—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
An injury on her face? What was that about?
I put down my spoon and stood up.
“She’s downstairs?”
“Yes, sir.”
As I walked towards the main house door, Soo-hyun followed.
Seeing Soo-hyun follow, Ye-eun and So-eun also put down their spoons and stood up.
Then the new mother, Hoon, and even Grandma, looking curious, followed suit.
…Why were they all coming?
…Just eat.
I opened the door and saw the inline skating club members beyond the stone wall.
…Only 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, and there was a bleeding wound in the center, like she had been punched.
…What could cause an injury like that?
“What happened?” I asked.
“Ah, Sung-hoon. Hello,” Jung Eun-seo greeted, but her face was filled with urgency. “C-could you help us? Our three male members are being held captive in front of the supermarket.”
…Did I hear that right?
Held captive?
“What do you mean? By who? Why?”
The woman behind Jung Eun-seo said, “People are causing a commotion at the supermarket because there’s no food left. They’re demanding we hand over what we’ve hidden, and a woman slapped Eun-seo unnie in the face.”
A woman?
…Ah.
A ring.
She must have been hit with a ringed hand, the ring cutting her cheekbone.
That’s why it was bleeding.
Causing a commotion because there was no food left?
Soo-hyun, who was listening, said indignantly, “If there’s no food left, then there’s no food left, why are they resorting to violence? And why are the men being held captive?”
Jung Eun-seo explained, “They’re demanding to know where we’re staying. People surrounded us and tried to grab us. They think we stockpiled food before they could get any. So the men held them back while we skated here.”
The other woman behind Jung Eun-seo pleaded, “Please help us. I heard the sound of someone being hit. Please save my boyfriend.”
…This was a headache.
The three women from the inline skating club looked desperate.
I looked to the side.
The faces of the boarding house residents were also grim.
…This was driving me crazy.
I sighed deeply and turned around. “Wait here. I’ll get my sword.”
I went up to the rooftop room, put on my lifting belt with the two swords, and as I was coming out, Grandma patted my shoulder. “Oh dear, young man. They said there were a lot of people there. What are you going to do alone? Just stay here. Okay?”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry.”
I looked at Soo-hyun and the other women and said, “Stay home. I’ll be back.”
Then I patted Hoon’s shoulder.
Follow me.
Hoon hesitated with a nervous expression, then followed me.
“Let’s go.”
I said to the inline skaters, and their faces brightened.
They had seen what I did to the human beasts at the supermarket.
Hoon had seen it too.
That’s probably why he was able to follow me, and why the women looked relieved.
But…
…because I went on a raid early this morning, I only had 1 Accelerate charge left.
My Spirit was at 2 after the raid, shit.
It recovered to 5 after showering and eating, but what could I do with just 1 charge?
…No.
I was dealing with humans now.
Not human beasts.
If I sliced the necks of three of them in an instant, the others would be scared and back off.
…Tsk.
I was so used to slicing human beasts that that was the only thing I could think of.
I’d just go and see.
I could slice necks when the time came.
As we walked down the alley, I heard footsteps and the whirring of inline skates behind me.
I glanced back and asked, “Why did people suddenly become so violent? Our women said the atmosphere was good until yesterday.”
Jung Eun-seo sighed with a troubled expression. “It seems like some people got greedy. The meat and vegetables were gone, and the ramen and toilet paper had already been wiped out. They ran out last night.”
The woman behind Jung Eun-seo added, “The people who came late were complaining about the empty supermarket, then they started begging the people nearby, and then they started getting angry. We went to get supplies early this morning, and the supermarket was empty, and that’s what we heard happened.”
Hmm.
We definitely brought back the most.
What we had now was enough for seven people for two or three months. Eight, including the baby, but she was still breastfeeding.
“So?”
Jung Eun-seo continued, “So, we were at a loss, but to those people, we were the ones who delivered the ramen, right? So they grabbed us and demanded to know if we had more, asking us to share…”
The other woman sighed. “Even if they ask us, we don’t have anything. We were too busy delivering food from the supermarket and collecting bodies, we didn’t have time to stockpile anything for ourselves.”
The woman next to her said, “Then, around sunrise, people started gathering, and they started complaining about the empty supermarket… accusing each other of taking too much earlier and demanding they share… and eventually, it all focused on us. Because we were the ones who distributed the food, they thought we must have more.”
…Seriously…
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and said, “So, people gathered around you, the men held them back, and you came to us?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I nodded. “Let’s hurry. If they’re being attacked, we need to go and save them.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Tsk…
I didn’t have any obligation or reason to save these people.
I cleared out the supermarket for our boarding house residents while I was leveling up, honestly, I didn’t care who took the supplies.
I could just use Accelerate, barge into any store, stab some heads, and grab whatever I wanted from the refrigerator.
But these people were different.
Purely, with good intentions and altruism, they gave food to the people trapped in their homes and brought them outside to see the sunlight.
Gathering and burning over fifty bodies with six people, it sounded simple, but it must have been incredibly difficult.
Those bodies must have weighed at least 2.5 tons.
They must have been completely exhausted.
If they were only doing it for themselves, they wouldn’t have bothered collecting the bodies or distributing food, they could have just shared with our boarding house and me, and it would have been much easier.
But they did all that for others, and this was the result.
Seriously, shit.
This was just disgusting.
I didn’t know what I would do to those people, but I needed to see their faces.
We passed the parking lot, and the squid shop came into view.
And then I saw three people lying on the ground.
The inline skating club men.
…They were beaten up badly.
“Tae-young!”
“Oppa!”
The inline skating women rushed towards the men and embraced them.
Some were crying.
I looked around.
…An elderly woman, looking completely drained, was huddled in a corner.
I approached her and asked, “Where did everyone go? You said they were gathered here.”
The elderly woman looked up at me with a lifeless expression.
Not lifeless.
I’d seen that look before.
She witnessed those men being beaten up.
She was in shock.
The elderly woman said, “…The milk store… or something… they all went there.”
…Tsk.
They must have gone there thinking there might be something left.
They would come back to the supermarket once they realized there was nothing there.
I turned to the women and Hoon and said, “Take them back to the boarding house. Put them in the rooftop room, and I’ve brought back a lot of medicine, so treat their injuries first.”
“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 were beaten up really badly.
“Tsk.”
Jung Eun-seo gritted her teeth and said, “How could they do this? How?!”
“Unnie, let’s go. Okay?”
One of the other women said, and Jung Eun-seo closed her eyes tightly, then helped the men up.
The men’s inline skates were also broken.
The women diligently collected the broken wheels and parts, then supported the men as they walked.
“We’ll go ahead.”
I nodded and waved.
Then I said to the elderly woman, “…Why are you here?”
The elderly woman blinked a few times, then took a deep breath. “Oh… I’m done… now… just…”
She slowly stood up.
“My children… they all went down to the countryside… and I’m… out of kimchi…”
She took a few steps, then bent over.
Ugh, ugh, she vomited.
…This was driving me crazy.
I put my hand on my waist and looked up at the sky.
I sighed.
I went over to the elderly woman and took her arm.
“…Let’s go.”
If I left her here, she would commit suicide.
I couldn’t be sure, but it was a gut feeling.
“…Huh? Where… I should go home…”
“Just come with me.”
I pulled her along.
The elderly woman, too weak to resist, stumbled, then started following me.
…This was bleak.
The people who went to the milk store must have seen this elderly woman huddled there, lifeless.
But they left her.
They didn’t care if someone died or committed suicide next to them.
In extreme situations, people prioritized their own survival, so I understood.
But…
…I was starting to get angry…
…this was irritating…
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Thanks Xrecker!