Chapter 4
Chapter 4
After my first meeting with Lee Sua, I returned to the first floor and slept on a random bed.
There were no zombies left, and after dusting things off a little, it was surprisingly comfortable.
“Mmm…”
It was now 8 in the morning.
My eyes opened automatically.
Looking around, I saw Zombie 1 and Zombie 2 standing guard quite diligently.
“Grr…”
“Yeah, yeah. Good work.”
Now that morning had come, it was time to think about my goals.
The first and biggest goal was building a proper hideout.
That would make survival much easier.
The second goal was growing stronger.
Time would handle that eventually.
And the third—
The convenience store storage room.
“I need to bring everything back.”
The moment I obtained the Dark Room skill, this goal had become inevitable.
In an apocalypse like this, food was always the highest priority.
“Should we go?”
I had just gotten up in a good mood when—
“Where are you going?”
“Gah!”
A voice suddenly came from behind me.
Lee Sua.
Today again, the combination of tights and a ponytail was pretty pleasing to the eyes.
But—
When she appeared out of nowhere like this, my heart raced for an entirely different reason.
“You scared me.”
“Really? Sorry.”
“Sigh…”
I’d gotten myself tangled up with a troublesome person.
Should I just loot the convenience store and leave afterward?
The moment that thought crossed my mind—
As if she had been waiting for it—
“Thinking of running away? It’s useless. I already marked you.”
“…What?”
“No, I mean, a gold nugget appeared right in front of me. How could I just let it go?”
“…Are you treating me like property?”
“Property is a bit harsh. Let’s say… someone I want as a companion?”
“Hm…”
Honestly, it wasn’t a bad deal for me either.
Having an assassin as an ally sounded reassuring.
Still—
I wanted to establish equality clearly.
Living through survivor groups had taught me that much.
Otherwise, when lives were on the line, people made stupid decisions.
I nodded and answered.
“Fine. But treat me as an equal. I need to be able to trust you too.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Lee Sua shrugged like it was no big deal.
Then her expression shifted with curiosity.
“Anyway, where were you planning to go?”
“…The convenience store.”
“The convenience store? There’s still one left untouched?!”
“Yeah. There’s a storage room that hasn’t been looted.”
“No way! I’m coming too!”
“…Why?”
“Just because? It’s been a long time since I went outside!”
She really was a strange woman.
The outside world was covered in zombies.
Danger everywhere.
And yet she wanted to go out simply because she’d been indoors too long.
Completely insane.
“…Fine. But if you’re coming with me, you follow my lead.”
“Deal!”
Somehow, I felt uneasy about this.
Still, she might become my first true companion.
So I had to trust her… probably.
We headed outside together.
Using makeshift hiding spots along the way, we slowly moved forward.
Of course, things were much easier thanks to Zombies 1 and 2.
Whenever I told them to search for zombies, they simply wandered off and fought on their own.
It was basically auto-hunting.
‘My experience keeps increasing.’
Still, I was too weak to fully rely on automated hunting yet.
‘At least three more.’
Once I could properly handle that many, then auto-hunting would really become viable.
After walking for quite a while—
“KYAAAAAH!”
A mutant zombie appeared.
It was the type that spewed intestines from its mouth to bind people.
Splurt!
“Grr?”
Zombie 1’s neck got wrapped up in the creature’s intestines.
Then—
Whiiish!
The mutant zombie reeled them back in.
Crunch!
Zombie 1’s neck twisted violently.
But at the same time—
Shing—
Lee Sua moved in instantly from behind.
Slash!
She cleanly severed the mutant zombie’s neck.
“Oh…”
Her speed was incredible.
Honestly, so fast I couldn’t even react properly.
As I stood there admiring it—
“Hmph.”
Lee Sua smirked proudly.
‘Oh, really?’
It was like she was challenging me, saying she was above me.
‘No way I’m losing.’
I immediately released Zombies 1 and 2 and started auto-hunting again.
The zombies under my control killed normal zombies with ease.
Because they appeared to be fellow undead, regular zombies lowered their guard.
And my zombies exploited that moment to ambush them.
“Grrraaah!”
“KRAAAH!”
“Go get them!”
I cheered on Zombies 1 and 2.
They even seemed to be competing with each other, trying to kill one more than the other.
Then—
[Skill Name]: Corpse Control Lv.2
[Cooldown]: 10 Minutes
“Ooooooh!”
Finally, it leveled up.
And—
The “control limit” had disappeared entirely.
Now all that mattered was staying within the cost limit.
“Let’s go!”
I immediately started controlling four regular zombies.
The moment I did—
“What?!”
Lee Sua looked at me in shock.
I grinned smugly back at her.
‘See that? This is the power of a necromancer.’
Then—
“Hmph!”
As if refusing to lose, Lee Sua accelerated.
Her daggers sliced through dozens of zombies in an instant.
“Damn…”
The difference between us was obvious.
If I was F-rank, then she was probably around D-rank.
“Shit.”
Still, it was fine.
I could keep growing stronger.
“Come on, zombies!”
Meanwhile, in Daejeon—
There was a certain crew.
And they were cruel.
A blood-covered man lay on the ground.
His arms and legs were tied, and his entire body was drenched in blood.
“Ugh…”
A groan escaped him.
Then—
Grab.
A man seized him by the head.
He looked like some punk with a mohawk haircut.
“Hehehe, around and around.”
The mohawk man shook the bloodied man’s head playfully.
But the victim was too exhausted to resist and simply swayed limply.
“Hmph. Boring.”
The mohawk man turned his head and shouted.
“Boss! This guy isn’t moving anymore. Should I hang him up again?”
“…Do whatever you want.”
A one-eyed man with a long scar across half his face stood nearby with folded arms, staring off into the distance.
Hearing the order, the mohawk man grinned excitedly and dragged the bloodied man away.
“Hehehe! Time for a necklace!”
He wrapped a rope around the man’s neck and headed toward a nearby road sign.
“C-Cough…!”
Then he hoisted him up and hung him from the signpost.
The corpses hanging near the Daejeon sign were all their work.
“Finally hit thirteen!”
And it wasn’t just the mohawk man.
The others were insane too.
None of them looked remotely normal.
They all laughed like lunatics.
Then—
“Move.”
One word from the boss.
The crazed laughter stopped instantly.
The gang members quietly mounted their motorcycles.
Time passed surprisingly quickly.
Most zombies weren’t even a challenge for us anymore.
Fortunately, no especially powerful mutant zombies had appeared yet either.
“Here?”
“Yeah.”
The shattered windows and dusty TU convenience store sign came into view.
Inside the store were the remains of the regular zombies Mutie had slaughtered earlier.
The storage room was still tightly sealed.
Exactly as I had left it.
Click.
I unlocked the steel door with the key and entered.
“There’s a lot.”
“Whoa…”
I activated Dark Room.
A black space appeared and swallowed every drink, snack, and canned item inside the storage room without leaving a single thing behind.
“Wow! What’s that?!”
“Just… something I have.”
“So you’re refusing to tell me?”
Well obviously.
Why would I explain it?
We weren’t even proper teammates yet.
Lee Sua puffed her cheeks before suddenly snatching a drink.
“Hey!”
“Just give me this one.”
“Haa…”
What kind of woman even was this?
Honestly, if not for that “mark” she mentioned earlier, I would’ve run away immediately.
“All done?”
“Yeah.”
The storage room was completely empty now.
Satisfied, I was about to head outside when—
“Wait!”
Lee Sua suddenly blocked my path.
Judging by her serious expression, this wasn’t a joke.
I lowered my voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can’t you hear it? Motorcycle engines.”
At her words, I focused my ears.
Vroooom… Vrrrm…
I could hear them now.
Both of us immediately held our breath.
But then—
Vrrm…
The motorcycle engines stopped right in front of the convenience store.
“Boss! Looks like there are traces of people here!”
A man’s raspy voice echoed outside.
Just hearing it gave me chills.
“Hm…”
A large man stepped off a bike and slowly approached the convenience store.
“We’re screwed. Into the storage room!”
“Got it!”
Lee Sua and I immediately rushed back inside the storage room.
Zombies 1, 2, 3, and 4 followed us in quickly.
‘All the zombies in the convenience store are dead. If only four were left alive, it’d look suspicious…’
There was no helping it.
Step. Step. Step.
Someone slowly entered the store.
And then—
[Trade cooldown has completed.]
Perfect timing!
I instantly made a post.
[Guys! Emergency! Need to hide. Anyone got a skill for that?!]
But unlike before, neither Necro Newbie nor Advance Necro replied.
Instead, someone else answered.
└ [No.20]: I have a skill. Feeling proud. Laughing for you.
“You do?!”
Then let’s trade immediately.
[Want anything? I’ll give you whatever I have!]
└ [No.20]: I want the bones of a living human.
└ Not that! Anything else?
└ [No.20]: Something shiny!
At that moment—
Something caught my eye.
A cheap necklace lying inside the convenience store storage room.
“Will this work?”
I immediately offered it up.
Then—
-Bid: [No.20] – Veil of Night
└ [No.20]: Shiny thing! I laugh for you!
Perfect.
Apparently, the fake necklace had equal value to this skill.
Things were going extremely well.
I immediately activated the newly acquired skill.
“Veil of Night!”
Shhhhh—
A black cloth-like darkness covered both me and Lee Sua like a cloak.
At the same moment—
Crash!
The so-called boss barged violently into the convenience store and began tearing everything apart.
“Hm… There are traces here. Where the hell are they?”
We held our breath.
He was searching for us.
“Hehehe.”
Then he looked toward the storage room.
“In there?”
He ripped the steel door clean off its hinges.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
An Awakened?
Before I could even fully react—
The boss entered the storage room, looked at Zombies 1 through 4—
—and cursed.
“Damn it.”
Like he realized he’d made a mistake.
“You useless trash.”
One punch.
That was all it took.
Zombies 1, 2, 3, and 4 collapsed instantly.
And never moved again.
‘He’s insanely strong!’
The guy possessed monstrous strength.
And considering he smashed glass with his bare hands, his body durability seemed ridiculous too.
“Ptui! Fucking bad luck.”
After spitting on the ground, the boss finally left.
The moment the motorcycle sounds faded away—
“Huu…”
“Haa…”
Both Lee Sua and I let out sighs of relief.
Then a question came to mind.
“You know those guys?”
The moment she heard me ask, Lee Sua nodded quietly.
“They’re a crazy crew in Daejeon. Psychos who hunt living people.”
“…Seriously?”
“The corpses hanging on the Daejeon city sign? All their work.”
Lee Sua shook her head with disgust.
She clearly hated even talking about them.
“Anyway, let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
We stepped back outside the convenience store.
The motorcycle tire tracks were still clearly visible.
As I stared at them cautiously, Lee Sua urged me to hurry up.
It felt unsettling, but—
There wasn’t much we could do.
‘There were quite a lot of them… around twenty?’
With numbers like that, I definitely needed to prepare for eventually crossing paths with them again.
“Alright. Let’s move.”
We quickly continued onward.
Since we had already cleared many zombies while coming here earlier, the return trip felt much safer.
But then—
“Grrrraaah…”
“KRAAAH!”
Strange noises echoed nearby.
Something was fighting.
I turned toward the sound.
Mutant – Armored Zombie – Cost 2
Mutant – Skeletal Zombie – Cost 2
“Oh…”
They were fighting each other.
This was amazing luck.
And I just happened to have four cost points available too.