014
014
The zombie crawling on the floor dodged my steel ball just like a spider.
It was an amazing movement.
To dodge a steel ball shot from behind just by glancing at it.
It made sense that it had dodged Level 7 Warrior Kang Mu-yeol's attack.
Fast.
'I thought Level 7 would be invincible, but I guess that's not the case.'
Kang Mu-yeol and my joint attack went to waste.
It wasn't meaningless, though.
Thanks to me shooting the steel ball, the guy missed its timing to attack Kang Mu-yeol.
The zombie, which had been sneaking backward, finally kicked off the floor with all its might.
Not toward Kang Mu-yeol, but backward.
It climbed up the building in one go.
Heul-kkeut.
The guy looked at me once and then snapped its head away.
"Eek!"
That wasn't a sound I made.
It was a sound made by Im Ji-ah, who was hiding behind my back.
Im Do-yeong was hiding behind Im Ji-ah.
Honestly, I was surprised too.
To think a mere zombie would snap its head back to look at me as if it had intelligence.
How could I not be surprised?
Because Im Ji-ah and Im Do-yeong were startled first, I missed my timing to be surprised.
"Boss, do you know that zombie?"
"No. It's my first time seeing it too."
"But you're not surprised at all. So I thought you already knew...."
"Well... it wasn't that surprising."
Actually, I expected it to some extent.
It wasn't that I knew exactly that that zombie would appear.
Aren't special zombies the golden rule of zombie media?
That guy looked like a special zombie that nimbly runs around and pounces on people.
An essential zombie for zombie media.
There are many names for zombies that run around like that, but I didn't think they'd know all those names even if I explained them.
"For now, shall we just call it a Spider for simplicity? We need a name that's commonly understood among tenants, at least."
"It did move like a real spider."
The nimble crawling zombie, commonly known as the Spider, moved far out of sight and became invisible.
I looked around Kang Mu-yeol and the family to check if the Spider was targeting them from another building.
In the meantime, Kang Mu-yeol led the family to the Villa.
The Spider didn't show itself until they entered the Villa.
Having confirmed they entered the Villa entrance, I sat on the chair on the rooftop and waited.
Soon, the family came up with Kang Mu-yeol.
The family looked around with fearful faces.
"You went through a lot of trouble getting here."
I greeted them first.
We've met, right?
I saved you from a crisis with a slingshot earlier, waved my hand, and even smiled at you.
"Ah, yes... Hello."
Nam Hyun-sik accepted my words with a bitter expression.
Did my sincerity not get through?
Actually, I didn't think much of it.
Anyway, if I feed them delicious food and let them wash with warm water, friendliness will follow on its own.
How can you resist abundant food and warm water in the apocalypse?
I introduced the tenants who had arrived earlier to Nam Hyun-sik's family.
From Kang Mu-yeol, who had just saved them from the crisis of being surrounded by zombies, to the siblings Im Ji-ah and Im Do-yeong.
Rather, Nam Hyun-sik's family sent looks of trust to Kang Mu-yeol.
Since they had been back-to-back until just now, maybe some camaraderie had formed between them.
"Oh my, how...."
Ju Hye-kyung swallowed a sigh while looking at Im Ji-ah and Im Do-yeong.
It was when Im Ji-ah told them she was living in this Villa with her younger brother without their parents.
When they first came up to the rooftop with Kang Mu-yeol, they had looked at Im Ji-ah and Im Do-yeong with wary eyes, but now only warmth remained in their gaze toward the siblings.
'...But why me?'
I didn't do anything suspicious, did I?
I stopped the zombie approaching the family with a slingshot, smiled and waved, and even told them I was the owner of this Villa in my own way.
But why are they only wary of me?
Wariness?
Just need to dissolve it.
I brought everyone to my house.
There's a saying that if you want to get close to someone, you should have a meal together.
Besides, my house has fresh ingredients that aren't easily found in the apocalypse world.
Of course, Im Ji-ah takes charge of the cooking.
Anyway, the ingredients come from me.
"Hmm...."
There was one thing I hadn't thought of.
My house is for a single-person household.
The dining table was for four, and there were seven people in the house now.
If four people sat at the table, the remaining three would have to eat on the floor.
Besides, the number of people strangely fit perfectly.
Four tenants who were already here and the three new family members.
Even though I didn't intend it at all, doesn't it look like I'm trying to show the class difference between the original tenants and the new tenants?
"Haha.... Let's lay down some newspaper."
I had no intention of becoming an evil landlord.
I just chose the path of laying newspaper on the floor and eating together.
It'll be uncomfortable, but what can you do?
While Im Ji-ah was grilling dumplings, everyone took on their own tasks.
We heated up frozen rice and thawed frozen chicken and sweet and sour pork.
It's a taste far inferior to freshly fried chicken and sweet and sour pork, but since it must have been food they hadn't seen for a while, it would be incredibly delicious.
Nam Hyun-sik's daughter, Nam I-seo, kept swallowing her saliva just from the smell.
Dinner is ready.
Steam rose from the newspaper.
"Thank you always, Boss."
I was about to take a spoonful when Kang Mu-yeol suddenly said.
Then Im Ji-ah and Im Do-yeong followed Kang Mu-yeol's words.
Nam Hyun-sik's family also caught on and said the same.
"Thank you, Boss!"
"Thank you, Boss!"
"Uh... yes, enjoy your meal."
I glared at Kang Mu-yeol.
No, we didn't have this kind of ceremony before eating usually.
I made eye contact with Kang Mu-yeol.
"I'm sincere."
Kang Mu-yeol, who answered without even being asked, stuffed his mouth full of sweet and sour pork.
It's a different feeling to be sitting around and eating together, but we can't do this every time.
It was uncomfortable to eat.
Eating on the floor when there's a good table.
"By the way, how did you guys end up coming here?"
"That is...."
Nam Hyun-sik told me about what happened a few days ago.
It was about a Looter raid.
They stole all the food we had stockpiled and were saving.
As he said that, Nam Hyun-sik glanced at his daughter, Nam I-seo.
He trembled his fists.
I felt like I roughly knew what had happened without him saying it.
Ju Hye-kyung gently wrapped her hand around Nam Hyun-sik's.
"So we decided to leave our home. Then we discovered this Villa."
"But about those Looters. What did they look like, by any chance?"
I asked just in case.
It was my first time meeting Looters too.
Besides, the movement path and number of people overlapped with the Looters Nam Hyun-sik's family met.
"The man holding a knife had slanted eyes and a scar on his face...."
It was those guys.
The description was the same.
"If it's those guys, we took care of them."
"Took care of them...?"
I replaced my answer by slitting my throat with my thumb.
Then Nam Hyun-sik's family flinched.
No, I didn't kill them. Kang Mu-yeol killed two of them.
I did kill one, though.
Nausea again....
"Then what are you going to do now? The Looters are gone. Are you going to go back to where you were living?"
Nam Hyun-sik shook his head.
"There's no law saying another Looter won't come. Those Looters also just happened to come in by chance. In that sense, I'm asking you shamelessly. Please, could you spare us just one room? We'll do anything!"
I bowed my head, pretending to think.
I didn't know this guy would bow and come in first.
Because I was originally planning to suggest it first.
A Level 5 Nurse is high-quality personnel I should hold onto even if I have to beg.
"Alright. Unit 401 is empty. Stay there. We'll talk about Villa rules and such later...."
I sent the tenant application to the three people.
Then everyone's eyes widened.
"W-what is this?"
"If you become a tenant of this Villa, you can receive my protection. You don't have to if you don't want to."
Nam Hyun-sik's family exchanged glances.
The deliberation wasn't long.
Three new tenants were gained.
I assigned them to Unit 401.
Nam Hyun-sik's family, who stepped into Unit 401 for the first time after finishing the meal and helping with the cleanup.
They couldn't close their gaping mouths.
A house managed this cleanly?
In their previous house, they couldn't even ventilate or clean because of the zombies.
Gradually, water didn't come out well, making it difficult even to wash.
But how is this house?
It was as clean as if it were cleaned every day.
The interior looked like it had been remodeled recently.
Swaaaaa—
Warm water poured from the sink.
"I thought it was just that house...."
While eating and cleaning up at Unit 404, they couldn't take their eyes off the dishwashing.
Warm water came out with strong water pressure.
They thought maybe only that house was special, like how I sent the Status Window.
This house also had good water pressure.
"There are clothes too!"
Nam I-seo took out clothes to change into and went into the bathroom.
Swaaa—
Steam came out of the bathroom along with the sound of pouring water.
"I'll shower first!"
Nam Hyun-sik felt like this situation was a dream.
It felt like they had returned to before the zombie outbreak.
Someone knocked on the front door early in the morning.
It was Nam Hyun-sik.
I went up to the rooftop with Nam Hyun-sik.
The morning sunlight was warm.
Nam Hyun-sik's eyes were moist.
"What...?"
What is he trying to say, setting the mood like this?
"Ah, I'm sorry. I had forgotten how pleasant it is to see the morning sun. I should bring my wife and daughter up tomorrow."
It seemed he was just overwhelmed by seeing the morning sun.
"Actually, until a while ago, I was running a building management company and a cleaning company. I was thinking of putting my main job to use; would you allow me to?"
"Ah... go ahead."
I already knew he was a Cleaner from looking at his Status Window.
But I didn't know he was a company owner.
Anyway, I thought he was going to talk about something heavy, but that wasn't it.
"Did you say his name was Kang Mu-yeol? If you lend me that person for a bit, I'll make sure the work is done thoroughly."
"Is that so? Then I'll tell him."
Does he need extra hands?
Kang Mu-yeol does look like he'd be good at using strength.
The day after accepting Nam Hyun-sik's proposal.
The zombie corpses that had been piled up near the Villa disappeared without a trace.