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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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As I unscrewed the shelves, I wondered if I could use the box cutter as a weapon.
…That thought vanished ten seconds later.
The blade snapped.
Damn it.
This would barely scratch the skin.
I needed to destroy their heads, not poke at them with a broken box cutter.
I took the boxes off the shelves and continued unscrewing, racking my brain.
Think.
Think.
This metal pipe appeared to be stainless steel or something similar. In other words, it was light. Not a solid, heavy pipe. So how should I attack with it?
Should I swing it at their heads? It was light. What if it turned out even less effective than the baton? Would I be able to inflict a fatal blow with this? The more screws I removed, the less confident I felt about this metal pipe.
…No.
There was a way.
Not swinging, but thrusting.
Use it like a spear.
This pipe was about 1.5 meters long.
A decent length. If I thrust it properly, it probably wouldn’t bend or break.
I couldn’t use the baton as a spear; if I thrust it wrong, it would just collapse. It was only good as a bludgeon.
Right.
I’d make a spear.
With this.
I finished unscrewing the shelf.
“Hoo…”
The shelf was half disassembled. I only needed one pipe. No need to take it completely apart.
I picked up the pipe and looked it over.
…Ah…
This was going to be tricky.
If my hands were sweaty, it could slip. It had a powder coating, but I needed to be prepared. I should wrap something around it…
“…Hmm.”
I immediately took off my belt.
I used the box cutter to widen the buckle holes.
Damn, this was tough.
I cut a little at the front and back, widening the holes enough to fit the screws.
I placed the belt against the pipe, inserted the screws through the holes, and tightened them. I wrapped the belt tightly around the pipe, securing the other end with more screws.
…A belt handle.
Made of cowhide, it fit snugly in my hand. The wide spacing of the screw holes turned half a meter of the 1.5-meter pipe into a handle, but still…
It was better than nothing.
The belt seemed securely fastened.
Now…
I needed to sharpen the tip of this spear…
Ideally, I’d sharpen the metal into a point, like a bamboo spear, but I didn’t have the tools or the time.
…Should I step on it?
No.
Unless the soles of my shoes were made of metal, stomping on it with my sneakers wouldn’t do anything.
Ah, damn it.
It was just a convenience store storage room.
There weren’t any proper tools here.
This was all I had.
I put the boxes back on the shelves, sat down, and leaned against the wall.
“…Ha… Status…”
…I needed to wait for my stats to recover. Using this as a spear was a good idea, but with only 3 Spirit, I couldn’t afford to be reckless. I needed to conserve Accelerate.
I held the spear and leaned my head against the wall.
“…I’m Han Sung-hoon. What are your names?”
The girl in casual clothes looked at me, her voice still hoarse.
“Kim Ye-eun… and this is Kim So-eun. My younger sister.”
Ye-eun and So-eun.
I see.
I nodded and glanced at my status screen. How long would it take for my Spirit to reach 5? I hadn’t had time to check after waking up. I didn’t even know how long I’d slept.
I glanced at the girls.
Ye-eun had long, straight hair tied back in a ponytail.
So-eun had short hair. I hadn’t gotten a good look at So-eun’s face yet, so I couldn’t tell if they looked alike, but Ye-eun was quite pretty. Her figure wasn’t bad either—not that I was staring. Better than being unattractive, I supposed. But more importantly, I needed them to not be liabilities.
“Please, listen carefully to what I’m about to say. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“About getting out of here…”
Ye-eun looked at me.
So-eun flinched.
“I’m going to stab those things to death with this.”
I tapped my forehead with the spear. They probably understood what I meant.
Ye-eun’s face paled.
I spoke softly, “This isn’t the time to be squeamish. Surviving is what matters. You saw what those things did to other people.”
I looked at each of them in turn. Only Ye-eun’s face was visible.
“We’ll rest a bit longer, then we’ll go. When we do, don’t scream, and help me if you can.”
Ye-eun’s voice trembled slightly.
“H… How… How can we help…?”
I glanced at the door, trying to remember. How many were there? How many had swarmed inside? I recalled at least four. There could have been more.
“Hoo…”
I nodded and looked at Ye-eun.
“…When I open the door, they’ll probably try to rush in. After I stab them, we need to close the door again.”
It would be best if I could handle it myself, without relying on these girls.
“I’ll try to do it on my own, but if I need help, I’ll need you to help me close the door. Can you do that?”
Ye-eun’s head drooped further, her face filled with fear. She didn’t answer. So-eun didn’t move either.
Ah… damn it.
I wished there was at least one guy here who knew how to throw a punch.
If we could work together, with Accelerate, I could probably take on four of them.
But no, I had to be stuck with girls. Sigh…
I shouldn’t expect anything from them.
I’d said my piece. If they helped, great. If not, I’d handle it myself.
Damn it.
“I’m going to rest.”
I set down my bag, I used it as a pillow and laid down. I figured I could recover a bit in an hour or two.
It took four hours for my Spirit to reach 5. I’d had plenty of time to study my status screen after waking up. And I’d figured out how the recovery worked. 10 percent per hour. HP recovered by 10 percent, and the other stats recovered based on HP. Since my max HP was 6, I recovered 0.6 HP per hour. And once my HP exceeded 4, 1 HP would be consumed to restore 1 point to each of the other stats.
It would take ten hours to fully recover my HP from zero. And at least fifteen hours to fully recover all my stats.
…Damn it.
I needed plenty of rest. Leveling up to improve my recovery rate was essential. Spirit took priority—it would increase the number of times I could use Accelerate. After that, I’d focus on HP.
I wasn’t sure what Strength and Perception affected. They seemed to decrease alongside HP when I pushed myself, but their exact purpose remained unclear.
I sat up. The girls stirred and looked up as I moved. They’d been dozing too.
They could actually sleep in this situation.
“Hoo…”
As I got up, Ye-eun looked at me and asked, “…Are you going to do it?”
“I have to.”
I placed the baton on a nearby shelf. It was bent, so it wouldn’t collapse anymore. I had to leave it as it was.
I gripped the spear in my right hand and reached for the door handle. I left the shelves I’d piled against the door in place. I’d only open it enough to thrust the spear through.
Ah… shit, I was nervous.
“…Opening.”
I heard Ye-eun gulp. I slowly moved my hand down to the lock. And turned it.
…Click.
…Silence.
My heart pounded in my chest. If anything went wrong, we were all dead.
“…Hoo…”
I carefully turned the handle. It was well-maintained; it didn’t make a sound. Good job, convenience store owner.
I slowly opened the door a crack.
I could see inside the convenience store. The triangular kimbap display, the rows of coffee and hot bars, the refrigerators beyond the shelves.
But there were no beasts.
Where had they gone?
I looked down.
“…!”
The bastards were lying on the floor. I couldn’t tell if they were lying face down or sprawled out.
Why were they like that?
…It was too dangerous to go out and check.
What should I do?
My vision sharpened. My heart pounded. The extraneous thoughts vanished from my mind.
I licked my lips. And then, I whistled.
Tweet!
“Grrrr!”
With a growl, the figures on the floor sprang to their feet. They jerked their heads from side to side.
A college student in a checkered shirt, a salaryman in a suit, a young guy in jeans, and a high school student.
Four of them.
All men.
They seemed to have been trying to locate the source of the sound. They hadn’t spotted me yet. With the door only slightly ajar, that made sense.
Just watching them wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
I whistled again.
Tweet!
“Grrr!”
The four human beasts turned their heads towards the sound. Damn, their faces were grotesque. Chunks of flesh missing from their necks, shirts torn, noses and cheeks ripped open…
“Graaagh! Graaagh!”
They charged!
Shit, Accelerate!
Now!
[Auto-cast: Accelerate]
“Groaa—aa—aa—”
The one in the checkered shirt leaped onto the counter, the salaryman in the suit scrambled over it, the one in jeans slammed into the wall, and the high school student was about to lunge into the storage room…
…when time seemed to stop. No, their movements slowed to a crawl.
Again.
This sensation again!
Time always seemed to stop at the same distance!
I raised the spear and aimed for the high school student’s head.
Sorry, not sorry, you bastard!
“Hyaah!”
I thrust the spear into his forehead with all my might.
Crack!
Shit!
It wasn’t going in!
He wouldn’t die like this!
I pulled the spear back and thrust again with all my strength.
“Haagh!”
Thud!
A sickening sensation traveled up the spear and into my hand.
The spear pierced the high school student’s head.
His eyeballs bulged.
This was horrifying!
I yanked the spear out.
“—aa—aa—aagh!”
Accelerate wore off!
I immediately slammed the door shut.
Bang!
The force of closing the door colliding with the force of the beasts slamming into it created a deafening roar. Screams and cries erupted. I quickly locked the door.
Click!
“Graaagh! Groaagh!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Huff… huff… huff!”
Shit!
I stumbled back, still holding the spear. M… My heart felt like it would explode. This was the first time I had killed someone with the intent to kill.
“Huff… huff… huff!”
So-eun was crying. Ye-eun was trying to comfort her. My spear was coated in blood and hair, and I felt sick to my stomach.
I had just killed someone.
My jaw trembled.
“Graaagh! Graaagh!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door rattled violently.
“Hoo… hoo… hoo…”
No.
That wasn’t a person.
Killing it was the right thing to do.
I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath.
[Level Up.]
A message appeared.
I closed my mouth, gritted my teeth, and took another deep breath.
I would kill them all.
From now on, I would keep killing them.
I would kill every last one of them.
The apocalypse?
Fuck that.
I wasn’t going to die.
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