Radioactive Leak (1)
An apartment complex appears as you ascend the hillside road.
The number of Kellikans nesting here had already reached the triple digits.
Even just looking at the shattered window frames, you could guess how tragic the events that unfolded here must have been.
Many had lost not only their homes to the Kellikans, but also their lives.
Yet, even in that miserable situation, there were still those who survived.
"Daddy, I'm hungry..."
There were no words to describe the feelings of a father looking at his whining, hungry daughter.
Oh Byung-heon spoke gently to his daughter.
"Daddy will bring something really delicious today. So can you wait just a little bit longer?"
His daughter slowly nodded.
She had barely eaten for days and didn't even have the strength to reply properly.
"My sweet Yesul, good girl. Can you take a little nap?"
""
To conserve energy, they had limited their movements as much as possible, and napped whenever they could-though she probably wasn't sleepy, Oh Yesul still closed her eyes.
"Alright. Then Daddy will be back soon."
"Be careful..."
Leaving behind his daughter's faint, flickering voice like a dying candle, he set out to find food.
As he lowered himself to the floor-
Slrrrp-
Oh Byung-heon's body vanished into the floor, as though it were being absorbed.
Soon, he began to see the inside of the concrete layers, and then the room below came into view.
Crrk-
In the living room below, a Kellikan was tearing into its prey.
Watching the creature swallow the entire head of what looked like a goblin, Oh Byung-heon hesitated.
What should I do...?
They had survived until now thanks to luck and Oh Byung-heon's special ability.
His power allowed him to phase through walls, which helped him scavenge hidden supplies throughout the apartment building. Water was sourced from the rooftop tank.
But this power wasn't limitless.
He could only move through walls for about 10 minutes at a time, and even then, at a painfully slow pace.
And once those 10 minutes were used up, he had to wait about a day before using the ability again.
He had to use it as strategically as possible.
Alright, let's move.
He dropped from the ceiling like a glob of slime, landing with a soft thud.
Immediately-
-?
The Kellikan reacted.
It paused its meal and turned toward the sound.
But there was nothing there.
-Screee?
Tilting its head briefly, the Kellikan returned to its feast.
Having quickly descended to the first floor by phasing through the floors, Oh Byung-heon took a moment to catch his breath.
Huff... huff...
This place, too, was a wreck, but thankfully there were no monsters here.
Few monsters were bold enough to walk straight into a Kellikan nest.
Now I just need to phase outside and into the next building.
Using the underground parking garage would've avoided the Kellikans' sight, but annoyingly, another monster had made its home down there, so that was a
no-go.
This current method was the safest option.
Even if he was briefly spotted, he'd disappear into a building before they could react.
I can do this. I can.
It was his first time stepping outside since the monsters had appeared, and his heart pounded in his chest.
He placed his hand on a wall he had selected after days of careful planning and took a few deep breaths. Then Oh Byung-heon opened his eyes wide.
Now!
Activating his ability, his body melted into the wall, and soon, the outside world came into view.
Untamed weeds had overtaken the area from lack of maintenance.
A single tree in the middle perfectly blocked the view from the buildings.
No one was out there.
Good.
He cautiously stepped outside and ran toward the adjacent building-
THUDUDUDUDU—!
A sudden thunderous noise made his heart sink.
"Ah!"
He sprinted frantically and immediately activated his ability to sink into the building wall.
Now safely inside, Oh Byung-heon turned toward the direction the sound had come from.
"What was that?"
At that moment.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—!
A thunderous noise rang out again, and this time, he could tell what kind of sound it was.
"Gunshots?"
That familiar sound, heard only in the military, was coming from somewhere quite close.
'The army came?'
But he quickly gave up hope.
'Too few gunshots for it to be the army.'
It sounded like just a handful of people firing their guns.
'Some fools must have somehow gotten their hands on guns and wandered in here without knowing any better.'
If they had known this was Kellikan territory, they would never have done something so reckless. They probably had no idea how many Kellikans lived here.
The outcome awaiting them was obvious.
A few moments later, the gunfire that had continued nonstop suddenly ceased.
He didn't need to see it with his own eyes to know how it ended.
They were probably devoured by those monstrous birds.
'So it ended like this after all.'
Oh Byungheon, who had harbored a small hope, clicked his tongue bitterly and began moving to carry out the task he had originally planned.
He could have used his power to pass through the wall and climb upward, but doing so would drain too much energy and leave him without strength for the return trip.
So instead, he took the emergency stairs to go up.
Fortunately, he didn't encounter any monsters and began his search on the 10th floor.
'No need to go too high.'
Kellikans typically nested in the upper floors of buildings.
Using his ability to check, he confirmed that one of them had definitely taken over the top floor.
And since they tended to build their nests around one another, the higher floors were completely off-limits.
The reason Oh Byungheon and Oh Yesul had survived this long was largely because they had been living in the lower floors.
Since they were beneath the notice of the Kellikans, they had been able to survive without ever being attacked.
'Please let it be empty.'
If there was a Kellikan inside, he'd have to give up the search.
He couldn't afford to get greedy and throw his life away.
Slliiide-
Fortunately, unit 1001 was completely empty.
But he couldn't relax just yet.
'That's monster bird droppings.'
Seeing the reeking feces of a monster bird in one corner of the living room meant this place was being used as a nest.
It just meant the creature had stepped out for a bit.
'This is my chance.'
From what he'd observed so far, the creatures rarely left their nests except when hunting.
So this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to search a Kellikan nest.
And then-
Rustle
'Jackpot!'
Maybe the previous occupant of this place had loved ramen, because the kitchen shelves were packed with ramen packages.
On top of that, there were stacked instant rice bowls and canned tuna.
The refrigerator was stocked with water, cola, and beer.
Oh Byungheon shoved as much as he could into the bag he had brought and looked longingly at the remaining supplies.
He was especially regretful about leaving the beer behind, but thinking of his daughter's face, he packed one more can of cola instead.
'Time to go.'
There was no need to search elsewhere today.
Just in case, he decided not to use his ability to phase through the floor, and instead retraced his steps back the way he came.
Returning to the first floor via the emergency stairs, he safely made it back to the original building, and now he just had to go back home.
'Got lucky today.'
He was happy to have found such a score right from the start, and even happier that he had barely used his power in the process.
Since he still had plenty of energy left, he could just phase through the walls and return home directly.
'She's going to love this, right?'
Even if the cola was lukewarm, he could already picture his daughter's delighted face.
With a full heart, he was slowly heading back home when—
"Aaaahhhhhh!!"
A sudden scream pierced the air.
It had been a long time since he confirmed there were no other survivors in the area except him and his daughter.
Which meant this scream could only be―
'Yesul!!'
It was Oh Yesul's voice.
"Shit!"
To move even a little faster, he threw off his bag and moved along the wall as if swimming through it.
By the time he arrived at the house where his daughter was waiting...
Screeeech!
He saw a Kellican smashing through the balcony window, rummaging through the junk piled up there.
Oh Ye-seul was so terrified she couldn't move, simply staring at it.
"Ye-seul!"
Oh Byung-heon immediately grabbed Ye-seul and activated his power.
Swish!
They disappeared into the floor as if melting into it, and the Kellican roared at the sight.
Screeeech!
Hearing that, other Kellicans began swarming in.
'What should I do?'
He could only maintain his power for a few minutes at most now.
Since he had merged into the wall with his daughter, the available time was
cut in half.
On top of that, his movement speed had significantly decreased.
If just a few more minutes passed like this, his power would run out, forcing them to eject back outside-straight into the frenzy of Kellicans that would tear them apart.
'I have to save Ye-seul at least...'
But there was no visible way to survive.
Time was slipping by fast, and the Kellicans, having found a human after so long, refused to give up.
'No!'
Eventually, they were helplessly ejected back out, and the Kellicans, catching their scent, grew even more frenzied.
Screeeech!
At that moment-
Thud!
A rupturing sound rang out.
Crack, crackle-
The entire balcony suddenly froze over in an instant.
'What the...?'
The Kellican within didn't even get the chance to scream before it met its end.
Then, the frozen corpse of the Kellican began to vanish like a mirage.
While staring blankly at the sight-
"Oh my. You're human?"
A woman holding an ice bow appeared beyond the broken balcony.
Kim Da-bin questioned Jang Ho-won with an accusing tone.
"Didn't you say it was the Kori nuclear power plant last time?"
"I'm sorry. It was my fault for saying it was Kori without verifying properly."
Since he had mentioned the Kori plant himself after having a prophetic dream, everyone had no choice but to believe him.
"I guess I assumed it was Kori because that's the only nuclear power plant I'd heard of."
Listening to their conversation through the Eye of the Absolute, I used telepathy to speak to Jang Ho-won.
[Don't blame yourself too much. It's okay.]
Since he didn't know exactly which plant appeared in his prophetic dream, the result wouldn't have changed.
'Once they realized the danger of nuclear power plants, they'd naturally start with the closest one.'
Even then, the Kori plant near Busan would've been the first priority.
'Besides, they were planning to secure all the other plants anyway.'
Nothing would've changed.
The plan was to continue the operation and take control of all the nuclear power plants in Korea.
'With a bit of a workaround, they could be used as forward bases too.'
More concerning than their conversation was the faint tremor I had just sensed from the direction of the Kori plant.
Some others didn't seem to notice anything, but observing through the Eye of the Absolute, I clearly felt the subtle tremor.
'I hope it was just a small earthquake...'
Earthquakes weren't common in Korea.
In the worst-case scenario-
'Did the Wolsong base explode?'
The Wolsong nuclear power plant, located in Gyeongju, was the next closest after Kori.
There was a high chance something had gone wrong there.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]