Acquiring a Ranged Dealer

“Ji-su,” I called.

Instead of Ji-su, the punks turned to stare at me. I kept my face bored and said,

“Kill them.”

Vwoooooong!

Ji-su’s club whipped forward like a lightning strike. A sickening crunch rang out as the bat connected with one bastard’s face and sent him flying backward.

Huh. They don’t explode like the goblins. Guess they activated their classes and leveled up too.

Still, the guy who took a direct hit to the skull was one hundred percent dead. That club wasn’t exactly a gentle weapon.

“What the fuck!”

One of their own had been sent flying in the blink of an eye. The remaining skinheads panicked and swung their baseball bats at Ji-su. She dodged every clumsy swing with fluid grace.

Her DEX stat is over thirty, you idiots. Did you really think your pathetic attacks would land?

All of it was thanks to me working my hips like a champion. I watched Ji-su’s performance with a proud little smirk until a sudden thought made me shout.

“Ji-su! Don’t kill them all! Leave the skinhead alive! Just shatter their legs!”

I needed at least one of them able to answer questions. While I was yelling, another punk lost his life to Ji-su’s club. Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d killed anyone. I hadn’t done it with my own hands, but ordering Ji-su to do it made it mine all the same.

Oddly enough, I didn’t feel any guilt. I used to curse out every pathetic protagonist in apocalypse movies and novels who hesitated to kill even when their lives were on the line. I had no intention of becoming a bloodthirsty psycho who murdered everyone in sight, but I also refused to be the idiot who spared people trying to take my life.

I can’t shove all the killing onto Ji-su. That’d make me a total scumbag.

I quickly corrected my order to the thrall still fighting.

“Ji-su! Cancel that last command! Keep both of them alive! Just break their legs!”

“You son of a bitch!”

The skinhead roared when he heard me and swung his bat with everything he had. An ominous energy clung to the weapon. Ji-su raised her club to block it. The moment they collided, a small explosion erupted with a deafening boom.

Ji-su was blasted backward and tumbled across the ground.

Huh. Must be a skill.

The skinhead seized the opening and charged straight at me.

“You fucking piece of shit!”

Wow, what a mouth on him. And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠apparently I looked like the easier target. Sure, I was weaker than Ji-su, but my level was already 6, asshole.

I slipped under his wild swing, grabbed his forearm, and activated the skill.

“Siphon Hand.”

A wet shlurp sensation rippled through my palm. The skinhead’s face drained of color at terrifying speed while fresh vitality surged into me.

“Ugh… uh… uuuuugh…”

His face turned from white to blue. His skin began to dry and flake. If I kept going he’d shrivel into a mummy and die. But I couldn’t let him die yet.

I released the skill. The skinhead collapsed like a puppet with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its strings cut.

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

Meanwhile, the bushy-haired survivor had both legs pulped by Ji-su’s club after she got back to her feet. Watching him crawl across the floor sobbing, I actually felt a twinge of pity.

“Kinda feel bad. Maybe I should’ve just told her to kill him.”

Ji-su grabbed the guy by the hair and dragged him over to me. Her clothes were shredded from the earlier explosion.

“Aish, damn it. I just put new clothes on her…”

Looked like I’d have to dress her again. Another clothing store raid was in my future. The rate at which her outfits got destroyed was higher than I expected.

I looked down at the bushy-haired guy screaming with ruined legs and the shriveled skinhead sprawled on the ground.

“I kept you two alive because I have questions. Answer me truthfully and I’ll spare you. Lie, and you die. Understand?”

They must have understood. Both men stared up at me with the obedient eyes of lambs ready for whatever I asked.

Man, that’s no fun. Where’s the defiance? The cursing? The classic “you’ll never get away with this” speech?

I asked my first question.

“The guys tied to that motorcycle—the dead ones. Where did you meet them?”

Both tried to answer at once, but the skinhead’s tongue was too dry; his mouth just opened and closed uselessly. The bushy-haired one with the crushed legs spoke first, rushing the words out.

“W-we met them on the busy street nearby. The one with the OO Bank and the OO Ice Cream parlor.”

Surprisingly detailed. Still, why the hell had they gone all the way there just to die? If they’d found supplies they should’ve gone straight back to the school. What a bunch of morons.

I swallowed my irritation and asked the next question.

“Where did the woman with them run off to?”

“I-I don’t know. Those two—no, those two gentlemen blocked us with wooden swords. While we were fighting them the woman slipped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into an alley between buildings. We couldn’t find her.”

“Hmm. That so?”

“I-it’s the truth!”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Fine. Next question. Who the hell are you people? What kind of crazy bastards crawl out onto the streets in the middle of this apocalypse and pull this kind of shit?”

“W-well…”

“Hurry up before I lose my patience.”

I growled, and the guy flinched hard before spilling everything.

“Y-yes! The four of us were students at the same school. We were skipping class to hang out when the monsters appeared. We had some experience fighting from before, so we managed to kill a few and activate our classes. After that we rode around on the motorcycle hunting stray monsters… and also…”

“And also?”

“……”

I drove the spear into his arm.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAH!”

He screamed and thrashed on the ground. I looked down at him coldly.

“I said I’d spare you if you answered properly. Keep wasting my time and I’ll just kill you and ask the skinhead instead.”

The skinhead’s face lit up with hope. The bushy-haired guy’s expression twisted with desperation. He stuttered frantically.

“W-we just rode around and whenever we found survivors hiding in stores we’d take the women, have our fun, then throw them away! That’s all! We never killed anyone except the ones on the motorcycle! I swear!”

“Bullshit. You expect me to believe guys who tie corpses to their bike never killed anyone?”

“It’s true! The leader went crazy after getting hit by those wooden swords and ordered it! We didn’t—”

“Whatever. Whether you killed more people or not isn’t my problem. Is that everything?”

“Y-yes… that’s everything.”

“What’s your level?”

“Uh… three.”

Level three. The kind of level you’d get from killing five or six goblins. From his story it didn’t sound like they’d killed many, and even if they had, four people splitting the experience meant they couldn’t be that strong.

I’d wondered if some insane Awakened Union had already formed, but it seemed not. In novels the people who made groups like that always turned out to be psychotic. Then again, the monster outbreak had only been going on for a few days. Still, the fact that lunatics like these were already roaming free was disturbing.

Humans are more dangerous than monsters. The world’s full of crazy bastards.

I had no more questions. I drove the spear into the skinhead’s back where he lay on the ground.

Crunch.

The feeling of the blade sinking through flesh was nauseatingly intimate. The skinhead twitched once and went still without a sound.

My first murder.

It didn’t feel good. But it didn’t feel particularly bad either. Just… calm.

Then light exploded from my body and a refreshing wave washed over me.

What? I leveled up from that? Huh. So killing people gives experience too. A lot of lunatics are going to start hunting other humans now.

I pulled the spear free from the skinhead’s back and looked at the bushy-haired guy, whose face had gone deathly pale.

“I listened to your story. Like I promised, I’ll spare you.”

“R-really?”

Of course. I’m a man who keeps his word.

But sorry. I used to curse out every idiot in apocalypse stories who left loose ends out of misplaced mercy.

I summoned the Gate of Rest. The portal opened and Ju Si-eun stepped out slowly, kitchen knife in hand.

The bushy-haired guy’s eyes widened in shock.

“J-Ju Si-eun…?”

Our goddess really is famous. Even a piece of trash like him recognized her instantly.

Si-eun walked over to the collapsed man and raised the knife high. He looked back and forth between us in utter confusion, as if he couldn’t process what was happening.

Why are you looking at me? I said I wouldn’t kill you. But if Korea’s goddess wants to do it, who am I to stop her?

Besides, the fact that I leveled up proved killing people could activate classes. I wasn’t about to waste a golden opportunity.

I watched leisurely as Ju Si-eun brought the knife down again and again.

“W-wait—AAAAAAAAGH!”

Blood sprayed everywhere. Even with that expressionless face, the sight of her mechanically stabbing sent chills down my spine.

Whoa. Scary.

The screaming didn’t last long. The bushy-haired man lay in a gruesome, blood-soaked heap. Honestly, the skinhead who died in one clean blow probably had it easier.

I pulled out some wet wipes and tried to clean the blood off Si-eun’s face.

Sigh. These clothes are ruined too. Another clothing store ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠raid it is.

Wiping wasn’t going to be enough. She’d need a proper shower later.

I gave up and opened my status window.

“Status window.”

Hmm. My stats went up by about two each this time. And I got four skill points. Looks like the higher my level, the more points I receive.

I pressed on Ju Si-eun’s name in the thrall section.

“Whoa!”

Ju Si-eun’s class had finally activated and her full status window appeared. Her sub-class was a 3-star Pyromancer.

“Jackpot. I was just thinking how nice it would be to have a ranged dealer. Our Goddess Si-eun really is a treasure.”

Grinning ear to ear, I dumped her single skill point into Fireball.

Summons a fireball and launches it… Should we test it?

I ordered Si-eun to fire a fireball at the corpses of the scumbags lying ahead. She stretched out her hand. A basketball-sized orb of flame formed in the air and streaked forward.

Boom!

The corpse burst into flames.

“Hmm. Weaker than I expected… but if we raise it properly it’ll be very useful. The damage probably scales with INT, right?”

I smiled at Si-eun.

“Starting today, Goddess Si-eun is on special training too. We need to raise those stats a lot, okay?”

And so, I now possessed both melee and ranged dealers.