Chapter 102 – Horror Express (1)

Another day of enjoyable training had come to an end.

‘It’s about time I made those foreigners start grinding dungeons.’

Their training was more or less complete.

I wondered if they would awaken naturally, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

So, I decided to use a more brutish method.

Endless dungeon runs.

It was the best way.

Once inside a dungeon, the system synchronization works better because of the demonic field.

After finishing my shower, I came out to find the lights in the training hall were off.

People were huddled together with various snacks.

What were they doing?

“One day, I was on my way home after training.”

Lee Ja-rang was telling some kind of story.

“It was an especially dark day. Spooky. It was also a day that reminded me of a fallen comrade.”

How were they all concentrating so well despite Lee Ja-rang’s clumsy pronunciation?

It didn’t even sound like a very interesting story.

“The moment I entered my house, I felt a murderous intent. I tensed up. And then, I heard a voice.”

Lee Ja-rang slowly put a shrimp cracker in his mouth and chewed.

Crunch.

“The captain was in the house.”

What the hell.

“Aw, what kind of story is that?”

My thoughts exactly.

“Isn’t it scary? It’s terrifying. Training is over, but he’s waiting at home to train you again.”

“It’s scary, sure, but that’s not the kind of story we were going for.”

It was hard to follow the conversation. Though it seemed like they were talking behind my back.

“This time, I’ll tell a scary story.”

A scary story?

“The captain is over there right now, watching us.”

At Lee No-rae’s words, everyone flinched and looked my way.

What? Why are they scared? Is this a joke?

“That one was a little scary.”

Lee Jeon-guk said with a laugh.

Right, laugh it up while you can. You’ll all be rolling on the floor soon enough.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Ah, since training ended early, we were just sharing scary stories we know.”

Was it because it was early summer?

Back when I was a kid, they used to have scary story shows on TV.

Though these days, the words “housing prices are rising” and “taxes are going up” are probably scarier than any ghost.

“You’re not children.”

The situation was rather amusing.

A bunch of grown adults, with the lights off, sharing stories around a few candles.

Well, I suppose this makes for a good memory.

“Team Leader, don’t you know any horror stories or ghost tales?”

“Well, I don’t really know what fear is.”

I said with a shrug.

A few faint boos came from the group, but no one dared to do it openly.

Honestly, there was nothing that scared me.

If something was scary, I could just rip it apart.

“I’ll tell one this time. It’s a pretty well-known one, but you might not know it, Team Leader.”

“Go on.”

As if he were about to teach me the meaning of fear, Kim In-ho began his story.

“One day, a man got lost. As night fell, he grew hungry and entered a restaurant.

The restaurant had a peculiar name: A Certain Restaurant.

The man ordered the most popular item, Napolitan pasta, and ate it.”

A food story?

Honestly, I was expecting a story about dumplings.

The one where you open the container and one dumpling is missing, then you open it again and two are gone.

“But strangely, it was salty, and he started to get a headache. Feeling something was off, he told the owner the Napolitan tasted strange. The owner apologized and said he would make a new one.”

Kim In-ho’s eyes gleamed.

“This time, it tasted fine. The man left the restaurant, and that’s when he saw the sign again. The name on the sign was A Certain Restaurant…. The most popular item was Napolitan….”

Kim In-ho said no more.

He looked around, then spoke with a smile.

“That’s the end.”

What was that? Some kind of pointless story?

“Ah, this story is a great representation of the fear of the unknown. Isn’t it scary?”

Your thinking that I’d find that scary is what’s scary.

“The ending can be interpreted in so many different ways. Man, you have to look it up to know the real horror.”

What’s the point then? The story has no immediate impact.

Too bad, but this one was a dud too.

“Team Leader must be really tough against horror stories.”

“Honestly, fear is something only people with weak minds fall for.”

“Ugh, you’re so smug…. I’ll tell one this time.”

Now it was Seo Hyun-ji’s turn, rolling up her sleeves.

“It’s called Mary’s Phone Call. A girl was moving and threw away her old foreign doll, Mary. But that night, she started getting phone calls.”

Seo Hyun-ji changed her tone of voice.

“‘This is Mary. I’m in the trash can now….’ At first, the girl thought it was a prank.”

Ooh, this one sounds a bit more serious.

“‘This is Mary. I’m behind you.’ Suddenly, the calls started coming one after another. From a blocked number.”

The others were focused.

“Open the door. I said open it! Open!”

Seo Hyun-ji shouted as if she were the abandoned doll herself.

“Hmm, based on the conversation, I’d estimate the doll’s weight to be around 3kg? A punch needs body weight behind it, and a weight like that wouldn’t be much of a threat. Oh, right. There was also an old story about a possessed doll running around with a knife…. All of that is meaningless. You just kick it, and it’s over.”

“……”

Seo Hyun-ji glared at me.

What? What do you want me to do?

“I’m done.”

“I’ll go next. Mine is a sure thing.”

Kim Tae-yang said with a sly grin as he began his story.

He went on and on, telling famous urban legends like “Hey, big bro? It’s Byeong-cheol,” the story of the disconnected internet TV, and the one about the doorbell graffiti.

The listeners occasionally reacted with shivers, but it all meant nothing to me.

It was just boring.

“Ghosts only appear to those with weak minds. It’s all just hallucinations from physical exhaustion.”

“I guess so. Honestly, I think even ghosts would avoid you, Team Leader.”

Ghosts are nothing but stories made up by people.

A ghost is a dead being, but a living person can cause harm at any moment.

Of course, I had no reason to be scared.

“See, I told you Team Leader doesn’t believe in ghost stories.”

“If you have time to sit around telling pointless stories, you have time to do one more squat.”

With that, I went to go destroy my lower body.

“I heard there’s a dance that wards off ghosts.”

“Oh, that? I’ve seen it on a streaming site.”

“They say a lot of ghosts appeared after the First Gate Incident because so many people died. For real, for real.”

A dance to ward off ghosts?

Seriously, in the time it takes to do a dance like that, you’d be better off doing another push-up or lifting a dumbbell.

‘Well, still.’

Ghost stories might be a waste of time, but I thought it was good for teammates to get along like this.

If they didn’t get along, they would never develop a sense of camaraderie.

We had wiped out the villain organization, but I had a bad feeling about it.

I had an inexplicable hunch that this was only the beginning.

I had never once come face to face with the supposed mastermind.

Above all, the power that had made them all vanish via teleportation a while ago was unsettling.

There was something out there that was beyond my predictions.

Lately, I had been neglecting my own training to supervise the team members.

Pushing my body to its limits for the first time in a while made my muscles scream with joy.

By the time I finished my shower and came out, it was already a dark night.

“Team Leader, you’re working hard, training so late.”

“Yes, I’ve been so busy with work lately that I haven’t had much time to train.”

After exchanging greetings with the security guard at the main gate, I started my walk home.

It seemed unusually dark today.

Gloomy clouds covered the moonlight, making everything around me pitch black.

My home was on the outskirts of the city, so there were quite a few places where the neon signs were off.

Did I not cool down enough?

For some reason, I felt like running. I started jogging home.

The streets seemed empty today.

All the shop signs were turned off too.

This street wasn’t usually this dark. Strange.

Flick.

A faint streetlight came on in the dark street.

Flicker, tick.

A blinking streetlight.

I heard a rustling sound from a black trash can.

Thump!

What emerged from the garbage bag was a stray cat.

The black-furred creature looked at me, its vertical pupils blinking, and let out a long, drawn-out *meooow* before darting into an alley.

“Ah, that startled me.”

I glanced around.

No one was watching.

I brushed off my butt and got up from where I’d fallen.

Hopefully, no one saw that.

It wasn’t because of the scary stories the others were telling earlier.

The truth is, I don’t mind if it’s a human.

The range of motion for human joints is surprisingly simple.

Especially when holding a knife.

In other words, I can defend against any kind of human attack.

But ghosts are a little different.

Their bodies are transparent.

And they can possess objects and then suddenly pop out.

Physical force doesn’t work on them either.

It’s not that I’m scared. It’s just that it’s a bad matchup.

That’s right.

I’m just being cautious.

Caw, caw.

I could hear the cry of a night bird, something I never usually heard in the city.

Huh, something’s weird.

They don’t usually cry like this.

“Looking this way~, looking that way~.”

I hummed a tune as I walked.

The old houses seemed to have a serene atmosphere today.

Only the sound of my singing echoed through the street.

I was singing a song from a show featuring someone I greatly respected.

A great saint who showed patience upon patience despite the bratty baby dinosaur causing all sorts of trouble.

He was an excellent head of the household, and also an excellent sword master.

“Unknowable~.”

I was almost home now.

Singing while walking definitely made it more enjoyable.

It was then.

Whoosh!

Something black flashed past me.

“Riding on a glacier~.”

It was probably just a stray cat.

Although it felt a little big for a cat.

“Coming on down~.”

At that moment, the moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds.

And there was something on top of my house’s wall.

“Huh?”

It was a human face.

The problem was, it was only a human head, floating in the air.

* * *

Today was a pretty lucky day.

A Gate crisis alert had been issued for this area.

Thanks to that, there wasn’t a single person on the streets.

‘Should I hit one more house and call it a day?’

The man in the black one-piece work suit looked at his final target.

He was what the world called a villain.

He had been a thief even before his awakening, and he was also a charitable angel who donated 10% of his profits.

He considered himself a righteous thief of sorts.

‘That house reeks of money.’

It even had a garden.

He carefully scanned his surroundings. As expected, no one was passing by.

The thief activated his detection skill.

He didn’t see any suspicious security devices.

At most, there was only a CCTV camera.

The thief took some clay out of his bag, unwrapped it, and kneaded it.

When it reached the right consistency, he threw it at the CCTV camera.

Thwack!

Having blocked the CCTV, the thief vaulted lightly over the wall.

Thump, swish!

His movements were so swift that anyone who saw him might have mistaken him for a ghost.

He admired his own agility and muttered a prayer, asking for permission to be a righteous thief again today.

“Riding on a glacier~.”

Just then, he heard someone singing from a distance.

‘Crazy son of a bitch. There’s a lockdown in effect and some lunatic is wandering around?’

Unless they were an awakened person like him, they could be killed if they ran into a monster.

The one-piece suit he was wearing was a chameleon suit with camouflage capabilities. If he stood still, most people wouldn’t be able to spot him.

He silently watched the approaching person.

“Coming on down~.”

In that instant, the thief froze.

The Special Guarder.

It was the strongest S-rank supporter, Hunter Lee Hyunbin.

‘Shit!’

He had never expected to run into the hottest hunter of the moment.

‘Please just pass by. Just pass by!’

He swore to himself that he would never steal again, praying and begging in his heart.

Thud.

Just then, Hunter Lee Hyunbin stopped singing and stood still.

Their eyes met.