Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

“What now?” Sol asked.

“Huh? I don’t know about ya’, but I don’t feel comfortable sleepin’ tonight knowing those things can still be slitherin’ around! Ha-ha!” Yeong-Un answered.

“Thanks for the reminder…” Sol hugged himself.

In the dark halls of the fifth floor, they simply followed behind Yeong-Un, who marched around, looking around for any stray insectoids.

“Just want to patrol then?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Yeong-Un replied, glancing back, “Maybe we should check the other floors, too! Let’s split! We can cover more ground that way!”

“S-split up…?” Sol gulped.

It was clear that the hazel-haired coward had little acceptance of a strategy like that, but Yeong-Un insisted.

“I’ve got the fifth floor! I’ll check higher, too, so ya’ two check the lower floors!” Yeong-Un suggested.

He’s awfully tactical tonight…He thought.

“Alright, then–be careful,” he said.

“Careful is my middle name!” Yeong-Un flexed one of his biceps for some sort of reassurance.

Sol and himself went into the stairwell, beginning to travel down to the next floor after leaving Yeong-Un to patrol the higher levels.

“Is he going to be okay…?” Sol asked.

“Do you have to ask me that? Yeong-Un is stronger than the both of us–you know what better than anybody,” he assured his friend._.

“You’re right…I just have a bad feeling about this,” Sol placed his hand on his abdomen.

He scratched his head, arriving at the fourth floor’s entrance as he looked at Sol, “I’ll check this floor out. You go check the third then let’s meet back up here, alright? If one of us doesn’t show in about…fifteen minutes, we’ll check on the other. Sound good?”

It was his best strategy to work around Sol’s innate, unmatched cowardice, but it seemed to be enough as the hazel-haired spearman nodded.

“Got it.”

“Alright. Hopefully we don’t find anything, though,” he smiled before heading into the fourth floor.

Immediately, he felt a cold air run up his back once being left completely alone on the fourth floor. It was nearly swallowed in complete darkness, save for two candles that gave off faint light in the distance down the branching paths of the halls.

There’s only two members of Gangcheori on this floor: Ho-Jun and Junsu. I don’t remember exactly which rooms they’re in, though…Guess I’ll have to check all of them, he thought with a small sigh.

He began to walk quietly down the dark hall, accompanied by an eerie silence that surrounded him with an eerie ambience.

There were roughly twenty rooms on each floor, give or take, leaving him to quietly turn each doorknob he came across and peek inside.

…Nothing, he thought.

The first dozen wound up in nothing but vacant rooms until he turned the doorknob to room “#95”–opening it to find an empty bed, but not an empty room.

“Ho-Jun? Junsu?” He whispered, quietly stepping into the unknown room.

It was a bit uncomfortable for him to intrude, but desperate times called for such measures as he looked around.

By the immaculate, orderly room that was decorated with posters of opera houses and classical artists, he knew who this room belonged to:

Ho-Jun, he realized.

Though it made little sense to him why Ho-Jun himself wasn’t inside of his room, especially at this hour while everybody else was asleep.

“Where is he…?” He mumbled to himself.

Checking the bathroom attached to that room, Ho-Jun wasn’t there either.

Now it was worrying for him–with the prospect of sludge-formed centipedes on the loose, he didn’t want to think of what could’ve happened to the pudgy, kind-hearted member of Gangcheori.

“Crap…” He muttered.

He made sure to check everywhere in the room: the bathroom, closet, and even under the bed just in case of some inexplicable oddity, but alas–Ho-Jun wasn’t in his room.

Going back into the dark hall, he moved with a sense of both urgency and caution, not knowing whether he should be calling Ho-Jun’s name now or remaining on the side of stealth.

It was likely thanks to his new [Zombie Self-Sustain] skill that was able to operate with any semblance of orderly function on such a low amount of sleep, after a day of fighting, no less.

Still, it didn’t make it a pleasant experience, as he still felt like crawling back into bed, but it was no such time for that.

…I should’ve known this would be different. When it was just Defects, they wouldn’t attack or try to invade homes unless doors were left open…but, this is different. I doubt creatures of Hell aren’t tethered by many rules, huh? He thought.

Again and again, he opened each door in an attempt to either find Ho-Jun, or discover Junsu’s room.

Junsu wasn’t somebody he saw around very often, mostly because of their conflicting schedules with patrol, but he was a kind, gentle person who was a few years his senior.

Crunch. Crunch.

“–“

An audible noise of something being crunched by what sounded like something being eaten met his ears.

It sounds…close, he thought.

As he continued down the dark halls, he picked up the candle that was left on one of the corridor tables, taking it with him as he carefully approached the door that seemed to be inhabited by the crunching noises.

The soft flame swayed side-to-side as he held it still, standing in front of the door, listening in on the grotesque mixture of squelching and crunches as his free, right hand remained hovering just in front of the doorknob.

Just as his hand touched the doorknob, without making a single sound himself–the crunching stopped.

He paused for a moment, feeling the heat of the flame-bearing, slowly melting candle as he held the tray steadily before beginning to turn the knob.

Please…just be nothing, he hoped.

Finally opening the door, a miasma immediately flooded against his nose as his eyes met with something beyond the horrific smell itself that laid in the room.

“…No…! Junsu…!”

On the bed, a half-eaten corpse was left on the blood-soaked sheets with entrails spilled out off the side of the accursed furniture. The blonde-haired member of Gangcheori had half of his face missing along with most of the left side of his body.

“…What the fuck?!” He let out, backing away as he coughed and gagged.

But, before he could back out of the room completely–he saw what was responsible for this horror, something that amplified the terror in his heart to a heightened degree.

Crunch. Crunch.

“…Ho-Jun…?” He let out in dreaded disbelief.

The large, round man didn’t answer, having his back turned to him as he stood in the corner of the room, consuming something as the crunching and squelching of flesh continued to fill his ears.

There was clearly something not right with the tubby man as black veins protruded beneath his skin, wriggling in an unnatural manner.

“Ho-Jun…!”

As he took a step closer, covering his mouth as he tried not to look at the horrific, mauled body of Junsu–the sounds of eating stopped as Ho-Jun froze.

“…Ho-Jun…?”

Suddenly, the large man spun around, revealing his white-suit to be drenched in blood and guts, not of his own as his face was painted in the same abhorrent spillage. Held in the hands of the man, who now had pupiless, black eyes, was one of the disembodied arms, likely belonging to Junsu.

“No…! Ho-Jun?! What the fuck did you do?!” He yelled out.

All he received in return was an inhuman howl that sounded out from Ho-Jun’s dislocated jaw, revealing his tongue to be replaced by a black centipede that stretched out.

The centipede tongue attempted to latch onto him, but he jumped back, dropping his candle in the process as he rushed out of the room.

What the fuck is going on?! Ho-Jun…he ate Junsu?! He thought.

As he stumbled out of the room, discombobulated by the unearthly situation, he could feel the stomps of the man-eating member of Gangcheori following behind him.

He turned around, slamming the door shut as he continued, only for the door to be rammed through, doing nothing to stop the man-eating Ho-Jun as the wooden material shattered like glass.

“Ho-Jun…! Listen to me–! What’s wrong?!”

“–!”

Another ear-ringing screech resounding from the black-veined, man-eating man before he was being rushed at once more.

He’s not listening…! That centipede…it’s part of him! Did it…take him over?! What the fuck is this?! He thought.

He didn’t want to fight the once gentle, pacifist Ho-Jun, but he was left with no choice as he drew his daggers.

That centipede that’s acting as his tongue…I’ll cut it! That has to be the source of this! He theorized.

He stood his ground, waiting as the large, round man rushed towards him, stomping as his arms flailed unnaturally in an inhuman manner while screeching out in bloodlust.

Now…! He thought.

Just as Ho-Jun got within range, he used a [Blink Step] to zip past him, slashing his dagger at the same time as the outstretched, giant insectoid was cut out from the man’s mouth in a clean maneuver.

“I got it…!” He told himself, turning around after rolling across the floor.

He watched as Ho-Jun fell as still as a statue, facing away from him while the cut-up centipede writhed in pain on the floor before shriveling up.

“Ho-Jun…Are you good?” He called out.

–Nothing.

…Shit. Was that not enough? He questioned.