Chapter 41
Jinhyeok's thoughts froze.
Why?
Why can't I subjugate this bastard?
No. That wasn't what mattered.
“A-a person...?”
It wasn't a System message.
It was clearly human handwriting, written by someone with a pen in the real world.
“A person? Did you lead me here!!”
Right in front of Jinhyeok's eyes as he stared into the air in confusion.
Flutter—
Another fluorescent Post-it note fluttered down.
[Does our Jinhyeok bro think the rules are a fucking joke?]
“!!!”
Jinhyeok's eyes reddened at the contents.
“Who are you!!! Are you making fun of me!!”
At that light tone, as though mocking him, his suppressed fear was replaced by rage and exploded.
“How dare you, against me, the chosen one!!”
At the moment Jinhyeok strained the veins in his neck and raged at the air.
-Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
When Jinhyeok turned his head, the hotel employee had approached right in front of his eyes.
“S-Subjugate!! Subjugate!!!!”
[Error! Attempting to domina... Error! Error!!]
[YouhavenocommandauthorityYouhavenocommandauthorityYouhavenocommandauthority]
[Preyistryingtogetthepredator'sleashPreyistryingtogetthepredator'sleashPreyistryingtogetthepredator'sleash]
[AmeatlumpistryingtotametheabyssAmeatlumpistryingtotametheabyssAmeatlumpistryingtotametheabyss]
Another despairing message surfaced.
[Jinhyeok bro... if it's too hard, let's stop...]
“Y-You fucking bastard...!!!”
Jinhyeok shouted.
“C-Come out!! Shadow Walker!!”
Crack-crack-crack—!!
From Jinhyeok's shadow, a cluster that looked as though countless corpses had fused together rose with a bizarre sound.
A top-tier entity of the Red Zone, Jinhyeok's hidden card, which he had controlled by grinding up dozens of followers.
“Tear him apart!! I said tear that bastard apart!!!”
At its master's command, Shadow Walker writhed.
-Kikikik... Grrrrrraaaagh—!!!!
Just as dozens of hands burst from the shadows and closed over the hotel employee, trying to devour it.
The employee slowly, very slowly, raised something that appeared to be a long finger.
Shh.
Fwoosh—!!!!
“......?”
There was no impact sound, nor any shock wave.
The dozens of hands reaching toward the employee and the corpse cluster burst like blood balloons all at once and scattered in every direction.
Splatter. Splat.
The mutant's rotten flesh and blood poured down like rain.
“Ah...”
Before that sight, Jinhyeok's reason began to shatter.
“S-Subjugate... subjugate... I said I'd subjugate...”
His pupils shook madly as he desperately searched for the System window floating in the air.
But what greeted him was.
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
The System window, now filled with language he could not even understand.
“Hngh... Hngh...”
Tears fell from Baek Jinhyeok's eyes.
His legs gave out.
Thud.
He collapsed onto the red carpet soaked in blood and prostrated himself at the feet of the mutant looming over him.
“S-Sob... stop... I... I said stop...”
His arrogance had vanished long ago.
His face was horribly contorted, mixed with tears, snot, and the mutant's blood.
“I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!! Please spare me!! Everything was my fault!!”
Bang! Bang! Crunch!
“I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!!! Let me out!!!”
Jinhyeok wailed as he began slamming his head against the floor madly, until his forehead split open and bone showed.
“Please let me out, pleaseletmeoutletmeout!!!! I said let me out!!!!”
All his arrogance shattered.
“Sob... sob... I'm sorry... I said I was sorryyy... let me outtt...”
Over his head, with nothing left but resignation and despair.
Flutter.
The final two Post-it notes fell side by side.
[Jinhyeok bro, honestly, you were my hope...]
[I thought you'd subjugate Zombie Teacher...]
Someone who had led Jinhyeok here—someone he would never be able to identify.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr—!
Those were the last words that someone sent—words Jinhyeok would never understand.
Shh
*****
“Retrieve... the tile.”
I barely murmured inside the tightly closed elevator.
Then I vomited the bile I had been holding back onto the floor.
“Uweeeeeeegh... Cough, cough!!”
Even after emptying my stomach, the dry heaving did not stop.
When I roughly wiped my mouth, sticky, pitch-black blood stained my fingertips.
Even dark-red blood from my nose ran down my chin, and everything before my eyes was still spinning.
The tile I owned and copied to the battlefield was none other than a tile from the tenth-floor hotel corridor where the anomaly existed.
Naturally, once I owned the tile, that space basically regained its original, normal functions.
In other words, the tenth-floor corridor should normally have returned to an ordinary, safe, comfortable hotel hallway.
[Building Master Quest 4 Complete!!]
[Building Master Main Quest 4 : Copy 10 more tiles. Current : 12/10]
[Reward : You can partially adjust the purposes of tiles you own]
But because I had already completed Building Master Quest 4, I could adjust the tile's function.
I deliberately adjusted the function of the tenth-floor corridor tile and authorized it.
Instead of the original comfortable hotel corridor, I chose to maintain the terrifying anomaly that had originally existed there.
[Owned Tiles]
[Currently active tiles: 49 slots]
Basic Area (Food, Drinks, Meat, Restrooms): 10 slots
Liquor Corner: 5 slots
Living/Camping Area: 14 slots
[Hotel 10th-Floor Corridor: 20 slots]
[Purpose: ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
[Are you sure you want to own and copy a tile with this function?]
“...Is this right?”
Of course, I couldn't understand what it said, but I figured it roughly meant that crazy phenomenon from before.
Of course, I had thought of this method in advance in case the talks broke down, and I had deliberately set it that way, 100 percent.
But there was one minor problem.
No matter how intentional it was, even if only for a very brief instant.
I had to be on the same hotel corridor tile with the anomaly function activated—the one that made Z-Z-Z-Zombie Teacher appear.
Last time, I had been outside the tiles I owned, so there had been no problem at all. But this time was different.
So, for the sake of my precious life, I sealed my mouth with tape from the camping area, and brought all the appropriate items from the meat corner to follow Rule 2.
I had brought 30 grams of pig tongue, a cow ankle bone, and something to substitute for my teeth, all bundled up in both hands.
After making thorough preparations, I slipped safely into the elevator, timed the moment the doors closed perfectly, pressed “Yes!”, and immediately copied it.
But I briefly made eye contact with that guy, who had silently approached right up to the elevator doors.
[Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
]
“Gasp... Haaah...”
It had been nothing more than the briefest instant of eye contact.
But bizarre languages were shoved into my mind, and I felt as though my brain were melting.
“Uweeegh... Fuck... I'm never doing that twice. Never.”
I hurriedly manipulated the System window and immediately returned the tenth-floor hotel's purpose to an ordinary, safe corridor.
“Now Z-Z-Z-Zombie Teacher is gone!”
It will only appear when I allow it to.
Of course, I didn't know whether such a moment would ever come again.
The pig tongue and cow bone I had brought just in case lay uselessly scattered across the elevator floor.
That crazy bastard didn't even look at them.
Or maybe it happened because I made eye contact with him, regardless of those things.
“Pheeeew...”
Anyway, because I had been hit by some kind of mental contamination and nearly had my sense of self shut down, I was a little late ejecting the Head Mod and Guild Master after they had been sucked into the copied tile by accident.
Of course, I couldn't let our protagonist, Jinhyeok bro, go without a sticky-note teabagging, so I scribbled out a few and sent them over while blood streamed from my nose.
“I don't know....”
This terrifying ability causes mental derangement rather than physical damage. Do all Black Zone mutants have this as a standard ability?
“T-Then does that apply to Zombie Teacher too....?”
If I permit Zombie Teacher to come inside, will my brain be turned into mush?
They say that married couples are supposed to share one bed and sleep together to deepen their bond.
“Let's sleep in separate rooms for the rest of our lives.”
Love is most beautiful when you keep a reasonable distance, after all.
Of course, I didn't think there would ever be a day when I allowed Zombie Teacher to come inside.
“No! Zombie Teacher brainwashed me!!!”
Fuck. Anyway, new customers were out of the question now.
“So... what happened?”
Still wiping the cold sweat streaming down my forehead, I opened a System window in the air.
“Success...? Failure?”
What happened to the others?
“Please...! Let me succeed in attracting customers!!!”
I checked the screen for Restroom No. 5 to confirm the result.
*****
Meanwhile, on the battlefield on the outskirts of the Capital Area.
“Gasp, huff...”
Eunwol, flung outside the hotel, panted heavily as she looked up at the cube before her.
And at that very moment.
Flash—!
The cube that had imprisoned Eunwol and Seo-jin vanished without a trace, like a mirage, as though it had never existed in the first place.
“Huh...?”
At the moment the space was reclaimed.
Fwoosh—!!!!
A huge spray of blood erupted from the air as though it had exploded.
Blood droplets scattered in every direction with an unpleasant sound, and something shot out among them and fell to the ground.
It was the bloodstained rag Baek Jinhyeok had been wearing until moments ago.
And at the same time as its master's disappearance.
-Kieeeeeek—!!
-Kraaaagh!
Perhaps it was the aftermath of the severed bond of servitude.
The hundreds of mutants that had been trampling Eunwol and the Myth Guild under Jinhyeok's control all began screaming their death throes at once.
Like puppets hanging from severed strings, they melted onto the ground without even being able to maintain their forms.
“Ah, aah...”
“L-Lord Jinhyeok...”
“Lord Jinhyeok's army...!”
The sight terrified Jinhyeok's followers, and they collapsed where they stood.
“R-Run aaaaway!!!”
“I-It's the System's divine punishment!!!”
“Punishment...!! It's punishment!!!”
“Run aaaaway!!!”
Their minds shattered, the followers threw down their weapons and scattered, screaming.
Without even looking back, they fled frantically beyond the fog-covered Blank Zone.
And so silence descended upon the battlefield.
“H-He summoned the Black Zone here...”
“T-The System is enraged...”
“The System protected us through its anger...”
The Myth Guild members could do nothing but mutter in a daze.
“To summon the Black Zone... here...”
“H-Head Mod, are you all right...?”
“What did you see inside...?”
“Thank goodness it wasn't us...”
The one who broke the silence was Myth Guild Master Yoon Seo-jin, who had collapsed on the ground foaming at the mouth.
“Kyaaaaaaaak!!!!”
Seo-jin came to her senses belatedly, clutched her head, and began screaming as though in a fit.
“Save me, System-nim!! Why me! Why meee!!! I even took my clothes off! I farmed favor! I did everythinggggg!!!”
Seo-jin wailed toward the air like that.
And soon after.
“...!!!”
She caught her breath with ragged gasps, then suddenly her eyes went wild and she clenched a fist toward the air.
“Burn your heart!!! Surpass your limiiiiits!!!”
“...It's over.”
“Huh...?”
Eunwol quietly approached and calmed her down.
*
*
*
The battlefield after the storm had swept through it.
What remained were the Myth Guild survivors, Seo-jin and Eunwol.
And.
“Head Mod. What should we do with those people...?”
One of the guild members pointed toward a corner of the battlefield with conflicted eyes.
There, several hundred slaves who had been dragged here with collars around their necks by Baek Jinhyeok's army were waiting to learn their fate.
“Of course, we know they aren't our enemies. We also know they're pitiful victims who were dragged here by force, and that we have no reason to resent or hate them.”
One injured guild member, panting heavily, spoke with a bitter expression.
“But the Capital Area has no room to spare right now. Some people won't welcome having more mouths to feed.”
“That's right. There will be people who complain.”
“Besides, there's no guarantee that Baek Jinhyeok's spies or brainwashed fanatics aren't hiding among them.”
Another guild member beside him added in a heavy voice.
“I-It's not an order. Just an opinion...”
“I know.”
As Eunwol quietly listened to them.
A young-faced woman from among the collared group approached.
Though tears streamed down her terrified face, the woman came right up to Eunwol and cautiously extended both hands.
Flash—
A faint healing light flowed from the woman's emaciated fingertips.
As the light touched her, Eunwol's wounds, torn and mangled by the battle, began to visibly heal.
“You...”
“I just... You were so badly hurt... I only wanted to heal you.”
Her voice was thoroughly cowed.
Eunwol stared silently, looking from her healed wounds to the woman's terrified, trembling face.
“I've decided.”
At Eunwol's calm voice, the guild members' gazes turned toward her.
“There must be a reason the System destroyed Jinhyeok and the mutants, yet left these people alive without so much as touching a hair on their heads.”
Eunwol's gaze swept across the guild members.
“The System has shown us clearly who we must protect, and what mercy we must extend.”
Awe colored Eunwol's voice.
While the guild members held their breath, unable to offer any rebuttal.
Eunwol slowly approached the trembling group wearing collars.
“Do not be afraid. I am Baek Eunwol, administrator of the Capital Area.”
She spoke to them in a firm yet merciful voice.
“In accordance with the System's noble will, I will gladly accept you all.”
At those unbelievable words, the prisoners' eyes widened as one.
A lifeline of salvation cast down at the moment they had prepared themselves for death.
“Ah, aah...”
“Th-Thank you...!”
“Sob, sob... Thank youuu...!!”
Without waiting for anyone to lead the way, hundreds of people buried their foreheads in the mud and burst into the sobs they had been holding back.
“Welcome to the Capital Area.”
Eunwol silently looked down at the tears and words of gratitude pouring toward her.
Yet a tremendous sense of awe and a question remained in one corner of her heart, impossible to erase.
‘Why did the System help us... even while spewing out such fatal errors?’
The warning windows and error messages that had filled the air just before the cube descended.
They were unmistakable proof that even the omnipotent System had broken a rule to intervene.
'Why did it save us even at the cost of allowing its own rules to conflict...?'
As Eunwol pondered the Transcendent Being's true intentions, she slowly walked forward.
There, three old nameplates lay abandoned.
[Administrator: Cheonan]
[Administrator: Pyeongtaek]
[Administrator: Anseong]
The keepsakes of regional administrators whose corpses Jinhyeok had controlled.
“......”
Eunwol quietly bent down, carefully gathered the three nameplates caked in blood, and held them in both hands.
“You all worked hard.”
At the very moment she held the nameplates and wished for their rest in a bitter voice.
Ding—!
A System window she had never seen before appeared before Eunwol's eyes.
[Three Administrator's Tokens have been recovered]
[Gallery integration conditions have been met]
[Administrative authority over the Cheonan, Pyeongtaek, and Anseong regions will be transferred to Seoul Administrator Baek Eunwol.]
“...Huh?”
Eunwol's eyes trembled faintly.
[System: Large-scale regional integration is underway]
[The Cheonan, Pyeongtaek, and Anseong Survivors Galleries >>> will be incorporated into the Capital Area Survivors Gallery]
“I-Integration...? The Galleries have been integrated?!”
“Then even those regions down south are all under the Capital Area's jurisdiction now...?!”
The Myth Guild members began murmuring in shock, unable to contain their astonishment.
Then came the final System message.
[Readjustment of the Blank Zone that stood between the Capital Area and the integrated regions will begin]
[All anomalies and fog within the affected area will be permanently removed]
Goooooo—!
As soon as the message ended, the fog covering the south vanished as though it had never existed.
Then the wide-open southern landscape, which they had never seen before, and a half-destroyed highway came clearly into view.
“S-System-nim, could it be...?”
At that moment, Eunwol understood.
The question she had held only moments before.
‘Those who trampled others by force for the sake of their own goals are thoroughly punished.’
That question was locking into place in Eunwol's mind as a single certainty.
‘And for us, who did not turn away from the unfortunate and willingly chose to bear the burden...’
The System had proven that they were worth protecting, even if it had to overextend itself.
And furthermore.
“It has willingly opened the path for us to move forward.”