What had my superior gone off to do?
It felt ridiculous, waiting for Yun’s return like some lost chick looking for its mother. But maybe he’d left with that exact thought — that someone my age should be able to handle a little rookie harassment on my own.
Isaac Lane looked at me with an easy grin.
“You really are good-looking, just like the rumors said.”
“Thank you.”
I rubbed my neck and smiled faintly. Keeping that thin smile on my face, I stepped off the motorcycle. We probably weren’t moving for a while.
Yun had told us to find a place suitable for fighting Creatures — yet hadn’t designated anyone to oversee the task.
No one was in any rush to move.
As I was debating whether even this was supposed to be my job as the youngest, one of the seniors — the same one who’d shoved me earlier — sidled up.
What’s this guy’s name, anyway?
“You smoke?”
I stared as he blew cigarette smoke right into my face.
“No.”
“Not even the basics, huh.”
Cigarettes never made sense to me. I never saw the appeal of sucking in flavorless air and blowing it out again.
I didn’t say that aloud.
Instead, I looked down at the cigarette he suddenly offered me.
“Put it in your mouth. Inhale.”
Forcing a cigarette on me, huh?
I stood still, looking at it. No one tried to stop him, of course. After a moment, I reached out slowly and took the cigarette.
He’d probably like it more if I looked reluctant.
I put the white stick awkwardly between my lips.
“Forcing the rookie to smoke?”
Dawson snickered as he poked the man’s back with his finger.
“Is this hazing from the Stone Age?”
Maybe I should fake a cough.
Thinking that, I drew in a puff.
I coughed a few times for effect. The seniors laughed like it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.
I watched them chuckle crudely and blew out a thin stream of smoke.
“You sure you don’t smoke?”
Lucia Kwon, the senior with the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ bad aim, approached.
The way she held her gun — wrong grip, finger on the trigger — told me everything I needed to know.
“You look like you’ve been smoking for years...”
“Do I? Thank you.”
I smiled politely.
Dawson and his friend frowned immediately, clearly displeased by my reaction. I pretended not to notice.
Besides, the Creatures were closing in. They must have sensed how exposed we were. They weren’t pack-driven, but they weren’t stupid either.
They could smell foolishness from miles away.
If they attacked, I’d have to draw my sword, no matter who yelled what.
I was just putting a hand on the scabbard when someone familiar approached — someone I’d seen before, though we’d never spoken.
“Hildebert.”
Silver hair, pale skin.
“Stay with me.”
Everyone turned, staring at Sylvia in shock.
The surprise was palpable. Leonard’s blue eyes went wide; Dawson and his friend didn’t lift their visors, but their heads snapped toward her all the same. Isaac’s eyes rounded, and even Lucia turned her head slowly.
I was the only one not surprised.
Sylvia, helmet tucked under one arm, stepped silently up to me.
“You heard me clearly?”
“Yes.”
I smiled at the expressionless, pale senior.
“I’ll do that.”
It wasn’t surprising. She’d been outside the Core with me before.
Which meant she knew what I could do — that I drew Creatures in.
She must’ve liked that about me. More prey to hunt.
In those glasslike eyes, I saw the hunger I’d come to recognize all too well.
“What’s this?”
Ah, Dawson. No fear, that one.
“You keeping him close because it’s convenient? Didn’t think you were into that kind of thing.”
“As if!”
Leonard jumped in before Sylvia could answer.
Hearing the delight and curiosity in his voice, I felt despair settle in. Please stop. I didn’t need more weirdos in my life.
I screamed silently inside — but the world, as usual, didn’t care.
“When Yun started acting all possessive, I thought it was weird enough,” Leonard said, eyes bright. “Now Sylvia too?”
He stepped closer, his blue eyes gleaming with excitement.
“You’re an interesting one, huh?”
He smiled as he leaned toward me.
That smile — something in it triggered a visceral disgust. But I managed to suppress the urge to step back.
“Not at all. Just another oddly shaped rookie.”
I laughed lightly.
“Really nothing special—”
Thud!
A senior went flying.
It was the same one who’d eagerly offered Yun his bike earlier. With a shriek, he crashed face-first into the dirt.
Didn’t even notice that thing coming?
Not a small one either — a worm the size of a human waist. I sighed and drew my dagger, but most of the others ran in the opposite direction.
Except Sylvia, Leonard, and me.
Seriously?
“Rookie!”
The fallen senior stretched out a hand.
“Help me up!”
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The worm burst apart.
Sylvia had fired in rapid succession, shredding the oncoming swarm.
I grabbed the man’s arm, hauled him up, and surveyed the scene.
From a nearby wooden building, enormous worms were pouring out.
Not after me, at least. There must’ve been a nest inside.
Creatures everywhere.
Human-faced birds wheeled in the night sky.
Down the road, a troop of apes loitered; and inside the building where the seniors had run, heavier shapes lurked, radiating pressure.
From the direction Yun had gone — that road swallowed by darkness — came the suffocating presence of even more Creatures.
And of my own kind.
“Get inside!”
The senior I’d just pulled up reloaded his gun swiftly and started firing at the tide of worms rushing in.
“Damn it! If they ran in, they should at least give us cover fire!”
“Such a fuss over this.”
Leonard laughed and dropped his visor.
Oh great, he’s holding grenades.
I instinctively backed away.
Sylvia could handle herself — I just grabbed the brown-noser by the collar and yanked him back.
BOOM!
The worms exploded.
A rain of viscous fluid and protein splattered over us.
The brown-noser didn’t even have time to finish swearing before—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Leonard was tossing grenades like he was playing catch.
Each one arced neatly into the collapsing building, right into the worm nest.
I watched as the structure caved in, crushing the swarm beneath it.
Meanwhile, Sylvia, already bored of the worms, was shooting down the human-faced birds overhead.
One crashed at my feet.
“The ape troop isn’t moving toward us,” I muttered, stepping aside to avoid the falling corpse.
Leonard, still firing playfully at the last worms, looked up.
“They usually don’t.”
“Oh? So they’re harmless?”
“Wouldn’t say that. They just don’t come near us. Me, Sylvia, Yun... they avoid us.”
I see.
I looked at the apelike Creatures — somewhere between chimp and gorilla — and smiled.
Smart things.
Smarter than some of the seniors who’d run off, that’s for sure.
“Aaahhhh!”
A scream rang out from the building behind us.
“There’s something on the wall! On the wall!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire echoed inside. The brown-noser reacted instantly.
The sociopathic duo didn’t even blink. Sylvia, after shooting down the last of the birds, turned her head.
Her voice came out dull and detached.
“Why aren’t they coming for you?”
Leonard’s eyes flashed toward me.
Before I could answer — before I had to — a presence emerged lazily from the dark.
“Impressive.”
Yun’s voice.
He took in the chaotic scene with a faint, bored tone.
“Didn’t even take ten minutes. And you’re already knee-deep in a mess.”
“A mess?” I asked.
He tilted his head. “What else? Too lazy to clean up, so you killed everything nearby before coming in.”
Ah. So they hadn’t run away in fear. They’d just... cleared the trash.
As I blinked at the realization, the brown-noser suddenly sprinted toward Yun.
Truly fearless.
“Sir! I’m so relieved you’re safe!”
He looked ready to kneel at Yun’s feet.
“I was so worried!”
Yun ignored him completely.
My superior walked past him as though he didn’t exist and stopped before us — without a scratch, without even drawing his weapon.
He glanced toward the building the others had entered.
“Did Kwon-pae accidentally shoot anyone?”
“Kwon-pae?”
“Kwon Lucia. The deadweight.”
Ah.
Kwon Lucia, the deadweight — shortened to Kwon-pae.
I gauged the presence inside the building, then slowly shook my head.
“They’re all alive.”
“Shame.”
He sounded genuinely disappointed.
“That’s the only achievement she’s capable of.”
“Friendly fire, sir?”
“The term’s too harsh. Let’s call it ‘misfire.’”
“That’s the same thing.”
“Squad leader.”
Leonard’s cheerful tone cut in.
Yun and I both looked blankly at the blond Badger waving lazily at us.
The ever-sunny lunatic.
“You’ve worked hard, sir.”
“You’re disgusting as always.”
“Thank you.”
He took the insult like a compliment, flipped up his visor, and grinned. Then, eyes bright, he asked innocently,
“So when do we actually start the real mission?”
***
At last, I learned everyone’s names.
The brown-noser’s name was Jerry Jones — the one who’d clung to Yehyeon’s side at the year-end party.
He was currently praising Yun, who was unlocking a five-story building with a master key.
So that’s why he’d left earlier — to get that key. The master key was designed for emergency use by firefighters, stored in boxes somewhere around the city.
I had no idea how Yun found one, but he did.
He opened the door of a building that hadn’t been entered in decades, then gave a short briefing.
“Nights are usually more dangerous, but in B-6 Zone, there’s an unclassified Creature that crawls out at dawn to bask in sunlight.”
We were in Zone 7 now. Most of the seniors were likely in Zone 5.
Between them was Zone 6 — and now I understood why we’d stopped here.
“So if the mission drags and the sun rises, do not enter Zone 6. Not that it’ll take that long.”
When the briefing ended, he started assigning positions.
He didn’t say it out loud, but the formation was meant to block the Creatures that would inevitably come for me.
Naturally, no one’s opinion was considered.
“First floor: Lucia Kwon. Jerry Jones. Joe McDonald.”
“Gah!”
“Ah.”
“Third floor: Isaac Lane. Gale Dawson. Massu Sarin.”
Sarin — the senior I’d nearly hit with my bike.
“Fifth floor, you two.”
Yun gestured dismissively toward Leonard and Sylvia. Didn’t even bother saying their names.
Leonard nodded with a grin. Sylvia blinked once. The others stayed silent, clearly unhappy but not stupid enough to complain.
Wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Yun didn’t listen.
“Rooftop’s mine and Hildebert’s.”
After finishing his orders, Yun looked up.
“Any questions?”
Naturally, no one sensible would dare to—
...Oh.
Lucia Kwon raised her hand high, eyes round and innocent.
“Are we not getting dinner?”
