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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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I left the coffee shop and carefully walked past the chicken restaurant and the pharmacy, returning to the boarding house alley. Whether it was luck or simply the norm now, nothing happened.
Soo-hyun’s lights and the main house’s lights were off; they must have been asleep. Keeping the lights on at night wasn’t wise these days. You had to sleep when the sun went down. I’d give them the coffee tomorrow.
I returned to the rooftop room, showered, collapsed onto the bedding, and opened my status screen.
Hmm…
My HP had decreased quite a bit. It had been at 17 when I left after resting at the hardware store.
I was having trouble deciding how to allocate the stat points. I wanted to increase my HP for faster recovery, but I also wanted four Accelerate charges. And I wanted to increase my Strength to kill more.
…Damn it.
I only got 1 point per level up, and I had to distribute them among all these stats. This was ridiculous.
Argh…
What should I increase?
I had to go to the mid-sized supermarket tomorrow. There would probably be dozens of them there…
…Dozens…
…Right, I’d devise a plan for the supermarket and allocate my stats accordingly.
…Damn it.
It was a mid-sized supermarket, which meant it would probably have a butcher shop, even if it didn’t have a bakery or a prepared foods section. I had to assume there were at least twenty, maybe as many as forty, human beasts inside.
With four Accelerate charges, a hit-and-run would be easier, but it would take over ten hours to recharge them.
…Fast recovery, or five kills per run?
…That was the choice…
I thought for a moment and allocated all 5 points to HP. With three Accelerate charges, I could do short bursts even without killing five each time. And with 2.3 HP recovery per hour, I could recharge Accelerate faster. At that rate, I could recharge every two to three hours.
Fast recharge, fast utilization.
I had to find some good hiding spots for hit-and-run tactics.
What about that large man? …If he was swarmed by those biting human beasts, a monkey wrench wouldn’t be enough.
I looked to the side.
…The large axe.
I should give it to him. He seemed strong enough to handle an axe. I had two swords and a tomahawk. Of course, even a large axe wouldn’t be enough against a horde of human beasts. If things went south, I’d have to abandon him. My priority wasn’t getting diapers for him or food for the women. My priority was leveling up. Everything else was secondary.
But something suddenly occurred to me. I understood why the stores were filled with human beasts—they were either places where those people had been when they turned, or places they had been heading towards. Maybe they had been nearby when it happened, turned, and then wandered inside.
…Then what about the rest?
The people waiting at bus stops, the drivers and passengers in countless cars, the countless people on the streets…
…Where had they all gone?
Had they all taken shelter in buildings? Countless people must have been attacked and turned on the streets.
Where had they gone?
This was a decent-sized city. It was near a university district, so there was a lot of foot traffic, plenty of businesses, and a sizeable population. The stores I had visited so far had a fair number of human beasts, but not an unreasonable amount. In the case of the mixed-use building, it probably had a lot of offices. People must have rushed to the parking garage to get their cars when it happened and been trapped there. Normally, they would have taken the elevators down to the parking garage, but with the crowds, they probably used the stairs, resulting in a massive concentration of people at the parking garage entrance and that was my guess.
The subway entrance looked the same. It probably connected to a subway station and an underground shopping mall, which explained the sheer number of human beasts down there.
In other words, the number of human beasts inside the stores and parking garages corresponded roughly to the number of people who would normally be there.
…What about the rest?
Considering the foot traffic in this area, there should have been at least twice as many human beasts.
But they were gone. Countless human beasts had vanished.
…Where to?
Hmm…
I couldn’t figure it out.
“Sigh. Damn it, this is giving me a headache.”
How could I possibly know what those things were thinking?
I’d just go to sleep. I had to wake up early.
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I ate breakfast, still half-asleep. The atmosphere was the same as usual. As I listened to their chatter, I suddenly remembered something and pulled my Adidas backpack closer.
“Oh, right. I brought you these. I picked them up last night.”
I said to Grandma, pulling out four bottles of coffee.
“Oh, thank you! I’ll enjoy this, young man.”
As I handed her the bottles with a smile, So-eun mumbled, “…Should have brought back condoms.”
The women froze. …She must have heard what had happened in Soo-hyun’s room last night. Damn it, the soundproofing was terrible.
No.
It couldn’t have been that bad.
…Soo-hyun must have told her.
Soo-hyun chuckled and said, “I’m on the pill, so it’s fine.”
Grandma pretended she hadn’t heard, and Ye-eun coughed awkwardly.
Hmm…
…What a cheerful breakfast.
I finished eating and left the house. With a sword and a tomahawk on my belt and the large axe in my hand, I headed towards the local supermarket. On the way, I passed the body of the wiry man lying face down in a dark, dried pool of blood. The stench was awful.
This was disgusting.
Should I move it?
…Where would I move it to?
There wasn’t a crematorium nearby, and there was nowhere to bury it.
…It was too much trouble.
The large man was waiting for me at the supermarket.
“Ah… h… here you are.”
…Why did he look like that? His face was contorted. Angry? …No, not angry.
…Fear.
Why?
Ah, because I had killed that asshole?
I chuckled and walked towards him, when suddenly, a group of men emerged from the alleyways on either side. Men in their forties and fifties. “Hey, Hoon. Is this the guy?”
What was this? They were wearing t-shirts and jeans. One of them was wearing dress pants, but they were badly wrinkled. They clearly didn’t take care of their clothes. Three of them in total. They stood around me, looking at me with disdain. The one in front was wearing a gold chain.
The gold chain spoke.
“You think you’re some kind of big shot, huh?”
…What the hell? Did these guys crawl out of some 80s drama? Acting like wannabe gangsters. This was hilarious. I chuckled.
“Pfft… seriously. Oh… yeah. So?”
“So, you little shit—”
He raised his arm. Accelerate.
[Auto-cast: Accelerate]
Judging by his posture, he was either going to slap me or grab my neck and shove me. He looked like he had experience picking fights.
What a joke. A bunch of old farts still playing gangster.
I set down the axe and drew my sword. In one swift motion, I slashed his neck.. A clean cut. I had been using the sword so much lately, it felt like an extension of my arm. I took a step to the side. The man to my left had also raised his arm. He’d been planning to hit me from behind. The one on my right, now in front of me, had lifted his leg. They were a well-coordinated team.
“—Gah!”
Accelerate wore off.
The gold chain gurgled, blood spurting from his neck, and collapsed face down. At the same time, the large axe clattered to the floor.
“Gah! Ugh!”
The gold chain thrashed on the ground. The two other thugs flinched, lowering their hands and feet, and froze. “Uh… uh oh!”
“B-Boss!” They finally noticed me and stumbled backward, their faces a mix of shock and terror.
Splash. One of them stepped back into the pool of blood and winced.
The gold chain, lying on the ground, twitched his legs like a frog, gurgling. I reversed my grip on the sword and brought it down on his head.
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
All three men flinched and backed away. I stepped on the gold chain’s head and yanked the sword out. Then, I turned to the large man standing to my right and asked, “Who are these guys? Why did you bring them?” This guy was timid; he wouldn’t have brought them here to challenge me, but I glared at him slightly and asked, “Did you bring them here to cause trouble?” The large man’s jaw trembled as he stammered, “I… I…” Hmm. This guy was way too timid. The thugs were also in a state of panic. They weren’t running or screaming, but their faces were masks of terror. They had just seen their companion die right in front of them.
“Why are you here?” I asked the two remaining thugs. They looked at each other, speechless.
I continued, “Your boss? That idiot lying over there? I killed him. So? What are you going to do about it?” The thugs’ breathing grew ragged. One of them pulled something from his back. …A knife.
“Y-You… little shit… You… what are you? Huh? You wanna die? Huh?” …Seriously? Then, the large man spoke, his voice trembling, “Th-They’re bad guys. Th-They broke into our house… they’re bad guys.” The thugs glared at him menacingly. “You little shit. You wanna die? You want your head bashed in like the old man’s?” The old man? I scoffed in disbelief and muttered, “…Ah, shit… wasting my time and blocking my way when I can’t even level up from this…” Every Accelerate charge was precious. Damn it. The old thugs flinched and looked at me as they heard me muttering. Damn it, they had just seen someone die right in front of them, and yet they were still standing there, brandishing a knife and making empty threats.
“Ha…”
I sighed deeply. I had already wasted one Accelerate charge. Damn it, this was infuriating.
“Y-You… you little shit… do you know who we are? Huh?”
Why would I care who you were, you idiots? They were adding fuel to the fire. “Oh, yeah. Just die.” I took a step forward and activated Accelerate.
Step.
[Auto-cast: Accelerate]
“Wha—aa—aa—” Their startled movements were slow and sluggish as I walked towards them. The one with the knife raised it. I drew my sword and slashed his neck. And then, I immediately moved forward and thrust the sword into the white-shirted thug’s head.
Thwack!
“—Gah!”
A grotesque gurgling sound and the sound of spraying blood echoed from behind me. The stabbed thug’s face went slack. I immediately pulled the sword out. Thwack! Blood spurted from his forehead, the back of his head, and his nose as he collapsed. At the same time, I heard a thud behind me. “Ugh!…Gah!” I was busy trying to level up, and these bastards were making me waste Accelerate charges. Damn it, I was covered in blood again. Disgusted, I grimaced and looked at the large man.
“…Hey, mister.” The large man was trembling, his face pale. He stared at me. I continued, “You’ve been dragging these annoying bastards around since yesterday, and frankly, I’m getting pissed. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The guy lying next to me was gurgling, blood gushing from his neck. He was struggling, trying to clutch his throat… I raised my sword and brought it down on his head.
Thwack!
Two wasted Accelerate charges. Damn it.
The large man flinched and gasped, stumbling backward and knocking over a stack of snack boxes displayed in front of the supermarket. Seriously? I yanked the sword out and glared at him. You idiot.
“I don’t give a shit if these guys are bad guys or whatever. If these kinds of things show up again, you’re dead too. Got it?”
The large man stared at me, his face ashen. He couldn’t stand or sit; he just clung to the snack boxes, his jowls trembling. Seriously.
I picked up the large axe from the pool of blood and tossed it in front of the large man. Thud! Blood splattered onto his pants.
“Let’s go. We’re done for today. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
I think I got some more blood in my mouth. The taste of iron. Damn it. I turned and walked away, spitting on the ground.
“This is fucking disgusting.”
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What a waste of time.