Chapter 50
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: The Price of Salvation
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Good call rushing over to where the school bell was ringing.
I figured there'd be a massive horde of zombies gathered toward the sound, so I could wipe them out with black magic and rake in coins hand over fist. But who would've thought Kang Sohee would be here.
The first time I spotted her from afar, something felt off. A girl like her should be right in the thick of it, swinging that greatsword and carving up zombies. But she was just standing there, doing nothing.
People around her were getting attacked by zombies, and even a bunch of Smashers had swarmed in, massacring them. Yet Kang Sohee didn't budge an inch.
Zombies and Smashers were closing in on her, but she showed no sign of moving at all.
Curious as to why she was just standing there like that, I decided to save her first. I cleared out all the zombies and Smashers around her with black magic and landed on the ground to check her condition.
At first, I thought maybe she'd gotten injured fighting the Smashers and couldn't move. But up close, I saw Kang Sohee holding a woman she'd called "Mom," her face etched with deep sorrow.
The woman whose right arm had been bitten by a zombie.
That was when it all clicked.
Why Kang Sohee had been standing there so listlessly.
I figured her precious mom had been bitten by a zombie, shattering her will to live. I'd seen that plenty in other worlds—people losing parents or kids to monsters, falling into despair, too broken to do anything.
At least her mom's skin hadn't fully turned gray yet, so the bite must've been recent.
Kang Sohee looked up at me when I arrived, her eyes screaming self-loathing for failing to protect her mom. She looked like she might just drop dead on the spot.
"What, bitten by a zombie?"
She clearly heard me, but she didn't react—just lowered her head and stared at her mom, like she planned to watch her turn right there until the end.
Then it hit me: the zombie infection antidote I'd bought from the shop.
The description said it cures infection in bitten people and grants immunity for an hour, right?
Couldn't I save Kang Sohee's mom with this?
"Hmm... Want a zombie infection antidote?"
"R-Really?!"
She snapped her head up at my mumble, her face lighting up like someone yanked from the abyss by a thread of hope.
And who could blame her? This was her only shot at saving her mom. Anyone bitten so far had turned within ten minutes tops. No other way but my antidote.
"Of course it's real. But it's not free. I'll sell it to you for coins."
I'm no saint who helps folks out of the goodness of my heart with zero gain.
Even in a spot like this, if there's profit to be made, I squeeze it dry.
She gently laid her mom on the ground, dropped to her knees, pressed her forehead to the dirt, and shouted,
"I-I don't have many coins right now. But I'll pay you back somehow! Use me however you want—just sell me the antidote to save my mom!"
Knowing Kang Sohee, this reaction was predictable.
"Alright, deal. Sold."
The antidote cost me 1,000 coins.
No way in hell I'd sell it to her at cost. Gotta mark it up big for it to be worth my while.
"R-Really!? Thank goo—"
"Price is 100,000 coins."
"...Huh?"
I debated the markup for a split second. Two or three times cost? Way too cheap for her desperate spot.
But jacking it to absurd levels wouldn't fly in reality.
Better to set a reachable goal, keep things smooth with her down the line.
So, a neat hundredfold it was. High enough she'd have to hustle, but doable eventually.
She looked stunned, clearly not expecting that markup. But in this crisis, haggling would just waste time she knew she didn't have. With a resigned face, she spoke.
"...Got it. I'll buy it."
"Sweet! Here's your antidote."
Never imagined the zombie antidote I'd stashed for a rainy day would pull off something this outrageous.
I handed it over, and she quickly slipped it into her mom's mouth. Her mom's skin, graying over, started reverting to normal.
"Thank goodness..."
I approached Kang Sohee, who was sighing in relief, patted her shoulder lightly, and whispered in her ear.
"Well then, looking forward to working with you."
"Ugh... Got it."
She was thrilled to save her mom, but now she was my debtor. She hung her head.
"Guess I should secure the deal, huh?"
I brushed past her to her mom, tapped her neck with a finger.
"Hey, what're you doing?!"
"Hm? Taking a hostage, obviously."
At "hostage," Kang Sohee shot to her feet.
"H-Hostage?! What did you do to my mom?!"
"What'd I do? Simple: if you skip out before paying up, her head goes snip-snip."
Her face went blank.
"What the... Why do that to my mom?! I owe the debt! I said use me however—you didn't have to touch her!"
"Gotta collect from you somehow. What if you bail thinking it's bullshit, or off yourself? But if it means your precious mom dies, you won't, right?"
What I'd placed on her mom was a simple curse spell. Useless against strong foes, but powerless folk like her couldn't dispel or dodge it. Trigger it anytime, and it crushes the neck until head meets dirt.
Great for controlling people, but it guzzles demonic energy remotely to stay active—why I rarely use it. Still, worth it to leash Kang Sohee.
"Just don't run, pay up steadily, and nothing happens. No worries."
"Guh... Fine."
"Won't charge interest like a loan shark either. Pure 100,000 coins owed. And I'll give you three years—plenty of time."
- Grroooaaarrr
While chatting with Kang Sohee, a zombie horde spotted us and charged.
"D-Damn it!"
Like she never wanted to relive that nightmare, she jumped up and grabbed her greatsword.
"Hey, sit this one out. These zombies are all mine."
"What? How're you handling that many alone?"
"Easy—like this."
Snap!
I flicked my fingers and unleashed a solid mid-tier black magic spell on the oncoming horde. The zombies swarming the school were insane in number—even this mana hog would pay off big.
Especially with Smashers mixed in here and there—huge ones.
The spell: Black Out.
Demonic energy rushed to the horde's center, forming an egg-sized black orb in the air. A powerful suction kicked in, yanking zombies inside. Creepy sight, those massive bodies funneling into that tiny sphere.
The more zombies it sucked, the bigger the orb grew, the stronger the pull. I set exemptions for me, Kang Sohee, and her mom, of course.
"Wh-What's that..."
No clue if she could see the spell itself. Yejin couldn't before.
But she said effects were visible, so the zombies levitating and vanishing into nowhere? Definitely in her view.
The orb ballooned from egg to soccer ball to twice that, suction ramping up monstrously. It slurped every approaching zombie clean. Even Smashers couldn't resist forever—they all got pulled in.
"Phew, that oughta do it."
I reached out, clenched my fist hard. The gobbling orb shrank and winked out.
It burned over twice the demonic energy of Devouring Dread, but the bell drew such a crowd I more than recovered.
Plus fat stacks of coins to boot.
With the mess cleared, I turned to see Kang Sohee gaping, speechless in shock.
"Hey, you'll catch flies."
"Uh, wha—?! What the hell was that... What did you do?!"
"Doesn't matter. Don't you need to treat your mom's wound?"
The antidote fixed the infection, but blood still oozed from the bite.
"We have someone at home who can heal wounds like that. Let's head there first."