Now I'm the Owner Too
There was no intrusion at all during the night. After tearing down the barricades, I shouldered the backpack I had been tossing around yesterday.
The contents inside the backpack were simple. A handful of protein calorie bars and a few bottles of water.
The Vitamin C, over-the-counter meds, surgical tools, a bottle of whiskey, a flashlight, batteries, two lighters, and a roll of duct tape the Status Window had given me were all there too. In the end, I had taken one last bundle of cigarettes out of sentiment.
Everything else I crammed in whatever space was left. Even though I had tried to make the pack as light as possible, it was still no easy feat.
The weapons were just a pickaxe and a crowbar, plus the revolver I had picked up yesterday. There was no better thing for humans to talk to than a gun, so I hoped it would never come to using it.
The rest, I would leave behind.
“Ugh, how annoying. Having to leave all this stuff behind.”
Of course, I planned to come back for them someday, so I stored them as carefully as I could.
I climbed up to the rooftop railing and took out the telescope to survey the surroundings.
The quiet morning streets. At this hour, the monsters weren’t anything special. Some lay sprawled on the ground like corpses, while others shuffled along aimlessly.
Compared to last night, they were basically blind. Unless some crazy woman was using a gun and making a racket.
What I really needed to watch out for during the day were humans.
I turned the telescope lens to target my destination. The place I was eyeing was the motel building right behind the alley across the street.
It was just a three-story regular motel, but even if I could claim something this size as my base, it would be heaven itself.
“Alright, no danger. Time to head out.”
I hung the telescope back on the bag and gripped the crowbar tightly. I quietly opened the rooftop door and descended the stairs.
Thanks to the mess I had cleaned up yesterday, the inside of the building was deserted. If I had left the zombies by the door, it would have been crawling with them.
I crept down to the entrance of the first-floor shop and peeked through the closed glass door. It was quiet. I only spotted a few zombies strolling around outside.
I successfully slipped into the alley without a hitch. But the moment I turned the corner, a problem appeared.
“Kyuuh….”
Near a pile of garbage, a zombie stood hunched over. Luckily, it hadn’t noticed me, but escaping would be tough.
I boldly narrowed the distance and brought the crowbar down on its head.
Kwakjik.
The crowbar’s hook dug straight into the monster’s skull.
I twisted it sideways like a lever, and a heavy sensation ran through my arms. This was the feel of it.
Thud.
Good. Still going smoothly.
Even though it had pulled a huge aggro yesterday, there weren’t any zombies. Was this the result of that rumor about the extermination squad lately?
I quickened my pace, scaling the wall to walk along the side of the building. Finally, a faded green sign came into view.
[Evergreen Motel]
The parking lot shutter was halfway down, and the lobby beyond the glass door was pitch black and silent. The second-floor windows were boarded up with plywood, so it was possible someone was still there.
The parking lot was apparently counted as part of the territory too. I didn’t really need to go inside. I decided to declare this place as my base right here.
[Skill Activated: Executing Domain Declaration.]
“If anyone’s inside, get out now. From this moment on, this is my land.”
Golden light spread across the motel building.
The moment I thought a safe zone of my own was finally forming.
[Warning: The total area of the declared target exceeds the maximum allowed capacity.]
[Current Designated Territory: 245 tiles / Declaration Capacity: Maximum 30 tiles]
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting anything from the start.”
I quickly switched to Plan B. In a way, this was the original plan anyway.
I headed toward the shantytown on the outskirts of Seoul, where redevelopment had failed and everything had been left abandoned.
An area crammed with illegally modified shacks and inns pressed shoulder to shoulder. A single room there was only the size of a studio apartment, so thirty tiles would be more than enough.
I pulled out the mini-map and double-checked the location. I leaped over the motel parking lot and slipped out onto the back road beside the covered stream.
On the dike path, cars and garbage piles were tangled together. Zombies with their heads smashed against car windows and necks snapped lay around here and there.
After about twenty minutes, the shantytown neighborhood appeared behind the shadow of the apartment complex.
Narrow, gloomy alleys twisted like a maze with slate roofs tightly packed together.
In a way, this was the place that had changed the least. Whether that was good or bad, I wasn’t sure.
[Dahong Inn]
It was a crumbling one-story concrete block building. A waterproof tarp covered the low slate roof.
The words “Demolition” in red paint still clung to the outer wall, and right next to it were… clearly dried bloodstains.
“This place probably won’t exceed thirty tiles either.”
I gripped the crowbar tighter and approached the inn. I pressed my ear to the doorframe and held my breath.
No footsteps. Only the faint smell of mold seeped out.
I carefully gripped the doorknob with my left hand, angled the crowbar diagonally, and slowly opened the door without relaxing my tension in case of any trouble.
Kiiiik.
[Condition Activated: Do you wish to execute Domain Declaration?]
“Yeah, proceed.”
Ring!
[Skill Activated: Executing Domain Declaration.]
[Analyzing designated territory… Complete.]
[Territory Name: Dahong Inn]
[Area Measurement: 28.5 tiles / Maximum Allowed Capacity: 30 tiles]
[Condition Satisfied: This building is a space suitable for lodging business registration and utilization.]
Golden light formed along the edges of the building.
[★ Domain Declaration Successful! Congratulations, Manager Nam Ju-hyeok!]
[The First Ark (Lv. 1: Inn) has been established.]
I crouched like always and stepped inside the inn, then cleared my throat and proudly straightened my shoulders.
Now this was my territory, so I didn’t need to be scared.
But…
“Hey, is this usable?”
Even if the world had ended, I didn’t want to sleep in a place like this. There were still plenty of better spots.
It was daytime, yet the inn was dark and gloomy. The moldy smell was strong, cobwebs hung in the corners of the ceiling, and bloodstains marked the floor.
[Absolute Safe Zone Setup Complete Inside Ark Territory]
Unauthorized external entities cannot enter or interfere.
All hostile actions toward the Manager are blocked.
[Manager Passive: ‘Minimum Comfort’ (Lv. 1) Registered]
But if I had to pick between this and heaven, this would be it. My own safe house with no zombies popping out. In this world, that alone was more than enough.
“Hah….”
I set my backpack down on the counter in the corner, where the dust was the least.
Sitting on the backpack, I took a look around the inn. Only now did the fact that the world had ended truly sink in.
I had said “it’s over” and “it’s over” many times, but I hadn’t had the time to think about it seriously.
I fought zombies to survive, searched for food, hunted for safe places, and ran. Until I died.
But now, all that brutal struggle was over.
“So this is where I live from now on… Wait, is it more like a business site?”
The tension finally melted away. Laughter finally came out.
“Alright, now let’s bring out the hardtack and water.”
I just had to summon the Status Window, but I still opened my mouth out of habit.
If I didn’t even mutter to myself, I felt like I might go crazy.
Earlier, I had laughed at the main character in a survival movie who talked to a beach ball on a desert island, so I really should apologize to that uncle and the beach ball.
Humans only learn by actually experiencing it themselves.
I picked up the hardtack and water the Status Window had provided.
“Cold, huh?”
My first sensory experience in a while. Water droplets beaded on the outside of the plastic bottle.
I unscrewed the cap and sniffed. It had no off smell—the real water I used to drink back then.
Do you know that even unopened water can go bad? I hadn’t wanted to find out either.
Glug… glug…
The cold feeling traveled down my throat. It was so refreshing that my whole throat tingled. It almost made me feel like drinking something solid.
“Kya— this is the best.”
I stuffed a piece of hardtack in my mouth. It was crisp. Whoa.
One bite of hardtack, one sip of water. I finished it off in an instant.
“Wow, they’re giving this every single day. Must be crazy.”
I liked this place. The inside was a total mess, but cleaning it up would fix that, and if I fixed up the rest, it would be a livable spot.
Just eat, sleep, fight. If those were taken care of, people could survive.
I checked the Status Window.
[Territory Environmental Grade: F]
“Ugh… this is hopeless.”
In the apocalypse, hygiene was scarier than zombies. By now, the ones who died from rotten water poisoning or festering wounds would probably outnumber those killed by zombie teeth.
“First, let’s do some cleaning.”
How long had it been since I had cleaned? Cleaning with such energy like this was really the first time in forever. Normally, I would have searched for supplies and moved before it got this dirty.
There wasn’t a single usable item left inside. Whoever had been here had already taken everything useful, and all that remained was trash and junk.
Even the bedding was probably ruined beyond repair. I would have to throw all the furniture out and get new stuff.
I couldn’t sleep on blood-soaked blankets.
[Waste Detected Inside Territory.]
[Do you wish to decompose and dispose of this item?]
Target: 4 sets of contaminated bedding, 3 old wooden pieces of furniture, miscellaneous junk
“Eh?”
I had been planning to clean this up alone, but I didn’t know this feature existed.
I clicked the [Confirm] button like I was possessed.
“Good, proceed.”
ZZZZING.
Instantly, the inside of the inn flashed, and all the trash disappeared cleanly.
[Disposal Complete: Gained 15 System Points by cleaning up waste.]