Chapter 34

[Please send backup. This is Bravo. Requesting backup. Backup—chzzz—chzzz—zzz—]

Shut up. Be quiet.

The man, with a nervous gesture, turned off the radio and covered his mouth.

You said it was safe, didn’t you?

You swore up and down that the monsters in the test tubes would never escape…!

‘…First, we need to get to the surface. Otherwise—’

Grrr—

A cry is heard. The cry of a monster.

Holding my breath at the faint cry echoing from afar, I slowly calmed my heart.

Calm down. If you don’t calm down, you’ll die.

‘To survive against monsters, it’s crucial not to feel fear, everyone.’

A dry, monotonous voice echoes in my head.

Thinking of the face of someone who would never feel fear, I felt myself growing calmer even in this extreme situation.

Settle your mind. Slowly count the prime numbers.

Step—step—step—

‘2, 3, 5, 7, 11—’

Listening to the fading footsteps, I sighed in relief.

There’s no way a mere human could survive against such a monster.

But surviving might still be possible.

Despite their grotesque appearance, their intelligence wasn’t that high, so if I stayed calm, surely—

“Oh my, there’s a human left here.”

“—Huh?!!?!”

At the sudden voice, my back instinctively straightened.

Reacting like a student caught doing something wrong, I looked up to see eyes the color of darkness staring straight at me.

“Are you a survivor…?”

“I suppose you could say that?”

The figure looked very young, but their calm demeanor made it hard to guess their age.

Though the inner clothes were something a young girl might wear, the white lab coat draped over them indicated they were someone connected to this place.

‘…A researcher? I can’t believe there’s such a young researcher in this insane place.’

The researchers I’ve seen were all old, crazy people.

Dark circles under their eyes, pupils glowing with a strange light as they conducted monster research.

Even if the research was important enough to involve someone this young, the fact that an accident happened proves how reckless their research was.

“Do you happen to remember the location of a secret passage to the outside?”

“Yes, I have a rough idea.”

Follow me.

As the girl turned, her long lab coat sleeves fluttered.

…Is she alive?

The fact that she made it here despite the monsters means she must have a way to move around unnoticed.

If I follow her, I might be able to get out safely.

“It’s really a mess, isn’t it?”

“…Yes. By the way, there are monsters nearby, so it might be better to lower your voice.”

“Is that so?”

The girl answered with an innocent expression, a round smile forming on her lips.

No, she’s been smiling from the start.

Everyone in this underground lab is crazy, so seeing her smile in this situation makes me think she’s no ordinary person.

‘She’s overly confident against monsters… Could it be that the researchers have some command implanted to not attack them?’

Otherwise, there’s no way she could walk so calmly in this hell where monsters are roaming around, ready to chew off heads.

…Damn researchers, why not just make the monsters controllable?

“Unlike you, I’m just a normal human. If a monster spots me, my life is in danger.”

“A normal human… There’s no way a normal human would be here.”

Her words, implying that everyone here is abnormal, gave me an uneasy feeling.

Her tone felt like she was looking down from above, judging everyone here as strange.

…It must just be my imagination.

“…Anyway, please refrain from making noise.”

“Are you afraid of the monsters?”

“Is that even a question—”

Grrr?

Damn it.

The sound of a monster’s cry came from around the corner.

If I turn this corner, I’m dead.

My survival instincts screamed in my head.

“Wait—”

“What’s wrong?”

The girl, seemingly unaware of the monster’s cry, tilted her head and stepped around the corner.

I reached out to grab her but then thought, as a researcher, she’d be fine, and stepped back alone.

‘If the monster attacks, at least both of us won’t die.’

Preparing for the worst, I slowly started backing away.

Will I hear a scream? Or will she say it’s okay?

I swallowed hard.

At the same time, the girl’s face popped out from around the corner.

“What, what is it? You scared me—Huh?!”

Her lifeless eyes stared at me.

But the gaze I felt wasn’t just hers.

Slowly raising my head, I saw another pair of eyes—blood-red, like a predator’s.

Eyes that didn’t belong to a human, but more like a beast’s.

“Mo-monster—”

“…”

“Hey, are you really okay? Don’t scare me like that, say something!”

Seeing the monster not attacking despite noticing me, I felt a momentary relief.

Maybe it really listens to the researchers.

That’s why it’s just watching.

The sight of a monster tearing apart a colleague’s limbs as soon as it saw them was still vivid in my mind.

‘If the monster didn’t listen, that girl would already be dead.’

I slowly exhaled, seeing the monster still not attacking.

I’m alive.

If I follow her, I might be able to escape this hell filled with monsters.

Thinking that, I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and started moving toward the girl.

“…”

“…”

Chzz—chzz—kzzz—chzz—chzzzz—

As soon as I turned the corner, I saw the monster.

To be precise, monsters.

Enough to fill the hallway, they stared at me, crying out.

Like children drooling over delicious food, just like that.

“Uh, uh, uh…”

“Please don’t get blood on this coat. I want to keep at least one clean.”

A dry voice reached my ears as I stared dumbfounded at the monsters.

Don’t get blood on it? Keep one clean?

Like a condemned man unable to move, I stiffly turned my neck to look at the girl—more precisely, her eyes.

Red.

Eyes similar to—no, exactly like the monsters’.

“Oops, damn—”

No scream was heard.

The reason? Well.

The head that would scream was no longer attached to the body.

Unfortunately, humans are fragile creatures that die without their heads.

***

“Really, I told you not to get blood on the coat.”

Sighing deeply at the bloodstained coat from the man’s neck.

How many is this now?

No matter how much I tell them, they just don’t listen. Looks like they need some ‘wait’ training.

Though I’m not sure if they’ll ever learn.

‘By the way, it really feels like a horror game.’

Before coming here, I passed the power room, where the monsters chased some humans and messed something up, causing most of the lights to go out.

The darker it is, the more humans despair, so it’s actually good for snacks.

Monsters have pretty good night vision anyway, so the darkness isn’t much of a bother.

“Those who want to leave can go… Are you still going to follow me?”

Grrr—grrrr—grrr—

The monsters started crying in response to my question.

Like baby birds mistaking the first person they see as their mother, these monsters seem to see me as something similar since I took them out of the test tubes.

Or maybe it’s just because I’m a monster—Apocalypse.

“Then let’s decide. From now on, every time you eat a human head, you’ll leave me alone. How about that?”

Chzz, kzzz, chzz—

One head each should be more than enough.

Honestly, at first, I didn’t care if they followed or not, but with their numbers growing so much, it’s become quite troublesome.

‘I’m not some Pied Piper, tsk.’

If humans saw the monsters following me around, it would definitely cause some awkward situations.

I came here to have fun, not to get caught up in such nonsense.

‘So, first, let’s think about how to separate them from me.’

Put nicely, it’s a farewell; put bluntly, it’s releasing them.