The Devouring Genius of a Destroyed World

The onlookers couldn’t hide their shock, each reacting with varying degrees of alarm.

Seongho, meanwhile, casually demonstrated his weapon’s ability, lengthening and shortening the blade with ease while twirling it in his hand.

“She must’ve thought it was fascinating,” he said, his voice steady. “That’s why she tried to take it.”

In an instant, what had seemed like a flimsy excuse now carried a sense of legitimacy.

“I wasn’t looking for trouble at first—I tried to restrain her,” he continued. “But she completely lost it. She wouldn’t stop.”

His gaze locked onto Oh Jonghyuk’s.

“In that kind of situation, was I really supposed to hold back?” Seongho’s tone was firm, direct. “You’re the leader here, so let’s settle this. Was I in the wrong?”

Oh Jonghyuk glanced down at Yeom Miju’s lifeless body, his brow furrowing slightly.

As he remained silent, Jang Hyungsoo, who had been observing from a short distance away, stepped forward.

“If what Seongho said is true—if Miju attacked him first—then we can’t exactly blame him outright, can we?”

Jang Hyungsoo’s eyes lingered on the weapon in Seongho’s left hand, his thoughts clear.

Given Jang’s previous behavior, it was obvious what would happen next.

Even if Seongho were lying, Jang would likely defend him until the weapon’s origins were fully understood.

He wasn’t the only one.

Kang Yoo, who had been quietly watching beside Oh Jonghyuk, also stepped in.

“He didn’t even try to hide the body. He brought it here himself and explained what happened. Seems like he didn’t have much of a choice,” Kang Yoo added.

With both Jang Hyungsoo and Kang Yoo supporting Seongho, the situation took an interesting turn.

Moreover, the curiosity surrounding the strange weapon overshadowed Yeom Miju’s death.

Everyone, including Oh Jonghyuk, was more interested in the blade than the body on the floor.

Oh Jonghyuk forced himself to think rationally.

‘What’s done is done. She’s dead, and there’s no bringing her back.’

Punishing Seongho too harshly could have unintended consequences. It might provoke backlash or lead to Seongho becoming uncooperative.

Logically, it seemed wiser to sweep the incident under the rug and focus on gaining information about the weapon.

However, the camp’s rules were clear: harming another Awakened was the gravest of offenses.

The established punishment was severe: forfeiture of all possessions and half a year of forced labor alongside the slaves, stripped of all privileges.

The rule had been set in stone to ensure the hierarchy of the camp remained intact.

If Seongho were let off lightly, it would suggest that his weapon was more valuable than the life of an Awakened.

That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

“Miju may have started it,” Oh Jonghyuk finally said, his tone cold, “but you should have restrained her and brought her here for proper punishment.”

His voice was firm, leaving no room for argument.

Jang Hyungsoo seemed ready to protest, but Oh Jonghyuk continued before he could.

“That said, we all saw that Miju was drunk. There’s no denying her share of the blame.”

He sighed deeply, rubbing his temples as though trying to ease a headache.

“I’ll take her actions into account and show some leniency.”

A few of the onlookers nodded in agreement, visibly relieved.

“We’ll hold an internal meeting to determine an appropriate punishment,” Oh Jonghyuk declared, his gaze fixed on Seongho. “But understand this: your contribution score will start at a negative.”

Seongho shrugged, his expression indifferent.

“And let me be clear,” Oh Jonghyuk warned, his tone sharp. “I won’t tolerate this again. If there’s ever another dispute, report it through the proper channels.”

With that, the matter was hastily resolved.

“Take care of Miju’s body,” Oh Jonghyuk ordered, waving a hand. “Make sure she’s buried.”

Two Awakened carried Yeom Miju’s corpse out of the café.

As her body disappeared from view, the tension seemed to dissipate. Yet the Awakened present couldn’t help but steal glances at Seongho’s left hand.

Kang Yoo was the first to break the silence.

“Well, what’s done is done,” he said, forcing a grin. “She attacked first, so it’s her fault. Don’t worry too much about it. The professor talks tough, but he won’t hand down a heavy punishment.”

“I’m not worried,” Seongho replied, nonchalantly.

“Good! But seriously, what is that thing? Where’d you get it? Can you tell me?”

Kang Yoo’s curiosity was almost childlike, a mix of excitement and wonder.

Seongho raised an eyebrow.

“Where’d I get it? You’re kidding, right? Don’t tell me this is your first time seeing something like this.”

“Uh… yeah, it is! I freaked out when I saw it. It’s crazy. What the hell is it?”

The sound of someone swallowing audibly punctuated the air.

Seongho chuckled softly, running the blade along his cheek in a deliberate, almost mocking motion.

“I thought this was supposed to be a high-level camp, but you guys haven’t even hunted an evolved zombie yet?”

His tone was slightly condescending, but no one dared take offense. Every Awakened present hung on his every word.

“Evolved zombie?”

“The tougher ones,” Seongho explained. “You know, the kind that show up every now and then and are a pain to deal with.”

“Ah…!”

The group collectively recalled the monstrous figure that had approached the camp just days ago.

“If you take one of those down, you get things like this,” Seongho continued, twirling the blade. “Looks ordinary, but it’s got all sorts of neat features.”

“Seriously?”

Kang Yoo’s eyes widened as the implications sank in.

Even Jang Hyungsoo couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Does that mean there are other items like this?”

Seongho tilted his head, feigning indifference.

“Why? Planning to steal them if I say yes?”

“Ha! Of course not,” Jang Hyungsoo laughed nervously. “I’m just curious. If there are more, I’d love to see them.”

“Catch an evolved zombie, and you’ll see for yourself,” Seongho said casually.

The group fell silent as the weight of his words settled in.

Seongho’s next words reignited the tension.

“There’s one nearby, actually,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder. “Right by the campus. An unfinished one, but it’s there.”

***

Following Yeom Miju’s death and the revelation of the existence and origin of the so-called “items,” most of the Awakened found their intoxication wearing off in an instant.

The stream of shocking events had sobered them up, leaving them eager to dig deeper into Seongho’s claims.

Seongho, in turn, led the Awakened to the Seogang Daycare Center located outside the campus.

It only took about a minute after they crossed the high defensive walls before someone screamed.

“Ugh!”

“What the hell is that?”

“My god…!”

The bright afternoon sun illuminated the monstrous cocoon of a developing Evolved Zombie nestled between the buildings, its grotesque, pulsating form impossible to miss.

The sight was enough to make several of them recoil in fear, stepping back instinctively.

In stark contrast, Seongho stepped forward, drawing all eyes to him.

Stopping in front of the massive, writhing cocoon, he turned to address the group.

“This,” he began, gesturing to the grotesque form, “is what we call an Evolved Zombie’s cocoon. Inside, a zombie is undergoing its evolution.”

He added, almost nonchalantly, “Once it hatches, we can kill it to see if it drops an item.”

Of course, Seongho was lying.

While it was true that killing an Evolved Zombie could yield items, they were disposable and of limited value. Moreover, only Seongho, as a Fate Pioneer, had the ability to claim such rewards.

‘But they don’t know that,’ he thought smugly.

And so, the Awakened stared at the cocoon, their eyes glinting with thinly veiled greed.

Seongho carefully observed Oh Jonghyuk and Jang Hyungsoo’s reactions.

Sure enough, both men’s expressions betrayed their desire for the supposed items.

Satisfied with how things were progressing, Seongho hid his amusement behind a neutral expression.

That was when Jang Hyungsoo approached him, his tone friendly but calculated.

“You seem to know an awful lot about this kind of thing, Mr. Seongho.”

His eyes sparkled, clearly hoping to extract more information.

Feigning humility, Seongho replied, “Given enough time, I’m sure you’d have figured it out too, Mr. Jang.”

Jang Hyungsoo laughed, patting Seongho on the shoulder.

“There’s no need to downplay it. Your experiences are clearly extraordinary.”

He glanced at the cocoon, his curiosity barely concealed.

“I’m just asking out of curiosity, but… is there any reason we can’t just kill it now?”

The question wasn’t about feasibility; it was about whether an item would drop if they destroyed the cocoon prematurely.

Seongho had no intention of stopping anyone who wanted to waste their energy.

He stepped aside and gestured to the cocoon with a casual wave, silently inviting them to try.

Jang Hyungsoo didn’t hesitate.

Gathering a few of his people, he approached the cocoon with determination.

Kang Yoo instinctively moved to block him.

“Hey, hold on a second—”

But Seongho subtly shook his head, signaling Kang Yoo to stand down.

Reluctantly, Kang Yoo froze in place, his shoulders stiff with unease.

Meanwhile, Jang Hyungsoo and his group got to work.

“Ms. Younghye, bring the acid.”

Despite their concerted efforts, the result was predictable: complete failure.

No matter how many times they tried, nothing they did left so much as a scratch on the cocoon.

The truth was absolute—an Evolved Zombie’s cocoon was indestructible until the zombie’s evolution was complete.

This unshakable fact gave Seongho exactly what he needed: time.

***

Im Chan, unfamiliar with the atmosphere of drinking gatherings, decided to leave the welcoming party a little early.

However, as he walked back toward the dormitory, he found himself changing course.

“Dad, something smells weird,” Ji-hyo said, wrinkling her nose.

“Yeah, it’s really odd, isn’t it? Where could it be coming from?” Im Chan replied, sniffing the air.

“It’s a bad smell! Yucky!”

The cold winter air carried with it the distinct, pungent odor of marijuana once more.

Tracking anything related to drugs was something Seongho had specifically asked him to investigate.

As long as he was staying in this camp, Im Chan was determined to dig into it wherever possible.

And now, it seemed, an opportunity had presented itself.

As the foul odor grew stronger, Im Chan followed its trail until he found himself standing in front of a building.

“This is…,” he muttered.

The large sign on the structure read, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

It was a building used by the non-Awakened civilians classified as slaves.

Thinking back, he recalled smelling marijuana the first time he encountered the slaves in the camp.

‘Yeom Miju seemed to be using something inhaled nasally, so it’s probably a different drug in her case.’

It wasn’t far-fetched to suspect that marijuana might be circulating among the civilian population.

Speculating, Im Chan approached the building, cautiously scanning its surroundings.

The so-called entrance, as well as the windows, were tightly sealed with wood, metal, and even stone slabs.

He decided to walk along the outer wall to search for another way in when suddenly—

“Who’s there?!”

“Uh…”

A voice rang out, and a man with a baton appeared from around the corner.

The man wasted no time in grabbing Im Chan by the collar, his face twisted into a threatening scowl.

“You persistent little bastard! Crawling out from where this time?!”

Startled, Im Chan twisted his body to shield Ji-hyo and shouted in panic.

“Wait! Hold on! I’m an Awakened!”

Even before the words fully left his mouth, green shoots began sprouting from the ground at his feet.

The man froze, his baton raised mid-swing.

After a moment of tense silence, he hurriedly released Im Chan and bowed deeply.

“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize you were an Awakened! I thought you were one of the escapees. Please forgive me!”

Still rattled by the sudden confrontation, Im Chan smoothed out his crumpled clothes and took a deep breath.

He coughed awkwardly, trying to regain composure.

“I was, uh… just taking a look around the camp. I’m not much of a drinker, you see, and the party was a bit much with the kid and all, so I thought I’d step out for a bit…”

Though his explanation rambled, he wasn’t about to leave without investigating this suspicious place.

“What is this building, anyway? Mind if I take a look inside?”

“Of course, sir! By all means!” the man replied, his eagerness almost overcompensating for his earlier mistake.

He began giving an enthusiastic tour of the building’s interior.

“Most of the civilians are out right now, scouting land for cultivation in the mountains, so it’s pretty quiet here,” the man explained as they walked.

The welcoming party had coincided with the afternoon, meaning most of the civilians were still out working.

The only ones left in the building were those who were injured or unfit for labor.

As Im Chan listened to the man’s explanations, he observed the building’s layout and conditions carefully.

Eventually, he found the source of the smell that had brought him there.

One of the classrooms was emitting faint wisps of acrid smoke.

‘So it’s real.’

Inside, a small group of four people was huddled together, seemingly the ones smoking marijuana.

Fortunately, the number of people directly participating seemed to be small.

Others in the room had covered their faces with cloth or clothing, as if trying to block out the smell. Their body language suggested they disapproved of the activity.

As Im Chan observed the situation, he felt a tug on his sleeve.

“Daddy…”

Ji-hyo was holding her nose, her face pale as she gagged from the overpowering stench.