Adapting to the Hellish Apocalypse

“End times, I tell you. End times.”

People watching the disaster news at the training ground clicked their tongues in disapproval. Breaking reports were flooding in about another monster appearing in Zone 38. Monsters showed up once or twice a week in random zones. No one knew the exact reason. Researchers claimed that energy from another world connected to this one would build up until it formed a passage. Of course, that was nothing more than a hypothesis.

In any case, the Hero Association detected energy explosions in the zones and dispatched heroes according to the threat level. Most of the time it was Class 2 or Class 3, with the occasional Class 1 evacuation order. For Class 2 and 3, people took shelter in the zone’s bunkers; for Class 1, they were advised to leave the zone entirely if possible.

Such incidents weren’t limited to random monster spawns. Sometimes monsters poured out of the labyrinths as well. Those usually triggered a Class 1 emergency. Since they typically came flooding out in packs, the surrounding area was almost always reduced to rubble. That was why the areas around labyrinths were designated restricted protection zones where people weren’t allowed to live.

With people constantly exposed to danger from monsters, the need for heroes felt especially pressing. Naturally, the zones where heroes lived had far higher safety ratings. From an economic standpoint, land prices in those areas skyrocketed. Plenty of land speculators had flocked there as a result. …It seemed that no matter where people lived, those types always showed up.

Among the 40s zones, the 45th Zone was especially famous as a wealthy neighborhood. That was because a fair number of heroes lived there—and one of the Hero Association branches was located there as well.

Quite a few heroes had come from labyrinth teams. Famous labyrinth teams were nearly as popular as the heroes themselves. People who loved ranking things would even sort them from first to tenth based on their fame, just like the university rankings back on Earth. It wasn’t an absolute measure, of course, but it was generally accepted. There was almost no disagreement about the top ranks, while the lower ones always sparked fierce debates. Even making tenth place still brought considerable advantages.

“We’re going to form a labyrinth team later too.”

“A labyrinth team?”

“Just training like this has its limits for raising stats. Later on you barely improve at all. Once we hit First Awakening, we’re going into the labyrinths.”

Ogernam, who knew nothing about those finer details, simply said he would do whatever the boss told him. In that sense, Kang-jun found the guy’s denseness a bit of a relief. He might be stupid, but his loyalty to his leader was high.

Forming a labyrinth team required at least three people: one guard, one dealer, one healer. That was the minimum unit. Of course, no one crazy enough actually entered a labyrinth with just three. They usually gathered at least seven—that was the standard roster. Two guards, three dealers, two healers. Surprisingly, the position that demanded the most expertise was the guards. How comfortably the dealers and healers could do their jobs depended entirely on the guards’ skill.

Ogernam would naturally take the guard role. Kang-jun could handle both guard and dealer. The guard side came from his Doesn’t Hurt Even a Bit trait. A trait that granted both physical and magical resistance at the same time was extremely rare.

Of course, with all the attack skills Kang-jun already had mastered, putting him on guard duty would be a waste of talent. Guards were important, but that didn’t mean dealers weren’t. To kill monsters quickly, the dealer’s role mattered just as much—otherwise the guard line would eventually break.

I know the 226th batch has one healer and one dealer.

Both were intelligence characters with magic traits. Naturally, since this was based on a smut novel, both were women. They were also the supporting characters who would later join the original protagonist’s team once he arrived in the 3rd Dungeon.

There was also a somewhat talented male supporting character who stood in opposition to the protagonist, but he was such a pretentious bastard that Kang-jun had discarded him. The guy was useless either way.

Kang-jun had no idea which branches those two women were training at. He hadn’t written that level of detail into the original, so things were just rolling along on their own. He could find out quickly enough if he got access to the organization’s information, but that was a level of authority he didn’t have. So he asked Park Hae-su, the 41st Zone chief. Even for her, digging up member info from other branches wasn’t easy. Still, she used her connections and managed to get somewhere. She found one of them, but the other remained out of reach.

Kang-jun closed the chat while entertaining filthy thoughts about how he would cook her this weekend.

It had been almost a full month since the 226th batch arrived, so Kim Hye-mi would be graduating soon. She was something of an elite, so he expected she might finish in a month—though he couldn’t guarantee it.

Kim Hye-mi was a healer. Her intelligence and magic were outstanding, but her other stats were so lacking that First Awakening would be a bit of a hassle for her type. For intelligence characters like her, it was better to raise stamina rather than strength or agility. Since stamina, like every other stat, rose the more you used it, she would have to be worked until she was completely exhausted. And Kang-jun, who had neither blood nor tears, already had a full plan in place.

Of course, contacting her right away was still out of the question. Kang-jun himself was in no position to show off yet. He had nothing worth boasting about. First he needed to hit First Awakening as fast as possible. …But training alone clearly had its limits for growth.

Killing monsters is still the fastest way…

Monsters gave massive experience that training or sparring simply couldn’t match. But entering a labyrinth right now was unthinkable. That meant he had to hunt the monsters that randomly appeared in the zones.

Kang-jun set several conditions for himself. If a Class 3 alert dropped near the 42nd Zone, he would go look for the monster. His level was nearly 100, so a monster around level 130 to 140 should be manageable alone. Even one kill would equal a week or two of training results, so there was no harm in trying.

He had quit his part-time job and been going to the training ground every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so his money was almost gone. Ogernam’s construction wages couldn’t cover living expenses for both of them. In the end Kang-jun gave up on the training ground and trained alone. Even when he went out every night to earn pocket money, it didn’t always work. Sometimes he only made ten or twenty. But right now he needed even that just to keep food in his mouth.

Once he started killing monsters, money would come somehow. Their bones fetched higher prices the higher the monster’s level. Those bones were reprocessed into weapons, because ordinary steel couldn’t break their skeletons. Only bones from the same type of monster—or powerful mana attacks—were effective against them.

Even so, by pouring every bit of passion he might have spent on fucking into raising his stats instead, his growth wasn’t slow at all. …In fact, compared to ordinary players it was extremely fast. A greenhorn of only a few months, and a human at that, holding stats this high was absurd. Considering that even talented people took two or three years to reach First Awakening, his growth speed was miraculous. His magic power was already nearly at 20.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so Kang-jun welcomed September. The sun was still scorching.

Whether it was good luck or bad, no monsters appeared near the 42nd Zone for two full weeks. The closest one had been in Zone 29. Of course, by the time he took the subway it would already be over, so he didn’t even bother moving.

When training got boring, Kang-jun sometimes went to Zone 31 to check on Kim Hye-mi’s situation. Like most people, she hadn’t gone independent right after graduation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and had started as an organization member first. Usually they continued organization life for a while until they built some foundation, then went independent. Just to cover monthly dues, living expenses, and rent, you had to juggle several part-time jobs. With stats still lacking, earning money with your abilities was practically impossible.

He kept looking for the other woman as well. She was a supporting character on the original protagonist’s team—a fire mage. Fire magic consumed a lot of mana but packed strong destructive power, and it was especially effective against monsters. Oddly enough, despite using fire magic, her personality was cold and selfish. A born gambler who especially loved bets.

To find the Chinese fire mage Zsishi, Kang-jun hounded Park Hae-su relentlessly. Thanks to her efforts, he learned Zsishi was at the 11th Branch. It was far too distant to go there, so Kang-jun simply noted the location and didn’t move further.

Then October arrived. Kang-jun finally hit Magic Power 20 and heard the notification he had been waiting for.

It had been exactly seven months since he finished the adaptation course at the training facility in early March.

His If You Keep Pounding It’ll Happen Eventually trait had activated once more not long ago and raised his Strength by 1. He had at least recovered the cost of those 100 coupons.

Time to take the elixirs.

The bored gods finally seemed to think the grinding was over, because they all started going wild.

Kang-jun pulled three elixirs from his item window. The things glowed with a luminous light, as if begging him to hurry up and eat them.

“Brothers, elixir rush starts now!”

Kang-jun gave them a bit of time to chatter, then popped one elixir into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Magic Power was already capped at 20, so the remaining five stats were the only options left.

Yes! That’s it! Kang-jun clenched both fists tight.

“Aigoo, brothers! This is just who I am. Look at that Strength and Stamina going up. At this rate I’ll hit First Awakening any day now.”

Kang-jun paid no real attention to whatever they were spouting and gulped down the next elixir.

Ugh. The thing he had half-feared actually happened. The chat exploded with declarations that justice had been served.

Kang-jun started bargaining over the last elixir.

“Brothers. Anyone want to set a mission? Based on which stats go up.”

But Kang-jun sensed an atmosphere he could gently coax.

“How about something like Agility going up two times in a row?”

“Whoa, brothers. I just got the feeling. This is two Agilities. It just hit me. For real.”

He laid on the flattery for a bit, then waited until the chat started spamming “just eat the damn thing already” before gulping it down.

Holy fucking shit—

Kang-jun felt a joy he couldn’t put into words. The chat went berserk in an instant.

Kang-jun expressed the ecstasy with his whole body, then grinned and crowed,

“See? I told you I got the feeling. You guys just don’t believe me enough. Eheheheh.”

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“Aigoo, thank you for the 100 coupons!”

With the 100 coupons he received, Kang-jun bought one more elixir.

Kang-jun called out the names of every god he knew and swallowed the elixir.

Ah, the Agility +1 was good, but…! Kang-jun felt so cheated he could cry.

Kang-jun finally felt like First Awakening was right before his eyes.