Chapter 74
Chapter 74
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: What Happened to Them. (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Hoo..."
I leaned my arm against the entrance to the underpass and tilted my head back.
Drip, drip. Blood droplets fell from my chin and fingers.
It was already night.
I wanted to check the time, but my whole body was soaked in blood, making it awkward to pull out my phone.
Eh, I'll just head back and check it there.
I shook off the sword to remove the blood and sheathed it.
Shlick, shing—click.
The Human Beasts I killed today.
I had no idea how many there were, but my level was now 14.
That meant I'd taken down over 260 since acquiring my new specialization.
With my kill count hitting two milestones, the number I could kill in a day had definitely jumped.
I must have fired over 70 arrows.
The roughly 30 I started with had duplicated bit by bit, and even after shooting more than 70, I still had two or three left.
I couldn't be bothered to count exactly.
After shooting a bow and swinging a sword all day, I was beat.
Even with my Stamina skill, archery ate up more stamina than I'd expected, leaving my back and shoulders stiff and sore.
Probably because I'm not used to it yet.
Once I fire off around a thousand shots, my body should toughen up to match.
I opened my status window on the way home.
Today's raid had netted me 10 Distribution Points.
Senses at 5.
But Mental Power was at 71.
...Annoying!
That extra 1 point was seriously bugging me.
Let's round it out nicely up to one Acceleration charge.
Mental Power to 75, Senses to 11. Then I closed the status window.
My stats were finally pushing into solid two-digit territory. Considering that back when the Apocalypse hit, all I had was a single Acceleration charge, this was huge progress.
With Wild Hunter joining my existing specializations, my combat style had changed quite a bit.
No more zoning out or lounging around waiting for Acceleration to recharge before charging out to mow them down in a frenzy.
Now, after one sweep, I fell back.
And fired my bow.
With stats recovering 1 point every 5 minutes, that meant one arrow every 5 minutes, or 12 per hour.
Do that all day, and surprisingly, archery racked up more kills than Acceleration-boosted swordplay.
In the end, what used to be 135 kills over three raids a day with Acceleration and melee had easily more than doubled now that ranged attacks were in the mix.
Melee and ranged.
The combination of both.
Not bad at all for the current situation, where I needed to focus on leveling up.
Even factoring in 1 level per 20 kills, it was pretty fast.
The one downside? Rough math said that if I raided all day with just archery, I could hit 160+ kills—but I was short on arrows.
I couldn't carry 160 arrows around.
I'd probably need to strap a full quiver to my back.
Plus, the arrows piled in wooden barrels inside the building didn't even reach 160.
In the end, I was relying on the feathers duplicating at 3 per hour, which honestly felt way too few.
If only I had more arrows...
Still, I was killing way more than before, and pushing deeper into their territory, so maybe tomorrow I could recover a good chunk of the ones I'd shot.
As I approached the big mart building, Tae-young, who was on watch from the second floor, rolled up the shutter to let me in.
"Welcome back. Good work out there, Seong-hun."
...Hmm.
His speech sounded even more deferential than before.
"Yeah. Have you eaten?"
"Ah, yes. We had kimchi stew. You should eat too, Seong-hun."
I nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, I should."
As I entered the building, I heard a clattering sound, like pat-a-rack, pssh.
I paused and looked toward the noise.
It was coming from inside the mart.
A few people were standing there.
Holding bows.
They're practicing.
Rumble-rumble—
Hearing the shutter come down, I walked toward the mart.
Blood footprints trailed behind me with every step, so I should probably wash up first—but I wanted to see anyway.
I pushed open the mart door, and everyone turned to look at me.
Su-hyun, Ye-eun, Jeong Eun-seo, So-eun, Uncle Hoon, Jun-hyeok, and Han-tae.
Seven of them.
"Hey, oppa. You're back?"
Su-hyun and Ye-eun came trotting over.
I smiled at them and glanced past to the back of the mart.
They'd hauled over some instant noodle boxes from the third-floor warehouse, padded them thick with tape, and propped a pillow in front.
Pillows were plentiful in the bedding section, so they were using it as a target.
I chuckled and said,
"Practicing, huh?"
"Yeah. It's fun! But I haven't hit the target once yet."
"I tried too, but I couldn't even get close. It's really tough."
Su-hyun seemed to be able to draw the bow decently.
Ye-eun... well, she lacked the strength to pull it back.
"It's fine. Just keep practicing."
Jun-hyeok and Han-tae were in position with their bows.
Probably taking turns in pairs.
Jeong Eun-seo and Uncle Hoon were holding bows, waiting their turn.
I gave everyone a quick nod and said,
"Just came to check in. Keep practicing."
"Ah, teacher. Thank you. We'll do our best."
They nodded back to me.
Uncle Hoon.
Just the other day, that guy was trembling in fear, but living here seems to be building his confidence back up bit by bit.
That's right.
You've got to protect your own family.
I glanced at Su-hyun and Ye-eun too, then said,
"Keep at it. I'm heading up to wash."
"Oppa, oppa."
As I turned to go, Ye-eun called out.
"Hm?"
"Oppa, Han-tae baked baguettes this afternoon. How about cream cheese pasta with baguette tonight?"
"Sounds good. You girls eat yet?"
Su-hyun shook her head.
"We waited to eat with you, oppa."
I smiled and nodded.
"Alright. Let's go."
Su-hyun handed her bow to Uncle Hoon and came over. The two of them giggled as they followed me.
Cream cheese pasta.
Been a while since I had pasta.
* * *
"Urgh...!"
I thrust my hips hard, filling Ye-eun completely.
Ye-eun hugged me tight, letting out a moan.
She was climaxing—her body trembled against mine.
I pulled out right away and grabbed the knees of Su-hyun, who was lying beside her, sliding into her.
Still rock-hard, I pushed my hips forward.
A warm, slick sensation enveloped me.
"Ahng."
Su-hyun wrapped her arms around me.
Her full breasts pressed happily against my chest.
I'd cum inside Su-hyun in the shower, and just now in Ye-eun.
Felt amazing.
I held Su-hyun close, slowly rocking my hips back and forth, savoring the afterglow.
Su-hyun's face was flushed too, after all the teasing she'd endured.
Ye-eun caught her breath and got up, heading to the kitchen. Her slight wobble told me she was feeling pretty good.
"Hope the pasta didn't get mushy..."
We'd left the pot full of starchy water for nearly an hour while we went at each other—no way it hadn't.
I chuckled.
"Even if it's a bit mushy, it'll be fine."
Ye-eun pouted at me.
"It turned into udon. What now?"
Hmm.
"Cream cheese udon sounds tasty."
Su-hyun, pinned beneath me.
She'd been quietly moaning with each thrust, enjoying it all, and burst out laughing at that.
Ye-eun giggled too.
We laughed at the dumbest joke.
The three of us just chuckled aimlessly for a bit.
Whatever.
Dinner was cream cheese udon.
And that night.
In Ye-eun's room.
We were about to drift off on the spacious king-size bed.
Someone knocked.
A cautious rap.
"Um, teacher? You awake? Teacher."
The three of us rubbed our eyes and sat up.
"Unng... Who is it..."
Su-hyun grumbled.
I laid the girls back down, got out of bed, and slipped on my underwear.
Teacher, huh.
Only Uncle Hoon calls me that.
I rubbed my eyes with my palm and opened the door.
Sure enough, Uncle Hoon was there.
"Yes. What is it?"
"Seong-hun. Someone's here looking for you."
Rustling sounds from behind me.
The girls were sitting up.
I tilted my head.
"Me?"
Uncle Hoon nodded.
"Yes. I figured... you should be the one to decide, Seong-hun."
...Decide?
What?
I scratched my head, yawned, grabbed a t-shirt and shorts, and threw them on.
Su-hyun and Ye-eun were watching me.
"Oppa. The other group again?"
"Should we come down too?"
I shook my head.
"Probably nothing. Go back to sleep."
Stepping out, I saw Jun-hyeok and Tae-young behind Uncle Hoon.
Holding bows.
Hmm.
They must've thought they needed to be ready for trouble.
Should I grab my sword?
...Nah.
They had bows. If shit hit the fan, I could just take them and shoot the bastards.
I shuffled to the elevator in my slippers.
The others followed.
Damn, yawning again.
I yawned once more and asked,
"So, what's up? Who came? More cockroaches?"
The guys exchanged glances and tilted their heads awkwardly.
"Well... it's them, yeah."
Their faces said they didn't know how to put it.
Ding—
The elevator opened.
"Let's go see."
"Yes."
"Right, teacher."
On the first floor, Jeong Eun-seo was on watch.
"Seong-hun."
"What's going on?"
Jeong Eun-seo approached cautiously.
"People from that group. Deserters, I think."
My eyes narrowed.
I walked over, head tilted.
"Deserters?"
"Yeah. They say they escaped. Ten women and three men. Not sure if it's true or if they have some other agenda, so we haven't opened the door. Figured we should tell you first."
...Escaped?
"Weapons?"
"None. Empty-handed."
We reached the shutter.
I nodded.
"Let's take a look. See what they want."
The guys nodded and pulled the steel pipes from either side of the shutter.
Then rolled it up.
Rumble-rumble—