After the Pre-Update Notice (3)

After a simple breakfast, Han Sora and I headed outside.

Today, for the first time, I decided to venture out onto the main boulevard lined with tall buildings.

Until now, we'd only circled the neighborhood courtyard. We hadn't dared approach the dense cluster of buildings and cars near the subway station. It was far too dangerous, and the sightlines were terrible.

This time, though, we had someone who could solve that problem.

First, we stepped into a general store I'd spotted from the boulevard.

It was a well-known franchise convenience store, all glass doors and glass walls — and true to the apocalypse, every pane had been smashed, leaving the interior completely exposed.

"Here it is."

"Th-that's amazing...!"

I lit up as I found what I'd been looking for, and beside me Han Sora stared at me with sparkling eyes, almost worshipful.

Of course, before we'd even entered the store, zombies had come lumbering over to welcome us. And of course, I'd returned the greeting properly. Effortlessly.

It wasn't just experience — the gold monsters dropped was split between party members too.

And according to the party system notification, that meant we were effectively earning one extra gold each kill.

Reading that, I wondered for once why the system was being so user-friendly. Han Sora cheered under her breath, muttering something too quiet for me to catch.

"Here. Take this."

"Ah — y-yes...!"

I handed her what I'd grabbed from the store.

Walkie-talkies. Toy-grade compared to military gear, obviously — but according to the packaging, they could reach up to a kilometer with a clear line of sight.

And they ran on batteries, so no charger required.

What is this, basic training?

Of course I am.

Instead of answering, I glanced back and nodded.

Han Sora was fully set up to protect herself. Behind the store counter, she'd draped herself in a blanket scavenged from a nearby bedding shop, with only the tip of a telescope peeking out.

Leaving her inside the shop, I stepped out onto the street.

The sky was blue, the sun high, and for the first time in ages the air was free of fine dust.

At the same time, the stench of blood and rotting meat hung thick. The boulevard was every bit the wreck I'd expected — zombies, stalled cars, shattered buildings...

"Hoooooo...!"

I took one deep breath.

I was confident about what I was about to do, but now that the moment had arrived, a little tension crept in. I exhaled slowly, then filled my lungs again.

And I roared.

"COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Han Sora's startled yelp crackled over the radio.

And then—

KRRREEEEEEEEEK!

UWOOOOOOORGH!

Kikikik, kyahk!

The noise of things that were neither human nor beast swirled through the air around me.

I gripped a hand axe in each fist — tools I'd grabbed from a nearby hardware store. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have even dreamed of swinging things like these.

"UWOOOOORGH!"

The sound of several zombies closing in.

Like I said, this boulevard was a ruin. Wrecked and abandoned cars, collapsed buildings everywhere — even when you heard something, you couldn't see it right away.

But we had something better: eyes that could pierce blind spots no human should be able to see through.

It was her first try, so she stumbled a little.

Even so, it was more than enough for me.

I kicked off immediately. Running full tilt, I vaulted onto a wrecked car without a second thought and used the wrecks as stepping stones until I reached the spot she'd called out.

"UWOOOOOOORGH!"

By eye, five of them.

Han Sora's intel was spot-on. I swung the hand axe in my left hand.

THWACK!

One zombie's head came clean off and hit the ground.

Not bad for a hand axe I grabbed in a hurry. Or is it my Strength and Agility that are ridiculous?

Either way — one down. No hesitation. I swung straight into the next one.

THWACK. CRUNCH!

In an instant, three, then four zombies lost their heads. The one still twitching got a kick that sent it sprawling and bought me distance.

At the urgency in Han Sora's voice, I spun and changed direction in a heartbeat.

My feet hammered the pavement.

"Ki—kik!?"

"Krrrk!?"

The goblins looked startled when I suddenly appeared right in front of them.

And just as Han Sora had said — it wasn't only goblins.

Clack-clack-clack...!

Whoa, san— ah, wait, copyright?

Whoa. Skeletons. Actual skeletons! Four of them, swords and bows — Skeleton Warriors!

Nice fat experience packs!

My hand dipped to my waist. In a flash I flung a knife straight at one goblin's skull.

THUNK!

"Ki...ek!?"

Before it even registered, the goblin dropped dead with a knife buried between its eyes. The other two jolted in shock as their kin died instantly.

That alone bought me more than enough time to plant a hand and a foot on each of their heads.

BOOM. CRASH!

"KIEAAAK!"

"Krrk!"

I slammed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them into the ground and, without stopping, swung the hand axe still free in my other hand. Thud, THWACK! Both goblins were sent straight to the afterlife.

Whoosh!

"Hup!"

Of course the skeletons weren't just standing around.

Sensing the threat, I snapped my head sideways — an arrow hissed through the space where I'd been. Oh. A bow. A bow! Sora didn't have a bow yet.

Weapon farming on top of everything else. Today's just my day, huh. My day?

"Much obliged."

"...!?"

The second I dodged the arrow, I drove forward without hesitation, low and fast. In a blink I was under the bow-wielding skeleton's chin.

Level 8, huh. Then its gear should be decent too.

Your weapon's gotta be fucking great! I'm taking it right now!

"Return to your grave, dead one!"

I swung a hand axe and sheared clean through the joint connecting the skeleton's skull to its neck.

But the skeleton kept moving anyway. Whoa — undead, right?

In that gap, two sword-wielding skeletons lunged for my back.

They thought I wouldn't notice. They also thought I wouldn't notice the remaining bow skeleton lining up a shot at the back of my head.

I hopped — just a light spring off the ground. Two blades stabbed into the empty space where I'd been standing.

CLANG!

And where I landed was already decided. Both feet came down hard on the two skeletons' skulls.

CRUNCH. CRACK!

They couldn't take my weight and toppled forward.

I piled straight onto the headless one. CRASH! All three skeletons hit the ground in a tangled heap. Exactly what I'd been going for.

Whoosh!

"Ugh!"

Whoa — another arrow skimmed over my head.

The last Skeleton Archer, having lost its friends, stumbled backward and drew a bead on me. Perfect. I was taking that weapon. The moment to strike was—

Whoosh!

—the exact instant it nocked and released!

I ducked and exploded forward.

I already knew where it was aiming, and my instincts told me precisely when it would fire. A warrior's sense.

Just as predicted, the Skeleton Archer's second arrow grazed past my hair.

Hair that was, by then, right in front of the Skeleton Archer's face.

"Not a chance...!"

I took its head off, then separated the torso from the limbs for good measure.

I left the arms and legs as intact as possible. Why? To recover the bow, obviously!

Ah... I really shouldn't have handed over that massive bag—

"Hm?"

Something odd was lying where the skeleton had fallen.

Another drop item? Another bag?

Lucky!

"KRUUOOOOOORGH!"

"Krhuk! You — smell of our kin! You — kill our kin? Kill you!"

"UWOOOOOOORGH!"

"Woof, woof!"

Wow... you guys...!

Coming all this way just to celebrate my loot drop. Super lucky!

"For the crime of throwing the world into chaos... today I shall deliver judgment by death!"

"I... I knew it..."

Trembling, Han Sora strained not to miss a single frame of what filled her telescope.

It was an extremely brutal sight.

Orcs, goblins, zombies, skeletons — inhuman things of every kind — swarming a single ordinary-looking man in a chaotic free-for-all. It was practically snuff-film material.

Except the victims weren't human. The monsters were. Every time one of them got near the man — Jeong Hoon — some part of its body was crushed, pulverized, severed, or torn clean off in horrific fashion.

Skeletons had their torsos and limbs ripped apart. Goblins lost their heads on the spot. Orcs died with their throats pierced or their own weapons buried in their hearts. Zombies simply exploded like piñatas.

And the man standing atop that mountain of corpses planted his feet on the earth with a face of astonishing calm.

Then, scanning the surroundings, he murmured softly into the walkie-talkie clipped to his chest.

The radio clicked off.

Jeong Hoon returned toward the general store painted head to toe in blood. Of course, not a single drop of that blood was his own — not so much as a speck from a living person.

Watching him come back in silence, drenched in gore, it would have been natural to feel fear. Aside from being a hardcore gamer, Han Sora was an ordinary civilian.

But before the shock could even take hold, notification windows flooded her vision and blocked the view.

Countless notification windows cascaded so fast they started scrolling, flooding Han Sora's vision until she could barely see.

By the time they finally stopped, she understood — truly understood — that the man named Jeong Hoon had just massacred a horde of monsters right before her eyes.

Right. That's how strong he is... that's how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he saved me from those huge, hideous orcs. The system wasn't lying after all...!

Just as Han Sora was about to shower him with praise, a new set of windows blocked her view again.

A combined 23,400 experience split two ways dumped 11,700 EXP into each of them at once. Consecutive level-ups were a given.

Gold? Same story — a massive haul. 3,080 gold split to 1,540 each. Of course, with prices completely insane, that would barely cover a couple of emergency rations... but still!

"S-System... On...!"

Without thinking, Han Sora called up her system window.

And she saw.

After barely an hour or two of hunting, her level had shot all the way to 8. Among survivors with the same system, that might already put her near the top.

Han Sora almost blurted out "High-level carry is the best!" before clapping a hand over her mouth just in time.

Then she looked at the man in front of her with eyes full of genuine respect.

She could see him — solid, reliable — studying his own system window with a blank expression.

...Huh? Why does this guy... feel so trustworthy? More than before...?

Was it a trick of the eye, or had some biological instinct kicked in?

Han Sora's judgment wasn't just accurate — it was a jackpot.

The man standing before her was, in this ruined world, essentially the only hope for humanity to survive and rebuild civilization.

The slaughter of countless monsters right in front of her had already proven it.

And for Han Sora, her feelings toward Jeong Hoon seemed ready to push past admiration into something more.

"Something's off."

If Jeong Hoon hadn't opened his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mouth just then, those feelings might have flipped straight into affection. The moment he muttered that, Han Sora snapped back to her senses.

Oh my god, what was I just thinking!

"Y-yes? O-Oppa? What's... off?"

She wondered if maybe the experience hadn't registered properly, but Jeong Hoon's concern was entirely reasonable.

"The number of zombies feels far too low. Leveling up is great, but we only killed thirty-three zombies today. You know how densely populated this district in XX City is."

"Ah, yes. Th-this area... has a huge population even for Gyeonggi Province... but... m-maybe everyone's still inside their houses?"

Jeong Hoon shook his head.

"I considered that possibility, which is why I deliberately shouted to pull aggro. Even so, the numbers are too small. I expected as much from the monsters, but the zombie count is what's bothering me. It's almost as if..."

"A-as if...!?"

Chin in hand, Jeong Hoon looked straight at Han Sora and murmured quietly.

"...I think there are other people hunting zombies besides us. No — more precisely... I get the feeling there's an entire group out there hunting."

The truth that Han Sora's heart, under Jeong Hoon's serious gaze, trembled even harder than a moment before never left her lips.

I considered telling Han Sora a bit more, then decided against it.

There was one other thing that bothered me.

Why had skeletons — which hadn't shown so much as a bone for an entire week — suddenly appeared out of nowhere?

On top of that, their movements had been remarkably tactical for undead.

Almost as if someone were controlling them...

I had a hunch but no hard evidence, so I'd keep it to myself for now.

More importantly—

I'd power-leveled so hard I felt like I could float away. And that wasn't all.

I'd even proven I could allocate bonus stats — which made me want to jump around even more.

Yep. Today, I am super lucky!