Chapter 30 – 30. Recruit Colleagues Carefully

After freeing the man he had tied up, he sat him down on a chair and tapped his cheek to help him come to his senses.

“Ugh…”

Then the man in number 1003 finally opened his eyes. He looked at me and the group behind me with embarrassed eyes. He had the look in his eyes like a cornered rat. It looked even more so because the front teeth were slightly protruding.

“Are you coming to your senses?”

“Oh my.. What are you guys?”

“Just calm down first. I’m sorry for trespassing. Because it was so urgent.”

That’s not an empty remark, it was really urgent. If it had been a first-come, first-served gate like the last time in the Twisted Basement, it could have disappeared quickly.

“Oh, no!! No matter how urgent it is, it’s like this at someone else’s house… “

The man was about to say something but he stopped.

No matter how unshackled she was, with armed men and women staring at her, she naturally kept her mouth shut. Fortunately, I wasn’t that clueless.

“All I can say is that I’m sorry. I had no choice. More than that, do you know what the conditions are like outside right now?”

“Yes? Well, that’s right.. There are zombies running around..”

“That’s right. There are zombies running around and it’s full of crazy people. The streets are a mess. “We don’t know if the soldiers will come to rescue us.”

“Well, that.. The soldiers might not come.. What does that mean..”

“The situation going on is unusual. “It is difficult to expect help from soldiers.”

The man looked very serious at my words. He seems to have believed that the military would step in to suppress this situation and save the civilians.

Of course, that could happen. However, it is unclear whether we will still be able to receive the free help provided by soldiers even when winter begins in earnest and night deepens.

“So… Do you have a lot of food at home? Is it possible to stay inside the house without going outside? “It won’t last long.”

We have already confirmed that there is nothing special about this house. All I had was a few bags of ramen and instant rice. He seemed like the type of person who doesn’t like to cook food at home.

“Uh…”

“I’m just asking because I’m curious how long I can survive on my own, without any intention of taking it away.”

The man rolled his eyes. Then, as if he had calculated the maximum period he could endure, he answered in a slightly uncertain voice.

“For about a week… Somehow…”

“It’s been a week… I can’t say 100 percent, but the food will probably run out within a week and you’ll have to go outside to get supplies. And what if it becomes dangerous? What if I bring that danger here to the apartment? Then we’ll have a headache.”

If this man goes out to get food and comes to our apartment with a horde of zombies in tow, we will be dealt a huge blow.

“And even if someone comes to rescue you within this week, we can’t let you go easily. Because you have already seen us.”

“What does that mean..”

“If you belong to some bad group. ‘I know where the women are. The moment we say, ‘Let’s go catch the women,’ we become very dangerous.”

“No, what kind of crazy talk is that..! In times like these, we need to help each other and live together.. There’s no way I would do something like that..”

“The possibility is not zero. Moreover, as I said before, there are crazy mobs roaming the streets right now. Those guys from Dongyeong High School are hunting people. If they beat you and torture you and tell you to give up all the information they know… Or if someone with memory reading skills even reads your memories… It’s over.”

Because I don’t know what skills they actually have.

“Skills..?”

“Oh, wait a minute. “I’ll show you.”

I struck the man’s temples twice, electrifying his palms.

-It’s so bad!!

“Wow…”

A man staring at my hand, gagging as if he was feeling dizzy due to the bioelectricity penalty. I immediately turned off the skill.

“For your information, we are all awakened people with this skill. And I think there are quite a few such awakened people among the bullies at Dongyeong High School. Those guys are roaming the streets killing men and raping women. Do you understand the seriousness of the situation?”

“Fuck.. Those bastards from Dongyeong High School… Those bastards are always the problem..”

The man gritted his teeth and cursed at the bullies at Dongyeong High School, as if he had any bad memories of Dongyeong High School.

A good place to unite against a common enemy. I explained how vicious the Dongyeong High school students were. Although we haven’t properly confirmed the truth, these were things that could be easily inferred from their actions or conversations.

“Ugh.. That’s enough.. I’m done with the story about the bastards at Dongyeong High School.. So is there a lot you want to say to me..”

“It’s no big deal. They want to form a team with us. It’s about uniting for each other’s survival.”

I held out my hand. I apologized to him for trespassing without permission, and told him that the current situation was not very good and that we needed to work together to survive.

This was a necessary process in order to smoothly accept this man as a colleague. Forcibly recruiting someone to the team while there is still hostility is like inviting a knife-wielding robber to your home.

‘People’s emotions are tricky.. A relationship can break down over something trivial..’

It’s not a game, and if you just tell them to become colleagues, it’s sad and nothing happens.

Yes, the opponent is not an NPC. He is a human being with the same emotions and reason as me. So, you should treat them like human beings. Only then can trust be built.

“I don’t think I have any other option than to become a colleague… In fact, I was a bit scared to go out alone… I was in a bit of a panic because something strange had happened at home. You seem to have more knowledge about such things than me.”

The man grabbed my outstretched hand. He took the opportunity.

“Welcome. But we weren’t even speaking to each other.”

“Ah.. Well, my name is Park Young-sik. “I’m twenty-seven.”

“Is it so? My name is Kang In-ho. I am twenty-eight years old. And this one…”

We took a moment to introduce ourselves.

After further conversation in a slightly relaxed atmosphere, I found that he was a normal person capable of making rational decisions. I think I judged the person as a torturer by looking at the physiognomy too much.

I’m glad that it’s pretty normal and I’m more motivated than I thought. He was just a person who needed a chance to get out of the house.

‘I especially seem to communicate well with Junho..’

He was so sociable that he even asked me if he could call me his brother. I just hope that he awakens successfully.

‘Awakening, but… I hope my abilities are not too good…’

If you awaken an ability that is too good… You will want to steal it without thinking.

“First of all, let’s all go down slowly.”

The incident was roughly concluded. Now, all you have to do is go around the neighborhood and find other awakened people to accept them into your team, or if that doesn’t work, kill them to steal their skills and frost the blind objects that don’t have an owner .

“Uh, Inho hyung. Are you going outside right away?”

“Uh. I’m planning to rob all the stores in this neighborhood today. I’ll be waiting, so get dressed and bring anything you can use as a weapon. If you don’t have one, I’ll give you a hammer.”

“Well, I did some kendo…” ” And I have a wooden sword that I received as a gift from the director. I’ll take care of that. “It’s hard and long, so it’ll be good for breaking zombie heads.”

“Oh..!”

After using a baseball bat for a few days, I decided that a weapon with a long reach was the best… But I had the perfect item.

‘The wooden sword is so fucking hard… ‘

The baseball bat was completely dented and ruined after less than a week of use, but wouldn’t a wooden sword be able to hold out a little longer? It seems like it would be perfect for breaking the soft heads of zombie babies. Well, I guess I’ll have to stop by the kendo center in the commercial building and get some wooden swords and armor.

“Ready is complete.”

Yeongsik quickly changed clothes and even wore glasses. Holding a wooden sword, he looked like a veteran killer.

“Good. Let’s go.”

We went all the way down. Since I had already prepared everything when I left, I walked straight down to the 1st floor without stopping by the 7th floor.

“Whoa…”

It was said to be the 10th floor, but actually walking down was more difficult than I thought.

“Uuuuu…”

When we arrived at the first floor, we found zombies banging their heads against streetlights. There are four in total. At that rate, I think Ayun could handle it by herself in just one minute.

In particular, if Ah-yoon, who already has high physical abilities, wields the machete she received as a reward for conquering the simple labyrinth, she seems to be able to just cut everything to death. All you need is for mutants like ghouls to not appear.

“Inhale!”

-Kwajik!!!

It is said that Park Young-sik practiced kendo, and his movements were quite good. She struck down the zombie’s head with a single strike with a wooden sword, knocking it down, then striking it again to completely kill it.

“Have you awakened?”

“Uh.. Wait a moment..”

Park Young-sik checking something.

He seemed to have awakened.

“What is the skill name?”

“It’s called quality maintenance?”

“What?”

I activated Ability Insight. The condition for activating ability insight was to have negative emotions, but the range of negative emotions is a bit vague, so most people can activate it just by looking at it.

Thanks to this, I was able to see that most people unintentionally have a negative perception of others. It’s a natural result because you can’t like every part of the other person.

I love and like Saeyeon very much, but it’s a bit difficult when she snores.

‘Let’s see first… ‘

[Quality maintenance (B)]

[Effect: Registers one item and maintains durability at a constant level.]

[Handicap: If you cancel registration, the registered item will be destroyed immediately.]

[Penalty: Each time you register an object, you will vomit 0.5 liters of blood. You will become anemic for two days.]

It’s something of a novel ability. It was as if the durability of the registered item could be set to infinite. However, if you replace an item, the previously registered item will be destroyed immediately, and you will have to vomit blood every time you register it. Moreover, anemia…

‘It would be better to leave it alone rather than take it away.’

It’s nice that it has infinite durability, but it’s not worth killing and stealing from a guy who listens well. This is because items with infinite durability can not only be used by one person, but can be used by everyone.

What can I say? It was just an English skill.