Battle Against the Awakener to Protect My Women

—Whoosh!!!

Confirming that the projectile that had streaked toward him and slammed into the wall was a crossbow bolt, Geum Tae-yang snapped his head toward the direction it had come from.

“Whoa…! What’s this, our Hee-chan! You missed? That’s disappointing!”

“Hey, you bastard, even Hee-chan can miss sometimes, what the hell!”

Five men stood there. Four of them gripped baseball bats and iron pipes, while the crossbow in question was held by the solidly built man in the center.

The estimate’s clear right away. Those bastards must be the ones who set up this barricade. They came today just to check on its condition.

The crossbow, the numbers, plus the outsider vibe and presence they gave off—Geum Tae-yang immediately realized these were the people who had installed the zombie-herding barricade that hadn’t been there before.

If they went so far as to set up a barricade and then come back to inspect it… is there an Awakener among them?

Inferring the purpose of a separate inspection of the barricade setup, it seemed they were waiting for enough zombies to gather. That ultimately meant there was someone who needed a zombie cluster. The first thing that came to mind was an Awakener whose growth motivation involved zombies. Geum Tae-yang guessed that Awakener was very likely already among those five.

“Huh? That bastard?”

Just as Geum ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tae-yang finished reasoning out the possibility of an Awakener’s presence, one of the four men reacted as if he recognized him.

“Isn’t that the son of that woman from back then? He’s dressed weird as hell, but looking at the face, I think it’s him?”

He checked with the colleague on the opposite side.

“Oh, you’re right! The son of that woman from the new city who had an insanely pretty face and a body to die for!”

Hearing his buddy, the first man chimed in agreement.

Ah, those bastards…!

Maintaining a poker face while listening to the two, Geum Tae-yang recalled his connection to them as well.

The ones who tried to hit on Auntie Min-jung the first day I came home. Everyone except the guy in the middle holding the crossbow.

The day right before the zombie outbreak, Kim Min-jung had been waiting for Geum Tae-yang and Park A-young in an alley near the landlord’s house. Four half-thugs had tried to pick her up. Now he was meeting them again—the four flanking the man with the crossbow in the center.

“That’s the guy you all talked about? The one who acted tough relying on his size?”

The moment the five men, including Geum Tae-yang, recognized one another, the solidly built man holding the crossbow in the middle asked his companions on both sides.

“That’s the bastard, Hee-chan. He pulled every damn stunt trying to look cool in front of those two women, that fucking piece of shit.”

The man who had first recognized Geum Tae-yang confirmed it, openly showing his irritation.

The big guy with the crossbow was named Cho Hee-chan. He was the most successful of the group, and after getting thoroughly owned by Geum Tae-yang, the four half-thugs had drunk themselves silly and poured out their complaints to him.

“Why, you fucking bastard! Why don’t you try putting on that tough-guy act again like last time?”

The humiliation from back then surging up once more, one of the half-thugs immediately threw out a provocation at Geum Tae-yang.

“We were already thinking of setting up base here since those two women seemed to live in this area, so this works out perfect. How’s your mom doing, you son of a bitch? You’re her son, so you won’t spill where you live right away, will you? You fucking piece of shit?”

And he laid bare their true colors and intentions without any filter.

People with quick instincts had decided the government was looking for a backdoor exit and immediately started forming gangs. The half-thug pack in front of him was exactly that type. The base location they had chosen afterward was none other than the outskirts of Pyeonghwa-dong, where the stunning women Kim Min-jung and Park A-young lived.

“With no people around, scavenging supplies was easy, but it was fucking boring as hell. Perfect timing, fuck—apocalypse really is best when you get to rape, hahahaha!”

Another half-thug lifted the corner of his mouth and ran his mouth.

Looking around the neighborhood, most people had already evacuated. So they had secured a base camp and supply sources through empty-house looting. Once that foundation was in place, Cho Hee-chan’s group had even installed the barricade and begun full-scale base construction.

Securing a base in the apocalypse isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Those bastards couldn’t have pulled off something that advanced on their own… so in the end, the guy in the middle with the crossbow is probably the Awakener.

The provocations grew fiercer, but Geum Tae-yang didn’t get drawn in. He simply assessed the situation in silence. The four half-thugs were the type who had crumpled helplessly under Geum Tae-yang’s presence before. It didn’t seem likely they would have made such bold moves with that pathetic guts. They had to be relying on something that would hard-carry them—either an organization or an Awakener. In the current setup, the realistic option was an Awakener, and ultimately the man among the half-thug group who carried a certain presence, Cho Hee-chan, looked like the Awakener in Geum Tae-yang’s eyes.

“Okay… then Awakener Scan!”

Having finished organizing the situation, Geum Tae-yang immediately activated his Awakener Scan trait.

The core details of Cho Hee-chan’s status window appeared before Geum Tae-yang’s eyes.

Oh… so he was a ranged-attack Awakener!

Geum Tae-yang extracted the key points from the floating notification window while managing his expression as carefully as possible. The opposing Awakener also possessed the Superior Senses trait, after all.

Physical ability at E-rank with perfect ranged accuracy—if he has a few meat shields in front, he’d be pretty damn strong.

That explains how he’s been roaming around here freely.

And the reason they gathered zombies with the barricade was to create a foundation so this Cho Hee-chan bastard could grow steadily.

Having grasped Cho Hee-chan’s awakening style and growth motivation mechanism, Geum Tae-yang even pieced together the more detailed situation. Once Cho Hee-chan became an Awakener, he and his hangers-on had shown ambition. They dreamed of growing Cho Hee-chan’s stats and becoming rulers of this apocalypse. But Cho Hee-chan’s growth mechanism required killing zombies only with ranged attacks. So they had planned to establish a base and set up a zombie farm so he could grow efficiently. The easiest place for that work was a region that had already been closed off, and the place they chose was Pyeonghwa-dong.

The moment Geum Tae-yang pieced together all those circumstances—

While he still hadn’t finished the second Special Quest, a third Special Quest formed separately.

Ohhh!!! What kind of free jackpot is this!!!!

Geum Tae-yang had been keeping a fairly serious atmosphere, but when an unexpected 150-point payday suddenly popped up, he got wildly excited.

Twitch…!

He was clearly extremely excited. In combat situations or when entering one, Geum Tae-yang’s Combat Mental Master trait activated. That was why, no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠matter how complicated his inner feelings, he could maintain an unbelievably perfect poker face. But the excitement this time was so massive that his eyebrow twitched in a strange way.

“….?”

The Awakener Cho Hee-chan immediately reacted to that.

Ah, shit… that bastard picked up on something a little?

Geum Tae-yang also sensed the shift in atmosphere. This was the apocalypse—especially from this point on, it wouldn’t be strange for murder to happen anytime, anywhere. In a situation like that, if a normal person ran into five armed men, they would either tense up hard or show murderous intent sharp enough to cut. But Geum Tae-yang’s eyebrow twitch was pure good mood. That was more than enough to make him look like a psycho—or an Awakener.

“You fucking bastards! Say that one more time! What the hell are you planning to do to my little sister and our mom right now!”

As suspicion filled Cho Hee-chan’s eyes, Geum Tae-yang made a desperate choice. He launched a counter-provocation.

“You pieces of shit, even back then the way you surrounded one woman pissed me off like hell! I knew you were thug bastards after all, you fucking assholes!”

If it wasn’t fear and it wasn’t apocalyptic killing intent, a character burning with a sense of justice was also perfectly possible. Moreover, the four half-thugs had already handed him that justification. With the acting skills of Kim Min-jung’s son that he had trained so thoroughly, Geum Tae-yang unleashed that ability to the fullest and started selling the concept. He yanked the topic into a sharp drift. And the target of that topic shift was—

“You fucking bastard, what did you just say? Thug? You fucking bastard, you wanna die with your skull caved in???”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

—not Cho Hee-chan, but the four half-thugs. Sure enough, one of them snapped up the bait Geum Tae-yang had thrown. It was the man with the two-block haircut. The two-block guy grabbed his baseball bat and stepped forward.

“Hey! Han Jun-yeong, wait!”

The two-block man’s name was Han Jun-yeong. Already sensing something off, Cho Hee-chan tried to stop Han Jun-yeong, who was stepping out ready to throw down with Geum Tae-yang.

“Especially you, you fucking dog! You’re the one who immediately chickened out when I got close. Now that the situation’s like this, you’re flexing your shoulders and glaring—that’s fucking disgusting, you piece of shit.”

The moment Cho Hee-chan tried to hold him back, Geum Tae-yang pointed out another guy and threw more provocation.

“Ha… fuck, look at how that bastard talks? You fucking bastard, I’ll beat you just enough that you don’t die, then rape your little sister and your mom right in front of your eyes, you piece of shit.”

The second target also reacted vigorously to Geum Tae-yang’s perfectly timed provocation.

“Hey! Let’s fuck that bastard up together with Han Jun-yeong.”

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Hahaha, An Sang-man, you dumbass—you haven’t even killed a person yet.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

His name was An Sang-man. An Sang-man followed right behind Han Jun-yeong. With Geum Tae-yang’s rapid multi-target provocation, two of them got pulled out in an instant, and the five-man half-thug group’s formation fell apart.

—Fwoooooosh!!!!

Confirming that An Sang-man was also walking out, Geum Tae-yang first charged hard toward Han Jun-yeong, who had approached earlier. Without using the Transcendent’s Step, he pushed his Agility—now raised to D-level—to the absolute maximum and drove a forward step.

—Thwuuuuuud!!!

“Guaaaaaaagh!!!”

Geum Tae-yang’s powerful attack smashed into Han Jun-yeong’s jaw. It wasn’t the projected iron pipe—it was a straight punch from his right fist.

—Piiiiing!!!

With that single blow, Han Jun-yeong’s eyes rolled back. He blacked out while still standing.

How’s that, Cho Hee-chan? From what you can see, what kind of Awakener do you think this body is?

The reason Geum Tae-yang didn’t use the Transcendent’s Step and even left out the projected iron pipe was to hide his true capabilities from Cho Hee-chan. And for that purpose, if he had to attack with a normal iron pipe, it was more rational to just knock the opponent out with a D-rank power punch to the jaw.

“Fuck!!! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jun-yeong!!!!”

Geum Tae-yang’s fist was not only fast but packed with power. Watching Han Jun-yeong’s body stiffen like a dead tree and start to topple after taking that punch, An Sang-man was horrified.

That bastard!!!!

—Shashashak!!!

Cho Hee-chan flinched at Geum Tae-yang’s outstanding movement. So he immediately aimed the crossbow at Geum Tae-yang.

Yeah, it feels off, doesn’t it? But Hee-chan, if you shoot wrong, you’ll hit your own guy.

But Geum Tae-yang had the stepping-stone barricade.

—Slaaaaaash!!!

“Uwaaaaaaaah!!!”

An Sang-man. This time Geum Tae-yang closed the distance on An Sang-man at high speed and neutralized Cho Hee-chan’s intent to fire the crossbow right away.

—Thwuuuuuud!!!

“Gueeeeeeuk!!!”

After that, Geum Tae-yang finished An Sang-man with one punch as well.

What? Why isn’t that bastard using Sang-man as a hostage?

—Shak!!

The moment Geum Tae-yang took out even An Sang-man, Cho Hee-chan tilted his head in confusion and kept the crossbow aimed. There was still a bit of distance, so in his thinking, Geum Tae-yang’s side would use Cho Hee-chan as a hostage for follow-up responses.

Okay… at this point it’s roughly four meters…

—Flash!

Using Han Jun-yeong and then An Sang-man as stepping stones, Geum Tae-yang had closed a considerable amount of distance on Cho Hee-chan. With that four-meter gap created, Geum Tae-yang’s eyes flashed.

“Gueeeeuuuh…!”

Wobble!

At that moment, An Sang-man’s unconscious body started toppling backward.

Whatever you do, it’s still just a forward step! I’ll put a hole straight through your skull!

Flash!!

Cho Hee-chan also unleashed murderous light from his eyes.

—Fwoooooosh!!!

With those sharp eyes, Cho Hee-chan fired the crossbow bolt straight at Geum Tae-yang.