Chapter 155

Chapter 155

Chapter 155 – Seoul Restoration (6)

Kim Min-woo trailed behind Park Seong-hyun, though his heart was far from in it.

‘Didn’t he claim it was right by the entrance to Konkuk University Station?’

The leader had loudly proclaimed his intention to hunt down the trickster who was using illusions to manipulate and deceive people at that very spot.

‘This actually feels somewhat authentic…’

He had caught wind of these rumors from others who had traveled to that sector.

While the notion of using Konkuk University Station as a transit gateway to reach Busan sounded completely fabricated right off the bat, the remaining descriptions sounded even more like a fantasy.

They spoke of an abundance of food, working utilities like electricity, water, and gas in every home, and fully functioning eateries and coffee shops.

‘It makes absolutely no sense.’

A sanctuary like that simply could not exist in this ruined world.

It was far more plausible, just as Park Seong-hyun argued, that some mastermind was casting illusions there to lure unsuspecting people in for some dark purpose.

Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to believe a single word coming out of Park Seong-hyun’s mouth.

‘The man is a pathological liar.’

It was a classic case of the boy who cried wolf.

This was hardly the first time Park Seong-hyun had rallied their fighters to march out on a crusade like this.

The pretexts were always remarkably similar.

‘They are running a den of abusers.’

‘Those people are monsters who feed on human flesh.’

‘We must exact vengeance for what they did to our comrades.’

In the beginning, he had blindly trusted Park Seong-hyun’s claims and slaughtered those targets without hesitation.

It was only very recently that the blindfold had been ripped away, revealing the hideous truth about Park Seong-hyun and the inner circle.

He had accidentally eavesdropped on them while hunting for pests in the shadows.

(Where are we headed for our next human harvest, boss?)

(Well, we’ve pretty much cleaned out the immediate vicinity, so we’ll have to venture a bit further out this time.)

(Haha. It’s much better if we keep this to ourselves, chief. Just make sure to leave the beautiful women alive for us. Hehe.)

(Cut it out. She’s already claimed by me.)

(Keep your distance, you sickening cannibal. Just talking to you makes my stomach turn.)

(Oh, come on. Haven’t you ever heard that even a stolen treat tastes sweeter?)

Never in his wildest dreams did he suspect that every single high-ranking member of their group, save for himself, was utter scum.

Park Seong-hyun and his inner cabinet were nothing but a pack of depraved monsters.

One was a predatory beast, while another was a literal lunatic who consumed human flesh.

He also discovered that Park Seong-hyun routinely slipped away to conduct these sickening “human hunts.”

The moment he realized the head of his organization was a cold-blooded killer, the foundation of trust he had built over the years turned to ash.

Had the victims he executed on Park Seong-hyun’s orders actually deserved to die?

With his illusions shattered, the reality of his surroundings became painfully clear.

Park Seong-hyun snuffed out human lives over the trivial things.

For taking a bit of food from the reserves.

For questioning an order.

For simply trying to walk away from the group.

In the past, he had viewed those victims as fools who brought about their own demise.

It wasn’t as if he was the only one starving.

They died because they spoke out of turn.

They would have been ripped apart by beasts outside anyway, so they were just stupid for leaving.

Those were the exact, callous thoughts he used to harbor.

He had rationalized their deaths, viewing them as weaklings who couldn’t survive in this harsh, transformed world.

But the only reason he had the luxury of thinking that way was because his own circumstances were vastly superior.

Because of his status as an awakened, both he and his family were granted special privileges within the ranks.

While ordinary people starved to death in the corners, his relatives were provided with just enough sustenance to keep them breathing, meaning he never had a reason to challenge Park Seong-hyun directly.

But if his own flesh and blood had been the ones starving to death, would he have been able to make those same excuses?

‘…Damn it all.’

Having unmasked Park Seong-hyun and the elite leadership, and finally seeing the world for what it was, he desperately wanted to flee the organization immediately.

Yet, he was trapped.

“Min-woo.”

“…Yes, Seong-hyun-nim.”

“Something seems to be weighing on your mind lately.”

“…No, nothing at all.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Park Seong-hyun peered down at Kim Min-woo with an icy, penetrating gaze before speaking again.

“You need to perform well, not just for your own sake, but for your parents and siblings who are waiting back at our headquarters. Wouldn’t you agree?”

A cold shiver ran straight down his spine.

“…I will put in my utmost effort.”

“I don’t need you to just try; I need results. Do your job properly.”

“…Understood.”

He was simply too deep in the mire.

As an awakened, he might have been able to slip away alone, but smuggling his entire family out of the camp was an impossible task.

‘And the moment I run, that monster will hunt me down himself.’

Kim Min-woo possessed formidable power.

Through surviving countless life-or-death struggles, his confidence in his own combat prowess had grown.

He was undoubtedly among the strongest of the awakened.

Yet, when measured against Park Seong-hyun, his power was like a flickering candle next to a raging inferno.

No matter where he hid, if Park Seong-hyun resolved to find them, erasing him and his family from existence would be as effortless as taking a breath.

‘To make it out alive, I have to align myself with someone who possesses at least as much power as Park Seong-hyun.’

But he highly doubted anyone would be willing to harbor him and invite the wrath of Park Seong-hyun in the process.

It felt hopeless.

‘Damn it.’

Unless Park Seong-hyun was removed from the equation permanently, true freedom would remain out of reach.

‘I have to end his life. With my own hands.’

The fact that the leader had brought along every single awakened member of the high command indicated that this venture was deemed exceptionally hazardous.

‘After all, they are the ones who eliminated the JHS forces and cleared out the monsters patrolling the entrance of Konkuk University Station.’

Everyone in the region knew of the iron-clad sword golem that guarded that territory.

‘If they managed to seize that area, they must possess serious martial power.’

While the faction using illusions to draw in refugees might not be saints, they were highly unlikely to be as rotten as Park Seong-hyun’s gang.

‘An opening will present itself. I know it will.’

If he could assassinate Park Seong-hyun during the chaos of this clash and flee with his family, he could survive on his own merits.

Right at that moment.

Boom, boom, boom—!

A series of deafening explosions erupted from their right flank.

“What was that noise?”

“What’s happening over there?”

And then.

“Get ready to fight!”

A gargantuan beast materialized in mid-air.

Crash!

“What?”

“Why is that creature here…?”

The titan that shattered the concrete pathway was clad in dark, obsidian scales and covered in razor-sharp protrusions.

Its colossal frame, easily matching the size of a multi-story house, combined with the dripping venomous fangs lining its maw, was a terrifying sight.

It was the Black-Spiked Spider.

The sudden arrival of this nightmare sent a wave of sheer panic through the ranks.

‘Isn’t its hunting ground supposed to be miles away from here?’

In the ruined landscape of Seoul, high-tier entities like the Black-Spiked Spider typically claimed specific territories and ruled them absolute.

It was highly abnormal for a boss-level entity to wander so far from its established hunting grounds, making this encounter deeply unsettling.

In truth, there was a specific catalyst that had driven the Black-Spiked Spider so far from home.

“Curse it!”

“The beast is already wounded! Aim for its left side!”

The Black-Spiked Spider that had crashed down before them was in a state of absolute ruin.

The left portion of its head had been completely torn away, and three of its massive limbs were gone.

Furthermore, its thick hide was covered in deep, jagged lacerations.

It was clinging to life by a thread.

It had been violently driven out of its home by a rival predator.

Lately, the territorial expansions carried out by Kim Jae-hyun’s forces had triggered a massive domino effect, uprooting not just human enclaves but shifting the monstrous hierarchy as well.

Even the apex beasts were suffering heavy losses as they fought to defend or conquer territory.

The broken Black-Spiked Spider standing before them was a direct casualty of that violent shift.

“Fire at will!”

Fwoosh!

As the creature’s mangled head was engulfed in flames, a chaotic barrage of attacks rained down upon it.

Unfortunately, the beast’s remaining armor of thick scales and jagged spines deflected the majority of the standard strikes.

But the combatants assembled here were the absolute cream of the crop from the Seocho District faction.

“Concentrate fire on the open wounds!”

They adjusted their tactics instantly, executing the most effective countermeasure.

Screeech!

Yet, this only served to provoke a desperate, violent frenzy as the Black-Spiked Spider poured the last remnants of its life force into a suicidal counterattack.

“Argh!”

In an instant, several frontliners were crushed, and their defensive formation began to crumble.

Sensing the shift…

“Tch. Useless weaklings.”

Unable to tolerate the incompetence any longer, Park Seong-hyun stepped forward to intervene.

Kim Min-woo’s eyes flared with sudden anticipation as he watched.

‘This is the moment!’

It was a universal truth that a cornered, dying predator was at its most lethal.

Even a powerhouse like Park Seong-hyun might expose a fatal vulnerability while dealing with the dying spasms of the Black-Spiked Spider.

‘You dare hold my family hostage? I will end you myself.’

Regrettably, the vulnerability Kim Min-woo desperately hoped for never materialized.

Slash!

In the blink of an eye, Park Seong-hyun vaulted onto the back of the Black-Spiked Spider and tore through its throat with his razor-sharp claws.

‘…What?’

Thud!

The colossal head severed cleanly and crashed heavily against the concrete, and the twitching carcass of the beast collapsed into a motionless heap.

“Yeahhh!”

As the crowd erupted into cheers of victory, Kim Min-woo could only stare at Park Seong-hyun in absolute horror.

‘…How has he grown this powerful?’

He was certainly not this formidable a mere month ago.

Now, his power had surged to such an astronomical degree that any comparison was utterly futile.

Even against a severely weakened opponent, slaying the legendary Black-Spiked Spider in a single, effortless stroke was absurd.

‘…He is a demon.’

He was an absolute monster.

An entity existing on a plane of power that Kim Min-woo could never hope to touch.

‘…I can’t do it.’

To think he had actually contemplated burying a blade in that monster’s spine.

Witnessing that effortless display of execution left Kim Min-woo with one undeniable truth.

There was absolutely no scenario where his current strength would allow him to slay that beast.

An assassination attempt would yield nothing but the swift execution of his own family.

He had to devise an entirely different strategy.

There had to be some other loophole to slip through his fingers.

‘God…’

Despite knowing deep down that no divine savior existed, he found himself praying.

The endless atrocities and suffering he had witnessed in this ruined world were proof enough that no higher power was watching over them.

He had watched countless souls beg for divine intervention right up until their final breaths, just before he snuffed out their lives with his own hands.

Because of this, he held no religious faith.

And yet, in this moment of absolute despair.

‘I beg of you… crush this demon…’

When confronted with his own utter helplessness, the only recourse left was to plead with the heavens.

‘Please, wipe him from the face of this earth.’

He could do nothing but offer a silent prayer.

At that moment.

Thump—!

‘Ugh!’

Without warning, an agonizing shockwave rippled through his entire body.

The pain concentrated heavily in his chest, squeezing his heart.

Simultaneously, he realized he was completely paralyzed, unable to shift his weight even an inch.

‘W-what is happening to me?’

It wasn’t a localized phenomenon; the sudden, eerie silence that descended over the area made it clear that every single soldier was frozen in place.

“What’s wrong with you idiots? Move!”

The solitary figure capable of movement was Park Seong-hyun.

Yet, there was an unnatural tremor in his tone.

His voice cracked with a mixture of sheer bewilderment and rising panic.

“I said move… you worthless trash!! I’ll butcher every single one of you—!!”

Despite his furious threats, the ranks remained entirely motionless.

Right then.

Step, step—

The distinct sound of approaching footsteps broke the silence, drawing closer with steady, unhurried precision.

And with those steps…

Splat—!

‘!!!’

A gruesome, sickening sound began to echo from various points in the crowd.

It was the sound of flesh rupturing under immense pressure, forcing Kim Min-woo to strain his neck with everything he had to see what was happening.

“Argh—!”

With an agonizing effort, he managed to tilt his head slightly, only to be met with a scene of pure, unadulterated terror.

‘No way!’

Pop—!

Nearby bodies were literally detonating, showering the ground with blood and shredded meat.

With every stride the approaching figure took, the asphalt was painted with a fresh coat of crimson.

Yet, Kim Min-woo was utterly powerless to react.

He could only watch in paralyzed horror as this walking harbinger of death drew closer and closer to his position.

‘Stay away, please stay away!’

He couldn’t discern whether his immobility stemmed from sheer, heart-stopping terror or the overwhelming pressure of the newcomer’s aura.

‘Ugh!’

His tear ducts wouldn’t even function to let him weep from the overwhelming dread.

Then…

Brush—

The passing stranger cast a brief, indifferent glance toward Kim Min-woo before continuing forward, completely dismissing him as a threat.

It was only after the figure had walked past that Kim Min-woo realized he was still intact.

‘How?’

As he looked around, he realized he wasn’t the sole survivor of the slaughter.

Though their numbers were incredibly sparse, a handful of others had also been spared from the sudden detonations.

The common denominator among the survivors was immediately apparent.

Including himself.

‘…We are the ones who refused to completely abandon our humanity.’

They were the souls who, despite the cruelty of the world, had clung to their basic morals.

They had passively observed the atrocities around them, acting as silent, regretful accomplices.

For this small group of bystanders, a sudden reprieve had been granted.

“Aaaaargh!”

A bloodcurdling, panicked shriek erupted from the front of the line.

It was unmistakably Park Seong-hyun’s voice.

The scream was saturated with absolute, primal terror.

And then…

Boom—!

One final, colossal explosion reverberated through the air.

“Hah!”

The suffocating grip that had paralyzed his muscles instantly dissolved.

“Gasp! Huff!”

Drawing in desperate lungfuls of air as the pressure lifted, Kim Min-woo slowly turned his gaze toward the center of the clearing.

“…Ah!”

An unspeakable scene of carnage met his eyes.

A landscape littered with severed limbs and a massive, pooling lake of blood.

At the very center of the devastation lay the remains of Park Seong-hyun, torn into unrecognizable fragments as if struck down by a wrathful deity.