### Chapter 303 – Room 204, Mission Room – ‘Hotel Cinema’ (25)
—
– Park Saerom
— Ding Dong Dang Dong!
“Saerom, where’s Yoori gone off to?”
“… Good question.”
“Weren’t you two just together?”
Stop asking me! I have no clue where she went either!
…
The seventh period has already ended. With the regular class time wrapped up, it’s now self-study time.
Yoori, who suddenly bolted to the playground during lunch because of some issue with the enchantment, still hasn’t returned.
Of course, neither of us—her or I—are really people, so it’s not like I’d be too concerned about slacking off in school. But still, this human-crafted school has a surprisingly strict system!
If a student suddenly leaves or skips class without a word, it’s likely that the teachers will start checking Yoori’s records for some reason or another. The more that happens, the higher the chance our various disguises will be exposed.
So, the gumiho has to live more carefully than humans. We can’t let anyone suspect us. And who was it that drilled that into my head? Yoori! So why is she acting like this?
Let’s go make up an excuse, at least.
“Did you say Yoori mentioned she had a headache?”
“Yeah. She was saying her head really hurt and she wobbled out of school.”
“Hmm… The teacher hasn’t heard anything.”
“Maybe Yoori was too sick to see the teacher?”
“That might be true. Thanks for letting me know, Saerom.”
I managed to keep it vague enough for the teacher. Honestly, I can’t believe how much Yoori relies on me!
*
— Ding Dong Dang Dong!
The bell signifying the start of dinner time rang.
Is Yoori really just gone home for good? At this point, she still hasn’t come back to school, leaving me to deal with this annoying situation.
“Saerom! Yu, Yu, Yoori!”
“Yoori. Just say her name clearly!”
“Yoori told me to meet her on the rooftop at 8 PM, but… Where’s Yoori?”
How am I supposed to know, you idiots! If she was going home, why did she say to meet at 8? These dimwits keep asking me where Yoori is every break!
…
This is strange.
Before disappearing, it seems Yoori was inviting quite a number of guys to meet her at the school at 8 PM. Maybe because that rumor spread, many students were still hanging around school, gossiping like it’s a freaking festival. Some have already started speculating if Yoori’s gathering guys to ditch them all at once!
This high school doesn’t force nighttime studying, so not many students stick around this late, and quite a few teachers have already clocked out. However, thanks to Yoori’s “big event,” there are three times as many students around, making it feel more packed than usual.
What on earth is she planning?
Is she thinking of coming back to school tonight? Why? Is she really planning on gathering guys and ditching them? What does she gain from this noisy exhibition?
The more human flesh we consume, the more we mentally evolve to human standards. After feasting on hundreds over the years, having gathered nine tails, Yoori’s basically just a step away from fully becoming human after even eating 72 people during her gumiho phase.
So has she really changed all that much?
“Ahhh!”
A scream echoed from below, startling students yawning in the classroom awake.
“What the heck was that—”
“Fire!!!”
Something’s happening!
*
As I mindlessly rushed to throw open the door and dash outside the classroom, I was shocked to find flames already licking up everywhere, and the fire was getting worse!
I grabbed hold of a lunatic pouring oil into a barrel and lighting it on fire.
“You! What do you think you’re—”
“Fire. Fire. Fire. It… needs to burn!”
Just from looking at his eyes, I could tell. This dude was definitely not in his right mind. He’d become a puppet possessed by an overwhelming temptation, mindlessly igniting the place.
As I dashed down the corridor, the situation was seriously out of control. A bunch of grown men were wandering around with dazed expressions, setting the school ablaze like it was a barbecue gone wrong. Some students and teachers were trying to intervene, but it was far too late for that as flames erupted everywhere.
“Ahhh!”
“Fire!!!”
“Run for the main entrance!”
“Who the heck did this?!”
…Honestly, I had a hunch.
The one who spread the word about gathering all those guys for a nighttime meet-up in school.
The one who made this school crowded until this hour.
The one who enchanted others to commit arson here.
I know exactly who could pull all that off. It’s just a mystery why this psycho decided to go through with it!
“… Yoori.”
My one and only family, the great gumiho, just a single step away from becoming human. Han Yoori appeared amidst the flames.
Her hands and mouth were stained with blood, and several withered corpses were burning up around her. She had already eaten multiple people.
Yoori was surrounded by a bizarre vortex, cloaking her from others’ sight—because I’m not someone who can’t see simple tricks like that.
“What the hell… What the hell…”
Lost on what to say, Yoori gave a sly smile.
“Saerom, what are you doing?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask—”
“You should eat too.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? Eating students here will get us in crazy trouble…”
“You’re worrying about that right now?”
…True.
At this point, with Yoori having burned down the school and eaten multiple people, worrying about being caught is at least two steps too late. Seeming like I needed some convincing, Yoori casually tossed me some meat.
“Eat one. This one’s a bit tough.”
“So you say it’s tough yet offer it to me? What a lovely sister you are.”
The heart with bits of bone was quite chewy but had a unique flavor. With every crunch, the aromatic blood burst forth, which was undeniably enticing.
While I enjoy my usual meals of well-cooked human meat mixed into society, there’s a distinct flavor to this fresh human flesh. It’s a pity I have no one to share these thoughts with. But at least I have Yoori—
“No! This isn’t the time for this!”
“What’s wrong?”
While Yoori said that, she frowned slightly, swallowing down some liver. Oddly enough, it felt less like enjoying food and more like she was forcing it down.
So, she really is becoming closer to being human…
“Yoori! Are you seriously setting the school on fire and eating people? You think we didn’t do this because we couldn’t? If this kind of chaos goes down, it would be all over the news in South Korea! The Vatican will definitely send in an exorcism squad!”
“Can’t you see my face?”
Looking at Yoori covered by that bluish mist, I sighed.
“That doesn’t work on regular folks! You think it’ll work on the Vatican? It doesn’t even work on me!”
“What? I’ve been prepping other things too. So, I have more time than it seems until the exorcism squad arrives. Before that, I’ll become human.”
“Do you think it ends once you’re human? With all these deaths and no culprit? The Vatican won’t gloss over that!”
“If a culprit isn’t found, they’ll just keep hunting for me, teeth clenched.”
“What?”
“What was the original plan? To kill people slowly over months, even years, to hit the target number? You’d probably need to go at a snail’s pace, staring at just a number each week!”
That’s expected. In a country with good law enforcement, could anyone suddenly slaughter a bunch of people without getting caught? Obviously, you’d want to target people who’d go unnoticed after a couple of months.
“How on earth are you going to collect 28 like that?”
“Um, Yoori… why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Just 3 or 4 years, then it’d be done! It’s not that long—”
“It is long. Too long for me now. Saerom, I’ve already set this in motion. Decide quickly. Either help me finish this fast and escape together, or go solo!”
I was breathless.
Yoori’s eyes, shimmering eerily, looked the most deranged I’d ever seen. Was she tired? After centuries of patience, was she finally flipping out with just one step to being human?
I don’t know. I just can’t understand why Yoori is acting like this.
But one thing is for sure. Yoori, you’re my only family in this world.
We’ve spent countless nights and days together. The sister who learned the ways of the mage long before I did has shielded me more times than I can count. There’s no way I’m leaving her behind.
“Solo? Don’t be absurd. Let’s hurry up and get this done!”
*
When the two gumiho combined their efforts, things started to wrap up in less than twenty minutes. Of course, I’m still a seven-tailed fox for now, but one day I will be a gumiho!
Looking at the number of corpses piled up around, it seems I’ll at least reach eight tails today. Surviving this little escapade is key to making it a worthwhile story.
Over twenty students, some outsiders, and a few teachers—Yoori had gorged herself on all of them. Normally I would cherish every last morsel of human flesh, but today we’re throwing most of it to the flames, except for those essential organs needed for a tail upgrade.
And…
Yoori now had the final organ in her hands.
“… So this is the last one. If I eat this, does that mean I become human?”
After devouring 900 humans and earning nine tails, this gumiho fox, after consuming another 99, is just one more organ away from achieving her long-lost goal of full human transformation.
Tears began to stream down my face.
At this moment, I didn’t care about the imminent threat of the Vatican’s exorcists charging over. All I could feel was that my family, my sister, my only love, who had suffered through countless nights and days…
Was finally standing on the brink of achieving an incredible feat.
“Sis… Congratulations.”
“…”
“Wow, this moment really did come. Like, really…”
“…”
“But hurry up and eat it! The exorcism squad will come crashing in any minute. Or would you rather save the last organ for later? I’ve heard that once you change into a human, you lose most of your powers. It’d be better to escape first as a gumiho and eat the last organ later—”
“Saerom.”
“Yoori?”
“My escape plan is you.”
As the strongest gumiho’s hand danced through the air, the jet-black chains extending from Yoori’s body ensnared me.
“Die for me, take my sins upon yourself.”
I could feel the inexplicable magic emanating from Yoori. As a meager seven-tailed fox, I couldn’t comprehend or resist this overwhelming force, twisting my body and mind.
I never understood what was happening right till the very end.
…Maybe I just didn’t want to understand.
*
– Han Yoori(?)
Suddenly, I came to my senses.
There seemed to be a ton of information swirling in my head… but before I could even recall what it was, it slipped away at lightning speed, as if an eraser in my mind just wiped everything clean.
“Kyaaaah!”
Snapping back to reality, I realized this wasn’t the time to be lost in thought. There was a massive creature I had never seen before in front of me!
“What?! What is this?!”
A dog? No, a wolf? A giant fox? It has an insane number of tails—seven? And it’s chained up?
As the creature roared and twisted its body, the dark chains fell from it one after another. Watching this spectacle, I started sprinting like a madwoman to escape!
What on earth is happening? What’s going on at the school?!
Can I even run away from such a ridiculous monster? It’s obviously way bigger than me!
“‘The Girl with No Presence’ activate!”
What was that? Did I just say something weird? Am I imagining things?
There was no time to ponder. I ran and ran, dodging through the smoky chaos around me.
Corpses littered the ground, tripping me several times and soaking my uniform in blood. The intense heat singed my hair and clothes, and I was rolling around, utterly disheveled!
“Kyaaaah!”
Maybe it was because I was running for dear life? Even amidst the monster’s rampages, it curiously couldn’t find me.
Just when I thought I’d collapse from exhaustion, the school’s walls exploded as dressed-in-black figures swarmed in. Spotting them, my tension eased, and I blacked out.
…
“Survivor secured! The survivor is… human, human!”
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