Chapter 52 .｡.:✧ A New Home (1) ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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“Wait here.”

I said that, standing in the middle of the road.

If this many people walked onto the empty sidewalk at once, even with their poor eyesight, the human beasts would notice.

I walked between the cars, reached the front of the hypermarket, and had everyone wait there.

I heard them stop.

I looked back;they were all staring at me, their faces tense with anticipation.

Grandma, So-eun, and Hoon’s wife looked especially scared, their eyes and mouths downturned.

They seemed to be regretting coming along.

It was understandable.

Standing still on a quiet road, blocked by cars, with the bodies I had killed

lying on the sidewalk across the street…

it was a scary situation.

“Come when I call you.”

They nodded.

I slowly stood up and scanned my surroundings.

Just in case.

…Nothing.

No Cockroaches, no human beasts.

Just silence.

I drew my swords.

Shing—

“Eek!”

Grandma whimpered, startled by the sound.

Ye-eun patted her arm reassuringly, her other hand holding So-eun’s hand tightly.

Ye-eun was taking good care of them.

Soo-hyun tapped my butt.

“Be careful. Come back safe.”

“I will,” I replied with a smile, grabbing the headlight of a car and walking forward.

I walked.

And walked.

Then I broke into a run.

“Grrr?!”

Heads turned sharply beyond the glass walls.

Crack!

Shattered glass crunched under my feet

as I leaped onto the stairs and towards the side entrance.

“Graaagh! Gyaaagh!”

They scrambled over chairs and bodies, rushing towards me.

“Whoa!”

A startled gasp from the distance.

Hoon was still a scaredy-cat.

“Graaagh!”

Their hands clawed at the air.

They were here.

Accelerate.

I lunged forward.

Thoom—

“Hah!”

Thwack! Thwack!

I yanked the swords out and pushed deeper inside, stabbing again and again.

Thwack! Thwack!

Blood droplets shimmered in the air, creating an eerie dance around me.

The world sped up, like a fast-forwarding video, then slowed again as I reactivated Accelerate.

Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!

No retreat, no stealth.

I was here to eliminate them all, and the single-mindedness of my purpose was strangely calming.

Accelerate.

Thwack!

I stabbed and withdrew, not even looking back.

The human beasts I had pierced stood behind me, blood spurting from their foreheads and the backs of their heads.

Then, they slowly collapsed.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Activating Accelerate repeatedly, I pierced the heads of all the human beasts blocking the supermarket entrance.

Thwack!

“Hah!”

I pulled out my swords and looked around.

Were there any left?

No.

None.

“—Gr—ugh!”

Thud! Crash!

The remaining human beasts collapsed around me.

Blood sprayed everywhere, splattering my face, my lips, my body. I was soaked in blood.

Twenty-three kills.

Six Accelerate charges used.

If I had been faster, I could have done it with five, but I wasn’t there yet.

I wanted to be faster, but that wasn’t a matter of Accelerate; it was a matter of my own skill.

I stood still and listened.

Just in case there were any stragglers.

I could hear growls, but they were distant.

I had definitely cleared out the entrance.

The hypermarket entrance consisted of large glass walls and glass doors, but the view inside was mostly obscured by standing signboards and sale posters.

I could only glimpse sections of the spacious interior and the neatly displayed merchandise through the gaps—and, of course, the human beasts.

I wasn’t ready for that yet.

I turned around, flicking my swords.

Swoosh!

splatter!

Blood flew off the blades, staining the wall.

“……”

Hmm…

come to think of it…

this wall…

it had been just a regular glass wall.

I could see heads peeking out from behind the cars across the street.

Our group was staring at me, their faces a mixture of awe and…

something else I couldn’t quite describe.

I had never seen that look before.

I shrugged and walked out through the shattered glass door.

“You can come over now.”

They stood up and walked towards me.

I sheathed my swords as they approached.

Shing—click.

“How… how did you do that?” one of the inline skating men asked.

“That’s incredible.”

Jung Eun-seo nudged him with her elbow.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you. There’s someone amazing here. Didn’t you see all those bodies inside the supermarket?”

“I never imagined anything like this.”

Anything like this?

Soo-hyun walked over and showed me her phone.

She had been filming.

I could see myself on the screen, climbing the stairs.

Human beasts raising their hands, running towards me.

And then, I vanished.

Just a blur, flickering into existence only when stabbing, instantly piercing the heads of over twenty human beasts.

The ones that had been charging at me collapsed in a heap, blood spurting from their heads, their momentum carrying them forward.

…It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.

That’s… how I fought…

Soo-hyun stared at me, her eyes wide.

“How do you move like that? Are you really a Sword Master?”

The inline skating men also asked, “You must have trained with the sword for a long time. What rank are you?”

“How much training does it take to be able to do that?”

…Hmm…

I had never trained with a sword.

This wasn’t humanly possible, but they didn’t seem to question that.

Did they not consider the possibility of… abilities?

I guess I wouldn’t believe it either if someone told me they had special powers.

They probably just assumed it was some kind of superhuman skill, honed through extreme training, bordering on the impossible.

I shrugged and said, “It’s not safe to stay here. Let’s go upstairs.”

I turned and entered the supermarket.

Hmm…

the stairs…

since I had cleared out the entrance, we didn’t need to use the stairs.

I led them past the entrance to the elevators.

Two elevators.

Both stopped on the first floor.

Probably because the residents from the upper floors had come down.

“Let’s go to the top floor,” I said.

We split into two groups and took the elevators to the tenth floor.

Ding.

Everyone piled out.

I said, “Drop your bags, and then let’s split up.

Hoon and the men, go back to the boarding house and bring the aluminum panels. The women, help Soo-hyun open the doors.”

They all nodded, their expressions and body language conveying complete trust and obedience.

I turned to the men as they were about to enter the elevator.

“If anything happens, drop everything and run. Come straight back here. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

This was our most vulnerable moment.

If the Cockroaches showed up at the boarding house now, those few men wouldn’t stand a chance.

The men nodded and entered the elevator.

…Hmm.

I gestured for Hoon’s wife to come over to the window.

“You can see the boarding house from here. Let me know immediately if anything happens.”

She nodded vigorously, her face etched with worry for her husband.

“I’ll keep watch.”

I turned and said, “Let’s open these doors.”

Soo-hyun was already holding the cutting tool, a mischievous grin on her face.

The women followed her to the nearest door.

This looked like a floor of studio apartments, judging by the row of doors, possibly one or two-bedroom units.

Ding-dong.

Soo-hyun pressed the doorbell.

No response.

She pressed it again.

Still no response.

Soo-hyun looked at me, and I nodded.

She nodded back and started dismantling the doorknob with the cutting tool.

I stood there, my hand on the hilt of my sword, watching the doorway. No response to the doorbell didn’t necessarily mean the unit was empty. It had to be empty. If anything came rushing out, these women wouldn’t stand a chance. If anything came out, I’d kill it.

After about five minutes, the doorknob came off completely.

Soo-hyun used pliers to manipulate the lock mechanism, and it clicked open.

I grabbed the doorknob and nodded.

Soo-hyun opened the door.

It opened silently.

The scent of someone else’s home wafted out—a faint perfume, or maybe fabric softener.

It seemed like it had belonged to a woman with a tidy personality.

I could see a small pink carpet and a queen-sized bed.

The room…

it was quite spacious.

Fifteen pyeong?

Maybe larger.

I stepped inside and checked the bathroom and the balcony.

Then I turned and said, “Come in. It’s empty.”

The women entered, their faces relaxed, looking around as if they were planning to live here.

They looked excited. But who would get this unit?

They were all smiles now, but I had a feeling

there would be a power struggle once they found a unit they liked.

“Wow… the sunlight is amazing in here.”

“Eonni, look! There’s a digital piano.”

…I was right.

The power struggle had begun.

I chuckled.

“This is just one unit. We still have to check the rest of the floor.”

Soo-hyun, who had also been looking around the unit, heard me and stepped back outside.

“Let’s go, eonni. So-eun.”

The second and third units were also empty.

And then the fourth unit.

Soo-hyun opened the door, and a familiar stench wafted out.

…The smell of a corpse.

I gripped my swords and looked inside.

…An elderly man.

…Had he died alone?

No.

…He had committed suicide.

He had slit his wrists.

He’d been lying on his side, so I hadn’t seen it earlier.

He’d been dead for a while…

“…Hoo…”

I sighed and looked at the women.

Ye-eun and So-eun’s faces were pale.

Soo-hyun shook her head, clearly unwilling to go inside.

The nurse grandma clicked her tongue sympathetically, but she was too frail to move the body. She was practically skin and bones.

…Tsk.

…We’d need the men to move the body.

I nodded.

“Let’s leave it for now and check the other units. We need enough rooms for everyone.”

Soo-hyun nodded.

“Okay.”

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