Chapter 27
Chapter 27
"Ah, Ha-rang-ssi, wait a moment."
"Hm?? Why again?"
I called out to Ha-rang, who was ahead of me, clearing out zombies while drunk on her newfound strength, though she had been a bit down for a moment.
"If you want to buy whatever you want, you need money, right? Let's go to the market and do some farming before we go."
"The market? You mean Samgyeok Market? Sure~"
Trusting her strengthened zombies, I chose a path that was dangerous but equally rewarding.
--
We arrived in front of Nop-hyung, which I had looted last time.
"In the past, there was such a huge fuss about this Nop-hyung moving in, saying it would kill the local market's business..."
"But somehow, they were living well until this situation broke out."
"That's true. Ah! This was the chicken place I used to like..."
Ha-rang was saddened by the fact that she could no longer eat her favorite chicken.
"Since we have plenty of frying powder and oil at home, shall we catch some wild animals later and fry them up?"
"Really?!"
We went into the chicken place to grab the deep fryer.
--
Since the chaos began, and perhaps because someone had already come in and looted it, the inside of the building was a mess.
Pickled radish was spilled on the floor, giving off a sour, rotting smell, and the drink cooler was completely empty.
It was so bad that even the frying powder and flour had been looted.
"It's been about a week since the situation started, so now they're really taking everything."
"Right... The moment even the food that can be looted like that disappears..."
War between humans will begin.
'So this is reality...'
Lamenting the hellish world, I went into the kitchen.
"Ha-rang-ssi, are we really going to take the deep fryer?"
"Hmm... Let's do it. Our house is big anyway~"
Kudangtang!! Jjaenggeurang!!
As I dismantled the deep fryer and put it into my inventory, the various dishes on top of it fell to the floor and shattered.
"Ugh... Again? Be a little careful, honey."
"Ahaha... I'm sorry."
I scratched the back of my head with an awkward laugh, and as I put the drink refrigerator into my inventory as well...
Keueueue...
Zombies started entering the building.
"Hm? How did the zombies... Ah!"
A week had passed. The period of Absolute Protection provided at the start of the Ruined Game situation was one week. And today was the day that protection period ended.
Tukwang!! Pung!!
After throwing my dagger to blow up a zombie's head, I drove away the zombies around the building with fear.
"Ha-rang-ssi, it seems the Absolute Protection has been lifted."
"I guess so."
With food running out and even the protection lifted, it was practically a death sentence for those who had barely survived by holing up in their homes.
The protection on my house, where Mom is hiding, must have been lifted too, but the wall I built to max-level construction is the strongest wall, which would take a normal zombie a month to crack.
And since the house next door, which I newly built, would still have its protection, I wasn't too worried.
"We'll have to be a little more careful with this."
"Yeah."
Ha-rang summoned giant zombies from the shadows.
"Guys? Clean up all the ones approaching~"
Keueok!!
Except for one, the five zombies let out a loud cry and left the chicken place.
"Honey, then what are you going to do with this chicken place?"
The best thing would be to disassemble everything inside and get Peanut Butter. But the longer the tail, the easier it is to get caught.
'If I waste my skills and end up being found by crazy guys or people stronger than me for no reason, it'll be a hassle...'
"Let's just loot enough so we don't get misunderstood."
"Do whatever you want~"
I disassembled trivial items like tables, chairs, spoons, and chopsticks that wouldn't be missed if they disappeared from the shop, turning them into Peanut Butter.
--
We left the chicken place and went into every place we could see, including the side dish store in front, as well as the bedding store, egg store, tofu store, dried fish store, etc., and looted just enough so it felt slightly empty.
After spending an hour looting every store in the market...
"Honey... That ability is truly a cheat..."
"Right? Thanks to it, we're eating and living well like this."
We were able to obtain nearly 700 Peanut Butter in total.
"If we had looted everything in sight, we could have gotten twice as much, right?"
"If greed is excessive, you can get hurt, so let's be satisfied with this much."
"Did I say let's loot more? Hmph."
Oh, how cute. I stroked her hair, and she leaned against my body, enjoying it.
"I'm hungry after doing manual labor without even eating breakfast. The second floor of the market is a residential complex, so let's go into an empty house and eat safely."
"Okay! But where's the food, honey?"
Since time passed even inside the inventory, it was impossible to store food, so Ha-rang tilted her head when I suggested we eat.
"Hehe, be grateful that you met a man with good abilities."
"I'm asking where the food is!!"
I laughed, took her hand, and went up the stairs to the market's residential complex.
Coming up to the second floor, we could see a wide space and two-story duplex buildings facing each other on both sides.
"Wow, this is my first time coming up here."
"I only have memories of coming to play here once in the past because a friend from elementary school lived here."
The walls of the old buildings were cracked, and zombies were wandering around here and there.
Some houses had their doors open, and some were closed.
"It doesn't feel like anyone is living here at all."
"That's right."
Ha-rang's zombies cleared the surroundings, and the two of us started looking for a house without an owner.
When I grabbed a doorknob and used Blessing, it was purchasable, as if the owner had already been swept away by the situation.
"Shall we go with this house?"
"Hehe, I wonder what the structure of this house is like? I'm curious~"
I smiled at Ha-rang, who was hanging on my arm and acting cute, and disassembled the door.
Ha-rang excitedly went in through the open door.
"Oh?... Oh... Uh... Hmm..."
Expectation turned into disappointment.
"It's... a bit..."
"Right?"
Having been here in the past, I knew how impoverished the lives of the residents of this complex were.
Inside, the kitchen and living room coexisted in a narrow space, and there was only one room besides the bathroom.
"Tsk... Not fun!"
We didn't come here to tour the house, did we...?
Ha-rang came back and hung on my arm.
"Excuse me."
I went inside the building.
Taking off my shoes and going inside, an unpleasant smell stimulated my nose.
Ah, no way...
With a worried heart, I opened the door to the only room.
Kkii-ik
Shit...
Inside, what I had feared was exactly...
The corpses of an adult man, woman, and a young child...
People who looked like a family were stabbed with knives... and were rotting to death.
I knew this was the kind of world it was, but as a survivor, this sight was hard to watch.
"Honey... are you okay?"
'How are you able to be so fine...?'
I almost said something I shouldn't have for a moment.
"Thank you, Ha-rang-ssi... This family... seems to have been killed by looters."
"That's right, there are knife marks too... Because if you get bitten by a zombie, you become a zombie."
Cheolkeok..
I closed the door again and shook my head to blow away the heavy feeling.
"Phew... I tried to eat a meal comfortably, but the world isn't that easy."
We left that house and went to find another one.
Fortunately, there were no corpses in this house.
Ha-rang used her zombies to clean up the surroundings, and I took out spoons, chopsticks, rice, and the soybean paste stew my mom used to make in the past from my inventory.
When the bubbling soybean paste stew suddenly appeared in front of her, Ha-rang was surprised.
"Honey!? What on earth is going on?!"
As expected, Ha-rang is cutest when she's surprised.
"It's my skill. An ability that can copy something I've explored. I can only use it once a day. Now, let's eat."
In fact, I bought it from the shop, but since I couldn't keep lying forever, I bluffed that it was a copy skill with a long cooldown.
As I sat down and picked up a spoon, Ha-rang grabbed me by the collar.
"Copy?!?! Then can you copy that Elixir from back then too?!"
"Uh... Now that I think about it, that's right. It might be possible?"
"It might be possible?!?! You bastard!! You should have said that first!!!"
Um... Mr. System? I'm being attacked, you know??
She grabbed my collar and shook me, and my neck swayed back and forth.
"Waaaiit a moooment, Haa-rang-ssii"
At my words, she gasped for breath.
"Haa... Damn Zombie Control... Since I can't raise my stamina... grabbing someone by the collar... is hard too..."
Haha... What are you going to do if you get even more energetic than that...
I manipulated the system in front of her as she struggled.
[Elixir Concentrate]
Price: 10,000 Peanut Butter
'Crazy... Should I have drunk it back then...?'
I hated myself for refusing the elixir at the window that appeared before me.
"Sigh..."
When I suddenly sighed...
"Honey? Is something wrong?"
"No... My ability is to copy something I've explored, but there's a cost to copying...?"
"There's a cost?"
"As you just said, Ha-rang-ssi, when I tried to copy the Elixir..."
"And?"
That tone is really cute.
"It says it needs 10,000 Peanut Butter."
"T... Ten thousand?! Are you telling me to copy it or not!!"
"But it also means that if we just have 10,000, we can drink the Elixir."
"But..."
At my different interpretation, she lowered her head for a moment and then approached me.
"Honey!"
"Yes?"
"Let's loot every house we see from now on!!"
Uh... You haven't forgotten the reason why we've been picking and looting sparingly until now, have you...?
"I told you, Ha-rang-ssi. If all the items are gone, it will be easier for the veterans to find us later."
"That's true. But what if we become strong enough that those veterans can't do anything to us?"
Huh? Now that I think about it, that's right?
In the past world, I was a 25-year-old solo, virgin, unemployed guy. In other words, the lowest-ranking prey with absolutely no social power.
I'm not a solo virgin anymore, though, hehe...
But currently, this world is a world of survival of the fittest where the one who survives wins, not status.
It's a world where if you become the strong, you don't have to worry about the position of the weak.
'I unconsciously thought of myself as the weak... But if I have Manmulcho's skills and Ha-rang-ssi...'
Isn't it fine?
I realized that I had been a frog trembling inside a narrow well until now.
"Ha-rang-ssi, you're truly a genius!!"
Kudangtang!
I hugged Ha-rang in front of me and rolled on the floor.
"Kyaa! Honey?"
"Ha-rang-ssi is right! If we become strong, we don't have to worry about what others think!!"
Ha-rang, who was surprised, smiled contentedly at my words and stroked my hair.
"Oh my... Our honey didn't even know that until now? You were acting all high and mighty, but you were an idiot?"
Ugh... It's true, but... your words are a bit too much...
Jjo-ok
She suddenly kissed me.
"It's a relief that you've come to your senses even now. So what are you going to do now?"
"Obviously!"
Kkoreureureuk
Ah...
The moment I was about to say a cool resolution, our stomachs made a fuss, asking for food.
"Obviously, we should eat first, right?"
"Pfft... That's true. Hehe, let's eat quickly."
We laughed and were able to finish a full meal with warm rice and delicious soybean paste stew.
--
There was only soybean paste stew as a side dish, but just being able to eat a full meal in a world like this was a blessing.
"Whew... Honey, then what are you going to do now?"
To Ha-rang's same question, I said the decision I made while eating.
"I'm going to loot everything I see, turn it into money, then go to the village and flaunt my wealth."
In the Ruined Game, buffs and skills were important, but the thing that takes up a large portion in all games is exactly that.
It's item power.
"Let's farm hard to acquire Peanut Butter, then set off on our journey to Sudo Mountain again."
"Okay, do whatever you want, honey."
"Thank you, Ha-rang-ssi."
I expressed my gratitude to her and kissed her, and we had a kiss that tasted like soybean paste stew.
--
Coming outside, we looked at each other's faces and nodded.
"Let's go back home first."
"Okay! Mother must be worried."
We headed home, wiping out the normal zombies.
--
As we entered the alley of our house, as I expected, a small number of zombies were knocking on our house door.
Pung! Peopung! Pujik!
[Experience Gained 10]
[Level Up! You have obtained new Free Points.]
They were cleaned up in an instant by the dagger I threw and the spear I thrust.
It's a relief there weren't many.
I restored the durability of the wall that had been consumed with the building materials piled up in my inventory.
Ppiririk
Opening the front gate and entering, I felt a longing for the house even though it had only been a day, and...
"Mom!!"
"Oh my!"
I saw Mom.
I ran toward Mom, spreading my arms.
"Ha-rang-ssi!!"
Uh... Mom?!
Mom passed me by and ran like an arrow to hug Ha-rang.
I was shocked and froze in the position with my arms spread out, and Ha-rang smiled awkwardly and hugged Mom.
"I'm home, Mother~"
"Oh my, do you know how worried I was? I'm so glad you came back healthy!"
"Hahaha... I'm glad you look healthy too, Mother."
Listening to this, really?!
"Mom!!!!"
I turned my body and called Mom loudly, and Mom looked at me with a frown.
"It's loud! Son! Mom isn't deaf yet!!"
"Geez! Is Ha-rang-ssi more important than me?!"
To my legitimate question,
"You're strong! What kind of strength would a delicate woman like Ha-rang-ssi have!? Obviously, you have to protect her!!"
No, Mom... I'm telling you, Ha-rang-ssi is stronger...
Since it was obvious she wouldn't believe me even if I told her the truth, I sighed.
"Sigh..."
Thus, our one-day journey came to an end.
--