Chapter 35 – The Ghoul (1)

Before the demon army’s southward advance, community leader Yang Gi-hyeok was a boss of a somewhat well-known underground organization.

As the head of a semi-legalized violent organization that looked after businesses and power brokers, he knew many dark secrets of Seoul and the metropolitan area.

From conglomerates killing company presidents in staged accidents to destroy subcontractors, to Supreme Court justices assaulting and threatening victims to cover up their children’s crimes, to drug rings connecting chaebol heirs to the police chief’s wife – he knew it all.

He knew many other secrets that would cause an uproar if revealed, but…

“It’s all useless information now.”

“No, no! Some people are still alive, and I know where they’ve hidden their funds.”

He shook his head frantically at my words, but his expression was very dark. He must have known himself that it was useless talk.

As a natural awakener, Yang Gi-hyeok’s mana was greater than Hoffman’s, who had only sensed mana. Unlike Hoffman who couldn’t release mana externally, Yang Gi-hyeok could faintly infuse mana into his iron club.

Of course, that didn’t mean Yang Gi-hyeok was stronger or better at fighting than Hoffman. The difference in experience fighting enemies and using mana was too great.

Perhaps because of that, subduing Yang Gi-hyeok was much easier than expected. Breaking his mind was even easier.

After pulling out a few fingernails and pushing mana into his body to cause pain, he quickly crumbled.

For someone who was supposedly a successful gang boss before awakening, he broke down under torture more easily than even an ordinary thug from the other world.

Thanks to that, I was able to hear many stories from him. Of course, as mentioned earlier, most were useless information now.

Still, the brief torture wasn’t entirely pointless. I was able to pick up a few stories about other organizations not written in the notebook.

They were stories he hadn’t written down thinking they weren’t important, but desperately recalled when he felt death approaching.

After jotting down the contents in blank spaces of the notebook, I ignored his pleading gaze and approached the emergency exit door.

“A-Are you really going to let me live?”

There was hope in the community leader’s voice. Seeing me ignore him, he seemed to think he might survive.

Of course, there were knights who enjoyed seeing the despair after saying they’d spare someone, but unfortunately, I didn’t have such a filthy hobby.

I didn’t want to bother explaining, so I just opened the closed door wide.

Grrrr.

Beyond the open door, skeletons that had just climbed the stairs were visible. Unlike zombies, these skeletons had been persistently chasing us.

The skeletons flinched as the door suddenly opened.

Before they could react, I reached out and grabbed a skeleton’s ribs, throwing it backwards.

Then I grabbed the necks of the remaining two skeletons still climbing the stairs and threw them as well.

Thud. Thud thud.

The sound of skeletons hitting the floor echoed behind me.

“No! Get away!”

Yang Gi-hyeok’s scream followed.

Turning my head, I saw the skeletons I had thrown predictably pounce on Yang Gi-hyeok, who was closer than me.

Normally, Yang Gi-hyeok could have escaped even if he couldn’t defeat them, but not now after being weakened by torture.

The skeletons that rushed at Yang Gi-hyeok clawed and bit at his body.

Blood sprayed and flesh was torn off.

At the same time, I could see black energy flowing from the skeletons into Yang Gi-hyeok’s wounds.

It was concentrated negative energy that moved the skeletons despite their lack of muscles.

Yang Gi-hyeok’s screams gradually diminished, and his flailing limbs went limp on the floor.

I could feel Yang Gi-hyeok’s heart slowing to a stop.

After watching the scene, I turned away.

“I’d like to watch till the end, but we can’t delay any longer, can we?”

A lot of time had already been wasted on torture.

I didn’t mind being misunderstood, but if we were late, others could be in danger, so I needed to head to the mall now.

I’d be able to confirm the results soon anyway. And confirming the results there would properly conclude this matter.

I entered the emergency exit, leaving the door open.

Even without looking closely, I could sense zombies swarming around the building and on the lower floors.

It was a number that would be quite troublesome even for me to pass through.

Of course, I had no intention of going that way.

Instead of going down, I went up.

I climbed the stairs, stepping only on the landings without touching the middle steps.

After climbing the last flight of stairs, I opened the locked iron door and stepped out onto the roof.

Standing at the railing and looking down, I saw zombies filling the area around the building.

In the distance, I couldn’t see anyone by the opposite car wall, so it seemed everyone had entered the mall.

I ran across the roof and jumped to the next building.

After crossing a few buildings like that, I was able to reach the mall’s roof.

Coming down right below, I headed underground and saw people busily carrying goods.

“It seems like the items are running a bit low…”

“Really? I can’t tell…”

“Did I see wrong?”

Some people seemed to notice the mall’s goods decreasing, but it was glossed over due to others hurrying.

The same was true for the generator.

“I could’ve sworn there were two of these generators.”

“Wasn’t it just one?”

Doubtful words flowed among the people, but were soon buried under other questions.

“More importantly, are we taking the generator today?”

A burly man shook his head at the people’s questions.

“Wait. The community leader will decide that.”

The people sighed at the subordinate’s words, and the other subordinates frowned.

The atmosphere was certainly awkward.

It was probably because of me.

And I added fuel to this situation.

“I’m sorry, but it seems you’ll have to decide that yourselves.”

At my sudden words, everyone in the mall turned to look at me.

Frowning at the flashlight beams shining from all directions, I continued speaking.

“I apologize, but the community leader couldn’t make it out. He avoided the zombies, but with the skeletons swarming in, I couldn’t save him.”

“Gasp!”

“No way!”

“That can’t be!”

“He really died?”

People’s voices rang out before I could finish speaking.

Seeing the flashlight beams shaking violently, everyone seemed shocked.

“We need to hurry. Unlike zombies, the skeletons seem to learn. Just as they chased us to the end, they might try to follow you into this mall.”

In fact, skeletons’ intelligence wasn’t much different from zombies.

They were just a bit sturdier due to being heavily imbued with negative energy, and unlike ordinary zombies, they were slightly better at recognizing people and mana.

The learning undead I mentioned wasn’t the skeleton, but a different creature.

One that would soon come here. The undead created from the community leader’s death.

At my words, the apartment residents began stuffing supplies into the bags they had brought.

The community leader’s brothers, who were holding weapons instead of bags, rushed towards me instead of gathering items.

“What are you saying?”

“Did you see him die?”

“Why did you come alone!”

They surrounded me and shouted roughly.

Informal and formal speech burst out chaotically, and their words and actions were filled with protest and anger.

Amidst the flood of words, one sharp statement was heard.

“Didn’t you kill him?”

When those words were heard, everything around went quiet.

The men who had been yelling at me, the people who had been packing their belongings, all held their breath and looked at me.

Even the person who spoke seemed extremely tense.

Was it a mistake?

Or was it a desperate gamble?

Either way, it wasn’t something I could just ignore.

Because those words were the truth.

As I looked at the man who spoke, the men surrounding me slowly moved away from him.

The man also looked around with a pale face.

Perhaps it was because they had experienced killing before. It seemed they all sensed the killing intent I had leaked.

Now what should I do?

I had thought they might suspect I killed him, but I didn’t expect someone to say it so directly.

I had expected to at least have time to show them what I had prepared, but to think someone would speak up so quickly.

Even if they didn’t know how frightening knights could be, to speak so openly to a superpowered person who might have killed the community leader.

Was it courage, or foolish bravery born of ignorance?

Thinking about explaining that I hadn’t killed him, I felt extremely annoyed.

Should I just kill them all?

Having killed the community leader, it wouldn’t matter if I killed the rest of them too.

The only issue was that I might be perceived as a murderer by the remaining apartment residents.

In the other world, such misunderstandings wouldn’t have mattered.

After all, all knight nonsense were murderers, so it wasn’t even a misunderstanding.

However, having come to this Earth in my past life, I had troublesomely planned and acted with the thought of becoming a friendly neighborhood world knight rather than a murderer.

As things seemed about to go awry, it was all becoming bothersome.

‘Was this an ill-fitting act…’

As I slightly tightened my grip on my sword, the man who had spoken opened his mouth again.

“Th-that kind of suspicion could arise! W-we need to check. T-tell us where he died, wh-where you parted ways.”

The men who had surrounded me all nodded at the man’s words as he sweated profusely.

Had I unknowingly leaked more killing intent?

Rather than agreeing with his words, they all looked like they wanted to escape this place.

Seeing the terror-stricken people, I relaxed my grip.

It wasn’t that I had relaxed my grip to bother with explanations.

It was because a guest had arrived just in time.

I granted their absurd request.

“I’ll guide you. Everyone follow me.”

“No, just telling us would be…”

They made disgusted expressions again at my words, but in the end, they followed me up the escalator.

Avoiding the pile of carts in front of the escalator, we came out to the first floor and saw that the front shutter had been raised slightly.

Seeing the raised shutter, the community leader’s brothers who had followed looked at me.

“It wasn’t me. I came through the roof.”

“You were the last to arrive. Zombies can’t raise shutters!”

The man who had accused me of killing shouted at me again.

To shout again after experiencing that killing intent, this man definitely seemed to have anger management issues.

In any case, his words were wrong.

While low-intelligence zombies couldn’t raise closed shutters, that didn’t mean other undead couldn’t raise shutters.

Even skeletons, if they were elite-class, gained the intelligence to open doors or raise shutters,

and smart undead could even use open doors to set traps for people.

Just like now.

Thud!

An undead landed behind the people crowded behind me.

It was an undead that had been hanging from the first floor ceiling until just now.

Unlike zombies, it was an undead with all its skin peeled off, exposing the muscles like an anatomical model.

It was a ghoul.

From the clothing remnants still on the ghoul’s body, it was clear who it had been.

“No way… Big brother community leader?”

One of the men muttered in a dazed voice,

and at the same time, the ghoul pounced.

Kyaaaak!