Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Northward
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Our destination was the mid-to-upper reaches of the Eunhyeon Stream, which flowed alongside Baekho Valley.
We planned to scout for a suitable site around there.
And that region sat at a higher elevation than the hill where my house was located.
Which meant that after the downhill stretch we’d traveled, an uphill climb would soon reappear along our route.
In short, we were currently walking up a very gentle slope.
“Whew… Ah, it’s hot.”
It was already May.
Not quite summer swelter, but our outfits were the problem.
Helmets for head protection and long-sleeved shirts.
Three or four personal weapons each.
Backpacks slung over shoulders, plus assorted gear.
I was drenched in sweat myself, so the others had to be suffering even more.
‘Maybe we should switch up our clothing…’
Awakening a Fundamental Skill made a person stronger, but it didn’t let you defy the laws of nature.
Gazing at the flushed faces trudging along, I debated lightening our attire for the warmer season.
That was when it happened.
“Hyung-nim. Look over there.”
Jang Ho-seop pointed up at the empty sky.
A single high-rise building protruded sharply.
Near the top hung a massive sign emblazoned with the university logo.
[Myeongsin Women’s University]
From here on, we could use that building as our landmark.
The Eunhyeon Stream flowed between Baekho Valley and Myeongsin Women’s University.
The campus stretched long from east to west.
Main gate on the east side, back gate to the west.
Baekho Valley lay west of the university, and that building marked the back gate on the western edge.
“Hard to believe it hasn’t collapsed.”
Landmarks made navigation a breeze.
We’d stockpiled plenty of paper maps, but collapsed buildings and ruined roads turned pathfinding into a chore.
We relied on surviving road signs and my memory while wandering and drafting new maps.
“Yeah. Good thing. Let’s take a quick break in that shade over there.”
Myeongsin’s building was in sight, but we still had a ways to go.
Close in raw distance, but no clue how long it’d take.
It had taken five full days just to get from my house to here.
A trip that should’ve been twenty minutes on foot.
‘If it’d just been straight travel, we could’ve made it faster…’
Occasional monster skirmishes.
Detours around utterly impassable routes.
Farming runs and road clearing for future trips.
For the past five days, we’d pushed nonstop from dawn till dusk.
We hadn’t been slacking off.
“Let’s move out again.”
“Got it.”
A brief cooldown was all the rest we took.
The sun, which had climbed high in the sky, was already tilting westward.
“Oh, my…”
Not long after we set off again, Jang Ho-seop muttered under his breath.
“Hyung-nim.”
“Yeah.”
“Those are all monster bones, right?”
About fifty meters ahead, the road stretched straight in a gentle uphill line, remarkably clean.
“Let’s take a closer look.”
Bone piles were stacked here and there like little grave mounds.
We approached the nearest one.
“Monster bones, confirmed.”
Monster skeletons looked eerily human at a glance.
The monsters we knew shared a similar body structure with people.
Even color didn’t give it away easily.
But up close, the differences stood out.
“These look like all goblin bones?”
Goblin skulls were distinctly flatter than human ones.
Their frames were smaller, and they only had four toes.
There were finer tells too, but this was enough to identify them.
“What’s the play?”
“Let’s push a little farther in.”
I poured more focus into Target Detection.
Just like straining your eyes for distant sights or your ears for faint sounds, you could consciously sharpen it.
I’d been practicing steadily, and tuning in let me cover a broader range.
“It’s dead quiet.”
“Nothing’s pinging for me either.”
We ventured further along the road.
All directions silent.
No signs of life even in intact buildings.
“But… doesn’t it feel like the bones are weirdly pristine?”
We spotted a fourth pile.
Gnoll bones mixed in here.
“Yeah, it does.”
“Hmm… Like chicken bones after you’ve stripped the meat. Ah, I miss chicken.”
Jang Ho-seop nailed it.
The phrasing was off, but they were spotless.
No cartilage remnants, no dried bloodstains.
Few fractures or damage—most were intact.
“The real odd part is how they’re piled up like this.”
We halted for a quick huddle.
Consensus came fast.
“This place… it’s just like our neighborhood.”
The area around my house was eerily quiet too.
We’d cleared out the monsters, and aside from our group, no other humans remained alive.
Same vibe here.
One nagging question, though.
“Why leave all this behind without looting?”
I gestured at the trashed convenience store.
It looked picked clean at first glance.
“The convenience store?”
“Masks still hanging on the racks. Cigarettes behind the counter too.”
A closer look revealed plenty of useful supplies left untouched.
“Hmm… Huh? You’re right? What the hell? Toilet paper and wet wipes are still here too?”
Not far from our goal, we’d stumbled into something inexplicable.
After some debate, we opted to pull back.
Time was the biggest factor.
Growing up in the city, I’d taken brightly lit nights for granted.
Only after the cataclysm cut the power did I grasp true darkness—and the full moon’s glow.
A full moon overhead felt like fluorescent lights.
‘But there’s no moon tonight…’
Last night, I’d stepped into the yard with a lantern for a moment.
The waning crescent had thinned to less than a nail sliver, making even my feet hard to see.
So we withdrew and rushed some last-minute farming.
“Good work, everyone.”
“We’ll wrap up and head back.”
We made it home safe before sundown.
At the church, I handed cleanup duties to the group.
“Ah, hyung-nim. Here.”
“What’s this?”
“Wild garlic, apparently. Bong-sik ajusshi picked it earlier.”
There was one guy with a knack for spotting things others missed while foraging: Bae Bong-sik.
“He insisted I pass this to you specifically. Man, it’s got a killer lime kick.”
Bae Bong-sik had sent mugwort my way through Jang Ho-seop last time too.
And the day before, I’d seen him grilling what looked like grubs he’d found somewhere.
He’d offered me some; I passed.
“Tell him thanks—I’ll enjoy it.”
“Got it. Huh? Noona, you’re not heading back?”
Bom-i noona could’ve come home with me but chose to stay and help with sorting.
I returned alone.
Clank.
Opening the front door brought the now-familiar scent.
Baby powder.
Heading to the balcony, I heard footsteps rushing down from the second floor.
“You’re back.”
Seol-hee. She must’ve heard the door.
“No trouble while I was gone?”
“No. Everything was fine.”
As I unpacked my gear, Seol-hee fetched a change of clothes for me.
Then she stood by, taking the garments as I shed them.
I’d protested at first, but now it felt routine.
‘Did she talk with noona?’
Bom-i noona and Seol-hee took turns tending to me daily.
Even on my early morning outings.
Whoever stayed behind looked after me.
The house stayed spotless.
On days I didn’t go out, Seol-hee threw herself into cleaning and organizing.
Bom-i noona was a fine homemaker, but by my standards, Seol-hee outshone her.
“I’ll take that.”
Just my t-shirt and underwear left now.
I handed over the shirt.
She usually headed out around this point, but today she stood there blankly.
‘Embarrassment, gratitude, trust…’
I could sense her emotions.
Some days gratitude dominated, others trust.
Right now, with me stripping down, embarrassment led the pack.
‘Or maybe she’s just spacing out.’
She didn’t seem to register anything odd about me standing there staring back.
Her eyes locked on my bare torso.
“Seol-hee.”
“Y-yes…?”
“Your clothes are wet.”
I nodded toward her chest.
The spots over her prominent nipples had soaked through in perfect circles.
“Ah, sorry. I just fed Hye-rin…”
“It’s fine.”
Guess she hadn’t tidied up after rushing downstairs.
No idea why she was apologizing.
“I-I’ll get dinner ready. The others should be back soon, right?”
“Yeah.”
Face flushed, Seol-hee scurried to the living room.
I watched her retreating figure and pulled out some body wipes.
Was it the heat, or did she just prefer skirts?
She was wearing one.
The next day.
I’d brought everyone except Jang-su ajusshi.
I had my Spirit Stones on me, and we’d left just a handful behind.
That was the plan from last night’s meeting.
We figured the bone-grave zone had a controlling faction like ours.
Which meant combat was a real possibility.
“For real? Never seen bones stacked like this before.”
We reached the bone-grave area early morning.
The group members who hadn’t been there yesterday gawked curiously at the piles.
“Quick breather, then we get the auntie buff and head in.”
After prepping, we entered the bone-grave zone.
Sticking to our intended bearing.
I took point a short distance ahead of the others.
Running Target Detection the whole way.
Everyone trailed me, tense and alert.
‘They just keep coming.’
Bone mounds appeared sporadically but consistently.
And silence everywhere.
As if the monsters had been wiped clean.
We pressed on without stopping.
Keeping a solid pace.
In that bizarre atmosphere, we arrived near Myeongsin’s back gate.
A quick turn here would lead straight to the Eunhyeon Stream walkway.
“Huh? Isn’t that thing we’ve seen before?”
Jang Ho-seop narrowed his eyes.
A stele larger than a person stood at Myeongsin’s back gate.
It marked the boundary, surrounded by open ground.
A few small creatures huddled in the stele’s shadow.
“Yeah. Caught one of those before.”
Rat-type monsters.
Tails freakishly long, claws oversized and razor-sharp.
“Let’s snag ’em on the way.”
“Roger.”
Nothing special.
Weaker energy signatures than goblins.
Just hideous-looking.
Green fur was weird too.
We climbed up to the back gate plaza together.
The rats noticed our approach and stirred.
‘Heading our way.’
Their energies soon pinged on Target Detection.
“Whoa, hyung-nim!”
Jang Ho-seop jolted in surprise.
Because more rats were bursting from the entry paths around the gate.
I’d figured just a handful, but no—at least thirty.
“Formation.”
“Yes!”
“Park Hoe-jang… pop that friend shield or whatever.”
Shields came out amid the bustle.
Yu-na conjured small water arrows.
Jang Ho-seop gripped the cart with Park Hoe-jang strapped to it.
“Chit-chit.”
The ratlings picked up speed.
Charging us like they were the apex predators.
I rushed forward to meet them.
Planned to hang back, but the numbers were a bit much.
“Chit!”
Whoooosh—slash.
Caught me off guard.
The rat had leaped right at me.
My axe cleaved it in two.
“I’m jumping in too!”
“No way, this is nasty. Fuck, they’re disgusting!”
“Uwaaaah! Friend Shield!”
Yu-na’s water arrows skewered a few rats.
Jang Ho-seop barreled in with the cart and shoved hard.
I hurled the axe I’d just swung.
These things died easy—even a kick would do.
So I gripped small hand axes in both hands and whirled them fast.
‘The crawlers are trickier.’
The group held formation against the swarm.
Chicken-sized rats hammered at shields.
Everyone recoiled in disgust.
They were handling it smoothly, so I figured we were good.
Until that unfamiliar voice rang out.
‘Where’s it coming from?’
Far off.
I fell back briefly and scanned around.
‘Dorm building?’
One of the structures on campus grounds.
A woman on the rooftop flailed her arms wildly.
Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t make out the words.
‘What’s she saying…’
Not so distant that sound vanished, but it was muffled somehow.
I didn’t react, so she yelled louder in frustration.
“Run away!”
It didn’t compute.
My side had nearly wiped the rats already.
“Damn it! I said run!”
The stranger shouted again.
‘She can see us fighting.’
Her desperate expression hit me—something was very wrong.