Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 3. The Clang Sound
‘Wait a second....’
Anyone who’s ever heard the scream of a dying person knows.
That it’s fundamentally different from the kind of scream you make on a roller coaster, or when startled, or watching a horror movie. And Dae-shik was someone who knew that kind of scream better than anyone else.
‘Damn it.’
No matter what, he couldn’t just sit there eating soup while someone was dying, could he?
Dae-shik reluctantly stuffed a piece of soondae and some boiled head meat into his mouth, then got up from his seat.
He’d spent 200 years tangled up with monsters day and night. Handling a drunk man throwing a fit? He was confident he could manage that easily. Even if his body was just an ordinary human’s now, 200 years of combat experience didn’t just vanish.
But the moment he saw the scene before his eyes....
‘W-wait. What the hell is that?’
His body froze stiff.
Then, the table was flipped over, and two middle-aged men rolled across the floor, locked together.
‘What the hell, damn it!’
Cold sweat drenched Dae-shik’s back.
“Arghhhh!”
The man pinned to the floor let out another gut-wrenching scream.
The man on top of him shrieked like a mad animal, clawing and tearing at him.
“Somebody stop him!”
“Call the police!”
“H-He’s crazy!”
People inside the restaurant screamed and backed away, someone fumbling for their phone.
“H-hello, police? There’s a crazy man attacking people here....”
“Please hurry!”
Their voices echoed dully in Dae-shik’s ears.
The jerky, twitching movements. The constant convulsions. The bloodshot eyes bulging with red veins.... A person losing their reason, attacking another human, biting and devouring living flesh.
All clear signs of infection.
‘Why? Here? This is Earth!’
Dae-shik fell into momentary panic.
‘What the hell is this, a hidden camera? A movie shoot?’
Impossible.
Anyone else might mistake it, but there was no way he would fail to recognize an infected person.
If it were fake, he would’ve known immediately. That eerie aura unique to the infected, there was no way to fake it.
Just then, a middle-aged woman among the crowd shouted frantically.
“Y-young man! Run! He’s crazy! What are you doing?!”
But Dae-shik didn’t run.
On the contrary, he sat back down with the grim face of a soldier heading to war, clutching his spoon.
What he did next left everyone in the restaurant utterly speechless.
Chop! Chop! slurp!
While one man tore into another’s flesh before their very eyes, Dae-shik began devouring his soondae soup with terrifying intensity.
“Young man, what are you doing?!”
Before his eyes, system messages began to pop up rapidly.
『Satiety is increasing.』
『Current Satiety: 30...』
It looked deranged, but there was a perfectly logical reason for it.
‘Even if I run now, once the infection spreads, I’m dead anyway. First, I need to fill up.’
Without satiety, he couldn’t use his ability.
Without his ability, there was no fighting those things.
So first, he had to eat.
His spoon moved faster and faster, and the steaming hot bowl of special soondae soup dwindled rapidly.
“Haa....”
Just as Dae-shik finished his frenzied meal and stood up, the infected man, his mouth smeared with blood, lifted his head.
The eyes of a monster and a former monster hunter met.
“Grhhhh....”
The infected gurgled, throat bubbling, and slowly rose to his feet.
Dae-shik held the emptied earthenware bowl in his hand, so clean not a drop of broth remained.
“Graaaahhh!”
The infected howled and lunged at him.
“Damn it!”
At the same time, Dae-shik swung the bowl.
Clang!
The sound of metal striking metal rang through the restaurant.
The infected, smashed square in the head by the bowl, staggered back, shaking his head in confusion.
The impact was like being struck by a hammer.
The reinforced earthenware bowl, strengthened through crafting, was powerful enough to damage the skull of an infected whose physical strength and durability surpassed a normal human’s.
‘Damn!’
Even so, a deep frown furrowed Dae-shik’s brow.
‘Not enough strength.’
He’d managed to find a weapon somehow. But it wasn’t enough to crush the infected’s skull in a single blow.
Just then…
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Hands up!”
Two police officers burst into the restaurant, shouting.
They were holding taser guns. The infected ignored them and continued charging toward Dae-shik.
“Graaaahhh!”
The monster’s claws sliced through the air, narrowly missing him.
Zap!
“Grr?”
The taser probes hit the infected’s body, but a taser wasn’t enough to stop it.
“That won’t work! Use your gun, your gun!”
Dae-shik shouted, swinging his bowl again.
“Graaaahhh!”
The infected changed targets, lunging at the officers instead.
“Urgh!”
The officer was thrown to the ground, people screaming and scattering.
“Graaaahhh!”
Just as the infected opened its mouth to bite the officer’s throat…
Clang!
The reinforced bowl smashed into the back of its head.
Thud!
Then Dae-shik hurled himself forward, tackling the creature away.
“Damn it! Shoot it with the gun!”
At his yell, the younger officer, standing by his fallen partner, fumbled to draw his pistol.
Bang!
The sharp gunshot echoed through the restaurant.
But the infected didn’t even flinch.
The first round was a blank.
In the chaos, the rookie had forgotten that simple fact.
“You idiot!”
Dae-shik snatched the gun from his hands.
Bang!
Another gunshot thundered.
“Grrk....”
The infected’s head exploded, and it collapsed to the floor. Without a second’s hesitation, Dae-shik had pulled the trigger.
The two officers stared, dumbfounded.
“Y-you....”
Dae-shik ignored them, stepping over to where the other man, the one attacked earlier, lay dead.
What happened next froze the officers in shock.
“Grhhh....”
The man who had seemed dead moments ago... was getting up.
Or rather, moving while dead was a better description.
His pupils had turned gray, his throat was half-torn away. It was impossible for someone in that state to be alive.
“Grhhhhhhh....”
The zombie turned its head toward Dae-shik.
Bang!
A hole blew through its skull. Even after killing it, Dae-shik’s expression remained grim.
‘I need to level up my traits fast....’
Thankfully, there was still food around.
First, fill up the satiety bar and secure a weapon.
Then, move quickly to raise his stats. That way, he could make up for his lacking physical abilities.
‘First thing’s first, eat.’
Right then…
“You’re under arrest for murder! You have the right to remain silent....”
One of the officers aimed his gun at Dae-shik.
“What?”
“You’re under arrest for murder!”
“You crazy bastard... did you not see what just happened?”
Shock turned to fury.
Even after witnessing zombies with his own eyes, the officer was saying this?
But Dae-shik’s sense of “normal” and the peaceful Earth’s sense of “normal” were completely different.
And when your sense of normality differs, so does how you perceive a situation. From the officer’s perspective, Dae-shik had seized a police firearm and killed someone.
Whatever the circumstances, they couldn’t just let that go. Maybe it was just bureaucratic rigidity, but that didn’t make it any less infuriating.
“If I’d left it alone, you’d both be dead by now, got it?”
“Drop the gun, now!”
“You son of a....”
After a moment’s thought, Dae-shik lowered the gun.
The officer was aiming right at him.
With a normal human body, there was no way he could dodge and counter before the trigger was pulled.
“What are you waiting for, Lee Juhun?! Cuff him!”
The senior officer, Inspector Hwang Gwang-chul, barked at his junior.
Still shaken, Juhun rushed forward and slapped cuffs onto Dae-shik’s wrists.
* * *
Growl…!
Even as he was shoved into the police car, Dae-shik’s eyes stayed fixed on the scenery outside the window.
‘I have to find food somehow.’
With an infection already out, the situation would spiral out of control soon.
In just a few minutes, the apocalypse would truly begin. He didn’t have the luxury of sitting around in a police station giving statements.
“Uh, Chief Hwang... what do you think that was?”
The younger officer in the passenger seat finally spoke up.
“Probably some drug addict or something.”
“I don’t think so.... And one of them definitely died and then came back.”
“Like a zombie?”
“Yes!”
“Haa.... Zombie?”
“It was a zombie.”
Dae-shik inserted himself into the conversation.
“What?”
“Listen carefully. Those crazy bastards you saw back there, soon, ones just like them are going to start showing up all over the country. Maybe they already have.”
Crackle! Crackle!
Before he could finish, the radio erupted with static.
A call came in: another murder incident nearby.
Silence filled the car.
“See? Let me out. This is the start.”
“You insane bastard, what are you talking about!”
Inspector Hwang barked in anger. But Dae-shik muttered on, half to himself.
“The infected look normal until the symptoms show. But once they do, they’re several times stronger and tougher than humans. They lose their minds and attack people, biting and tearing them apart. You have to stop the spread now.”
“Haa....”
Hwang ignored him completely and started the engine.
He’d dealt with plenty of lunatics and criminals before, but this kind of lunatic was new.
Still, all lunatics were handled the same way.
Ignore them. Then throw them in a cell.
“Those bitten by the infected become zombies. They’re weaker, about human level, but if they bite or scratch you, you’re infected all the same. Anyone wounded must be killed.”
Dae-shik kept talking as if he hadn’t noticed the disdain.
“To kill them, you have to destroy the head. Gun, knife, whatever, just crush the head.”
He wasn’t speaking to Hwang anymore.
He was talking to Juhun, the only one who seemed even slightly suspicious about what was happening.
Meanwhile, Dae-shik’s eyes kept scanning the surroundings.
The chance to escape would come soon.
But escaping alone was meaningless.
He didn’t even remember the layout of this area.
Running blindly without knowing the streets would just make him zombie food.
‘I need to find a place to hide first.’
And his satiety was far too low.
Even if he got out, he needed food first.
‘Damn it, I need something to eat.’
Just then, a familiar smell tickled his nose.
“Hey, you got anything to eat...”
Before he could finish, Inspector Hwang suddenly screamed and slammed on the brakes.
Screeeech!
“Whoa!”
Thud!
The car jolted violently, and a young man flew through the air, rolling across the asphalt.
“D-damn it!”
Hwang, visibly shaken, flung his door open and jumped out.