The Benchmark
Before diving into the actual modification, Jeong-ah said she wanted to practice a few times first. She scurried over to the flower bed near the gymnasium, then started fiddling around with a Cube in one hand and a pebble in the other.
She furrowed her brows in intense concentration, glanced at me once, and carefully balanced the Cube on top of her head.
I stared at her, wondering what the hell she was doing, as she barely maintained her balance, gripped the pebble with both hands, and slowly began to compress it.
Like a hydraulic press I’d once seen on YouTube, she treated the rock like clay, gradually flattening it thinner and thinner. The sight was strangely fascinating.
“But do you really have to put the Cube on your head like that?”
“I need to place it somewhere my nerves can properly focus. Besides my hands or the top of my head, there isn’t really any other spot that works…”
So basically, it had to be somewhere she could properly feel the sensation.
Even so, that was a bit much…
As I stared at the top of her head with a peculiar look, she couldn’t hold back her embarrassment any longer. She lost her balance and frantically caught the falling Cube.
“No matter how I look at it, the top of your head is a little much. Just activating that Cube already takes a ton of concentration, doesn’t it?”
“…You’re right.”
“And if you have to maintain your balance on top of that while working, nothing’s going to get done properly. Let’s change the position.”
“But there’s nowhere else to put it.”
While Jeong-ah sighed and fiddled with the Cube, I scanned her body as naturally as possible.
It wasn’t like I was suddenly appreciating her well-proportioned, glamorous figure. Nor was I admiring the capable career-woman vibe that would look perfect in a suit, the kind you often see in dramas.
This was strictly business. Business.
Of course she was a woman, so she felt my gaze, but she just chewed on her lips without reacting.
“This might be a little rude to say, but…”
“…Yes?”
“With that size, couldn’t you fit a Cube in there just fine?”
Unless they were fake or something, that is.
For a brief moment Jeong-ah didn’t understand what I meant. Then her usually calm face flushed slightly as she hung her head.
Hey, this really is business. Not some pickup line or compliment.
“I’m not in a position to make demands, so if you really don’t want to, just put it on your head.”
Even if it looked precarious and ridiculous, if that was what she preferred, there was nothing I could do.
Even if she botched the shape, the gym was overflowing with weight bars.
“…No. It’s fine. I-I’ll give it a try.”
She was actually going to do it?
I’d thrown the suggestion out there myself, but I never thought she’d go for it. I couldn’t help but admire her determination to repay the debt somehow.
“Th-then… could you come stand beside me? If you’re on the opposite side, it’s a bit…”
“Ah, sure.”
I understood perfectly.
So I stood right next to Jeong-ah in a pose that, if her brother Jeonghwan with his obvious sister complex had seen it, would have made him charge me regardless of any debt of gratitude. From there I watched several pebbles transform into half-moon stone knives.
All while desperately fighting the urge to let my eyes wander.
After some time had passed…
“I think this is enough practice.”
“Did you really need to practice this much?”
“I was worried. Branches and rocks have such different hardness, so I thought the sensation of reshaping them might be different too. And I was right.”
“Then you could have just practiced on this iron bar. Rocks and metal have different hardness too, don’t they?”
“No. No matter what, I can’t damage Sijun-ssi’s weapon.”
…Not like I was going to use it anymore anyway.
I shrugged and headed into the gymnasium. I lifted one of the weight bars standing upright and walked over to her. Jeong-ah started to lift the Cube toward her chest, then hesitated and faltered.
Realizing my mistake, I turned my body to the side, and only then did she carefully tuck the Cube inside her shirt to secure it.
I averted my eyes from the way her already torn shirt emphasized her chest even more and stated my requirements.
“Sharp is good, but durability is more important basically. Just make the edge thin and keep the rest thick.”
“…I’ll do my best.”
She nodded, closed her eyes, and wrapped both hands around the end of the weight bar—the part where the plates go on, the diameter of the shaft.
Then the Cube inside her shirt suddenly glowed, unexpectedly revealing the color of Jeong-ah’s underwear in vivid detail, but in that moment I didn’t care about any of that.
…No matter how heavy and long-reaching it is, against those orangutan-like bastards, there’s a fundamental limit.
That’s why I needed a bladed weapon. But even Chaeyeon’s sword or a katana, no matter how sharp, would have a hard time piercing a Beta’s thick hide.
So the only answer I’d come up with was a heavy bladed weapon. And that answer was about to be born in Jeong-ah’s hands right now.
Watching the cylindrical shape slowly flatten under Jeong-ah’s extremely careful touch, bit by bit, I thought:
If I can really get a guandao into my hands like this…
First, I’d clear out every single corpse near this school and farm points.
Then, if I had the leeway, I’d overturn the two high schools on either side as well, secure as much space as possible, and start gathering survivors like crazy.
For real this time.
A little later, we stayed in the gym until nearly sunset before returning to the main building.
You’re late. Why so long?
“Well, it turned out way cleaner than I expected, so I kind of lost my mind staring at it… Wait, don’t just shove yourself at me.”
Holding my new My Precious—a 180-centimeter modern guandao—in one hand, I climbed to the second floor. Na Sehee thrust her notebook at me and shoved her body forward at the same time.
I pushed her back with one hand while gazing fondly at the guandao. She blinked, looked back and forth between it and my face, then asked again.
Got it. Reason.
But. Why bring it. Here?
“Obviously I brought it to show it off.”
“…Kya-u.”
A strangely disgusted little whimper.
Of course, by then I had already finished showing it off thoroughly to every single person left in the school, Sehee included.
When you think about it, even a car—which is nothing more than a means of transportation—makes a man want to brag the moment he gets a new one. In a world this savage, when you get a sleek new weapon that’s basically an extension of your own body, how could you not show it off?
Same. This. Past life or. Here.
Men go crazy. Over weapons.
“Look at this beauty. How am I supposed to not brag?”
Sehee shook her head and slumped against me. But honestly, wasn’t this a hundred times better than bragging about some pretentious luxury watch? If those disgusting cousins of mine had been standing next to me right now, I could have paid them back for all the bragging I’d been forced to listen to until I was sick of it.
Not that I even knew if they were still alive.
Apparently my enthusiasm had killed the mood. Sehee completely detached herself from my arms and toddled over to admire the sunset.
“Not drinking blood?”
I’m fine. Actually.
Just teasing. At noon.
“…Teasing who?”
Everyone?
She said something incomprehensible, smiled with her eyes, then crooked a finger and called me over with an arrogant little pose.
If a man had done that, I would have snapped that index finger on the spot. But when she did it, the arrogance somehow turned seductive, so I just let it slide.
Anyway, I walked over beside Sehee. She pointed out the window to one side and showed me her notebook.
Let’s go play. Tomorrow. Over there.
“Where… Don’t tell me there?”
I had a bad feeling, and sure enough Sehee calmly nodded. I could only stare at her with a queasy expression.
Told me. Lots of clothes. Over there.
“…Who told you.”
I didn’t even need to ask. I glared at the laptop on the sofa with irritated eyes, but the screen was closed, so of course the crow gave no reaction.
“That department store is crawling with people. If you go, it’s going to get insanely noisy.”
Don’t care.
“…Let me rephrase. It’s going to become a massive pain in the ass.”
As I said that, I recalled what Jeonghwan had told me during dinner.
Sijun-ssi. Do you know? Without you even realizing it, rumors about you are spreading among the survivors.
Well, of course. After the chaos I caused at that apartment complex, how could they not?
No. I’m not just talking about the apartments. Well, that place already collapsed a while ago…
He’d smiled bitterly, brushed the bandaged side of his torso once, and continued.
Compared to you I’m nothing, but while scouting this city I’ve still heard a few rumors from other survivors. And among them, there’s one that’s practically become an urban legend…
Jeonghwan had hesitated for a moment, then scratched his head under the sudden weight of the whole group’s stares and said:
It’s pretty famous, in its own way. There’s a human weapon wandering around who single-handedly massacres those vicious zombies.
A man who ground down entire packs of the things that ordinary people struggled to handle one-on-one.
At those words everyone had turned to look at me, and I’d had no choice but to furrow my brow.
Well, there were exaggerations mixed in too—like how he caught a tiger and dragged it around…
That part was actually true. While Chaeyeon, Soeun, and I made complicated faces, Jeonghwan finally offered me a cautious piece of advice.
Sijun-ssi. From now on you need to be more careful. The number of people in this city targeting you keeps growing.
Well, if they want to come, let them come.
I’d brushed it off nonchalantly, of course, but he had seemed completely serious.
There are the ones who covet what’s in your pockets, sure, but more than that, the people trying to latch onto you somehow are going to give you a real headache. Probably.
…Latch on?
Yes. Even in a world that’s become like this, if they can stay by the side of a powerhouse like you, they can at least keep their lives.
Until now they hadn’t even dared to try. But now that it was the tenth day since the end of the world, the city was overflowing with people who would stop at nothing to survive.
So I could only stare out beyond the school with a queasy expression.
I had no idea what kind of people I was going to run into next.