Han Seojin didn't have to wait that long.
Of course, the tension reached a breaking point and people began to meet him.
This was mostly due to the gangsters' retaliation.
They were pissed that a "waste" would kill one of their men.
So they sent more people after Han Seojin.
But they couldn't find him because Han Seojin hid.
He did this not because he was afraid of them—
But because he was afraid of going on a rampage and killing them.
Every second of the day was filled with those chaotic voices seducing him to kill.
He would be visited by hallucinations of that night that began it all—
And then he would suddenly be a little kid again, hiding from his drunk, abusive father.
His heart was dyed black with resentment and his aura noticeably became fierce.
Yet Jae-Hyun still didn't find any signs of zombie transformation.
His aura might be sharp like a serial killer, but he was still human.
Jae-Hyun watched him for a while, but he kept being interrupted by the signs of chaotic humans.
Some of them were still active in killing, thanks to those damn nobles.
At this point, Jae-Hyun felt it would be best for Han Seojin to kill the nobles.
Then a major cause of his problems would be solved.
Han Seojin planned to do just that—slowly, and in the most painful way possible.
But he couldn't do it alone.
So he wanted to incite the rest of the commoners to join.
And it wasn't for some superficial reason like wanting to save them.
No, it was because the voices in his head demanded a large amount of bloodshed.
They demanded a massacre—and he knew he didn't have the ability to do it alone.
Soon, the commoners began to fight back.
Then they went to Han Seojin, who suddenly came out of hiding.
He was waiting for the commoners to make a decision by showing some action.
Now they had, so he decided to show himself boldly.
The commoners flocked over to him.
Others stayed silent, watching the show—
But they were a very small minority.
This minority obviously included Yi Zheng and the others.
Yi Zheng didn't care about the situation with the nobles because he didn't trust Han Seojin.
The five, on the other hand, felt a chill around him and didn't want to get anywhere close.
Other people in the minority were simply too timid to fight.
The gangsters tried to attack again, but the commoners fought back.
Now, the commoners moved in groups and held knives bought by Han Seojin.
They would also steal the watches of a dead gangster and head to the Entertainment Sector.
The nobles and gangsters were furious.
The smell of gunpowder was thick in the air as the base frequently erupted into fights.
In the middle of this tug-of-war, the director issued a notice.
He thought that since both sides were still holding back—
He would choose a date, place, and time for them to fight it out.
And to make the fight more interesting and engaging—
The winning side would get to be in charge of the base.
Including having the right to force people outside.
The date was a week later, at midnight, under the full moon.
The director then proceeded to wish both sides good luck.
The notice had a huge impact on the rivalry between the two.
The nobles were worried that losing meant being tossed into the outside world where zombies waited.
Han Seojin saw this as an opportunity to make those nobles pay dearly.
He could already imagine forcing them into the jaws of zombies—
They would be begging for mercy, and just the thought made him euphoric.
The next people to be affected were those who hadn't chosen a side.
They feared that whichever side won, the losers would hold grudges and force them away.
So, with that looming threat in the back of their minds, they began to choose sides.
Some people chose the nobles, who offered a lot of points.
Some chose Han Seojin because they didn't want to live under oppression.
And some chose to remain neutral.
Actually, only twelve people remained neutral, aside from those in charge of the base's management.
Those twelve were divided into two groups.
Yi Zheng and the five teenagers, who felt a chill from Han Seojin and disgust toward the nobles.
Jae-Hyun and his companions, who felt it wasn't worth fighting a war.
After all, he could easily beat anyone here and survive on his own.
So why fight?
No—he had better things to do.
There was actually one more neutral group—
The survivors camped around the base.
They had thought the area around the base would be safe—
But alas, someone would disappear each night.
The victim would be torn apart brutally, yet no zombies had been heard approaching.
They weren't united at all, scattered into small groups.
So no one offered a solution for everyone.
They minded their own business, thinking the chosen victim was simply unlucky.
Zhao Feng thought those poor bastards he killed were unlucky too.
They were unlucky enough to enter his sights during one of his episodes.
Zhao Feng hadn't been mentally stable before the apocalypse—diagnosed as a psychopath.
He craved blood and had once stabbed his mother for refusing to buy him a toy.
He was sent to a mental hospital at a young age and grew up there.
When the apocalypse broke out, he escaped—
No, slaughtered his way out.
It was then he began to hear the voice.
An unfamiliar voice, telling him familiar words:
Kill… slaughter… blood…
All the dark thoughts he'd heard all his life, mostly in his own voice.
He embraced the voice, and it gave him abilities.
He was stronger than usual, with heightened senses—
But only when he entered a certain state.
The side effect: his intelligence dropped, his head filled only with slaughter.
After escaping the hospital, he wandered the world.
Then he met the Guide.
The group was happy to see him, encouraging him to follow them to a base.
Zhao Feng was surprised at the fanatics who watched him stab a man—
They seemed delighted by the brutality and kept pestering him to join them.
Saying things like they could see how lonely he was—
So lonely he couldn't trust new friends, insisting on killing them instead.
They urged him to join the base and "make friends."
Zhao Feng found them interesting—
He oddly wanted to kill them more than usual.
In truth, he was always on the brink of madness, but there was something especially stimulating about those fanatics.
He held back the urge to slit their throats and followed them to the base.
The base was already shut by the time he arrived, so he stayed outside.
There were plenty of people to kill out here, and the buildings provided good cover.
So his killing spree began again.
Every night, he'd drag an unlucky victim into a building and stab them repeatedly.
Just thinking about it made him shiver in excitement.
But he was snapped out of it by a chill.
His eyes sharpened, focusing on the source—
A man in his 30s at the gate.
The director, standing in front of the school gate, smiled at Zhao Feng.
Zhao Feng smiled back, madness brimming in his eyes.
He really wanted to kill that director for some reason.
"Ah, did someone get killed again last night?" the director asked a random person.
"Yes, so let us in! I thought you damn fanatics promised us a safe home," a man said, glaring.
"Unfortunately, there isn't any space left. I'm ashamed," the director said, bowing.
"But I came here to tell you there might be a vacancy soon."
"Hm… but the person who becomes director might not agree to let you in," he said, rubbing his cheek.
"They might also damage the base I built, and enslave you to fix it."
"What on earth are you talking about, you crazy guy?" someone glared at him.
"Oh, see, there's currently a war about to happen—to kill all the nobles harassing the commoners," the director explained.
"The winners become the new head of the base. That's why I might not be able to help you soon."
"And who knows what those nobles would do to you if they win?" he added with a sigh.
"But I cherish fairness, so I've decided to give you guys a shot," the director said.
"I'll surprise the other teams with you on the day of the battle."
"You can compete fairly—after all, my ultimate goal is to shelter as many humans as possible in the base."
"I can't wait for the game, which is a week away."
"Oh, and in case you're worried about running the base after I leave—don't."
"There's enough food to last a long time, and the security is state-of-the-art."
"All you need to do is relax and enjoy the Entertainment Sector—beautiful women, alcohol, cigarettes."
"Not cheap ones, but the best we could find."
"And, like I always say, points can buy you anything."
"Alright, my work here is done. I hope we meet again on the day of the battle," he said, waving goodbye.
After he left, a man stepped forward.
"I think this is an opportunity we can't ignore," he told the crowd.
His name was Kim Ji-Hoon.
He was a small-time gangster before the end times.
When the end came, he killed his boss and took over the gang.
He still remembered the disbelief on his boss's face as his right-hand man stabbed him in the neck.
Kim Ji-Hoon was extremely proud—he thought someone as cunning as him wasn't meant to be ordered around.
He was meant to give the orders.
Unfortunately, the people he led were killed escaping zombies.
They were such useless meat shields that he used all of them just to get out of the warehouse where they'd been meeting.
It was then he began to hear the voices.
They whispered killing into his soul.
At first, he didn't trust them—they were too creepy.
But eventually, he submitted to escape the zombies.
Suddenly, he lost all reason and became a beast of slaughter.
He gained inhuman strength and tore the zombies apart.
Eventually, he met the Guide, who wanted to lead him to a base.
He needed minions, so he agreed.
But the gate was locked in his face, and guards killed anyone who resisted.
He envied those living worry-free inside, while he struggled to survive.
So he waited for an opportunity to get in.
Unfortunately, only the hunting team left the base—
And they were ability users, threatening anyone in the way with a metal pipe they controlled.
Kim Ji-Hoon wasn't sure he could take them, so he laid low.
But now, he was given an opportunity—
An opportunity to swallow this
base whole.
Greed shone in his eyes as he licked his lips.
Zhao Feng gazed at the director's back and at the man about to speak.
He felt the same urge to kill, though not as strong as with the director.
Something fun was about to happen.
His face twisted into a monstrous smile.
Kim Ji-Hoon began to speak.