The Apocalypse Has Been Downloaded – Chapter 49

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The night deepened.

I chose a reward for the ‘Model Citizen’ achievement I had earned from subduing the Killer Robber.

I decided to choose the Peddler Summoning Ticket.

Since Ha-rin and Kang Ha-young could identify Killer Robbers with their intuition and sense of smell, I didn’t need the Wanted Poster. And summoning the peddler to access the Black Market seemed better than the Income Increasing Ring.

I didn’t know when I would be able to meet a peddler again. To summon him reliably, I needed to gather at least 100 people, which seemed impossible at the moment.

As I chose the reward and fondled Kang Hee-sun’s breasts while lost in thought, dawn arrived.

Nothing happened during the night, and Kang Hee-sun slept soundly, probably due to exhaustion.

Well, she had to endure my virility for hours last night.

If it had been anyone else, they would have fainted long ago, but she had tried her best to endure it.

Even without the help of stats or skills.

She seemed willing to accept me, and I was very satisfied with her receptiveness.

“Yawn.”

As I yawned from exhaustion, she slowly opened her eyes.

“Oh… Were you awake?”

Hee-sun naturally caressed my chest, showing affection.

“No. I didn’t sleep.”

“What? Why?”

“Because something might come during the night. It’s become normal for at least one person to stay awake. The world has changed quite a bit during the two weeks you were asleep. It’s quite something out there.”

“Oh… I see. I’m sorry. I fell asleep. Are you tired? Do you want to sleep? I’ll stay awake this time…”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t trying to guilt-trip you. You’ll probably have to stay awake often at night from now on. I was just letting you know.”

“I see… Thank you for protecting me…”

Hee-sun nuzzled her face against my chest, thanked me, and kissed my neck.

I enjoyed the feeling of her ample breasts and fondled her ass.

My recovered dick was starting to assert itself, perhaps because it was morning, but I held back. It was time to return to the supermarket.

“Then let’s wash up and go to the supermarket. There are people there.”

“Okay. I’ll get ready.”

I then said to Kang Hee-sun, who was gathering her scattered clothes.

“Oh, and by the way, everyone there, including you, Noona, is my slave.”

“Huh…? S-slave?”

“Yeah. Remember what I said? No self-harm, no betrayal, and no harming the team?”

“Yes… No way…”

“Yeah. I enslaved you with my class skill.”

“I see… Class and skill?”

“Yeah. You also have a class now. Sit down, and I’ll tell you about it.”

I sat her down on the bed and explained everything to her.

About classes, skills, and stats.

I learned that Kang Hee-sun wasn’t familiar with games, especially RPGs, so I carefully explained the information I knew about levels, skills, and achievements to her.

“And I chose your achievement reward for you.”

The Zombie Repellent had been quite useful last week, during the early days of the apocalypse when I wasn’t used to skills and combat yet, but now, the Zombie Repellent and Antidote weren’t as useful anymore. Preventing situations where I needed to use them was more important.

Honestly, they weren’t very useful now that even named zombies were appearing. So, I chose the Inventory Slots for her instead.

Now Hee-sun could store five items in a subspace.

“I see. Inventory?”

A blue window appeared before her eyes. Five empty slots.

She could now store five items.

“Wait a moment, Noona. Let’s do an experiment.”

I wondered how much she could store.

I told her to try putting a bag filled with household items into the inventory.

Whoosh.

“Good.”

It wasn’t about storing five individual items. Rather, she had five storage slots.

If she stuffed a bag full of items and then put the bag into the inventory, it would treat the bag as a single object and store all the items inside.

And the maximum size it could hold was a carry-on suitcase. A small suitcase would fit, but anything larger wouldn’t.

“Next are your skills, Noona.”

“Yeah, I’m listening.”

“I think either Spirit Sense or Nature’s Affinity would be good.”

“Really? Then… uh… Nature’s Affinity. Should I choose this?”

“Yeah. Go for it.”

For now, it seemed better for her to acquire skills that allowed her to use spirits rather than to focus on attack power. Since there were many people, including myself, who could fight, it would be better for her to focus on skills related to communicating with and contracting spirits. I had learned how useful spirits were from the Salamander.

‘And Summon Oak Roots might have limitations, like my Summon Tentacles did at first.’

So, Kang Hee-sun chose Nature’s Affinity.

“I’ll break the limbs of all the zombies we see on the way to the supermarket, so you only need to crush their heads. Okay?”

“Okay. I want to level up quickly and be helpful.”

“Heh heh. And Noona, there are quite a few women that I’ve had relations with at the supermarket, so be friendly with them, okay?”

“Yeah… Okay.”

There was still a hint of fear in her eyes. It was understandable, considering the crazy things I had done yesterday.

Perhaps her gentle demeanor was all an act. She was probably compromising to survive.

After all, I held her life in my hands now.

Ha-rin and everyone else became obedient and submissive after some time as slaves.

“Then shall we go?”

“Yes! I’m excited.”

I closed the door and took Hee-sun’s hand, and we then left the house.

The only thing left inside was Lee Han-seok’s cold corpse.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Kang Hee-sun leveled up five times on the way to the supermarket.

She frantically crushed the heads of the crawling zombies with the crowbar I had given her.

The five skills she acquired were Spirit Sense, Lesser Spirit Contract, Eyes of the Forest Guardian, Minor Growth, and Mana Herb Cultivation.

She chose skills that were useful in daily life, excluding combat skills.

First, Spirit Sense, along with Nature’s Affinity, was a skill that helped with contracting spirits, and Lesser Spirit Contract allowed her to contract up to four lesser spirits she had communicated with.

Eyes of the Forest Guardian opened her spiritual eyes, allowing her to see spirits and other spiritual beings. After acquiring it, she could see the Salamander by my side. And she was also momentarily startled, saying that two ominous and creepy beings were clinging to me.

I figured she had caught a glimpse of the Abyssal Roach and the Abyssal Weaver.

Next were Minor Growth and Mana Herb Cultivation. Mana Herb Cultivation allowed her to cultivate ‘Mana Herbs’ as long as she had soil, sunlight, water, and mana.

Using the skill produced three seeds, which she could plant into the ground. If she watered them every morning until the soil was soaked and provided about 5 mana every day, they would grow quickly.

The effects of the cultivated Mana Herbs were quite good. The roots had a mana regeneration effect, so eating them would gradually restore mana. It seemed like they would be useful when I ran out of Magic during battle.

Boiling and drinking the leaves of the Mana Herb was good for physical and mental health. And the fruits of the Mana Herb could be planted again, so she had to carefully manage them so they wouldn’t be eaten by insects or birds.

Each Mana Herb could produce one to three fruits, so if she cultivated them well, she could create a field of them, like a ginseng farm.

‘A class with the qualities of a farmer…’

They were very nature-friendly skills. All they required was meditation. My class required human sacrifices, so this was a much more peaceful class. And the results were quite useful, so it was great.

‘And it takes a week for a Mana Herb to grow… but with Minor Growth, it’s shortened to about three days.’

The growth period was halved.

If I could capture someone with a class related to potion making, like a Witch… perhaps we could create an instant mana potion using Mana Herbs.

It was still in the realm of imagination, but now that a Druid had appeared, anything seemed possible.

Anyway, a true blessing had fallen into my lap. Her existence alone could solve many of my worries.

“Oppa! I’ve been waiting! Huh…? Another… new person?”

“Ah, Eun-ji. This is Kang Hee-sun. She’s thirty-four, and she’s older than me.”

“Hello. You’re Eun-ji, right? I heard about you on the way here. He praised you a lot, saying that you’re cute and pretty. He was right.”

I had briefly told her about the current members of my harem. Since Eun-ji was the de facto leader of the harem, I had told Hee-sun that she would be easily accepted if she got along with Eun-ji.

“Hee hee… Oppa, you’re making me blush. Hee hee. Welcome, Unnie. And speak informally.”

“Yeah… Okay? Thanks.”

We entered the supermarket while being welcomed by Eun-ji.

The inside of the store was peaceful. They had cleaned up thoroughly as there were no longer any broken glass shards or other stuff spread about. And the corpses had all been moved to the rooftop.

“Hey, Soo-min.”

“Yes?”

“Burn all those corpses.”

“Can I burn them now?”

“Yeah. The immediate danger has passed, and we can’t keep them like that. Burn them.”

“Okay.”

The corpses left on the rooftop started burning with Hwang Soo-min’s fireballs.

The smell of burning flesh wasn’t pleasant.

Kang Hee-sun, who was looking around the supermarket with me, slightly frowned at the sight of the burning mountain of corpses.

She coughed as the smoke started rising.

She slightly turned her head, as if she didn’t want me to see her, and gagged a little.

“Those are mostly zombies. Zombies attack crowded places at night.”

“I-I see. I thought… you had killed so many living people…”

Hee-sun looked at the burning pile of corpses with a slightly disturbed expression.

She still seemed quite bewildered by the situation.

It was an understandable reaction, considering she hadn’t been struggling to survive since the first week of the apocalypse.

And she hadn’t experienced the first night of the update.

I thought those who had experienced the first night of the update had grown significantly, both mentally and in terms of level. Those who hadn’t, must have all died.

It was like they had experienced war firsthand.

The zombie rush on the night of the update had been that bad.

“Noona.”

“Yes…?”

“You have to get used to this to survive. And everyone here has killed at least one person already. Directly or indirectly. So, you also have to get a grip and distance yourself from guilt and such emotions. You have to kill others to survive.”

She listened quietly and then nodded. She then looked at the burning corpses again.

This was the age of the apocalypse. You couldn’t survive if you were emotionally affected by every single death. Well, I had always killed without much thought, but even Eun-ji and Ha-rin had hesitated at first.

I thought it was a process everyone went through to survive.

“Yeah… I understand intellectually, but… it’s still not easy…”

“You’ll get used to it in a few days. Zombies or humans, it’s all the same. They die when you crush their heads.”

“Yeah… I’ll try.”

I introduced her to the other harem members who were still asleep.

Since we were going to live together from now on, they should at least know each other’s faces.

I introduced Kang Hee-sun’s class to them and told them that she would be a great help in the future.

Especially when the water and electricity were cut off, I said, and they all seemed to welcome her warmly after that.

They had looked slightly bewildered at first, but after hearing about her class, they smiled and welcomed her.

And Eun-ji had told me earlier that the water was starting to cut out or trickle weakly. The water supply would be completely cut off soon. Water was essential for survival, so I hoped Hee-sun could contract a water spirit soon.

I didn’t want to have to go to the Han River to shower.

“Wow. Unnie, your breasts are so big… and pretty.”

Ha-rin looked at Hee-sun’s breasts, then at Ah-ram’s, and then down at her own, comparing their sizes.

Ha-rin herself was glamorous, but Ah-ram and Hee-sun were almost on the level of being busty.

And Hee-sun’s figure was quite voluptuous, so Ha-rin seemed to be self-conscious, comparing her body to Hee-sun’s.

Ah-ram just nodded slightly in greeting, and Ah-reum introduced herself politely.

And Kim Ye-won, who was trembling behind them, squeezed her eyes shut when she made eye contact with me.

She seemed quite scared, understandable as she was currently a prisoner.

“Yawn.”

Kang Ha-young was being Kang Ha-young. She just nodded briefly and went back to sleep.

I was planning to deal with Kang Ha-young tonight after taking Kim Ye-won’s virginity.

“Anyway, chat amongst yourselves.”

“Okay!”

I gave the women some time to talk. Then I went to a corner of the rooftop and claimed the reward for the Model Citizen achievement.

‘Peddler Summoning Ticket…’

A small paper ticket appeared. Tearing it would summon a peddler.

‘I have to give the Black Chip to the peddler…’

Other items I could use on the peddler were the ‘Lost Hiking Hat’ and the ‘Gambler’s Gold Coin’ I had obtained from the Killer Robber.

I would use the Gold Coin when I encountered an item I couldn’t afford, and the ‘Lost Hiking Hat,’ which greatly increased the peddler’s favorability, was like a coupon that gave me half price on one item, so I didn’t need to use it right away.

“Appear.”

I immediately tore the ticket.

Poof!

A bright light flashed before me, and a peddler appeared.

As always, he was a man of indeterminate age, wearing worn-out clothes and a hiking hat, and was carrying a large backpack.

“Haha. We meet again so soon. How are you? Doing alright?”

He greeted me warmly, as if we were acquaintances.

It seemed like his favorability had increased because I had let him leave early last time.

“Yes, hello.”

“Good. I brought some high-quality goods today, so take a look.”

Six items appeared on display.

I carefully counted the number of items, remembering that the Killer Robber had only displayed five.

“Heh heh. Take your pick.”

Before checking the items on display, I handed him the Black Chip.

“If I give you this, you’ll give me a pass to the ‘Black Market,’ right?”

“You have the heart of a beast, I see. What did you consume, to risk your life like this? Huh. You already obtained this… Give me that Black Chip.”

The peddler took the Black Chip from my hand and examined it.

“It’s genuine. I can’t believe this is already circulating. You’re quite fast. It’s still early in the game…”

“Uh… Is that so?”

“Ahem. Forget what I just said. It was a sort of meta-commentary.”

“Okay…”

The peddler rummaged through his bag and took out a black key.

“Here. Take this. This is the pass to the Black Market. One or two people can enter with this.”

“Oh… Oh…”

“You can enter the Black Market by inserting this key into a door with a matching keyhole. And the Black Market opens every Friday from 10 PM to 2 AM the next day. You can’t enter at any other time… And if you can’t leave the Black Market within that time…”

“What happens if I can’t leave…?”

“It’s over. You’ll become one of the Black Market’s products.”

I gasped. I had four hours to use the Black Market and then leave.

“Is it difficult to leave?”

“Well, it should be fine if you remember where the exit is. Oh, and there are a few precautions. Do you want the Black Market guide?”

“Yes…”

I took the paper with the Black Market rules from the peddler and read it.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

T/N – I’m disappointed that the MC didn’t get more from Indikron after all that effort. Ah well. At least now we are going to explore the Black Market next, which should be interesting.

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