Chapter 10
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The K-Mart Massacre
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I first checked out the situation from a safe distance away.
Though I planned to take out every last zombie gathered over there, charging in blindly wasn't an option.
Up until now, I'd been wiping out zombies with ease, but that was only when dealing with small groups. The horde around K-Mart was spread out across a wide open space in massive numbers.
If I dove in without a plan, even I might get surrounded and take a bite. I'd already seen what happens to regular people when they're bitten—they turn into zombies. I had no idea what it'd do to an Awakener, but it sure as hell wouldn't end well.
So, the smart move was to think it through and figure out how to handle them before going in.
There was no rush. At this stage, I was probably the only one crazy enough to rush into a spot with a few hundred zombies just to hunt them down.
Awakeners right now could only handle sniping lone zombies wandering the streets—quick ambushes at best.
On my way here, I'd watched some folks who seemed to have picked the Combat Specialist trait from afar. Some struggled just to kill one, while others snuck up from behind and bashed its head in with a bat. But nobody went after groups.
Proof that Awakeners were still weak.
Not that everyone I'd seen was average, but I figured that was the norm.
In a modern world of comfort, suddenly becoming an Awakener—even a Combat Specialist—didn't turn most people into zombie-killing machines overnight.
The faint-hearted would hesitate to strike down something that looked almost human. Not that those types had any business surviving a zombie apocalypse anyway.
Unlike other Awakeners, I had three reasons I was breezing through this apocalypse.
First: I could use black magic.
Against quantity-over-quality foes like zombies, you needed one-shot kills. My black magic let me do just that—clean and efficient. Weak zombies withered like mummies from a single Mana Drain touch.
Second: Battle experience most people could never dream of.
I'd spent a decade rolling in that other world after being summoned there. Dodging, fighting, surviving—against hordes of enemies gunning for my life.
Zombies barely fazed me; they were just monster-lite. No hesitation in killing. In a world where a split-second pause meant death, I'd lived ten years.
Put another way: I had zero qualms about killing zombies—or people.
Murder?
I'd done it countless times in that world. With black magic, with my bare hands. Never for kicks—just when they deserved it.
Somewhere along the line, the taboo faded.
In this apocalypse, threats wouldn't just be zombies. Humans too. I'd grown numb to fighting the undead, but plenty of soft-hearted fools would balk at harming their own kind. A good smack to the back of the head would fix that, though.
Last but not least... this had to be it.
After roughly scouting the terrain, I dashed toward the zombies encircling K-Mart.
"Hah... Hey, you fuckers!!"
I bellowed at the top of my lungs, and the zombies reacted instantly, charging to rip me apart.
I bolted into the narrow alley between buildings. Key to handling a swarm: don't get surrounded.
The alley limited how many could pile on at once.
- Grraaaahhh!!
I sidestepped a lunging zombie's bite, slapped my hand on its head, and sucked in its demonic energy with Mana Drain.
Then I leaped straight up over two meters, landed amid another cluster, and drained them too on touch.
Touching down between zombies mummifying from drained energy, I hurled myself toward the wall, spun mid-air, planted my feet, rebounded upward, grabbed another, and drained its demonic energy.
I bounced between the walls like a pinball, moving too fast for the zombies to track. Every one I touched vanished under Mana Drain.
Not just wall-running—I'd drop low now and then, trip clusters to break their formation, then drain the fallen ones.
Yes, despite my Black Magician title, my body had long surpassed human limits.
Inevitable for a black magician.
Unlike regular mages, we wield magic with demonic energy. But if spending 10 demonic energy to kill a monster only nets you 5 back?
Pure loss. Sure, you get loot, but demonic energy-wise, it's a disaster.
Especially against low-energy foes—the deficit skyrockets.
Thus, black magicians needed ironclad bodies. Weak monsters had to die barehanded or with weapons—no magic wasted. Absorb after, and your reserves only grow.
So yeah, black magicians might as well be warriors when farming lowbies. Mid-tier and up, switch to magic or body buffs for efficiency.
I'd lost most of my demonic energy returning here, but my physical prowess came along perfectly—ideal for zombie hunting.
I could amp it further with demonic energy buffs, but I wanted to conserve. Subspace to craft, reserves for emergencies.
Plan: Clear hundreds around K-Mart without spending a drop. Black magic as backup if shit hit the fan—but it wouldn't.
By butchering incoming zombies one by one and yelling my head off, they funneled right to me like lemmings.
Come on, you demonic energy goldmines! Line up and die!
I kept the noise up, picking them off to draw more in.
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"What the—no way that guy's insane?"
Jung Chanwoo, on watch inside K-Mart, shook his head at the sight of Kim Jaehwan yelling at the zombies milling outside.
Sudden agro on a swarm? Suicide. One or two, maybe a hunt, but hundreds?
Pulling that was begging to be bait. Once they devoured him, they'd swarm back here, he figured.
Lee Siyoung, standing watch with him, noticed his blank stare.
"What's up, Chanwoo?"
"Uh... look over there. Way down the alley."
"Zombies are heading that way? Why all of a sudden?"
"Some lunatic yelled, and they chased him in."
She peered over—yep, zombies flooding the alley. Noises echoed from combat, rattling even inside.
Both were convinced: the guy was zombie chow. Dozens, hundreds pouring after him.
No one could handle that many.
But as time ticked, no zombies returned. More just kept going in.
The fight sounds persisted—proof he was alive and kicking. Unbelievable.
Over a hundred had swarmed in by now.
Still fighting? Insane.
"What the...?"
"Wait—he's actually alive?"
Kim Jaehwan emerged from the alley, then bolted toward the remaining zombies.
Neither could forget what they saw that day.
Zombies massacred by one man...
Kim Jaehwan's superhuman moves—slicing necks with a kitchen knife, snapping them barehanded to use as improvised clubs, or drying them to husks on touch—were unreal, even watching live.
Not just them; everyone hiding in K-Mart noticed the chaos outside and crowded the windows for the zombie slaughter show.
Finally, after clearing the horde, Kim Jaehwan glanced at K-Mart and headed in. The survivors rushed down to welcome their savior.
To them, he was the hero saving humanity from the apocalypse.
A beacon in despair.
Down on the first floor, they spotted him scanning the aisles. Their eyes met, but he indifferently looked away.
Didn't matter. He'd cleared hundreds to reach them.
They mobbed him, bowing deeply.
"Th-thank you! So grateful for wiping out all those zombies outside!"
"Here to save us, right? Thank you!!"
"That zombie sweep was pure hero stuff!"
As the crowd bubbled with joy around him, he sighed and spoke quietly.
"Hah... What the hell are you on about? I didn't do it to save you idiots. So quit yapping out of nowhere."
"Huh? What do you...?"
The sudden words stunned the cheering group.
"Quit bullshitting and go hunt zombies outside—or get the fuck out of my mart. Now! Every damn thing in here is mine."
"B-but we were here first..."
"Don't wanna die? Then scram while I'm asking nice. Yeah?"