Chapter 86: Siblings
Chapter 86: Siblings
#
Rattle-rattle-clunk
"Push it straight. Cut the whining."
"It isn't whining, I'm genuinely dizzy."
We were taking the Bungeoppang Cart to the villa where the siblings had lived.
We planned to retrieve the rest of their belongings and stockpiled supplies.
Deok-hun pushed the cart sulkily after receiving yet another forehead flick.
The rest of the raid party remained at the base, making throwing weapons and gathering suitable stones.
"Can you actually feel the Buff's effect?"
"Yes. Until now, I always went outside after receiving a Buff. Didn't the other women say it felt wonderful too?"
"Why can I barely tell the difference...?"
"That's because you rely so ignorantly on brute force—no, I mean, Boss. Eek! I'm sorry. Please spare me."
Ji-yu's Trait was quite unusual.
Simply put, it was a Support-type Trait that granted Buffs to other people.
But what was even more interesting was...
"Shh... quiet for a second."
"..."
I had definitely heard people talking just then.
We had entered Zone B and moved into an area dense with villas and officetels.
Deok-hun had said he hadn't seen other survivors nearby, but I was almost certain I had just heard human voices.
"It looks like someone has already cleared this area."
This time, I heard the voice more clearly.
I signaled Deok-hun with my eyes.
We left the Bungeoppang Cart by the roadside and swiftly hid.
After watching Deok-hun slip into a villa entrance, I leapt to the roof of the building.
Thump-thump
A group of survivors came into view around the corner.
Three men and two women.
One of the men looked quite young.
His acne-covered face made him look like a middle school student or perhaps a first- or second-year high school student.
"Honey, let's not go this way, let's head to the downtown area over there."
"I'm telling you, that way's too dangerous. You don't know how many zombies could be over there."
The middle-aged man and woman appeared to be married.
They soon approached the corner where we had left the Bungeoppang Cart.
"Huh? What's this?"
"I think that's the kind they use at street food carts. Why is it parked around here?"
Even to me, the cart looked completely out of place.
All its original equipment had been removed, and the ropes wrapped around it to secure cargo looked conspicuously artificial.
"Eun-ji. Could you use your ability, please? Something feels off..."
"Yes, one moment."
The woman called Eun-ji probably possessed a detection-type ability.
Before she could use it, I revealed myself.
Tap
"Hello. I heard your voices, so I hid."
When I dropped directly from the rooftop to the ground, the entire group flinched and raised their weapons.
The oldest-looking man stepped forward with an axe in hand.
"I don't want a fight. How about we just go our separate ways?"
"Young man. Are you alone?"
"I wouldn't say I'm that young... but thanks for the compliment. Why do you ask?"
"It's just been a long time since we ran into another survivor."
The husband stepped forward as the group's representative.
He appeared to be in his mid-to-late forties and had a solid build.
"If you know anything about the surrounding area, I'd like to exchange information."
"I'm new to this area myself."
"Honey, let's just go. Sorry, young man. You probably feel uncomfortable too. My husband's just glad to see someone..."
The middle-aged woman cut the conversation short.
The rest of the group remained wary, apparently uncomfortable with my presence.
Only the older man showed no sign of fearing me.
Was he confident in his ability?
At the man's insistence, I spoke with them briefly.
He asked whether there were any worthwhile scavenging sites or especially dangerous places nearby.
But I had no useful answer to give him.
We had already stripped every worthwhile location clean, and the entire zone was dangerous.
The survivor group consisted of a family of three—a married couple and their son—plus one man and one woman they had taken in.
They had come from the nearest large supermarket to the northeast and warned us never to go that way.
According to them, gangsters had seized control of the area and ruled over it, and the condition of the people there was too horrible to describe.
They appeared to be moving around in search of somewhere to stay.
I told them that there were no worthwhile scavenging sites left nearby.
"They're gone. You can come out now."
"Sir, how could you walk out there unarmed when you didn't know what abilities those people had?"
"One of the women seemed to have a detection ability. Revealing myself was better than letting her discover you too."
"No, but still..."
"Hold on. I'm just going to check which way they're heading."
The officetel across the street was slightly taller, so I jumped onto its roof.
The family group was heading toward Zone A.
If they continued straight along that road, they would reach the Hana Trading Building.
At that moment, the woman called Eun-ji looked back.
She stared directly at me, raised two fingers, then turned away again.
Definitely a detection type.
"Ah, damn. Busted."
"If those people have any sense, they probably used their ability on us too."
"Still, I don't think it really matters. They're not the ones, right?"
"Right. Even I can see their builds are way too different."
I had quickly scanned their general appearances the moment I saw them.
At a glance, neither Eun-ji nor the middle-aged woman resembled the two women suspected of controlling zombies.
We resumed moving and arrived at Deok-hun's former residence.
The siblings had stockpiled fewer supplies than I expected.
"You've got a good ability. Didn't you scavenge hard enough?"
"Going out even four days a week was insanely exhausting. Your raid-party base is the abnormal one..."
Was that so?
Well, a good ability didn't automatically improve one's basic stamina.
In a sense, scavenging was a battle of endurance.
You had to risk yourself and roam until you found what you needed, and even after killing the zombies, transporting the supplies posed another problem.
Deok-hun might have been faster and fitter than average, but only by ordinary standards. His small frame also limited his raw strength.
"That family really hit the jackpot. What are the odds that an entire family would all be chosen?"
"Huh? Chosen for what?"
"That couple and their son just now. They were all chosen."
"Ah, you mean they survived without turning into zombies?"
"Yes. Only those chosen by the God-Tier Status Window remain now."
"God-Tier, my ass. The Status Window barely tells us anything."
Deok-hun apparently believed that the remaining people had been chosen.
Had they avoided becoming zombies because they were chosen, or had they received Status Windows because they didn't become zombies?
I didn't know which came first, but that family had unquestionably been fortunate.
"So how did the other two end up joining them?"
"Curious about that? Maybe I should've chatted a little longer."
"That's not really what I—... Sir, this is the last of it."
He had mostly stopped calling me Boss.
He was speaking normally as well.
Ji-yu had dragged him aside and apparently given him an earful before we left. It seemed to have worked.
Boom-boom
"Geek? What is that sound?"
"Not sure... I'd better go check it out."
"It sounds like it's a little ways away?"
Just as we finished gathering the luggage and prepared to leave, a heavy booming sound echoed in the distance.
It didn't sound like an explosion.
I quickly climbed to the rooftop to investigate.
Whenever anything happened now, I found myself climbing rooftops like a monkey scaling a tree.
#
"Sir. What's going on?"
"That family group from earlier is fighting a man."
The middle-aged husband apparently had an ability that hardened his body.
Each time the unfamiliar man punched him, a loud clang rang out as though he had struck a steel plate.
The attacker was also bare-handed, suggesting that his ability was combat-related.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm considering it. Since we're curious, should we go take a look?"
"Do you think it'll be okay?"
I reassured the worried Deok-hun, and we headed toward Zone C.
While we packed the luggage, the family group had changed direction and reached the area near the Prugia Apartments.
Although some distance away, the fight had broken out on sloping terrain and was faintly visible from our rooftop.
Too much of the view was obstructed to understand the situation clearly without going there.
"If things go south, be ready to ditch the cart and run."
"If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to just turn back right now..."
"This is close to our base too. We need to learn as much as possible about what's happening."
We reached the hill where I had first seen the fight.
The boisterous sounds had fallen silent at some point.
On the ground lay the middle-aged husband.
"What the hell? That wasn't a person—it was a zombie?"
Sensing our presence, the zombie set down the corpse it had been devouring and slowly rose.
Its sluggish movements looked strangely unlike those of a zombie.
I approached cautiously and saw that both of the fallen man's legs were broken.
"Young man. Run away. I'll hold it off. Go that way and please take care of my son..."
"Sir, how are you going to hold it off with those legs? Deok-hun, help stop his bleeding."
The corpse the zombie had dropped belonged to the man's wife.
Beside her lay the young man who had been traveling with the family.
"Ha... this bastard. A mutant, huh."
Grrrrrr
I couldn't believe the zombie had merely incapacitated the man instead of finishing him.
Or had it exhausted itself and been replenishing its energy by feeding on the corpse?
Was that even possible?
It was only speculation, but even if true, this creature was clearly different from an Ordinary Zombie that blindly hurled itself at humans.
If it had simply been playing with them, that was even more chilling.
"What are you staring at?"
Even at close range, the zombie's movements looked far too natural.
That was why I had mistaken it for a person from a distance.
Apart from its clouded eyes and shark-like teeth, it looked entirely human.
The creature tilted its head as though studying me.
Fwip! Ta-da-da-dak
As its growling intensified, I hurled the stone in my hand.
At the same time, I tightened my grip on the baseball bat and lunged forward.
Krwaaaak!
Boo-woong
The Mutated Zombie twisted aside and evaded the stone.
I closed the distance during that opening and swung my baseball bat.
The creature bent backward at an impossible angle and evaded the swing.
My momentum carried me past it, and I forced myself to a halt.
When I turned, the creature straightened and roared at me.
Krwaaaaaak!
"Ah, man. Shut up."
What good was screaming going to do?
I lunged again and thrust the baseball bat toward it.
This time, it ducked beneath the attack.
Fwaaah! Thwack
Without breaking stride, I kicked straight upward.
I put tremendous force into the kick, intending to smash its skull.
But in a split second, the creature raised its head and tried to seize my leg with both hands.
Bu-woong! Crash-bang-bang-bang
It was a good attempt, but it couldn't withstand the power of my awakened Body Enhancement.
Its grab failed, and my kick sent it flying across the ground.
The moment I lowered my leg and recovered my stance, I charged again.
The Mutated Zombie sprang up from its tumble and fled.
"What the fuck. Why're you running, you bastard."