Apocalypse Tyrant

Origin of the King (3)

It feels unfamiliar.

“Anyway, I clearly conveyed that there will be no more food support from today, Mr. Park Taeha.”
“What, Mr. Park Taeha?! This bastard to Taeha sunbae—”

Park Taeha found that face of Park Woojin, so clearly mocking them, to be extremely unfamiliar.

The face of Park Woojin he was more accustomed to was one that clung to him calling him hyung, hyung almost excessively affectionately.

“These idiot bastards are still going on about sunbae-hoobae relationships.”
“…Y-You bastard, really— What are you trying to do later by acting like this now?! Yejin-ah—, Kim Yejin! At least you say something!”
“……”

It was also unfamiliar.

The face of another hoobae bowing her head deeply as if scared of something even at the juniors’ scolding now.

A female hoobae who had clearly been among the group of girls who had defected together to that camp.

It was so unfamiliar to see Kim Yejin, who always attended every after-party stamping her attendance and laughing heartily like a man, standing behind Park Woojin with a deathly pale face.

“It’s the Team Leader’s orders so just shut up and follow them.”
“Woojin-ah, let me just talk to Han Segye once—”
“Ah, Ms. Ku Yeri.”

Park Woojin sharply pointed his finger at Ku Yeri as if he had been waiting for this.

“Janghun sunbaenim told me to tell you to stop bothering him so much.”

You understand, right?

Park Woojin asking again with an expression full of annoyance as if shooing away a fly.

Ku Yeri could only blankly open her mouth at Park Woojin’s appearance that was unimaginable just a month ago.

“You understood too, right?”

The reconfirmation directed at Park Taeha following Ku Yeri.

“……”

Park Woojin nodded his head indifferently at Park Taeha’s gaze quietly looking at him.

“Good, make sure to keep in mind it’s the Team Leader’s orders.”

A unilateral notification that they will no longer provide food support from now on.

With that, Park Woojin turned his back nonchalantly.

Hands freely groping Kim Yejin’s buttocks as she hurriedly followed him.

Park Woojin blatantly harassed Kim Yejin’s buttocks as if showing them.

And Kim Yejin just following beside Park Woojin without any resistance to such touches.

Park Taeha just found it unfamiliar.

The conversation just now, their faces, the situation surrounding all of them now.

All of these things feel numb and unfamiliar like a nightmare on a midsummer night.

“That fucking bastard. I’ll definitely put that bastard in prison for rape.”

A voice full of indignation looking at Park Woojin freely playing with Kim Yejin’s buttocks.

It was the whimpering of a student council junior sitting close to Park Taeha.

And Park Taeha naturally understood that junior’s indignation.

Because he was a junior who had shown many signs of liking Kim Yejin usually.

There was no way not to know when a guy who couldn’t drink well was stamping his face at after-parties every day while taking care of all the conditions.

So he remembered hearing from Sim Yuhan that Kim Yejin and that junior bastard were in a some relationship, knowing that fact naturally.

Of course, it’s not particularly memorable or important now, but.

“Not just Kim Yejin, but we hear someone getting hit every morning too. Shouldn’t we forcibly stop the other kids from going over there anymore?”
“Fuck, how can we stop that, you idiot. Hyeji and Garin have been watching us so closely lately too. Seems they’ve been talking to friends who went over there— They’ll be next soon.”

The complaints of the camp members left after Park Woojin departed naturally soared to the sky.

The camp members vented their anger more as they confirmed Park Woojin, who had been openly sexually harassing Kim Yejin, had disappeared from sight.

“Those criminal dog bastards are fucking around with food. Fuck— This isn’t the animal kingdom, you sons of bitches.”
“Aren’t those wound marks on Cha Seolhee’s hands from that Han Segye bastard? Cha Seolhee is obediently stuck to Han Segye’s side in that camp as a human, not a zombie.”
“Fuck— Then maybe……”

……Fuck.

The camp members cursing while frowning deeply at the same time as if imagining something.

“…Isn’t that bastard really crazy?”

Park Taeha quietly closed his eyes at another junior’s question asking him as if seeking agreement.

“More urgent than that is our food problem right now.”

Ku Yeri, who had been pondering something with an extremely serious expression, drew everyone’s attention.

“Whether we like it or not, we’ve had to rely on their support for food itself. But today they suddenly notified us they’re cutting off food support.”

Ku Yeri, making a gesture of slitting her throat with her hand to emphasize to everyone, continued speaking again.

“We don’t have a single meal left to solve even today. What’s more serious— is that it’s highly likely it won’t just be today.”

Taeha sunbae.

Park Taeha quietly opened his eyes at Ku Yeri’s voice calling him.

“What do you think?”

Everyone’s gazes naturally gathering on him as soon as Ku Yeri finished speaking.

At those uncomfortable and chilling gazes, he repeated the same words as if turning on a recorder.

“…We concluded to safely hold out here until the rescue team comes, didn’t we.”

The action guidelines everyone agreed to when they failed to search the College of Education convenience store and lost two juniors.

“I know. But that was when we had sufficient food and water. We can’t just keep starving not knowing when the rescue team will come!”
“…You’re telling me—”

What should I do about that.

A shout bursting out as if rebelling against Ku Yeri’s flawless argument.

Park Taeha barely managed to swallow the shout trying to burst out until the end.

Ku Yeri looked at Park Taeha desperately holding something back and quietly stood up from her seat.

“This won’t do. I’ll go find that person again first—”
“Stop it, Yeri.”
“That’s right. You can’t do that, sunbae! Who knows what those bastards will do!”
“Right. They’ll definitely do something similar to you like they did to Yejin, you criminal bastards.”

Like this, their meetings always had different situations, but the same conclusion every time.

“But we can’t starve to death!”
“No. Didn’t you hear that fucking Park Woojin bastard singling you out not to come earlier? There’s obviously some scheme.”

Park Taeha quietly watched Ku Yeri trying to go to Han Segye right away and the camp members stopping her.

“Right—! Now they’re trying to buy us off too. Later if we even open our mouths, those dog bastards will all eat prison food so they’re scheming to buy us off with food.”
“…Idiots.”

A single curse flowing quietly amidst the extremely excited camp members.

It was a whisper that only Park Taeha could understand in the overheated camp.

So only Park Taeha, who turned his head following the voice, could find the camp member similarly separated from them.

“……”

A familiar face quietly meeting his eyes after noticing his gaze.

It was Kang Cheongshin.

The survivors who ended up staying on the 2nd floor could be divided into exactly two groups.

Students belonging to the student council who had gathered at the library to help control the students flocking like clouds at the news of High Queens filming.

And the extreme fanboy, fangirl students who were trying hard to break through the control to somehow see High Queens a little closer.

Kang Cheongshin was a male student who clearly belonged to the latter group to anyone who saw him.

In short, a male student who was the very stereotype of an ‘otaku’.

However, Park Taeha didn’t feel particularly bad about Kang Cheongshin’s sudden cursing.

Perhaps because the reason they were able to hide on the 2nd floor without major damage was Kang Cheongshin.

It was also him who first shouted that the students rushing at other students were zombies.

And it was also Kang Cheongshin who shouted loudly to him what to do next on behalf of the other students who had fallen into panic.

“…Do you have any good ideas?”

But the situation then and now was 180 degrees different.

A question asked to him as if just throwing it out, without holding much expectation.

However, Kang Cheongshin who received that question nodded his head faintly as if it was natural.

“Of course.”
“……”

At that overflowing confidence, Park Taeha quietly urged him to continue speaking.

Kang Cheongshin bowed his head slightly towards Park Taeha and whispered.

“If food is scarce, we just need to steal food.”
“……”
“If there are people bothering us, we just need to get rid of them for a while.”

Park Taeha let out a snort without realizing at the solutions continuing without hesitation.

Get rid of them for a while…

If that was possible, they wouldn’t be having this idiotic dead-end meeting here now.

Han Segye is…

Park Taeha frowned deeply as soon as he recalled that bastard’s face.

Himself rolling on the floor from one kick.

Such a desperate feeling of powerlessness suddenly choking his throat.

And—

Those annoying eyes quietly looking down at him like that.

‘I won’t overlook you anymore either, Taeha.’

Park Taeha never thought of himself as an idiot.

No, anyone would notice that Han Segye bastard was somehow different even if he was an idiot.

“What I want to say isn’t to have some Romance of the Three Kingdoms style all-out war spreading rumors all over the neighborhood.”

Kang Cheongshin continuing to speak pitifully while looking at Park Taeha’s face like that.

He opened his mouth clearly while looking at Park Taeha meeting his eyes again.

“It’s not like there’s only one or two ways to get rid of someone. For example— a surprise attack at night.”

Night, surprise attack.

Park Taeha’s eyes shook for a moment at the method Kang Cheongshin quietly mentioned.

“What, a surprise attack?! What nonsense! How would we be any different from them if we do such a thing?!”
“You were saying food is the most important earlier, but now you’re talking about outdated morals.”
“What?! Hey, Kang Cheongshin—!”

An explosive atmosphere between Ku Yeri and Kang Cheongshin who had been listening to the conversation at some point.

However, Park Taeha, who should have been stopping this, was quietly turning over the solution Kang Cheongshin had spit out in his mouth.

Night, surprise attack.

“…Right.”

And soon nodded his head.

The only fact this fucking situation surrounding them now was hammering into Park Taeha was one thing.

Even when Sim Yuhan, who was closer to him than anyone, returned as a corpse with his head smashed, even when he had to kill his beloved juniors who had become zombies with his own hands—

Death was not as special a meaning as he had thought.

At some point, death had become too close and common a word for him.

Someone becomes a zombie and dies.

Someone dies to that zombie.

Someone can’t endure this fact and kills themselves.

Parents, siblings, friends, juniors, professors.

He now desperately realized that anyone could die so easily, anytime, always.

So—

Han Segye too.

That Han Segye too.

“…That bastard will die too if we try to kill him in the end.”

Because death is not that special.

“He’s a human who eats, shits, and sleeps too, right?”
“…Taeha sunbae!”

Ku Yeri urgently approached him while looking at Park Taeha’s eyes.

“What you’re thinking now is really the worst response! Then, only extreme methods will be left for both sides!”
“They started it first.”

Ku Yeri shouted louder at Park Taeha’s pupils gradually becoming clearer.

“They’ve been providing us food support until now too! It means they were maintaining at least minimal human decency! There’s plenty of room for dialogue!”
“Human decency?”

Park Taeha raised his body that had been leaning powerlessly against the library wall.

“People we both knew are being raped by those bastards, and human decency? Human decency towards bastards who unilaterally notify us to starve now?”

The huge body approaching Ku Yeri incessantly while growling like a bear.

“Do you think that Han Segye bastard is someone who has such a thing? Everything started changing strangely after that bastard came in from the beginning. So if we just get rid of that bastard, everything will go back to normal.”
“Taeha sunbae, you’re too excited right now—”
“Shut uuuuup—!”

Park Taeha roared loudly while glaring at Ku Yeri’s face.

Every time— Every time—!

You asked me what to do so much it was nauseating every fucking day—!

You dumped all the difficult things to solve on me—!

“If you asked for my opinion so much, then follow my opinion—!”
“……”

A quiet stillness with everyone, not just Ku Yeri, closing their mouths.

Haa— Haa— Haa—

Park Taeha, breathing heavily, met everyone’s eyes and muttered as if grinding his teeth.

“Gather everything that can be used as a weapon.”

Tonight.

“We kill Han Segye.”

───────.

An endless silence that felt like being crushed to death.

After Park Taeha gave instructions to everyone, all the camp members maintained silence alike.

They just gradually searched for things that could be weapons while waiting for the sun to set.

Like that, the night they had been subtly hoping wouldn’t come arrived—

And even after that, Park Taeha who had been quietly waiting for a long time rose from his seat like a ghost.

The 2nd floor of the Central Library where even breathing sounds were barely audible now.

Park Taeha gripped the monkey wrench in his right hand even tighter and walked stealthily towards Han Segye.

All the camp members following him like that.

Even Ku Yeri, who had vehemently opposed this plan, had no choice but to follow them holding a small hammer.

If this operation failed, everything would be over anyway.

It was literally a surprise attack betting everything in the camp.

Swoosh—! Swoosh—!

Toes gathering all their nerves carefully scrape the library floor.

Like that, Han Segye’s camp that they had only glanced at sideways until now started to faintly reveal its outline in the darkness.

A camp where not even snoring sounds could be heard as if everyone had already fallen asleep.

Park Taeha carefully continued his footsteps towards the largest quarters located in the corner that anyone could see.

Thump— Thump—

A heart pounding as if about to burst with each step closer to the quarters.

Park Taeha constantly repeated to himself while feeling cold sweat passing his sideburns now.

It will be over if we just kill Han Segye.

Han Segye is a human in the end too.

Death is not that special.

“Haa— Haa—”

His mouth carefully opening as if craving lacking oxygen without even realizing.

Park Taeha continued to repeat the truth as if brainwashing himself while feeling the sweet taste filling his mouth.

We just need to kill Han Segye.

Just Han Segye—

Thud—!

A hand carefully grasping the corner of the bookshelf acting as the wall of the quarters.

Now he just needs to enter here and smash the head of the soundly sleeping Han Segye and it’s over.

Now—

“Well, look at this.”

At that moment, Park Taeha’s body staggered without realizing.

A dizzying feeling of powerlessness as if his body was falling straight down a cliff as soon as he heard the voice.

Numerous flashlights brightly illuminate his face as he slowly turns his head.

Their target standing as if blocking the path they had come through.

The camp members who had been silent without even making breathing sounds slowly started to let out groaning sounds.

Everyone’s faces turning pale enough to be distinguished even in the thick darkness.

“Such ungrateful—”

Park Taeha quietly stared at the one standing at the front of the bastards who had been waiting for them.

That clear face letting out a snort while looking at them.

That bastard’s unique— gaze that always looked at him with a chilling feeling.

‘I won’t overlook you anymore either, Taeha.’

“Worm bastards.”

The strength in his hand holding the monkey wrench drains away.

Park Taeha quietly closed his eyes while feeling the bastard’s gaze looking at him.

“…Fuck.”