Translator: Nox

Chapter 108

24. The Owner of the Sinclair Hotel Has Returned.

Thirty minutes before Cherry and Eden descended the stairs, on the third floor of the Sinclair Hotel Kintne Branch.

Nick, a middle-aged man staying in the fourth room, returned to his quarters after finishing his meal and unlocked the door with his hotel key.

In an hour, he was scheduled to be conscripted into the Kintne search party to scavenge for food.

Everyone living in the Kintne Survival Camp—regardless of age or gender—was drafted into search parties for food supplies on a rotating basis. Refusal meant immediate expulsion.

While they were issued firearms when heading out to scavenge, it didn’t necessarily increase their chances of survival.

Today could very well be the last day of Nick’s life. Every time his turn in the rotation came up, Nick thought the same thing: that today might be his end.

Immediately after the world fell apart, there were nearly a hundred people in this camp, but now that number had dwindled to less than half.

It was because Al treated them all as consumables. They were, in effect, slaves existing solely for Al’s benefit.

The reason everyone followed Al without complaint despite this was that the camp provided at least a minimum amount of food, and the martial power of the guards following Al was overwhelming.

‘Still, if it were me, I wouldn’t run a camp in such a cruel way.’

This was nothing short of a reign of terror.

Nick sighed and lay down on his bed. He wanted to get at least a little rest before heading out on the search. However, the moment he lay down—

Bang! Bang! Rat-tat-tat-tat—

The sound of gunfire erupted from somewhere. No, this was the noise of a full-scale firefight.

Startled, he bolted upright and ran out of his room. Quite a few others had also come out after hearing the shots.

“What’s going on?”

“It sounds like it’s coming from the top floor.”

“The top floor? Isn’t that where Al-nim’s room is?”

“Aw, whatever. Let’s just all go back inside and ignore it. Someone must have messed up again.”

Listening to the murmurs of the crowd, Nick looked down at his hand with a troubled expression.

His left hand was missing the ring and pinky fingers. He had accidentally dropped the food he’d scavenged while fleeing a monster during a search, and his fingers had been cut off as punishment.

Al was a merciless man. He did not tolerate even a single minor mistake; a price always had to be paid. Neither excuses nor pleas worked.

‘Is this really living?’

Nick looked down at his hand with a weary face and wondered. Yet, he had even less confidence in his ability to survive outside the camp.

Thump—!

Just then, a massive noise echoed from the first floor. It sounded like a heavy impact. The building even shook, as if something gargantuan had slammed into it.

“W-what was that?”

The people swarmed out into the hallway again. As if by unspoken agreement, everyone headed down the stairs to find the source of the noise.

Those who rushed down to the first floor were horrified by the scene unfolding in the hotel lobby.

In the lobby, a member of the search party sat slumped on the floor, having dropped his bag.

The source of the heavy thudding sound was none other than the hotel’s front door. The thick, sturdy wooden door was cracking. Something massive on the other side was repeatedly ramming into it.

Nick was certain it was a monster.

Before long, the door finally splintered and gave way.

Monsters began pouring into the lobby. Seeing this, people screamed and fled.

“Kyaaaah!”

The monsters that burst inside instantly devoured the search party member and swarmed around him. Then, they simultaneously buried their snouts into the bag he had seemingly brought. The number of monsters indulging in the bag’s contents grew steadily.

“To the second floor!”

Nick hurriedly shouted instructions to the people. They had to go up to the second floor and block the passage.

As long as those things didn’t see people, they wouldn’t go as far as breaking through things to get to them. If they just blocked the door and stayed silent, they would be fine. It would work, surely…!

---

Path 2 was not easy. Not only did they get lost, but they also didn’t know how to open the door they finally found, so it took quite a while before they managed to open the wooden crate and climb out.

Emmy and Hose looked around the mysterious laundry room with bewildered faces.

“Where are we now…?”

Hose pulled out a submachine gun, loaded it, and scanned the surroundings with eyes full of vigilance.

Within his sight, he spotted something strange next to the laundry. Something wrapped tightly in linens…

Emmy quickly approached and pulled back the laundry, then let out a yelp.

“Gah! You scared me! I thought it was a corpse!”

When Hose put his index finger to his lips, Emmy clutched her chest and fell silent.

“Looks like someone knocked him out on purpose,” Hose said, checking the condition of the fallen man.

“Was it Star Candy Unni?”

“Whether it was Sir Eden or Lady Cherry… I don’t think it was the work of the people here.”

“This looks like a laundry room… Let’s try heading out for now.”

Emmy stood in front of the laundry room’s only exit, gripping the doorknob as she listened to the sounds outside.

“It’s a bit noisy out there? What is it…?”

Hose listened as well. Just as she said, it was a bit chaotic outside the room. Gripping the doorknob tightly, Emmy spoke to Hose.

“I’ll open the door first. Hose, cover me from behind.”

Hose nodded, stepping back slightly from the door. He aimed his loaded rifle toward the gap that was about to open and waited.

After taking a short breath, Emmy opened the door. Through the opening, the situation outside slowly came into view.

It was absolute bedlam.

“W-what in the world?”

Hose lowered his rifle before he knew it and surveyed the scene. Emmy looked out past the door with a puzzled expression.

The place they had emerged into appeared to be a hotel hallway. And at the end of the hall, they could see the hotel lobby, where people were fleeing in every direction.

Skreeeeeee!

Then came the screech of a monster.

“Damn it!”

Emmy hurriedly slammed the laundry room door shut. Hose placed a hand on Emmy’s shoulder.

“Wait, don’t you think Lady Cherry and Sir Eden might be over there?”

“Are you saying we should go in there now? Did you forget what the Lawyer ajusshi said? He sent us as a search party just to search. He didn’t tell us kids to do something dangerous.”

“But what if Lady Cherry needs help right now? The situation looks serious.”

“That’s true… I just recited the manual first because I was afraid of getting scolded by the Lawyer ajusshi.”

Emmy gave a small smile and put her hand back on the doorknob.

However, their dilemma didn’t last long. A young woman fleeing toward the laundry room yanked the door wide open.

Trailing behind the young woman was a monster in the shape of a giant centipede. A massive body with countless legs. It approached, clicking the mandibles between its teeth.

While Emmy flinched back in horror at the grotesque form, Hose raised his rifle.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullets flew and struck the centipede’s body, knocking it back a step with every hit.

Bang—!

And with the final shot, the centipede collapsed to the floor.

“Ugh. I really hate bugs,” Emmy said, shuddering with a look of disgust.

But the problem wasn’t just this one monster. In the lobby visible at the end of the hallway, multiple monsters were swarming in.

And amidst the chaos, the voice of a man shouting to the people could be heard.

“To the second floor! Everyone move to the second floor! It’s safe there!”

The man was risking his life running around the lobby to avoid the monsters while urgently evacuating people.

Emmy and Hose took the young woman who had fled to the laundry room and moved with the group toward the evacuation point. Everyone was heading up the stairs to the second floor.

Just then, the man who was evacuating the people approached Hose and Emmy. He patted them on the back.

“What are you kids doing! Get upstairs, quickly!”

However, the only weapon the man held was a single stick he’d picked up somewhere.

Furthermore, the fingers of the hand holding the weapon… It looked like they had been severed long ago, but regardless, it didn’t look like a hand that could easily swing a club.

Hose looked at Emmy. Emmy must have been thinking the same thing, as she looked at him and nodded. Hose stepped toward the man and spoke.

“We’ll help. Please lead the people.”

“What are you talking about! Get up there! Kids like you… Wait, I haven’t seen your faces before…!”

The man, Nick, couldn’t finish his sentence.

Bang! Bang!

This was because Hose had immediately raised his rifle and begun firing at a monster that was about to devour someone heading for the stairs.

Nick had no choice but to help them evacuate the remaining people.

Emmy moved nimbly to find and bring back those who hadn’t yet escaped the first floor, while Hose covered her.

They thought they had evacuated almost everyone now, but the number of monsters pouring in through the hotel lobby doors was excessive.

“What’s wrong with those monsters? Why are they swarming like that?”

“Seriously, it’s like they’ve caught the scent of Elpinus herbs or something…”

As she muttered that, Emmy spotted a bag abandoned in the hotel lobby. Various types of herbs were scattered around the bag along with a white powder.

Among them was a herb with a particularly striking shape. An herb that looked exactly like a centipede.

However, it was soon obscured by the crowding monsters. The monsters gathered and gathered in that direction, and those who couldn’t squeeze into the fray attacked the people nearby.

“Damn it, that’s Elpinus herb, isn’t it?” Emmy cried out in horror.

She stomped her feet anxiously as she stared at the swarming mass of monsters.

It was just as Hose and Emmy were panicking in the face of this desperate situation.

Someone called out to them from the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Huh? What? Why are you two here?”

Hose, Emmy, and Nick all whipped their heads around to look up the stairs. Two people were coming down.

A woman with deep pink hair holding an axe, and a blonde man in a messy but dashing police uniform.

It was Cherry and Eden.