—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
10 p.m.
My Spirit recovered to 60.
Damn it, that was long.
So long!
15 hours to fully recover.
Without the Recovery skill, it would have taken 20 hours.
Recovery shaved off 5 hours, but it was still too long.
Damn it, I needed to raise my Health to increase the recovery rate.
I got up, put on my underwear and clothes, and Soo-hyun, perhaps awakened by the sound, rubbed her eyes and sat up.
“Mmm… oppa… where are you going?”
Soo-hyun was naked.
The way she sat up groggily, breasts exposed, was quite…
…cute.
I chuckled, pushed Soo-hyun back down, and took her nipple in my mouth.
Soo-hyun moaned.
“…Ah…”
I swirled my tongue around it for a bit, then pulled away and said, “I’ll be back soon, so go back to sleep.”
Soo-hyun looked at me with sleepy eyes and buried her face in the pillow. “Mmm… be careful… okay…?”
“Okay.”
I put on the lifting belt and left the house.
So…
The supermarket, the house, and I had to finish clearing out the places I’d already started, right?
I walked towards the convenience store.
The streetlights still cast a warm, yellow glow on the road.
Two weeks since the apocalypse started… was it?
It felt like both a short and a long time, so much had happened.
And yet, the streetlights were still shining.
…Would the power go out?
When would it happen?
…A life without electricity…
I’d never imagined such a thing.
I crossed the road, looking at the streetlights.
I couldn’t hear any more growls from the residential complex’s underground parking lot.
They were gathered deep inside.
I walked down the ramp to the underground parking lot, stepping over the scattered bodies.
Rrrr- rrrr-
Faint growls echoed.
Probably amplified by the echo.
They were further inside.
I drew my sword.
Shing-
Maintenance Gloves, the grip was amazing.
I slowly walked through the underground area and arrived at the parking lot.
Pillars stood at regular intervals, and lights illuminated the interior.
I took a deep breath.
“Never gonna give you up~ Never gonna let you down~”
“Grrr?!”
Heads popped up from between the parked cars.
I smiled.
“Come on.”
“Kraaagh!”
They swarmed towards me.
Like a colony of ants that had found food, they came from all directions.
They were coming, coming!
Accelerate!
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
I drew both swords.
Whoosh-
The sound of cutting through the air echoed slowly.
I took a step to the side and thrust with all my might.
“Ha!”
Crack!
“Hoo.”
I lightly swung the swords in the air.
The blood and other debris that clung to them scattered, and the swords became as good as new.
One of the functions of the Maintenance Gloves was to keep the weapons in optimal condition, so there was no need to wipe off the blood.
One swing, and they were clean.
Perfect.
[Leveled up 2 times.]
Bodies littered the ground.
22 of them.
I used 7 Accelerate charges.
Since my left hand was becoming more adept, I seemed to be using fewer charges.
That was good.
“Status.”
My current Health was 38.
I gained 2 points, so I’d raise it to 40.
I put 2 points into Health and left the parking lot.
Health recovery tick: 48 minutes.
Stat recovery tick: 14 minutes.
Slowly but surely, it was decreasing.
As I walked out of the underground parking lot, I thought,
Should I keep raising Health?
Or should I reinforce Strength and Spirit?
…Health was the most important for now.
I needed to level up, and there was a new survivor group. To prepare for any unexpected situations, it was better to recover my stats quickly.
I needed to get Health to at least 60 or 70 to comfortably do two raids a day and be prepared for anything.
But…
Raising Strength by 3 to reach 30 would guarantee at least 3 levels per raid.
…Right.
Let’s go with 3 Strength.
I had 5 Accelerate charges left.
Should I secure that house now?
Kyaaaaagh-
A woman’s scream echoed in the distance.
I didn’t even react anymore, it happened almost every hour.
People were still risking their lives for a pack of ramen.
And I was massacring.
I chuckled and walked past the convenience store towards the single-family house across from the boarding house.
Grrrr… grrrr…
…Hmm.
I could hear them.
The layout should be similar to the boarding house.
The gate was slightly ajar.
Did someone run out when it happened?
I sheathed one sword and held the other in my right hand as I gently opened the gate.
The growls were definitely louder now.
The first floor…
…both houses seemed empty.
I couldn’t hear anything.
No response when I knocked.
The apocalypse started during the day.
They were probably away at work or school.
Then, the second floor.
I went up the stairs.
The growls grew louder with each step.
…Would the door be open?
Click, click.
…It was locked.
…What now?
The light was on in the main room.
…Hmm…
The window behind the bars was closed.
…Was the window locked too?
I slipped the sword through the bars and gently pushed the window.
The sword went in.
And the window opened slightly.
Oh.
The window was unlocked.
I shifted my position, grabbed the window frame, and slid it open.
Creak!
A face lunged at me.
“Kraaagh!”
An elderly man.
Half of his face was torn off, and dried blood caked the wound.
His facial muscles dangled loosely.
“Kyaaagh! Kraaagh!”
…Were there any more?
The door to the room was wide open.
Thump, thump, thump!
Hurried footsteps.
“Haaaagh! Kraaagh!”
An elderly woman.
She rushed into the room, grabbed the old man’s head,
and pushed her face against the window.
Thump! Her face hit the bars.
Her nose broke and bent instantly.
No blood.
“Kraaagh! Kyaaagh!”
…Hmm.
Just an elderly couple, it seemed.
Accelerate.
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
“Kra-a—a—–”
The two elderly faces, trying to squeeze through the bars.
Teeth bared, reaching for me.
I raised the sword and stabbed.
Crack, crack!
“–A-kuh!”
The elderly couple’s chins hit the window frame as they slumped to the side and then onto the floor.
Blood splattered onto my cheek.
I wiped it off with the back of my hand and stood there, listening.
Any sounds?
Any growls?
Were there any more nearby?
…Silence.
…Done.
I didn’t know how to pick locks.
I had no choice but to ask Soo-hyun.
24 kills tonight in total.
…Let’s go back.
I returned to the rooftop room, showered, and lay down next to Soo-hyun. She seemed a bit grumpy, probably because she couldn’t sleep properly with me going in and out and showering all the time.
Hmm.
This was my routine, what could I do?
Soo-hyun had her own routine.
Being together was nice, but this was the downside.
If we kept sharing a room, she wouldn’t be able to sleep properly, so it was better to have separate rooms.
I’d talk to her tomorrow morning and move her to that empty house.
My Spirit was currently at 20.
It would be fully recovered by morning.
From tomorrow, it was hypermarket raid time.
Morning.
6 a.m., the sun was just beginning to rise.
I got up, got dressed, and went outside.
I thought about waking Soo-hyun up and playing with her for a bit, but I didn’t want to bother her while she was sleeping.
The raid was more urgent.
I needed to level up quickly.
To the right of the convenience store street.
Past the Korean medicine clinic, past the rice cake shop.
And now the empty clothing store.
One block next to the clothing store, across the street, the hypermarket.
Bodies were scattered along the street leading to the hypermarket.
The bodies I killed.
The ones I killed while running away after provoking them at the hypermarket entrance.
The smell of rotting corpses, shit.
I sat down behind the clothing store’s temporary sign and looked at the hypermarket.
One of the glass walls near the side entrance was shattered.
…Wait a minute.
Why were there so many human figures?
There were about ten at the entrance when I came to the hypermarket last time.
I drew almost all of them out and killed them.
There were almost twenty milling around the entrance now.
Including the ones lying on the ground, there might be close to thirty.
There couldn’t be that many at the entrance.
Those things had a strange homing instinct; even after being provoked, they would return to their original positions if they couldn’t find their target.
Why?
Why were there so many?
I looked around.
Everything was the same.
Quiet and still.
…They didn’t come from anywhere else.
I looked up and carefully examined the building.
Supermarket signs and banners were plastered all over the first three floors. Right, those were the supermarket floors.
4th floor, signs for the kendo dojo and Pilates center.
5th floor, karaoke, DVD room…
DVD room… nice…
A quick break with a girl…
…ahem.
6th floor, PC room.
It seemed to occupy the entire floor, there were no other signs.
7th floor, cooking academy, calligraphy academy.
8th floor, hair salon, comic book cafe.
That looked like a brand name hair salon.
I’d never been to one, so I didn’t know, but the sign was different from the local hair salon.
9th and 10th floors… no signs.
…Wait a minute.
…9th and 10th floors…
Were those residential floors?
…Seriously…?
I looked down at the hypermarket entrance.
At least twenty, just from what I could see.
…Residential floors above, and the number of human beasts at the supermarket entrance had increased.
That meant the ones living upstairs came down and were bitten.
That was the only possible explanation.
…This was crazy.
I looked up at the building again.
Then, the supermarket…
I stood up, then stopped.
I sat back down.
Wait.
Should I clear out the supermarket first?
After I cleared out the mid-sized supermarket, people swarmed in and took everything.
We took the most, but still.
If I cleared out this supermarket first, other groups would notice and come scavenging.
…No good.
I looked up at the building.
It was quite large and tall for a 10-story building.
We had plenty of food at the house.
Enough for a month or two.
I’d clear the upper floors first and then take care of the supermarket entrance on moving day.
…Damn it, I would have to climb a lot of stairs.
It would be quite a workout.
I sighed deeply, stood up from behind the temporary sign, and walked towards the hypermarket.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
