Difficulty Rising
Kang Juhan (Male, 26)
183 cm, 81 kg
Points: 4,750P
Skills
Enhanced Vision (LV.1)
Stat Amplification (LV.2)
Critical Strike (LV.1)
Sturdy Body (LV.1)
Acceleration (LV.2)
Destruction (LV.1)
The two random stats had bumped Stamina and Mental by one each, and with the six points I could allocate myself I put four into Strength, one into Agility, and one into Stamina.
It felt a little excessive dumping so much into Strength, but the clean numbers looked good and it would let me squeeze every last drop out of the new Destruction skill, so I leaned into it.
Anyway, stats weren’t the important thing right now.
Three boxes floated in front of my eyes.
One ordinary Random Box from the quest that stopped Seo Hamin’s darkening.
One Cursed Random Box from the linked quest.
And the last, most important and most intriguing of all—the Random Item Box I’d gotten for clearing a hidden condition.
Nothing as basic as Non-slip Gloves would come out of this one. Even if something similar appeared, it would have a skill attached like Mook’s weight-reduction, or some other special ability. It was an item, after all.
Tap—
I started with the Random Box I had zero expectations for.
Not bad. At least it was edible. For me, that counted as a solid pull.
I set the appetizing loaf carefully aside and gave the Cursed Random Box a light tap.
Creepy. Didn’t even want to touch it.
I stared at the tightly rolled parchment that had dropped to the floor, then curiosity won out and I poked it with Mook.
A strange message appeared.
Use on Steel Rod?
Use it? On what?
I couldn’t take it anymore. Squatting down, I unrolled the scroll—only to find nothing written inside.
“But it doesn’t ask me if I want to use it on myself. So it doesn’t work on people?”
I tried the bread I’d just gotten, then every other object I could find. Nothing reacted except Mook.
So it only worked on things classified as items, like Mook.
“An item that only works on other items… I’ll leave this with Nari for now.”
Using it on Mook felt way too risky. The name alone was Cursed Scroll. The gut feeling that I’d only lose out if I used it was strong, so I set it carefully beside the bread and lightly tapped the final Random Item Box.
A moment later the trembling lid exploded upward and the item appeared.
I snatched it.
A stiff rectangular card that looked like a high-end business card. Nothing strange about that—Safe Zone Setting Tickets, Solar Power Generators, and Water Purifier Filters all came in the same form.
Still, I never expected to get this.
After opening the boxes and taking a shower, I gathered the bread, the Cursed Scroll, and the Shop Summon Ticket I’d left on the toilet lid and stood in front of the door.
Heart pounding, I opened it.
Ssshk—
Whoosh!!!
The second the door cracked open, a dagger shot toward me like a spring-loaded trap.
I grabbed the wrist mid-flight, stopped the blade, and casually lifted the bread tucked under my left arm.
“Want some bread?”
“I’m going to kill you…!!”
She said it, but Seo Hamin wasn’t angry enough to turn into a full-blown murderer. The quest to stop her darkening had already been cleared.
“Unnie! Stop!!”
“Let go of me!!”
“He’s the person I like!!”
“Hayun…”
Seo Hayun’s desperate cry as she clung to her sister’s arm, stopping her from swinging the dagger in her left hand, hit Seo Hamin hard enough to make her stagger.
“Please, Unnie… don’t hurt the person I like… I hate that…”
“Why… why!!!!”
“Huh…?”
“Why the hell do you like a guy like this!!”
“I get how you feel, Unnie! He’s not even handsome! He’s not nice! He’s a total pervert who did that stuff with both of us at the same time…”
“Stop!! What are you saying in front of him?!”
“S-sorry…”
“What are you sorry for?! It’s the truth!!”
“Ha…”
I let out a hollow laugh at the sheer absurdity of it. Seo Hamin shot me a sharp glare, then yanked her captured wrist free with everything she had and steeled herself.
“I’m going to kill you…! I will never accept a human like you…!!”
“Your little sister says she likes me. If I die, she’ll be sad.”
“Shut up…!! If you’re gone, Hayun will go back to normal…! Back to being my good little sister…”
“A doll that does whatever you tell her?”
“My sister is not a doll!!”
“How is she any different from one!!!”
“Seo Hayun… you… why are you looking at your unnie like that…?”
“Tsk…! Tsk…!”
“Hayun…”
Breathing hard, Seo Hayun released her sister’s arm and instead took her hand, lifting it so the dagger in Seo Hamin’s left hand pressed against her own throat.
“What are you doing?!”
“If you kill Oppa Juhan, I’ll die too.”
“Seo Hayun!! Snap out of it!!!!”
“I already have!!”
“What…?”
“I’m not going to live like a doll that just does whatever Unnie says anymore! Living like that is too stifling, too suffocating! From now on I’m going to live as myself! Not as Unnie’s little sister—as Seo Hayun!! So don’t you dare touch my man!!!”
“……”
The dagger slipped from both the hand I was holding and the hand Seo Hayun was gripping. Seo Hamin’s legs gave out and she sank to the floor.
“Unnie…..”
“It was… stifling and suffocating…?”
“Th-that’s… I mean…. I love you, Unnie! I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me! You’ve been my sister and my dad and my mom and my friend… I can’t live without you!”
“Then why…”
“That’s why!!”
“What…?”
“Let’s live together, Unnie. Not as Seo Hayun’s unnie, not as Seo Hamin’s little sister. As Seo Hamin. As Seo Hayun. Let’s live like that, Unnie…”
“……”
It wasn’t only Seo Hayun who had been bound. Seo Hamin had been just as tightly bound to her sister—so tightly she had thrown her entire life away to protect her.
But that was over now.
Just like Seo Hayun said, Seo Hayun could live as Seo Hayun, and Seo Hamin as Seo Hamin.
So why did things keep turning out like this?
“Haa…! Haa…! Hnngh!!”
Seo Hayun dragged me to the bed, panting, and looked not at me but to the side.
“Nngh…! Unnie too…! Join us… nngh!!”
Amazingly, Seo Hamin still couldn’t fully let go of her sister. She was sitting right beside the bed, watching us have sex.
I had no idea what she was so anxious about that she needed to watch.
“N-no!!”
“You liked it too, Unnie… ah…!”
“I-I didn’t like it at all, okay?! I only did it because I had no choice, to protect you…!”
“Oppa… make Unnie feel good like me too…”
“Should I?”
“Shut up!!! Just try coming closer! I’ll really kill— mmp…! Mmph…! Nngh..!!”
She wasn’t that far away, so I reached out, pulled Seo Hamin in, and kissed her while kneading her chest.
“See… you like it… heehee…”
“Mmmph…!! Mmm…!!”
By the time a long while had passed, my whole body was soaked in sweat again, completely undoing the shower I’d just taken.
“Haaa…! Haaa…! Haaa…!”
“Haa! Haa! Haa!”
Seo Hayun stared blankly at the ceiling, gasping for breath. Seo Hamin lay on the bed with an arm over her eyes, also panting hard.
And I, having finished inside each of them once so the sisters wouldn’t get jealous, climbed off the bed and stretched, leaning back a little.
“Ugh!!! What a tiring pair of sisters…”
“Shut up…!!”
“Haaa..! Haaa..!”
I glanced at Seo Hamin, who still seemed to have some energy left, and considered it—but decided that was enough for today.
I still needed to ease Jihye and Nari’s worries after they’d been searching for me all night, and I needed to check whether the situation outside had settled down.
Of course, waiting until morning made me pretty late for that check-in.
But one more question had just occurred to me.
“Is the door lock broken?”
“It’s not our house… we forced open a locked place and just put a doorknob on…”
“I see. Hoo….”
I let out a long breath, crossed my arms, and fixed a grim expression on the open doorway, ready to answer the voice I could already hear approaching.
“Kang Juhan…!!!”
“Oppa…”
“Nothing… happened.”
“……”
“……”
Only then did I turn my head toward the open door—just in time to see the panties that had just left Nari’s hand, and Jihye charging in right behind them—before I toppled over backward.
“Put some damn panties on before you talk!!!!”
“Shut up!!!!”
“Guhhk!!!”
Hey! O Jihye!!
Even if you’re pissed, who the hell dropkicks someone in the face?!
Somehow the situation got smoothed over.
Jihye and Nari had apparently already expected more women to join, so while they were angry, they didn’t look shocked. Seo Hayun—and especially Seo Hamin—on the other hand, were so stunned by the fact that I already had two other women that they could barely speak.
“Hey, Jihye and Nari were looking for you all night. Did you run into them?”
“Just now~”
“What the hell were you doing all night? No, where were you?”
“None of your business. More importantly—the quest?”
“Obviously cleared it.”
I got a rough rundown from Gihun—who for some reason was outside—about how things had gone after I left. Just as I’d expected, none of our group was hurt, but the villa people weren’t so lucky. Quite a few dead, quite a few injured. At least none of the injuries were critical.
“Hey! Watch out!!”
“Oppa! Run!!”
“Huh??”
I turned toward the communal entrance where Jihye and Nari were shouting as they burst out. Behind them, Seo Hamin was walking out radiating the exact murderous aura I’d seen in the webtoon.
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Don’t tell me she’s darkening again…”
That was when a new quest appeared right in front of my eyes.
A quest with only ten minutes on the clock.
Save the People from Contaminated Water (0/100)
Time Limit: 00:10:00
🎁 Success: Stat Points +3 / Points +500P
⚠ Failure: Story Difficulty Increase
So no matter what, you’re determined to raise the story’s difficulty, huh?!
“Goddammit…!!!”
“I’m going to kill—”
“Shut up!!”
“……”
“From now on, nobody drinks any water!!”
“O-Oppa!”
“Hey! Where are you going now?!!”
“Kang Juhan!!!”
I vaulted the wall and started running.
Kim Hyeonsu was dead and a fair number of others had died too, so even counting everyone left in the villa there wouldn’t be fifty people. But the quest demanded I save a hundred. And the time limit was a measly ten minutes.
No matter how far I ran around the neighborhood, I couldn’t make up the other fifty. So I was heading there—the place that, in the original story, coldly turned away Baek Sihyeon’s group even when they begged to be let in after arriving in Apgujeong.
The distance from the villa was at least seven hundred meters. Ten minutes was enough time to arrive. But these were people who wouldn’t even open the door for the protagonist Baek Sihyeon and his party. Would they open it for me?
“Doesn’t matter.”
If they wouldn’t open it, I’d smash my way in. Even if the zombies poured in after me.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Tap! Taptaptap!!!
I tore through alleys like a madman, crossed roads, ducked back into alleys, and weaved between buildings. Even for me as I was now, it wasn’t easy—the sheer overwhelming number of zombies packing every street made sure of that.
“Kraaaagh!!!”
“Kraagh!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!”
“Kraaaaaagh!!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!”
“Kraaaagh!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!!”
Still, I made it in time.
(Time remaining: 00:01:29)
A massive department store with the exterior of a European cathedral. The glass doors at the main entrance were completely shattered, but a shutter full of holes had been pulled down and the entrance behind it was barricaded solid with every object imaginable. The rear entrance would be the same.
But I knew something they didn’t. The entrance the department store people actually used wasn’t the front or the back—it was the employee-only side door.
Bangbangbangbangbang!!!!
I hammered on the door as loudly as I could, zombies or no zombies. Hundreds—maybe thousands—of them were already flooding this way.
—Go away!!
—You crazy bastard! Why the hell are you dragging zombies here?!!
—Get lost right now?!!
Voices full of absolute refusal to open the door came from inside. So I warned them.
“Step back. Or you’re going to get crushed under the door.”
—What the hell are you talking about?!
It was a thick steel door. No amount of human pounding would open it. And this was a department store full of expensive goods, so it would be even sturdier.
I didn’t care. I drove my foot into it with everything I had.
KRAAAANG!!!!!!
The door dented in the shape of my foot.
—You crazy son of a bitch!!!
—Who the hell are you?! Stop!!!
—Don’t! If this door breaks we’re all dead!!!
“Open the door. I won’t say it twice.”
—How are we supposed to open it?! We don’t even know who you are!! Please just go somewhere else!!!!
I kicked it again.
KRAAAANG!!!!!
I was out of time. In a few more seconds the wave of zombies would sweep me under. So I stopped holding back.
Stat Amplification.
Acceleration.
“Hoo….”
I took a short step back, added the full force of my charge, and drove my foot forward with every ounce of power I had.
KRAAAAAANG!!!!!!
And I flung the thick steel door open.
“Ah….”
“Holy shit…”
“How…”
“What are you waiting for? Close the door.”
“Y-you’re the one who broke it!!!!!!”
“We’re short on time and you’re being a pain.”
I forced the door shut again and slammed Mook down behind it with everything I had.
KRAAAAAK!!!!!
The rod bit deep into the floor at an angle, becoming a solid brace that would keep the double doors from opening. Temporary repairs finished, I sprinted down the long corridor and burst out into the first-floor space lined with luxury brand stores.
“Everybody freeze!!!!!”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Even in the middle of an apocalypse, people who had been casually shopping through the stores turned their heads to look at me.
“From this moment on, no one drinks any water from the taps! No washing either! Do you understand?!!”
“What’s he on about…”
“Who is that guy?”
“Who does he think he is, ordering us around?”
“Making a racket first thing in the morning…!”
“No manners…! And look at the state of him!”
“……”
No one was listening. Then a man strode straight toward me.
“Who are you?! How did you get in here?!”
“Doesn’t matter. From now on, make sure no one uses the water.”
“Why can’t we use the water?”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous how, exactly?”
“If you use the water…”
Ah… looks like this quest was just handed out so I’d fail it no matter what.
Quest Failed!
Failure penalty applied.
Story Difficulty Increased.
At least they only raised the difficulty and didn’t slap me with extra penalties. Guess they still have a little conscience.
“Excuse me. Why did you stop mid-sentence…”
“It turns into that.”
“What??”
I jerked my chin toward the hallway where the restrooms probably were. The man turned his head and immediately broke into a run—toward the zombie that was already screaming and charging the people.
“Kraaaagh!!!!”
But could one guy handle this alone?
“Kraaaagh!!!”
“Kraagh!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!”
“Kraaaaaagh!!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!”
“Kraaaagh!!!”
“Kraaaa!!!!”
The whole place was already crawling with zombies.