“My subordinates! What on earth is happening to our people trapped inside?!”
“Kim Seobang, your men are being devoured by Dueoksini in there right now.”
“What? What did you say!?”
“I don’t know what deal you made, but it’s obvious enough.”
“Oh, Kim Seobang. Is that clear?”
“You’ve been deceived by the Gourmet Expedition Corps, Madam. You saw your men turn into monsters, didn’t you? Your subordinates have been gradually replaced by monsters. And why did you gather all your men in that club?”
“T-the Gourmet Expedition Corps bastards suddenly called us for a gathering—said it was a company dinner. H-just a couple of hours ago. I was rushing to the club myself.”
“Ah, then thanks to me you’ve kept your life, Madam. Those inside that club are now merrily becoming dinner for that gathering.”
Yeom Geumja owed her life to me. But her subordinates trapped inside were in dire straits.
“A-com-pany dinner...! They’re really being eaten!?”
Yeom Geumja went pale.
As soon as I confirmed that most of the Bongilcheon faction were inside a club outside business hours, I expected this turn of events.
My sparring with Yeom Geumja was only to uncover the cult behind her.
Having understood this much, there’s no reason to stall further.
“What do you intend to do, Kim Seobang?”
“That’s for me to ask Captain Cheonggeum.”
“For me?”
“What are you going to do? If you want to bail, now’s the perfect time.”
“Bail?”
Seocheonseul frowned.
“Save my people! You said you’d restore everything earlier, damn it!”
Yeom Geumja raged as if foaming at the mouth, but I ignored her and spoke to Seocheonseul.
“I’m sure you’re already within Captain Cheonggeum’s detection range. See that swirling mana over there? If we hang around here much longer, the immigration office will storm in.”
“Oh, that many-eyed Kim Seobang you mean?”
“Right. My plan is to pawn this off on them and make our escape.”
“Huh—pawn it off?”
“Yeah. Those inside the club will be dealt with by our friends.”
The Dueoksini we faced now were not wild beasts rampaging in the city.
They were like a band of rogues operating with a clear purpose and plan.
“The Dueoksini were gathering up all that blood and transporting it, remember?”
Yet none of that blood is here.
“That means there’s a separate location where they’re storing it. There’s nothing left for us here.”
“Smart point.”
“The fact that a large-scale killing ritual began the moment we arrived can’t be a coincidence. They must have accelerated their plan as soon as they detected Captain Cheonggeum’s movement. So we need to move fast.”
They’d scrapped their plan to wield the Bongilcheon faction as pawns and turned them all into living sacrifices.
And what they intended to do with that blood is obvious now.
When their backers were unclear, I wondered what they could do with so much blood; but the Predator of the Mountains’ purpose is predictable.
“If we don’t hurry to the site where they’re collecting blood, we’ll have to fight something even more troublesome than Dueoksini.”
“So—that’s your strategy, Kim Seobang? I don’t like it.”
Seocheonseul looked displeased.
“This is the most rational plan.”
“Rational?”
“Quibbling over words? I’ll say again: we don’t have much time. And just as Captain Cheonggeum struggles to distinguish me from other humans, the immigration office won’t be able to tell Captain Cheonggeum and Dueoksini apart.”
By the immigration office’s flimsy criteria for foreigners, Seocheonseul would just be an unregistered alien without residency.
It’s laughable—like arguing with a thousand-year-old sacred tree over lack of an ID card.
“Still! I don’t like it!”
Kwang!
Seocheonseul slammed her Geumgang Staff into the ground and crossed her arms.
‘Isn’t that the move I saw in the game?’
She meant she wouldn’t move until a plan she liked emerged.
“You want to run off and abandon the Kim Seobangs being eaten by Dueoksini? Can’t you propose a plan more to my liking?”
“Oh, I knew you’d say that.”
Seocheonseul is like this. I anticipated this turn.
“Then how about this: we ignore whether the immigration office arrives or not, charge into that building, finish it as fast as possible, and bolt.”
“Ohho.”
She looked excited.
“And then move as quickly as we can to smash their operation before they complete the next phase.”
“Good. I like that plan.”
I stretched my shoulders and continued.
“But once we’re inside, follow my command. If we’re not in sync, it’ll be a real mess.”
I then outlined the simple plan. Nothing complicated.
“Sounds doable.”
“Alright. Let’s begin.”
I cast my mana into the hard cement encasing the five-story gray rock—no, the King Castle Club.
[Forced Transmutation]
Gugugugugu!
The hardened cement simultaneously absorbed moisture and reverted to a clay state.
“Doldol, eat.”
Kungwang! Kungwang! Kungwang!
Doldol bounded up excitedly at the command.
Gruurrruk!
As soon as the massive lid of the Stone Box opened, hundreds of bags’ worth of clay were sucked into Doldol’s interior pocket dimension.
In an instant, the King Castle Club regained its original form. Well, except for the parts Doldol ate. Ignoring that, I said to Yeom Geumja,
“There. Everything’s restored, right?”
“Ha, ha, ha—”
Perhaps too shocking a sight?
Yeom Geumja simply laughed in a trance.
Far off, the immigration office was approaching....
[Gate Creation]
A small hole appeared at about knee height.
“Achilles!”
Kkiriririk—
Achilles popped out of the hole.
He’d need a lot of mana to act alone. I bent down and kissed Achilles’s snout, sharing a surge of mana.
“Sorry to keep giving you only these tasks, but I need you to disrupt the immigration office.”
Kkiriririk—
[S-rank magic tool “Staff of Beacon” unique function, “Binding Flame Servants” activates.
// Binding Flame Servants: grants the wielder the ability to summon and command “Living Flames” as servants.]
A massive burst of fireballs formed around Achilles’s body.
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Yhaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Good. Thank you.”
Kkiriririk—
Achilles sent the fireballs skyward, then leapt onto a nearby rooftop and vanished.
“And Red, too!”
“Kkii?”
“Yes. You fly off and help Achilles.”
“Kkii!”
Pooddeudeuk!
Red took off into the air.
They weren’t fighting—just sowing chaos to buy time. If the two cooperated well, they could stall adequately.
“Kim Seobang, are you ready now?”
“Yeah.”
“Then take this.”
Seocheonseul tossed the net.
“But Kim Seobang, do you know how to use it?”
“I do.”
I infused the net with mana and looked at Yeom Geumja.
“Madam Yeom Geumja?”
“What?”
Without hesitation, Yeom Geumja answered my call—and swish—
She was sucked straight into the net.
“Heh, handling a brand-new tool so well.”
Well, I’d used it in the game before.
This net is a brokenly powerful artifact.
By simply calling someone’s name, you can imprison them within it.
“But be careful—if the named person doesn’t respond, it won’t work.”
“And remember, it won’t work on those with magic resistance. Nothing more to say?”
It only works on ordinary people without special abilities.
“Bahaha—yeah. Nothing more to add.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
We opened the club door as is.
“It’s dark.”
The interior was dark. From the shadows, someone screamed. And the smell of blood drifted in—
“Bahahaha! Don’t lag behind, Kim Seobang!”
Seocheonseul charged forward, spinning her Geumgang Staff in a dance.
“Eolssoo!”
I’d never adventured with her in the game, so I didn’t know it would utterly shatter any horror atmosphere prepared here.
“Hey! Stop! You said you’d follow my command!”
“Oh, really?”
Seocheonseul halted mid-charge in an awkward pose.
I positioned her behind me and advanced slowly.
Passing two bends in a long corridor, we came to the dance hall entrance.
At the threshold, I cast a spell.
[Enchanting Voice]
“Ah, aah—”
Yeom Geumja’s voice emitted from my throat.
“Sssip—”
I inhaled and layered another spell.
[Sound Shockwave]
“Gang Ji-yoon! Lee Jun-min! Seo Ji-an! Ahn Kyung-hoon! Choi Ki-beom! Kim Ji-seop! Kim Sang-jin! Choi Hee-seo! Lee Se-hyun! Han Hee-jeong! Eom Tae-goo! Cheon Ho-yeon! Park Hyeong-jin! Lee Young-chan! Choi Ah-ra! Kim Dan-bi!”
Kuarrrrung—
The names reverberated throughout the building.
Because I modified the sound shockwave’s formula, no concussive blast occurred.
“Impressive that you remember all those Kim Seobang members’ names.”
I heard Seocheonseul mutter as she leaned against the wall and watched.
My Intelligence stat endlessly fetched the Bongilcheon faction’s roster and personal details from my memory.
Honestly, I’d barely registered their names, let alone their importance.
But an Intelligence stat of thirty diligently recited the names of every faction member I’d glimpsed in-game.
“Lee Woo-bin! Lee Gil-tae! Kwak Pil-hyung! Lee Chae-min! Lee Myung-jun! Choi Seon-a! Lee Da-won! Kim Se-won!”
And more, and more. Nearly a hundred names in all, since I couldn’t be sure who was inside the club’s eighty-eight occupants.
“Hah—hah—ah, this is exhausting.”
Swishrrrrr—
In an instant, the net drew in a tremendous number of people.
They weren’t just mimicking voices.
Because it was an Enchanting Voice spell, hearing familiar names left them no choice but to answer without resistance.
“Captain Cheonggeum! Now you’re free to run riot! And there’s no blood inside either. Just smash everything in sight!”
“That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear! Eolssoo!”
Captain Cheonggeum brandished her Geumgang Staff and charged into the dance hall.
Kwaaaang!
“Behold! Captain Cheonggeum has arrived!”
She shouted with joy.
“Graaah! Captain Cheonggeum is here!”
“Was this the one who absconded with the living sacrifices!?”
“Seize them! No, kill them! Turn that dokkaebi into a sacrifice for our master!”
From the darkness of the dance hall rang the grotesque cries of Dueoksini.
[In the pitch-black dance hall, hideous Dueoksini emerge. Their skin blends with the darkness, jet-black, and their lurid yellow eyes glow with terrifying malevolence.]
The message window seemed eager to emphasize how terrifying, horrifying, and dangerous the scene was—but here was the least fitting ally for a horror genre.
“It’s so dark—dark! Is there no one to light a fire? Illuminate this place!”
Captain Cheonggeum commanded.
Pajijijik—
As if obeying her command, every club lighting snapped on at once.
‘Of all places, a club.’
Not ordinary incandescent bulbs, but the club’s gaudy lights.
Red, blue, purple, magenta, green flashing from every angle—even dazzling laser beams.
In the center of the dance floor, a golden vortex danced among the riot of colors.
“Behold! The golden light in dreams shines unforgettable brilliance!”
Kwaaaang!
“Eheeeeh—eeh—ohooo!”
Captain Cheonggeum danced and sang as she rampaged.
I thought I heard drums, gongs, and janggu—the horror soundtrack was completely obliterated.
“Graaah!”
Fake Dueoksini and blood-drained zombies, now mindless, charged Captain Cheonggeum with fanatical zeal.
Like moths to the flame of death, they surged forward. Captain Cheonggeum, laughing, sang even more merrily.
“Oho—oho—yes, gather more! Let’s see your talents! Dance! Are you a graceful crane or a talkative parrot? Show me more tricks! Hey—hoo—huh!”
Kwaaaang!
Each golden flare of her staff sent the fake Dueoksini flying with explosive force.
From the second-floor terrace, I watched her in the dance hall and thought,
‘But there really is no blood.’
Thanks to that, Captain Cheonggeum could rampage freely—but something was off.
There were heaps of blood-drained corpses, yet no blood-soaked Dueoksini.
Did they flee? No, they couldn’t have escaped yet.
‘They’re hiding somewhere. What are they preparing?’
I slowly expanded my detection range.
