A corpse.
The word got stuck in Kang Ji-Won's brain.
No. No, this isn't part of the contract. The contract was "goblin corpses." Three of them. This... this is human.
He stood frozen.
The faint yellow light from his helmet was trembling—not because the light itself was unsteady, but because Ji-Won's knees were shaking, making his head vibrate slightly.
...Chit... chit... chit...
The sound. It was back.
It wasn't coming from the direction of the corpse. It was coming from the glowing mushroom forest to his left.
Something is in there. Watching me.
He felt a cold drop of sweat roll down from his hairline, under the brim of the plastic helmet. It stung.
Don't move. Don't make a sound.
But he had to know.
If something is watching me, it already knows I'm here. It heard my crowbar. It heard my boots. Sitting here just means I'm a sitting duck.
And the body...
Is he dead? Or is this a trap?
He forced his right leg to move. Squelch. The oversized combat boot sank into the wet blue moss, making a sickeningly loud sound.
Damn it!
He froze.
...Chit... chit... chit...
The sound from the left stopped, too.
It's listening.
He felt his heart hammering so hard it hurt. Thump-thump-thump. It was the only sound in his ears.
No choice. I have to see.
Another step. Squelch.
The twenty meters felt like twenty kilometers. He advanced, his eyes locked on the dark mass on the ground, his ears strained toward the left, waiting for any movement.
Fifteen meters...
The smell hit him now.
Not the sweet, rotting smell of the moss.
This was a new smell. A sharp, metallic, acrid smell... the smell of copper and salt.
Blood. Human blood.
He clamped his free hand over his mouth, nearly gagging inside his helmet.
Ten meters...
His weak headlamp illuminated the body better.
It wasn't a high-ranking 'Walker'. There was no gleaming armor, no glowing weapons.
The equipment was... terrifyingly familiar.
A dirty road-worker's vest. Cheap combat boots. And a yellow plastic helmet... lying beside him, split in two.
He's... he's like me.
He's 'Scrap'.
Ice flooded his veins. Is this the guy who left the tent before me? Or someone else Baek sent to his death?
Five meters...
He was close enough to see.
The man was lying on his back, his eyes (or what was left of them) staring up at the two-mooned purple sky.
His chest...
Oh God...
His chest was completely torn open. This wasn't a clean knife stab, or a sword-cut. This was... savage. Ripped.
And the blood... the blood was still wet. It glistened black in the glowing blue moonlight, not fully clotted yet.
This... this just happened. Maybe minutes before I arrived.
Damn it. Damn it, Baek! You lied! You sent me in here knowing it wasn't safe!
Was this the test? Does he just send in 'Scrap' one by one until one makes it through?
Ji-Won knelt beside the body, crowbar held high, his entire body screaming at him to run. But he had to know.
What killed him?
He looked around. No arrows. No broken weapons.
Then he saw it.
In the dead man's hand, he was still clutching something.
A white data-chip.
He... he didn't even complete the contract.
He was killed before he even started.
Chit. Chit.
The sound.
It wasn't on the left anymore.
It was closer.
Chit. Chit. Klak.
The sound of a claw hitting stone.
Shit.
Ji-Won slowly turned his head toward the sound.
It wasn't coming from the forest.
It was coming from the cave.
It's not hiding in the woods. It's waiting at the entrance.
Chit. Klak.
Ji-Won aimed his weak headlamp toward the black maw of the cave.
He saw nothing at first. Just deeper darkness.
Then, something glinted.
A faint reflection of light.
Ji-Won centered the sickly yellow beam on it.
It wasn't eyes. It was... teeth.
A row of sharp, yellow, black-stained teeth, grinning at him from the dark, only ten meters inside the cave's mouth.
And above the grin, two small, red-hot pinpricks of eyes, glowing with a malicious intelligence.
Goblins. No.
That's not a goblin.
It's too big.
Chit... klak...
The thing that had been hiding in the darkness... began to slowly crawl into the light.
Kang Ji-Won froze.
Every muscle in his body turned to stone. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't blink.
The only thing moving was the faint yellow beam of his light, still trembling slightly, locked on the two red eyes floating in the dark.
Klak.
Another step.
The thing emerged from the shadows, not rushing, but... slinking. It was walking on all fours, but not like an animal. It moved like a massive, humanoid spider.
No.
This was not a goblin.
Goblins in the manhwa he'd seen were small, green, and stupid. This thing... this thing was six feet tall even when hunched over. It was gray, with skin pulled taut over protruding bones. Its arms were disproportionately long, ending in glistening black talons as long as his fingers—the things that had been making the klak sound on the stone floor.
And it was smiling. Those sharp yellow teeth were fixed in a permanent, terrifying grin.
This... this isn't a 'Scavenger.' This is a 'Predator'.
The creature hissed. A sound like steam leaking from a punctured pipe. It looked right at Ji-Won, then slowly swiveled its red eyes to the mangled corpse beside him, then back to Ji-Won.
It was telling him: "You're next."
Run.
His brain screamed it. Run. Run now. The Gate is right behind you. Fifty feet. You can make it. Drop the crowbar. Drop everything. Just run!
His right foot shifted. It tensed, ready to pivot and sprint.
... 72 Hours ...
The cold image of the red eviction notice flashed in front of his eyes.
... 2,000,000 Won ...
Hyun-Soo's weak voice over the phone. "Are you okay, Oppa?"
... Scrap Class ...
... 80 Percent ...
If I run now... then what?
I'll go back. I'll go back to Baek, a failure. He won't pay me. I'll owe him 20,000 Won for the damn equipment I didn't even use. I'll be kicked out of my apartment. Hyun-Soo will be kicked out of the hospital.
Running means death. A slow, cold death in a filthy Seoul alley.
Dying here...
...at least it's fast.
No.
Something else, something colder than fear, solidified in his chest.
What if...?
He looked at the corpse beside him. This man. He had the same crowbar. What did he do? Did he see it and run, and get killed from behind? Did he freeze and scream, and get killed while he was crying?
What if... he fought back?
This thing... it's not armored. Its skin is stretched over bone. It's fast, yes. And its claws are sharp. But... is it strong? Could one good hit...?
The rusty crowbar in his hands suddenly felt heavier, and more... real. It wasn't just a hubcap-thief's tool. It was 15 pounds of solid steel.
If I die, I'm dying swinging this damned thing.
Ji-Won slowly raised the crowbar with both hands, settling into a stance like a baseball batter preparing to swing.
Something changed.
The grin on the creature's face faltered. Its head tilted to the side, its red eyes narrowing. It understood.
This prey... isn't going to run.
CHYEEEEET!
It shrieked this time, a high-pitched, angry sound. It wasn't slinking anymore. It rose up on its hind legs. It was taller than Ji-Won.
Damn.
It's smart. It's trying to scare me into running.
I'm not running.
Ji-Won said nothing. All his energy was focused in his arms, in his grip on the crowbar.
The standoff had begun.
A ghost in a cheap yellow helmet versus a nightmare from another world.
They both waited.
Waiting to see which one would blink first.