Around 150 men gathered at an old building in an alley in Gwanak-gu.
They all had something in common. Every one of them had a menacing appearance, wore tight-fitting clothes, and carried a weapon capable of injuring someone.
Among them, the most fearsome-looking man was middle-aged. With a wave of his hand, he ordered the others inside.
"Hammer, let's get started."
The man called Hammer was the fat man who had ordered a request for reinforcements from headquarters.
Upon receiving the order, he stepped forward and shouted.
"All right! Let's get in there!"
As though they had been waiting for that command, half the gathered men charged inside.
"Waaaaah!"
"Kill them all!"
"Take them down! Take them all down!"
But what greeted them were zombies charging toward them with grotesquely twisted limbs, making bizarre noises.
"SKREEEEE!!"
"SKRAAAH!"
Everyone recoiled in horror at the sight of the zombies lunging toward them with their dead-fish-white eyes and mouths stretched wide open.
"Wh-what the hell are those things?!"
They charged with the ferocity of starving beasts that had finally spotted prey after going without food for days.
"You bastards! What are you doing?! Are you going to let a bunch of drugged-up bastards push you around?!"
At first glance, the creatures did resemble people high on drugs.
"If any of you hesitate one more time, I'll kill you myself!"
At Hammer's murderous shout, the men who had been faltering gritted their teeth and advanced.
"You can kill every last one of them! Headquarters will take responsibility for whatever happens afterward!"
With permission from the company to commit murder, the gangsters pulled knives from their clothes without hesitation and began swinging them mercilessly.
-STAB—!
-SLASH—!
In an instant, knives plunged into the zombies' stomachs, slicing through their flesh.
Even someone high on drugs would normally flinch from that much pain.
But there was no reason for those who had become zombies to possess any sense of pain.
All that remained within them was the instinct to tear into the flesh of living things and devour it.
"SKRAAAAAH!"
When stabbed in the stomach, they simply thrust their abdomens farther forward and clung desperately to their opponents' shoulders.
That left their opponents unable to pull out the deeply embedded blades or release their grip on the knives while their shoulders were pinned.
"Argh! Let go of me!"
The gangster struggled desperately to break free, but the strength of a zombie that had surpassed human limits was beyond imagination.
-CRUNCH!
"GYAAAGH!"
The bones in his shoulder shattered, and the zombie sank its teeth into his neck, its rotten breath washing over him.
As though guided by instinct, zombies targeted only the areas that would ensure their victims' deaths.
-RIP! SPLAAASH!
Skin and muscle were instantly torn apart by those teeth, sending red blood spurting like a fountain.
"GYAAAAAGH!!"
Beginning with that horrific scream, blood sprayed and screams erupted throughout the building.
"AAAAAGH!"
"These bastards! Knives don't work on them!"
Some had even plunged their knives directly into the zombies' necks, but the sight of the creatures refusing to die gradually filled them with terror.
"Z-zombies?!"
Someone blurted out the word in confusion.
Surprisingly, he had guessed correctly.
***
Meanwhile, the remaining gangsters waiting outside in case something unexpected happened were growing bewildered.
Amid the grotesque shrieks and human screams coming from inside, they had heard someone shout the word "zombie."
"Everyone, shut up! Don't get worked up over a bunch of drug addicts!"
Although he said that, even he was feeling somewhat uneasy.
'What kind of drugs did they get their hands on to make them this violent?'
Just then, the gangsters who had entered the building, including Hammer, began pouring back outside.
"What the hell?! Why are you coming back out?!"
At his angry shout, Hammer lowered his head with a bewildered expression.
"I'm sorry, Executive Director Choi! Those bastards inside aren't ordinary people!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
At that moment, the zombies inside the building burst outside and began attacking the people gathered there.
"Huh?! Wh-whoa!"
Zombies of the sort one would expect to see only in movies or television dramas had appeared right before their eyes.
An even greater problem was that most of the gangsters who had entered the building had turned into zombies themselves and were now attacking their former allies.
"What the fuck is this?!"
"Executive Director Choi! Get out of here!!"
At the urgent warning, the man called Executive Director Choi staggered backward and ordered a retreat.
"Damn it! Everyone, scatter! We'll regroup at headquarters!"
At his shout, the terrified gangsters immediately attempted to flee.
However.
-THUNK!
An invisible wall appeared directly in front of the men who had turned around to escape.
No matter how desperately they tried to retreat, the wall prevented them from advancing even a single step.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Something's blocking the way!"
An invisible defensive barrier had formed around the space outside the building, enclosing it in a precise square.
Veylord had employed defensive magic not for protection but to herd his enemies together.
"GYAAAAAGH!!"
"AAAAAGH!! Something's biting my neck!"
"SKRAAAAAH!!"
The zombies, whose numbers had increased before anyone realized it, were grabbing the remaining gangsters by their limbs and tearing into their flesh.
It was a horrifying sight.
"P-please… save me…!"
The problem was that the amount of bleeding caused by the zombies' bites and the flesh they tore away was also abnormal.
Even if the victims survived the immediate attacks, there was no telling how much longer they could endure.
"Hammer!!"
Meanwhile, Hammer was being bitten and torn apart by several zombies.
In an instant, the color drained from his enormous body, and his pupils gradually turned cloudy, just like those of the other zombies.
"Hammer! Snap out of it!!"
But as though mocking that desperate shout, Hammer lunged toward Executive Director Choi to devour him.
"SKRAAAAAH!!"
"AAAAAGH!!"
Choi resisted with his entire body, desperately fending off Hammer's attacks.
However, he realized it was only a matter of time before he ended up like the others.
Just as Hammer's teeth were about to tear into Executive Director Choi's neck.
-WHISTLE!
A brief whistle rang out, and every zombie stopped moving simultaneously.
Then they slowly withdrew, forming a single path stained with blood.
"Skraaa…."
With short, disappointed growls, they lowered their heads and knelt on one knee.
Executive Director Choi, the sole survivor, stood dumbfounded at the sight of the zombies suddenly retreating.
"I watched you giving orders to these men. Foolish commander."
Startled by the unexpected voice, Executive Director Choi looked up and saw a young man approaching him.
"W-who are you?"
"Does who I am truly matter? I would think that figuring out how to survive this situation is rather more important."
The young man's arrogant gaze looked down upon him as he walked gracefully along the bloodstained path.
His words instantly brought Choi back to his senses.
There were the transparent walls surrounding the area, not to mention the creatures that had been tearing human flesh apart right before his eyes.
His fear of death violently awakened his survival instincts.
"Gulp…! What do you want me to do?"
Swallowing hard, he knew he had to do whatever was necessary to survive.
"Tell me the locations of every place under your management where organs are harvested. The places you call factories."
"I-is that all? If I tell you, will you spare my life?"
Although he was trembling uncontrollably, he still attempted to negotiate for his survival.
At the sight, one corner of Veylord's mouth rose.
He was clearly mocking him.
"It seems you still have the luxury of worrying about such things."
At that moment, the survival instincts that had allowed Choi to rise from a neighborhood thug to an executive director of a company, and had kept him alive until now, kicked in.
"N-no! Of course not! I'll tell you everything! Please, have mercy!"
His highest priority was to give someone stronger than himself whatever they wanted and survive.
'As long as I survive, I can deal with this bastard whenever I want!'
While he entertained that thought, the corner of Veylord's mouth slowly lowered.
"How dull. It seems your mind is filled with nothing but thoughts of escaping this predicament by any means necessary."
"Mm?!"
For an instant, Executive Director Choi wondered whether he had accidentally spoken aloud.
But he had not opened his mouth at all.
"To think I am conversing with vermin like this. It seems I have greatly overestimated the standards of this world."
At that moment, Veylord placed his hand on top of Executive Director Choi's head and swiftly poured Magic Power into him.
"I cannot simply trust the words of someone like you."
At the same time, blackish-purple Magic Power swirled around Veylord's hand and burrowed into Choi.
"GYAAAAAGH!!"
Along with excruciating pain, the information within Choi began flowing out through the Magic Power.
It was the simplest method of torture and interrogation using Magic Power.
Someone with greater Magic Power than the caster could defend against it easily enough, but in a place where Mana was this scarce, no such person existed.
Furthermore, when there was no mutual trust, this method was the most effective.
The only problem was that unnecessary information came along with the useful information, requiring it to be sorted separately.
'It would've been easier if he'd simply been frightened into confessing.'
Someone with a weak will, like the man he had first encountered who introduced himself as Kang Chang-gyu, could be crushed into submission through fear.
But with bastards who entertained other thoughts even in a situation like this, forcibly extracting their memories was far more convenient.
Eventually, the useful information ran out, and memories from Choi's childhood began to emerge.
Veylord withdrew his Magic Power.
A small, transparent orb then formed above the back of his hand and floated into the air.
Inside it, scattered images played at random.
"Hmm! I did not have particularly high expectations despite your title of executive director, but…."
The memories of this body's original owner, who had been trying to secure employment at a major corporation, contained something resembling a corporate hierarchy.
Thanks to that, Veylord had a general understanding of what an executive director's position within a company entailed.
It was an executive position, but one he understood to have relatively little influence.
"For a piece of vermin who rose from the ranks of common thugs, you possess quite a variety of interesting memories."
Thanks to those memories, Veylord had obtained not only the information he wanted but also an understanding of how far this operation extended.
'Hmm. It might not be a bad idea to take over this company while I'm at it. Of course, I'll need to absorb the Vengeful Spirits from the remaining factories first.'
At present, he needed more Vengeful Spirits to recover his Magic Power.
Moreover, the Magic Power that had previously fallen one drop at a time whenever he resolved their grievances had now become a shallow stream.
The problem was that the Magic Power obtained this way was volatile and could not be replenished once consumed.
'The world of souls has expanded a little, so that's certainly a good thing. But I still need a source of power to replenish it.'
The dregs of Resentment settled at the bottom and became soil.
Magic Power would then need to be scattered over that soil as nourishment to create a new world.
'But there's still not enough nourishment for that.'
Just like the sun floating in the sky, or the air that allowed living things to breathe naturally, Mana was desperately necessary.
'No. Not right now….'
Having finished his thoughts, Veylord decided to use this opportunity to shut down every last factory.
Then he looked down at Executive Director Choi, who had still not recovered his senses, and raised one corner of his mouth again.
"But you must not die so easily. For a while, you shall serve as a shield incapable of disobeying my commands."
"Wha—?!"
Before Choi could even ask what he meant, Veylord's finger dug into his forehead.
-CRACK! CRUNCH!
The sound of his forehead bone cracking rang out, and horrific pain once again engulfed Executive Director Choi.
"GYAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
However, because of the barrier surrounding the area, no one could hear his screams.
***
As always, dawn eventually arrived.
And the construction company known as Taebaek was thrown into an uproar.
"What the fuck are you talking about?! You're saying all the meat factories we barely managed to establish have been attacked?!"
The man venting his fury first thing in the morning was middle-aged, with a gaunt physique and skin even paler than a woman's.
That was not all.
His eyes were rather sharp, and he made no attempt whatsoever to conceal the cruelty lurking within them.
He was Park Sang-sik, the president of Taebaek Construction.
Standing before the furious president was Executive Director Choi, alive and well, with his head bowed.
"I'm sorry, President! It was my mistake! I never imagined those drug addicts would attack us!"
"Drug addicts? What drug addicts?! We're the only ones supplying drugs around here!"
Executive Director Choi immediately recited the explanation he had prepared in advance.
"Well… it appeared to be a new type of drug supplied through channels we couldn't identify. Their movements were also highly organized, so I suspect they may have received training somewhere."
Despite appearing flustered, Executive Director Choi was carefully concealing Veylord's existence.
He blamed the entire incident on drugs and some unknown force operating behind the scenes.
"Training? What a load of bullshit! More importantly, are you saying those drugs have been distributed elsewhere too?"
"We don't have enough information yet, but I suspect that may be the case."
However, such an ambiguous answer only made Park Sang-sik angrier.
"What?! You're telling me you still don't know which organization is responsible?! You must have captured at least one of those bastards! Make him spit out everything he knows!"
He was telling Choi to obtain information through torture if necessary.
But Executive Director Choi already had his answer prepared.
"I'm sorry. They were drug addicts, and they were so difficult to subdue that we had no choice but to kill them."
"So you're saying you have no information?!"
"Yes, President."
No sooner had he finished answering with his head bowed than something flew past his head.
-THUNK!
A long sashimi knife, which Park Sang-sik had somehow kept concealed, was embedded in the wall, trembling from the impact.
"Executive Director Choi. No, Jung-myeong. Are you fucking with me right now? Or do you want to die?"
"I'm sorry, Boss. How could I possibly joke about something like this?"
At his answer, Park Sang-sik let out a deep sigh and began checking the situation.
"So, can we get the factories running again immediately?"
"That's impossible for now. We have no butchers left to process the meat, and all the factory managers responsible for the facilities are dead. On top of that, Department Manager Hammer was severely injured and is currently unable to move."
His reply was so smooth that it sounded rehearsed.
Park Sang-sik could only let out a hollow laugh.
"Ha! Hahaha! This is ridiculous. To think there are bastards who dare lay a hand on our Taebaek!"
But Executive Director Choi had not finished his report.
"And… the members we sent as reinforcements were also seriously injured, so they won't be able to operate for some time…."
He was reporting that the gang members under his command had suffered severe injuries.
But to Park Sang-sik, the report was nothing more than an irritating nuisance.
"Ah! Enough! Handle those bastards yourself! Right now, activate our entire information network and find out who's responsible for the attacks!"
"Yes, President."
After promptly acknowledging the order, Executive Director Choi quietly left the president's office and closed the door behind him.
And through the narrowing gap as the door closed, Park Sang-sik watched Executive Director Choi until the very end with a piercing gaze.
***
After returning to his own office within the company, Executive Director Choi—Choi Jung-myeong—wore an icy expression.
"The president used to terrify me, but now he doesn't seem like much at all."
At that moment, an ominous crunch came from his right hand as a strange transformation began.
The tendons bulged out grotesquely, while his fingernails lengthened and sharpened as though they had been honed against a whetstone.
"Compared to that gentleman's power, someone like him is nothing."
In truth, he had not died the previous night.
After receiving Magic Power from Veylord, he had been reborn as an entirely new existence.
At that moment, he recalled what had happened with Veylord, who had become his master.
"Vermin, you are no longer human. To be precise, you have become a creature known as a Ghoul."
"W-what is that?"
At that moment, beginning with the tips of his fingers and toes, he felt the blood throughout his body rapidly growing cold.
Simultaneously, the vigorous beating of his heart gradually slowed.
Finally, his chest gave one great heave, and his heart stopped completely.
"Ghk! What is this?!"
The moment he felt the heart that had been beating inside his chest come to a halt, his vision swam and death arrived.
Yet his consciousness remained perfectly intact.
Only the physical functions of his body had stopped.
At the same time, he instinctively realized that a strange power was strengthening his body, which had been growing weaker.
"Th-this…! How is this possible?!"
Feeling the power overflowing within him, he raised his head to look at Veylord.
He appeared to have many things he wanted to say.
But Veylord gracefully brought his index finger to his lips, ordering him to remain silent.
Immediately, Choi Jung-myeong's mouth clamped shut and showed no intention of opening again.
"Your body and mind now belong to me. If you betray me, you shall immediately become the same kind of creature as them."
He pointed toward the zombies lying facedown on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
Their mouths were stained with bright-red blood and pieces of human flesh, and it was clear that they were desperately suppressing their instinct to devour humans.
They resembled simple beasts held on leashes, possessing neither reason nor will.
The thought that he might become like them made Choi Jung-myeong feel faint.
"I-I will never betray you."
On the other hand, comparing himself to those zombies made him feel as though he were a chosen being.
And Veylord, who had chosen him, appeared to be a godlike existence.
"Please give me any command! I will serve you with absolute loyalty!"
He lowered his head once more, demonstrating his complete submission.
"In that case, first take care of this entire incident yourself and demonstrate your abilities."
"Yes, Master!"
However, there was something Choi Jung-myeong did not know.
A ghost that harbored a grudge against him had attached itself to him and was watching his every move.
***
After dealing with every factory established by Taebaek, Veylord was sleeping in a small boarding-house room.
It was a small refuge that Kang Chan-seong had found after personally searching around for a place where he could avoid his mother.
But somehow, even that hiding place had eventually been discovered and ransacked.
"Gasp!"
Veylord, wearing Kang Chan-seong's appearance, woke with a sharp intake of breath.
Cold sweat covered his entire body, making him look as though he had just suffered a nightmare.
"Phew… To think I would dream again of the day my territory was destroyed because of that damned Order."
Although it had happened long ago, it remained the worst day of his life, one he had never forgotten for even a moment.
Still, that did not make reliving it through a dream any more pleasant.
'I'll have to return if I want to avenge that grudge.'
At that moment, the mobile phone he had left charging emitted a short notification sound.
-DING-DONG!
It was the sound of a text message arriving.
He had located his missing phone by using the phones of the people he had turned into zombies to contact it.
"Hmm? Who is it?"
The number had not been saved, apparently because this was the first message he had received from it.
But he soon realized who the sender was.
'It's a report from Choi Jung-myeong.'
Using unfamiliar finger movements, he checked the message.
It stated that the previous night's incident had been handled successfully.
'That should buy me some time.'
Although the Magic Power he had accumulated so far was not even a drop in the ocean compared to what he possessed in his previous life, he had no intention of rushing to gather more.
'Once I've taken control of that place called Taebaek and gathered capital, accumulating Magic Power should become somewhat easier.'
A sparrow chasing after a dragon could end up being trampled to death.
Preparing a foothold from which to soar into the sky was far more important.
To that end, he intended to make use of Executive Director Choi, whose standing within the company was weak.
'Now, the problem is money.'
Having obtained power, he now needed to change his living conditions.
'I need a larger place, not somewhere this cramped.'
Having made up his mind, Veylord traced a line through the air with his index finger, which was imbued with blackish-purple Magic Power.
A thin crack appeared in midair, then opened into a pitch-black mouth.
"Spit it out."
At his command, the open mouth disgorged hundreds of bundles of fifty-thousand-won banknotes and around a hundred gold bars.
'This side income is more substantial than I expected.'
The proceeds from raiding the hidden safes of the factories he had attacked to gather Magic Power were quite considerable.
"Come to think of it, there were also debts to loan sharks. I should have Executive Director Choi take care of those."
Now that he had money, he recalled that piece of trash of a bitch who had not merely struck her own son in the back of the head but had cracked his skull and thrown him into organ harvesting.
"And… I should find that bitch and deal with her first, before she has another chance to stab me in the back."
He was referring to the person called his mother, who had attached herself to her own son like a straw and sucked him dry.
"Well then, shall I try tracking her down?"