Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Zombie
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"Hoo..."
'Calm down, Jin Yuseong... It's nothing big.'
He pulled his briefly dizzying consciousness back together.
This was a zombie apocalypse world where everyday life had suddenly turned into hell.
He would witness and experience scenes like this countless times in the future, so he couldn't afford to start whining already.
'Before heading out, let's use the skill first.'
Nameless
The method to use the skill was already embedded in his mind.
All he had to do was pull it out and activate it.
As he silently called out the skill's name in his thoughts, an invisible wall formed between him and the world.
There was no actual barrier or shield, yet he could sensually feel something present there.
Feeling as if he were moving freely underwater, he carefully opened the glass door of the common entrance and stepped outside.
Screeech—!
As expected, the rusty metal shrieked loudly.
The zombie landlord, who had been devouring a corpse, abruptly lifted his head—buried in what had been his son—and turned toward the sound.
Grrrrowl—
He locked eyes with the zombie's blank face, one eye missing and stained with chunks of innards and blood.
Though there was no visible hostility, its sharp pupils clearly marked it as a predator.
Feeling uneasy, he gripped the door handle tightly, ready to slam it shut if needed.
'...Disgusting.'
Thanks to his high mental stat, facing this grotesque zombie only made him feel revulsion—no trace of fear or panic.
It was a stat that proved incredibly useful in this zombie apocalypse world in many ways.
He still didn't know why only his mental stat was abnormally high, but since it had already helped him a lot, he figured good was good.
'Did it... work?'
Nearly twenty seconds had passed since facing the zombie.
Yet it only stared at the door where the sound came from, seemingly unaware of him at all.
For final verification, he swung the machete a few times.
Even then, the zombie kept its gaze fixed blankly, as if blind to it.
'Nice. It's working perfectly.'
Shaking off the last remnants of survival instinct's doubt, he slowly approached the zombie.
Even as he drew near, it just growled toward the door he'd opened, head locked in place.
Thus, he reached right up to the zombie.
'Up close, it's even grosser.'
Blood had clotted into scabs, and though the skin hadn't rotted yet, it was festering.
The thick stench of blood and human guts was so nauseating it naturally furrowed his brow.
Ugly to look at and foul-smelling.
With that impression rising, he raised the machete in his right hand high.
They said a human neck was tougher than expected.
Especially since bone was involved, pure strength alone couldn't sever it easily.
Even in the past, executioners had specialists for beheadings—it wasn't something a novice could do casually.
So despite having a machete, he could only use it now as a slightly sharp bludgeon.
He aimed it at the crown of the zombie's head—that familiar face turned monstrous.
"Hup—!"
Then he swung down with full force.
Crack—!!
The zombie's skull caved in under the blow from his Strength stat of 10.
It crumpled like a smashed watermelon, shape collapsing.
Uuuaaagh—
With a faint death rattle, the zombie toppled sideways.
Thud.
Then it lay still as a cold corpse.
The goal of killing a zombie for the first time had been achieved far too easily.
Staring blankly at the corpse he'd made, an inexplicable feeling washed over him.
'Ah, blood splattered...'
Then an irritating sight caught his eye.
The sleeve of his right arm, gripping the machete, was soiled by the blood from the zombie's burst brains.
He'd swung full force, so it was natural, but it felt sticky and gross.
He'd have to wash it later—or toss it.
Whether because he no longer saw the zombie as human, or thanks to his mental stat making killing people feel nothing, there was no real emotional stir.
'Not sure if this is a blessing or a curse. At least it doesn't mean I'm lacking humanity, so maybe closer to a blessing?'
Ding—♪
Then, as he blankly gazed at the zombie—no, the young man's—corpse, a clear alert sounded, and a translucent system window appeared before his eyes.
You have hunted a regular zombie. Acquired 1 point.
You have hunted a zombie for the first time! Bonus: Acquired 2 additional points!
'So that's how it notifies me.'
Seeing the system window announce his acquisition of 3 points total—1 base plus 2 bonus for the first kill—he shook his head slightly.
Sure enough, the translucent window followed his gaze.
Definitely game-like.
Real enough to momentarily mistake it for an actual game.
Satisfied with his small first harvest, he pressed the X button in the corner to close the alert and looked around.
The floor and walls bore several corpses and bloodstains.
Probably people who tried fleeing into the building but failed.
With the zombie landlord blocking the entrance, they'd been done in by the gatekeeper zombie.
It felt like stepping into a movie.
What if all those corpses and blood were just props?
For a brief hopeful moment, but recalling the danger of his current spot snapped him back to reality.
'No emotional thrill is true, but disgust? Revulsion? That lingers. Guess I should hunt about five zombies and head home.'
It was his first time, and today's goal was scouting anyway.
Plus, practicing zombie-killing technique, so he'd grab a couple more then return.
'Nameless doesn't last that long either.'
The skill description mentioned "for a set time," so Nameless had a duration.
Not shown numerically, but he could sense when it'd end.
'About 25 minutes left.'
Not precise, but it seemed to last around 30 minutes total.
Cooldown about half, 15 minutes.
Not too long or short—plenty useful for him.
Enough, he felt.
To wrap up before it ended, he flicked the blood off the machete and moved on.
His second victim: the first zombie he'd ever seen, visible from his window.
Turning his gaze from the parking lot ceiling's shadows toward the sunlit road, he spotted a figure—not buried in a corpse like before, but blankly lifting its face.
The corpse at its feet was already twitching convulsively.
"That one..."
Looking closer, it wasn't just twitching—it was in some state between convulsion and frenzy.
'It's turning into a zombie.'
A scene he'd seen countless times in Ajeol, even if only as drawings when bored.
Heroines and extras alike went through this process.
First time in reality, but the detailed in-story descriptions made it unmistakable.
'Doesn't matter anyway, right?'
He was hidden under Nameless.
Safe from attacks.
Reassured, he approached them briskly, first zombie transformation or not—no big thrill.
Grrraaaargh—
Foam bubbling from its mouth now, body visibly changing in full frenzy.
A sight scary even to watch.
First, some traffic control: he swung the machete into the skull of the zombie that had turned the corpse.
Crack—!
Graaaah—!!!
Again, fruit-squelch sound and collapse with a death cry.
His Strength stat's usefulness was clear.
You have hunted a regular zombie. Acquired 1 point.
The standard 1 point incoming as expected.
Up close, it was a pretty zombie in revealing clothes, so smashing its head brought a twinge of regret.
'What a waste. If she'd been alive, I'd have gone for it...'
But he had no desire to become a necrophiliac lusting after zombies, so he quickly lost interest.
More captivating was the corpse beside it, turning into a zombie in real time.
"Graaaaaah—!!!!!"
Twitch twitch twitch.
Skin shifting from flushed to bluish, veins bulging visibly across its body.
The arm—eaten down to bone by the zombie he'd just felled—hung limp, unmoving.
Makes sense: no muscle, no movement.
'It doesn't defy basic animal motor mechanisms... Note that for later. Gotta gather info this way too—it'll come in handy.'
Know your enemy and know yourself for a hundred battles undefeated. Start with the enemy.
Plus, that doomsday countdown.
From his talk with Yuri Sister earlier, it was visible only to him.
A variable.
If a countdown everyone saw appeared only for him, it meant his Ajeol knowledge could alter zombie info.
Thus, supplement original knowledge with real observations.
'That said, it's mostly like Ajeol. Difference just 2D vs. 3D uncanny valley?'
If anything, Ajeol zombies turned dark mint-to-blue skinned, while reality just paled the original tone with a faint blue tint.
"Grrrowl..."
The corpse's spasms easing, zombie's signature growl emerging from its throat.
Per Ajeol lore, full zombie rebirth in seconds.
Judging no more info to gain, he swung the machete fairly, like with the others, smashing its head.
Crack—!!
No death cry this time.
Clean swing, even by his standards.
Found the knack on the third try.
You have hunted a regular zombie. Acquired 1 point.
Nameless' stealth duration was down to half.
Time to hustle if he wanted to finish his self-imposed quest of five zombies—getting risky otherwise.
'Wrap it up and head in. This sticky, gross, nauseating feeling won't quit.'
Thanks to the blood on his sleeve and the corpses' stench everywhere.
Goals met, info gathered—time to hurry home to warmth.
Ten minutes later, after two more zombies, he returned home.
Honestly, he was itching to hole up like a hikikomori.
And he tossed the clothes.
Blood wouldn't wash off, damn it.