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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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1:00 AM.
Accelerate was fully recharged.
I left the office.
I could see the children’s bodies.
…Right.
I left the calligraphy academy and walked towards the cooking academy, the low growls a constant background noise.
I didn’t know how many were inside.
The door was wooden.Unusual. Weren’t they usually glass?
Maybe because it was an academy.
I crouched down in front of the door and drew a sword.
Shing—
I carefully turned the doorknob, opened the door slightly, and peeked inside.
I could see the cooking stations in the distance, and next to the entrance, a small office enclosed by glass walls and a glass door.
The office was clearly visible.
Empty.
But the cooking stations weren’t.
Young men and women in chef’s whites and toques, their white uniforms stained with blood, created a chilling tableau.
Some were standing, others lying on the floor.
At least twenty of them, at a glance.
There was another door next to the cooking stations, probably a storage room.
I slowly opened the door.
They didn’t notice, even when it was fully open.
…Perfect.
I stood up and took a deep breath.
“…Hoo… haa…”
I stepped inside and yelled, “Kimchi fried rice!”
…I didn’t know, damn it. My mind was blank.
“Grrrr?!”
The cooking students’ heads snapped towards me, their faces twisting instantly into snarls.
“Graaagh! Gyaaagh!”
The human beasts in white charged towards me.
They were coming!
They were coming!
I smiled.
“Extra egg drop soup!”
Accelerate!
[Auto-cast: Accelerate]
“Hah!”
Thwack!
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Seven Accelerate charges.
Twenty-two human beasts killed.
[Leveled up 3 times.]
Oh, three levels?
I must have killed a number ending in eight or nine.
Still…
“…That’s a shame.”
Thirty would have been nice.
I had increased my Strength too. Damn it.
That brought my total to four levels, including the ten from the calligraphy academy.
I clicked my tongue in disappointment, then the storage room caught my eye.
…There might be more inside.
I walked over to the storage room and tried the door.
Five Accelerate charges left.
No matter how many were inside, there couldn’t be twenty crammed into a small storage room like this.
“Hoo… haa…”
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Click.
…?
It was locked?
“…What?”
I pressed my ear against the door. I thought I heard something.
I tried the door again, but it wouldn’t open.
Click, click.
“…Should I stab it with my sword?”
…No.
It was a metal door.
I could have pierced a wooden door, but not this.
Maybe there was refrigeration inside.
“Ah, the key must be in the office.”
As I turned around, I heard a crashing sound from inside the storage room.
“…?”
…What was that?
…A sudden sense of foreboding washed over me.
No way…
Damn it, no way.
I sighed and said,
“…Is there anyone in there?”
No response.
I knocked on the door.
“Hey! Can you hear me? Is there anyone inside?”
There was definitely something in there. I could hear sounds.
A rat?
Or a cat?
…Or a person.
I sighed.
“It’s safe outside. Come out.”
I waited, but there was no response, so I said again,
“The key is in the office, right? I can open this door. Come out. I’m the only one out here.”
I heard rustling sounds, then a click.
And the door slowly opened.
I took a step back.
The smell!
The stench of feces, mixed with the cold air from inside,
hit me like a wall, making me gag.
A man emerged.
I covered my nose with my arm and stepped back again.
Ah, shit.
He was wearing chef’s whites, his face pale and gaunt, his hair greasy and matted.
Barely twenty, maybe? His face looked incredibly young.
He was short and chubby.
He definitely shouldn’t be wearing chef’s whites in this state…
“A-Are there… are there any of them out there…?”
“No. None,” I replied.
He glanced at me, flinched, and stepped back.
Seriously?
He must have been scared because I was covered in blood.
“Th-The b-blood…”
“It’s not mine.”
“R-Really…?”
“Yeah, I said it’s not mine,” I said, coughing and taking another step back.
“Damn it, either come out or get back inside and close the door! The smell…”
This idiot…
he must have hidden in here
when the apocalypse started.
He’d been trapped inside for almost two weeks,
shitting himself.
He must have had plenty of food in the storage room,
but… seriously…
The kid in chef’s whites cautiously stepped out and closed the door.
It was a disaster.
Even with the door closed, the stench was overwhelming;it must have permeated his clothes.
I coughed again.
“Ugh, damn it… this is rich, coming from me, covered in blood, but that smell is awful. You actually survived in there.”
The kid didn’t respond;he just kept glancing at me, checking for injuries,
then flinched as he saw the bodies piled up near the entrance.
“A-Are th-they… d-dead? Dead…?”
…Seriously?
“They’re dead. All of them. I cleanly stabbed them in the head. They’re not getting up, so don’t worry.”
“Gasp… huh… ha…”
He collapsed to the floor.
…Tsk.
I clicked my tongue.
“Why are you so scared of corpses? How old are you?”
“…S-Seventeen… seventeen…”
…He wasn’t just baby-faced;
he was actually a kid.
I wiped my sword and sheathed it.
Shing—click.
“Eek!”
Even the sound of the sword made him flinch.
“…Ha…”
What should I do? Just leave him here?
Then the kid said,
“P-Please… h-help me… I… I want to go home… sob…”
“…………”
This was driving me crazy.
I scratched my head.
“Your home is gone. The world has ended.”
The kid’s eyes welled up, tears streaming down his face as he looked up at me.
He was suddenly homeless.
Judging by his expression, he must have already suspected it.
Anyone with any sense would know, except for maybe a clueless child who didn’t even know what the apocalypse was.
The kid continued to stare at me,tears streaming down his dirty face. He looked pathetic, his chubby face streaked with grime, a few wispy hairs sprouting on his chin.
Seriously…
“I… I… sob… what… what am I supposed to do now… sob…”
“How would I know?”
I had let him out; that was enough.
He would have died in that stench-filled room, so this was an improvement.
Whatever, damn it. I’d just go. I turned to leave, and the kid called out to me desperately,
“W-Wait… m-mister… hyeong… p-please…
please help me… please… sob…”
“…Seriously…?”
Damn it.
I turned around.
The chubby kid was crying, reeking of feces.
This was excruciating.
“…Ha…”
I looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
…He must have taken that as permission.
“Sob… sniffle… h-hyeong…”
He stood up awkwardly
and shuffled towards me.
…Ah…
I had picked up another stray. Damn it…
I looked down at the kid in chef’s whites, a feeling of exasperation washing over me.
He was short too, barely 160cm, maybe.
Ah…
I wished this kid would just curse at me.Then I could stab him in the head with a clear conscience.
…This was annoying.
Wasn’t I supposed to be a killer, not UNICEF, saving every stray I came across?
Ah… damn it.
I felt a surge of exasperation.
I looked up at the ceiling, sighed deeply, and said, “Stay back. You smell.”
“Sob… sniffle… waah…”
The stench took a step back.
He was obedient, at least.
Damn it! Why was he being obedient?!
Why?!
Curse at me, damn it! Give me a reason to stab you!
“…Ah…”
I put my hands on my hips
and hung my head.
“…Ha…”
…I really didn’t want to take this… stench… with me…
He was quiet and obedient; I couldn’t just stab him…
I rubbed my forehead.
If I took him with me… to that house across the street… then…
…wait a minute.
I had to use Accelerate to get past the first floor.
Stinky wouldn’t make it.
…Did I have to cover him?
…This was crazy…
“…Ha…”
I sighed deeply and thought about it.
Five Accelerate charges.
Enough to cover him,
but my Strength was low.
8 left.
I couldn’t afford to hesitate because of low Strength.
It was past 1:00 AM.
…I’d have to go in the morning. I nodded and looked at Stinky.
He flinched, startled.
I was just looking at you, damn it. Ah… calm down.
I took a deep breath, coughed because of the smell, and said, “It’s late. We’ll go in the morning.”
“Sniffle… sniffle… y-yes, hyeong… sniffle…!”
…Who was your “hyeong”?
I suppressed my exasperation and pointed at the office.
“Rest there.I’ll be in the calligraphy academy across the hall. See you in the morning.”
I didn’t want to be in the same room
as this kid.
“Sob… sniffle… h-hyeong… c-can I… can I stay with you…”
I don’t want to be near you. You reek.
I pointed at the office again, suppressing the urge to curse.
“I said, stay there.”
“Sob… sniffle… waah…”
I didn’t even want to tell him to stop crying.
I just left the cooking academy.
And then I thought about it.
It was a large building.
There were probably quite a few survivors inside. But…
why had I saved this kid?
…What if I hadn’t opened that storage room door?
…Why had I opened it?
…Had some unknown cosmic force
compelled me to open it?
If that was the case…
wasn’t this kid my responsibility?
Hmm…
Something to ponder…
I returned to the calligraphy academy, thinking about it,and collapsed into the director’s chair.
“This is my life now, damn it.”
Ugh.
And morning.
Just past 9:00 AM.
I had finished my emergency rations,
and my stats were fully recharged.
This was crazy.
I could clear the upper floors with these stats.
Stinky… damn it, I had to take him with me.
“…Ha…”
…Let’s go.
I stood up and went into the cooking academy.
“Snore… snort… wheeze…”
…Seriously?
Stinky was snoring on the office floor.
I nudged him with my foot.
Ah, the smell. Why had he closed the office door?
I covered my nose and mouth and nudged him again, and he flinched and woke up, blinking at me.
I said, “It’s morning. Let’s go.”
“Huh…?”
His sleepy, disoriented expression gradually sharpened as awareness returned, then his grimy face tensed.
“Y-Yes, hyeong.”
…He hadn’t even washed his face. Not that I could talk; I hadn’t either.
But I hadn’t washed my face because I knew I’d get covered in blood again
while getting this kid out.
Couldn’t he at least wash up?
Sigh…
I went downstairs, a feeling of exasperation weighing on me.
I wasn’t empty-handed.
I was carrying a chair I had taken from the director’s office.
There was no way I could get Stinky out of here without using this as a distraction.
Damn it, this thing was heavy.
“Hoo…”
Stinky was shuffling slowly behind me.
I said, “Hey, grab the chair legs. What are you doing?”
“Yes, hyeong,” he replied, awkwardly grabbing the chair legs and lifting them.
That was better.
Sigh…
“Let’s go.”
We went downstairs, taking breaks along the way.
We couldn’t risk making any loud noises.
And I gave him instructions.
“When I say run, you run. If you fall or freeze up, I’m leaving you behind. You’ll be caught and killed.”
I shook my head emphatically.
“I’m telling you now, I’m not coming back for you. When I say run, you run with everything you’ve got. Got it?”
Stinky nodded vigorously.
“Yes, hyeong.”
He was good at answering, at least.
And the second-floor landing.
Stinky stood next to me, his face tense.
I pulled him closer and pointed at the shattered glass wall.
Stinky nodded.
I said,
“Run.”
“Haa!”
Stinky scrambled down the stairs.
“Grrrr?!”
Growls.
I threw the chair with all my might.
It flipped end over end in the air.
The charging human beasts
collided with it.
Crash!
Something shattered, and the ones in front tumbled over, followed by the ones behind them, unable to stop their momentum.
I immediately ran down the stairs and out of the supermarket.
Stinky was running, but damn it, he was slow!
Get some exercise!
“Gyaaagh! Graaagh!”
“Waaah! Huff… huff… waaaah!”
I could hear them struggling behind me, but we were already almost twenty meters away.
I heard rapid footsteps behind us.
I yelled, “Keep running! Don’t look back!
See that convenience store up ahead? Run to there!”
“Huff… huff… yes, hyeong! Huff…!”
“Gyaaagh! Graaagh!”
…They were here.
Accelerate.
[Auto-cast: Accelerate]
I stopped.
Tap—
I immediately drew my swords.
Shing—
I turned around.
One meter ahead!
“Hah!”
Thwack! Thwack!
I stabbed two heads and turned to run again.
“—Aa—raagh!”
Thud! Thump!
Tap!
The belated sound of my footsteps and the bodies collapsing.
Stinky hadn’t even moved yet—
the effect of Accelerate.
The moment it wore off, we ran.
Stinky started to look back as he heard the sounds of bodies collapsing behind us.
I yelled,
“Look ahead! Run!”
“Yes, hyeong!”
Something thudded behind us. They had tripped over the bodies I had just killed.
Their path had been blocked twice now.
We had put quite a distance between us.
The convenience store.
We turned the corner and ran back to the boarding house.
Slam!
I closed the door, and we both gasped for air.
Damn it.
This was annoying. I was out of breath, and the stench of Stinky was overwhelming.
This was crazy.
I could hear distant growls.
We had lost them.
“Ha… hoo… wait here.”
“Huff… wheeze… yes, hyeong… huff…”
I opened the gate and stepped outside.
I could hear growls
coming from different directions.
They were wandering around.
Just like at the hair salon.
They couldn’t see me if I was too far away.
“…Hoo…”
I walked towards the convenience store alley.
Five or six human beasts were roaming around
the hypermarket entrance and sidewalk.
They didn’t know I was here.
…Hmm…
The more I experienced this, the more I learned about them, and the easier it became to deal with them.
I turned my head and looked across the street.
…Small figures were moving in the distance.
People.
I walked closer…
…The Cockroaches.
What were they doing?
I climbed onto a car and looked towards the convenience store.
…They were raiding the convenience store.
…Oh dear.
They’d been caught.
Oh.
Someone was being bitten.
Several of them were attacking the person who had been bitten, hitting him with something that looked like a club.
He quickly went limp.
They were staring at the bitten man.
He was bleeding, stumbling backward, shaking his head violently. He seemed to be saying something.
…Ah.
They were beating him now.
…Savagely.
He must be dead…
…They were desperate too…
I watched them, then scoffed and climbed down from the car.
What the Cockroaches did wasn’t my concern.
Time to go back.
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