Chapter 2 – 2. Encountering a Survivor

To wash off the blood on my body, I threw my dirty clothes into the washing machine and went into the bathroom. Warm water still comes out. Electricity can still be used. Still…Alive.

“Ha…Fuck..”

It didn’t really dawn on me that the world was truly ruined. How can something like this happen overnight? Could it be that something else than a human was at work? The same goes for the strange ability window I just saw. It was clearly a prank by something beyond human perception.

‘Are my parents okay? My younger brother must have gone to school today…’

I hope everyone stays alive.

I stood still, feeling a little gloomy, soaking in the warm water. Then, as I looked at my face vaguely reflected in the foggy mirror, something appeared on the surface of the mirror.

[Place of Origin: Earth]

[Name: Kang In-ho]

[Survival rating: 0]

[Physical Ability: 6]

[Sanity level: 52/100]

[Health level: 92/100]

[Ability: Skill Stealing]

[Items held: None]

[Status Abnormality: None]

“This is the status window..?”

After gaining the ability, I kept shouting out words like ‘status’, ‘status window’, ‘menu’, etc., But the status window that didn’t come up started popping up when I was staring at the mirror.

There is less information than expected and it is very consistent, but it seems to be a status window for now.

‘Of course they’re from Earth… And seeing as they’ve classified things like this… Are there some people who aren’t from Earth?’

I don’t know the details, but I can at least suspect that there are people who are not from Earth. For example, aliens who spread the zombie virus… Well, who knows that there are such people.

Anyway, I took a closer look at the status window. Of course, the name is mine, and I think survival level is probably the same concept as level.

Additionally, physical abilities such as strength and agility were lumped together and expressed as physical abilities. It’s unclear whether the number 6 is high or low because there’s no comparison, but I guess it’s a number appropriate for an average adult male.

I wanted to find out more about his physical abilities, but it was impossible to check because his survival level was low.

‘Sanity level and health level are the same as mental strength and vitality. I think I might die when it reaches 0…’

Right now, my mental strength is a bit low. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m stressed after seeing the zombies, or because I’m upset because of the blood the zombies spilled, or because I’m worried about my family, but it’s probably only 52 for a combination of reasons.

‘If I rest for a while, it will rise again… Or if I do something fun, it may rise again… ‘

I was relieved to find that there were no abnormalities at all. If you are infected with the zombie virus, something will probably appear as a status abnormality.

“Whew. I checked the status window… Now, maybe it’s better from now on…”

After taking a shower, I put on rubber gloves and wiped away the blood all over the front door with bleach and a rag.

I wiped away the blood by generously pouring the bleach I had prepared for cleaning the bathroom, and the dried blood was quickly wiped away.

As I was diligently wiping away the blood that was all over the floor, I felt like I was a corpse cleaner. It couldn’t have been a very unpleasant and unpleasant experience. Moreover, the smell of bleach was so strong that I felt like I needed to ventilate for a while.

‘Hmm. Rather, it is skill robbery… The ability to steal the skills of an awakened person killed in exchange for their hair…’

As I was mopping the floor, I thought deeply about the abilities I had.

First of all, in order to use extortion properly, you need to find someone who has awakened their abilities like me. And I had to kill that person and take away his powers from her. Stealing skills alone has no effect, so in order to become stronger, you must inevitably steal the lives of others.

‘Can I kill someone else to become stronger..’

I had a very profound thought. What if an awakened person with tremendous power is still a child? Or what if the person is very friendly towards me? Still, can I stab that person to death?

Am I so evil that I can hit that person in the back and take away his abilities her?

If the other person is a crazy old man or an asshole who deserves to die, I am confident that I will kill him mercilessly, but it is true that I feel a little uncomfortable when asked if I can kill someone else to take away their abilities Her His His. I think it would be better to be on the same side and form a team.

‘The question is whether the other person trusts me… ‘

That’s why I wonder if the same Awakened people would accept a person who tries to kill Awakened people and rob them of their abilities as a team. Of course it would be uncomfortable. Maybe they will try to kill me first.

In that case, it means that I have to hide my ‘skill robbery’ in the early stages when I am inevitably weak… Until I kill others through skill robbery and take away their plausible abilities, I have to appeal to others that I am incompetent.

‘Of course, it is questionable whether a capable person will easily accept an incompetent person…’

The thought that there might even be someone with the ability to see through other people’s abilities made me feel a headache.

In conclusion, the best thing to do is to kill the awakened people as soon as possible to become stronger and then make sure that no one can touch me. In order to end the fight, you must become the strongest that no one can touch.

Yes, no matter what, in the end I had to go outside to survive.

‘We don’t have much to eat at home right now… I guess the local supermarket has already been robbed?’

The local supermarket 5 minutes away from my house is full of food ingredients. I think all the courageous people have already flocked there.

‘And they all died and became zombies..’

It felt like the supermarket was already overrun with zombies. Of course, you have to go there to find out, but it doesn’t feel very good.

‘I have to go to the pharmacy or hardware store too..’

I always need medicine, and the hardware store is like a modern-day weapons store, so I want to go there as soon as possible before it’s all gone. It will be full of all kinds of tools, including crowbars, so it might be a good idea to bring a few spares.

Of course, the jangdori I’m holding now is good, but the reach is so short that I feel uneasy about having to fight in close contact with zombies. So, I want to get a long weapon. I think a baseball bat that is easy to swing would be perfect…

In addition, we had to assume a situation where electricity and water would be cut off. There may be a water outage as soon as today, or within two weeks at the latest. I’ll have to come up with a way to store water, and if I see a generator at a hardware store or something like that, I’ll pick it up right away. You’ll also need oil to run the generator…

Almost all of the floors were washed, and all the trash in the house was thrown out through the veranda. Cleaning is perfect. Now that the cleaning is done, it’s time to find the next task. There is no time to rest still. A true competition for survival has begun in earnest, devoid of humanity and morality, so those who move quickly can eat more.

‘I guess I should first look around the houses next door.’

Before today is over, I have to break the windows of empty houses and clean them all out. Right now, I’m planning to check to see if there are any survivors next door, and if there aren’t, I’ll clean up everything and stock up on some food at my house.

As I was getting dressed to go outside, I suddenly heard a woman’s voice outside.

-Boom boom boom!!!!

-Door!!! Open the door!!! Ouch!!!

“Huh?”

I quickly put on my pants and picked up the hammer. It seems that no one living on the 7th floor can enter because I blocked the staircase door. Judging from the urgent voice, it looks like a zombie has followed…

If I leave her alone, she will definitely die. But what if you accidentally open the door and zombies rush in? Can I handle it now? It is impossible.

‘Fuck… ‘

A momentary worry. In the meantime, the screaming stopped.

“Ah…”

I carefully opened the front door and went out.

‘I would feel a bit uncomfortable if he died because of me..’

I don’t know how to act. First, I approached the stairs holding my breath. It was necessary to look at the situation further. Yes, I will eventually have to use the stairs to go down, but there is no answer if the stairs are full of zombies. We need to find a new path to go down.

-Uuuh…

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

-Uuuuu..!

As I put my ear to the fire door, I heard a zombie screaming and pounding on the door from a little distance away.

When I saw it, it looked like the woman who had been yelling earlier had run upstairs and closed the door to keep the zombies out. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to have died. It seems like the zombies are also on the upper floor, not the 7th floor, and are staging a sit-in.

‘I can hear just one cry… I think I can kill one animal… ‘

I put on gloves and carefully opened the fire door. If there is only one animal, it is better for your mental health to kill it quickly.

“Uuuuu…!!!”

-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Whoa…”

My hands were shaking slightly due to tension.

Fortunately, there was only one zombie and it was knocking on the fire door on the 8th floor. When I look down, there don’t seem to be any zombies coming up.

I grabbed the long pole and climbed up, hiding the sound of my footsteps as much as possible.

They react particularly violently to sound and light sources, so try to make as little noise as possible. It is better to hide even the sound of your breathing.

“Uuuuu.!!!”

It’s getting closer. He had swung his fist so hard at the fire door that his hand was half crushed. The fire door was dented by the guy’s punch.

Thanks to this, the sound of my footsteps was drowned out. Now is your chance. I took a deep breath and swung my sword at the back of his head.

-Bwaaaaah!!!!

It went in properly. I heard the sound of my skull cracking. However, as if it wasn’t enough yet, the zombies didn’t die. I need to hit more. Only by turning its brain to a pulp will that damned monster be put to rest.

“Ugh!!”

I kicked the staggering zombie in the stomach, knocked him over, and then hit his head like crazy. Blood splattered on his face, and the sword was stabbed into his head, shoulders, and back several times.

I don’t know how much I swung the long sword. My hands are numb.

But no matter what, the guy’s head and upper body were completely crushed, and his brain was crushed in an ugly way. Blood is flowing like a burst faucet. His hands were very numb. My back his his also seems to be a bit sore. Lack of exercise.

“Whoa.. Whoa.. Haa..”

It was only after I tapped the zombie and confirmed that it wasn’t moving that I was able to breathe properly. I was so nervous that I even forgot to breathe.

“Fuck… “

I wiped the blood from my face with the back of my gloved hand. I hope I don’t get infected with something like this…

First, I spoke to the woman behind the fire door. Praying that she hasn’t been bitten yet.