Chapter 9: The Deadly Secret

“Haa. Haa.”

It was an unseasonable downpour.

The boy, drenched black, entered the ruined concrete building. His bare feet, which had crossed from the bushes to the mud, left brown stains on the broken debris that could no longer be called stairs.

The sky was entirely covered in gray clouds. The pouring rain was deafening, as if it would tear his eardrums.

To gain a clear view, the boy deliberately climbed to a floor where the window had collapsed, leaving a gaping hole. From the empty cans strewn across the floor, it was clear someone had stayed there.

The boy scattered the asbestos dust piled on the floor with his bare feet. The bonfire, which seemed to have been lit by someone, had long been extinguished by rain leaking from the ceiling.

Rip! The boy pulled out some kindling from his torn bag. It was fortunate that the flint he had obtained from a supply box was still intact.

Unlike his young face, which was about ten years old, he squatted down familiar-like on the floor and lit a fire.

After several frictions, an ember formed on the dry grass powder. After waiting for it to become a flame, he took out a rat larger than his fist from his bag.

He didn’t know what rats originally looked like on Earth, but this one was revolting to look at as food. Thirteen eyeballs clinging to its face like parasites. A grotesquely elongated tail like mating earthworms.

The boy prepared them expressionlessly, then skewered the barely meat-shaped creature onto a branch and put it into the fire. Like all beasts born here, it was a poisonous creature, but eating just a tiny bit would not be harmful.

It was better than suffering from starvation. He couldn’t starve while waiting for supplies.

The boy was looking at the crackling flames when his ears twitched at the sound of footsteps from the stairs.

“I saw everything. I told you, they went this way, didn’t I?”

“Uh-oh, I smell something burning.”

“Right? It’s here.”

‘Have they already followed?’ The boy, who had sullenly taken a bite of the meat, straightened his knees and stood up.

The footsteps grew closer. When the boy turned his head, the two men also spotted him and their lips curled up.

“…Wow, the rumors are true.”

“He’s not just pretty. This is…”

Even as they pulled out blades from their trouser pockets, they couldn’t take their eyes off the boy’s face. Each time the boy’s large blue eyes blinked, their feet also moved forward.

The boy’s mouth briefly twisted as if the meat’s poison was belatedly taking effect, but he returned to his indifferent face as if nothing had happened. It was too precious to even care.

“If you just behave, you won’t get hurt.”

“Yeah. We’re on the same side.”

The two men, slouching, forced smiles, pulling up their unattractive lips.

‘Holding blades and saying such things.’ He thought so inwardly, but the boy’s face showed no change other than being stiff from the cold.

“He’s really pretty… Is he actually a girl?”

“We’ll have to strip him to find out.”

One man flicked his tongue and looked down at the boy’s thin body.

The boy was wearing a black poncho, but his pale shoulders were fully exposed through the bite marks from monsters. Perhaps he hadn’t found clothes to wear underneath, as the fragrant scent of flesh amidst the smell of rainwater stimulated the man.

Sniff, sniff, he pretended to smell, then suddenly rushed forward and grabbed the boy’s hair.

“Ugh…!”

“Ha, he smells like a girl too, this one.”

The boy, pushed closer and closer to the wall, frowned.
More excited by his expression, the man pushed the boy to the floor and immediately climbed on top of him.

“I’m first. I found him first.”

The man frantically fumbled with the boy’s poncho.
He touched his flat chest and tickled his thin waist, checking something.
It

seemed to be an attempt to confirm if he was female, but he couldn’t tell from this.

In a racecourse where hunger was a daily occurrence, both males and females had no flesh on their bodies.
He licked his lips as if disappointed, and then began to tear the boy’s poncho.

“Everything’s good, but he’s not crying.”

The man who was keeping watch from behind clicked his tongue, looking at the boy’s dry eyes.
The boy, whose poncho was completely torn, exposing his chest and stomach, was expressionless, as if he didn’t know he was being assaulted.

The only reaction was his gaze glancing at the ceiling from time to time.
It was when the man approached the boy, intending to at least hear a scream.

“Hmm?”

The boy’s arms and legs gradually began to turn black.
As if a piece of meat was rotting.
The man briefly thought it might be a jockey’s body enhancement, but he had never seen an entire skin turn black like this before.

The man who was touching the boy’s chest also sensed something strange and withdrew his hand.
He parted his lips, looking at the boy whose face remained unblackened, but whose neck was completely black.
‘W-what is this?’

“…How troublesome.”

A scoff-like remark flowed from the boy’s lips, which had been tightly sealed until then.
He glanced at the ceiling once, then at the man in front of him, and as if he had made a decision, he slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“What, what are you going to do, you tiny f*cker!”

The man raised his fist, as if startled by the boy’s sudden gaze.
But it

was soon caught without resistance.

The boy’s shadow, previously cast on the floor, grew in size.
The man, seeing his trembling fist, lowered his gaze in confusion.

The boy had vanished, and in his place lay a man larger than himself.

Bright blue eyes, clearly gleaming even in the darkness, stared intensely at him.
A fear greater than any he had felt facing a monster enveloped the man’s body.

“Th-that b*stard got bigger. Hi-his body.”

The pale-faced onlooker stumbled backward, trying to escape himself, but his head slammed against the wall.
It was the boy’s doing.

Bleeding profusely, he collapsed and checked on his companion.
But he was already sprawled on the floor, breathless.

The boy looked at his stopped eyes and grumbled discontentedly.

“…What a mess.”

The boy, grimacing, picked up the rat meat that was burnt beyond being merely cooked.
His nose wrinkled with each chew.
He casually threw the eaten skewer away and took out a purple plant from his bag.

It wasn’t for kindling but a poisonous herb he had brought just in case he might need it.
One bite would cause unconsciousness, and two bites would turn one’s face pale blue, ultimately leading to death.

“Uh, ugh…”

One man was still breathing, crawling on the floor.
The boy glanced at him, held the poisonous herb, and slowly walked over.
The man flinched reflexively and reached out, trying to find some way to survive.

The boy trampled on his wrinkled hand and forced the poisonous herb into the man’s mouth.
The man gasped for air, struggling for a moment, then slowly stopped resisting and rolled his eyes back.

A dry sigh escaped the boy’s lips.
He habitually glanced at the corner of the ceiling.
The camera was off, just as he intended.

The boy pushed back his long, bothersome bangs, extinguished the fire he had painstakingly lit, and cleaned up his traces.
Meanwhile, his arms and legs gradually shortened, returning to a child’s stature.

Just then, the sound of rain stopped.
The boy, as if nothing had happened, slung his bag over his shoulder and left the building.

He could have run straight to the warehouse where the supplies were, but instead, he headed for the bushes.
His allies, with whom he had parted ways midway, were there.

“Lau! I thought we were separated because of the rain!”

“My goodness, you’re alive.”

Those who were barely sheltering from the rain inside a tent, obtained from supplies, smiled with relief when they saw the boy.
They had thought they wouldn’t meet again after getting separated during a confrontation with a monster.

They seemed a little surprised by his messed-up poncho, but since they themselves looked terrible after barely surviving the monster, they only exchanged awkward glances.

Lau took out a few more pieces of rat meat from his bag.
Some flinched, but they knew they would eventually eat it, overcome by hunger.

“…Speaking of which, that purple plant you mentioned earlier.”

When everyone had somewhat satisfied their hunger, the boy cautiously spoke.

“It really was poisonous, after all. I saw someone who died from eating that plant in the building I found.”

Responses of agreement, as if to say ‘I knew it,’ followed.
The boy glanced at somewhere in the air, confirmed that the camera was aimed at the purple plant, and continued to tear at the rat meat.

“Let’s move soon. It’s time for ‘them’ to move.”

Starting with the oldest man among the allies, they one by one stood up and slung their bags over their shoulders.
The boy, following behind, checked the blood on his sleeve and hid his hand behind his back.

The camera was moving away from the bushes.
The boy’s previously unmoving lips twitched, anticipating that it would belatedly head into that building.

The next morning, Yeosu froze at her mother’s unfamiliar urgency.

A prepared satchel lay by the entrance.
It looked much lighter than yesterday, but for some reason, Cheche’s movements as she packed it were more frantic.