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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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Every third or fourth house had growling coming from it.
I walked back to the boarding house through the quiet alley, occasionally hearing low growls.
Something needed to be done about those corpses in front of the supermarket.
…Too bothersome for me to do it.
The yard was peaceful when I opened the front gate and went in.
Where was Suhyeon? Was she home?
I heard chattering from above.
Thumping sounds too.
…Seemed to be coming from the rooftop area?
What were they doing near my room?
Might as well deliver these diapers and go up to check.
Knock knock.
After knocking on the newlywed’s door, I heard movement after a moment.
The door opened and the young mother came out holding her baby.
“Oh… hello.”
“Here you go.”
I thrust out the diapers.
The woman looked surprised as she took them.
Did her expression brighten a bit?
“Thank you.”
“Yeah. Is your husband not here?”
“Ah, yes. When he heard there wasn’t any shampoo…”
“I see. When he comes back, please tell him to stay put.”
After saying that, I went up to the roof.
Through the crack in the door, I caught a glimpse inside their home. It was quite well-stocked. They had a makeshift shelf with clothes hanging, baby toys, and a considerable pile of snacks, chocolates, and ramyeon.
The guy was working hard, it seemed.
Come to think of it, the side dishes this morning were pretty good.
He must be bringing stuff to the landlady’s place too.
On the roof, I found three women squatting down.
On the rooftop floor with clotheslines, there were pieces of wood…
Looked like disassembled furniture?
“Ah, oppa.”
Suhyeon spotted me and waved.
Ye-eun and So-eun turned and bowed slightly in greeting too.
They’d seen me so often that they didn’t seem to mind the blood on me anymore.
I nodded and asked.
“Hey. What are you doing?”
“We’re going to put this on your rooftop room window. Ye-eun and So-eun are helping me. This is from the wardrobe in So-eun’s room.”
“Is that so?”
Ye-eun and So-eun were looking at me.
Their expressions were quite bright.
That look from the convenience store was completely gone.
They seemed to have gotten much better after living safely for several days. They were even coming outside without hesitation.
“But oppa, you’re back early? Did you finish everything?”
Suhyeon stood up with a grunt and asked.
I shrugged.
“Cleared out the mart.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. Going to rest a bit, then clean up around the hardware store, and clear out the hypermart too.”
Aaaaaagh-
A scream echoed from far away.
Ye-eun and So-eun whipped their heads toward the sound.
Their faces showed tension.
But Suhyeon didn’t seem too bothered.
“Wow… aren’t you scared going around alone like that?”
“What’s there to be scared of?”
I smirked and went into the rooftop room.
“I’m going to rest.”
“Okay, I’ll call you for lunch. Ye-eun unni said she’s making chicken curry today.”
Oh, curry’s good.
I nodded at Ye-eun and went into the rooftop room.
I showered off the blood covering my body and flopped down on the bedding.
Five uses of acceleration left.
But I was exhausted.
Currently, Suhyeon was the most helpful person in this house. Then the big guy.
Bringing the big guy was a pretty good decision since he was diligently playing pack mule and keeping the house well-stocked.
Otherwise, I would’ve had to carry all that stuff back and forth myself.
Suhyeon went without saying.
The house was practically impenetrable now.
It was becoming more and more fortified each day.
Now that Ye-eun and So-eun were helping too, I could just leave it to them.
My job was leveling up.
Quickly level up and get stronger.
That was the most important thing for me.
In the process of getting stronger, I could clear the paths so Suhyeon could work comfortably and the big guy could transport items safely.
To make the hardware store safe, I needed to completely clear out the beauty salon and McDonald’s next to it.
I’d finish McDonald’s today.
And from tomorrow, raid the hypermart.
Lying there, I suddenly wondered.
How far could I level up?
What was the max level?
What did the other stats do?
Each must have its own use.
How strong could I become?
While lying there thinking about such things, my strength recovered to 8.
Hmm, good.
With this, the beauty salon…
As I was about to get up, there was a knock at the door.
I got up and opened it to find the big guy.
He must have been working hard since morning – beads of sweat dotted his forehead.
“S-sir. I, I saw you brought the diapers. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir.”
Hmm.
He looked quite happy.
The big guy said,
“You were looking for me, sir?”
“Ah, yes.”
I was about to speak but glanced to the side.
The three women were chattering away while hammering.
…Hmm…
“Just a moment.”
I gestured for the big guy to come and approached the women.
“Hey.”
The women turned to look at me.
I said,
“Let’s go to the mart.”
The women looked at each other questioningly.
Ye-eun asked cautiously.
“Is… is it okay to go out…?”
“It’s fine. I killed them all. And someone’s working hard cleaning up the corpses too.”
Suhyeon asked with wide eyes.
“The corpses? Who?”
I shrugged.
“Don’t know. Said they’re an inline skating club, six people. They asked if they could share some stuff from the mart, so I told them to go ahead. They’re cleaning up the corpses.”
The women looked at each other, unable to find words to respond.
I smirked and said,
“Don’t worry. The street is safe. Think I’m going to let other people take everything? Get up.”
As I headed for the stairs, the women hurriedly got up and followed me.
Ye-eun and So-eun went into the landlady’s house, calling out to her.
Probably telling her they were going out.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be back soon.”
Waiting in the yard below, I could see Ye-eun and So-eun coming out of the house.
The big guy looked around at the women anxiously and said,
“Um… will the… house be safe…?”
Suhyeon slapped his back.
“Haven’t you seen how we blocked those windows and everything? Nobody can get in if we don’t let them in. We’ve made it super secure.”
“Ah, yes.”
Still worried, the big guy cracked open his door and poked his head in.
“Honey. I’m going out for a bit. Don’t open the door for anyone but me. Okay?”
A voice from inside responded with an “okay, be safe.”
Her voice had definitely brightened.
Compared to a few days ago, it was really remarkable progress.
“Let’s go.”
As I led everyone into the alley, there were four corpses of those old thug bastards lying on the street.
“…Urp.”
So-eun covered her mouth.
Suhyeon said,
“Ah, so this was that smell. I thought someone had taken a dump somewhere nearby.”
I snorted while looking at the thugs’ corpses.
“Just some idiots. Don’t mind them.”
“…Urp.”
So-eun really looked like she was about to throw up.
The big guy scratched his head and said,
“I-I’ll clean these up later so they’re not visible.”
…Hmm.
That’s actually quite helpful.
I gave his shoulder a pat to show I appreciated what he just said, then turned the corner heading toward the mart.
After walking about 5 minutes, we reached the parking lot.
Then we heard the sound of rolling inline skates – kururu kururu – and people chattering.
Turning toward the squid shop, we found six people sitting on the ground.
Drink bottles and energy bar wrappers were scattered beside them.
The corpses that had been piled up at the entrance were gone.
These people had cleaned them up.
Seems they were taking a break after working hard.
The ponytailed woman noticed us and stood up.
She was drenched in sweat too.
“Ah, you’re here. And you brought everyone.”
I nodded and looked through the automatic doors.
There were still about a dozen corpses lying around, but the entrance area seemed mostly cleared.
“You’ve cleared quite a lot. Must have been heavy.”
50kg, 60kg, 70-80kg that they had to carry out.
No wonder they were tired, even with six people.
“Yes. We’re taking a short break now. These people are…?”
I gestured behind me and said,
“Same as you. Survivors.”
Suhyeon walked forward with a confident smile.
“Hello. I’m Ahn Suhyeon. You’re the inline skating club members, right? I heard about you.”
Heard about them, huh.
I smirked.
That Suhyeon, she was like this when I first met her too – quite the people person.
Hard to believe she was a hikikomori.
Must have really loved games.
“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Eunseo. Jung Eunseo.”
While the two women shook hands, the big guy looked at the entrance and said,
“Um, you were cleaning up the corpses…? I’ll help too.”
The inline club members smiled at him.
“Ah, thank you. We’re resting now but let’s work together later.”
…Hmm…
There was an odd sense of camaraderie among survivors meeting for the first time.
I suppose it was only natural for survivors to be glad to see each other in situations like this, as long as they weren’t acting like those bastard thugs in their forties and fifties.
“Then take whatever you need and head back. Go back the same way you came. Don’t go anywhere else.”
As I was turning to leave, Suhyeon grabbed my hand.
“Oppa, where are you going?”
“To kill all the ones around the hardware store. That way you can safely get what you need too.”
Actually, to level up.
My acceleration was almost charged up to 6 uses.
The ponytailed woman called Eunseo said,
“You’re going again after doing all that this morning? Wow… um, what’s your name?”
Suhyeon glanced at me then smiled brightly at Eunseo.
“My oppa’s name is Han Seong-hun.”
“Ah, Seong-hun-ssi. What did you do before? Using just one sword to kill so many… and now you’re going somewhere else too…”
The big guy straightened up and said,
“S-Seong-hun-ssi helped us too. He’s an amazing person. Really.”
……Ah, this is embarrassing.
Kind of awkward to listen to.
“When you said you were a Sword Master, that wasn’t a joke? You trained in kendo or something?”
Eunseo asked.
Geez…
Hard to know how to answer that.
Can’t exactly say I use skills to move super fast and kill them…
I shrugged and said,
“I’m going. See you later.”
“Ah, Seong-hun-ssi.”
As I turned to walk away, Eunseo called out to me.
Ah, what now.
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