Mutagen-Chapter 1195: Zenlianis, The Lightning-Wielding Stalker

Day 381 - 4:37 PM - Mount Seunghaksan, Saha District, Busan, South Korea

"RAN!"

Kim Yong-Hwa shouted in horror as she saw the large chunk of ruin flying towards Amaya Ran at a terrifying speed. Although her shout made her friend aware of the incoming danger, it was too late to dodge it completely.But all of a sudden, they saw black mist suddenly envelop Amaya Ran at the last moment.

CRASH!

The large debris from the ruin crashed where Amaya Ran stood before it slid and rolled on the ground, destroying nearly everything in its path.

Dust and other debris began scattering around, forcing the other members to scatter and avoid the aftermath.

The rest of the group managed to avoid getting hurt. But what about Amaya Ran?

"RAN!?"

Choi Seo-Yeon shouted in relief before her tone turned into confusion as she spotted Amaya Ran, who, for some reason, was standing at a different location quite a distance away from where she was before. Furthermore, there was someone else standing beside her. And that person was definitely not someone they knew.

***

On the other hand, Amaya Ran was currently overwhelmed with a range of different emotions. When she saw the group of strangers, she felt a sense of bafflement as her eyes fell on the only man in the group. Then the situation made her feel shock and fear as she braced herself to get hurt by the debris and the black mist enveloping her all of a sudden.

Inside the mist, she felt a tug as something or someone took hold of her right wrist before pulling her away. A sense of nostalgia suddenly gripped her as she felt the hand pulling her to safety. The blurry scene within the mist changed swiftly. By the time she realized what was going on, she already stood at a different place with the familiar man in the group she had seen earlier standing in front of her, holding her wrist.

As the man let go, Amaya Ran somehow felt at a loss for some reason. It was odd, but as she gazed at the back of the man, she could not help but feel some familiarity despite the obvious unfamiliarity.

Amaya Ran stared at the man’s back, forgetting the sense of urgency and danger the current event should be giving her.

***

The rest of the group was quite baffled by the sudden appearance of the man who saved Amaya Ran. They all knew that he saved her, but could not understand how.But the confusion did not end with that.

The [Mountain King], who was supposed to be enraged while chasing after them, now stood in place. Without moving a single muscle, the gigantic and terrifying boar stared at the man, intelligent-looking eyes filled with caution.It was odd. Truly odd. The [Mountain King], who had never shown any fear. Not against humans. Not against the [Infected]. It kept its territory, killing those who intrude upon it.

And yet, it showed cautiousness, witnessed by those who knew of its terror, for the first time.

RUMBLE!

While the man and the giant boar stood in place, staring at each other, keeping their distance apart, the rumbling sounds intensified as the rest of the herd began catching up to their leader.

ROOOOARRRK!!!

All of a sudden, the [Mountain King] roared. The rumbling came to a quick halt as each member of the herd stopped on its trotters.

More than thirty giant boars of various sizes lined up in the back, seemingly confused as to why their leader suddenly made them stop. Nonetheless, after its loud roar, the [Mountain King’s] eyes never left the man. The latter did the same.

It was then that the [Mountain King] suddenly turned around, gave one last look at the man, and rejoined its herd, before all of them began moving together back towards their mountain.

The group, baffled, could only stare at the retreating herd. Before the herd could even disappear into the forest-covered mountain, more people arrived. Like the group of Amaya Ran, they also looked baffled, glancing at the departing herd.

"Are you guys okay?"

The newcomers regrouped with the first group, arriving where Choi Seo-Yeon and Park Sung-Min stood. On the other hand, the twins, Kim Hyong-Hwa and Kim Hyong-Gyu, stood at a safe distance away from Amaya Ran and the stranger.

"Ye-Jun Oppa! Luckily, we’re fine!"

Choi Seo-Yeon waved at their incoming members, specifically at the man who was the one to warn them through the radio earlier.

"But why did the [Mountain King] leave?"

The man Choi Seo-Yeon called Ye-Jun Oppa, Kang Ye-Jun, voiced out the question in everyone’s minds. However, the only clue they had was the stranger Amaya Ran was currently tailing with a blank look.

Wait...

Imaginary question marks appeared above everyone’s heads as they watched the odd scene. Considering that the man was unfamiliar to them, not to mention being under suspicion of chasing away the [Mountain King], none of them dared approach carelessly. The man himself showed no intention of approaching any of their members and seemed to be about to rejoin his group, which was waiting at a distance away.

But what was Amaya Ran doing? Why was she following the man?

"Ran!"

Amaya Ran snapped out of her daze as she felt a tug on her right arm accompanied by a call to her name. As she turned her head, she saw the older sister of the Kim siblings, Kim Yong-Hwa, grabbing her arm.

"Are you okay?"

Kim Yong-Hwa asked after seeing that she finally had Amaya Ran’s attention.

"Ah, I’-I’m okay..."

Amaya Ran said she was fine, although it was quite obvious she was not and looked listless. Furthermore, even though she was answering her friend’s question, her attention was on the man.

"Did you hit your head or something?"

The younger brother, Kim Yong-Gyu, chimed in with a rather tasteless remark.

"Obviously, I didn’t!" Amaya Ran frowned as her eyes turned to the man, and her voice began to trail off. "Thanks to him..."

Seeing that, Kim Yong-Hwa, who was not her insensitive brother, realized what was likely going on. As a friend, the usual action would be some teasing, but she immediately considered the other person. The man was the only male in his group. In this ruined world, while it was not common, such a situation was not too rare to see either. And in those situations, it was pretty clear what was going on. A situation that is unacceptable to most people.

"It’s not what you are thinking."

Kim Yong-Hwa’s body jolted as an unfamiliar voice entered her ears. The voice spoke in Korean, but it sounded forced and awkward. She turned her head and saw the man glancing at her over his shoulder as he returned to his group.

It was odd. The man seemed to know what she had in mind. Furthermore, it seemed that only Kim Yong-Hwa heard his voice since the others did not react like her.

The man’s glance left Kim Yong-Hwa as he walked towards his group.

With the group finally gathered, the distraction team and the combat team began exchanging information. As those who had just arrived heard about what had happened with Amaya Ran, they could not help but glance at the unfamiliar group, who were seemingly waiting for them to finish their discussion.

***

Leaving the group of mixed nationalities, Mark rejoined Mei and the girls.

Unexpectedly, the first one to call out to Mark was Iola. Normally, she would stand behind the others, only approaching after her younger sisters.

"Papa..." Iola called out in a low and hesitant voice, but it was still enough for the rest of the group, who were [Evolvers] and [Mutators] with superhuman abilities, to hear. "It’s the stalker, right?"

Of course, Iola’s question made question marks pop out of the heads of the rest of the group.

"Yep."

Mark answered with a shrug as he patted Iola’s head.

What Iola was talking about was from the memories of Keeper, whom she inherited.

Amaya Ran. She was an [Inheritor] from Japan who got stranded in South Korea due to the beginning of the apocalypse. Her ability, which was called [Lightning Discharge], was inherited from a woman named Zenlialnis.

***

Back on the planet of Eriellis, Zenlialnis was just another commoner and would have been a normal person, had it not been for a certain personality quirk of hers. She could love a person unconditionally and loyally. She was quite submissive but also proactive in caring for her beloved person. Her face and body proportions were quite above average. Zenlialnis was quite the perfect partner for any committed man.

Unfortunately, Zenlialnis had not met with any decent man. While polygamy was not illegal in Eriellis, it should have the consent of the already existing romantic partner; otherwise, it would be considered infidelity. That was the rule and law in that futuristic kingdom. But even though that law was present, Zenlialnis would likely be fine with it if asked. However, her partners never did.

Zenlialnis had four of these encounters in her life, with each heartbreak taking years to heal. After recovering from each setback, she still hoped to find a good man and fell in love repeatedly.

But the fourth relationship broke her the most. It was because the man she loved at the time cheated with her best friend, who had been beside her in all the years of her heartbreaks. It was also when she accidentally heard the reason why the situation kept repeating, straight from her best friend’s mouth.

Zenlialnis’ personality was so submissive that she bored the hell out of the men she had a relationship with. Furthermore, her proactivity while attending to their needs without being asked made the men feel as if they were always being watched. The men were creeped out by her oddity because most women did not behave like her at all.

Now aware of the reasons, the poor Zenlialnis blamed herself instead. However, a personality etched in her since childhood was not something easily changed. And she was not given a chance to change, either. Shortly after her fourth breakup, Eriellis faced the apocalypse.

The struggle to survive caused Zenlialnis to recover from the heartbreak faster. However, she also swore that she would never enter another relationship and would never fall in love again. However, that promise got half-broken.

When Zenlialnis nearly faced death in her struggle to survive, she was saved by a gallant knight. Unlike the men she met before, that knight was kind and treated everyone equally. Zenlianis fell in love again. However, remembering her previous heartbreaks, she decided to keep it for herself.

It ended up with Zenlialnis actively seeking the knight while watching in the shadows. Unfortunately, she was the worst in terms of stealth. Everyone knew she was tailing the knight most of her free time. Even the knight knew about it, but was kind enough not to confront her because she really meant no harm.

Still, Zenlialnis was jokingly called the stalker. Everyone in their group treated her nicely, however. They especially found her clumsy antics and reddened face cute whenever the knight was talking to her.

And that knight? It was no other than the unwillingly crowned King of Eriellis when the apocalypse nearly wiped out the Royal Family, Freodelius Eriellis, also known as Freed.

Until the end of Eriellis, Zenlialnis held onto those feelings, dying before Freed as she used the last of her breath to protect the man she loved. Her body was torn in half at the final battle after pushing Freed out of the way, and she faced the surprise attack aimed at the man.

Zenlialnis died smiling as she saw that she managed to save Freed at that time.

***

Unfortunately, as they looked at Amaya Ran, it seemed that she inherited not only Zenlialnis’ powers, but also her personality and feelings. And by instinct, she felt familiarity with Mark, who was Freed’s [Inheritor].

"Gege?"

Mei called out to Mark. She only called out, and in a normal tone, but he felt his back slightly turn cold. Well, Mark did mention it before. Mei had qualities of a Yandere. However, it was a bit mild because of her reserved personality. It would still come out in times like this, though.

Although the story of Zenlialnis was something that only Mark, Iola, and Aephelia would remember, Mei was perceptive enough to understand what was going on. After all, she was also an [Inheritor].

"It’s fine," Mark shrugged as he ruffled Mei’s head. "I don’t intend to take another woman aside from you. Seriously."

Mark’s bold declaration was heard by everyone in the group, making them look at the now red-faced Mei with smirks on their lips.

While the group was basking in that teasing mood, a voice echoed.

"Excuse me."

A man from the group of Koreans approached and called out to them while speaking in English.

"I’m Kang Ye-Jun, the leader of our group. Can we speak for a bit?"

The man, Kang Ye-Jun, spoke to Mark with a sincere tone, but his mind still held cautiousness towards the unfamiliar group.