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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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I could see the bullet. It was approaching me, twisting the air into a spiral. I raised my sword. And pushed it against the bullet. The bullet scraped against the sword, releasing a shower of white sparks. Then, I saw another bullet coming towards my stomach. I crossed my arms and continued to push the bullets aside. While I was deflecting the bullets coming at my head, my sides, and from my left and right, a white cloud bloomed from the man’s stomach in the distance and slowly faded. And then another white cloud bloomed. I deflected all the bullets coming at me with my sword.
Acceleration ended. The delayed sounds of the shots exploded.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
“Phew…”
Sizzle
White smoke rose from both of my swords. The blades must have been damaged from deflecting the bullets. I slowly lowered my arms and straightened my body. The man who had shot at me was staring at me. He looked like he’d seen the impossible. His hand was on the trigger. No, he was pulling it. The magazine was empty.
Damn it, deflecting bullets was a dangerous trick, even for me. If I missed even one of the countless bullets flying at me, my body would be pierced. I bared my teeth and raised my sword.
Sizzle
Faint smoke rose from the blade. I said, “Drop the gun. I won’t give you a second chance.” I flicked the tip of my sword at him. The crowd of people didn’t seem to have heard me. They were staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths in astonishment.
I lowered my sword and slowly walked forward. “I told you to shoot, and you actually shot? You just kill people like that? Are you crazy? I said, drop the gun.”
The people hesitated and stepped back. The one who had shot me, the big guy, shook his head and bared his teeth. He glared at me. He shouted, “I missed! I shot badly! Damn it, it’s been a while since I’ve fired a gun! Hey! Shoot!”
This guy was crazy. The people hesitated and looked at each other. Who would believe that he’d missed when they had all seen me deflect the bullets with my sword, sparks flying?
“Shoot! Damn it, shoot!” the big guy shouted, looking around.
“B-but… he, he deflected the bullets!”
“You damn bastards! Do you all want to die?! Huh?! If we back down now, we’re all dead! Don’t you know that?!” the big guy shouted, the veins on his neck bulging.
The men with guns hesitated and began to raise their weapons.
“…My God…” I heard the special forces leader groan.
“Sung-hoon! It’s best to retreat! Sung-hoon!” It was Sung Ga-yeon. Wait a minute. She wasn’t even surprised that I had deflected the bullets. …Ah. I had deflected the bullet she had shot at me. She had seen how I fought up close.
I shook my head. The men, intimidated by the big guy’s outburst, were slowly raising their guns. I glared at them and activated Acceleration.
[Auto Cast: Acceleration]
They were about twenty meters away. I bent my knees and shot forward. The asphalt of the runway stuck to my feet. The skill I had gained from the Stamina Achievement. I reached the big guy in three steps. I raised my left hand, holding the sword, and wrapped it around his neck. The big guy’s left ear and my left ear were almost touching.
Acceleration ended.
“Damn it! …H-huh!” I could feel the big guy’s body stiffen in my arm.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind from behind hit the people a moment later. The air had been displaced by my rapid advance. The dusty wind blew through their hair and tickled their eyes.
“Whoa!”
The wind slowly died down. The dust slowly settled. The big guy, my arm still around his neck, couldn’t move. He just looked at me with his eyes. Sweat, or cold sweat, ran down his cheek. I said softly, “…Do you all want to die?”
I slowly raised my eyes and looked at the old man in front of me. The old man’s hand, holding the gun, was trembling. I looked around at the people, glaring at them slowly. They all looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. I bared my teeth and said, “If you don’t drop the guns, I’ll cut off your wrists.”
Thud.
The old man dropped his gun. He said, “E-everyone, lower your weapons. Everyone, calm down. L-listen to this man.”
The nearly thirty people looked at each other, hesitating. But the old man’s words, and the gun he had dropped, seemed to be contagious. One by one, they began to lower their guns. And the shovels and pickaxes they were holding.
I tilted my head slightly to the left. Then, I looked into the eyes of the man whose neck I was holding. We were close. Close enough to headbutt him. He was blinking rapidly, sweat pouring down his face. Damn, this guy stank of sweat. I looked at him silently. He looked back at me. Finally, he let go of his gun.
Thud.
The rifle fell to the ground. I slowly released his neck. And glanced back. That seemed to be the signal. The special forces members rushed out of the hangar, pointing their guns at them, and approached quickly.
I said quietly, “You already took the first shot. I’m not killing you now because I’m giving you a chance. Don’t move. I’ll kill you.”
The people couldn’t take their eyes off me, and they didn’t dare to move. The special forces members approached. They collected all the guns on the ground and gathered them behind them, then stood with their guns pointed at the people.
Sung Kyu-hyuk said, “Kneel down and raise your hands so we can see them.”
The people slowly knelt and raised their hands.
Sung Kyu-hyuk said, “Do not lower your hands. Anyone who does will be shot on sight. This is a warning, and there will be no second warning.”
The people with their hands raised were silent. I slowly turned and walked behind the special forces members. Done. I had turned the tables. I’d leave the rest to the special forces. I looked down at my sword. The smoke was gone. I sheathed it.
Shing Click
I walked over to Sung Ga-yeon, who was in the rear, and asked quietly, “Why don’t you just tie them up?”
“No one brought any zip ties. There weren’t any in the supplies, either.”
“We raided a hardware store.”
“We used them all to build the barricades. We don’t have any more.”
…Ah. Right.
I stood behind the special forces members, my arms crossed, and glared at them. Sung Kyu-hyuk stepped forward. “First of all, who are you?”
The big guy who had shot at me was broken. His shirt was soaked with sweat, and his face was pale. He was in no condition to answer. The old man behind him spoke. “We are farmers who live here. There’s a bar owner, and a local supermarket owner.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded and asked, “Why did you point your guns at us?”
“That’s—” The big guy, still sweating profusely, raised his head. “Because we need weapons.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk tilted his head. “Weapons? It looks like you have enough. You need more?”
“…What are we supposed to do with just ten guns? Don’t you see all these people? We survivors barely managed to stick together. Of course we need weapons to live.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk didn’t argue. He just nodded and asked, “How many survivors are there?”
“Almost two hundred.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded and glanced back at me. It didn’t seem to have any particular meaning. He was probably trying to hide his surprise. And he was right to be surprised. 200 people. That was a lot. Almost as many as in Seorae Village.
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded and asked, “We saw you confronting the US military from the sky earlier. Did you come here for weapons? Why were you confronting them?”
The big guy slowly looked up at Sung Kyu-hyuk. “Why don’t you ask them instead of us? Those condescending American bastards who just threw us a few guns and told us to fend for ourselves. Damn it, they’re just telling us to all die.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk tilted his head and looked back again. Not at me. At the pile of guns. He asked again, “So you came here to ask for more weapons? Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
“You said there are hundreds of you. Why didn’t you all come?”
The big guy narrowed his eyes and glared at Sung Kyu-hyuk. “You want us to bring the kids, the mothers, the old people? We risked our lives coming here. We all decided that we had to get weapons, even if it meant dying here.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded and asked again, “Why isn’t the US military giving you more weapons?”
“How the hell should I know?” The big guy gritted his teeth. “At night, they’re barking all over the place. We can’t even sleep. We have to go outside to live, but when we try to get even a single package of ramen, the stores are packed. We need weapons to live, don’t you think? We’ve already used up most of the ammo we got. We don’t have much left. What the hell is this?!”
…Barking at night? What was he talking about?
Sung Kyu-hyuk tilted his head. “…They bark at night? What does that mean?”
The big guy glared at Sung Kyu-hyuk. “You said you were government forces? You guys? You must be from Seoul.”
“That’s right.”
The big guy looked at me. “Well, I guess there are people like that in Seoul, with such a large population. I don’t know how you move so fast, but look here. Are you some kind of Olympic athlete?”
Hmm. He seemed to have regained some of his courage while talking. No, more importantly. I wasn’t from Seoul. I had just been there for school. But I didn’t bother to answer. The big guy looked at me, breathing heavily, and then turned his gaze to Sung Kyu-hyuk. “So you guys are from Seoul. Well, I guess there aren’t any barking creatures at night in Seoul yet?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded. “There are plenty in the stores in Seoul. But I haven’t heard of any barking at night.”
The big guy smirked. He looked both bitter and mocking. “You’ve come from a comfortable place. We have barking creatures here. At night, they come out from the mountains across the river, from the fields below, from the forest, and they roam around, barking.”
“…Who’s barking?”
The big guy said, “Wild dogs. Birds. Bats. The animals all over the place are barking.” The big guy, his face contorted by a bad memory, gasped for breath and said, “They even eat zombies. If you ever see animals attacking and eating those zombies, you won’t be able to sleep without a weapon in your hand.”
I let out an involuntary groan. …Animals were eating the human beasts?
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