The elder’s words helped to bridge the gap, and my people and the survivors from the school began to speak on the same wavelength. From these conversations, I got answers to the questions that had been plaguing me. The week before, the black creature had attacked the two men on lookout duty. Everyone said that it had all happened in a flash. In fact, it was over so quickly that they couldn’t do anything about it.

Fortunately, after attacking those two, the black creature had jumped over the wall and ran off as though bewitched by something. I had mixed feelings toward their story, because I knew that the black creature had come after Lee Jeong-Uk and I afterward.

I pursed my lips, feeling uneasy as I listened to the principal’s story. He seemed to remember the devastation that had been wrought that day. He pressed his fingers against his temples and let out a deep sigh, then continued.

After the black creature had vanished, everyone inside quickly made their way outside to see the two. They had already died and were in the process of mutation. Their veins seemed like they were going to burst, and their pupils were dilating and contracting repeatedly.

The principal said that he had taken care of them until the end. Lee Jeong-Uk wanted him to elaborate on what he meant by ‘taking care of them’. The principal clenched his...