When I glanced outside the store after sensing an ominous tension, I saw strange shapes moving like bamboo shoots sprouting after the rain.

What was that?

I blinked and focused on the figures approaching the store. Soon, their forms became clear through the large glass window.

“Grrraaaaah…”

“Kik, keek…!”

Corpses dripping with a sticky, slimy substance as they moved.

In this world, they were often considered an inferior version of ghouls—zombies.

And there weren’t just one or two. The number was in the dozens, enough to fill the streets to the brim.

Such an overwhelming number was dangerous enough to catch even a seasoned fixer off guard.

‘What the—! After all my hard work cleaning the street, they go and dirty it like this!’

But I didn’t have time to care about that right now.

The sight of the street I had cleaned for visiting customers being defiled by dripping corpse sludge in an instant drove me mad.

At that moment, I turned my focus on every zombie in sight, grabbed their necks with telekinesis, and crushed them like overripe tomatoes.

CRACK!

The necks of the zombies filling the street snapped simultaneously, and dozens of corpses collapsed to the ground in a flash.

Though ghoul skin was nearly as tough as rock and required repeated twisting to break, zombies—made from decayed bodies—were softer than even a regular human body.

This made it possible.

‘Phew… What on earth is happening out there? Should I go check?’

I clutched my head, dizzy from overexerting my telekinesis, and dashed out of the store to assess the situation.

The sight that greeted me was utter chaos.

The streets were teeming with an overwhelming number of zombies and the people fleeing from them.

The sheer number of zombies made sense once I noticed where they had come from.

It seemed they had emerged from an alley, following the people running out of it.

‘…Should I just clear everything I can see? How annoying.’

Telekinesis was more effective against multiple weaker enemies than a single strong opponent.

Although it had its output limits, its short attack intervals within range made it highly efficient.

Moreover, zombies were not living beings but controlled corpses—a form of necromancy.

In this case, precise force control wasn’t particularly necessary.

CRUNCH! CRACK!

As a result, it took mere seconds for every zombie on the street to become a pile of lifeless bodies.

“Z-Zombies are…”

“W-What just happened?”

“We’re saved!”

The people who had been fleeing from the zombies, or resisting them desperately, now looked at the sudden collapse of their enemies in confusion.

Since telekinesis didn’t leave traces, it must have looked as though the zombies’ necks had just popped on their own.

Well, as long as no one figured out I was the one responsible, it wasn’t something I needed to worry about.

Besides, there was something else bothering me far more.

Ignoring the various reactions around me, I squatted down and examined one of the zombie corpses closely.

‘This is…’

One thing had felt off. The zombies looked… strange.

Monsters that should have been dropping intestines and organs were instead leaving behind nothing but black, slimy liquid.

Carefully inspecting the severed neck of one, I found its insides were filled not with flesh or bones but with sticky black material.

‘I knew it. These aren’t real corpses.’

No wonder there were so many.

This meant someone had deliberately created fake zombies and released them throughout the western labyrinth.

‘There was something like this in Fixer… The “Blood Night Incident.” Wasn’t the culprit a vampire named Drakel?’

A guess began to form in my mind.

The Blood Night Incident—an event led by a vampire named Drakel, who aimed to turn part of the underworld into a vampire’s autonomous zone.

Unleashing a massive army of zombies, ghouls, and elite vampires, they indiscriminately attacked the underworld’s residents.

Of course, they were eventually wiped out by the protagonist’s party.

But something felt off.

For the Blood Night Incident to occur… a few preceding episodes should have taken place first.

‘I haven’t even heard of Aisha, the idol of Codria yet.’

Aisha, the first client of the fully assembled protagonist’s party, was a rising idol.

Her meteoric rise from obscurity to stardom was so dramatic that her name should have been heard even in the underworld.

Yet, there was no mention of her, and suddenly, the Blood Night Incident was unfolding?

Something had clearly diverged from the original story.

‘Could it be because of me?’

Thinking back, about two months ago, a vampire had persistently tracked me down, drawn by the scent of blood.

I had dismissed them as too weak and forgotten about their existence, but…

If that vampire and their ghouls were connected to Drakel, and if my actions had disrupted something in their plans…

It wasn’t impossible that the Blood Night Incident had been triggered earlier than it should have been.

‘Hmm… This might be a bit of a problem.’

In the original story, Drakel was impaled by the protagonist, Raven, and then beheaded by Alice.

In other words, as long as the protagonist’s party got involved, it would be resolved one way or another.

But what if the protagonist’s party didn’t encounter Drakel at all?

‘In the original, the connection was made through a client who lost their family to vampires. But with the timeline moved up, that link might not exist now.’

If my suspicions were correct…

The situation might not be resolved until a double-number-level fixer intervened to bring order.

Until then, the zombies would keep pouring out from somewhere, forcing people to endlessly fend them off without finding the mastermind.

And that… wasn’t good.

‘Who gave them permission to mess with the western labyrinth?’

It wasn’t particularly precious to me, but I had grown fond of the place over the past few weeks.

There were people who thanked me, cheered me on.

And especially, I couldn’t forgive anyone who messed with the bakery owner.

Resolving myself, I prepared to head toward the western labyrinth where the incident was unfolding—until I realized I was still wearing my maid uniform without my usual cloak.

‘Ugh… I can’t go like this. I need to grab my cloak first—’

“Looking for this?”

“…!”

Whoosh.

Something white was tossed toward me.

Instinctively catching it, I found it was my usual white cloak.

When I turned, I saw Greg standing by the store’s entrance.

He must have deduced, just from my appearance, that I was on my way to fetch it.

How did he know?

Flustered, I darted my eyes around, but Greg casually replied as if it were the most natural thing.

“You’re worried about the inner area, aren’t you?”

“….”

“Go on quickly. I’ll take care of the store.”

As expected of an appraiser, his keen observation was unnerving.

It was terrifying how accurately he read me, but it was also convenient.

Bowing slightly in gratitude, I clutched the cloak and dashed into the back alleys.

When the streets grew quieter, and zombies began appearing again, I wrapped the cloak around myself and leapt onto a rooftop, crushing a zombie’s head beneath my foot.

The Ghost had returned.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop across the darkened buildings of the western labyrinth, I began to grasp the overall situation.

‘This is utter chaos. There isn’t a single alley without zombies.’

The usually quiet back alleys were now swarming with them.

No, swarming was an understatement—this was more like a tidal wave of zombies.

Their sheer number was so overwhelming that just looking at them from above made my head spin.

“D-damn it! What the hell is going on? Where are all these zombies coming from?!”

“These rotten corpses! Die, all of you!”

The only relief in this mess was the presence of bounty hunters in nearly every alley, hunting me down.

Perhaps it was thanks to them that this absurd flood of zombies was somewhat under control.

Maybe they had enough skill to protect themselves, or perhaps these fake corpses were weaker than regular zombies.

Either way, the bounty hunters were minimizing civilian casualties.

“Ah, this isn’t working! Hey, let’s retreat for now! Dying here would be pointless!”

“Grr… Fine! What’s more important than staying alive?!”

Of course, bounty hunters weren’t altruists. They were nothing more than penny-pinching opportunists.

Fed up with the endless tide of zombies, some were already starting to flee.

Who would risk their life to protect the underworld just for appearances’ sake?

“Hey! The Black Liquor Guild issued a bounty! 100 credits per zombie head!”

“O-one hundred credits?!”

“That means 100 heads would be 10,000 credits! What are you waiting for? Start killing them!”

“Woohoo! Money, baby!”

Apparently, the Black Liquor Guild had decided to exploit this zombie crisis by enlisting bounty hunters.

By dangling an enormous sum of money, they quickly reestablished the bounty hunters’ battle lines.

‘How much money does the Black Liquor Guild even have?’

Leaping nimbly from rooftop to rooftop with the aid of telekinesis, I couldn’t help but sigh in disbelief at the sheer audacity of their financial power.

No wonder they could put a 700,000-credit bounty on someone as fragile as me.

Solving everything with money—it was a dazzling spectacle for a bystander, but pure insanity for the target.

At least now, as long as the bounty hunters held the line, I didn’t have to worry too much about the zombies.

Relieved, I recklessly dashed through the western labyrinth in search of the vampire responsible, until I suddenly came to a stop near a particular building.

‘Oh…’

Before I could think, I jumped down from the rooftop and landed in front of the building.

Raising my head, I found myself staring at the ruined remains of my regular bakery.

Not the bakery!

Urgently, I used telekinesis to lift and clear the fallen debris.

I cleared, cleared, and cleared again until the entrance, blocked by rubble, was fully revealed.

Inside, I found the bakery owner pinned beneath the wreckage.

I hurried over, tossed the debris aside, and checked his condition.

Thankfully, aside from some minor bleeding, his injuries weren’t life-threatening.

“Ugh… Huh? C-customer?”

“…!”

“Did you save me? Thank you….”

The baker, regaining consciousness, gave me a weak smile as he looked up from where he lay.

Then, turning his head slightly, he glanced at his destroyed bakery and murmured,

“Haha, I’m sorry… It looks like I won’t be able to bake for you for a while….”

His voice carried a sorrow that matched the sadness in his eyes—a sorrow for the memories and attachment he had to his bakery, now reduced to ruins.

Seeing the baker, who had shown me so much kindness, struggling to suppress his pain filled me with an icy anger that burned fiercely in my chest.

“….”

Silently, I rose to my feet.

Without hiding my telekinetic abilities, I lifted the rubble to form a barricade, ensuring no zombies could approach the area.

The baker’s eyes widened in astonishment as he watched.

He must have realized at that moment that I was the rumored Ghost.

Would he be disappointed?

When I glanced back at him without saying a word, the baker, struggling against the aftereffects of his injuries, instead let out a hearty laugh.

“Hah… Haha… To think my customer was the Ghost all along… I’ve been serving someone incredible!”

“….”

I turned away without responding.

Walking through the gap in the barricade, I left the bakery behind.

Even though I had shown my abilities to someone, I felt strangely unburdened.

‘I’m the Ghost for now… So what if I go wild?’

For some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wouldn’t be satisfied until I gave that vampire a thorough beating.