Chapter 779: Epilogue - The Boy (5)
As the sound of cold silence filled the air, the echo of a creaking screw signaled the gradual passage of time for Puppet.
In that slow-moving world, Puppet witnessed it.
Click!
One of the armed personnel opened their mouth wide.
It looked more like a doll than a person—like a Nutcracker doll, like a corpse puppet.
And that likeness was real.
From the gap in its gaping mouth, a pitch-black gun barrel emerged.
Thunk! Thunk!
It fired tranquilizer bullets meant for hunting, knocking the children unconscious on the spot.
The children hit by the tranquilizer bullets fell without a scream, collapsing to the ground, while the expressions of the other children twisted slowly in terror.
Then, another armed figure—no, a corpse puppet disguised as an armed guard—swung its chest open like a door.
Inside its opened chest was not human organs, but rather a tangled net woven from strands of women's hair.
Swish—!
The net shot out, unfurling to cover the sky, swallowing up the children beneath it.
The net made from women's hair moved like a living creature, seizing the children and dragging them along. The captured children screamed, calling for help, but no one could assist them.
All the other children either screamed and ran or froze in place, unable to move.
Embarrassingly, Puppet fell into the latter group.
Although he wore a well-crafted exterior, he was terrified of a second-rate corpse puppet that squeaked due to loose screws, unable to do anything.
He, Puppet, the greatest authority on manipulation-type black magic and a grandmaster black magician, was afraid of such crude corpse puppets.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded wildly due to the boy's uncontrollable body. Just then…
"Run!"
Leboski grabbed Puppet's frozen hand and forcefully dragged him away.
Puppet, as if truly a child, fled as Leboski led him.
...
As the children used each other as bait to escape, Puppet began to think.
He wondered why Leboski, who was holding his hand and running, had helped him.
At first, Puppet was bewildered, unable to understand Leboski’s actions, but as they ran, his fear gradually subsided, and he began to guess the reason naturally.
Perhaps Leboski believed his own chances of survival would be higher by staying with Puppet.
Such cases, though rare, did exist.
Some intelligent and perceptive humans, unfortunate enough to become materials for black magicians, had a habit of helping others.
Even in the midst of their own struggles to survive, there were those who thought ahead, creating allies by helping someone in preparation for the future.
Having been a black magician for hundreds of years, Puppet had occasionally encountered such cases, and Leboski was likely one of them.
Despite being a child, he was smarter and braver than the others and had acted as the leader, so in a way, it was only natural.
He had probably observed Puppet’s decisive action just after their escape and deduced there was more to him.
Well, that didn’t mean Puppet wasn’t grateful. No matter the reason, it was true that he had received help, and more importantly, he needed Leboski’s assistance to survive from here on out.
“Hah… hah…”
Barely catching his breath after narrowly escaping, Puppet answered Leboski’s question.
“That… that thing… what… do you… know what it is?”
Leboski, out of breath and struggling to pronounce his words correctly, forced out the question, showing just how curious he was.
“A… corpse puppet…”
Puppet, too, struggled to speak through his heavy breaths but managed to answer.
“A… corpse puppet? What’s that?”
“A zombie doll, crafted from corpses.”
Puppet, who had created more corpse puppets than anyone else in the world, explained.
A corpse puppet was not just a simple zombie; it was a doll meticulously crafted by a black magician, he explained.
Beyond just controlling them, various mechanical devices could be installed, allowing it to use both magic and black magic, and even disguise itself as a human.
“Like a person?”
“Yes, just like we saw earlier.”
“How is that possible?”
Another child, not Leboski, asked the question. It was a child who had somehow ended up fleeing with them, but the question itself was sharp.
How?
Puppet looked up at the sky.
It was still dawn.
But how did they manage to position the corpse puppets in anticipation of our escape?
Puppet started to speculate.
First hypothesis: They knew they would attempt to escape today.
That didn’t make sense. If they had known, it would have been more logical to stop them inside the prison.
Second hypothesis: The corpse puppets were stationed here routinely for patrol.
This didn’t make sense either.
Though corpse puppets seemed convenient, they were not easy to manage.
They required manipulation-type black magic, corpse-processing skills, medical knowledge, and mechanical devices. Even setting aside the difficulty of entry, running a single corpse puppet demanded high maintenance costs.
One could prepare them to anticipate an escape, but they weren’t tools for mere ‘surveillance’ purposes.
Unless, of course, one had immense wealth like Puppet.
At the very least, it would be impossible at the Valery Family’s level.
“If that’s the case, the only option left is that they acted after learning about our escape…”
Puppet trailed off internally, deep in thought.
Back to square one. How did they know we escaped? It wasn’t even sunrise yet, so there hadn’t been time to notice. The biggest question remained...
“Did someone tip them off?”
After a long silence, the first words spoken made everyone stare at Puppet.
Puppet’s words implied that one of the elderly people who had been with them had betrayed them.
“Don’t say such nonsense!”
A child, remembering the kindness of the elders, immediately retorted.
It was indeed nonsense.
They had helped so far; betrayal made no sense. However, humans, by nature, did not always make sense.
A parent could love their child and still hit them, and a world that preached love for one’s neighbor could start wars.
It wouldn’t be surprising if one of them, fearing death, had revealed the children’s escape plans.
Humans only showed their true selves when their life was truly on the line.
“Apologize!”
One of the children, unable to contain his rage, grabbed Puppet by the collar.
He was furious at the insult to their benefactors. All they had received from the elders was a few extra spoonfuls of gruel.
Puppet observed the child, noticing tears welling in his eyes.
It was from fear—fear of being pursued and the dread of possible betrayal.
Puppet decided that soothing the child might improve his chances of survival, so he prepared to apologize.
He was about to explain that it was just a theory. Just as he opened his mouth…
Slap.
Leboski intervened, calming the enraged child.
“Hey, stop fighting. This isn’t the time for us to fight among ourselves.”
Leboski, a head taller than the others, broke up the fight, and the child’s anger subsided.
“But this guy… what he said…”
“It’s probably just something he said, right?”
Leboski glared at Puppet as he spoke, and Puppet nodded.
Honestly, he still thought it was likely someone had informed on them, but he knew it wouldn’t help to bring it up now.
What mattered now wasn’t the truth but survival. They needed to reduce conflict and cooperate with each other.
“You heard him? Calm down. Fighting among ourselves only makes things worse. We need to escape, or else the sacrifices of the elders will be in vain.”
“Can we even escape?”
Another child asked in a voice full of despair.
It wasn’t just that child who felt this way; another child sat down and began sobbing.
“We shouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
The sobbing spread like a disease, infecting the other children.
And just then…
“Don’t sit down!”
Leboski grabbed the child who had collapsed and forced him to stand.
“Do you think someone will help if you just sit down?! Stand up!”
Leboski, who had acted as their leader, shouted at them, and one by one, the children started lifting their bodies off the ground.
In the midst of the somewhat calm atmosphere, Leboski approached Puppet and abruptly asked him a question.
“Can we escape?”
“What?”
“Is there a way to escape? Think carefully before you answer. You’ll need us to stick around too.”
Leboski’s tone was almost threatening as he demanded an answer. Though his intimidation was awkward, coming from a child, his words weren’t wrong.
Puppet knew it was safer to stay with the children.
If it were in the past, it wouldn’t have mattered to him, but now, with a reason to live...
“I… I’m not certain.”
“That’s good enough.”
...
To cut to the result:
Their escape attempt failed.
Clack-clack-clack.
It was a foregone conclusion, really.
Their jailbreak was destined to fail.
To escape successfully, they would have needed to get far away before the black magicians noticed, or to encounter an allied organization along the way. However, they had failed on both counts and were even caught.
From the moment they encountered the corpse puppets, Puppet and the children’s jailbreak was as good as doomed.
And just as the rising sun began to light the sky, the black magicians began their pursuit.
Groooo...
All throughout the dense forest, packs of zombie wolves, reanimated from dead wolves, pursued them by scent...
Swoosh!
A massive zombie spider scuttled through the trees, shooting webs to capture the children one by one.
“Save me! Save me!”
“No…!”
“Mom! Mom…!”
The children who had barely risen to their feet fell into panic, screaming, but truthfully, there was nothing Puppet could do.
It might have seemed foolish and powerless, but this was the reality.
Wisdom, experience, strategies, hidden cards—these could only be utilized when there was at least a minimal amount of strength to back them up.
As a boy who couldn’t even use black magic, there was nothing he could do except run.
Not that he was even able to run properly, though.
“Aagh…!”
One by one, the children running with him were seized and dragged away.
“Help! Save me!!”
One was bitten by the modified zombie wolves, their bodies torn into.
“I can’t get free! Someone help me!!”
Another was ensnared in the trap the zombie spider had left behind.
“Oh…!”
Some were seized by zombies springing up from the ground, others caught by nets of hair flung from the shadows.
All Puppet and the others, including Leboski, could do was continue fleeing and feel relief that it wasn’t them getting captured.
However, it wasn’t a pure escape.
During their frantic run, Puppet began to piece together one fact and to question another.
The fact was that the Valery Family had evolved slightly beyond what Puppet remembered.
The Valery Family, once just a supplier among black magic families, had taken strides to bolster their standing, unnoticed by the disciple Puppet had stationed to monitor them.
The corpse puppets Puppet encountered earlier were proof. He had never taught them such refined corpse puppet techniques.
Moreover, they had discreetly taken control of the surrounding forest, strengthening their foothold, which was inconsistent with prior reports.
Zombie creatures, corpse puppets, as well as traps set up like the camps of bandits and rebels scattered throughout the forest, all bore witness to the Valery Family’s new advancements.
Having seen countless power struggles among black magicians, Puppet realized that the Valery Family had not only acquired black magic techniques independently but was now working to establish their own network and power base.
Yet, this realization naturally gave rise to a new question.
The question was why, despite the fact that they could have easily captured Puppet at once, they were instead going through the trouble of capturing the children one by one, wasting time and resources in the process.
Clack-clack-clack.
As mentioned before, Puppet’s current body was that of an ordinary boy—neither particularly fast nor nimble.
Despite this, the Valery Family’s zombie creatures opted to capture the children individually rather than rounding them up all at once, delaying their mission unnecessarily.
It was hard to understand.
But Puppet couldn’t afford to speculate or ask questions.
He was too busy trying to escape and had no time to ponder.
To be weak was to be at the mercy of unfairness.
All he could do was keep running, stifling his questions and desires for survival. And even this meager attempt to escape was a struggle.
Clack-clack-clack.
In the end, Puppet, along with Leboski, was among the last to be caught, blindfolded and dragged away.
“Indoors?”
With his eyes covered by a blindfold, Puppet began to deduce his surroundings by listening to the rumbling wheels of his mobile restraint bed and detecting the faint scents of chemicals, blood, and oil around him.
It was an atmosphere he recognized all too well. The only difference was that Puppet was now the test subject rather than the experimenter.
Thump, thump, thump.
Puppet’s heart pounded against his will, sweat trickling down his body.
A moment ago, he thought he’d accepted death, but now, the fear was surging up uncontrollably, making his body tremble in defiance of his mind.
Maybe it was his newly acquired goal of saving the old man, or maybe he was just simply scared; Puppet found himself questioning it.
Creak.
Before he could answer, the mobile bed stopped, and the bed shifted into an upright position, forcing Puppet to stand.
Bound by restraints around his limbs and torso, Puppet had no choice but to stand as the bed rose.
Rip!
Someone roughly removed his blindfold.
In front of him was a familiar scene and a face he felt he had seen somewhere before.
Who could it be?
And then, the figure spoke.
“Is it this brat?”
Standing before Puppet was none other than the master of the Valery Family, Valery himself.