Chapter 26

Chapter 26. Toward the Company (1)

We were going to attack the Company.

I hadn’t made that decision because I was being controlled by my emotions.

If anything, it was a decision made for the sake of survival.

The Company Employee’s schemes had been crossing the line more and more with each passing day.

At this rate, he might really release the zombie virus and then sell the cure in exchange for Mysteries.

It was entirely possible.

That was exactly why I decided we needed to attack the Company now, before something like that happened.

“The Company is located in Busan? Couldn’t that be a lie?”

“The Company Employee seemed proud of the Company. He also seemed convinced that no matter how many intruders came, no one could break through.”

I continued.

“So the location is probably real. What that bastard wants is probably for me to chase an impossible goal and die helplessly while trying. At least, that’s how it looked to me.”

“He really is horrible. But if it’s Busan… isn’t that currently the most dangerous place in Korea?”

Hwarin stroked the sheath of her sword.

“I saw on the internet that this ‘zombie’ thing is most common there. I’m fine with that. I don’t care what it is. I just want something to cut.”

Arlin spoke with her usual expressionless face.

“It would be a perfect place to test the new magic I learned. More importantly, I like the idea of going there to beat the hell out of the Company Employee.”

Over the past few days, she had spent too much time in the gallery.

Her way of speaking had become noticeably rougher.

After gathering everyone together, I explained my thoughts about the Company and told them that I wanted to go to Busan.

Lee Yeonhee reminded us how dangerous Busan was.

Hwarin happily nodded while touching her sword sheath.

And Arlin, who had been thoroughly influenced by the gallery over the last few days, agreed with a blunt expression.

Just like that, our next destination was decided.

Even Lee Yeonhee, who had been worried at first, nodded once she heard that a branch of the Company was located there.

Now that we knew what we had to do, there was no reason to waste time.

We quickly finished preparing and left the house.

It was nighttime, but I had no desire to stay inside a house where the temperature was over thirty-one degrees Celsius.

“Bye! Dad!”

I lightly waved toward Confirmation Bias, who was seeing us off from a distance, then took a deep breath of the early morning air.

The chilly yet refreshing night air filled my lungs.

It felt as though my brain, heated from irritation, cooled down slightly.

As I walked with the group, I started wondering how we were supposed to get all the way to Busan.

“We came outside first, but how are we actually getting to Busan?”

“Can’t we just walk?”

“Hwarin. If we walk from Seoul to Busan, it’ll take us days.”

Arlin tilted her head.

“Then what about riding horses? I am confident in my riding ability.”

“…Let’s just use a car. The trains haven’t been running for quite a while anyway.”

Lee Yeonhee and I naturally excluded Arlin and Hwarin, who still weren’t familiar with the modern world, from the discussion.

Our conclusion was simple.

We would go by car.

Now we just needed to find one.

That would have been difficult before the collapse, but now it was extremely easy.

Abandoned cars were everywhere on the streets.

We chose one of them and tried opening the door.

It was locked.

Hwarin stepped forward and swung her sword.

Problem solved.

We climbed into the car, which now seemed to have excellent ventilation.

I took the driver’s seat.

Lee Yeonhee sat beside me.

The back seats belonged to Arlin and Hwarin.

Once I sat down, I pulled out my phone and searched the Regression, Possession, Reincarnation Gallery for instructions on how to drive.

Lee Yeonhee watched me with obvious anxiety.

Then she asked,

“Oppa… do you actually know how to drive?”

“Of course. I’ve even gotten a driver’s license before.”

That was…

About thirty years ago?

I had only taken the test before my reincarnation and hadn’t taken one afterward, so it should have been around that long.

And after getting my license, I had never actually driven even once.

Still, having a driver’s license was what mattered, wasn’t it?

I confidently gripped the steering wheel.

Let’s see.

The pedal on the left was the brake, and the one on the right was the accelerator, right?

I stepped on the accelerator.

The car smoothly shot forward—

And crashed straight into a tree.

As an added bonus, Arlin, who had been arguing with Hwarin in the back seat, slammed her head forward.

Her forehead immediately turned red.

Hwarin saw her and burst out laughing.

“…Yuhyeon? Weren’t you quite good at driving that thing called a motorcycle?”

Well…

Back then, I had driven with the mentality that even if I died, the book would send me back anyway.

“Sorry. I’ll do better this time.”

After moving the car around a few times, I finally got the hang of it.

Then I entered Busan into the navigation system and followed the route.

Driving down an empty highway with no one around was surprisingly enjoyable.

We sped along the completely deserted road.

Before long, we left Seoul behind and entered the outskirts of Busan.

The moment I became certain that we had truly arrived in Busan was after we passed through an empty tollgate.

The number of zombies, which had already been gradually increasing after we left the Seoul area, suddenly exploded.

More and more abandoned cars appeared along the road, their fronts crushed and twisted.

At the same time, the number of zombies rushing toward us increased every second.

The entire area was filled with the growls of zombies.

There were so many that my ears almost started hurting.

Things reached their peak once we left the highway.

There were an insane number of zombies.

A wave of them rushed toward us, reminding me of the crowds in Hongdae.

There wasn’t even enough space to keep driving.

So we got out of the car and raised our weapons.

Hwarin charged forward first.

Her sword flashed as she began cutting zombies apart.

Arlin supported us from the rear with smaller spells.

Lee Yeonhee and I opened fire with machine guns.

Flashes filled the darkness.

Zombies died in every imaginable way.

It was a scene where the word massacre felt appropriate.

But the number of zombies didn’t decrease.

If anything, the noise attracted even more of them.

The situation only continued getting worse.

At this rate, death seemed inevitable.

It felt a little early to regress already.

Should I just blow everything up?

I really didn’t want to endure another five hours of boring driving.

Just as I reached for a grenade—

“Eyes! Close your eyes!”

A young voice came from behind us.

I turned around and saw something flying toward us.

Then another shout followed.

“Close your eyes right now!”

My companions and I instinctively lowered our heads.

Then—

There was light.

An overwhelming burst of brightness exploded around us, so powerful that it seemed to paint the pitch-black night sky in brilliant white.

That was my impression of seeing a flashbang during a crisis.

The problem was that a flashbang didn’t only attack your eyesight.

A deafening explosion tore through my ears and shook even my sense of balance.

The noise didn’t have much effect on Lee Yeonhee, who possessed divine power, or on Hwarin and Arlin, who had already surpassed normal human limits.

But I was different.

My physical body was still basically that of an ordinary person.

“What the—damn it…”

Even though I was standing still, it felt like the ground beneath me was swaying.

My senses were thrown into even worse confusion than what I had experienced inside the Curtain.

I stopped where I was and staggered around.

My sense of balance had completely collapsed.

In the middle of it, I sensed someone approaching from beside me.

Was it a zombie?

Or one of my companions?

Fortunately, it was one of my companions.

Warm light shone down on me.

My body quickly began recovering.

I silently thanked Lee Yeonhee, then looked toward the place where I had heard that voice earlier.

There were several kids standing there.

They looked around their teenage years.

They were waving at us, gesturing for us to come over.

We had been fully capable of dealing with the situation ourselves.

Yet they had tried to help and ended up causing me trouble instead.

For a moment, I felt annoyed at them.

Still…

Their intention had probably been to help us.

So I pushed the irritation out of my mind.

I would forgive them.

But I wasn’t going to follow them.

I pulled five grenades from my bag and threw them.

Boom—!

Several explosions tore open a gap in the zombie horde.

Using the opening created by the blasts, I shouted to my companions.

“Arlin! Use your magic!”

“Yes.”

When I told her to use magic here, I meant one thing.

Use everything she had.

Unleash her strongest spell.

Arlin focused.

She began gathering all of her power into the sky.

The rest of us gathered around her and bought her time.

Eventually, the mana gathering overhead became so intense that even I could see it clearly.

Then—

Lightning descended.

Dozens of bolts crashed down like a sudden rainstorm that lasted only an instant.

The entire world was dyed blue.

There was no way zombies could survive lightning powerful enough to burn trees to ashes.

In an instant, nearly eighty percent of the zombie horde turned into ash.

“Protect Arlin!”

Arlin collapsed from the aftereffects of her spell.

Meanwhile, the drastically reduced zombies could no longer take advantage of their numbers.

They were slaughtered one after another.

We successfully wiped out the horde.

However, even after realizing that, I didn’t relax.

There were still trolls watching us from far away.

I ignored them.

Then I lifted Arlin onto my back and moved away from the area.

After walking for a while, we found a park.

I sat down on a bench near its center.

The surroundings were wide open.

At least we wouldn’t need to worry much about a surprise attack.

“Arlin, are you okay?”

“Yesh. Jusht… a little. It shtings.”

I laid Arlin down and quickly checked her condition.

None of our group seemed to have been bitten by a zombie or touched by their saliva.

Lee Yeonhee’s divine power still hadn’t developed enough to cure the zombie virus, so we had to be extremely careful.

Still, the situation had become much more dangerous than expected.

I was relieved that everyone had managed to hold their ground.

If it weren’t for those fucking Company bastards, I could have been lying around at home and browsing the gallery right now.

Along with my relief, my hatred toward the Company was growing rapidly.

Anyway…

“…Now we need to find the Company. Where do you think it could be?”

Lee Yeonhee looked at me.

“The Company? Didn’t the Company Employee tell you its location?”

“He only said Busan. He told me to figure out the exact location myself.”

I sighed.

“The only other thing he told me was that the branch looks like a building.”

“A building…”

Lee Yeonhee frowned thoughtfully.

“If only the internet worked, we could have searched for it.”

Even though we had survived the crisis, our situation still looked bleak.

While we thought hard and exchanged ideas about where the Company might be located—

Hwarin and Arlin suddenly turned their heads toward the same place.

Empty air.

There was seemingly nothing there.

Yet two pairs of eyes stared sharply at that exact point.

Pressure seemed to gather in their gazes.

It was as though both of them had sensed something.

Lee Yeonhee and I, who couldn’t feel anything at all, followed their eyes and turned in the same direction.

A moment later—

A boy appeared in the place where all of us were staring.