Chapter 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Mindset (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Whoosh—
Crash, tumble.
The weapons they swung as they leaped out sliced through empty air instead of the hornet.
With their targets gone, their unbalanced momentum sent them tumbling to the ground in a tangle.
““…?””
The two of them rolled messily across the floor, their thoughts freezing for a few seconds of silence.
‘…What the hell?’
Dong-gil was the first to snap out of it. He looked down the path where the creatures had been approaching.
The massive swarm of black hornets that should have been right in front of them was now shrinking into distant black dots, vanishing into the distance.
In all his time facing Apostles, he’d never seen one flee and leave prey behind… Wait! There had been that one time at Mang-san High.
Back then, when the one commanding them sensed danger, it had abandoned him and So-hee and fled.
‘So this time too?’
His instincts prickled. Even without the ‘Detective’s Intuition’ skill, something was clearly off.
Dong-gil scrambled to his feet, grunting as he yanked off his boots and hurled one at the rookie.
“Hey! Put ’em on!”
“Huh? No way, Team Leader, you’ve got foot fungus!”
Smack!
Dong-gil smacked Choi Woo-jin on the back of the head and yelled.
“Put on the damn boots! Hurry up!”
“Why?! You’ll make me dumb!”
“You remember the way we came? We gotta head back quick. Something’s happened.”
“What do you mean something happened? Aren’t we just supposed to lay low until the rescue team gets out safe?”
Smack!
The moment Choi Woo-jin finished speaking, another sharp crack echoed from the back of his head. He crouched down, rubbing it furiously.
“Quit hitting me! My head’s your personal punching bag?”
“How the hell did a blockhead like you graduate top of the police academy? Use your brain! In this barren cliffside, where do you think those hornets are headed?”
“…Home?”
“Yeah. And who’s there?”
“…The rescue… team. Ah?!”
“Finally got it? Then put on the boots already! Sheesh! Nyah! Thwack, ma. What a dimwit.”
Dong-gil punctuated each word with a smack to his junior’s head.
Choi Woo-jin shielded his head with one hand, grunting as he shoved his feet into the boots.
Dong-gil watched his junior for a moment, then turned toward where the rest of the team should be.
He gazed with desperate hope that they were all safe.
* * *
Strength to Uproot Mountains and Power to Dominate the World.
The set effect of items prefixed with ‘Ownerless’.
Min-jun recalled the first time he’d used this set effect a few weeks ago.
After helping Dong-gil, So-hee, and Sung grow, he’d tested it out, saying there was something he wanted to try…
That day, just activating it near them had nearly killed Dong-gil and So-hee with his own hands.
If they hadn’t completed the ‘Minimum Qualification’ quest? Or if So-hee hadn’t taken the tank role and acquired ‘Shield of Protection’?
There was a 100% chance they’d have been shredded into chunks of meat.
‘….’
After that incident, Min-jun had made a signal agreement with them.
The promise was simple: a light hand gesture to So-hee warning them to run or brace when he used this skill.
Slaaaash—
Thanks to activating the ‘Time Gap’ skill, the stinger hornet and middle-aged woman’s body were splitting in half at slow speed before his eyes.
Normally, moving in this state felt like slogging through water, limbs heavy.
But with his stats inflated by at least 3x, there was no sense of unfamiliarity now.
Of course, he hadn’t checked the status window, but that’s how it felt.
Testing it precisely wasn’t worth it—the effect lasted too short, and swinging the sword one more time was more efficient.
Lost in those thoughts,
The hornet’s yellow ichor and the woman’s blood it carried soaked his chest.
‘Was this the best way?’
He swung the greatsword one-handed—something he’d normally need both hands for—and questioned himself.
‘It was. Using Star Force might not have been impossible against it, but the moment I drew power, it would’ve noticed instantly.’
Star Force was the perfect counter to Apostles, but they were hypersensitive to its energy.
If it had sensed it, his ambush would’ve failed, other hornets would’ve swarmed in, and it would’ve turned into chaos.
Swoosh—
Kwaaaaaa!
The yellow ichor sprayed in a massive fan shape. No trace of the hornet’s corpse remained.
The mere sword wind had torn the swarm apart.
‘…Hup’
I inhaled sharply and spun backward.
Bwoooooom—!
The swarm charged with spearhead stingers leading the way.
Behind them… were the survivors. So-hee was using ‘Shield of Protection’ beside the team members.
‘…No room for hesitation. Focus.’
I shifted my gaze from the distant survivors’ faces to the swarm right in front of me.
Then I swung the sword lightly. Very lightly.
Kwaaaaaa—!!
A gale roared, yellow ichor splattering everywhere.
And in my blurred peripheral vision, red blood sprayed from behind.
From that moment, I started rampaging wildly to empty my mind.
‘If not this way, I could lose So-hee or the others.’
Slaaaash—!!
‘In that situation, do you think those people would come out unscathed? This is the best right now.’
Kwaaaaaaaa—!!
‘The lives of those offering me as sacrifice to survive—no matter how many—aren’t worth as much as one close to me.’
Kwaaaaaaaa—!!
‘I… I am…….’
Fsssh—
.
.
.
A murderer in this goddamn world.
* * *
By the time I stopped swinging, the aftermath of my frenzy stirred a gentle breeze through the cavern.
The vast space was scarred everywhere with claw marks like those of a rabid beast.
The entrance to the nursery chamber was the only one intact; the rest had caved in.
Not a single hornet remained.
Of course, no survivors did either… Only So-hee and Dong-gil’s team watched from behind the translucent barrier.
Their expressions were hard to make out through my blurring vision, but their rigid stances and gazes hinted at the turmoil they hid.
‘I must look like a monster or a madman to them.’
Killing people takes real courage. I’d felt it the first time I hit that kid who mocked me for not having a mom.
But this wasn’t just scratches—it was murder. Mass murder of dozens.
Something only a severe lunatic could do. I barely understood my own resolve, so could they?
‘What if the new ones see me as a threat and try to take me out? What if So-hee or Uncle Dong-gil feel disgusted and distance themselves…?’
Worries swirled in my head, but my fading mind erased them one by one.
My eyelids grew heavy.
Their figures blurred.
[You have completed the ‘Main Quest – (2)’ quest.]
[You have obtained the reward.]
[‘The Gap’ is closing. Escape ‘Fierce Spearhead Stinger Hornet Nest’ within 1 hour.]
[‘Strength to Uproot Mountains and Power to Dominate the World’ effect expires.]
[For 5 hours, you fall into the abnormal status ‘Fainted’….]
In my darkening vision, only the system messages echoed faintly.
* * *
‘…Urk.’
So-hee swallowed the blood rising in her throat and gripped her shield tighter.
If she collapsed, not only Dong-gil’s team but even she couldn’t guarantee her own life.
Slaaaash—! Thud.
Yellow ichor and dark red blood splattered against the translucent barrier in front of her shield.
At the dropping sound, So-hee looked down. A severed arm, its stump torn ragged, rolled on the ground.
Her gaze pierced beyond the shield.
‘…Min-jun.’
There, Min-jun’s blurred afterimage rampaged through the cavern.
But So-hee had seen it clearly.
His expression before the frenzy.
A fragile state, like glass about to shatter or a tightrope walker on the brink.
Thud!
“Guh!”
Another heavy impact hammered the barrier. So-hee slid her right foot back, planting her weight.
Thud!
Each shockwave against ‘Shield of Protection’ pushed her body backward.
Then, hands steadied her from behind.
Turning, she saw Dong-gil’s team members.
Their faces were complicated—not as much as Min-jun’s, but still. Especially Gu Dong-beom, who’d argued to save the other survivors, looked utterly devastated…
Thankfully, no anger showed.
‘….’
They knew they couldn’t just condemn Min-jun outright.
In the pre-apocalypse world, murder was an unforgivable crime, no matter the reason.
Especially for cops.
But it had saved their lives.
‘Who could blame Min-jun for dirtying his hands to save us?’
They were just conflicted between their ethics and this horrific reality.
And now, bone-deep, they felt they had to adapt to this world.
Their complicated expressions as they supported her proved it.
So-hee turned forward.
‘In times like this, I have to steel myself.’
As she thought that,
Fsssh—
The cavern-shaking noise cut off abruptly.
Min-jun stood alone atop a swamp of yellow ichor.
System messages followed.
[You have completed the ‘Main Quest – (2)’ quest.]
[You have obtained the reward.]
[‘The Gap’ is closing. Escape ‘Fierce Spearhead Stinger Hornet Nest’ within 1 hour.]
So-hee rushed to Min-jun. Last time he used this, he’d been out for 5 hours.
Sure enough, he collapsed unconscious. She barely caught him.
Piggybacking him, she yelled to the team.
“We have to get out of here! Hurry!”
They’d seen the message too, sprinting back to the nursery and hammering the wax-blocked vents with their weapons.
“You fucking piece of shit! Why won’t this break?! It was so easy when Min-jun did it!”
Kang Man-sik vented his disgust and turmoil, swinging his sledgehammer wildly at the wax.
Whether it was tougher than expected or just frustration, his curses grew fouler with impatience.
Then—thunk! A scabbard burst through the hole.
“…Huh?! Team Leader!”
Dong-gil’s face appeared in the light from the vent.