Chapter 49 .｡.:✧ Ulterior Motives (1) ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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I opened the gate to the boarding house, and it was a sight.

Soo-hyun and Hoon were pinching their noses, staring at Stinky, who stood there awkwardly, shuffling his feet.

They both greeted me with a relieved, albeit nasal, “Oppa, we heard the gate and came out… we thought it was those others… who is this?”

“H-He’s… he’s with… m-me. We’ll… talk later…”

Hmm…

I couldn’t blame them for their reactions.

Weeks of unwashed hair, matted and clumped like LEGOs, grime covering his body, and the overpowering stench of feces…

even a homeless person from Seoul Station would run away.

I pointed towards the stairs.

“Explanations later. Let’s get him cleaned up first. Hey, follow me.”

“…Yes, hyeong,” Stinky replied. That damn “hyeong.”

I didn’t have a brother like you.

As I sighed and started up the stairs, Soo-hyun called out, “O-Oppa.”

I turned around, and she was pointing at Stinky.

“He’ll ruin the clothes…

Clothes ruined. Laundry… no no.”

I nodded, gave her a thumbs-up, and continued up to the rooftop room.

I waited for Stinky to come inside, then pointed at the bathroom.

“Take off your clothes and go wash up. I’ll give you a bag to put them in. I’ll throw them away.”

Stinky hesitated.

“I… I only have these…”

“I’ll give you something else to wear, so just take them off. You’re stinking up the room, damn it.”

“O-Okay, hyeong.”

I grabbed the plastic bag

I’d put over the trash can and held it open as he undressed, immediately stuffing his clothes inside.

Ugh, the smell. It was suffocating. Damn it.

“Cough. Damn it… hurry up and get in the shower.”

“Yes, hyeong,” he replied, scurrying into the bathroom. I tied up the bag, left the rooftop room, and went up to the roof.

Damn, I needed some fresh air.

I tossed the bag into a corner, leaving the door to the rooftop room open.

We were moving soon anyway;it didn’t matter. Damn it.

“Hoo… ha…”

I took a deep breath of fresh air and went back inside.

Ugh, I felt disgusted. I had picked up a stray. Damn it.

I tossed some clothes and a towel in front of the bathroom door. “Hey, I left some clothes and a towel for you.”

Whether they fit or not wasn’t my concern.

I went downstairs to Soo-hyun’s room and knocked.

“Let me use your shower.”

Soo-hyun chuckled and let me in.

Hoo.

That was better.

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“What’s your name?” I asked.

Stinky, who was slurping down ramen, replied,

“Park Han-tae, hyeong.”

Park Han-tae…

He looked almost human after washing up.

Pale and pudgy, like a little piglet.

It was 10:00 AM, long past breakfast, so ramen was all Ye-eun could offer us.

But Han-tae seemed grateful, slurping down the noodles happily.

The clothes fit him fairly well, though he had a bit of a belly, he seemed to be an average build, not as big as his height had suggested.

Well, he was only about 160cm tall.

I took a bite of ramen and asked Ye-eun, “Is there a spare room in that house across the street?”

Ye-eun tilted her head.

“They seem to have separate rooms for men and women. And the nurse ahjumma has her own room. You could probably share the men’s room…”

…The men’s room…

Were the injured men recovering?

“How are the men doing?”

Ye-eun smiled.

“They’re much better. One of them is still a bit dizzy, but the other two said they’d help with collecting the bodies today.”

I nodded.

“That’s good. Han-tae, you can stay with them for now.”

Han-tae looked nervously

back and forth between Ye-eun and me.

“My… my house…”

“You don’t have a house anymore,”

I said, eating my ramen.

“You have a phone, right? Haven’t you tried contacting your parents?”

Han-tae slowly lowered his head.

They probably weren’t answering.

…Damn it.

My parents… and that bitch…

…Tsk…

I sighed and set down my chopsticks.

“If you wander around carelessly, you’ll be caught and killed by those things. You can leave if you want. No one’s stopping you. But if you want to survive, stay with other people. You’ll die if you’re alone.”

Han-tae’s eyes welled up as he clutched his bowl of ramen, tears starting to stream down his face.

Seriously…

ugh…

I shook my head and stood up.

“Thanks for the food, Ye-eun. I’m going to rest for a bit and then go back out.”

“Going out again?”

I nodded as I left the main house.

“I need to clear out that building quickly if we’re going to move. Oh, and take him to that house across the street.”

“Okay,” Ye-eun said, following me.

“Be careful oppa.”

I stopped and looked at her.

…Oppa?

I think that was the first time she had called me “oppa.”

Ye-eun looked at me,

tilted her head, and then blushed.

“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”

I chuckled.

“See you later.”

Oppa.

Hmm.

I liked the sound of that.

I wondered if So-eun would ever call me “oppa,”

but she was so shy, she barely spoke to me.

I returned to the rooftop room and lay down.

“Status.”

Hmm…

level 23…

I had leveled up quite a bit.

I allocated all 4 points to HP,

bringing it to 49.

Just one more point,

and it would be 50.

Damn it, that Stinky kid!

Anyway, I’d have 12 Accelerate charges soon,

so I’d rest and then go out again.

11:00 PM.

I left the house,

packing extra rations,

just in case I had to stay out all night.

Should I have eaten lunch?

…No.

I needed to level up.

Food could wait.

The hypermarket.

A large display chair lay overturned.

Broken glass littered the ground.

The side entrance looked like something

out of a disaster movie.

I activated Accelerate

and sprinted up to the fourth floor.

“Hoo…”

My target this time was the eighth floor.

Once I cleared out the eighth floor,

only the residential floors would remain.

I could bring everyone to help clear those out.

I needed Soo-hyun and Hoon to open the locked doors, anyway.

I might end up breaking the metal doors

if I tried to cut the locks with the cutting tool.

It was better to leave it to the experts.

I reached the eighth floor

and caught my breath.

What was on this floor again?

Rrrr… Rrrr…

…Hmm…

there were quite a few.

I drew a sword.

Shing—

I opened the metal door slightly.

Grrrr… Grrrr…

…The growls vibrated through the air.

There were a lot of them.

Just from opening the door a crack.

I peeked inside.

A hair salon on the left.

A comic book cafe on the right.

Both places where people

spent a considerable amount of time.

It made sense that there would be a lot of them.

…This was both exciting and nerve-wracking.

The seventh floor was empty;

I could hide there if necessary.

“Hoo…”

I took a deep breath and stepped inside.

I couldn’t see inside the comic book cafe,

but the lower half of the hair salon’s walls and door

were translucent.

I could see inside clearly.

One… two…

…nine.

There were probably more lying down.

I drew my other sword.

Shing—

“…Haa…”

I stood up, pushed the hair salon door open with my shoulder,

and stepped inside.

“Grrrr?!”

Heads snapped towards me.

All women.

No men.

Accelerate.

“Gaaa—aa—aa—”

I stabbed the heads of the women lying on the floor.

Thwack! Thwack!

I immediately twisted my body,

stabbed the woman at the counter,

and then leaped forward and stabbed again.

The timing of Accelerate.

I had completely mastered it.

I instinctively knew when to activate it.

Accelerate!

The human beasts twitched, frozen, helpless.

I moved quickly through the hair salon,

stabbing repeatedly.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

I pierced the last human beast’s head

and pulled out my swords.

I took a deep breath.

“…Hoo…”

“—Gyaa—ugh!”

Thud! Crash!

Middle-aged women, young women, stylists, staff, cashier…

They all collapsed at once.

Blood sprayed everywhere,

splattering my face and body.

Four Accelerate charges used.

Sixteen human beasts killed.

My left hand was getting better.

I was getting faster.

Hmm.

I immediately opened the status screen

and put the point into HP, bringing it to 50.

Good. HP recovery tick: 45 minutes. Stat recovery tick: 12 minutes 30 seconds. A significant improvement.

I had 7 Accelerate charges left.

…Should I go?

I left the hair salon

and walked towards the comic book cafe entrance.

Posters of manga and anime characters

covered the walls and door,

making it impossible to see inside.

“Hoo… haa…”

I took a deep breath,

threw open the door,

and stepped inside.

“Graagh?!”

Shelves lined with manga.

Rows of single and double sofas.

And the counter.

At least twenty human beasts, at a glance.

“Gyaaagh! Graaagh!”

They were coming!

Accelerate!

“Hah!”

I pierced the head of the man

lunging from behind the counter.

Thwack!

I immediately pulled out my swords

and charged at the surrounding human beasts,

one head per stab,

no hesitation.

Two Accelerate charges used. Three, and then four.

Thwack! Thwack!

Five, six.

Thwack! Thwack!

I pulled out my swords

and sprinted towards the entrance. Just as I stepped outside, I heard the sounds of the bodies collapsing behind me.

“Graaagh! Gyaaagh!”

Accelerate.

I ran towards the stairwell

and slammed the metal door shut.

Clang!

I hurried downstairs,

grabbed the metal door on the sixth floor,

pushed it open with one foot,

and looked up.

They wouldn’t be able to open it, right?

There was no way

they would open the metal door

and come up the stairs.

But just in case…

If the door so much as twitched,

I’d run inside and hide

in the calligraphy academy.

I waited.

I could hear their roars,

but nothing happened.

“…Hoo…”

They couldn’t open doors, it seemed. I already knew that from experience, but now I was certain. I could easily kill them, but they were still dangerous. It was always better to be safe. A message appeared before my eyes.

I chuckled and walked

towards the calligraphy academy.

I was out of Accelerate charges.

I’d rest, recover, and finish the eighth floor.

There weren’t many left.

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