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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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“Wait here.”
I said that in the middle of the road.
If this many people walked onto the empty sidewalk at once, even with their poor eyesight, the human beasts would notice.
I walked between the cars, reached the front of the hypermarket, and told everyone to wait.
I could hear them stop.
I looked back; they were all staring at me, motionless.
Most of them looked nervous.
Grandma, So-eun, and the new mother’s eyes and mouths drooped; they looked genuinely terrified.
Like they regretted coming.
Standing on a quiet road, blocked by cars, with no sound, could be quite frightening.
Especially with the bodies I’d killed lying across the street on the sidewalk.
“Come when I tell you to.”
They nodded.
I slowly stood up and looked around.
Just in case.
…Nothing.
No Cockroaches, no human beasts.
Just silence.
I drew my sword.
Shing-
“Gasp.”
Grandma let out a small sound, scared.
Ye-eun patted Grandma’s arm reassuringly.
She was also holding So-eun’s hand.
Ye-eun was having a hard time.
Tap, tap.
Soo-hyun patted my butt.
“Be careful. Come back safe.”
“Okay.”
I smiled, grabbed the headlight of a car, and walked forward.
I walked, and walked.
One step at a time.
And then I ran.
“Krew?!”
Heads whipped around from beyond the glass wall.
Clatter!
The sound of broken glass underfoot.
I ran up the stairs and leaped through the shattered glass wall.
“Kraaagh! Kyaaagh!”
They charged at me, scrambling over chairs and bodies.
“Uwagh!”
A gasp from afar.
Hoon, still a coward.
“Kraaagh!”
Their hands clawed at the air.
They were coming.
Accelerate.
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
I lunged forward.
Thump—
“Ha!”
Crack, crack!
I yanked the swords out and moved deeper inside.
And stabbed.
Crack, crack!
Blood droplets shimmered and rose.
I felt like I was weaving between strangely shaped mannequins.
The moment the world started moving, like a fast-forwarding video, Accelerate.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
No retreat, no stealth.
My mind was at ease, since I was here to annihilate them all.
Accelerate.
[Auto-casting: Accelerate]
Crack!
Stab, and pull out.
No looking back.
The ones with pierced heads were standing to my right, blood spurting from their foreheads and the backs of their heads, floating in mid-air.
The ones behind me slowly collapsed.
Crack, crack, crack!
Using Accelerate, I pierced the heads of all the human beasts blocking the supermarket entrance.
Crack!
“Ha!”
I pulled out the swords and looked around.
Were there any left?
No.
“–K-ruh!”
Thud! Crash!
The ones nearby collapsed all at once.
Blood splattered everywhere.
It landed on my face, my lips, my body.
I was drenched in blood.
[Leveled up 2 times.]
23 kills.
6 Accelerate charges used.
If I were faster, I could have done it with 5, but I wasn’t there yet.
I wished I could move faster.
It wasn’t a problem with Accelerate, but with my own proficiency.
I stood still and listened.
Just in case I missed any.
I could hear growls.
But not from nearby.
I had definitely cleared the entrance.
The hypermarket entrance was a large glass wall and door. But it was covered with standing signs and sale posters, making it difficult to see inside. I could only catch glimpses of the spacious interior and the stocked shelves between the posters.
And of course, the human beasts.
I wasn’t going there yet.
I turned around and swung the swords.
Whoosh!
Splat! Blood flew off and splattered against the wall.
“…”
Hmm…
Come to think of it, this place…
…used to be just a glass wall.
Heads were peeking from behind the cars.
The people in our group were staring at me, dumbfounded.
The looks in their eyes, except for Hoon and Jung Eun-seo…
I couldn’t describe it.
I’d never seen such expressions before.
I shrugged and walked out through the shattered glass door.
“You can come now.”
They stood up and walked towards me.
As I watched them approach, I sheathed my swords.
Shing-
One of the inline skating men, whose name I didn’t know, said, “How… how did you do that? That was incredible.”
Jung Eun-seo nudged him with her elbow. “That’s what I’ve been saying. There’s someone amazing here. Didn’t you see all those bodies inside the supermarket?”
“I never imagined anything like this.”
Anything like this?
Soo-hyun came up to me and held out her phone.
She must have been filming.
I could see myself.
Climbing the stairs.
Human beasts raising their hands, running towards me.
And then, I disappeared.
A blur, a flicker of movement as I stabbed, instantly piercing the heads of twenty-something beasts.
The ones charging at me, still at their original speed, collapsed, blood spurting from their heads.
…It looked like a sci-fi movie.
…So this was how I fought…
Soo-hyun stared at me, eyes wide.
“Oppa. How do you move like that? Are you really a Sword Master?”
The inline skating men also asked,
“You must have trained with a sword for a long time. What dan are you?”
“How much training does it take to do that?”
…Hmm…
I’d never trained with a sword.
But this, no matter how you looked at it, wasn’t a speed a human could achieve, and yet they didn’t question that.
Did they not consider the possibility of some kind of ability?
Well, even I wouldn’t believe it if someone said they had some special power.
They probably perceived it as an almost superhuman feat of skill, honed through extreme training.
I shrugged and said, “It’s not good to stay here. Let’s go upstairs.”
I turned and entered the supermarket.
Hmm.
The stairs…
Since I cleared out the entrance, we didn’t need to use the stairs.
I led everyone past the entrance to the elevators.
Two elevators.
Both stopped on the first floor.
Probably because the people who were upstairs came down.
“Let’s go to the top floor.”
We split into the two elevators and went up to the 10th floor.
Ding.
Everyone piled out.
I also got out and said, “First, put your things down, and then let’s split up. Hoon and the men, go back to the boarding house and bring the aluminum panels. The women, help Soo-hyun unlock the doors.”
They nodded.
Hmm.
Their eyes and actions showed complete trust and obedience.
I said to the men about to enter the elevator, “If anything happens, just drop everything and run. Come straight back here. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
This was the most vulnerable moment.
If the Cockroaches showed up at the boarding house now and caused trouble, those few men wouldn’t stand a chance.
The men nodded and entered the elevator.
…Hmm.
I gestured to the new mother and led her to the window.
“You can see the boarding house from here. Let me know immediately if anything happens.”
The new mother, who had been worried about her husband, looked at me and nodded vigorously.
“I’ll keep watch.”
I turned around and said, “Now, let’s unlock the doors.”
Soo-hyun was already holding the metal cutter.
She grinned mischievously.
The women followed Soo-hyun to the nearest apartment.
This seemed to be a floor of studio or one-bedroom apartments, judging by the row of doors.
Ding-dong-
She pressed the doorbell.
No response.
She pressed it again.
Still, no response.
Soo-hyun looked at me.
I nodded.
She nodded back and started dismantling the doorknob with the metal cutter.
I stood there, hand on my sword hilt, watching the door.
No response to the doorbell didn’t necessarily mean no one was home.
It only meant no one was home if no one was home.
If something suddenly attacked, these women would be helpless.
If anything came, I would kill it.
After about 5 minutes, the doorknob came off completely.
Soo-hyun used pliers to manipulate the lock mechanism, and it clicked open.
I grabbed the doorknob and nodded.
Soo-hyun opened the door.
The door opened silently.
The scent of someone else’s home wafted out.
A faint smell of perfume.
Or fabric softener.
It seemed like it belonged to a woman with a tidy personality.
A small pink carpet and a queen-sized bed were visible.
The room…
…was quite spacious.
15 pyeong? Or maybe larger.
I entered the apartment and checked the bathroom and balcony.
Then I turned around and said, “Come in. No one’s here.”
The women entered, relieved, and started looking around.
Their faces were bright.
But, who would use this apartment?
These women were looking around with happy expressions, but I had a feeling there would be a power struggle if they found an apartment they liked.
“Wow… this place gets a lot of sunlight.”
“Unnie, look. There’s a digital piano.”
…Definitely.
They were sizing each other up.
I chuckled and said, “This is just one apartment. We still need to check the rest of the floor.”
Soo-hyun, who had been looking around, heard me and went outside.
“Let’s go, unnie. So-eun.”
The second and third apartments were also empty.
And then the fourth.
The moment Soo-hyun opened the door, a familiar smell wafted out.
…The smell of a corpse.
I gripped my swords and looked inside.
…An elderly man.
…Did he die alone?
No.
…He committed suicide.
He had slit his wrists.
I hadn’t seen it because he was lying on his side.
It had been a while…
“…Hoo…”
I sighed and looked back at the women.
Ye-eun and So-eun’s faces were pale.
Soo-hyun also shook her head, as if she couldn’t bring herself to go inside.
Grandma 2 clicked her tongue sympathetically, but she was too frail to do anything.
She barely had any muscle…
…Tsk.
…I needed the men to move the body.
I nodded and said, “Let’s leave it for now and check the other apartments. We need to secure enough rooms for everyone.”
Soo-hyun nodded.
“Okay.”
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