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Kang Mu-yeol looked truly happy.
He hadn't stopped laughing since he left the villa, holding his newly upgraded baseball bat.
"Hahahaha!"
That was the sound of his laughter as he went out to clear out the zombies near the villa.
No matter how I listened to it, it didn't sound like the kind of laughter one would make when going to clear out nearby zombies.
"The feedback! Is! Amazing!"
Kang Mu-yeol's booming voice reached all the way inside the house.
That was his line after taking care of three zombies.
One per word.
"Hahahaha!"
If I had known he would like it this much, I should have asked Im Do-young to upgrade the baseball bat instead of making a slingshot.
Kang Mu-yeol's hobby and profession were one and the same.
He was truly living a happy life.
In this day and age, when the world is filled with zombies.
'He's cut out for the zombie apocalypse.'
They say humans are animals of adaptation, don't they?
Kang Mu-yeol had adapted all too well to the zombie apocalypse world.
It's not like he's mentally unstable. He's perfectly normal otherwise, but he gets excited the moment he sees zombies or looters.
"Better than being depressed."
If there's no problem with his mental state, I figured laughing heartily wasn't such a big deal.
As long as he's having fun, that's all that matters.
Unfortunately, because Kang Mu-yeol had cleared out the zombies around the villa an hour ago with the same level of energy, there weren't many zombies this time.
Those three zombie brothers he beat up in rhythm earlier were the last of them.
If only there were a siren, I could have summoned an infinite number of zombies.
Though, of course, I wouldn't have been able to handle them.
"Is he clearing them out too cleanly?"
With no zombies around the villa, it actually looks awkward.
Should I say it lacks a natural barricade?
If there were zombies, visitors would naturally hesitate.
"Maybe it's better to leave some. Like thinning out hair."
There was a reason I had cleaned up around the villa so thoroughly.
It was in preparation for when survivors might come looking.
If they made it all the way to the villa only to be taken down by a zombie, what could be more unfair than that?
It would be frustrating for me to lose a potential tenant right before my eyes, and it would be unfair for the survivor to be taken down by a zombie with the Safe Zone right in front of them.
But now, it's fine even if there are zombies.
Because I can now see the sixteen CCTVs covering the area around the villa from inside the house.
And since there are more tenants, the chances of spotting visitors who drift in have increased.
Actually, looters were more of a problem right now.
There was a looter who got suspicious after seeing no zombies around the villa.
That guy ended up becoming a meal for a zombie, but it was easy enough to guess that other looters might come looking later.
Like right now—
...Huh?
Some mysterious people were caught on the CCTV screen.
There were four of them in total.
Everyone was carrying a crude weapon.
"Hmm...."
They were dragging their crude weapons or slinging them over their shoulders.
A swaggering posture.
「Name : Kim Byeong-gu」
「Job : Looter」
「Level : 4」
...No wonder they looked so suspicious.
They were all looters.
Only Kim Byeong-gu was level 4, and the rest were all level 3.
Mediocre levels.
"Do they know about this place?"
Why do looters keep stopping by here?
Just then, Kang Mu-yeol returned.
I carefully opened the front door for him.
"Shh."
As soon as I opened it, I put my index finger to my lips and signaled him to be quiet.
Kang Mu-yeol understood immediately.
He quietly headed to where the CCTV was.
I explained while looking at the screen.
"There are four of them in total. Surprisingly, they're all looters."
Kang Mu-yeol jumped up and grabbed his baseball bat.
He looked ready to rush out immediately.
"Wait a moment."
I made Kang Mu-yeol sit back down.
Kang Mu-yeol is too hasty right now.
I don't think he was this hasty even just a few days ago.
Just now, I only said "looters," and he tried to rush out immediately.
"We must take care of them immediately."
"Shh, shh. Calm down. Calm down and look here."
I pointed to one of the CCTV screens.
It was the screen showing all four of them.
"This person. Take care of this person first. I don't care how you handle the rest. I'll provide rear support."
"Why take care of this person first?"
"He's the strongest among them. Of course, he's no match for you, Kang Mu-yeol-ssi, but it's much easier if you take down the strong enemy first with a surprise attack."
"Understood. As you said, I will take care of that guy first. Is there anything else I need to know?"
"No. Go ahead."
"Phew. Then I'll be going."
Kang Mu-yeol went down the stairs.
I grabbed my slingshot and headed to the roof.
As soon as I arrived at the roof, Kang Mu-yeol went out of the villa.
He was incredibly fast.
It looked like he had jumped down three steps at a time.
"Is it a level issue?"
Kang Mu-yeol's level is 10.
Until recently, he was only level 7.
Does he get more aggressive as he levels up?
Does that make sense?
But I couldn't recall anything else that had changed besides his level.
Kang Mu-yeol targeted the level 4 looter, Kim Byeong-gu, just as I had said.
"Haha, I've heard a lot about you. They say you're very good with a baseball bat...."
Kim Byeong-gu, who was talking with a relaxed smile, was startled by the baseball bat that suddenly flew at him.
That was Kim Byeong-gu's last memory.
A baseball bat swung by a level 10 warrior, no matter how lightly swung, was not an attack that a level 4 trash could dodge.
Besides, it was an upgraded baseball bat.
It wasn't just the wire; it was the grip on the handle.
It never slipped from his hand.
Thwack!
I looked away just before Kang Mu-yeol struck.
I couldn't get used to it, no matter how many times I saw it.
"Huh?"
The remaining three looters were dumbfounded by the unexpected attack.
It was the worst possible reaction.
While they were stunned, Kang Mu-yeol smashed another guy's head.
"Ah, damn."
Because I hadn't expected him to strike immediately, I ended up seeing the scene of the head being smashed.
"Huh!"
The remaining two finally came to their senses.
"W-wait! I came because I have something to say!"
The one trying to convey his original purpose.
"Argh!"
The one running away first.
It was obvious which one would survive.
"To make a scout offer—"
Thwack!
The one trying to convey the purpose of his visit couldn't finish his sentence.
The one who survived to the end was, as expected, the one who ran away.
That guy is my share.
He survived Kang Mu-yeol's bat dance, but he didn't survive here.
Hiding on the roof railing and watching the situation, I jumped up and aimed my slingshot at the guy running away.
Stretch—
Pulling the rubber band to its limit.
Thwip—
I fired the steel ball.
Whoosh!
It's a powerful slingshot that once pierced the heads of three zombies at once.
The steel ball pierced the back of the fleeing looter.
This is an instant kill.
The looter collapsed straight to the ground without any process like suffering or crying out for surrender.
Soon the floor was stained with blood.
It was when Kang Mu-yeol was about to return to the villa.
Suddenly, Nam Hyun-sik went out to the villa entrance.
He seemed to say something to Kang Mu-yeol, then headed to where the corpses were with Kang Mu-yeol.
"...Hmm? Do they know each other?"
Nam Hyun-sik had equipment.
I couldn't tell what it was.
It looked like a cleaning kit...
Well, it wouldn't be strange for a Cleaner to carry a cleaning kit.
But surely he's not going to clean now?
It was a cleaning kit.
Nam Hyun-sik put all the corpses in one place and sprayed an unknown solution on the floor.
Then he scrubbed the floor.
The bloodstains became completely invisible.
He took the corpses somewhere.
On his way, he greeted me as I was watching from the roof, and also greeted Kang Mu-yeol who was standing next to him.
I returned the greeting.
Nam Hyun-sik, who had dragged the corpses somewhere under Kang Mu-yeol's escort, returned with a light load.
The corpses were nowhere to be seen.
It became impossible to even know that people had died near the villa in the first place.
Because it had become clean without a single trace.
Soon, Kang Mu-yeol came to my room.
I heard that Nam Hyun-sik finished his work and was wandering around looking for other places to clean.
"Is it okay for him to wander around places where you aren't, Kang Mu-yeol-ssi?"
"For now, he mainly goes around safe zones, so it's fine. I've also checked his routes."
Even checking his routes.
I thought I could rest easy with this much.
Since the hardware store had also become a safe zone for now.
"But about those looters...."
Kang Mu-yeol explained what happened earlier.
"I think the last one said something about a scout offer."
"Hmm...."
I heard it too.
It's clear that the looter group recognized Kang Mu-yeol's true value.
I must never let him go.
Of course, Kang Mu-yeol didn't seem to have any intention of going either.
He had already caused an incident by killing the messenger, and he still loathed looters.
"Let's be together for a long time."
"What are you saying all of a sudden? I'm with you for life, Boss."
"That sounds good."
His position is secure.
There was a fifth member of Kim Byeong-gu's group.
Unlike Kim Byeong-gu's group, who acted together, the fifth member moved entirely alone.
Kim Byeong-gu didn't even know that fact.
While Kim Byeong-gu's group was being wiped out by the baseball bat, the fifth member left the spot and fled.
It didn't look like there was anything to gain by staying here any longer.
Fortunately, Moon Byeong-dae accepted it nonchalantly.
"Fuck! How dare they reject my offer?"
His anger was directed instead at the Baseball Bat Man.
If he had taken a hardline response from the beginning, they wouldn't have even been able to open their mouths.
Things just went wrong because he tried to have a soft conversation.
He threw the pen.
The body broke in half, and the cap flew off separately.
"It seems a bit of physical conversation is needed. Let's see if they still act rudely after getting beaten up a few times by my boys."