Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: 16. Cockroaches. (1)
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I headed toward the alley.
"Open the damn door already. Huh? You think you can just hog everything? You want everyone else to die? Does that even make sense?!"
An ajusshi's voice.
"Open the door!"
An ajumma's voice.
I turned into the convenience store alley.
People were standing there.
They filled the alley completely.
There had to be at least forty of them.
...A survivor group, huh.
But...
...What the fuck are these assholes.
Right in front of someone else's house.
Thud, thud.
I stepped out of the alley and walked toward the boarding house.
All their eyes locked onto me.
They flinched when they saw me.
I was drenched in blood from head to toe.
There was hardly any skin color left on my face.
Blood dripped from my hair.
I kept walking like that.
The noisy crowd fell silent in an instant.
They just stared at me.
A blood-soaked guy with a sword at his waist walking toward them was bound to grab attention.
The ajusshi who'd been shouting the loudest at the front.
He was built solid.
Not some flabby day-laborer type, but like he'd worked out in his younger days.
Judo?
Hard to say, but probably.
And behind him, the ajumma who'd been yelling at the door with veins bulging in her neck.
...These two must be the leaders.
I could tell at a glance.
I walked leisurely.
Blood trailing behind me.
Thud, thud.
Confusion and fear spread across their faces.
Eyes like they'd run into Human Beasts.
The burly ajusshi looked tense but didn't back down.
The ajumma didn't either.
A married couple?
I stopped in front of the ajusshi blocking the front gate.
And looked up at him.
Pretty tall guy.
About my height.
The ajusshi stared back at me.
Not moving.
Not even blinking.
...This fucker's blocking someone else's door...
My face was getting harder to control.
I slowly opened my mouth.
"Move."
The big ajusshi scanned me from head to toe.
"Who the hell are you to tell me to move, you little punk."
His voice and tone were different from before.
Tougher when talking to a blood-soaked guy than to easy marks.
I smirked and drew my sword.
Shing—
Whoa!
The crowd gasped in tension.
I calmly pressed the blade against the ajusshi's chest.
And pushed.
This sword had pierced hundreds of Human Beasts.
In a short time, but I'd used it day and night. With the Maintenance Glove's grip added, it felt like an extension of my body.
My movements had no hesitation.
Smooth as flowing water.
Casual and quick.
I hadn't planned a surprise attack, but it turned into one.
Drawing the sword and leisurely stabbing forward, a bit of blood seeped out.
"Hngh."
Sudden.
This burly ajusshi hadn't prepared at all.
He flinched, caught his breath wrong, and took a step back.
I took a step forward.
"...I said move."
I kept pressing the sword forward.
The ajusshi took one step, then two back, breathing heavily.
I stopped at the front gate.
He took another step back, panting and glaring at me.
The ajumma was shocked. So were the others.
No one had expected me to suddenly thrust the sword at his chest.
Like in a rule-of-law country, how could this happen right in front of everyone so casually—eyes that still hadn't caught on.
Rule of law died the day the apocalypse began.
These idiots still didn't get it.
With looks like that.
The ajusshi pressed his chest where blood was seeping, then looked at his hand, incredulous.
Face like something unbelievable had happened.
Jesus, what a bunch of clowns.
I said quietly.
"So, what do you want? Why are you here."
"Hey!"
The ajumma next to him snarled viciously.
"Who the hell are you to stab someone! Huh?! Who do you think you are! What kind of punk are you?!"
She strode forward, pointing accusingly.
Pointing...
Ring on her finger?
Jeong Eun-seo's face flashed in my mind.
"Hey! You little shit! Think you can do whatever just 'cause you got a knife?! Huh? Do you know how many people are here?! Where do you get off stabbing people, you thug!"
Only this ajumma was that vicious.
The kind of brainless idiot who could bitch out loud at a blood-drenched sword-wielder.
I looked up.
The women from the boarding house were peeking out the windows across the street.
Terrified faces.
Jeong Eun-seo was among them.
I pointed my sword at the still-ranting ajumma.
She flinched and stepped back.
I looked at Jeong Eun-seo and said.
"Is this the ajumma who slapped you?"
Jeong Eun-seo glanced between me and the ajumma.
The crowd turned to look at the house across the street.
The ajumma's face twisted in rage as her expression changed.
She recognized Jeong Eun-seo.
Jeong Eun-seo nodded.
The ajumma yelled.
"Hey! You got slapped 'cause you deserved it! How's that my fault? Huh?! Why's it my fault! You messed up!"
I said.
"Shut up."
At the same time, I slashed sideways with the sword.
Slice—
Blood sprayed to the side.
The ajumma flinched, then slowly turned to me.
Blood poured from her ear.
She touched her ear.
Looked at her hand.
Covered in blood.
Her fat face trembled.
"B-Blood... My... My ear..."
...Finally quiet.
I looked at Jeong Eun-seo.
Then pointed the sword back at the ajumma.
And said.
"...Should I cut off the hand that slapped her?"
Jeong Eun-seo flinched in shock and shook her head vigorously.
I smirked.
"You're such a good person. Even know to forgive after getting slapped."
Then the stabbed ajusshi grimaced and shouted.
"You bastard! Where do you get off acting like a thug, you fuck! Hey, you dogshit!"
I raised my sword.
He flinched and shut up.
I said.
"The thuggery was you lot in front of someone else's house. You lost your minds."
The stabbed ajusshi just panted and glared, speechless.
Face like his words had dried up.
The ajumma trembled, staring at her bloody hand.
Letting out weird groans, like she might collapse wailing any second.
I said.
"Asking again. Why are you here."
I didn't lower the sword.
The stabbed ajusshi ground his teeth and said.
"...If you few swept the mart clean, you gotta share with others too, right? Right?!"
He turned to the crowd and bellowed.
"We're all one step from starving to death! Ain't that right! Look at this shit! What they did to my wife! Stabbed me! These bastards! Talk about biting the hand that feeds! Huh?! Everyone!"
The ajumma glared at me teary-eyed and screamed.
"You bastard, you fucking bastard! Think you'll get away with this?! Huh?! Hey, you shiiiit!"
...Why not scream louder.
Bring all the Human Beasts around.
...Lucky bastards.
They'd been yelling their heads off, but the area's quiet.
Single-family neighborhood, plus I wiped out everything nearby, so no one's coming from the streets.
Damn.
Should've left a few.
The ajusshi yelled.
"How'd we survive! Ain't that right! We survived! But these thugs swept the mart and now they're pulling knives! Does this make any sense?! Huh?! Everyone!"
The people glanced between him and me.
Their expressions shifting.
Realizing they're starving.
I smirked.
"Full of shit. Fucking ridiculous."
The ajusshi whipped around to me.
His face fierce.
Probably trying to rile them up against me.
...Whatever.
I chuckled.
"Need food? Convenience stores are everywhere, you idiots. You ignore those and whine about one mart?"
I pointed my sword at the crowd and said.
"Know why you're here? The inline skating club could give you even a pack of ramen 'cause someone cleared the mart clean. Who killed over fifty Human Beasts? Me."
So ridiculous I kept chuckling.
"They fed trash like you who can't even step outside and even guided you to the mart. But you don't know gratitude, threaten people, hit them, barge to their house screaming?"
I took a step forward.
Smiled.
"Raid a convenience store yourselves. Kill what's inside. But you can't. Scared. So you throw tantrums for others' work. Like you have some right."
I thrust the sword forward.
"No such right. The moment you touched those who helped you, you don't deserve a single ramen pack."
As the blade neared, the ajusshi backed up again.
The crowd flinched and retreated slightly.
Even the slashed ajumma shut up.
I said.
"Can't even think to raid one store yourselves, but swarm here yelling at your helpers to hand over goods. You think you're human? You're just cockroaches swarming garbage."
...That's good.
This survivor group's name from now on: Cockroaches.
I took another step.
The ajusshi stepped back.
I smiled.
"You're cockroaches."
The people just stared, breathing hard.
Some terrified, some defiant, some tense.
Commonly, shitty eyes.
I said.
"Get lost, you cockroach shits. Show your faces again, I'll cut your heads off one by one."
They flinched and backed away bit by bit, but didn't turn to leave.
I stepped toward the cockroaches again.
"I've already hunted hundreds of Human Beasts. Sliced up a few thugs like you too, cockroaches."
I didn't stop walking.
They slowly retreated, now backing away fully.
I walked, they walked.
After a few steps, the cockroaches started turning, panting.
I said.
"...Show up in front of me again, I'll hunt you one by one. Don't let me see you twice."
Whoosh.
The cockroaches walked away.
The stabbed ajusshi, the ear-slashed ajumma.
Glancing back at me with venomous eyes.
They left.