Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: That Damned Monday
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‘If you were to ask me if I’m perfectly prepared, my only answer would be ‘no’.’
Precautions and preparations are never enough, no matter how much you do. No matter how much you prepare, reality will always throw an even bigger wall in your way.
“Still... this much should be...”
“The moment you think that, you’re done for. You idiot. Never let your guard down. The moment you get careless is the moment you die first.”
That letting your guard down means death is a fact proven countless times through games, dramas, novels, and movies.
Of course, even those who didn’t let their guard down died in droves.
“It’s not enough. Not nearly enough.”
“Ah... yes.”
Hajin-seong, who had been looking at the makeshift barricades made of furniture and the cars parked at the supermarket entrance with a satisfied expression, immediately shut his mouth at my words.
With the possibility that the zombie bastards might know parkour, we had no idea when our flimsy, self-built barrier would be breached.
We’d boiled oil and piled up objects to knock them down if they tried to climb the walls, but it still felt incredibly insecure.
Even if they’d been disciplined, seeing the thugs who still looked shabby while smoking and the women cowering far away from them made me question if this was really going to work.
“Haa...”
Seeing it like this, the fact that we had fewer than fifty people to mobilize sent a chill down my spine.
Soon as it hits 12, ‘That Damned Monday’ will begin. The anxiety is impossible to shake.
We’d prepared diligently over the weekend, but... who knows how far that will get us.
We have no idea how many zombies will swarm us, or how many special zombies will appear. It would be great if there was even one person here who’s a returner or a possessor, like the protagonist of a novel.
Unfortunately, everyone here is experiencing the Calamity for the first time.
“The kids are definitely keeping watch around us, right?”
“Yes. I’ve warned them several times. They should be on high alert.”
“Good... that’s good...”
In the end, we decided to pull an all-nighter tonight.
The moment it becomes ‘Monday,’ that is, the moment it passes midnight, normal zombies will begin transforming into special zombies, and even the normal zombies will see their intelligence and ferocity skyrocket.
“Haa...”
Thankfully, two more Awakened appeared from the female group.
Only two out of eight became Awakened, but looking at the overall statistics, that’s still a decent number.
The two new Awakened were strangely proactive Hwang Su-min and a very quiet woman named Lee Eun-hye.
‘It’s a shame that neither of them can be used right away...’
Surprisingly, Hwang Su-min wasn’t a normal class like a Warrior, Archer, or Fighter.
She was a ‘Mage,’ a rare class that isn’t non-existent but is quite uncommon. Looking at her skill tree, it seemed to be a class that focuses on one type of elemental magic.
The problem is that Mages are completely useless at low levels due to their class characteristics.
Her initial mana is too low; after casting two or three spells that cost 6 or 7 mana, she’s spent.
Apparently, as she levels up, skills like ‘Increased Magic Power’ or ‘Increased Mana Recovery’ will appear, but... for a level 4 Mage, we can’t expect any high-level magical combat. She’s a classic late-bloomer.
Still, thanks to Awakening, her stats were affected, allowing her, a woman, to exert the strength of an adult male, which is a blessing in disguise.
‘And then there’s Lee Eun-hye, an archer without a bow...’
Archers are a class that is extremely equipment-dependent. Without a bow and arrows, the Archer class is nothing more than a watchtower; they rely that heavily on their gear.
Without a bow, their available combat skills are zero. It’s just baffling and surprising.
A Warrior, another normal class, can smash zombie heads just fine even if you just give them a steel pipe.
Her vision and dynamic vision have improved, and she has self-mobility, but to properly fight, a bow and arrows are essential.
Of course, assuming she gets a bow, an Archer’s single-target damage becomes higher than a normal Warrior’s, making them a tougher opponent, but the most important thing is that we only have one bow...
There’s only one bow that Ha-rin had, and it was naturally given to Kim Min-jun.
It’s more efficient to give it to the level 7 Kim Min-jun than the level 4 Lee Eun-hye. He was so happy to get it.
‘A bow isn’t something you can just make if you want to.’
In many ways, it’s a disappointing situation. I was secretly hoping for hidden classes like Eun-ji or Ha-rin. My luck stat of 666 must not be working.
“Haa...”
Anyway, that makes a total of nine Awakened.
Me, Eun-ji, Ha-rin, the Ha brothers, the level 5 Warrior Kim Il-woo, the level 7 Archer Kim Min-jun, the level 4 Mage Hwang Su-min, and the level 4 Archer Lee Eun-hye.
Plus 33 Non-Awakened. A total of 42 people is all we have.
‘We really need more people...’
I can’t shake the feeling that we don’t have enough people to defend the supermarket. With Monday just around the corner, I can’t help but regret the loss of the deceased Park Seong-o and the two other Warriors.
‘We have plenty of food and drink for now, so I wish we had at least 20 more people...’
We’d need over 60 people to stand guard without any gaps during the night.
With only 42 people on watch, there are bound to be gaps everywhere.
‘I’ll have to round up all the bastards who set up shop at Daiso...’
It’s about a 10-minute walk to Daiso.
It’s close. As long as there are no zombies in between, there’s no problem getting there and back.
‘For now, let’s just get through tonight. We’ll make contact during the day.’
We don’t know their situation, but maybe after surviving tonight, they’ll think about joining us.
After all, even before midnight, zombies are gathering in groups. We killed as many nearby zombies as we could to reduce their numbers, but they’re crawling out from everywhere, as if they were hiding somewhere.
“Brother. Five minutes left.”
“Haa... So that damned Monday is finally here... You go to your position and wait.”
“Yes, understood.”
Eun-ji, Ha-rin, and I were in charge of the supermarket’s main entrance.
We had to watch how those crazy zombies would behave in five minutes.
‘Let’s see... we have one use each of zombie repellent left for me and Ha-rin. Eun-ji has two uses left.’
With Hwang Su-min and Lee Eun-hye becoming Awakened, they achieved the ‘First Kill’ achievement and got two more, so we have a total of ten uses of zombie repellent.
Unfortunately, the Awakened bastards in the supermarket apparently used them all up on the first and second days.
The stupid bastards. They must have used them thoughtlessly without saving any.
‘I have to use these ten chances well.’
First, I took Hwang Su-min’s and Lee Eun-hye’s sprays, almost by force.
To be honest, those two aren’t my harem or anything. Unlike Eun-ji and Ha-rin, they’re just slaves, so I didn’t feel any hesitation in taking their repellent.
‘Hmm... two minutes...’
My breathing grows rough.
My hands tremble slightly. I must be pretty tense myself.
“Oppa.”
Eun-ji, who noticed my tension, grabbed my hand tightly. I turned my head to check her complexion, but it was too dark to see well, but she was clearly tense as well.
The same went for Ha-rin.
“Master, will we... be able to survive?”
“Of course... To be honest, I don’t know about the others, but the three of us will definitely survive.”
I’m a little anxious, but we’ll be able to live. We have the sprays. If it comes to it, we can just feed all the humans here to the zombies and run away.
As the situation grew urgent, the thought of abandoning about forty survivors and running away kept crossing my mind, and suddenly, the Human Sacrifice skill came to me.
‘Should I have taken the Human Sacrifice skill after all...’
A strange skill that offers sacrifices to accumulate karma and draw closer to a god.
I understand that this ‘karma’ you get from Human Sacrifice is like a currency consumed when using other skills. After all, I need karma to use the Abyss Observation skill.
However, I have no idea what it means to ‘draw closer to a god,’ so I’m reluctant to take it.
The being called ‘god’ in the description is too suspicious. I question if this unknown entity whose name I can’t even tell is truly a god, and above all, I get the feeling that it will just toy with me.
‘But my class is Cultist... maybe Human Sacrifice is the beginning and end of my class?’
As the crisis approaches, all sorts of thoughts come to mind. Was my choice truly right, or did I take the wrong path?
‘For my future survival... I have a strong feeling that I need to take Human Sacrifice. Should I trust my intuition?’
This isn’t logic or deduction based on situational analysis; it’s just an instinctive intuition. I feel a pull that if I take Human Sacrifice and look into the abyss, I can become incomparably stronger than I am now. As my inner anxiety grows, it feels like the skills themselves are urging me to choose them.
‘Next time I level up... it might be more beneficial to choose Human Sacrifice over Selfless Demon Eye...’
I was thinking that when it happened.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Phone alarms rang out all at once.
Finally, it was 12 o’clock.
The date had changed, and Monday had arrived.
The shitty Monday that I had desperately hoped would never come had finally arrived.
I had desperately hoped that Mondays wouldn’t come even when I was a salaryman, but time flowed mercilessly, informing us once again that Monday was here.
And the moment 12 o’clock passed, the changes in the zombies were so terrifying they were visible to the naked eye.
“Wraaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!”
“Kiaaaaaaahhh!!!!”
“Kyeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!”
“Damn it...!”
The zombies let out screams and roars that were incomparably louder than before.
And then...
SPLAT!
“S-Shit...”
“Th-That’s...”
Among the hundreds of zombies, a few individuals twisted their bodies, tearing and bursting their original forms, transforming into grotesque special zombies.
The view of the street from the supermarket roof was... nothing short of a living hell.
“Z-Zombie spiders...”
Dozens of zombie spiders twisted their bodies and roamed the streets...
“M-Master... that... those...”
Where Ha-rin was pointing, muscular zombies that looked to be over three meters tall were roaring.
“W-War Boy...”
Special zombies first discovered in America. On the third day of the apocalypse, when the internet was still working, these were among the special zombie info we’d downloaded that were rated as particularly dangerous.
“There are Bitches over there too, and... uh... those are new ones I’ve never seen before... M-Master... what do we do?”
Not just zombie spiders and War Boys, but an uncountable number of zombies were transforming into special zombies, roaring and starting to move, searching for places where survivors might still be hiding.
What was even more horrifying was that the majority of those countless zombies were targeting the supermarket where we were waiting.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!!!
The giant War Boys were brutally pounding the barricades we’d set up at the supermarket entrance.
The cars parked in front of the entrance were being ripped apart by them, the entrance was shaking, and the furniture we’d placed to block entry was being pushed back.
On top of that, dozens of zombie spiders were wriggling their arms, climbing the walls.
“B-Brother!!! The first floor is about to be breached!!!”
“Uwaaaaah!!!! Damn it!!! They’re coming up!!!! Pour the damn oil!!!!”
“S-Spiders!!!!”
Shrill screams came from all sides. The wails of the despairing survivors were driving me crazy.
“Haha... hahahaha...”
The situation was so hopeless it was laughable.
What was all our preparation for?
I thought we’d tried our best. Reality, as if to mock my efforts, brought an even greater trial and Calamity.
All the things I thought I’d prepared were about to crumble uselessly before the hundreds, no, thousands of zombies.
‘The problem isn’t the normal zombies... it’s those damned special zombies...’
Could we really survive?
Against such monsters?
Against so many special zombies?
“O... Oppa... what... what do we do...”
“I-It’s over. In a situation like this... L-Let’s run, Master...”
Despair settled on their faces.
‘Damn it... should I use the sprays starting now...?’
For now, Eun-ji, Ha-rin, and I need to survive first.
We have ten uses of the spray in total... so the three of us can use it for six hours each.
‘Should we abandon the supermarket... and just run somewhere else...’
To be honest, we only settled in the supermarket because of the food problem; I don’t care what happens to anyone else besides the three of us.
The Awakened slaves are just useful tools; they aren’t precious or necessary to save.
If it meant we could survive by cutting the throats of the thirty-three ordinary people, I’d be willing to do it.
That’s when a notification appeared before our eyes.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Update Complete!] A new week of Calamity has begun! We hope you obtain wonderful loot and experience points among the strengthened zombies.
[Update Details] 1. Changed Zombie Behavior. Zombies have become more aggressive and intelligent! Zombies become more aggressive when multiple humans gather. Additionally, zombies will be more active in tracking and attacking survivors at night. Finally, some special zombies will ignore the effects of repellents! 2. Increased Zombie Kill Rewards. Until now, you only received experience and coins! With this update, rewards will increase. Special zombies will now drop items such as weapons, armor, and accessories with a certain probability. At this time, dropped items can be sold to the Peddler NPC. 3. Appearance of Named Entities. Some special zombies that meet certain conditions will evolve into ‘Named’ entities. Upon defeating a Named, you are guaranteed to receive greater rewards and additional stat points. Named entities are treated as semi-field bosses and exert a minor influence on their surroundings. 4. Peddler Appearance Conditions. If a survivor group has 10 or more members, a Peddler has a chance to appear nearby. If a survivor group exceeds 100 members, a Peddler will be guaranteed to be summoned nearby. Additionally, if a player has 10,000 or more coins, a Peddler will appear around the player.
The situation was too urgent for any of the update details to register.
Killing the zombie spiders climbing the walls and running away was more important right now.
‘Yeah, screw it... this is hopeless.’
I never imagined they’d attack with this level of insane numbers.
The world always far exceeds my expectations.
Before the storm of this massive Calamity, is everything just going to crumble like this?
‘Let’s run.’
It was the moment I decided to abandon the supermarket and choose to flee, to live to fight another day.
FWOOSH!!!
Right in the middle of the supermarket roof.
A flash of bright light, and lightning struck down.
“Wh-What is that?!!!”
“S-Shit!!! Are we getting glowing zombies now?!!!”
As the survivors screamed and fell to the ground, the light faded, and a man carrying a large bag walked out from the center.
A man of indeterminate age, with a strange aura, wearing shabby clothes and a hiking hat pulled down low.
He, carrying a bag much larger than a person, glanced once at the panicked survivors, then spread out a mat on the ground and sat down.
“Hoo. A Calamity, I see.”
The man who had sat down wasn’t the least bit afraid, even as the crazy special zombies screamed and crawled up, and he rummaged through his bag, laid out a stall, and took out items.
‘What the hell is that guy...’
The items he took out all looked strangely out of place.
From a ring with a green gem embedded in it, to a syringe filled with a blue liquid, to bizarre cards with nothing written on them—they all looked like ‘items.’
Right, like the items you see in games.
“S-Seriously...”
After spreading all the items out on the stall, he let out a deep sigh, then spoke to us as if he were forcing out a predetermined line.
“No matter how great the Calamity, my task remains unchanged. You seem to be in quite a hurry. Why don’t you young folks take a look at my wares?”
The man, smiling at us in front of thousands of zombies, was a ‘Peddler.’