「 Baekindohae No.89. 'The Mad Butcher'. Full name unknown. Age unknown. From Korea. 」
'The Mad Butcher' has been active in a variety of ways, from
His combat power, which entered the 'state of madness', competes for the top among incarnations, and there is also a record that he clashed with Ranbir Khan of India and engaged in a bloody battle when the giant tale
The Mad Butcher, who haunts the scenarios like a ghost in search of the enemy who killed his comrades, always wore a 'skeleton mask'. It is said that no one knows the true face of the butcher behind the mask.」
—Bicheonhori 『The 100 Strongest』
We went straight to Seoul Station.
There were two main reasons.
One is to find the 'mad butcher' mentioned by Yoo Jonghyuk.
And the other.
[You are currently in the 'Wanderer' state.]
[You must obtain a flag within the next two days.]
Because it was the timing to acquire a new 'flag'.
If I wasn't going to participate in 'The Battle for the Throne', I would have maintained my status as a wanderer and searched for other ways to survive... But since this world was in the 41st turn, I had to prepare for it just in case.
Suddenly, Yoo Jonghyuk could do something strange, or strange guys like the Misreading Association could appear.
If they ever claim the 'absolute throne', this turn will be ruined.
"Are you sure the butcher or something is in Seoul Station?"
I nodded my head at Jung Heewon's question.
"Yes. And there are probably hidden flags around here."
How did I know that?
「 Near Seoul Station. There are hidden 'white flags' around Huamdong and Namyeongdong. 」
The moment I made up my mind to 'go to Seoul Station', the above sentence naturally came to my mind.
All of them were the effects of the newly acquired skill 'Ways of Survival'.
[Exclusive skill 'Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World' is activated.]
I hadn't figured out the exact way to use it yet.
I knew how to turn the skill on and off, but there was no function to find the content I wanted or to read a specific conversation of 'Ways of Survival'.
It was just that whenever I thought of something or did a certain action, a specific content of 'Ways of Survival' came to my mind like a game help. Of course, even that alone was a great help.
Seeing how I started to hear the sentences of 'Ways of Survival' right after I met Han Sooyoung, I wondered if Han Sooyoung had given me this skill.
But for what reason?
I don't know.
What is certain is that I now have the information of 'Ways of Survival', and because of that, I have an overwhelming advantage over other readers and apostles.
That's it.
We quickly descended southwest to Seoul Station.
Foreigners can often be found when passing through Myeongdong, which is famous as a tourist destination.
It was not exactly foreigners, but the bodies of foreigners.
Most of the scattered corpses were devoured by lower monstrous species and couldn't be recognized.
We walked, trying to avoid the scenery.
"Wow, this street has changed like this. Have you been to Myeongdong often?"
"A few times when I was in college."
"I used to work part-time at the theater over there."
Jung Heewon pointed to the half-collapsed building and said.
"I'm sure there was..."
In less than a month, Seoul as we knew it was now erased from the world.
As if a new story could only begin when that world collapsed.
"This is where whirlwind potatoes were sold at a really high price. And lobsters."
"Have you ever eaten them?"
"Never. How can you buy something so expensive?"
Streets filled with stalls and crowds of merchants were now covered with corpses of monsters and humans.
"It smelled good, though."
"I know, right?"
The Myeongdong that Jung Heewon remembers and the Myeongdong that I remember will be different.
But now we are standing together in the ruins of Myeongdong, yearning for the street food we thought we would never be able to buy and eat.
"Inho-ssi."
"Yes."
"If you are going to Seoul Station, can I stop by Huamdong for a while? It's right nearby."
Huamdong.
According to 'Ways of Survival', there is a hidden place with a white flag there.
I nodded and asked.
"Do you have anything to see there?"
"There's a place I'd like to stop by."
Places that survivors of the coveted world might want to visit.
I knew where it was without even asking.
The past history of Jung Heewon does not appear in 'Ways of Survival'. To be precise, even Jung Heewon is not mentioned. Because she wasn't the main character.
However, the past history of Jung Heewon was not properly dealt with even in 'Omniscient Reader', where she was a leading role in her own way.
Well, it wasn't just Jung Heewon.
The story of Lee Hyunsung's military service was not mentioned, the story of Lee Gilyoung's mother was omitted, the dead puppy of Shin Yoosoung was hidden, and the story of Lee Jihye's friend was minimally described.
After all, if it was Han Sooyoung who wrote this story, and
It wasn't hard to guess why.
Perhaps
Maybe they thought this wasn't their story.
After all, that story was Kim Dokja's story.
"It's here."
The place she guided me to was an apartment for a military unit facing a back alley.
"How many years has it been? It's very old."
"Did you come after a long time?"
"I left home when I was in high school. Didn't I tell you?"
It may or may not have been heard.
"Actually, I didn't want to come, but... I was on my way to Seoul Station."
Did someone remove the bodies? The entrance leading to the parking lot of the apartment was left with only bloodstains.
The apartment security room was smashed as if a monster had pushed it through. The windows on the veranda were broken as if they had been shelled.
Watching the curtains sway through the cracked glass, I thought about the things that had disappeared.
What happened to all the people who originally lived here?
Did they also go through the first scenario? Had they gone through the first scenario, would they have killed their own family, or would they have knocked on the door next door and put a knife in the neighbor?
I don't know what tragedy happened here.
I was afraid to find out.
「 There is a 'white flag' nearby. 」
But there is a white flag here, and we must take it. Yes, we will be able to buy tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
We'll see the end of this damn world.
"This is the house."
Jung Heewon's house was on the 5th floor of the apartment.
I said to Jung Heewon, who was giggling in front of the front door.
"You don't have to go in."
She said she didn't like her family. But even such a family is, after all, a family.
"Heewon-ssi has done enough to come this far."
Old-fashioned sense of duty and guilt. Somewhere in between, Jung Heewon had a lost expression.
Then, for an instant, a firm determination appeared on Jung Heewon's face.
"I'll at least check."
She is also a strong person.
She knocked on the front door a few times and thought for a moment, then she raised the door lock cover and started typing her password.
Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep.
When it was wrong three times, the door opened.
"It's still there."
As soon as she opened the door, I could feel the damp, stagnant air. The smell of a house that hasn't been ventilated for over a week.
Jung Heewon went inside without hesitation without taking off her shoes. She didn't ask who was there, she didn't even call their name.
I followed her, but after thinking about it for a while, I took off my shoes at her front door.
I took off my shoes next to other shoes, neatly arranged like a towel in a royal palace.
Sneakers were visible.
Probably no one is in this house. I had such a feeling.
Jung Heewon returned with a slightly relieved face, as if she had already looked around her house.
"I don't think you were both at home."
Was that fortunate or unfortunate?
I do not know.
Perhaps Jung Heewon doesn't know either.
I don't know who the people who lived here were. However, it seemed that they were not the ones who cooked food at home.
I couldn't find food waste in the sink, and I didn't even see a garbage bag.
Jung Heewon stood at the living room window and looked out of her window for a moment.
"You can see the apartment across the street. I lived there when I was young."
"Then, I moved to a mountain village across the street. I've been to the front line, and I also lived in Yongsan for a while. Soldiers move apartments regularly."
Jung Heewon's father was a soldier.
When I was young, I had a friend who had a military father in Jingu, and I had heard a similar story.
"When the place of dispatch changed, I moved to a new neighborhood, and my younger brother and I worked hard to follow my father. If we could adapt, he would move, and if we couldn't adapt, he would move. After my mother ran away, the cycle accelerated."
Jung Heewon drew a circle on the foggy, dusty window.
"Speaking of, the atmosphere of the neighborhoods is all similar. There is a military base nearby, and there is a unique refugee-like smell of families following soldiers. It is a site where soldiers live, so the government does not give expensive land. If it's Seoul, I wonder if there's a place like this in Seoul... That's why I left the house. I was so bored."
The circling finger stopped.
"I'm tired of those people."
Jung Heewon slowly turned her head and looked around her.
Above the calf-length living room cabinet, I saw a framed family picture. In the photo, there was a middle-aged man in military uniform, a young Jung Heewon, and a boy who appeared to be her younger brother.
Seeing that he was wearing a graduation cap, it was probably a photo taken at the boy's primary school graduation ceremony.
Jung Heewon took out the picture in the frame.
"But when I went out, society was the same."
Looking at that picture reminded me of my parents' faces.
My parents were good people.
They were really good people that I can't describe.
「 But Lee Hakhyun didn't miss them that much. 」
I don't know why.
Is it because it's strange that I was born as the child of such good people, or...
「 It must have been because I had the impression that it didn't feel like my life. 」
It may be due to the influence of reading too many novels since childhood.
I always read books when I open my eyes, and I lived writing stories.
The place I've lived all along is the world inside the text.
It was a world of light and darkness ruled by dragons, swords, and magic.
「 Is that why? Lee Hakhyun has always lived his life with the feeling that he is living someone else's life instead. 」
Cheon Inho's narrow eyes were visible on the pitch-black screen of the TV, which was turned off.
A face that is not my face.
Even now I am living someone else's story.
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' looks at your face.]
[Constellation 'The Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is curious about your thoughts.]
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' warns you to stop doing nonsense and go kill other people.]
I put my hand on my face reflected on the screen.
Was the Cheon Inho that I now possessed once someone's child?
Was his family there?
I first thought about the life of a villain who messed up the 40th turn and disappeared.
Where did Cheon Inho's original soul go?
[The constellation 'Sneaky Schemer' feels sorry for you.]
Jung Heewon finally raised her head.
"That's okay. Let's go now, because this is not our purpose for coming here."
I nodded.
Jung Heewon must have been listening to the message that was ringing in my ears from earlier.
[There is a 'white flag' hidden nearby.]
[The closer you get to the location of the white flag, the shorter the message sending interval.]
There is a 'white flag' somewhere in this apartment.
"I don't think it's at home."
First of all, it is not in Jung Heewon's house.
By measuring the dispatch interval of the message, it is possible to locate the flag.
At this close distance, the only place I could immediately suspect was... next door.
"I think this is this house."
We stood at the old front door and looked at each other for a moment.
Jung Heewon asked first.
"Should I ring the doorbell? Or should I break it?"
"If there were people inside, they would have captured the flag right away and this message wouldn't ring."
"I see."
"But just in case."
"Which one is it?"
We rang the doorbell of an empty house at the same time.
Of course, there was no reaction from people.
We thought together with a wry smile.
Still, isn't this the humanity we can find in this apocalypse?
But the next moment.
Click.
Someone opened the door from the inside.