Chapter 48
Chapter 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Meeting
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Oh! Oppa, look at this."
Ji-ah's face lit up the moment she spotted a women's clothing store.
She rushed over there and started fondling all sorts of clothes.
"Oppa~ Can I take this one?"
She glanced at me cautiously with pleading eyes, holding up a knit top and a skirt that came down to her knees.
"Take as much as you can carry. With your ability, you can haul quite a bit."
I gave her permission, figuring it would serve as decent motivation to raise her ability proficiency too.
"R-Really? What about the supplies?"
Her face visibly brightened at my words.
"I'll handle those, so don't worry about it."
"Th-Then... can I take cosmetics too?"
Ji-ah's eyes were sparkling for some reason.
"...Whatever you can manage with your ability, take it."
I said it without much thought at the time, but...
I could see just how desperate people could get from watching Ji-ah.
Chae-won was stunned when Ji-ah returned, somehow carrying a load three times her own body weight.
"S-Sis... this is..."
Even though she'd overexerted her ability, Ji-ah showed no signs of strain and just grinned brightly.
After that, for training purposes, I had her hunt zombies while we roamed the mall for a couple of days.
Each trip, I'd squeeze her psychokinesis nicely once...
And as a bonus, she'd test her limits by hauling back bundles with her psychokinesis.
I could really see how much people could grow when they desperately wanted something.
'Maybe I could just toss her in the mall and skip the zombie hunting altogether?'
As the piles of grit-your-teeth hauls accumulated, I had no choice but to clear out another classroom to make her a dedicated room.
Hauling over fridges and furniture on our mall trips turned our somewhat barren living space into something decent.
"Hoo! Hoo!"
Ji-ah took deep breaths, visibly tense.
She put on a determined expression.
-Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps echoed around.
A massive zombie, far bigger than your average one, lumbered toward her.
It was a low-rank Corrupted Being zombie.
"Hup!"
The giant zombie charging at Ji-ah froze mid-step as she thrust out her hand.
"Instructor! I've got it!"
She shouted excitedly as her psychokinesis halted the massive zombie.
"Then aim for the head."
"Yes, sir! Instructor! Hyaah!"
Ji-ah was sweating bullets and giving it her all, but the Corrupted Being's head showed no real change.
"I-It won't work?"
She looked at me in a panic.
But I'd half-expected this.
Dealing with a low-rank Corrupted Being using mana right now was too greedy.
Just restraining it was a huge accomplishment.
With one more Awakener, we could probably take down a single low-rank Corrupted Being without issue.
"Just hold the restraint."
"Yes, sir!"
Ji-ah actually maintained it far longer than I'd thought.
The fruits of her shopping labors were clear.
Once she started looking worn out from the sustained psychokinesis, I pulled a spear from my Inventory and smashed the immobilized zombie Corrupted Being's head.
"Good job."
"Hah... hah... hehe... Instructor~"
Ji-ah beamed at my praise and threw herself into my arms.
I stroked her long hair and said,
"Trainee Lee Ji-ah, you graduate."
"Huh? Graduate?"
Ji-ah looked more baffled than happy.
"........?"
"Didn't you know you're joining Un-ho Team?"
"......No, I didn't..."
"Eeeek~"
Now that Ji-ah had reached a decent proficiency with her ability,
I roamed around the base more carefree, hunting Corrupted Beings for several days.
As a result, I leveled up Inventory once more to Level 3.
A few more Corrupted Beings, and I could probably level Mana Conversion too.
Suni reported it, displaying the direction and distance right in front of me.
I left the detection—which required some focus—entirely to Suni.
I leaped across building rooftops, moving swiftly.
That's when I spotted a woman being chased by zombies.
She had her hair in a ponytail.
And she was wearing tight sportswear that showed off her toned figure.
"Hah! Hah! Fuck~!"
She was running while cursing coarsely.
A 3-meter-tall low-rank zombie Corrupted Being.
And a horde of regular zombies chasing her.
She looked like a total bum—anyone could see she was in bad shape.
I jumped down from the rooftop straight at the Corrupted Being zombie.
I drew a greatsword from my Inventory, coated it in mana, and cleaved the Corrupted Being vertically in two.
-Slash! ...Thud!
The bisected zombie crumpled to both sides.
-Kraaa~
The small-fry zombies charged after it.
Normally, I'd worry about them evolving if left alone and move on, but...
Considering the exhausted ponytail girl behind, I decided to be nice.
I infused mana into the greatsword and used Materialization to enlarge it even further.
The already huge greatsword became ridiculously massive.
I laid it horizontal and spun it once.
-Fwoosh!
In an instant, all the surrounding zombies were sliced apart at the waist and swept away.
-Plop. Plop.
-Kek!
Having split them top-to-bottom, I saw zombies crawling toward me on their arms even in their halved state.
'If I leave those, will they evolve into Corrupted Beings too?'
I stomped on one such head while pondering.
-Crunch!
"What the hell!"
The woman stared at me—suddenly dropping from the sky—with wide, shocked eyes.
I got why; a big suspicious guy in dark clothes appearing out of nowhere.
'Awakener?'
A quick mana scan showed she was a Body Enhancement Awakener.
"Th-Thank you..."
She said thanks, but she was stiff with tension.
And pretty guarded too.
I had no intention of forcing a chat with someone on guard.
Nothing to say anyway.
'She's an Awakener, so she'll manage on her own.'
I nodded lightly and was about to head elsewhere when,
"W-Wait!"
She called out to me.
".......?"
She was giving an awkward smile through her grimy face.
'Asking for food?'
Made sense given her state.
I could spare that much kindness.
'Delivery food's iffy... canned stuff okay?'
"Have you seen a pretty girl by any chance...?"
".....?"
But her sudden absurd question threw me off—I had no idea what she meant.
'Out of her mind...'
"N-No! I mean, not that..."
She frantically denied, reading my look.
"She's super pretty, y'know? Hair about this long... wearing a black polo dress, so you'd remember if you saw her..."
She rambled explanations at me.
One person naturally came to mind.
"What's your relationship?"
"A little sister I know... Think raiders caught her... Sigh... Looking for her."
Her face was full of worry and concern.
Seemed like she knew Ji-ah.
"What's her name?"
"Han Su-ji..."
'Ask Ji-ah if she knows her.'
I had Suni relay to the base.
She was wandering around looking for Ji-ah, so they weren't on bad terms...
No need to overthink—just bring her back and confirm.
".........Follow me."
"Huh? Huh? Mister, have you s-seen that girl?"
When I brought Han Su-ji back to base, Ji-ah was thrilled and made a huge fuss.
"Oh my gosh! Su-ji unnie!"
"J-Ji-ah?"
Ji-ah ran toward Su-ji with joy, arms outstretched for a hug, but froze.
I could guess why.
Su-ji was... extremely filthy right now. No, downright nasty.
Judging by Ji-ah's reaction, Su-ji's story checked out.
"Ji-ah... you're safe."
"Unnie..."
Ji-ah teared up, keeping her distance from Su-ji.
"Sniff. Unnie, you must've been through a lot..."
"Yeah... something like that."
Su-ji scratched her head sheepishly.
"Oh no! What do we do? Unnie, your skin's all messed up."
Messed up was an understatement—it was too dirty to even see.
"Pfft, you're the same as ever..."
Su-ji looked relieved and happy seeing Ji-ah like that.
"Uh, unnie, you smell..."
Ji-ah playfully pinched her nose.
"Hey!"
Su-ji's face flushed beet red at Ji-ah's words.
Compared to the spotless kids, it was bound to bother her, and Ji-ah's comment was a critical hit.
Especially since Ji-ah was just in clean jeans and a white tee, making the bum-looking Su-ji stand out even more.
"Unnie~ Go wash up first~"
"W-Wash up?"
Ji-ah grabbed Su-ji's hand and dragged her off.
Toward the shower in the swimming pool area, it seemed.
Good call.
She was filthy, but the smell was unbearable.
Sunset was still a ways off.
'Should I hunt a few more Corrupted Beings?'