Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Girl Next Door (Revised)
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“Ah, hello...”
“Ah, yes...”
The girl next door offered a slightly shy greeting. Since moving into this apartment, this was the first time I'd spoken to her, aside from the day I moved in.
She was wearing pajama pants and a pink zip-up hoodie. Her build was small and she didn't have much meat on her bones—a figure that could only be described as slender.
Her hair wasn't frizzy, so she must have showered today, and she smelled nice.
“Hehe...”
She was glancing at me, her expression looking as if she were frightened.
However, I didn't let my guard down and gripped the baseball bat tightly in my hand. The thought that a living person was still around had made me stand before her without thinking, but now that we were face-to-face, all sorts of grim possibilities came to mind.
For all I knew, she could be an Awakened like me.
The text message said that only about one in a hundred people become Awakened, but I couldn't blindly trust that message.
Especially since it's already been three days since the world ended, this woman could very well be an Awakened like me.
‘Just from her reaction, she seems like a simple, frightened woman.’
From her appearance alone, I couldn't immediately determine if she was an Awakened or not.
If she had a class with a strange skill like Human Sacrifice, it could be incredibly dangerous.
She might try to take my life while I'm asleep.
This made me feel uneasy in many ways. It would be best if I had some powerful means to bind her... but the problem is, I have no such means.
Moreover, she hasn't shown any hostile behavior yet, so if I attack first, I might be the one defeated and have my life taken instead.
Right now, she must be on high alert against me as well.
So why did she invite me into her room?
Either she's that confident, or maybe she was just too scared to be alone.
‘What if she's not an Awakened? What if she can't even conceive of the possibility of someone having a weird skill like mine? She might just be looking for my protection. She is quite pretty... This could be a strategy to use her looks...’
The worst-case scenario among all the assumptions is that she, like me, has awakened with a crazy skill and is setting a trap to use me as a sacrifice.
‘Anyway, if she is an Awakened, there's a high probability she's stronger than me. It's better to maintain a friendly relationship rather than taking hostile action right away.’
For now, I can't figure out anything for sure. That's why I need to have a conversation to probe her a bit.
She might not have any ill feelings toward me, and I can't just swing my baseball bat and knock her out based on a mere hunch.
‘If she has the power to crush me, my hostile actions could cause our favorability to plummet.’
For now, let's not assume she has blind malice toward me. After all, since she lives right next door, she could have broken through this flimsy wall and come over at any time. She had many opportunities to kill me while I was sleeping after getting lost in a game.
“Um, would you like to come in for now?”
“Excuse me, but before I go in, may I ask you a few questions?”
“Ah, yes.”
I asked the girl next door, who still looked a little uneasy.
“Have you, by any chance, killed any zombies?”
I didn't expect her to answer truthfully, but I asked anyway.
“Ah, n-no. I haven't left my house for the past three days...”
“I see...”
So she's never killed a zombie.
I can't exactly believe her, but she grimaced the moment I mentioned zombies.
“Sorry for interrogating you, but are you really telling me you've been in your house for the last three days?”
“Yes... The message said soldiers would come, so...”
It seems she was just waiting patiently, following the instructions from the text. It's hard to be certain, but she didn't seem to be lying.
I still hadn't let my guard down. I followed her inside to look for any remaining evidence in her apartment.
Maybe because I was being overly cautious, the woman made an uncomfortable expression.
Her apartment was relatively clean. It felt lived-in, but she must have sprayed perfume because there was no smell of rotting zombie corpses seeping in from outside.
“Um, would you like something to drink? Could you put down that baseball bat for now...”
“Ah, sorry. After seeing the zombies, I feel a bit safer just holding onto this.”
The woman took some apple juice from the fridge. I didn't drink it. If she'd put sleeping pills in it, it would be all over for me.
“Shall we introduce ourselves simply?”
“Yes. My name is Lee Eun-ji. I'm twenty-six this year.”
“My name is Jang Jo-jun. I'm thirty.”
Twenty-six. She's exactly four years younger than me.
“Wow. Then, um, can I call you oppa?”
“Huh? Ah. Yes. Uh, then can I speak casually to you too?”
“Yes, oppa.”
Being called oppa by a woman is a great feeling, but now isn't the time to be happy about it.
Today's oppa could be tomorrow's zombie, and I can't trust her just because she calls me oppa.
For now, we're just two survivors who happened to meet. Survivors who could potentially kill each other.
If I were to run into a survivor like this about a month after the collapse, I'd probably point a gun or something at them first. Or I'd shoot them dead before talking.
It's the beginning of the collapse, so this awkward situation can happen.
‘I need to find evidence left in the apartment.’
If she had killed a zombie, there might be bloodstains. I should check the bathroom.
“Excuse me, can I use your bathroom?”
“Ah, yes!”
I went straight into the bathroom, still holding my baseball bat.
“Hmm...”
I looked everywhere with sharp eyes, from the sink to corners she might have missed, but all I found was a used sanitary pad in the trash can.
“No evidence...”
Did she clean it all up meticulously?
I even checked the drain, but there were no bloodstains or traces at all.
I flushed the toilet and washed my hands so I wouldn't be suspected for no reason.
The woman was still sitting at the table with an awkward smile.
“Um... By any chance, oppa, have you Awakened?”
Eun-ji asked me first if I had Awakened.
I decided to lie. I wouldn't reveal my Awakening status and would test her. If Eun-ji is an Awakened, she might react differently when she finds out I'm a Non-Awakened.
“I haven't Awakened. Nothing came up.”
“Ah... I see...”
Eun-ji made a very disappointed face and became gloomy.
“What's wrong?”
“Ah, it's nothing. Sorry. I just thought... it would be great if you were an Awakened...”
“Is that so?”
“Ah, yes... It's easier for an Awakened to survive than a Non-Awakened. I guess I wanted to rely on you a bit. Sorry for being disappointed on my own... It's not your fault you didn't Awaken.”
“Well, things happen...”
“Thank you for understanding... So now both you and I are Non-Awakeneds... Hehe. Still, let's both try hard to survive together.”
She gave me an awkward smile and reached out her hand.
There might be a skill that activates if I hold her hand... but I couldn't not hold it.
Her eyes looked too pathetic. I couldn't possibly think she was an Awakened hiding her power.
This was just my intuition, but I ended up taking Eun-ji's hand.
However, contrary to my anxiety, nothing happened. I only felt a warm touch.
“Yeah. Let's both do our best.”
As we shook hands, Eun-ji smiled, a little bit of her anxiety gone.
Her face looked happy, as if just having someone to rely on was a relief.
I still don't know if she harbors ill will toward me or not, but I decided to trust this smile just a little. I can't stay on guard forever.
After all, I can't survive in this world alone.
“Eun-ji, by the way, do you have any family to support?”
This is a pretty important question. If she has family, there's a high chance she'll try to find them.
‘If they're too far away, she'll give up, but if they're within a reasonable distance, she might try to find them.’
That would be troublesome. I'm already busy just feeding myself; I can't afford to help her find her family. I'd have to split up or abandon her.
“No... I've been out of contact with my family for a while... I don't miss them anymore. In fact, we're worse than strangers now.”
Fortunately, she didn't seem to miss her family or want to find them.
Well, she didn't even go home for the Lunar New Year, so I figured something was up, and it seems I was right.
“I see. Me too. I don't have any family to begin with. Then, is there anyone precious you need to find? Like a friend, or... maybe a lover?”
This is also an important question. People tend to look for friends or lovers after family. Since she doesn't have a family, she might cling to me even more.
“As for friends... now isn't the time to be looking for them. And my boyfriend and I broke up a long time ago...”
“I see. Sorry for asking things like that. I was just wondering what I'd do if you said you wanted to go find them. As you can see, the situation is what it is.”
“You're right...”
She was in a similar situation to me. No family, no relatives, no lover for the time being. A survivor left alone.
A target with an opening. She might become a valuable companion in the future.
“Eun-ji. Should we try killing a zombie? You might Awaken, you never know.”
“Huh? W-wait, are you going outside? No. You'll die, oppa...”
Eun-ji grabbed my sleeve tightly, not wanting to let go.
She shook her head, begging me not to go.
“I don't want to be alone anymore. Oppa... Please don't go out for no reason... What if you die... Can't we just hold out a little longer until the soldiers come?”
Whether the soldiers will actually come is unknown.
But her desperate plea made me open up to her a bit more.
It was hard to find any lies in her appearance, holding me back with tears in her eyes.
‘Of course, there's a saying that tears are a woman's weapon...’
I no longer felt that she was an Awakened with some strange skill.
At this point, it seemed unlikely she would hide being an Awakened and lie to me.
“Actually, I am an Awakened. I have a way to avoid detection by zombies, so you don't have to worry too much.”
“Huh? Ah, but you said you weren't...”
“Sorry. I had to test you. We just met today. I can't trust you completely.”
“B-but...”
She nodded, quickly accepting my words.
She couldn't blame me for not trusting her.
Especially since I've seen a skill like 'Human Sacrifice', it's difficult to blindly trust others.
“I'll take one down. You crush its head. That should be enough.”
“Uh...”
Eun-ji still looked terrified. Well, it would be scary for a normal person to be told to beat a zombie to death.
But she can't survive in this crazy world in that state. The law and morality are almost completely broken in this godforsaken world; to survive, she needs to be strong.
“Eun-ji, how much food do you have at home?”
“Well... A bag of rice. Kimchi. To be honest, it's not a huge amount for the two of us.”
“My place is the same. We're short on food. If the army can't come to save us... we'll have to fend for ourselves, right?”
“I guess so...”
“So it would be easier for you to become an Awakened, and for us to help each other and survive.”
Since we've become this friendly, it would be more advantageous for us to survive if Eun-ji Awakens and we help and cooperate with each other.
“You're definitely right, oppa. I guess I was just too scared.”
Eun-ji steeled her resolve and said she'd give it a try.
“By the way, oppa, that method to avoid detection by zombies... is that the Zombie Repellent?”
“Huh? You know about it?”
“I saw a picture someone posted online.”
“I see...”
She must have heard about the achievement rewards online.
Since the internet isn't completely cut off yet, information is still being exchanged relatively actively.
There are probably quite a few people bragging about being Awakened.
It seems Eun-ji heard about the achievement rewards from those posts.
“So you chose the spray, oppa.”
“Yeah. I thought the spray was best for moving around right away.”
“I think so too... If I get bitten by a zombie while surrounded, I'd die before I could even run. I wouldn't have time to use an antidote. The Inventory can't help you avoid zombies.”
“Right. It can only hold five items anyway. Just carrying a bag is fine.”
“That's right.”
“Anyway, I'll go out quickly with this. It lasts for two hours. I'll have to be pretty busy if I want to scavenge for useful stuff in that time.”
I need to get medicine from the pharmacy, stop by a hardware store, gather food and water, and also hit a Daiso on the way. It's going to be hectic.
“So when I go out, I'll half-kill one zombie, and you finish it off. Got it?”
“Yes, oppa. I'll do my best.”
Good. If she had said she wouldn't or couldn't do it, or whined about being scared, I would have been a little disappointed.
Eun-ji hesitated, but she didn't say she couldn't do it. After finding out I'm an Awakened, she even showed a desire to become one herself.
A woman I'm quite fond of. She's pretty, and with this level of resolve, she'll be more than enough as a partner to go through the post-apocalypse with.
To be honest, when she grabbed my sleeve and begged me not to go, her pitiful expression made my heart skip a beat.
A tiny flame lit up on my cold heart, you could say. So I want to protect her more. The thought of making her mine has started to form.
That's what I'm thinking for now.
Of course, I don't know what the future holds, but for now, I've decided to try surviving with her. I want to.
“Hoo... Then I'm off.”
Pshhh!
I sprayed the spray on my face and went outside. I also set an alarm on my phone to go off in an hour and a half. I don't want to die because I got distracted and the effect wore off.
Eun-ji, not being affected by the spray, hurriedly closed the front door and went inside.
She won't come out until I've left one behind. We agreed on that beforehand.
“They really don't touch me...”
The effect of the Zombie Repellent was clear. The zombies saw me but didn't do anything. They just kept knocking on my front door out of inertia.
“You noisy bastards.”
There were about eight zombies. I'll leave just one of them and kill the rest. The two-hour countdown has already started, so I need to smash them to death quickly and go.
Whoosh— Crack! Splatter!
I swung the bat relentlessly at the zombies' heads. With the sound of skulls being crushed, the worthless dead crawl back to hell.
It feels exhilarating. It's like the stress from being suppressed by the absurdities of modern society for 30 years is finally being released.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Gained 40 Coins for killing a zombie.
Unfortunately, I didn't level up. Killing just eight zombies isn't nearly enough.
“Hoo...”
I should have exercised more. My shoulders are aching after just a few swings. I absolutely have to bring some pain relief patches back. I hope the pharmacy hasn't been completely looted.
“Eun-ji. I left one for you.”
Eun-ji cautiously opened the front door and came out. She was holding a hammer in her hand. She said she had a hammer for self-defense since she lived alone.
“Uh...?”
Eun-ji, who was about to swing the hammer, hesitated. What is it? What's wrong?
“What's wrong?”
“Ah, um. It's just... this zombie. I... I know this person. It's nothing. Seeing it in person after only seeing it in movies... It feels different for sure. Haha...”
The zombie crawling on the ground, which she was looking at in a fluster, was a man who looked to be in his twenties.
‘No way... Is this her ex-boyfriend? Her reaction seems to suggest that.’
It might not be, but I have a feeling it is.
Crack!
The zombie's head, which had been crawling on the ground, unable to compose itself after tasting my baseball bat, was smashed to pieces by Eun-ji's hammer, and it stopped moving.
Eun-ji, even though the zombie was already dead, struck it with her hammer several more times, as if venting her anger.
‘I guess it really was her ex-boyfriend...’
It didn't seem like they had a good breakup, so he must have come all the way here to meet his ex-girlfriend and got bitten by a zombie.
He should have gone back to his hometown for the Lunar New Year; instead, he came to his ex-girlfriend's house and met a terrible end.
I looked at the zombie Eun-ji killed and gave a wry smile. Then I asked her.
“Did you Awaken?”
I asked, urging her a bit since I had to get going soon. To be honest, I don't have high expectations.
They say it's not easy for even one in a hundred to Awaken, so it's unlikely she Awakened on her first try...
“Uh... Wait a second. A message is popping up...”
Really? She Awakens this easily?
She might be lying because she doesn't want to be abandoned by me, so I watched her eyes for a moment, but the way her pupils moved didn't seem like she was lying.
She was reading a status window, just like I was a moment ago.
Could it be that my ridiculously high and strange luck stat of 666 is at play here?
I wasn't sure if my luck stat of 666 was a good or bad thing, but seeing Eun-ji Awaken so easily, it seems it's a good thing.
“Then you can decide on your rewards or skills yourself. I don't have time, so I'll be going now.”
“Uh. Ah. Yes! Be careful! You have to come back alive! You absolutely have to! Don't leave me alone!”
“Yeah. I know. Get inside.”
“Yes!”
Eun-ji shouted, telling me again and again not to die and to be sure to come back.
She's definitely a woman I like. I'll have to ask what class she got when I get back.
It's unlikely, but if she betrays me now that she's Awakened, it would be a disaster. Since I'm going out anyway, I should raise my level a bit.
I always need to have the upper hand until I have something that lets me trust her completely.
‘Alright... Then let's go...’
The route is already set.
First, I'll stop by the nearest convenience store to grab some cigarettes and other items. If there's nothing much, I'll head straight to the pharmacy.
Antibiotics and medicine will become valuable later on.
Well, if there's a Healer among the Awakened, it won't matter, but for now, there's nothing like that.
I should also grab some cold medicine. I'll just sweep everything I see in the pharmacy. What happens to other survivors is none of my business.
After looting the pharmacy thoroughly, I'll go straight to the supermarket, grab a shopping cart, sweep up canned food, toilet paper, underwear, and other supplies, and on the way home, stop by a hardware store and a Daiso. That would be perfect.
It would be great to drive, but neither Eun-ji nor I have a car, so we'll have to rely on our own two feet. If we use a car, zombies might swarm us.
‘A two-hour time attack...’
Ruminating on the rough route in my head, I hurried down the stairs.
Hopefully, I can get some good loot...!