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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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“…What? The apocalypse?” The middle-aged officer paused, phone in hand, and looked at me, suspicion etched on his face.
“Sir, do you know something?”
It wasn’t a question. His expression told me he’d sensed something. This guy knows something.
I opened and closed my mouth, staring at the officer.
What could I say?
That I saw it in a message window?
As we locked eyes, a crashing sound erupted from inside the police box. The officer whipped his head around and hurried back inside.
“What’s going on in there?!”
I followed him inside. I didn’t know why. If anyone had asked me what state of mind I was in at that moment, I might have punched them in the face. I didn’t know what I was doing, or what I should be doing!
Why wasn’t the message window showing up?!
It had appeared my entire life, telling me what was about to happen!
And now, when I needed it most, it was gone!
Damn it!
“Huff, huff.”
Inside, the two officers had each other by the collars, wrestling.
“You son of a bitch, you just left Young-mi there?! Huh?! Why didn’t you radio in?! Why?!”
“Damn it, I didn’t have time! Radio in?! With a riot going on, cars being smashed, do you think I had the luxury of radioing in?!”
The middle-aged officer who had been outside rushed in and threw himself between them.
“Stop it! Both of you! Do you want to get disciplined?!”
I saw it.
As they grappled, their collars clutched in each other’s fists, their arms rose and fell.
I saw it.
I took a step back.
“Y… You…”
Fear gripped me.
A cold dread.
“…You were bitten.”
All three officers froze. The two middle-aged officers lifted Officer Park’s arm.
Blood streamed down his forearm.
The wound, no matter how I looked at it, looked like a bite mark. Unless someone had stabbed him with an oval-shaped teaspoon.
The officer who had been grabbing Officer Park’s collar spoke.
“What… What is this? Were you really bitten? Was Young-mi really bitten by someone?”
He hadn’t believed it before, it seemed.
Officer Park clutched his arm and turned away sharply, breaking the other officer’s hold.
“What’s the big deal about one bite?”
Officer Park glanced at his seniors and me, then turned and started fumbling with a locker, trying to open it.
W…
Was he okay…?
One bite wasn’t enough to turn you into one of those beasts…?
That thought calmed me slightly. A locker. There must have been some kind of weapon inside. “Do we really have any handguns?”
If there were guns…
With guns,
it would definitely be much…
The middle-aged officer who had been breaking up the fight glanced at me.
We only have tasers and batons. They don’t issue handguns to small-town police boxes like this. Use your head.”
What the hell was with his tone? I wasn’t a cop; how was I supposed to know that? I almost felt like filing a complaint.
Wait. So, Officer Park had been looking for a handgun that wasn’t even there? He must have been really panicked.
The locker opened. Officer Park grabbed a taser and a baton, then let out a deep sigh.
“…Damn it, how are we supposed to… Did you contact headquarters?”
The officer who had been breaking up the fight gestured towards the computer monitor.
“We’ve been getting tons of calls since earlier. The president probably knows by now. It’ll be on the news tonight.”
“It might already be on the news.”
The middle-aged officers exchanged words as they armed themselves with tasers and batons.
Damn, it was somewhat reassuring to see people with something in their hands, at least.
That’s when it happened.
“Ugh!”
Officer Park grabbed the locker, his back arching.
Both middle-aged officers yelled at once.
“Officer Park! What’s wrong?!”
“What are you doing?! This isn’t the time to be sick! Let’s go! To Young-mi!”
Officer Park trembled, his body convulsing. The veins in his neck bulged.
He was in immense pain.
“Groan… Groaaan! Aaaaagh!”
“O… Officer Park!”
Officer Park collapsed. The two middle-aged officers immediately bent over him.
Then, one of them screamed.
“Gyaaaa! Aaagh!”
A squelching, ripping sound, followed by a wet thud.
Blood.
“Officer Park! Hey! You bastard!”
The other middle-aged officer, startled, tried to pull them apart. The next moment, he screamed too.
“Uugh! Gah!”
Crack! Crunch!
The sound of tearing flesh and breaking bone echoed simultaneously.
“Groan…”
He…
He bit his neck.
I had thought it was just a cinematic effect.
Blood spurting like a fountain.
It wasn’t an effect.
Blood really did spurt like a fountain.
Spraying all the way to the ceiling.
Move.
Move…
Run… I have to run.
Move…!
Before my eyes, the two officers lay on the floor, thrashing and screaming, spraying blood everywhere.
This horrific scene was unfolding right in front of me.
My legs…
My legs wouldn’t move.
Why wouldn’t they move?
I…
I was too scared…
M… Move.
…Move!
My leg muscles screamed in protest.
It felt like someone had placed hot stones on them.
I had run too far, too fast.
I managed to take one step backward.
Thud.
Officer Park’s head snapped up.
His eyes… Not even the eyes of a beast, but… His face covered in blood, those eyes… Looking at me…
“Graaagh!”
Officer Park leaped over the desk.
He… He was coming! He was coming!
“Kaaaagh!”
Officer Park lunged at me.
Arms outstretched, he pounced.
His blood-red face loomed larger and larger.
Shit…!
I was going to die…!
I had to get out…!
Faster…! Faster!
Even faster!
My mind knew it was already too late.
But my body still reacted.
A desperate struggle for survival.
If this continued, his face would collide with mine.
His hands would grab my throat!
I crouched down with all my might.
Something brushed past my hair.
Then, with a shattering crash, the door of the police box exploded inward.
I looked up at the door.
Officer Park had crashed through the glass, his waist now wedged in the frame.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
This was crazy.
Fucking crazy!
My hands trembled with shock.
[Tutorial: Chosen One’s Growth Path. Complete.]
What?!
[As the growth path has been determined, new specializations, skills, and achievements are granted.]
Specializations? Skills?!
[Say the keyword ‘Status’ to view.]
[Say the keyword ‘Achievements’ to view.]
What was this?!
“Status?!”
A screen instantly appeared before my eyes.
Wh… What was this?
What was this?!
Damn it, why was it so complicated?!
What did all this mean?!
“Graaagh! Kaaaagh!”
While I stared at the status screen in shock, Officer Park, having smashed through the glass door, thrashed and pulled himself free.
Crash! Smash!
The remaining glass shattered, sending shards flying.
Officer Park glared at me.
“Crazy!”
“Graagh!”
A bestial roar, clawing at his throat.
He lunged.
Blood…!
I had to dodge!
At that moment, the status screen disappeared, and a message popped up.
[Auto-cast: Accelerate]
Officer Park froze mid-air.
“Graa—aa—aa—aa—aa—”
What?!
How could he suddenly slow down like that in mid-air?!
His ha…
His hands!
They were getting closer!
His blood-covered mouth!
His crimson maw!
With a jolt, I ducked.
Officer Park drifted slowly over me.
His chest, his stomach, then his waist.
His waist!
What I saw before my eyes was…
…a baton!
Instinctively, I grabbed the baton. I didn’t have time to think.
I quickly pulled it free from its holder and ran towards the shattered glass door.
At that moment, the sound sped up dramatically.
“—aa—aa—aagh! Graagh!”
A crashing sound echoed behind me.
I pushed open the glass door and looked back.
Officer Park lay sprawled on the desk, his head buried in it, his neck bent at an impossible angle.
But his limbs twitched and flailed as he tried to get back up.
I turned and ran out of the police box as fast as I could.
I started sprinting down the alley.
My bag in one hand, the baton in the other.
“Crazy! Shit, crazy! Huff, huff!”
My legs were burning!
I kept running, turning corners, and running again.
“Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!”
God damn it, how much further did I have to run?!
What was going on?!
What was happening to me?!
My thighs burned.
My calves ached.
My whole body screamed in pain.
“Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!”
I ran and ran like a madman, not knowing where I was going, just running and running.
I didn’t have the breath to speak, let alone complain.
“Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!”
I didn’t know how many alleys I had run through.
I didn’t know how long I had been running.
I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn’t obey.
Neither walking nor running, I stumbled between the houses.
Silence.
Was this neighborhood always this quiet?
Oh… No.
I couldn’t go any further.
“Gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp.”
I was dizzy.
I had run too much.
I didn’t know if the officers were chasing me.
I needed to find a safe place.
But where the hell was that?
I stumbled on, finally emerging from the residential area.
A road stretched before me.
A subway entrance right next to it.
Exhausted, half out of my mind, I stumbled into the building next to me.
I didn’t know what kind of building it was.
I didn’t know where I was.
It definitely wasn’t my neighborhood.
Just somewhere… on the stairs…
To sit and rest.
Just for a little while.
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So far this novel is nice in interpreting a more realistic emotional response then other novels I’ve seen, but having the “not recognizing it’s zombies” cliche is a let down. Still enjoying it though XD.
Dunno why the author went down this path.
pretty sure any person above 12 can tell you what a zombie is and what they do.
Brings me out of immersion to many times.
It cause we see it so often we desensitized to it that in our subconscious we long accepted this situation would never happen and we wouldn’t make the same moves as the characters. Cause of that if the apocalypse did come so suddenly we definitely be like chickens with our head cut off. Basically haphazardly running in all directions with no plan just outright panic desperately trying to live and escape.
Why the mc so dumb the countdown is from he is child but he never experiment on it or try the possibility other then dying when the countdown over, I mean he live in modern era with so many fantasy fiction from novel game to film but with those brain cells of him he never do suspect other one possibility really dumbest and I really don’t understand why author make it countdown from mc child if he doesn’t do anything really number one blshit