Flamethrower
Flamethrower
"A big catch..? Don't tell me you used me as bait?! No, what on earth did you catch??"
There was only one reason I used Kim Minseo as bait to reel these bastards in.
Just a moment ago, when I was talking to these bastards across the alleyway, I had my eyes on the crowbar resting in the hand draped over the window sill.
Judging by the sight of them leaping out of the building, however, not only did they have a crowbar, but there were also two guys carrying wooden baseball bats and one holding a ridiculously large Chinese cleaver.
This might be tougher than I thought?
Anyway....
"Hmm..."
"Why, why are you looking at me like that..?"
"You're not a total goddess."
"...What??"
"I said you're not a total goddess. But what, a goddess? Ha... Unbelievable."
"C-Creep..!! I know that, okay?! And did I say that? Those perverted bastards did! Besides, I'm extremely pretty compared to ordinary people, you know?"
"Did anyone ask?"
"Just so you know!"
"......"
"S-Sorry... But this time Oppa was in the wrong, you know how hurt I was when you said you showed me your body..? And trying to trade me around like an object... Even if you didn't mean it, it really hurts, you know..."
Look who decided to grace us with her presence as the tragic heroine of a melodrama.
Keep that up and she'll burst into a flood of tears.
And.
"Who said I didn't mean it?"
"You were serious?!"
"I wasn't just now, but if necessary?"
"Ha... This guy is really...!!"
"This guy? Ha... You've gotten awfully comfortable with me, haven't you? Don't you want to keep living?"
"C-Creep..!! Kill me, then, kill me! You bad bastard!!"
"......Right, it's only right to eat the caught fish after checking it, rather than slicing up the reeled-in fish for sashimi."
"D-Don't come near me! Kyaak!!"
Kim Minseo shrieked and fled the moment I took a single step forward.
Put on some proper clothes for once.
Ah, I'm naked too, aren't I.
Anyway, I suppose I need to leave the caught fish for later.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
"Open the door!!"
"Keep your promise, you bastard!!!"
"Open it or we'll smash it?! Open up fast!"
"Hey, move aside! I'll just..."
Fresh, flopping fish had arrived.
Tsk... I'll have to put on my underwear later.
Because those crazy bastards looked like they were going to smash the door in any second now.
Click-
S-s-s-h-k-
"Get in."
"......"
They had been screaming to open the door, but now that it was actually open, they hesitated and couldn't bring themselves to step inside.
True to those who had survived this long, they were cautious bastards.
The reason they were acting like that was probably because of the space beside the door, out of their field of view, rather than the interior visible through the glass doors.
I might have set up some kind of trap, and the possibility that someone other than me was hiding there couldn't be ruled out.
Whether they cared or not, now that the fellows had come this far, there was only one choice left.
"Not coming in?"
"Gwahk!!"
"Gwaahk!!"
"Hey! Just get in!"
"Hurry! They're swarming in!!"
"Let's go in."
"......Mind backing up a bit? We're not in a position to trust each other, are we?"
"As much as you like."
Urged on by the groans of the zombies echoing from down the stairwell, the frantic fellows stepped inside in time with my retreating movement.
Peeking their heads out first, just in case something popped out from the side.
Click-
"Phew..."
"Shit... That gave me a start..."
"By the way, are you alone?"
"Of course I'm not alone."
"What?!"
"Shit...!"
"Where is she! Where is she?!"
Raising a hysterical fuss.
Startled by my words that I wasn't alone, the fellows whipped their heads around, thrusting the weapons in their hands forward and yelling at the top of their lungs.
Seriously, what kind of nerve did cowards like that have to come here?
Was Kim Minseo really that desirable of a woman?
She was a decent-looking woman, sure.
Pretty face and a nice, supple body.
But wasn't it worth risking your life for?
Well, everyone has different standards for placing value on things.
Swoosh-
To calm the startled fellows down first, I pointed at Kim Minseo hiding behind the clothing rack.
"There's another one right there."
"Fucking hell...!"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Are you messing with us right now?!"
"This fucking bastard...!"
I tried to calm them down, but somehow they got even more excited?
Whether they got so excited they pissed themselves didn't matter to me, though.
"Where's the stuff? You said you were bringing food. And you brought a woman too."
"Crazy bastard. You actually believed that?"
"Are you an idiot? Got no brains?"
"Whoa~ What a total retard. How has a guy like this survived this long?"
"Alright, I'll give you a chance starting now. We don't particularly feel like killing people either. So clear out quietly. We'll let you keep your life then."
As expected, these guys didn't come here thinking they'd engage in a pure trade.
Well, what crazy bastards would negotiate when they outnumber someone three to one?
They'd just rob them blind.
Though there are guys who think about robbing even when outnumbered three to one, like me.
"Why are you just standing there?! Do you really want to die?!"
"Hey, do you think we can't kill you?!"
"Hmm..."
"What do you mean 'hmm'? Does this bastard really need to die before he learns his lesson!"
Staring blankly at the four guys spitting out whatever came out of their mouths, I nodded and turned around.
"Hey, the exit is this way."
"Heh heh heh... Leave him be~ He must be thinking of jumping out through there."
"Why? Are you too scared to come over because we're blocking the way?"
"Chicken-shit bastard. Right~ It's barely the second floor, so you won't die even if you jump~ Puhahaha~"
Leaving behind the voices mocking me, I really did go toward the window just as they said and picked up the curtains scattered across the floor.
The long, torn curtains with a garden sickle attached to them.
And then I slowly turned back to face the fellows.
"You guys know this? Barking dogs seldom bite."
"What is he babbling about?"
"Stop chattering and get lo..."
Squeeze!! Clack!!
Pulling tightly on the curtain wrapped around my right hand to adjust the length to about 1 meter, I smiled faintly.
"And thanks. Because you chattered like that, I don't think I'll feel any guilt."
"This fucking bastard, what is he..."
Thud-a-dat!!
Whoosh!! Bam!!!
At the same time as I dashed forward, my right hand drew a circle overhead.
And the sickle hanging at the end of the curtain swept in a large circle following the movement of my right hand, slamming hard into the face of the man who had been blabbering something at me.
"Wang-ho!!"
"T-That crazy bastard!!!"
"Gwaaah!!!"
As soon as one went down, the remaining three rushed toward me without a moment's delay.
Swish!!
Pulling and gripping the curtain with both my left and right hands, I swung it once more, tracing the same circular motion.
No, I kept swinging it continuously.
Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!!
Because I grabbed the front of the curtain with my left hand, the sickle shortened to less than 1 meter and spun rapidly around my body, halting the advance of the fellows charging at me, and I approached them while continuing to spin the sickle.
"This crazy bastard for real!!!"
Swish!!
One of the guys, showing great presence of mind, hurled a mannequin easily obtainable from the clothing store right into the trajectory of the spinning sickle.
Crack!!!
The mannequin shattered, and the sickle lost its rotational force, dropping to the floor.
And the fellows rushed at me once more.
Did they think they could beat me just by getting rid of the sickle?
Unbelievable, seriously.
I was the guy who beat down zombies with my bare hands without even raising my stats.
Just three guys...
Swish-
Dadadadak!!
Retreat for now!
Unlike zombies, these guys were carrying bloody weapons!
Shit, to think they'd neutralize my sickle like this...
However, it would be a miscalculation to think it ends here.
Because I still have a trick up my sleeve.
Though right now...
"Right there, you bastard!!"
"You're dead, you motherfucker!!"
"Die!!!"
"Shit..!"
Crack!!!
Dodging the baseball bat smashing down into the floor by barely rolling across the ground, I shoved my left hand deep into the bag I had grabbed in the meantime.
Grasping a round pillar-shaped object and one of the lighters piled up at the bottom of the bag with my fingers, I quickly pulled my left hand out, hurled the bag in my right hand toward the charging fellow, and flicked the lighter on.
Whoosh!!
A turbo lighter that wouldn't go out even if you blew wind at it.
And A-Killer, the epitome of household insecticides!
"Heh heh heh..."
If you're a man, you must have done it at least once in your childhood.
The memory of playing around by breathing fire with a makeshift flamethrower easily obtainable at home.
And those guys seemed to have that memory too.
"That psycho bastard..!"
"D-Dodge!!"
"Dodge what?! Just ki..."
Ssssssh-
Whoosh-sh-sh-ack!!!
Wow! Isn't this awesome?
The gushing flames properly engulfed the face of the fellow charging with the crowbar in hand.
"Gwaaaah!!!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!!
Dropping the crowbar from his hands, the fellow shrieked while clutching his face.
After breathing fire onto his face one more time and confirming that he collapsed, I slowly stood up.
Whoosh-sh-ack!!
Whoosh-sh-ack!!
After breathing fire once each as a warning toward the hesitating fellows backing away, I stood in front of the guy rolling around on the floor while clutching his face.
And once again with the lighter and A-Killer lowered down.
Whoosh-sh-sh-ack!!!
I breathed fire toward the head of the fellow clutching his face.
"Kwaaaaaaah!!!!"
A desolate, echoing scream.
Am I really a psychopath, though?
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Watching the guy writhe in agony, a laugh bubbled up.
This fellow was going to kill me anyway, so there was no need to feel any guilt.
Besides, having killed zombies whose base was human even if they turned into monsters, I didn't feel much guilt or hesitation about killing people.
That's why, unlike the fellows flapping their mouths, I immediately swung the sickle and killed one.
Well, since this guy is retired for now, is it over once I take care of those two?
Whoosh-sh-ack!! Whoosh-sh-ack!! Whoosh-sh-sh-ack!!
"F-Fucking bastard! Don't come near us!!!"
"You crazy bastard!! You murderous bastard!!!"
"Aren't you two the same? If I hadn't killed you, you guys would have killed me."
"We said we'd just let you go!!"
"That's right! You were the ones who attacked first!!"
"You guys broke the promise first. You were the ones who threatened to kill me."
"That doesn't mean you actually kill a per..."
Whoosh-sh-ack!!
"Aargh!! Cut it out already!!!"
"I refuse?"
"This crazy bastard..!"
Whoosh-sh-ack!!
"Gwahk!!"
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Isn't this fucking fun?
Should I tie them up somewhere instead of just killing them and play around by breathing fire on them once a day?
Nah, I'm not that crazy of a guy, so.
"Hey! Just run!!"
"Shit!!"
"Hey, wait! Play a bit longer!"
"Don't chase us! You crazy bastard!!!"
"Get the fuck lost!!"
"Let's play together, won't we?! Hey!!!"
Chasing after the fellows sprinting toward the exit, I breathed fire once more.
However.
Whoosh-sh-ack!!
"Ah! Hot!!!"
Perhaps because I breathed fire while running forward, the flames washed back over me instead.
Clang- Clang-
And at the sound of the A-Killer dropping to the floor along with my scream, the two fellows running toward the exit stopped in their tracks, and my slightly flustered eyes met the fellows turning back.
Blink- Blink-
For a brief second, I and the fellows stared at each other, blinking.
Fucking hell...
"Die!!!"
"Die, you motherfucker!!!"
The tide turned back in an instant as the baseball bat and Chinese cleaver held in the two fellows' hands came swinging down.
"Do I look like a pushover to you?"
Swoosh-
Stepping forward with a large stride to avoid the two weapons swinging straight at my face, I pulled my body to the side.
Squeeze!!!
I drove the fist I had clenched tight straight into the face of the fellow whose head was just turning out toward me.
Bam!!!
"Gwahk..!"
Caught on the cheek by a punch halfway between a hook and a straight, the fellow flew straight back with his head jerking to the side and spitting a spray of saliva, and smiling faintly at the other fellow staring at me with wide-eyed shock, I twisted my waist and entire body forward with my right foot and drove a left straight into the bridge of his nose.
Smack!!!
Dr-dr-dr-drick!!
Thud!!
Flying backward with his arms raised as if surrendering, the fellow slid across the floor and crashed his head straight into the counter table, and I opened my slightly throbbing hands, shook them out, and picked up the baseball bat dropped on the floor.
A Chinese cleaver dripping with blood was just too cruel.
Nah, beating someone to death might actually be crueler.
Well, anyway.
"Two and three are completely different~ Do you really think I'd have gone fishing if I couldn't even handle two?"
"Ugh.. Ugh..!"
"Yeah, I know it hurts. Knowing that if you get hit that properly and don't pass out, it really hurts. So I'll make it stop hurting."
"S-Save... me... Please spare me... Please..."
"I refuse? If you were going to beg for your life, you shouldn't have thought about killing me in the first place. And you shouldn't have thought about taking my stuff either. Right?"
"......Fucking... bastard..! Rot in hel..."
Bam!! Whack!! Whack!! Bam!!!
"What is this retard babbling about. This place is already hell, you bastard."
Leaving the dead fellow behind, I tilted my head to the side.
Drip- Drip- Drip-
Thud! Sh-sh-sh-drick-
After striking the floor once with the bloody baseball bat, I dragged it behind me and approached the fellow who was pretending to be dead with his head buried in the counter table.
Was he not unconscious?
Turns out he wasn't.
The moment I struck the floor with the baseball bat, the fellow's body had twitched.
S-s-s-h-k-
Squatting down by the head of the fellow who was stubbornly turning his head away with his twitching eyelids squeezed shut, I readjusted my grip on the baseball bat and struck his forehead with the round pommel at the base of the handle.
Thack!!
"Aargh!!"
"Am I a bear? Did you think I'd just leave if you played dead?"
"P-Please spare me! Have mercy, hyung-nim!!"
"Don't be gross about it~ And why am I your hyung-nim? How old are you?"
"I-I'm twenty-two!"
I was left speechless for a moment.
Twenty-two?
Judging by the way he talked, he seemed young, but...
"For real?"
"Yes, hyung-nim!"
"Whoa... I thought you were older than me.... What on earth do you have to eat to age like that? You should at least stop eating whatever that is."
"......"
I'm not joking, I really want to know.
To exaggerate just a bit, if he changed his clothes and hairstyle slightly, he looked old enough that you could believe he was forty-two.
Of course, looking like an old man wasn't going to save him, though.
Still, this fellow was a skip for now.
He might possess information different from the intelligence I already had.
From acquiring weapons to acquiring information.
Since I needed to extract everything I could from a single fishing trip.
"Wait here for a moment. If you get caught trying to run away, I'll break every bone from your fingers to your toes and kill you painfully."
"Yes! I won't budge an inch from here!"
"Good."
Tap- Tap-
After patting the cheek of the fellow a couple of times as he lay sprawled on the floor without even daring to raise his body and nodded, I stood up and moved over to where the fellow whose face and hair were thoroughly scorched by fire lay.
"..."
His heaving chest and shallow breaths let me know he was still alive, and I raised the baseball bat without hesitation.
"Farewell."
Bam!! Whack!!!
May 27th, the 8th day since the zombies appeared.
I committed murder for the first time.
Unlike the times I indirectly killed a few people before, I did it directly with my own hands.