The Apocalypse Has Been Downloaded – Chapter 16

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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“What day of the week is today?”

“Today is Thursday, February 3rd…”

“Damn it…”

It was already 3 PM. Since the sun would set by 6 PM, it was already too late to start anything else today.

But we had to move now.

Including today, which was about to end, there were only four days left: today, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The moment it became Monday, the zombies would form groups and start rampaging even more fiercely.

We had to make a move before that.

“The number of times we can still use our sprays is…”

“Oppa and Ha-rin have one left each.”

“Unnie Eun-ji has two.”

“Haa… This is dizzying…”

There seemed to be many other survivors in the apartment besides us… It seemed like they would all die starting next Monday. The same was true for us. We couldn’t plan for the future in this decrepit apartment.

The time for us to leave this place came too suddenly.

“Oppa…”

“Master. What do we do now?”

“Hmm… Just let me think for a moment. Come here, both of you. Don’t worry too much.”

“Yes…”

I hugged Eun-ji and Ha-rin, who were already frightened, and thought about the things that were about to happen.

The notice clearly stated that the zombies would move in groups, track down survivors, and attack more aggressively.

Clearly, the zombies had been a little too pathetic up until now. But that was all thanks to the zombie repellent. Starting from Monday, these crazy bastards would jump around and attack people. The zombies already moved well enough as they were, but after Monday, they would be doing parkour.

‘Haa… This is really troublesome…’

Zombies had never infiltrated the apartment yet. And I wasn’t really worried that we would be attacked by zombies. I believed that the sturdy front door could protect us for a long time.

Of course, I had seen many cases where special zombies broke down doors to enter houses, but I had never encountered a special zombie in this neighborhood yet. But I never thought that the balance patch would happen this quickly.

Starting Monday night, many normal zombies would turn into special zombies. Those guys would now search for hidden people and break down front doors. Moreover, it seemed like there were also individuals among them that could control other zombies… The special zombies that I had seen on the internet had the physique to easily smash apartment front doors. And high-rise buildings were never safe because human centipedes would climb up the walls.

This run-down, cheap apartment that didn’t have any safety devices was almost like a delicious lunch box from their point of view.

Should we find a bunker that a wealthy person had prepared beforehand?

It might be better to go to a place where a large number of survivors had gathered.

If the zombies were gathering and attacking in groups, it would be better for the Awakened to unite and fight together.

Or we could run away to an island…

‘Right, let’s take over the supermarket first…’

I would kill the guys who had taken over the supermarket, or make them slaves, and then I would establish a solid defense.

At least, there would be more than enough food to eat there, so we wouldn’t die of starvation.

‘It would have been good if this situation had happened after I had leveled up to at least 10…’

We had only reached level 5 now.

We had to face the outbreak of special zombies in this state where we hadn’t even properly used the skills that we had just learned.

If I hadn’t wasted the three days immediately after the apocalypse… Anyway, time was wasting away, and I had to start moving soon before it was too late.

“Since it’ll be difficult if we don’t have a weapon right now, I’m thinking of going to the hardware store first. What do you think?”

“Oppa, if we’re going there, then we have to go right now. Everyone who has read the notice must be panicking right now.”

“They’ll be trying to do something while they still can during the remaining time… I think it’s better to move right away.”

“Then, everyone get dressed. Let’s not use the spray right away, and let’s use it only when the situation is critical.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, Master.”

We had to save the spray as much as possible now. I didn’t know that the situation would turn out like this, and we had used them today as a result, but we could never know what would happen in the future. The guys who had already used up all of their zombie repellent were probably crying right now.

“Good. We’ve also packed our bags…”

“Master, did you put the patches on your shoulders?”

“Oppa, what about your wrist guards?”

“I did that too. I’m ready now…”

Eun-ji and Ha-rin were worried about my condition.

Honestly, I was a little tired, but I wasn’t so tired that I couldn’t do anything.

The one thing that was making me uneasy was my baseball bat… It was about to break, but I could still use it a few more times.

I just had to break through to the hardware store, so I had to hold out until then.

“I’m ready too.”

“Let’s go, Master.”

Eun-ji and Ha-rin each held a makeshift kitchen knife spear that they had hastily made again.

Even though they were wrapped tightly with tape, they weren’t reliable weapons.

If you stabbed a zombie a few times, the tape would loosen from getting soaked with blood, and the kitchen knife would dangle.

Still, it was better to have that than nothing right now.

“Let’s go.”

Clunk.

We went outside. Luckily, because we had killed all the zombies around here during the morning, there wasn’t a single zombie nearby.

“Huu…”

This was the first time we had gone out without using our spray repellent, so we moved forward with extreme tension.

“Uoooh…”

Then, we heard the eerie cry of a zombie from somewhere.

“Shit…”

Ha-rin frowned and looked around.

But there was no way she could find a zombie that didn’t have a heartbeat with her Heartbeat Tracking skill.

“Ha-rin, save your mana.”

“Yes, I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, let’s just keep going…”

My companions nodded and followed me.

I had told them to look sharp several times before we came out, so both of them didn’t let their guard down.

They were following me while carefully looking around in all directions, reacting sensitively to even the smallest of sounds.

Then, something jumped out from between the cars that were parked on the side of the road.

“Uooooh…!”

“Bastard…”

Whoong- Thwack!

“Uoo…!”

Thwack! Thwack!

A zombie suddenly jumped out from beside a car.

I was so surprised that I almost shouted, but I bit my lip tightly and beat the guy to death.

I glanced back and saw that Eun-ji had opened her eyes wide and gulped while Ha-rin’s hand that was holding the kitchen knife spear was trembling.

Both of them were still not used to this kind of situation, and they looked frightened. They would be fine once they got used to it.

Right, it was good that they didn’t scream.

“Huu…”

We walked along the sidewalk next to the road toward the hardware store.

Cars were parked everywhere on the road, and zombie corpses were scattered around. They seemed to be the ones that survivors other than us had taken care of. Or they might be sleeping.

I occasionally saw zombies that would shout at us from inside the cars. It seemed like they had become zombies without being able to undo their seatbelts. It wasn’t the time to kill them one by one, so we just left them alone as we passed by.

Zombies were walking around here and there, clicking their teeth or making meaningless cries.

We moved forward, lowering our bodies while in a state of extreme tension. No zombie had discovered us yet. I thought that we would get too tired if we were too tense, so I spoke to Eun-ji and Ha-rin to lighten up the mood.

“Huu… The hardware store is just a little further…”

Before I could continue speaking, something happened.

Whoong- Thud!!

Crash!!!

“Uup…!”

“Shit….”

Something fell on top of a car that was in the direction we were going.

At a glance, it looked like a person had fallen…

“…!”

What had fallen was a person who had just jumped off the roof of an apartment. It was a woman wearing a dress.

A woman…

She must have committed suicide because she couldn’t bear the reality that was coming… It was understandable enough.

She must have jumped because she was in despair.

Since the difficulty would increase rapidly next Monday, she must have decided that it was better to jump off the apartment than to be torn apart and killed by zombies.

“Damn it… Oppa… The zombies are gathering…”

Thanks to the fallen woman, the ceiling of the car had collapsed and was completely destroyed.

Also, the broken glass shards flew everywhere, hitting the car that was parked next to it and causing its car alarm to start ringing…

“Uooooh!!!!”

The zombies that had reacted to the loud noise all gathered around the car at once.

“Uooohhhh!!”

“Kiahhhh!!!”

“Uhahahahaha…”

It was impossible to go on like this. We had no solution if we attracted the aggro of that many zombies.

“Ma, Master…”

Ha-rin, who was very surprised, grabbed my sleeve. Judging by the fact that her eyes were slightly teary, she must have been very surprised.

She was even trembling with her eyes closed.

It was understandable that she was shocked because she had suddenly witnessed a person committing suicide in front of her.

“Both of you, come to your senses. You don’t want to die yet, right?”

“Yes…”

“Th, that’s right… We’re not going to die.”

Whether or not that woman couldn’t bear the future that was coming and committed suicide, we just had to continue on our path. We would break down mentally if we cared about every single thing.

“Let’s get out of here to that side.”

Thanks to the noise, the zombies that had been spread out widely were concentrated in one place.

We took that opportunity to quickly cross the street and walked quickly to a place where there were no zombies.

As we hurriedly passed by the scene, I glanced at it and saw the zombies pulling the corpse out of the car and eating it.

‘Ugh…’

The gushing blood. The exposed internal organs and torn limbs were visible in all their gory glory, without any mosaic.

Ha-rin also seemed to have seen it, and she gagged softly. Eun-ji had even covered her mouth.

I thought that I had become immune to such scenes after smashing zombie heads so many times.

But it seemed like I hadn’t become completely immune to it.

The rotting guts of zombies and the corpse of a person, with blood gushing out, looked completely different, after all.

“We’re here…”

After leaving the commotion behind, we finally arrived opposite the hardware store.

The shutter of the hardware store was half-torn. And around it, there were corpses of what seemed to be survivors. They seemed to have come all the way here while fighting zombies, judging by the way they were carrying their bags…

The total number of corpses was three. Two were adults, and one was a child who seemed to be in middle or high school. Could they have been a family?

“They’re all dead…”

“Oppa, are we going to search those people’s bags?”

“Of course. Do a check to make sure that they’re actually dead. If they suddenly get up and bite your leg, it’s over.”

“…Okay.”

“I understand…”

Eun-ji and Ha-rin nodded, having understood what I had just said.

We slowly approached the corpses, each of us holding our weapons.

I crushed the head of the dead child with my baseball bat. I thought that the other two might feel averse to crushing the head of a child, so I did the deed myself. Meanwhile, Eun-ji and Ha-rin stabbed the two adult corpses with their kitchen knife spears.

We roughly searched their bags after that.

“This man’s bag has clothes and… this, a jewelry box? Oppa, should we take this?”

“Oh. Take it, take it.”

Even if the cash was useless, the jewelry might be useful.

“Oh, Master. This woman’s bag has painkillers and first aid supplies. I’ll take them.”

“Good. Take the medicine too… It seems that we’ve roughly checked everything here, so let’s go in right away.”

“Yes!”

“Okay.”

We took the jewelry and the first aid supplies from the corpses. There wasn’t anything else worth taking besides those.

“Uoo…”

Inside the hardware store, there was the owner who had already turned into a zombie, and the corpse of what seemed to be his wife.

The female corpse was crushed in a corner like a smashed beer can, as if she had been hit by the Hulk.

“Ugh… crazy…”

“Shit… A person was… crushed…”

“Ma, Master… I think I’m going to throw up.”

“Hold it in.”

“Yes…”

The items inside were scattered around messily, but there weren’t any traces of looting.

Therefore, the fact that that woman was smashed so tragically meant that it wasn’t a human’s doing.

I thought that maybe something with overwhelming power had attacked this place, smashed everything, killed them, and then left.

Maybe the sound of the hardware store owner and the family we saw earlier fighting as the latter tried to take some tools here, had attracted a special zombie? The special zombie had annihilated all the survivors here, and the hardware store owner and his wife were also killed.

But a special zombie that could tear down a shutter like it was paper and had enough strength to turn a person into minced meat… Such a thought was chilling. It would be terrible if I ever encountered it.

“…May you receive the three blessings.”

Thwack! Whoong- Thwack!!

Crack!!

The baseball bat broke right when I crushed the zombie owner’s head.

“It broke exactly at the right time.”

I roughly threw the owner’s corpse outside the hardware store, and we took the tools we needed.

“Haa… Shit… A crowbar…”

I finally found one of the tools that I had been wishing for so much.

An item that was commonly called a crowbar. A lever made of steel. The characters in games used to use it to butcher aliens… The heaviness was no joke.

If I hit a zombie’s head with this, it would be smashed in one blow, right? I had truly obtained the perfect weapon for zombie hunting.

‘It’s black and magnificent…’

While I was savoring the faint smell of steel emanating from the steel lever, Eun-ji took two hammers that were made of solid steel. They looked much sturdier than the one she had used before.

“Oppa, what do you think?”

“You look like a real crazy murderer.”

“Hehe…”

Just when Eun-ji and I had found weapons that perfectly fit our hands, Ha-rin, who had the highest strength among us, looked around the tool shelves and took out a 30-inch monkey wrench.

“Oh… A monkey wrench…”

“Gulp… A zombie slaughterer…”

When Eun-ji admired her and gave her a thumbs-up, Ha-rin nodded and sent her a gaze that seemed to say, ‘Trust me!’

It was cute how she was acting brave, as if she was confident, while holding a monkey wrench after being so surprised and closing her eyes when she saw someone jump down an apartment earlier.

“Hehe… You’re cute. Now that we’ve chosen our weapons, let’s take the other tools too. Eun-ji, take all the packaging off the industrial-grade utility knives there to reduce their volume, and put the blades in a bag too.”

“Yes!”

“Ha-rin, take that cutter there.”

“Uh… The bolt cutter?”

“Yeah, that one. Good.”

It was time to loot.

Sturdy industrial-grade utility knives were useful anytime, so we had to take them.

They would be necessary when unpacking packages, of course, as well as when torturing and subduing people.

We had to use the cutter if we ever had to cut something.

For example, locks or fingers.

“Oppa! Should we take the awls too?”

“Oh! Awls! Good, good. Be careful when you take them so you don’t get hurt.”

“Master. Here are some gloves! There are a lot of them.”

“Good, take them all!”

Besides that, we also took several multipurpose scissors and grafting knives.

The items were gradually piling up in the bags.

We had taken everything, including useful tools such as pliers, lighters, and igniters that were on the counter. We even found a torch just as the sun was slowly setting.

Now that we had taken everything that we could from here, it was time to go home.

We were looking around the hardware store to see if there was anything else we could take as we prepared to leave.

Vroom! Vroooom!

We suddenly heard the sound of motorcycle exhaust. And there were several of them.

“What is this place? It seems like it’s already been looted. What if there are people inside the hardware store?”

“What do you mean what if. We have guns, so what are you worried about? I’ll go in first, so Young-cheol and Jin-gu, guard the entrance. Ha-il and Hye-seong, come in with me.”

“Yes! Hyungnim!”

A group of guys gathered in front of the hardware store.

Besides us, humans who had read the notice were starting to walk around.

What should we do with these guys? Should we kill them all? Or should we make them slaves? If there was an Awakened among them, I would make only that bastard my slave.

Eun-ji and Ha-rin, who had received my signal, prepared for battle.

Ha-rin took off her heavy bag and tightly gripped the monkey wrench, and Eun-ji held a hammer in each hand.

And the moment the battle preparations were finished, the head of the group fearlessly went inside.

“Wow. There was a guest here. Oh, there are two women too?”

The bastard who had crawled into the hardware store was someone I knew.

One of the bastards that was standing guard in front of the supermarket. This guy had a gun. I had to capture him quickly!

“Al-la-kum”

The moment I chanted the spell, the guy put down the steel pipe that he was holding in his right hand and put his hand inside his clothes.

Since I was using a skill, he was probably trying to pull out the pistol that he had seized from the police station to shoot me.

He was probably only holding the steel pipe to kill zombies on his way here, but he should have pulled out his gun first before entering if he felt something was strange, the idiot.

“Th, this!”

“R’lyeh.”

The guy pulled out his pistol too late. I had already finished chanting.

Pshoo!

A purple magic circle appeared before them, and five strands of tentacles instantly shot out and entangled the head, arms, and legs of the man who had pulled out his gun.

“Uup!!! Uuu!!!”

“Wha, what is this!? What is this!!? Hyungnim!”

Eun-ji and Ha-rin rushed toward the two guys who were following him.

“Hhaa!”

Ha-rin, who had rushed out like an arrow, swung her monkey wrench with all her strength, and Eun-ji swung her hammer at the other guy’s face, crushing his nasal bone and destroying his cheekbone…

“Shit!!!”

The two guys who had been watching the entrance quickly got on the motorcycles they had ridden and tried to run away, but Ha-rin, who had learned Slinging Stones, threw whatever she could grab with her hands and hit the two guys.

“Kuaaa!!!”

“Ugh… Shit…!”

Five guys were subdued in an instant. Two of them had died instantly.

The guy whose head was caved in by Ha-rin with the monkey wrench and the guy who was hit by Eun-ji with a hammer died on the spot.

“Huu. Let’s see. Ha-rin, drag the two guys outside here.”

“Yes, Master.”

I pulled the guy that was captured by the tentacles toward me. I tightened the tentacles as if I was about to crush him, and the guy, who was trying to do something, widened his eyes and screamed.

“Uuuup!!! Uuup!!!”

“Why? Did you think that everything would be okay if you just had a gun? Then, you should have pulled it out first before entering.”

“Uup… Uup…”

“Eun-ji, give me an awl.”

“Yes… Oppa, here.”

“Good.”

I slightly loosened his mouth.

“Y, you bastards… My hyungnim is… Kuaaa!!!!”

I stabbed the awl into the guy’s thigh as he tried to say useless things. I was busy, so why would I care about your hyungnim? Even if you looked for your hyungnim now, you would only get an awl to your back.

“Eun-ji, next.”

“Yes.”

Eun-ji passed me another awl as if she was completely unconcerned. My actions might be scary, but there was no other way. If we were weak-hearted, all that would come back to us would be betrayal and backstabbing. That was a fact that had been proven in numerous games and movies.

“If you open your mouth before I talk to you, you die.”

“Uup… sob… Yes…”

“Were there any Awakened among you? The guys who followed you are dead, though the guys who were watching outside are still alive.”

“I, I’m an Awakened! Warrior class! A warrior! I’m useful! Please spare me!”

“Those two guys aren’t Awakened?”

“Yes! The other guys are just useless trash!”

“Okay. Ha-rin. Kill those two bastards with Eun-ji.”

“…Yes.”

“I understand, Master…”

“Ah, Eun-ji, before you go, stab my left thumb lightly with the awl.”

“Alright.”

Uut… It still hurt.

Eun-ji stabbed it as lightly as possible, but it still hurt despite that.

I made the guy kneel, and I put my thumb, which was bleeding, on the guy’s greasy forehead.

Chiiiik!!

Smoke rose from his forehead, and a slave brand was imprinted on the guy’s soul.

“Congratulations on becoming my slave, Park Seong-oh.”

I had to use this guy to stir up the supermarket.

A useful card had fallen into my hands.

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T/N – Finally, the MC is doing something useful. All he needed was a hard kick from the plot, apparently. I’m also glad that he’s not limiting his slave brand to his slave harem. I’ve seen too many of these sorts of MCs that waste their slave brand skills by only branding candidates for their slave harem.

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.