Chereads / Beyond the Eternity / Chapter 21 - Plague Spider [2]

Chapter 21 - Plague Spider [2]

Once I swept my gaze throughout the station and confirmed the coast was more or less clear, I issued another order to the party.

"Don't forget to collect their cores. We'll split them into five shares."

"Alright."

The group dispersed, and scavenged through the grotesque remains of the monsters scattered throughout the subway. The sight of them prying open bodies to retrieve the glowing cores was, admittedly, disgusting.

[A few constellations are pleased with your performance.]

[200 coins has been sponsored to all actors.]

Even the constellations were satisfied with the performance.

As I inspected the surroundings, I noticed Jung Yunhee approaching me with an unreadable expression. Even before she spoke, I had a sinking feeling about what she wanted to say.

"When did you know?"

"Hmm? What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb. You knew the spiders were above us the entire time, didn't you? That's why you told us to turn off the lights earlier."

"Not really. It was just a gut feeling."

"Oh, really? Then that gut feeling of yours must be pretty sharp, huh?"

She bought her face closer to mine and stared intensely. Her intensity made it difficult to keep a straight face. She was as unpredictable as ever—quietly observant, always watching.

Sometimes, she acted as if she wasn't interested in anything but she has been quietly observing everyone. Maybe she must have even noticed my actions were suspicious.

Her actions made sense now, considering what the system hinted about her. Two personalities in disorder... Was it possible a third was emerging?

Before I could dwell on it further, Lee Jong-ho called out.

"Guys, come and take a look at this."

I used the distraction to slip away from Yunhee's probing gaze, heading toward Jong-ho, who stood beside a large spider's corpse.

"Mm? What happened?" I asked.

"Look at this spider's body. There are strange marks on it."

I narrowed my eyes and examined the spider closely. At first, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. That is, until—

"What's this?"

I tilted my head toward one of the legs and noticed large bite marks.

"Did something take a big bite out of it?"

"It looks like it, doesn't it?"

Jong-ho gestured to other spiders scattered around the area. "You guys see it too, right? This isn't the only one. Spiders over there, there, and there also have the same marks. One even has two of its legs missing. Did these guys get into a fight with something else before we showed up?"

I knitted my brows. This only confirmed the suspicions I'd had earlier. It also explained the sudden disappearance of the monsters outside.

'I'll have to address that too,' I thought, shifting my focus.

A gaze lingered on me from a distance. It belonged to Gyeong. As soon as I met her eyes, she quickly looked away, but I knew. Her true intentions had already been clear from the start.

It was a shame only Kang Manshik had been caught. I had been planning to use this dungeon to eliminate both of them. But now, considering the current situation, Gyeong might prove more useful than I had anticipated.

Well, that was assuming everything went according to plan.

A perfect picture formed in my mind, and a subtle smile tugged at my lips.

"Since we've cleared out this area, why don't we go a little deeper? We might be able to gather enough cores if we keep this up."

I deliberately raised my voice so everyone could hear. I didn't just want to encourage the original party members but also the one lagging behind.

After a while, Angelica approached me with a bright smile, having gathered all of her cores.

Was she really an angel? Well, considering her name literally meant "Angel," I suppose it made sense. She certainly looked the part.

"Jakga, look! I gathered around six cores!"

"You killed that many on your own?"

"Yeah, isn't that amazing? I really kicked ass back there." She swung her new weapon around like it was a toy.

Curious about her new weapon, I finally asked the question I had been wondering about.

"Angelica, where did you get that from, anyway?"

"You mean this?" She held up the bone spear with pride. "I made it using the bone of a dead monster. I crafted it before you arrived in the safe zone."

"I see. Wait... could you say that again? I didn't hear you."

"Geez, don't pretend like you didn't hear me. I said I crafted this bone spear myself."

I was stunned. That wasn't something I had expected Angelica to say. If it were someone like Lee Jong-ho, I could understand. But Angelica?

Wasn't she the kind of person who looked like she couldn't kill a cockroach on her own? Maybe I had underestimated her.

"Hmm? What's with that look? You're thinking something rude, aren't you?"

"Wh-What... Um, no... I'm just surprised, that's all."

"You're lying, aren't you?"

How did she know?

"You don't sound very convincing when you stutter like that."

Her gaze sharpened, deepening into a slight glare, and I smiled awkwardly.

She didn't say anything. She just stared at me for a while.

Was she angry? I had no experience with women, so I was clueless on how to handle this.

Thankfully, I didn't need to say anything. The moment I was waiting for finally arrived.

"Aaaaagh! Somebody help!!"

[The constellation 'Architect of Destruction' smiles at your choice.]

"Shit, there are more."

Jong-ho shouted as he saw Gyeong being dragged deeper into the tunnel by a black spider. It seemed the spiders had been attracted by the previous fight, and now more of them had appeared. Chaos erupted in an instant.

Jong-ho tried to fight them off, but soon, he too was caught. I sprinted forward, reaching out.

"Jong-ho, grab on."

I tried pulling him back, but the spider's webs were tougher than I had anticipated. With ease, the spider yanked Jong-ho out of my grip.

"Shit—"

"Jakga, Angelica is..."

"Aaaaagh!"

Before anyone could react, Angelica screamed as she was ensnared by webs and dragged away into the tunnel by the spiders.

Now, Lee Gyeong, Lee Jong-ho, and even Angelica were all captured. That left only me and Yunhee—our party was down to two.

"Well, this just sucks."

The situation had spiraled into something completely unpredictable.

"Jakga-ssi..."

"Hmm?"

"We should chase after them."

I stared into the dark tunnel where the others had disappeared. The darkness seemed to pulse and shift, almost like it was alive, giving off a creepy, ominous vibe. It felt like I was staring into the jaws of a beast.

Should I enter or not? A heavy sigh escaped my lips.

"What choice do we have?"

There was no way out. We had no choice but to face whatever was lurking in the dark and enter the jaws of the beast.

We entered the dark tunnel at the same time and continued walking in a straight line. The darkness was so thick that even with a flashlight, it was impossible to make out anything clearly.

I felt uneasy. It wasn't the darkness or the eerie silence that bothered me—it was the person walking behind me.

Jung Yunhee.

She hadn't said a word since we started, but I could practically feel her gaze on my back the entire time. It made the atmosphere even more uncomfortable, like a heavy presence was pressing down on me.

Maybe it was because of our earlier conversation, or maybe it was because I couldn't sense her presence even though she was right behind me, but something about it felt wrong.

What was she thinking right now? Was she reflecting on our discussion? Or was she indifferent to it all?

My thoughts spiraled, and I found myself wishing I could read minds. It would be really useful in moments like this. Was I being paranoid, or was there something to worry about?

It struck me as ironic. Most people would kill for the chance to have a conversation with a character from their favorite story, but here I was, casually doing just that—and still finding things to complain about.

To be fair, not all fictional characters are good or heroic. There were plenty of characters I'd rather avoid than meet in person.

"Hey, Kim Jakga."

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Jung Yunhee spoke.

Before I could even respond, I was taken aback by the words that slipped from her lips so casually.

"Don't you know your neck is wide open?"

"Wh-Wha..."

Before I could react, Yunhee grabbed me from behind and pressed me against the wall. It happened so quickly that I barely had time to process what was happening.

"Um, Yunhee?"

"Yes."

"Do you mind letting me go? This position is rather awkward, you know?"

I smiled wryly.

We were in a position you'd typically see in a romance movie. Except, in this case, it was the woman pinning the guy against the wall.

For some reason, though, I couldn't help but enjoy the situation. Damn, if she didn't let go soon, I was afraid something... unpleasant might awaken in me.

Was this what the girls in romance movies felt like in these situations?

[A few constellations are excited upon seeing the scene unfold.]

[A few constellations are opening their eyes in excitement.]

[A few constellations asks whether you two will kiss now.]

Yunhee did not respond. She continued to stare at my face for a while.

Then, a sly smirk slowly formed on her lips.

"If you're really uncomfortable, you could've easily broken free by now."

"My hands are restricted, so how could I possibly break free?"

"Please, I know you're stronger than me."

"And how would you know that? Don't I look skinny?"

"Who knows? Just a gut feeling."

She hit me with my own words. I knew I shouldn't be complaining, but I still couldn't help the sting of it.

I cleared my throat and finally asked, "If you know I'm stronger, then what's the point of all this?"

"As I said before, if you felt uncomfortable, you could've easily broken out, yet you're still here. I didn't think you were the type who liked being pinned by a younger woman."

Her smile only grew wider with each word.

"So, what do you want?"

"Nothing special. I just want to know if you did it on purpose."

"Do what?"

"Still playing dumb? You knew the spiders would attack us from above and you knew the others would be taken away. Why didn't you say anything?"

She didn't hold back, asking those sensitive questions without a filter. I was sure the watchers could hear everything.

[A few constellations frown at your cruelty.]

[A few constellations look at you in a new perspective.]

I stared into her emotionless eyes and answered.

"Kang Manshik and Lee Gyeong are assassins sent by the Mainframe group. I just used the spiders in this place to get rid of them," I paused, then continued. ""You might have noticed, but they tried to poison our food several times."

"Tck! I knew those guys were suspicious from the start. But why didn't you just kill them if you knew they were trouble?"

"I needed them as bait. For that, they had to stay alive. At least, one of them."

"Why?"

"Because of the spiders. They have a habit of giving all their catches to their queen, the Mother Spider. Sometimes, their catches might have something rare like items or even cores."

Yunhee remained silent, listening carefully to what I was saying.

"I was expecting them to take either Gyeong or Manshik, but I didn't expect them to take Jongho and Angelica as well."

"Are you saying you're only after the items?"

"Yes. Although I hope Jongho and Angelica are okay, the items are more important. Are you disappointed?"

"Nope. Not at all. I think you are more interesting now."

She smiled and released me from the wall. Finally, I was free from the awkward position.

"Oh right, one last question."

"What is it?"

"Do you know anything about this world? Your previous actions only point in that direction."

What an interesting question. This time, I couldn't answer honestly, so I came up with an appropriate response before speaking again.

"I wouldn't say I know about our current situation exactly. I'm only familiar with situations like this from reading countless novels. That's all."

This was an answer with the the truth hidden among the lines.

"Really? That's it?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you were the reincarnation of a god or something. How boring."

"Me? A god? What a joke. I'm not some extraordinary deity, hero or protagonist. I'm just an ordinary writer, nothing more."

Yunhee paused for a moment, then asked again.

"One more question."

"I thought that was the final question."

"This is the last one. I mean it this time."

"Okay. Let's hear it."

"At the end of all this, once we clear the Narratives and Stories... is there... something at the end?"

She said, scratching her cheek. Was she embarrassed?

"Something at the end? You mean, like a wish?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

"I didn't think you were so innocent."

"Sh-shut up. Who are you calling innocent?"

I studied Yunhee's expression carefully. Although it wasn't noticeable at first, her poker face trembled slightly.

Everyone adapted to this world in different ways. However, they all had one thing in common—they all suffered in one way or another.

Despite pretending to be tough, Yunhee was a rather cute girl underneath the surface.

"In these kinds of stories, isn't there always something at the end?"

"I see. I just wanted to know."

After receiving my answer, Yunhee simply walked past me and continued deeper into the tunnel.

"Hey, are you coming or what?"

"Ah, right."

I hurriedly followed, unsure if she'd noticed my lie or not. But she didn't speak to me after that.