Bang, bang! Gunshots rang out and Yeon Dogyeong and Han Jaejun revealed themselves from inside the forest to the clearing where the tile-roofed house stood. The semi-humans near them could be seen falling—thud, thud. Joo Seonghan gripped the cool gun barrel in his hand tightly and shut his mouth firmly. His ribs ached from his large, fast heartbeat.
“Get ready.”
The semi-humans who discovered Yeon Dogyeong and Han Jaejun erased their leisurely expressions and rushed at them. When the flare finished its lifespan and went out, Han Jaejun shot another one up toward the sky, and Yeon Dogyeong fired bullets wildly at the attacking semi-humans. Even the semi-humans that had been lying around leisurely beside the tile-roofed house that Joo Seonghan and his group had to go around couldn’t overcome the commotion and raised their bodies.
“Let’s go.”
Kang Hyeonjoo, who stood up swiftly, ran toward the tile-roofed house. Park Gyujin, whose body flinched as if convulsing, ran so as not to lose sight of Kang Hyeonjoo’s back, and Joo Seonghan also moved his feet without delay. Flares continued to go up. Every time a grenade exploded, the semi-humans screamed sharply. His heart was in turmoil.
When they went halfway around the tile-roofed house, an entrance with one door fallen off appeared. Kang Hyeonjoo took out two glow sticks from his chest, crumpled them, and gestured with his chin to go in. Park Gyujin, who was standing in front of Joo Seonghan, hesitated in his steps. Joo Seonghan looked down at his pale white cheek, then passed him and entered the tile-roofed house.
A table made of wood, chairs, a few household items, and scraps of cloth were messily scattered in a wide space like a living room. It looked like it had been robbed, or like someone had hurriedly packed their belongings and messed up the items. Joo Seonghan scanned the surroundings and went inward, relying on the moonlight entering through the broken ceiling. Behind his back, Park Gyujin’s rough breathing could be heard. And then—tap-tap, tap-tap—the sound of a beast’s feet stepping on the wooden floor could be heard.
Joo Seonghan turned his gun muzzle toward where the sound came from. A semi-human that revealed itself in the darkness blinked its large eyes. The brow of the one whose eyes met Joo Seonghan’s wrinkled fiercely. Bang.
“It’s spacious. Let’s go in.”
Kang Hyeonjoo, who came in last and shot the semi-human dead in one shot, chose the right corridor on the opposite side, not the side the semi-human had come from. Whew, Park Gyujin, who exhaled long, followed Kang Hyeonjoo, and Joo Seonghan closed his eyes tightly then opened them. If he didn’t get a proper grip, he would die. He had to put aside the thought that there might be semi-humans that didn’t attack and pull the trigger as soon as he saw a semi-human. Joo Seonghan gathered his thoughts and ran toward the two who had moved away.
The interior of the tile-roofed house wasn’t the simple structure Joo Seonghan knew. The corridors were bent in a complex maze-like way, and wooden doors were attached everywhere. The rooms inside the doors were narrow. And they all had items arranged in the exact same structure. A wide wooden table with chains attached on all sides was in the middle of the room, with a shelf and chair placed beside it, and on a bookshelf on one side of the wall were placed sacks with unknown symbols written on them, jars, tongs, knives, and so on. At a glance, this place that seemed like a hospital room was a laboratory. A human—no, a semi-human laboratory.
Joo Seonghan’s group reduced their words and went back and forth in the corridor, quickly examining the insides of rooms. Nothing that could be thought of as the Guimun was discovered, and Park Gyujin also shook his head each time.
“Tell us what we’re looking for.”
When they came out of the fifth room, Kang Hyeonjoo said to Park Gyujin in a hard voice. Outside, the sound of bombs exploding could still be heard.
“…There should be a round shape drawn on the floor. And there’s a small well.”
“Let’s split up and search.”
“But….”
Before Park Gyujin could grab Kang Hyeonjoo, he went into another room, and Joo Seonghan also checked beyond the doors they hadn’t confirmed yet. He opened all the doors attached to the corridor. Let alone a well, there wasn’t even graffiti on the floor. Kang Hyeonjoo, who checked the last room and came out, shook his head. Joo Seonghan went back the way they came with him. Park Gyujin was standing vacantly in the middle of the corridor as if he had been there all along. He was startled by the sound of footsteps, then saw Kang Hyeonjoo’s face and let out a sigh of relief. Kang Hyeonjoo made an annoyed expression. However, perhaps because he knew that complaining now wouldn’t help at all, he closed his mouth and left the corridor.
The three who came out to the living room where the entrance door they came in through was visible crossed over to the wider left corridor on the opposite side. Since this was the place where the semi-human had revealed itself, there was a possibility it was more dangerous than the right side. However, they couldn’t delay time. When Yeon Dogyeong and Han Jaejun, who were luring the semi-humans outside, could no longer fight, they would flee into the tile-roofed house. They had to find the Guimun by then.
“Aaaagh!”
Fortunately or not, it seemed there wouldn’t be any dawdling.
“Run!”
Kang Hyeonjoo shouted while closing the door he had opened again. Joo Seonghan and Park Gyujin turned around and ran into the corridor.
What they saw as soon as they opened the nearest door in the left corridor was numerous semi-humans looking up at the ceiling. One in front straightened its head as if reacting to the door sound, and screeched. Then the semi-humans who had been looking up so much their necks might fall off simultaneously lowered their eyes and looked at the three people standing at the doorway. Park Gyujin, who met the semi-human’s bright red eyes, screamed.
“Agh! Agh! Aaagh!”
Perhaps because his fear reached its peak, Park Gyujin kept screaming while bumping his body here and there in the corridor, and from behind came the sound of doors opening roughly. The semi-humans made sharp sounds and burst out of the room. Joo Seonghan, who was running while biting his lips hard, opened one door that was barely visible. There was nothing in the wide empty room. He confirmed with his eyes and ran toward Park Gyujin who had already fled far away. He met two more doors in the middle and opened them, but those places were also empty.
“Go in and close the door!”
Between the gunshots, Kang Hyeonjoo’s loud voice could be heard. Whether he understood the words or it was a coincidence, Park Gyujin screamed and entered the room at the very end of the corridor. He thought he would just close the door, but he was trembling and waiting for Joo Seonghan. Joo Seonghan slid inside. His body, unable to control its speed, hit the wall. His body tilted precariously. He checked under his feet and looked back.
“Close it! I said close it!”
Kang Hyeonjoo, who realized the door closing sound hadn’t been made, shouted loudly while shooting his gun repeatedly. Park Gyujin, who had been hesitating, tried to close the door. Joo Seonghan hurriedly went to the door and pushed Park Gyujin away.
“Kang Hyeonjoo-ssi! Come quickly!”
Joo Seonghan, who shouted loudly, broke several glow sticks he received from Yeon Dogyeong and dropped them all in front of the door.
“Just detonate it and come!”
At Joo Seonghan’s voice that burst out once more, Kang Hyeonjoo, who was standing in the middle of the corridor shooting at semi-humans, looked back. He looked at Joo Seonghan’s face once, looked at the glow sticks under his feet once, then took out a grenade.
“If, if it explodes and the house gets damaged….”
Before Park Gyujin’s words ended, Kang Hyeonjoo threw the grenade far and ran to where Joo Seonghan was. Boom! With a roar, half of the running semi-humans flew away. The house also half-collapsed while scattering various debris. Roof tiles and various materials obscured the view, and hazy dust covered the corridor. Kang Hyeonjoo, who broke through that black cloud, burst into the room. Joo Seonghan quickly closed the door, latched it, and went to the corner of the room and kicked the hole-ridden wooden floor with his foot.
“If the Guimun was over there, we’re finished now…. What are you doing?”
Kang Hyeonjoo, who was speaking while catching his breath, asked Joo Seonghan while shaking off his deeply torn arm. Joo Seonghan kept kicking the floor with his foot, then sat down and tore up the wooden floor.
“I think there’s a basement.”
At Joo Seonghan’s words, Kang Hyeonjoo and Park Gyujin, who caught on to the situation, approached and tore up the floor together.
When he entered this room a little while ago, Joo Seonghan had almost fallen by stepping wrong on the hole-ridden wooden floor. With a flustered heart, he lowered his eyes. And he was certain there was a basement. If it was a normal tile-roofed house structure, he should have seen flat dirt or stone floor below. However, what entered Joo Seonghan’s eyes was a deep hole drilled beside the dirt floor. Cold air blew from inside it.
“Please step aside for a moment.”
Kang Hyeonjoo lifted Joo Seonghan’s rifle that had been set aside and fired bullets randomly at the floor. Debris flew up and Joo Seonghan and Park Gyujin covered their faces and stepped back. The loudly ringing gunshots stopped and the three looked down at the floor that was punctured into a square hole. Kiyaaa! Outside the door, the semi-humans cried long. Due to the collapsed ceiling and dust, they seemed unable to find where Joo Seonghan and his group had gone.
“It doesn’t seem like a proper path, but let’s go for now. I’ll go first.”
Kang Hyeonjoo, who shouldered his gun, turned on his flashlight and shone it below while speaking. Fortunately, whether it wasn’t very deep, the light reached the ground. Kang Hyeonjoo jumped down without hesitation. Thud. He landed stably, shone light around to confirm it was safe, and stretched out his arm.
“Lower your legs first. I’ll hold you.”
Joo Seonghan held Park Gyujin’s arm so he would go down first. Park Gyujin, who sat on the broken wooden floor and lowered his legs, moaned “Ngh” and fell into Kang Hyeonjoo’s arms. Bang bang bang! The semi-humans, who had narrowed the siege, pounded on the door. Joo Seonghan lowered his legs into the hole like Park Gyujin had done. He was about to jump down but stopped. Then he put his hand in his bag, took out the yellow fruit he had plucked when they escaped the cave last time, and threw it near the door.
“What are you doing?”
Joo Seonghan didn’t answer, confirmed Kang Hyeonjoo’s position, and jumped down. Kang Hyeonjoo, who supported under Joo Seonghan’s buttocks, carefully set Joo Seonghan down. Crash! From above came the sound of the door opening roughly. Joo Seonghan covered the light of the flashlight Kang Hyeonjoo was holding with his hand. Kang Hyeonjoo, who sensibly turned off the flashlight, took Joo Seonghan and moved quietly, hiding their bodies in the darkness. The semi-humans’ bustling footsteps could be heard. However, they didn’t come down to the basement. Rather, they moved farther and farther away.
“…Did they leave…?”
When only gunshots and explosives detonating could be heard intermittently from afar, Park Gyujin said in a small voice. Kang Hyeonjoo, who nodded, burst a glow stick, threw it up toward the hole, and turned on the flashlight.
