I’m the Only One with Powers in the Apocalypse – Chapter 34

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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The bodies were piled up inside and outside the McDonald’s. I carefully stepped over them and walked out. The large man, who had been hiding behind a car, watching me, slowly stood up.

Anyway, what was this guy’s name again?

Hoon? Something like that.

“S… Sir… that was… amazing…!”

I chuckled and walked onto the road, looking around. It was fairly quiet. I could hear the occasional scream in the distance, but it was relatively peaceful. The large man’s face was filled with something akin to awe.

…How did I look to this guy?

How did other people perceive me using Accelerate, stabbing, and moving around like that?

I was suddenly very curious.

“It’s safe inside now,” I said.

“Yes, sir. What should we do now?”

The man approached me, his head bowed almost submissively.

I looked around at the nearby stores. “Let’s just move the bodies from the hardware store and the hair salon… and pile them up on that empty road over there. The sun is setting; if we keep working, we’ll miss dinner. Let’s just do that much and go back. We can call the others tomorrow and finish the rest.”

“Yes, sir. I understand.”

Hmm…

He was obedient.

I grabbed two towels from the hair salon, handed one to the man, and wrapped the other around my face. The smell of the corpses was so overwhelming; I needed this to be able to move them. The smell of rotting corpses was like a mixture of feces, vinegar, and rotten fish.

With our noses and mouths covered, we carried the bodies from the hardware store and piled them up on the road. It was much easier with two people. The problem was, the bodies had been decomposing for days, and a nasty, dark fluid was leaking out. This fluid… it wasn’t blood, and it wasn’t anything else I could identify… I didn’t even want to describe it. Damn it, it was nauseating.

After moving the bodies, I turned on the faucet in the hardware store bathroom, soaked a mop, and quickly cleaned the floor. Damn it, even with my nose and mouth covered, that disgusting smell… It was coming from the fluid. The smell itself was disgusting and horrific. The sight of mangled human beasts and corpses was nothing compared to this smell.

The hardware store smelled a little better after I cleaned the floor. There was a reason I was putting so much effort into this place. It was for Soo-hyun, my most valuable worker, who was also my fuck buddy and would continue to be useful. Making things easier for Soo-hyun meant making things easier for me. She was already working hard from morning till night, hammering and dismantling things, turning the boarding house into a fortress. This was the least I could do.

I tossed the blood-and-fluid-soaked mop onto the pile of bodies. I sighed, took off the towel, threw it onto the pile, and said, “That’s enough. Let’s go.”

“Yes, sir. Ugh…”

The large man followed me, gagging. He had witnessed people die and seen pools of blood form right in front of him. Those sights had scared him but never made him nauseous. He didn’t have a weak stomach. And yet, he was gagging now—the stench of rotting corpses was that bad.

We crossed the road, returned to the boarding house, and I took a long, hot shower. I threw away the clothes I had been wearing, of course. I could handle the smell of blood, but this… this was too much. Damn it. I gathered everything from the trash can, put it in a bag, tied it up, and tossed it into a corner of the rooftop.

“Hoo…”

Time to eat some samgyeopsal.

Hmm, dinner. I couldn’t say I ate my fill. The women were chattering excitedly about the supplies I’d brought back, happily wrapping pieces of grilled samgyeopsal in lettuce and dipping them in ssamjang. The large man picked at his food at first, then started grabbing three or four pieces of samgyeopsal at a time, wrapping them in lettuce, and stuffing them into his mouth.

He had a strong stomach.

I, on the other hand…

…Ugh.

I’d eat a little and then go back upstairs and shower again.

After dinner and another shower, Soo-hyun was sitting on my bedding, giggling.

“You cleaned the hardware store?”

“Yeah.”

“You did that for me?”

“Yeah.”

I sat down next to her, sighing. Soo-hyun stared at me for a moment, then smiled.

“Thank you.”

“If you’re grateful…”

I unwrapped the towel from around my waist. Soo-hyun gave me a playful glare, then bent down. Her head moved between my legs. I felt the smooth touch of her tongue and the warm pressure of her lips.

“Ha…”

Ah, this felt good.

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Soo-hyun went downstairs to organize the supplies she had brought back. She was amazing. She had ridden me, grinding her hips against mine, until I came inside her. And then, while we were showering, she’d taken me into her mouth again, swallowing everything happily. And after all that, she still had the energy to organize supplies. She was definitely diligent.

Right. I needed someone like her. Ye-eun and So-eun were starting to help out too, and once the new missus recovered, she’d probably join in and help around the house. Honestly, I didn’t really care about any of that. I had decided when I first came here, and I still felt the same way—I would leave once I was strong enough.

I would go back to my hometown and find out what had happened to my family.

They were probably…

They were probably dead. My friends from back home too. Either dead and turned into corpses, or turned into human beasts.

Either way…

…They were my family, my friends.

If they had turned…

…I had to be the one to end it. My parents, my sister, my friends… I couldn’t leave them roaming around like that.

And if they were still alive somewhere…?

…I would protect them.

Anyway, I would leave this place eventually, probably soon. I had gotten to know these people, and I’d grown fond of them, so I wanted to make sure they could survive safely in this fortified house.

Whether I would come back here after leaving…

…I didn’t know.

If I did, I did. If not, then not.

Anyway, I had things to do. I lay on the bedding, staring at the ceiling.

“Status.”

Good.

First…

I had to allocate the stat points. The Time Controller specialization was at max level and blinking, which meant I could choose a new specialization. But no matter which specialization I chose, using Accelerate would still be essential. And Strength. I needed more Strength to kill more.

I put 5 points into Spirit and 2 into Strength.

60 Spirit, 27 Strength. With 12 Accelerate charges, I could easily take out 27 human beasts in one go, as long as I played it smart. Good.

Next… that blinking thing.

I reached out and tapped Time Controller.

A new message appeared.

…What the…?!

What was this?!

Survival Expert? What was that?

Shadow Warrior?!

What?!

Wait.

What was that “???” at the bottom?

And why was it unavailable?

…They were just names; there were no explanations…

…Would there be explanations if I tapped on them?

I tapped on number 1.

…?!

The screen disappeared!

Hey, damn it, wait!

I hadn’t selected anything!

I just wanted to see the description!

Damn it!

…Seriously…

Damn it…

I hadn’t selected anything!

This was ridiculous…

I rubbed my forehead.

“Ha…”

I couldn’t help but sigh. I knew this status screen was unhelpful and lacking in explanations. But this was ridiculous. Damn it, was this some kind of bait-and-switch tactic? Like those shady merchants who forced you to buy things after you touched them.

“Ugh…”

…I shouldn’t get angry. It had already happened. Damn it.

“…Status.”

…Hmm…

Survival Expert… starting at level 1…

Damn it…

My title had changed. It seemed like the title changed every time I maxed out a specialization. Empowered Chosen One…

Tsk…

Whatever. Other than that, not much had changed. Intelligence was still unavailable.

Skills…

…I had a new passive skill, Recovery? I tapped on it.

…?!

…Wait a minute…

My stat recovery speed increased?!

Wait.

Let’s do the math.

HP recovery speed per hour – 1 minute 30 seconds. So, with 30 HP, that was a 9-minute reduction. Originally, it was 1 tick per hour, now it was 1 tick every 51 minutes? Stat recovery speed… a total reduction of 4 minutes 30 seconds. It used to be 1 tick every 20 minutes. So now, it was 1 tick every 15 minutes 30 seconds.

…So… if I had 100 HP…

HP would recover every 30 minutes,

And other stats would recover every 5 minutes? That meant my recovery rate would increase from 3 points per hour to 12 points per hour. My Spirit was currently at 60, so with 100 HP, I could fully recharge in just five hours. Even if I increased my Spirit to 120, I could fully recharge in ten hours. Right now, it took twenty hours to recharge 60 Spirit.

…This was the perfect passive skill for this situation.

“…Ha…”

Damn it.

I guess I was lucky.

Survival Expert?

This was pretty useful.

…Wait a minute.

Hold on.

The Time Controller specialization I had maxed out earlier… that was the one that gave me Accelerate. It was a specialization that focused on Spirit.

Survival Expert.

This one clearly focused on HP.

…The other specializations…

Shadow Warrior, Wild Hunter, Space Explorer… They must have had corresponding stats as well.

…Was this crazy?

I rubbed my forehead.

“What the hell is this?”

Damn it, even though I mostly played RTS games, I had played RPGs too. Even I knew that specializing in one stat was the standard.

Strength for warriors!

Intelligence for mages!

Agility for archers!

That was the golden rule, damn it!

Why did I have to increase everything?!

“Ah, shit.”

This was the most unspecialized character build ever. 1 point per level, and yet I had to distribute them evenly?

…No, wait.

Maybe it was different for new specializations. Maybe I’d get 2 points per level now!

…No…

That couldn’t be…

“Ha…”

Damn it, this was annoying.

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