Chapter 10. The Different Types of People (1) (1/2)

Just as Seol took a step forward while pointing the sharp, broken edge of the chair leg at the monster…

Kiiiiik!

It flinched and cowered. The monster quickly retracted its head and pressed its crawling body flat to the ground. And when his airborne first step finally came down to the floor, it retreated in a flash, its reaction speed as quick as a boar that got stung by a scorching skewer.

The sneakily retreating monster looked very confused as if it couldn't quite figure out why it was running away like this.

Grrrr….

When the monster accepted the fact that it was getting suppressed by Seol's aura, its phlegm gurgled loudly in its throat. Its instincts were screaming out danger warnings.

This human in front of its eyes was incomparable to everyone else. If it attacked this man, then it would die.

The monster had already filled its belly to some extent. Also, there were lots of other prey running loose outside. There was no reason for the monster to brave this danger in here.

As soon as the monster made this decision, it rapidly escaped through the open door. Truly, it possessed quick wits and just as quick reflexes.

Tk.

The broken leg of the chair slipped out of Seol's hand and fell. Seol looked around the assembly hall's empty interior with a somewhat dazed face. He looked totally deflated right now.

Not a long time had passed, yet he could spot well over ten corpses lying in a pool of blood. Eventually, the hole that the monster crawled out from caught his attention.

'It's the hole from the diary.'

So, that was it then. The hole from the diary was that one.

Seol took another glance at the hall's exit. There was some hesitation, but he still chose to cross the floor and cautiously peered over the edge, now dripping wet with blood. Then, he carefully lowered himself inside.

[The Diary of an Unknown Student has been updated.]

Seol arrived at the basement floor. He decided to walk forward, at least for the time being. He must have overused his powers a bit as his mind and body felt quite fatigued.

The corridor bent 90 degrees up front, and he eventually arrived at the part where it was lined with doors set at a regular interval on either side. It seemed that the school had used this underground floor as the space for club meetings and activities. Seol pushed open the door with a colorful banner proclaiming “Go, anywhere!”

The room beyond was small and intimate, only about ten or fifteen square meters wide. Checking the posters hanging on the walls, it seemed that this room belonged to a travel club.

Seol lowered the golden bag from his shoulder and sat down against the wall.

As he sat there like a man in a trance, his once-hazy consciousness seemed to return to him bit by bit. It was as if he was waking up from a long dream.

And, soon enough….

'What was I even thinking…?'

The previously forgotten terror and disgust came crashing in one after the other. The smell of blood that he had blocked out of his mind with the help from the adrenaline rush caused him to gag out reflexively. When he recalled the appearance of the so-called weakling monster, his entire body began to shiver in fear.

However, all of this only lasted for a short moment. When he slowly gathered his breath, the shivering and the shaking came to a stop. Feeling his heart settle down, Seol couldn't help but form a wry smile.

Was the demonic destroyer Seol of the dream the real him? Or was the man shivering in fear right now the real him?

It all felt like he was experiencing Zhuangzi's ‘Butterfly Dream’. ;[1]

Seol gritted his teeth and focused his mind, trying to organize what had happened so far.

The first thing to figure out was the question regarding his eyes.

The evolved ability called 'Nine Eyes'…. This managed to give Seol quite a bit of mental shock. After all, he had been living under the assumption that seeing the green color was all his eyes were capable of.

'No, it wasn't that there were no other colors, I just couldn't see them.'

The newly-unlocked colors were yellow, orange, and red. Just as important, there were other colors yet to be unlocked.

Kang Seok was shown in yellow color, the so-called 'Attention Required'; yet there was no color for Yi Seol-Ah. That meant he couldn't see her color yet.

Thinking about that girl, his thoughts became rather complicated. Her pleading shouts for help still rang around in his head. If he hadn’t ;taken his time making up his mind, could that good-hearted girl still be alive by now?

[Mister Kang Seok, Mister Yi Hyungsik, and Mister Jeong Minwoo have arrived at the second-floor waiting area.]

'They got there already?'

The sudden announcement helped clear out Seol's mind somewhat.

[#Basement first floor, the club room (excerpt from the Diary of an Unknown Student, page 5)]

I've somehow managed to hide in the basement, but tears keep pouring out of my eyes. I can't stop crying.

I can't forget the screams of my friends dying right in front of me.

What kind of a monster was that? And why…. Oh, God. Please, help me….

I cried for so long. Eventually, my stomach grumbled in hunger.

I knew this wasn't the right time nor the place, but still, I'm so hungry….

Seol read the diary carefully before discovering that there was a file attached to it as well. He must have missed it before as things had been quite hectic. When he clicked on the file and opened it, Seol's eyes widened in surprise.

'A map?'

The attached file was actually the blueprint-like map of the entire school grounds. When he clicked on the 'main building', that portion of the map expanded in size and Seol could easily check out the building's interior layout.

His gaze fell on a spot by the second floor. This particular room was in a rectangular shape, and there were six blue blinking icons located on, or near the edges and lines demarcating the walls. However, he saw one of them change to red color, before ceasing to blink altogether.

Knock. Knock.

Seol was trying to figure out what those blue blinking icons could mean when he heard the sounds of knocking on the door. Surprised, Seol turned around to look and found the door briefly being bathed in a green hue before the color vanished completely.

—…He's not in here either?

“Who's there?”

Seol's sharp voice stopped the noise on the outside from moving away.

—Whew, I finally found you. Hey man, can I come inside? Oh, right. I'm not trying to threaten you or anything, so please, relax.

“….”

—If you don't feel comfortable with me joining you, just say so. I will leave you alone in peace.

“….Come in.”

The door slowly creaked open.

“Thanks! I was actually worried that you'd tell me to scram or something.”

The man entering the club room while speaking in a jovial tone was one of the eight Invited people— the one who wore a green baseball cap over his slightly long hair; his softly tanned complexion was slightly covered by a pair of sunglasses.

“Man, I had to work hard just to find you. I mean, the bloody footsteps were getting faint, and there were so many of these rooms here too…. Oh, right. You also want a smoke?”

The man put his bag down on the floor and raised a small fuss, before suddenly presenting Seol with a packet of cigarettes. Wordlessly, Seol fished out his own packet. He still had one cigarette left.

“You smoke a hybrid? I don't like them. I hate those weird flavors, man.”

He then proceeded to light Seol's cigarette. Soon enough, the two men were staring at each other while blue smoke lazily drifted in between them.

The man slowly opened his mouth.

“Should we introduce each other? I’m Hyun Sangmin.”

“…Seol.”

“Seol? Kind of a girly name, don't you think? Is it a single-syllable name?”

“How did you find me?”

Seol changed the topic. Hyun Sangmin didn't seem to mind. He simply flicked the fingers holding the cigarette.

“I saw you at the assembly hall, entering the hole in the floor.”

“You remained in the hall, too?”

“No, no. I also ran for the exit, you see. But I came back…. Huh, you were in there the whole time?”

Seol nodded his head silently. Seeing this reply, Hyun Sangmin simply scratched his head. He then quickly continued on with his explanation.

At the critical juncture between life and death, the crowd was able to remove the pulpit and the piled-up chairs to yank open the exit door. The escaping people then scattered everywhere. Some headed off towards the front gate of the school, but the majority followed Kang Seok and ran to the front entrance of the main school building.

However, they encountered a new problem: the entrance was locked.

“It wasn't like we didn't have any time on our hands, though. You see, that monster looked like it would chase us down right away, but for some reason, it didn't.”

Hyun Sangmin took a look at Seol for a short while and then carried on.

“But, no matter what we did, kicking, pushing, shoving…. Whatever the fuck we did, the door didn't budge. And we were getting all damn anxious and everything. And to make matters worse, the monster showed up as well. I'm telling you, it was no damn joke back then.”

“So, what happened?”

“Dunno. I was trying to pick up a rock or something in the nearby flower garden to crack the windows open, but when I saw the monster, I took off, man. I took the long way around and came back to the assembly hall.”

Hyun Sangmin lowered his sunglasses and smirked slightly.

“Since it attacked there once already, I figured it wouldn't show up there again.”

“And you happened to see me, and then decided to follow me?”

“Yep. Never in my wildest imagination did I think you'd enter the hole. I was understandably hesitating on what to do. But, when I got down there, you were long gone. So, I've been looking for you until now.”

“Why?”

“What? You really don’t know?”

Hyun Sangmin prattled on. Of course, Seol too could more or less figure out the reason.

“It's simple, really. I want to join you. That's why I searched for you…. So? What do you think? You want to ride alone or with me in tow?”

“….”

“If you are willing to let others tag along, well, how about me? But, I'm telling you this right now, I'm not planning to leech off you or anything like that.”

When Seol remained silent, Hyun Sangmin became more anxious than before.

“Alright, let me say this out loud. I can endure unfairness, but I can’t stand losing out.”

Seol stared back somewhat confused by this statement. Hyun Sangmin killed off his cigarette and sat up straight.

“Listen, man. What I'm proposing here isn't an equal partnership. No, it's more like a vertical relationship.”

“A vertical relationship?”

“That's right. You let me tag along, then I'm gonna carry out your orders. And yeah, I'm willing to take on some amount of danger for you if you ask me to.”

Hyun Sangmin's proposal was simple and easy enough to understand.

'It's fine to use me.'

'I'm a pretty useful guy, so believe me and utilize me.'

Seol could just about understand why this man was willing to go this far, in this manner.

It was all because of Seol's Gold Mark. There was also the possibility that Hyun Sangmin had figured something out back in the assembly hall.

However, Hyun Sangmin wasn't a selfless good samaritan. Obviously, he would want something in return.

“What do you want in return?”

“Well, lots of things, but…. For now, surviving and making my way to Paradise. That should suffice.”

Seol studied Hyun Sangmin for a while.

“If you're a lone wolf, I will respect that. I also don't want to force the issue. I told you this before, didn't I? You don't want me, then I'll quietly go away.”

He spoke up to here and slowly offered his hand.

[Hyun Sangmin's Status]

[1. General Information]

Summoned date: March 16th, 2017 ;Marking grade: Bronze ;Sex/Age: Male/26 ;Height/Weight: 176.2 cm/65.8 kg ;Current condition: Healthy ;Class: LV. 0 (Invited) ;Nationality: Republic of Korea (Area 1) ;Affiliation: N/A ;Alias: N/A

[2. Traits] ;1. Temperament:—Self-centered (Only seeks out benefits for himself)

2. Aptitude: ;—Extraordinary (Far more excellent than average) ;—Discerning eye (Possesses great instincts at determining the value of objects and people) ;

To be perfectly honest, Seol wasn't feeling “it”. If it was someone like Yi Seol-Ah, then he wouldn't even hesitate and say yes in a heartbeat, but for Hyun Sangmin… well, nothing really seemed to pull Seol's attention.

However, there was one point about Hyun Sangmin that was rather similar to that now-deceased girl.