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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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An injury on her face?
What was she talking about?
I set down my spoon and stood up.
“She’s downstairs?”
“Yes, sir,” Hoon replied.
I walked towards the main house’s door, and Soo-hyun followed. Seeing that, Ye-eun and So-eun also set down their spoons and stood up. Then, the new missus and Hoon’s wife followed suit. Grandma also got up, a puzzled look on her face.
…Why were they all coming? …Couldn’t they just eat their breakfast?
I opened the door and saw the inline skaters beyond the wall. …Three women? Where were the men?
I went down the stairs and opened the gate. Jung Eun-seo, the leader of the inline skating club, and two other women were standing there. Jung Eun-seo’s cheek was red and swollen, with a bleeding wound in the center.
…What could have caused that kind of injury?
“What happened?” I asked.
“Oh, Sung-hoon, hello,” Jung Eun-seo greeted me, but her face was filled with urgency. “C… Could you help us? Our three male members are being held… at the supermarket.”
…Had I heard that correctly?
Held?
“What do you mean? By who? Why?”
One of the women behind Jung Eun-seo said, “People are causing trouble at the supermarket because there are no supplies left. They’re demanding we hand over what we’ve hidden. Some woman slapped Eun-seo.”
A woman?
…Ah.
A ring. She must have been slapped with a ringed hand, the ring cutting her cheek. That’s why it was bleeding.
People were causing trouble because the supermarket was empty?
Soo-hyun, who had been listening, spoke up indignantly. “If there’s nothing left at the supermarket, then there’s nothing left! Why are they resorting to violence? And why are the men being held there?”
“They’re demanding we tell them where we’re staying,” Jung Eun-seo said. “They surrounded us and tried to grab us. They think we’ve hoarded supplies, that we took more than our share. The men held them back while we skated here.”
The other woman spoke urgently, “Please, help us! We heard the sounds of hitting. Please, save my boyfriend!”
…This was a headache.
The three women from the inline skating club looked desperate. I glanced to the side; the boarding house residents also looked concerned.
…This was insane. I sighed deeply and turned around.
“Wait here. I’ll get my sword.”
As I went upstairs to get my swords and lifting belt, Grandma patted my shoulder.
“Oh, young man, you said there were a lot of people there. What are you going to do alone? Just stay here.”
I chuckled.
“Don’t worry.”
I looked at Soo-hyun and the other women.
“Stay here. I’ll be back.”
Then I patted Hoon on the shoulder.
“Come with me.”
Hoon hesitated, his face tense, then followed me.
“Let’s go.”
I spoke to the inline skaters, and their faces brightened slightly. They had seen what I had done to the human beasts at the supermarket. Hoon had seen it too, which was probably why he was willing to follow me—and why the women looked relieved.
But… because of the early morning raid, I only had one Accelerate charge left. I’d had two Spirit when I finished the raid.
Damn it.
After showering and eating, it had recovered to five, but what could I do with just one charge?
…No.
I was dealing with humans now, not human beasts. If I quickly took out three of them, the others would probably back down.
…Tsk.
I had been killing so many human beasts lately, that’s all I could think about.
I’d just go there and see. If I had to kill, I’d kill. As we walked down the alley, I could hear footsteps and the whirring of inline skates behind us. I glanced back and asked,
“Why did those people suddenly become so violent? The women here said the atmosphere was fine until yesterday.”
Jung Eun-seo sighed, a troubled look on her face.
“Some people got greedy, I guess. They ran out of meat and vegetables, and the ramen and toilet paper were gone a long time ago. They were already out last night.”
The woman behind Jung Eun-seo added,
“The people who arrived later started complaining about the empty supermarket, then begging the people nearby to share, and then they started getting angry. We went to get supplies early this morning, and the supermarket was empty. That’s when we heard about what happened.”
Hmm.
We had definitely taken the most supplies. What we had now was enough for seven people for two or three months. Eight, including the baby, but the baby was still breastfeeding.
“So?”
“So, we were wondering what to do,”
Jung Eun-seo continued, “And to those people, we were the ones who had delivered the ramen, right? So they started grabbing us, demanding to know if we had more, asking us to share…”
Another woman sighed. “Even if they ask, we don’t have anything left. We’ve been busy delivering supplies from the supermarket and collecting the bodies—we didn’t even have time to take anything for ourselves.”
The third woman added, “And then, around sunrise, people started gathering, complaining about the empty supermarket… accusing each other of taking more than their share… and then it all turned on us.
They figured we must have more since we were the ones handing out food.” …Seriously… Tsk. I clicked my tongue and said, “So, people started gathering around you, the men held them back, and you came here?”
“Yes,”
Jung Eun-seo replied. I nodded.
“Let’s hurry. If they’re being attacked, we need to get there quickly.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Tsk…
I didn’t have any obligation or reason to help these people.
I had cleared out the supermarket to level up, intending for the boarding house residents to take the supplies, but honestly, I didn’t care who took them. I could just use Accelerate to barge into any store, stab a few heads, and take what I needed from the refrigerator. But these people were different.
They had handed out food and helped people get outside, out of pure, selfless goodwill. Six people gathering and burning over fifty bodies… it sounded simple, but it must have been a huge undertaking.
Those bodies must have weighed over 2.5 tons. They must have been completely exhausted. If they had only been thinking about themselves, they wouldn’t have bothered collecting the bodies or sharing the supplies. They could have just shared everything with us and had it easy. But they helped others, and this was the result.
This was… damn it.
This was just disgusting. I didn’t know what I was going to do to those people, but I had to see their faces. We passed the parking lot, and the squid shop came into view. Three people were lying on the ground—the male inline skaters.
…They had been beaten badly.
“Tae-young!”
“Oppa!”
The women rushed towards the men, embracing them. Some were crying. I looked around.
…A haggard-looking, middle-aged woman was huddled in a corner. I approached her and asked,
“Where did everyone go? You said they were gathered here.”
The woman looked up at me with a listless expression. No, not listless. I recognized that look. She had witnessed those men being beaten.
She was in shock. The woman said, “…They all went to… that milk delivery depot or whatever it is…”
…Tsk.
They must have gone there hoping to find something. Once they realized there was nothing there, they’d come back to the supermarket. I turned to the women and Hoon.
“Take them back to the boarding house. Put them in the rooftop room, and treat their injuries. I left a lot of medical supplies there.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Hoon, Jung Eun-seo, and the other women helped the injured men up. The inline skaters’ faces were… they could barely open their eyes. They had been beaten savagely.
“Tsk.”
“How… how could they do this?! How?!”
Jung Eun-seo said through gritted teeth.
“Eonni, let’s just go, okay?”
Another woman said, and Jung Eun-seo closed her eyes tightly, then helped one of the men up. Their inline skates were broken too. The women carefully gathered the broken wheels and pieces, then helped the men walk.
“We’ll go ahead.”
I nodded and waved. Then, I turned to the middle-aged woman.
“…Why are you here?”
The woman blinked, then took a deep breath.
“Oh… I’m… done… I’m just…” She slowly stood up.
“My… my children… they’re all in the countryside… and we’re out of kimchi…” She took a few steps, then bent over and vomited.
…This was crazy.
I placed my hands on my hips and looked up at the sky, sighing. I walked over to the woman and took her arm.
“…Let’s go.”
If I left her here, she’d kill herself. I had a feeling.
“…Huh? Where… I… I have to go home…”
“Just come with me.”
I pulled her along. The woman didn’t have the strength to resist and stumbled after me.
…This was bleak.
The people who had gone to the milk delivery depot had clearly seen this woman collapse, but they’d left her there. They didn’t care if someone died or killed themselves.
In extreme situations, people tended to prioritize their own survival, so I could understand.
But…
…this was starting to piss me off…
I was getting angry…
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Thanks Xrecker!