CTLI — Chapter 18

Choi Dohyun, crouched behind the taxi, also saw the monster’s blood burst and immediately hurled another grenade.

Since we were within the blast radius, I quickly grabbed Yoon Seohwa and ran to a bench, pulling her behind it for cover. The thick smoke from the explosion was quickly dispersed by the heavy rain.

“Why does the gun work but not the grenade?”

“The gun didn’t work earlier either.”

Narrowing my eyes, I checked the monster again. Blood still flowed steadily from the back of its head, but its front remained untouched—no soot, not even a scorch mark. If anything, it only seemed more enraged. I stifled a curse and aimed at it again.

“We’ll have to keep aiming for the back of its head.”

At Yoon Seohwa’s words, I nodded. She must’ve come to her senses, as she was now aiming her gun with one eye squinted. Her form was clumsy, but her accuracy wasn’t bad. The bullet hit, and blood splattered again from the monster’s wound.

“That was a good shot, right?”

“Yes, not bad.”

Despite her pleased smile, the monster rampaged even more furiously, tearing apart everything nearby. A sturdy taxi was shredded like paper under its sharp claws.

Choi Dohyun focused entirely on dodging, using his agility to slip between the monster’s legs and sprint over to our side.

“You okay?”

As he dove behind the bench, Yoon Seohwa asked worriedly. He had a few scrapes, probably from evading the monster’s attacks.

Phew. I let out a breath of relief and cautiously lifted my head. The monster, as if enraged by its own injury, focused solely on destroying the taxi.

“This might be easier than we thought.”

Agreed. Without hesitation, I raised my gun and fired again. Blood burst from the monster’s head once more. As it turned around, Choi Dohyun threw another grenade.

Bang! Using the cover of the thick smoke, he dashed toward the smoking area.

“Watch out! Below!”

With Yoon Seohwa’s scream, something grabbed my ankle hard.

I staggered as I was yanked off balance. My back scraped roughly against the cold, gritty asphalt as I twisted frantically. Just as I was about to cut whatever was grabbing my ankle, my vision flipped and I was suddenly dangling in the air.

[Kreuuung]

Shit. The monster’s face was right in front of me, and I swallowed dryly.

It had multiple eyes the size of fists on its face, and from its six-split mouth, sticky, tentacle-like appendages slithered out, creeping across my face and neck as if tasting me.

“Ugh!”

A thin tentacle abruptly grabbed my jaw and pulled it down. As if fixing me in place, the appendages wriggled and pried into my mouth. The taste was sticky, foul, and horribly unpleasant.

Damn it. I tried to shove my gun into its mouth, but something thicker gripped my arms first.

The tentacle in my mouth was about the size of a finger, squirming as if searching for something—pressing on my teeth, scraping my palate, lifting my tongue to explore underneath. The experience was revolting, and I fought back a wave of nausea.

“Sir!”

At Yoon Seohwa’s scream, I wiggled a finger to signal that I was okay—if she could even see it.

The monster, perhaps by sheer luck, flipped me upside down but continued handling me with unexpected care. It raised me a little higher and peered closely into my face. Its roving eyes made me grimace.

[…go.]

I saw its mouth split open further. What I thought was its head began to peel apart grotesquely, leaking black fluid from all areas except where its eyes were.

Startled, I instinctively tried to pull away, but the monster leaned in even closer.

The tentacles withdrew from my mouth. Gagging, I spit out all the accumulated saliva before I could vomit. Despite being splashed with it, the monster didn’t release me.

“Goddamn it.”

It opened its mouth wider and made a raspy, choking noise. What I saw inside made me curse out loud—rotted flesh, razor-sharp teeth, and crawling worms.

As the mouth drew closer, I twisted in panic, thinking this was the end—until I saw a human head suddenly emerge from within.

The head looked frozen in a scream, writhing upward with a long arm that reached out and grabbed my cheek.

Gasping, I tried to struggle, but it was like my body had turned to stone.

[The Ark… has…]

Just as I felt myself being fully drawn into the monster’s mouth, the lips of the head that had emerged moved slowly. Black fluid dripped from its pale eyes and splattered onto my cheek.

[…disappeared…]

The Ark of God… Was that what it meant?

Snapping out of it, I hastily spoke.

“If you mean the Ark of God, then tell me exactly what it is.”

[I can’t.]

“Then where can I find it?”

[I can’t tell you that either.]

There was something mournful in that voice. Grinding my teeth, I narrowed my eyes at the vague and unfriendly response. Being inside a monster’s mouth, I was focused entirely on the zombie in front of me.

“Then what should I do?”

The zombie didn’t answer. Maybe it couldn’t tell me that either. The vague and impossible nature of it all made me sigh.

I bit my lip and looked up at the zombie for a long while before asking,

“Who are the ones that transcend time?”

[You already know that. Why ask me?]

“……”

[Say it. Who do you think they are?]

“…The players.”

A spark burst in front of my eyes. Unlike the small counter ticking in the corner, this one flared as if warning me.

Error Progress: 54%
At 99% progress, removal will be initiated.

I scrunched up my face at the flashing light. The zombie twisted uncomfortably and came even closer. Maybe it was because I was hanging upside down, but its face looked like it was crying—like those who despair simply because they are still alive.

[Until pr0gr4m is executed, I can say… nothing… more…]

With a hiss, the zombie’s voice broke apart. Its mouth twitched erratically, glitching like a broken computer screen—appearing in multiple layers, then vanishing again.

Zzzzt… zzzt… crackle…

The sound was full of static, like a corrupted signal. It hurt to look at, like overlapping layers of cellophane flashing in my vision. Clenching my teeth, I shouted in panic,

“Then what is the salvation you talk about?!”

[Sal… salva… salvation is… ah! Ah! Ah, rest… eternal… rest…]

The zombie’s breath came in harsh gasps. Like a drowning person trying desperately to breathe, it coughed and retched up black fluid. Before I could react, it clutched my cheek tighter and screamed,

[I can’t… hold… on any longer…]

Zzzzt.

Not just the zombie, but the entire monster I was in started glitching. Like a broken machine. Even with all the interference, the zombie clenched its fingers on my cheek and opened its mouth wide enough to tear it apart.

[Remember… remember… mouth… they… they implanted… Ahhh!]

“Ugh…”

My insides churned. The cryptic, puzzle-piece words grated on my nerves, and the fact that I had no choice but to chase after them only made it worse. I could ignore them—but I couldn’t. What I’d heard, what I kept seeing, made that impossible.

“Give me a real clue!”

Just as the zombie finally let go, I shouted in anger.

It twitched unnaturally, then heaved up another flood of black liquid. The monster’s tongue swirled, pulling me deeper inside. With most of my upper body swallowed, I trembled, letting out a low groan.

Everything was flashing too brightly to see clearly. The distortion was so strong I couldn’t even make out the zombie’s face anymore. Two… three… then one again. It kept splitting and overlapping.

I squeezed my eyes shut at the unbearable sight and heard a zombie-like voice in my ear, like metal being scraped:

[…r-residue.
Find the residue.]

And then, I dropped.

The sensation that had bound my entire body vanished, and a gust of cold wind blew past me. Before my eyes even opened, I twisted my body on reflex and landed lightly, rubbing my face with both hands.

My body was sticky with black fluid.

Luckily, the rain had washed some of it off, and I was finally able to lift my eyelids. In the distance, I saw two people running toward me. I caught a brief glimpse of Choi Dohyun’s distorted expression, then finally looked around.

The monster from moments ago had vanished without a trace, and only the flickering, unstable text wavered faintly before my eyes.

Error Progress: 58%
At 99% progress, removal will be initiated.
Unstable data has been deleted.
Reconstructing from backup data.
Reconstruction complete. The ZXBpc29kZQ== is now available for replay.

This play will not affect ^#$%@!
[ Would you like to replay? ]
＜ YES / NO ＞

I immediately turned my head to meet Choi Dohyun’s gaze. He, too, was staring into the air with a serious expression, as if he were seeing the same thing I was. His fingers trembled slightly.

I clenched my fist tightly, the distant sound of a warning tone echoing in my ears.

“You okay? Sir, look at me. What the hell—”

Yoon Seohwa cursed as she grabbed my cheek and turned my face toward her. I winced as she rubbed my face hard with rainwater pooled on the ground.

Wait, hold on, wait… I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled it down just as a soft click echoed—someone had pressed a button.

“Your face is a mess,” Choi Dohyun said with concern.

Above his head, the word NO flashed red before disappearing. He clicked his tongue and, just like Yoon Seohwa, began scrubbing my face roughly with rainwater.

Only after they confirmed that the black sludge covering my face was mostly washed away did I wave my hands and slowly stand up. My stomach still churned with nausea.

“I’m fine now.”

“Rinse your mouth too.”

“……”

“With the bottled water from the convenience store.”

I nodded and patted my shoulders. My whole body ached. The ankle that had been tightly gripped throbbed; I gave it a few shakes before I started walking behind the two of them.

Yoon Seohwa wiped her face, now streaked with either rain or tears, and gave a faint sniffle. She murmured weakly that she thought I was definitely going to be eaten.

“Mr. Choi kept telling me not to move…”

“You did well. If you had provoked it further, it might have been dangerous.”

“Okay…”

I glanced sideways at Choi Dohyun as I wiped my jaw. Black liquid I hadn’t managed to clean yet was still dripping down my fingers. When our eyes met, he loosened his stiff expression and whispered softly with a gentle smile that it was a relief no one was hurt. Yoon Seohwa eagerly nodded in agreement.

I didn’t know what to say. Should I agree and try to enjoy the moment with them? Or tell them to run the next time this happens?

I rolled various words around in my mouth, but it wasn’t until we entered the convenience store that I was finally able to speak out loud.

“I’m okay.”