READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 18 - Siege (1)
Chapter 18. Siege (1)
Kim Dong-gil descended the stairs recklessly, as if possessed by madness.
The sound of dozens of footsteps overlapped within the stairwell, creating a cacophony.
A kitchen knife was gripped in his hand, and dozens of people followed behind him.
The stairwell door to the first floor came into view.
Without hesitation, Kim Dong-gil opened the door.
Click!
As the door swung open, a hallway appeared.
Crossing the hallway would lead to the main hall.
On the opposite side, glass doors obscured by black smoke were visible.
“Hoo…! Hoo…!”
His heartbeat raced wildly, and his breaths came in rapid gasps.
He walked slowly, leaning his body against the corner of the wall.
The Blue Team members who followed him took cover against the wall.
Kim Dong-gil cautiously peeked his head out to survey the main hall.
Perfect silence.
It matched the chilling quiet he had felt on the third floor.
The only sound came from the noisy escalator on the opposite side.
They planned to let the opposing team emerge and cause a commotion first, then strike the Red Team from behind.
Through sacrifice, they would seize victory.
Kim Dong-gil addressed the members who had followed him.
“Prepare yourselves. Keep your lights secure. And remember what I just told you.”
The members nodded nervously.
The lesson from the third floor was clear.
If they failed to identify friend from foe, the Blue Team would end up fighting amongst themselves again.
Kim Dong-gil devised a clever trick from that lesson.
He had them cut the left sleeve of their shirts as an identifying mark of the Blue Team.
Kim Dong-gil swallowed hard.
‘These bastards… It’s over for them.’
They only had to avoid the crossbows.
At close range, crossbows wouldn’t be much of a threat.
As for melee weapons, the best the enemy had were mop handles.
Plenty of unopened mop handles were scattered throughout the mall—in restrooms, janitor lounges, and various stores.
As the branch manager of a large shopping mall, Kim Dong-gil had already assessed the situation.
At that moment, beams of light began shining from the opposite escalator.
The Blue Team’s forces began pouring down from the escalator.
‘They’re here.’
Kim Dong-gil signaled his team to prepare, waiting for the enemy to charge.
Soon, a flood of people descended the escalator.
Their desperate cries echoed through the store.
“Arghhhh—!!!”
“Waaahhhh!!!”
“Aaaaaahhhh!!!”
Each member of the Blue Team let out a different wail as they charged.
Then it happened.
A crossbow bolt flew.
Although it wasn’t visibly clear, Kim Dong-gil saw a Blue Team member collapse, struck by an arrow.
“Aaaargh!”
Another scream rang out.
The flashlights held by the attackers illuminated the Red Team’s position.
The Blue Team, seeing the enemy’s defensive setup, couldn’t help but despair.
The Red Team had built a barricade by stacking display shelves in two layers, reaching nearly two meters high.
Using the store’s blind spots as boundaries, they had formed a fortress in the shape of a square.
They had narrowed their defensive area to make it easier for their small numbers to hold off attackers.
At a glance, the sight was both terrifying and impressive.
Atop the barricades, dozens of Red Team members aimed spears fashioned from mop handles at the approaching Blue Team.
It was a siege.
The Blue Team froze in their tracks upon encountering the imposing barricade.
“Huh…?”
“What…?”
They had assumed that the Red Team would be resting after the game’s end.
They thought they could overwhelm them with a surprise attack.
But now, in this moment, they realized how naive that idea had been.
When people encounter something unfamiliar or unexpected, their thought process momentarily stalls.
The Blue Team was in exactly that state.
In contrast, the Red Team had anticipated this moment and planned for it.
This situation was neither unfamiliar nor surprising to them.
They had been waiting for it.
“Now!”
At Kang Sion’s shout, the spearmen atop the barricade threw their makeshift spears simultaneously.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The accuracy of the thrown spears was low.
The Red Team members, like their opponents, had never thrown spears or killed anyone before.
Even if a mop-handle spear hit its target, it lacked the piercing force to be lethal.
But Kang Sion had accounted for that as well.
The Red Team’s strategic weapons were the “fortress” and their unexpectedly acquired “crossbows.”
Three members armed with crossbows began firing arrows in unison.
Swish, swish, swish!
The arrows were far more accurate than the spears.
Additionally, Lee Joo-yeon, a former special forces sniper, displayed exceptional marksmanship.
Thwack! Thwack!
One shot, one person.
Blue Team members fell one by one, struck by arrows.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Ughhhh!!!”
Their anguished cries echoed throughout the store.
The pitiful sounds caused some Red Team members to tremble with guilt, their faces contorting with distress.
Each time, Kang Sion shouted.
“Don’t hesitate!”
His leadership gradually helped the others suppress their guilt.
From the moment they joined this game, they had no other choice.
Mop-handle spears sliced through the air, striking the Blue Team.
Several were hit and fell, some struck by arrows, others by spears.
The Blue Team’s vanguard, which had charged recklessly, quickly fell apart and scattered.
Yet they couldn’t retreat completely.
The Blue Team was just as desperate.
Kim Dong-gil observed from the rear and suddenly swung an axe at a fleeing Blue Team member’s head.
“Ugh!”
Squelch! Squelch!
With a sickening sound, the man collapsed, blood pouring from his head.
The remaining Blue Team members, who had been running alongside him, were horrified.
The people who had descended from the escalator were aiming weapons at their own teammates.
Kim Dong-gil nonchalantly killed another person, pulling the bloodied axe free and issuing a threat.
“Run, and you die. Your only option is to tear down that barricade. Now, charge.”
“You… you bastard…!”
“We’re on the same team! How can you do this?!”
“We’re on the same team, so we each have roles to play! We’ll attack as reinforcements. We’ll attack too! Damn it!”
The people from the stairs shouted in defense of Kim Dong-gil.
For the Blue Team, destroying the Red Team’s fortress was an absolute necessity.
Sacrifices were unavoidable.
In that grim situation, Kim Dong-gil had chosen to sacrifice a few for the sake of the group.
“Ugh…! Damn it…!”
“Damn it!!”
“You’ll see…!”
The people from the escalator reluctantly turned back.
Whether they retreated or advanced, death awaited them either way.
However, if they could at least destroy the Red Team’s defenses, there would still be a slim chance of survival for them.
Thus, they had no choice but to charge.
“Arghhhhh!!!”
“Aaaaahhh-!!!”
The Blue Team launched another assault.
The Red Team members were already prepared for a second counterattack.
And so, a desperate, fierce, brutal, and relentless battle unfolded for some time.
Swish!
An arrow flew and struck a charging woman in the heart.
She collapsed forward helplessly, blood gushing out.
I immediately pulled back the loose rubber band and placed another arrow in the groove.
The rubber band stayed taut, held in place by my fingers.
It worked on the same principle as a slingshot.
Swish-!
Thud!
Another hit.
But after a few more shots, the end of the rubber band began to weaken and stretch.
Now, even when pulled fully, the band no longer fit tightly.
The crossbow’s durability was nearly exhausted.
Though unavoidable, the urgency of the situation made this feel maddening.
The Blue Team continued throwing themselves at the barricade.
Some, even with multiple arrows embedded in their bodies, pressed on toward the barricade.
The Blue Team members tried to push and topple the display shelves reinforcing the barricade.
But their strength alone couldn’t bring it down.
The shelves had been nailed together securely.
However, the barricade wouldn’t hold forever.
Above all else.
We lacked time, and although we did our best within the limited time we had, the result was still “shoddy.”
But if we hadn’t managed even this “shoddy” work, we’d all have died here.
Every single one of us.
“Arghhhh!!!”
Stab!
The Red Team atop the barricades thrust their mop-handle spears at the Blue Team clinging to the barricades.
A man, trying to push the barricade, fell when a spear pierced his skull.
A woman climbing over his body to push again screamed in pain and collapsed when a spear struck her left shoulder.
At the same time.
A young man from the Red Team to my left, thrusting his spear, had his head split in half by a thrown emergency axe.
Blood splattered, some of it landing on my left cheek.
“Uh… Ugh…”
Thud!
The Red Team youth fell backward and died.
I shut my eyes tightly.
It was an anticipated result.
This was not an unexpected situation.
But facing it head-on was still terrifying.
More than anything, the fear that I could die the same way made my hands and feet tremble.
Each time, I bit down hard on my lower lip.
So hard that blood began to flow.
Then, the enemy’s war cries grew louder.
Rumble!
The barricade to the left, which had been holding, started to give way.
The enemies were determined to topple the barricade, even at the cost of their own lives.
Their determination finally paid off.
Soon, the barricade on the left side collapsed.
“Waaaaagh!”
“Kyahhhh!!!”
The Red Team members stationed at the left barricade fell and tumbled to the ground.
The Blue Team seized the opportunity, stabbing the fallen Red Team members with their weapons.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The sound was brutally horrifying.
This couldn’t go on.
Looking toward the distant store, I spotted Kim Dong-gil staring in this direction with an eerie grin.
It was the first time I realized a person could smile in such a chilling manner.
Next to him, dozens of Blue Team members were hurling all sorts of hard objects.
Countless items flew through the air.
Their projectiles hit both the Red Team and the Blue Team indiscriminately.
The situation was turning dire.
‘This can’t go on.’
I hurriedly tried to load another arrow into the crossbow.
The urgency of the moment made my actions clumsier.
I dropped the arrow several times before finally managing to load it into the groove and aim forward.
I pulled the band back with all my strength, aiming at Kim Dong-gil in the distance.
I released the trigger.
But at that moment, the band, worn thin, tore against a nail.
Rippp!
The torn band caused the arrow to fall limply to the ground.
The crossbow’s durability had finally reached its limit.
And right in front of me, a Blue Team man with a murderous glare was climbing the barricade.
“Ugh…! Ughhh!!!! Die!!!”
The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and an arrow was lodged in his right arm.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
My heart pounded furiously.
Covered in blood, the Blue Team man let out an animalistic howl and charged at me.
“Gyaaaaahhhh!”
He lunged at me with a knife, and I fell backward with him.
Crash!
I hit the ground headfirst from the 2-meter-high barricade.
“Ugh…!”
The back of my head slammed hard against the solid floor, and I nearly lost consciousness.
The man climbed on top of me, gripping the knife with both hands, aiming for my heart.
As I tried to regain my senses, I flailed my hands in an attempt to fend him off.
Crash!
At that moment, all the barricades fell.
The Red Team’s fortress had been breached.
‘We did it… We did it!’
Kim Dong-gil clenched his fist as he watched.
The Blue Team, driven to desperation, charged the Red Team with ferocity and turned the tide.
What the Blue Team needed was that very “desperation.”
They had assumed they held the upper hand and lacked the urgency the Red Team had.
Without desperation, people become lax.
But now, the Blue Team had embraced that desperation and secured victory.
Kim Dong-gil surveyed the remaining Blue Team members and shouted.
“Now, charge! Kill every last one of them!”
At his command, the remaining Blue Team forces surged forward.
In the battlefield, where Red and Blue Teams clashed amidst fallen barricades and pools of blood, the remaining Blue Team members attacked.
The rested reinforcements overwhelmed the Red Team, who could no longer resist.
One by one, the Red Team members began to fall.
Even in the dark, there was no confusion among the Blue Team.
The Blue Team maintained their momentum and pressed forward.
It became a massacre.
Groups of two or three Blue Team members cornered and killed the Red Team members one by one.
In this darkness, where many hadn’t yet adjusted their vision, the slaughter was nothing short of a disaster.
No one in this place could remember their former lives.
The office worker who skipped breakfast each morning to catch the subway, only to endure scolding from their boss.
The high school senior who spent their days studying from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the same classroom.
The housewife who spent her days tending to her husband and children, sweating through household chores.
The elderly man who spent lazy afternoons playing Go at the neighborhood gazebo.
Here, everyone was reduced to beasts.
They tore into each other.
In desperation, they gouged at their opponent’s eyes with their fingers or bit into their earlobes while dying.
They silenced the pleas of those begging for their lives by covering their mouths and stabbing their stomachs repeatedly.
Blood and carnage.
In the midst of it all, Kim Dong-gil laughed.
It was a laugh drunk on his own victory.
“It’s over… It’s all… over…!”
Step, step.
He walked further into the chaos.
Bloodstained footprints marked his path.
Consumed by madness, Kim Dong-gil struck down anyone in his way with his axe.
Thud, thud—people fell one by one.
As those sounds filled the air, Kim Dong-gil crossed the fallen barricade and entered deeper into the stronghold.
“Haha. Hahahahaha!”
His laughter echoed through the store.
Screams and groans followed in chorus.
Just as his laughter was about to end, another deafening sound rang out.
It was the sound of a gunshot.
Bang!
A single gunshot.
The gunshot silenced everything.
Groans, screams, the sound of breaking objects, war cries—all of it was swallowed by the sound of the gunfire.
Startled, Kim Dong-gil shone his flashlight quickly across the battlefield.
The beam of light landed on “that man.”
“Hah… Hah… Hah…”
With a knife embedded in his thigh, crimson blood dripping down his leg from the wound, weary eyes, one hand pressing against the injury on his thigh, and the other gripping a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, smoke rising from its barrel.
Kang Sion breathed heavily, aiming the gun.
The Blue Team man struck by the shot collapsed immediately.
An absolute weapon.
The gun had appeared.
The second gunshot followed shortly after.
Bang!