A Survival Guide for a Counselor in the Apocalypse Chapter 26.0

Chapter 26

 

No matter what, there was at least one benefit this damn panic had given me.

Because I stood completely still, without moving a single step, with both my flashlight and phone turned off, that thing lost track of me while trying to find me.

Without moving even an inch, I thought:

‘A monster that crawls while making screaming noises. And one that’s sensitive to something other than sound.’

If it were sensitive to sound, it would’ve been busy chasing something else instead of us.

Putting the keywords together, something came to mind.

A mutant with exceptionally enhanced vision.

Not sure if it’s human-type, but since it mimics sounds, it’s likely human-type.

A vision-enhanced human mutant.

Players called them…

“Light Lickers.”

Their mechanism is simple: vision.

They stay in places without light and repeatedly mimic the most recent sound they heard, like replaying it.

Then, if they detect light nearby…

They charge straight toward it.

However, aside from their eyesight and teeth, their bodies are unimpressive.

So they move by crawling along the ground.

Because that’s the fastest way for them.

They run on all fours, chasing light.

And once they recognize prey…

They open their mouths and tear it apart.

‘If you’re holding a light source in your hand, your hand gets torn off.’

If you’re wearing a light source on your head…

Your head gets torn off.

‘Weakness.’

Their weakness is…

Obviously, the eyes.

Since their vision is enhanced.

If they lose their sight, they become completely useless.

‘But the problem is, they keep their mouths open.’

Most of the time, their eyes are closed while their mouths are open.

Their eye membranes have mutated to be thick for protection.

So you need to make them open their eyes.

And there’s only one moment when they do that.

‘The moment they charge at prey.’

So, in my current situation…

Shff–

Rustle–

“Aaack, aack!”

It’s ambiguous.

The Light Lickers had clearly stopped at a distance. Not too close, not too far.

And they seemed to be circling that area.

Whenever it got quiet, crawling sounds and screams alternated.

If I turned on my flashlight here…

Instead of opening their eyes and charging…

‘They’d just lock onto the direction and keep their eyes shut.’

Then…

What should I do?

I–

 

—

[Something is near you.]

—

 

The grinning narrator’s window floated before me.

A situation where I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.

I couldn’t turn on my phone or flashlight.

I slowly shifted my gaze between the glowing window in front of me…

And the direction from which the roaming sounds were coming.

The window emits light.

But this is a light source visible only to me.

I think I know one way to break out of this situation.

 

***

 

When he was young, there was a certain urban legend that used to haunt him.

A typical one.

A student studying late at a reading room thought he was alone, got scared, and then noticed a desk with its light still on.

Curious, he peeked over…

And the moment he made eye contact with the student sitting there…

He fainted on the spot.

The story was predictable.

The person sitting there looked exactly like him.

Staring at him with a blank expression.

And not long after…

That student died.

A traffic accident, maybe.

Just a simple urban legend.

But for Lee Hoin, who didn’t even stay late at school, there was only one reason it still felt creepy.

‘…Because that damn school was full of incidents.’

Seonggwang High School.

A large, well-funded school at the edge of Seoul.

It supported all kinds of club activities, each with its own room and dedicated field.

A massive school.

And yet…

Strangely, accidents never stopped happening.

Someone fell from a fourth-floor window.

Someone suddenly got into a traffic accident.

Because of that…

The story about seeing a doppelgänger and dying in a traffic accident didn’t feel entirely unrealistic.

In three years, Lee Hoin knew of at least fifteen incidents.

“Let’s graduate alive” even became a running joke among students.

‘In the end… most of them didn’t.’

Anyway–

Right now, Lee Hoin was seeing that urban legend unfold before his eyes.

A face identical to Nam Muyeong’s.

Pale.

Sharp eyes.

Because of his usual expressionless face, Lee Hoin had often thought his pale skin looked like a corpse.

And now…

That exact face stood before him.

But it wasn’t Nam Muyeong.

That much was certain.

But…

‘…What if it is?’

Maybe it isn’t… but maybe it is.

That thought suddenly surfaced.

Because that pale, expressionless face was exactly the one he knew.

The way it seemed to pierce through people.

The way his eyes looked at him, yet seemed to be looking somewhere far away.

Everything…

Was perfectly Nam Muyeong.

“……”

His lips twitched.

If it’s him or not…

He could just call out.

Swallowing dryly, Lee Hoin took a half step forward and barely opened his mouth.

At that moment…

“Hey!”

A sharp voice tore through the air.

And from behind–

A knife flew straight toward Nam Muyeong.

A dagger.

A short dagger.

Heading directly for his head.

‘I need to knock it away–’

If not, Nam Muyeong would die instantly.

I can’t let that–

“Get a grip!”

The body that was about to leap forward…

Was suddenly restrained.

Only then did Lee Hoin turn his unfocused eyes to the side.

Short-cut hair.

A face cleaner than before.

Sharp, cat-like eyes, twisted in irritation.

“You….”

The girl Nam Muyeong had helped.

Instantly, something flared in his mind.

That unpleasant girl…

Who still acted irritated even after being helped.

 

—

“She must have her reasons.”

—

 

That soft-hearted guy had said that.

But Lee Hoin didn’t think so.

Even if you have reasons…

There’s a difference between what you should and shouldn’t say.

Between what you should and shouldn’t do.

‘In a world like this, who doesn’t have reasons?’

A world where corpses line the streets.

Every corpse has a story.

Even a broken streetlight has a reason.

A spark flickered in Lee Hoin’s eyes.

He had forced himself to understand and move on.

And hoped never to see her again.

Because Nam Muyeong had already forgiven her.

Without even hearing an apology…

He had already forgiven her.

“Let go.”

Lee Hoin shook off her bandaged hand harshly.

Because Nam Muyeong forgave her so easily…

Lee Hoin couldn’t forgive her at all.

No matter how he tried…

He couldn’t see her in a good light.

It made no sense.

“You threw a knife at Nam Muyeong?”

“What? Hey–”

“I seriously don’t understand you. And I don’t want to, ever. I don’t get why he keeps trying to help someone like you.”

Her sharp eyes twisted in confusion.

Instead of snapping back like before…

She couldn’t find anything to say.

“…You really think that’s the guy you were with?”

And that’s what she finally said.

Lee Hoin looked up, then back down, filled with disgust.

“You knew it wasn’t, didn’t you? Honestly, that’s how it looks to me. If you want to survive alone, you’d use whatever means necessary. That’s why you act like this.”

His vision blurred.

Something kept blocking it.

A square window.

The same window that appeared when the world ended.

It kept interfering with his sight.

Frustrated, he pressed his eyes shut with one hand.

Fatigue rushed in.

Why was his mind getting so hazy…?

He didn’t know.

Ah– Nam Muyeong got hit by the knife…

‘The knife… he got hit… I need to treat that first…’

He must be in pain.

Even if he’s not making a sound…

Something grabbed the back of his head.

A stinging sensation.

And then her voice came near his ear.

“…Don’t close your eyes. Look properly. Open them.”

It didn’t sound angry.

Which made it even stranger.

With that strange feeling…

Lee Hoin slowly lowered his hand.

Through his blurry vision…

Past the obstructing window…

His hand holding the flashlight was lifted by someone else.

The figure beyond the light’s reach…

Came into view again.

A pale face.

A knife is embedded in it.

And…

“…Hey, Nam Muyeong…”

Still staring at him expressionlessly.

Black fluid dripping down.

“Nam Mu–”

Before he could finish…

The face began to distort.

It twisted…

And its form flickered like smoke dispersing.

After flickering for a while…

The smoke slowly cleared.

“…That looks like him to you?”

Something pierced his vision.

A figure covering its face with its hands.

But looking closer…

It wasn’t clear if it was human.

Five hands covering its face.

And everything else was wrapped in white cloth.

No.

It wasn’t human.

Even outside the flashlight’s range…

It was at least a meter taller than him.

‘I’m 193 cm…’

That meant…

It was nearly 3 meters tall.

Frozen, he raised the flashlight toward its face.

A knife was stuck in one of the hands, covering it.

Dark red fluid dripped down, soaking the cloth.

“…You’ve been seeing it like that the whole time? You saw it like that?”

The person beside him answered without hesitation.

“Yeah.”

Only then did things become clear.

The obstructing messages…

His reduced sanity.

Warnings that he was being enchanted.

Messages comparing it to something like a “lantern fish.”

A status abnormality…

“Hey, that thing–”

Before he could finish reading…

The person next to him nudged him.

And then…

What he saw–

The creature’s hand…

Was moving.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

Crack…

Craack–

A sticky, tearing sound…

Like peeling off old tape.

Echoed slowly.

At the same time…

The cloth began to open.

No…

Something was pushing its way out from inside.

“Holy….”

Countless hands burst out from the center.

At least hundreds…

Entangled together.

Dripping black fluid.

The face–

Now exposed…

Was wrong.

It could never align.

The upper face ended at the upper jaw–

And below it…

Another face was attached upside down at the same point.

A mouth that could never close properly…

Hung open.

“….”

A monster.

Something beyond any word or sentence he had learned in his twenty years of life.