body became heavier and his running speed gradually slowed down. He even had to wonder if he was aimlessly flailing his arms and legs here. Everything was in a total mess.
In the end, Seol stopped running and stood still, even though the exit was only a few steps away.
Suddenly, the stuffed up breath exploded out. He could hear his own escaping breath; the cold wind blowing in from the now-wide open exit caused his own boiling, seething body to relax. His heart continued to pound away in his chest.
Seol was well aware how stupid and dangerous it was to ignore the warnings of immediate retreat. It wasn't too late to run away, even now. Yet….
'Why… am I so calm?'
The acrid air stung his nose, his body was burning up, and he felt dizzy. And then, the familiar sensation of vertigo assaulting him went away.
The dreamy haziness dissipated almost immediately, and the surrounding world became clear again. Seol slowly closed his eyes.
The monster was busy feasting on a corpse, but it stopped and abruptly turned its head around. It spun around in a manner akin to the second hand of a clock and found a single man standing near the exit of the hall. It ran towards the man on all fours.
Kheehick?
Seeing that the man wasn’t budging an inch, it tilted its head in confusion and craned its neck. And like how a person might appraise a plate of food before eating it, the monster studied Seol with great interest.
The foreign, unknown matter brushed by his cheeks and the disgusting odor assaulted his senses.
It was a rather familiar feeling and a welcoming smell.
His sensory perception became incredibly sharp. Seol's closed eyes cracked open a sliver. In front of his nose, a huge black vertical slit of a pupil, with bloodshot whites surrounding it was waiting.
And when his gaze met with that eye brimming full with the desire to kill….
“……..”
A relaxed smile broke out on Seol's lips.
Keeeick!
The monster hurriedly retracted its neck.
His eyes still narrowed to a slit, he lightly kicked up the broken leg of the chair lying near the exit.
Whether to confront it or to show his back to it; he already had his answer; the Seol of the dream told him.
He told Seol that a creature like this, it was nothing to him. He even asked Seol, ;you’ve overcome even more dangerous situations than this, haven't you?
….Even the Seol from before the gambling, before he had lost his ability, said the same thing; now was the time to bet everything.
He snatched the leg of the chair spinning in the air. For some reason, it just felt right in his grasp.
And, even though it wasn't a spear, he still held it like one and got into a stance.
And shortly after that, both of his eyes widened.