Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Translator: M.N 1391
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Translator : M.N 1391
Title: The Awakened Ones (5)
Chapter: 20
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Juhun led the two of them into an empty building near the police station.
"Tell me what happened."
Dae-shik asked, looking at Juhun as they entered the building.
After hesitating for a moment, Juhun let out a deep sigh and began to speak.
"The police station is currently occupied by criminals."
At that, Hye-na responded, her tone full of disbelief.
"That doesn’t make sense, though? I definitely saw zombies wandering inside earlier."
When they had approached the police station, she had seen zombies moving about inside the building. Dae-shik must have seen the same thing.
However, unlike Hye-na, Dae-shik immediately combined what he’d seen with the new information and drew a single conclusion.
"Zombie control ability?"
"As expected, you caught on right away."
"And the other one?"
"Paralysis ability... I think."
A bitter smile crept across Juhun’s face.
"The condition or cost for using the ability?"
"I’m not sure about the zombie control one, but for the paralysis one..."
"Let me guess. The target must be within a certain distance and remain within their line of sight. Something like that, right?"
At Dae-shik’s follow-up, Juhun’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. His gaze toward Dae-shik carried both awe and anticipation.
"As expected of you. You didn’t even hear the details."
"Because your ability is invisibility."
Dae-shik replied nonchalantly.
Paralysis and zombie control, quite the troublesome combination. If you got paralyzed while fighting zombies, you’d be sent straight to the afterlife.
But if you tried to target the one with the paralysis ability, the zombies would get in the way.
At least with Juhun’s ability, it was impossible to deal with both simultaneously. The fact that he still managed to escape meant that, at the very least, his ability had synergized with one of them somehow.
"So they took over the police station after awakening?"
Dae-shik frowned slightly as he asked.
The police had shown absolutely no response at all. He had expected that even if they didn’t fully believe him, they’d at least help reduce the number of zombies, but they hadn’t even managed that.
Now, it seemed it hadn’t necessarily been due to incompetence.
"Yes... it was our mistake. Who would’ve thought the criminals locked up in the holding cells would awaken and pull something like that?"
It was certainly an unexpected situation.
With zombies rampaging outside and casualties piling up, who could’ve imagined the criminals in custody would awaken and seize control of the police station?
If the police hadn’t believed in the existence of awakenings or the system, they would have been completely helpless.
Then, Hye-na, who had been listening to their exchange in growing frustration, spoke up.
"Um... that’s all well and good, but I don’t understand any of this."
At that, Juhun blinked at her blankly before turning his gaze back to Dae-shik.
"By the way, who is this person...?"
"A doctor. For now, you can think of her as my teammate."
"Hello, I’m Lee Hye-na. Teammate number one."
Emphasizing the “number one,” Hye-na grinned and raised a finger as she extended her hand toward Juhun.
"She’s not an awakened one?"
Every ability came with some kind of activation condition or price. That much was clear from the moment you awakened. Not knowing that meant Hye-na wasn’t awakened.
‘Is it okay for him to travel with a non-awakened person?’
He wanted to ask, ‘Why risk staying with someone who hasn’t even awakened?’, but Juhun swallowed the words.
If it was Dae-shik, he probably had his reasons.
"I’m scheduled to awaken. Scheduled! It’s tough being a regular person these days, you know."
Hye-na replied with a pout.
"Anyway, what’s this ‘price’ you’re talking about?"
She asked again, and Juhun gave her a simple explanation.
"There are restrictions when using abilities. For example, while I’m invisible, I can’t breathe. Also, using an ability consumes something called ‘points,’ and these points are..."
"That’s enough. It’s not important right now."
At that moment, Dae-shik cut him off sharply.
By now, he had a decent understanding of Juhun’s ability. Rather than waste time listening to unnecessary details, it was more important to gather key information.
"There are guns and bullets inside the police station, right? And tasers too. What about food?"
"There is some, but those two are in control of everything."
"What about other survivors?"
"Most non-awakened people have been locked up in the holding cells. Almost all of the police officers are dead or have fled. As of two days ago, those two were the only awakened ones."
Having confirmed both the presence of supplies and the enemies’ capabilities, Dae-shik fell into brief contemplation before speaking again.
"And you were the one spreading the flyers?"
"Yes. I figured I had to do what I could, at least."
"You have teammates?"
Even with invisibility, traveling thirty minutes each way wasn’t easy, especially if he couldn’t breathe during that time.
Considering the cost, it was nearly impossible that he had traveled alone.
Dae-shik therefore concluded that Juhun had companions.
"I did have teammates. I don’t know if they’re still alive, though."
Unfortunately, those teammates probably wouldn’t be joining this operation.
"I hope they’re alive."
"Do you... think you can rescue them?"
"I can’t promise that. But I’ll think positively."
At Dae-shik’s answer, a bright smile spread across Juhun’s face.
"Thank you!"
"It’s fine. We’ll have to stick together if we want to survive anyway."
"So what are you planning to do now?"
"I’ve learned what I need to about their abilities. Now we go in."
There wasn’t even the slightest change in Dae-shik’s expression.
No matter how powerful the enemies’ abilities were, he looked completely unconcerned.
Of course, as always, that confidence came from careful calculation.
‘They’ve got guns, tasers, and abilities, yet they’re still holed up inside?’
If they were staying inside despite all that, it could only mean one thing.
* * *
Dae-shik and Hye-na left the building and approached the police station’s main entrance. Along the way, Dae-shik displayed his full skill, smashing zombie skulls without hesitation.
Hye-na, too, managed to show her worth, taking down two zombies on her own.
Just as they entered the police station lobby smoothly...
"Stop right there."
A voice rang through the lobby.
When they turned their heads, they saw a uniformed officer aiming a pistol at them.
"Who are you?"
Immediately, half a dozen zombies that had been wandering around the lobby began closing in.
Dae-shik raised his hands obediently, showing no sign of resistance. Hye-na followed suit, lifting her hands high. Her movements were a bit stiff, but it wasn’t bad acting.
"I said, who are you!"
The man’s voice shook nervously as he waved his pistol.
"S-sorry! We didn’t know there were survivors here!"
Dae-shik dropped to his knees with a thud and shouted.
Meanwhile, his eyes darted quickly around the room.
‘Where’s the one with the paralysis ability?’
This guy wasn’t the one he was looking for.
He wasn’t even an awakened one. According to Juhun, the paralysis user was a scrawny man in his forties with sharp, bird-like eyes.
The zombie controller, on the other hand, was a round-faced man in his thirties with an average build.
But this guy? Early twenties at most, tall and muscular. Clearly neither.
"Are you awakened too?"
The man holding the gun asked stiffly, his tension almost pitiful.
"Only me."
Dae-shik replied immediately. Even as he spoke, his eyes never stopped scanning the man in front of him.
‘He doesn’t seem to be on their side.’
He was far too nervous for someone who supposedly belonged to them. And his gaze kept flicking somewhere behind them.
Dae-shik instantly understood what that meant.
‘A decoy?’
It was an excellent way to hide oneself.
Even in Achaia, zombie controllers liked to set up fake decoys. Given that these people were already operating with the assumption that they might face enemies, the possibility was even higher.
‘Where’s the real one?’
As Dae-shik’s mind raced, the man in front of him asked another question.
"W-what’s your ability?"
"Creation ability."
At that answer, the young man visibly relaxed a little.
"And the woman? What is she? Your girlfriend?"
He asked, glancing at Hye-na.
"I’m a doctor."
Hye-na said, holding out her ID card.
"A doctor?"
The man looked closely at the ID before glancing back up at her face.
A creation-type awakened and a doctor, anyone could see they’d make an extremely useful pair in an apocalypse.
Dae-shik had walked confidently through the entrance precisely because he knew that combination would look appealing.
"Hey, Kim Ji-hyuk, that’s enough."
Just then, a voice called out from one corner of the lobby.
‘Round-faced...’
Upon seeing the man, Dae-shik silently clicked his tongue.
‘Round-faced? More like he’d roll away if you kicked him.’
It was almost impressive how such a “kind” description could have been used to describe this guy.
‘Maybe the “round one” is someone else, and this guy’s just plain fat.’
Still, judging by the flow of events, this fat man was almost certainly the zombie controller.
The way Kim Ji-hyuk immediately shut up when the man spoke confirmed it.
"Did you make those tools yourself?"
The fat man asked, pointing at Dae-shik’s shield and crowbar. From his tone and gaze, it was clear he had a strong interest in creation abilities.
"I made the shield, and I just reinforced the crowbar. Would you like to take a look?"
Dae-shik made himself look as submissive as possible, setting the crowbar down on the floor.
But the fat man didn’t approach recklessly. Instead, he stood where he was and continued his interrogation-like questioning.
"So, why did you come to the police station in a situation like this?"
"Because there are weapons here, of course."
"So... you came for the guns?"
The fat man’s eyes gleamed sharply.
"Honest answer. I like that. But you know, in times like these, everyone wants a gun, right?"
"Is there something you’d like from us?"
Dae-shik swallowed nervously, feigning tension.
"I can’t give you guns, but we can protect you instead."
"Protect... us?"
At Dae-shik’s question, the zombies that had been surrounding them suddenly froze in place.
"I can control zombies. My partner also has a pretty useful ability. With a creator and a doctor added to the mix, we’d make quite a team."
A zombie controller and a paralyzer, certainly an appealing combination.
At least in terms of abilities, that is.
‘There’s no way I’m teaming up with trash like this.’
According to Juhun, the zombie controller was a rapist, and the paralyzer a robber and attempted murderer. Even in peacetime, they had committed crimes, and once the apocalypse began, they had murdered officers and taken over the police station’s weapons and food supplies. They had even locked non-awakened survivors in the holding cells, planning to use them later. And as the world descended further into chaos, it wasn’t hard to imagine what monsters like them would do next.
‘I’ll take care of them here and now.’
Dae-shik’s eyes glinted coldly as he stared at the fat man.
Translator: M.N 1391