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Chapter 70: Jamsuni in the Basement (2)
Chapter 70: Jamsuni in the Basement (2)
Kim Sojin descended to the fifth basement floor.
There, a group of people had gathered.
“Senior, someone’s approaching. They look like a girl.”
“Don’t come any closer. If you do, we’ll assume you're an evil spirit.”
Kim Sojin observed them carefully. In their hands were objects condensed with spiritual energy. Weapons of spiritual power. A group fully armed with these.
Moreover, the leaders in traditional hanbok had spiritual realizations high enough to be on the verge of deploying their full power.
They were experts just before reaching the peak of their training. This group seemed to be part of a top-tier organization, like the sect alliance or a great sect. If it had been any ordinary girl, she would have collapsed from the oppressive force of their energy.
“She’s breaking through our spiritual pressure and approaching.”
“Shall we attack?”
“Wait. She could be an NPC of this strange phenomenon.”Kim Sojin looked beyond them.
Beyond them, the Infinite Elevator was open.
Seeing the barricade they’d set up to keep the doors from closing, it seemed these people were skilled in using the elevator.
“For the elevator to suddenly stop in a dimension like this… I've been to places called hell, but this one ranks high on the list of ominous places.”
As the girl-like figure trembled, a man smiled warmly and spoke to her.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you no matter what.”
“Senior, that’s so cringe…”
“What? I was being considerate, and now I’m hurt.”
They were even exchanging casual banter.
Truly, they seemed like professionals at exploring elevators.
Kim Sojin, hearing their conversation, nodded.
“It’s a familiar sight… A well-trained team…”
Kim Sojin mumbled with a smile, and the one who seemed to be the leader raised his hand, gathering the attention of the others.
Each team member, gripping their weapon, stared intently at Kim Sojin.
The girl, noticing this, stopped talking and looked at them.
Then she spoke toward them.
“As one who governs souls, I vow not to attack you.”
Her vow.
As soon as they heard the vow, some began to relax.
A few even said:
“What? We were scared for no reason. She even made a vow.”
“Everyone, ease up. Don’t waste your energy.”
Kim Sojin silently watched them, then raised her hand.
As the girl clenched her fist, several heads exploded in unison.
“Attack! Attack!”
“Damn it!”
“S-Senior!!”
Suddenly, the head of the teammate standing next to them exploded, spraying blood like a fountain. In shock, they could do nothing but stare at the girl.
However, even amidst the chaos, the girl simply pointed at something with her finger.
At the spot she pointed to was a grotesque creature, a twisted mix of tentacles and teeth, crushed and lifeless.
The remaining teammates could recognize the face of their fallen comrade on the corpse of the grotesque thing.
It was a parasitic creature that had devoured the comrade’s head, replaced it, and had been controlling the body.
The surviving team members, horrified, spoke in disbelief.
“A Body Snatcher? Is it really a Body Snatcher?”
“I’ve only ever read about them in research papers.”
In terms of advanced biology, these creatures were known as Body Snatchers—beings that stole and controlled human bodies.
Kim Sojin, with a faint smile, remarked:
“A well-trained team dies because they trust their teammates. It’s always been that way. This is a familiar sight.”
Kim Sojin continued in a slightly amused tone.
“You guys don’t remember? It’s common sense not to talk about safety or reassurance in the middle of an anomaly, right?”
The moment one considers an anomaly to be safe, they fall under its influence. Thus, one should never feel reassured in the face of an anomaly. But several members of that team had been trying to comfort each other, offering reassurance.
Kim Sojin found this sight nostalgic.
A team, slowly picked off by Body Snatchers, looked just like this.
“I saw this so much as a kid. One by one, they’d get taken over by Body Snatchers, and by the time there was only one team member left, all the fake teammates would stand around them, grinning with their mouths torn wide open. That’s just how Body Snatchers work. The first time I saw it, I almost wet myself.”
The surviving team members felt terror for two reasons.
First, they didn’t know when their comrade had been taken over by the Body Snatcher. What they did know for sure was that it didn’t happen during this elevator exploration. There simply hadn’t been any time for it.
Which meant their comrade had been possessed long before.
But when?
And how many Body Snatchers were lurking back at their base right now?
The team members felt a chilling fear from that realization.
Secondly, they were terrified of the girl.
A girl who saw a dead Body Snatcher and grinned like she was meeting an old friend. Body Snatchers were rare, advanced bio-creatures that only appeared in specific hells. Creatures you should never be happy to see.
Advanced bio-creatures were beings whose origin lay in the spiritual world. And Body Snatchers, born in hell, were often referred to as demons.
Yet this girl smiled at the sight of such a rare demon, as if she were glad to see it. Even the veteran team members, known for their survival skills, couldn’t help but stiffen and tense up at this sight.
Her otherworldly beauty and surreal demeanor enveloped her, making it hard for the surviving team members to breathe under the weight of her presence.
At that moment, the sound of the elevator moving echoed through the space.
Even though it was operational, the team members didn’t move.
Kim Sojin asked them:
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to get in?”
The moment they heard those words, the remaining members immediately bowed at a 90-degree angle and shouted, “Thank you for sparing us, senior!!!” before rushing toward the elevator, fleeing in panic.
And so, Kim Sojin was left alone on the fifth floor.
“...Come.”
Now alone, the girl threw her phone far into the distance.
A few seconds passed.
The space around her brightened as an overwhelming torrent of spiritual energy poured down, almost too bright to see her form.
‘Was it when I was 8? Or 9? It was the same back then, too.’
Kim Sojin endured the pain, recalling her past.
‘To deceive that sect, I had to make a false vow. The handlers never told me that making a false vow would bring down heavenly punishment. I nearly died back then... No, they probably wanted me to die.’
She clenched her teeth, suppressing the pain, but showed no other changes in her expression.
‘The heavenly punishment hurt more in my heart than it did from my body burning.’
When the heart aches, sadness follows.
When sadness takes root, the heart turns cold.
A cold heart quickly becomes cruel.
And a cruel heart inflicts wounds upon others.
That’s why the world grows crueler with each passing day.
The girl realized this at a young age.
And from that moment, she gave up hope in this world.
Having endured the heavenly punishment, she wiped away her tears.
But these weren’t tears of sorrow. They were reflexive, brought on by pain.
Despite the agony that brought her to the point of tears, the girl didn’t make any noise other than the occasional groan. She was that accustomed to pain.
She picked up her phone as if nothing had happened.
When she touched the screen, a new Wi-Fi icon appeared.
Without hesitation, Kim Sojin pressed on the network.
===
Wi-Fi
Available Networks
- KillEveryoneButGetHeavenlyPunishmentLikeAnIdiot (locked)
Secured with WPA2
- SeenMoreGhostsThanMyParents (locked)
Secured with WPA2
- PrefersHellOverTheHumanWorld (locked)
Secured with WPA2
- ThenWe’reTeammatesLOL (locked)
Secured with WPA2
===
“Big talk when you're scared stiff.”
Kim Sojin’s hands trembled slightly as she saw this.
“Go ahead, give me your best shot. I’ll pay you back a hundredfold.”
With those words, the girl sprinted down to the next floor.
***
It was a refreshing morning.
The sky was blue, and the birds chirped merrily.
Yet, there was a lingering sense of unease.
Unease? Just saying that makes me feel like I’m turning into some kind of pessimist.
I brushed my teeth and splashed water on my face haphazardly. As I washed, memories of yesterday started creeping in, particularly the moment Jamsuni stormed off in a huff.
Ah, maybe that’s why I’m feeling uneasy—because of Jamsuni running off yesterday.
It wasn’t the first time she’d dashed off after getting upset recently. Was it when I said I was going to take the entrance exam for Cheonji?
That little brat had shown up at the DMZ, of all places! I nearly had a heart attack. Easily the scariest moment of the year for me.
And this time, Jamsuni ran off again, upset over some petty argument.
I have no idea where she went, but I trust she didn’t head for someplace dangerous like the DMZ again.
I spanked her hard enough last time; surely, she wouldn’t make that mistake again, right? Besides, I’m here now.
She’ll probably show up around breakfast, sulking and whining about how mad she was.
-Gurgle, spit
I spat out the toothpaste as I mulled it over.
Looks like breakfast today is soy stir-fry. I can already hear Jamsuni’s voice, "...Soy stir-fry is the best!"
Just then, I heard someone hastily opening the door.
I wrapped a towel around myself and stepped out of the bathroom, only to find Nayu standing at the entrance.
The moment she saw me, she shouted:
“Nayu! Breaking news!”
– – – The End of The Chapter – – –
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