Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Translator: M.N 1391
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Translator : M.N 1391
Title: The Awakened Ones (4)
Chapter: 19
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“Kihi, kikihiii...!”
A chilling laugh echoed from the goblin who had its gun aimed at Dae-shik. It was a grotesque blend of a phlegmy rasp, metallic screech, and the laughter of a human, the unique sound of the infected.
Dae-shik froze on the spot and raised his shield to cover his head.
“Kik! Kiki!”
The goblin, as if finding the situation amusing, let out another round of hideous laughter and turned the muzzle toward Dae-shik’s abdomen.
At this distance, there was no way it could miss.
The human body was fragile. Even if the head was spared, there were vital points all over. No, the entire body was practically made of weak spots. A hit anywhere could be fatal. Even a shot to the leg would cripple one’s fighting power.
The goblin thought of shooting anywhere it pleased, then ripping apart that insolent human to pieces and erecting a new totem.
Its twisted mouth curled up in a grotesque arc.
The finger on the trigger moved.
Bang!
The next moment, something strange echoed beside the goblin’s ear. It wasn’t the sound it had been expecting.
“Kiiiieeeeeek!”
A dreadful scream burst from the creature’s throat.
The hand that had pulled the trigger was horribly mangled.
“Kreee! Kyaaaagh!”
Writhing in agony, it looked down at its own hand.
The weapon it had trusted so deeply had just exploded. Two fingers were blown clean off. The entire hand was crushed into an unrecognizable mess.
Why? It couldn’t comprehend it.
Its mind was in chaos.
And the hunter who had bathed in monster blood for two hundred years, did not miss that opening.
Thud!
A heavy lump of iron smashed into the goblin’s temple.
Before it could even regain consciousness, another crushing blow landed on its skull.
Twice, three times, four times...
The cold iron struck the monster’s head with flawless precision, each impact following a steady, rhythmic tempo. And when the creature could no longer move, a sharp blade pierced straight through its skull.
Then, a long string of messages flashed before Dae-shik’s eyes.
『You have defeated the mutant ‘Goblin’.』
『A special reward is granted.』
『Agility increases by 2.』
『A new skill has been acquired.』
『Agile Movement: Agility and movement speed are greatly enhanced for 1 minute. Consumes 20 Purification Points upon use.』
‘Nice!’
Dae-shik clenched his fist and silently cheered.
The random rewards for slaying mutants generally fell into four categories, stat increases, skills, items, or materials. And every reward reflected the mutant’s own traits. In the goblin’s case, it was agility and Agile Movement. The only issue was that you never knew whether you’d actually receive a skill or not.
Still, he had managed to get exactly what he wanted. The risk had paid off.
‘Sweet, so sweet.’
Even better, this skill consumed Purification Points, not Satiety.
Meaning, he could use it without worrying about food.
‘This should take care of the food problem.’
Or so it should have.
『System error.』
『Unable to apply Purification Point system.』
‘Wait, hey. Hold on.’
『Attempting error correction.』
『Applying substitute system. Satiety will now be consumed instead of Purification Points.』
As the absurd message appeared, Dae-shik couldn’t help but shout.
“Hey!”
But there was no time to get angry.
In the distance, a crimson signal flag fluttered.
The signal was up, then down, meaning zombies were swarming in.
‘Dammit!’
『Activating ‘Agile Movement’.』
『Satiety decreases by 20.』
『Remaining Satiety: 30』
Dae-shik sprinted across the rooftop and leapt toward the building on the opposite side.
The cold wind sliced past his ears as the view before him shifted. The instant his feet touched down, he rolled, sprang to his feet, and started running again.
‘No way...’
Watching from the opposite building, Hye-na’s mouth fell open without her realizing it.
* * *
After vaulting across two buildings in an instant, Dae-shik quickly grabbed a rope and descended.
Then, covering several dozen meters in a blur, he darted up the staircase of the building where Hye-na was waiting.
“Huff, huff... Nice work.”
He collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily.
Hye-na gaped wordlessly, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
No words would come out. Even in normal times, Dae-shik’s movements and fighting technique were impressive enough to make anyone gasp in awe. But what she had just witnessed was beyond anything she could imagine.
Even a trained sprinter couldn’t run that fast.
“H-how did you do that?”
Finally, a question escaped her lips.
“When I killed that thing... a new skill popped up. Ugh, I’m dying here.”
Dae-shik sprawled out flat on the floor and rummaged through his tactical vest for a chocolate bar.
After running until his lungs burned, the sweetness hit harder than ever, almost intoxicatingly so. But the reason became clear, and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
‘Of course it tastes good... because I used Satiety.’
The chocolate bar tasted better for a simple reason.
He was hungry.
“Dae-shik? What’s wrong?”
Hye-na tilted her head, puzzled by his suddenly deflated demeanor.
He’d just defeated a monster and even gained a new skill, hadn’t he? From her point of view, there was no reason to look so dejected.
“It’s nothing... The chocolate’s just too delicious, that’s all.”
With an even sadder expression, Dae-shik sighed and popped a candy into his mouth.
“What?”
“The candy’s tasty too...”
Hye-na thought, I’ll never understand this man.
But the thought didn’t last long.
At the very least, he was strong, dependable, and a good person.
A few quirks here and there weren’t such a big deal.
“By the way, why did that monster’s gun explode earlier?”
Hye-na blinked her wide eyes as she asked.
When that grotesque thing had aimed its weapon at Dae-shik, she’d nearly screamed and bolted down the stairs. But the revolver had suddenly exploded, and the fight had ended in Dae-shik’s favor.
To her, it had looked like magic.
“Oh, that. While I was scuffling with it, I slightly altered the connection between the barrel and the cylinder.”
Dae-shik answered, popping another candy into his mouth.
“You see, if a bit of stone or dirt gets into a gun barrel, it can explode. On top of that, I weakened the barrel, so it went off instantly.”
“Wow... That’s incredible. How did you even think of that in that moment?”
“Honestly, I’d been planning it the moment I saw the gun.”
“You even know so much about firearms... Are you, like, a former special agent? NIS or something you can’t talk about?”
Dae-shik chuckled and shook his head.
“No, it’s just common knowledge for any guy who’s done his military service.”
Of course, there had been another reason behind his actions.
Goblins moved incredibly fast when their lives were in danger, far faster than he could currently keep up with. So Dae-shik had pretended to be cornered to prevent the creature from activating its speed skill. If he’d let it flee, it would’ve been a major headache later.
‘It would’ve hunted us down eventually. And I’d have lost the reward.’
The plan had worked perfectly.
The goblin, convinced of its victory, had pulled the trigger, and self-destructed. Naturally, Dae-shik saw no reason to explain all this to Hye-na. That would only lead to questions about his otherworldly experiences.
“Well, shall we get going?”
After finishing his little snack break, Dae-shik gave a weary smile.
Hye-na, unaware of his internal despair, beamed brightly and nodded.
“Yes!”
* * *
The two continued their journey, not by crossing mountains and rivers, but by leaping from one rooftop to another, traversing streets and alleys to reach the next building.
Eventually, the police station atop a hill came into view.
“Dae-shik, do we really have to go there?”
Hye-na asked, worry etched all over her face.
Dae-shik’s own expression was grim. It wasn’t because of the Satiety problem. Thanks to the chocolate and candy, he’d replenished that much.
No, it was the police station’s condition that made him frown. There were no guards at the gate, the cars were all stopped, and corpses lay scattered everywhere.
‘So Juhun must’ve escaped before things went bad here, huh?’
Of course, confirming Lee Juhun’s fate wasn’t the only reason he had come.
Still, Dae-shik sincerely hoped the man was alive.
‘Can’t believe they fell apart in less than a week.’
The police should’ve been among the first to receive warnings about the infected through radio. With firearms at their disposal, he’d expected at least a few survivors. But the scene before him made it clear, there was no one left inside.
‘Can’t be helped.’
With a sigh of regret, Dae-shik began walking toward the police station.
* * *
“From here on, be careful. I don’t know how many people were inside, but there could be quite a few zombies.”
As Dae-shik cautioned, Hye-na gripped her long metal rod tightly and nodded.
Though Dae-shik said she’d been helpful, she still felt otherwise — like she hadn’t truly done anything useful.
‘This time, I’ll definitely help! Regular zombies, I can handle those too! Let’s go, let’s go!’
While she was psyching herself up, someone suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Huh? What is it?”
She instinctively turned her head, but something felt off.
Dae-shik was standing in front of her.
Then who had just grabbed her shoulder?
There was no time to think.
“Hiyaaa!”
Whoosh!
Startled, Hye-na swung her metal rod with all her might. But Dae-shik’s reaction was unusual, instead of immediately readying for combat, he just stared blankly at her.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
Completely bewildered, Hye-na froze.
“Dae-shik, did you just grab me?”
“What? I was right in front of you.”
“R-right.”
“But someone definitely grabbed me just now...”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Hye-na slapped a hand over her mouth, stopping a scream from escaping her throat.
Standing before her was someone who hadn’t been there a moment ago.
‘A g-ghost! N-now there are ghosts too!?’
Zombies could be bashed with a club, but ghosts? How was she supposed to fight that?
Would Dae-shik know how? What if he didn’t!?
Those thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant...
“Mr. Kim Dae-shik, you really did come back.”
A man appeared out of nowhere, as if rising from the ground itself, and extended a hand toward Dae-shik.
“You’re alive.”
Dae-shik gave a small grin and reached out his hand.
“Have you even awakened?”
At Dae-shik’s question, Juhun gave a bitter smile and nodded.
Still not understanding what was happening, Hye-na gripped her weapon tightly and looked back and forth between the two men.
“Yes.”
“Congratulations.”
“Not sure it’s something to celebrate.”
“Better than becoming one of the infected.”
Juhun gave another wry smile and lowered his voice.
“More importantly, you shouldn’t go into the police station.”
Dae-shik didn’t bother to ask what had happened, he simply nodded.
He didn’t know what had occurred inside.
But Juhun clearly did. And the fact that he hadn’t left the area meant he had been risking his life to deliver that information.
Such information could never be meaningless.
“I’ve secured a safe location. Let’s go there first and talk.”
Juhun led the way, Dae-shik followed close behind, and Hye-na… Still clutching her weapon with white knuckles, trailed anxiously after them.
Translator: M.N 1391