SALT 04

Chapter: 04

Enemy of Humanity (1)

“Haah… haah… Did I survive?”

After confirming once again that the larvae could only bang on the shutter but couldn’t break it, Minjun collapsed onto the floor and tried to catch his breath.

“Excuse me! I know you’re tired, but you need to get up right now!”

Whether he was gasping or not, the short-haired woman who had insisted on saving him forcibly pulled Minjun to his feet.

“There’s still another exit open. We have to go block it quickly!”

“Just a moment ago, you were pushing me away with your foot so I couldn’t get in, and now you’re acting like this the moment I do? Isn’t that a bit shameless?”

“…Th-that’s…”

Looking around, the man in the shirt who had been pushing away both the larvae and even Minjun himself earlier was nowhere to be seen, along with a few others.

It seemed they had already gone to help with another exit.

“…Then just lie there and get eaten by bugs or whatever. Do as you like!”

“Damn it… Nothing ever goes the easy way.”

Saying that she’d at least go help even if he wouldn’t, the short-haired woman started moving.

For her own sake, this place had to become safe. Minjun had no choice but to follow after her.

Besides, he also remembered that she had insisted until the very end that they should at least save him before closing the door…

“Hey! What’s your name?”

“Sohee. Jeong Sohee.”

“Then let me ask one more thing. Do you actually have a plan?!”

“We’ll leave only the passage connected to Golden Apartment open and close everything else! Even the passages leading to the center of the station!”

As she spoke, she pushed through the people trembling in fear inside the station.

Seeing people still trying to protect themselves even in this situation made Minjun furious, but as she said, closing the doors was the priority.

After shutting four fire shutters at the underground shopping corridors connected to Jamsil Station’s center, the two didn’t hesitate and ran to Exit 6.

Just like Exit 7 earlier, people there were covered in green bodily fluid, struggling desperately to close the shutter.

‘But.’

Amid the same chaos, one person stood out clearly from the others.

Dressed in a spotless suit as if he lived in a different world, with neatly combed hair and gold-rimmed glasses.

The badge on his lapel revealed his identity—a National Assembly member.

That man stood far from the defensive line, protected by two aides, yet kept shouting orders at people.

“We have to push them back, everyone! Hang in there! Secretary Kim! That spot is open!”

At his shouting, the shirted man who had tried to drive Minjun away earlier responded loudly and pushed back the larvae with a chair.

Minjun frowned at the politician who only used his mouth, but for some reason, the civilians were tolerating his behavior.

‘Is it because he held a high position in society…? Well, whatever.’

Thanks to everyone’s struggle, the larvae had been pushed back close to the control button for the shutter—something fortunate despite the unpleasant behavior of the lawmaker.

Minjun lost interest in him.

‘As long as the result is good, who cares. Whether some sly guy is around or not, it doesn’t matter.’

Even in college group projects, where he had to struggle desperately just to secure scholarships, having one or two freeloaders was almost a given.

Back then, for the sake of grades, he had to lead everything—from preparing materials to presenting—despite juggling part-time jobs to survive.

Sure, some people liked taking that role, but Minjun wasn’t one of them.

More importantly, since he had joined late, he hadn’t killed many monsters here yet.

If others were staying quiet, he didn’t want to ruin the flow.

‘If nothing happens like this—’

“St-stop them!”

“Aaaagh!”

That is… if, just three seconds later, the defensive line hadn’t suddenly collapsed with screams echoing out of nowhere.

‘…’

It was only a fleeting bad feeling—but it became reality instantly.

“Wh-what is that now?!”

In front of the fallen people appeared a giant larva the size of a bull, pushing its massive body forward.

Kiiieeeeeek!

“Run!”

“…Someone do something about that thing!!”

The creature broke through into the shutter line and slaughtered people, while other larvae followed, squeezing through the broken defense.

“Everyone, we must push that thing back outside! If we lower the shutter now, we’ll all be wiped out!”

The politician, who had already retreated to the safe rear, continued commanding even in this chaos.

Minjun couldn’t understand how they were supposed to push back something that big.

“Just close the shutter!”

“Who the hell are you?! Can’t you see the Assemblyman is controlling the situation?!”

“Then are you going to let all those bugs into the station?!”

Ignoring whether Secretary Kim got angry or not, Minjun shoved him aside and pressed the switch.

“You—!”

“If we don’t close it, all those bugs will rush in. Are you going to handle them yourself?”

“You brat… Look at this kid talking back to adults. Are those little ones the problem? If that big one gets inside, who’s going to kill it? You? Since you can’t, the Assemblyman said we should push it out!”

“I get what you’re saying. Then I’ll kill it. You step aside.”

Earlier, he was the one who lowered the shutter claiming it couldn’t be held anymore. Now he was saying something different.

But Minjun had already decided not to rely on others anymore.

Ignoring the man, he focused on the quest window that appeared.

「[Sub Quest – Raid]
Difficulty: D
Clear Condition: Kill the Giant Larva
Time Limit: None
Reward: Distributed based on contribution
Failure: Death」

‘Difficulty D.’

Until now, all quests had been F, so the bull-sized monster was definitely strong.

‘Still… it’s not like D or F means impossible, right?’

From Jamsil Intersection to here, Jamsil Station, he had killed countless larvae.

Each time he killed a monster and completed a quest, his physical abilities had increased absurdly.

‘It’s just bigger. It’s still a bug.’

As he dismissed the message and stared at it—

Bang!

The shutter closed perfectly on time, trapping the giant larva inside.

But instead of panicking, it calmly finished sucking a corpse dry before finally turning to Minjun.

Kirrrrk!

It raised its hooked limbs and roared.

‘How many people did it suck dry to grow that big?’

Goosebumps ran down his spine—but it was too late to back out.

If he ran now, the creature would grow even bigger after devouring everyone inside.

This was a fight with no retreat.

‘…’

Minjun quickly assessed the others’ weapons.

Out of ten people, only three—including Sohee—had proper weapons.

The rest had chairs or mannequin legs.

Most didn’t even understand what the “Space Market” was or what was happening.

‘And even then.’

The weapons were just sashimi knives, hammers, monkey wrenches…

In the end, he had to do it.

Not out of leadership—but survival.

“If I don’t do it… we all die here.”

“I’ll draw its attention! Attack when you see an opening!”

Clang! Clang!

Minjun struck a signboard with his axe to provoke it.

The creature focused on him.

Step by step, he retreated.

‘Attack already. The moment you do, I’ll cut that arm off…’

The larvae’s shells were tough, but their joints were weak.

Whoosh!

The hook flew toward him.

‘Same attack pattern.’

He dodged—and exposed the joint.

“Missed? Then give me your arm.”

His tomahawk struck the gap.

Kiruk?

But—

“Damn it…”

It didn’t cut through.

The arm was thicker than expected.

Kiiieeeek!

The enraged creature swung its other hook.

He blocked it—but couldn’t absorb the impact.

He was flung across the ground.

“Ugh…”

His arm throbbed.

No time to hesitate.

“Watch out!”

Sohee shouted.

The straw-like mouth lunged toward him.

‘It wants my time.’

He focused only on the mouth—

—and barely dodged.

The creature thrashed wildly.

It was fully focused on him.

Meanwhile, others gathered.

He had unknowingly become the tank.

Thankfully, Sohee and others moved in.

Smack! Smack!

Their attacks weren’t strong—but enough to distract it.

Its attacks weakened.

The tide slowly turned.

Kiiieeeek!

‘Now!’

Sohee struck from behind—cracking its shell.

For the first time, real damage was dealt.

The creature screamed.

Minjun didn’t miss it.

He grabbed its mouth—

—and chopped it off.

Then stabbed it into its belly.

The straw pierced straight through.

Green fluid burst out.

The creature trembled.

“Just die already!”

If this failed—there was no next chance.

The straw pinned it in place.

He raised his tomahawk—

—and swung with everything he had.

Slash—

Thud. Roll…

The head fell to the ground.

And then—