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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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By lunchtime, I was fully recovered.
While resting, I realized I hadn’t leveled up after killing that thug bastard.
…It seemed leveling up only applied to human beasts.
Damn it.
That was a shame.
If I could level up by killing those bug-like bastards who went around picking fights, I would kill them all.
I went downstairs to the main house, and they had made a big pot of kimchi jjigae with tuna.
It smelled amazing.
As the five of us sat around the table eating, I realized…
…Five people ate a lot.
It must have taken more than half a head of kimchi to make that much jjigae. And other ingredients too.
If we ate like this three times a day…
…That was a considerable amount.
We would go through 10kg of rice in a week.
That must be why parents in families with children had no choice but to go out looking for food.
Hmm…
I didn’t plan on staying here long.
I would leave when I felt strong enough.
I had to find my family, and more than anything, I had to find a bow and crossbow.
To survive in this apocalyptic world, I had to be fully equipped to deal with those human beasts.
…But…
If I left, Grandma and the other women…
They would be in trouble without me.
But Soo-hyun…
It was a shame to leave her.
She had knowledge of mechanical engineering and could handle various things, including batteries.
She also assessed the current situation quite rationally.
She was very useful.
…Should I take Soo-hyun with me?
I pondered this as I ate.
It wasn’t time to decide yet.
I wasn’t strong enough.
After the meal, I returned to the rooftop room and laid out my weapons.
Two tomahawks.
One large axe.
Two real swords.
And the baton.
I had quite a collection.
Hmm… what should I take?
I attached one sword to my belt and a tomahawk to the other side of my waist as a secondary weapon.
The large axe was powerful, but it was too slow.
As I slung my bag over my shoulder and went downstairs, Soo-hyun, who was reinforcing the main house windows with wood, looked at me.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Yeah. You said nails and wire, right? I’ll bring back anything else useful too.”
“Oppa.”
I turned around as I went down the stairs.
Soo-hyun was leaning against the railing, looking at me.
“Don’t forget about tonight. Be careful.”
…That girl.
I would thoroughly pleasure her.
I chuckled and went down the stairs, leaving the boarding house.
Now, let’s go level up.
I stopped by the convenience store before going to the hardware store.
Bodies were piled up like a hill in front of the storage room next to the counter.
How many were there… I had killed a lot.
…The smell.
The smell of rotting corpses…
It smelled like spoiled vinegar, or rotten fish, a nauseating stench.
I covered my nose and looked at the storage room.
This storage room was quite useful.
…Should I lure them in again?
But… the metal door…
The hinges were practically ripped from the wall.
…No good.
The state of that door made me uneasy.
I turned and looked towards the hardware store in the distance.
The hardware store itself wasn’t a problem.
I had killed the two people inside, I just had to go in and grab what I needed.
The problem was the hair salon next to the hardware store.
The route from the residential complex to McDonald’s, then the hair salon, and finally the hardware store. Annoyingly, the number of human beasts increased the closer I got to the hardware store.
The residential complex was practically the final boss level.
No, was it the hypermarket?
They seemed similar.
If I was strong enough to easily clear those places, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I had a long way to go.
The convenience store storage room’s door was wrecked, so using it as a lure again was difficult.
This was problematic… damn it.
…Right.
Let’s do that.
I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, left the convenience store, and walked towards the road.
The road was filled with cars.
Across the road was the residential complex.
I crouched down and moved along the center line, using the cars as cover.
I passed McDonald’s.
There were no more cars.
The hair salon was right next to it.
At least ten of them were inside.
I peeked inside the hair salon, and except for one man who looked like a designer, all the employees and customers were women.
They weren’t employees or customers anymore.
Ten of them were standing.
There were probably more lying down.
I watched the hair salon from behind a car.
It was broad daylight, so if I moved, they would spot me immediately.
I just stayed hidden and observed.
Occasionally, they would turn their heads.
Sometimes they would even turn their bodies.
They weren’t just standing still.
I waited for about ten minutes.
My knee, which was resting on the ground, was starting to hurt.
…Finally, a female human beast moved.
She looked to the side.
…Good.
Accelerate!
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
I immediately darted out from behind the car and ran towards the hardware store.
The human beasts inside the hair salon were completely motionless, like mannequins.
I entered the hardware store and grabbed the door.
“Ha… hoo.”
-Ding-
…!
The chime!
I turned around and drew my sword.
Shing!
Damn it, why did I grab the door?!
Shit, how could I be so stupid!
I knew there was a chime!
I waited.
And waited.
Staring outside, I kept waiting.
…Nothing happened.
…It seemed like the chime wasn’t enough to attract them.
“…Ha…”
Shit.
…I had to be more careful.
I glared at the chime and carefully grabbed it. Then I used the sword to cut the string.
That damn chime.
I carefully placed it on the counter and looked around the hardware store.
I hoped no human beasts had wandered in.
I had to be careful.
Always be careful.
In the zombie and horror movies I enjoyed, it was always the reckless and careless ones who got bitten and killed.
I couldn’t let that happen to me.
Even though I’d been here before, I stayed alert, holding the sword in front of me as I looked around.
…Two bodies lying on the floor, that was all.
“…Hoo…”
Good.
There was nothing.
I searched the hardware store and grabbed some nails, wire, a hammer, and a saw.
Metal tools were heavy.
I couldn’t carry too much.
Besides, I couldn’t be weighed down because of what I was about to do.
I filled about a third of my Adidas backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and sat down.
The bodies of the man and woman were right there, but it was relatively dark here, a good place to rest.
…The smell was awful.
Like at the convenience store, the smell of rotting corpses…
I think I heard somewhere that plagues spread because of corpses in the Middle Ages.
…Plague…
…Hmm…
I’d have to stop by a pharmacy next time.
Anyway, that damn smell.
Ah, the smell of rotting corpses.
I couldn’t get used to it.
If the door had been closed, I might have suffocated.
“Tsk.”
I covered my nose and waited for two hours.
…Accelerate recharged.
3 uses of Accelerate.
I stood up and carefully left the hardware store.
The entrance to the hair salon was right next to the hardware store.
The glass door was right there.
A translucent film covered the lower half of the glass door and wall, so only the upper half was transparent.
I crouched down as low as possible and put down my bag.
And slowly drew my sword.
Shing-
I grabbed the round, arched doorknob and slowly pulled.
The door slowly opened outwards.
I hoped none of them saw me.
Please, don’t see me.
Don’t!
Gripping the sword, I focused all my attention on pulling the door.
With a ding, the door opened completely.
“…Ha…”
I took a deep breath, trying not to make a sound.
When I looked inside from outside, most of the customers were middle-aged women, and the young women were employees.
It was quite a large hair salon.
…Tomahawk…
Should I take it out?
Sword in my left hand.
Tomahawk gripped in my right hand.
I took a deep breath and rushed into the hair salon.
“Ha!”
The entrance!
A human beast right in front of me!
I swung the tomahawk down with all my might.
Thwack!
“Kraw?!”
As the one I hit in the head was about to fall, all the other human beasts turned to look at me.
Accelerate!
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
“Ka-a–a—”
Their mouths slowly opened.
Their arms slowly rose.
I dropped the tomahawk.
Gripping the sword with both hands, I charged at the slowly moving human beasts.
Thwack!
One middle-aged woman, one head!
The female employee next to her!
Thwack!
Two heads!
The middle-aged woman trying to get up from the floor!
She had curlers in her hair!
Thwack!
Three heads!
“–a-awk!”
Accelerate!
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
The middle-aged woman looking in the mirror!
Thwack!
Four heads!
Blood splattered like slow-motion fireworks in all directions.
In that surreal, slow-motion space, I sheathed my sword and dashed outside.
I was about to grab my bag and get up when…
“–Ka-agh!”
Shit, Accelerate!
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
“–Ra-a—-”
I didn’t even have time to put on my bag, I just grabbed it and ran with all my might.
I immediately ducked between the cars, crouched down, and ran as fast as I could.
Damn it, running hunched over was exhausting!
My back felt like it was going to break, shit!
I heard roars behind me.
“–a-awk!”
Crash!
The sound of shattering glass.
I ignored it and kept running, weaving between cars.
An Avante, a Genesis, a 5-ton truck!
[Leveled up 5 times.]
The rumbling of footsteps.
The growling roars.
Echoing behind me.
But fading.
The further I ran, the fainter they became.
They didn’t know where I was!
I heard the sounds of them crashing into cars and jumping on them.
But it was too late.
I was already near the convenience store.
“Ha… ha! Huff! Ha…”
Damn it.
Try to find me now, you bastards.
“Ha… hoo… hoo… ha…”
I hid behind a truck parked in front of the convenience store and looked towards the road.
I could hear growling.
But it was far away.
…Done.
“…Hoo… ha…”
I slowly stood up, staying as low as possible, and entered the alley next to the convenience store.
…Done.
I was safe now that I was here.
I leaned against the stone wall and checked the road.
The human beasts were wandering around in the distance, growling.
“…Hoo…”
I wondered what would happen to the ones that came out. Would they roam around? Or would they randomly enter buildings?
Or would they go back to where they came from?
…Let’s go back.
I didn’t have any Accelerate charges left.
It was dangerous to stay outside for too long without it.
This wasn’t the time to satisfy my curiosity.
I turned and headed towards the boarding house.
…The plan was a success.
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