Chapter 7: Their Own Judgment (3)

Who is right, who is wrong.

Who has moral justification and cause.

None of that matters.

“Choose. Are you leaving? Or are you staying put?”

What matters is that the narrow-eyed man’s group consists of three people.

Three men surrounded the pharmacist, pressuring him.

A slight scuffle was an added bonus.

“Students. Don’t be like that…”

Other people intervened in the argument.

Then the narrow-eyed man reacted sharply.

“Tsk… Really. Why? Auntie, you want to go out too?”

Even the people trying to mediate eventually fell silent.

“I’m going to report all of you. This is intimidation.”

“Intimidation, my *ss. By that logic, Mister, you’re guilty of attempted murder.”

Watching the fight inside, I quietly headed to the building corridor.

After telling Jang Hoseop to wait outside, I opened the pharmacy door.

Thanks to the pharmacist unlocking this door earlier, I entered the pharmacy easily.

“Huh?”

One of the people inside was startled to see me enter.

Then they backed away.

I strode forward, grabbed the narrow-eyed man’s wrist, and twisted it.

“Aargh! Wh-what? Let go!”

The narrow-eyed man’s companions left the pharmacist and approached me.

Looking at them, I rubbed my green blood-stained sleeve on the narrow-eyed man’s face.

“Ugh! Ptui ptui. Crazy! This crazy bastard! Aargh!”

As I lifted the twisted wrist upwards, the narrow-eyed man screamed again.

One of his friends, perhaps thinking it was hopeless, swung a fist at me.

Whoosh

Slightly tilting my head, I dodged and pushed the narrow-eyed man away.

I grabbed the head of the man who punched me and slammed it into the pharmacy counter.

Thump!

The man, whose head hit the counter hard, collapsed limply.

I strode towards the fallen narrow-eyed man and kicked him in the face.

Thwack

The narrow-eyed man lost consciousness and fell limply face down.

I silently glared at the remaining one.

“Gulp.”

The man raised both hands and backed away.

The fight ended in an instant.

The other people pressed against the wall, staring at me with dumbfounded expressions.

“Pharmacist-nim. Are you okay?”

“Ah… Yes. Thank you.”

I was able to receive treatment inside the pharmacy.

---

I cleaned and disinfected my wounds.

Took broad-spectrum antibiotics as well.

“Try to get to a hospital as soon as possible. This is just temporary. Even if you feel fine now, there might be an incubation period.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“And this is a moist dressing, right? Like this, so air can pass through…”

The pharmacist explained various precautions.

At the same time, he packed various medicines for me.

This person knows it too.

That going to a hospital isn’t easy right now.

After the first aid was finished.

“Excuse me… Those monsters. Goblins? Those things…”

The pharmacist cautiously asked about the whereabouts of the goblins.

Seeing my wounds, he seemed to have an idea.

“I took care of them all.”

“I thought so. Well… You’re amazing.”

As we talked inside the counter, I felt sharp gazes.

The awakened narrow-eyed man had been glaring at me murderously for a while.

“It’s nothing much. They weren’t dangerous like wild beasts.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. They’re weaker than adult men too. If you make up your mind, you can fight and win.”

I deliberately raised my voice slightly, as if intending for them to hear.

“Shall I give you some valuable information as thanks?”

“Yes. Please do.”

There’s no way to pay for the medicine right now.

I tell the pharmacist what I learned through my own experiences.

“They have weaknesses like humans too. Neck or head…”

I maintained the volume of my voice.

So everyone in the pharmacy could hear.

“And you might awaken a fundamental skill if you catch a monster.”

“Fundamental skill?”

“Yes. What that is…”

Everyone was focused on my words.

“There are no remaining goblins in this immediate area, but we don’t know the situation in the next block.”

“Really? Then the rescue team, ah…”

The pharmacist trailed off.

After honestly telling him a few facts, I left the pharmacy.

---

Night fell.

As expected, pitch-black darkness arrived.

There were many clouds, so no moonlight reached the street.

“BN Construction really builds well.”

Jang Hoseop muttered, sitting by the window.

We are resting on the second floor of the building with the pharmacy.

“That big building didn’t even collapse.”

We concluded that moving at night was impossible.

So after leaving the pharmacy, we found a place to spend the night.

We checked up to the building roof, and thankfully, there were no monsters.

“But Hyungnim knows too, right? Big buildings like that have emergency generators.”

I listened to Jang Hoseop’s story while cleaning the metal rod.

“But the fact that there are no lights means… they intentionally turned them off, or.”

It doesn’t seem like he’s just talking.

“Or maybe they have a generator but can’t turn on the lights.”

“Can’t turn on?”

“Yes. Not a physical problem, but literally, they can’t turn them on.”

I put down the metal rod and looked at Jang Hoseop.

Jang Hoseop’s gaze remained fixed outside the window.

“What if… just what if. One day, electricity suddenly disappeared?”

I had never imagined such a thing.

Society would probably be paralyzed.

“Many people would die too. Really many. Like a judgment from heaven.”

Jang Hoseop was hypothesizing a situation even worse than I had imagined.

“So… Huh?”

Jang Hoseop stopped talking.

He looked back at me.

“Hyungnim. They came out. Wow… They really came out.”

I immediately stood up.

“Stay here. I’ll be back.”

“Yes. Be careful.”

I hurried down to the first floor.

Coming out of the building, I saw a light some distance away.

I silently followed the light.

“Ugh… Is this right?”

“We ate our fill during the day, so they should all be asleep. It’s actually safer now.”

It’s the narrow-eyed man’s gang.

One of them held an oil lantern, obtained from somewhere.

“Ah sht. It’s fcking dark.”

“I know. Let’s just go next time with other people…”

“Stop the fcking bullshit.”

The narrow-eyed man’s gang headed towards the next block.

Despite his two friends’ attempts to dissuade him, the narrow-eyed man spoke firmly.

“Remember what I said. Getting ahead early is important. That bastard definitely got his fundamental skill because…”

I quietly followed them, eavesdropping on their conversation.

Thinking I just threw out some bait, and it hooked well.

‘Careless.’

What were they thinking, carrying a light like that in this darkness?

And no matter how much I said I cleared this area, I couldn’t understand them chattering like that.

‘Optimistic personality?’

I also couldn’t understand them believing my words so readily.

Of course, it’s true I intentionally induced this situation by giving the pharmacist various pieces of information instead of payment.

Still, I thought the probability was low.

“Shh. Let’s go quietly from now on. If we spot a goblin, as we agreed beforehand…”

Turning the corner now leads to a path unfamiliar even to me.

I decided to finish things before that.

The path is rough; just falling could lead to severe injury or death.

“Hoo… He said goblins don’t have a great sense of smell, right?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing…”

I silently approached the group preparing themselves from behind.

Tap

Perhaps sensing something strange, the one at the very back turned around.

I immediately thrust the metal rod.

Squelch―

The man, stabbed in the neck, stiffened with wide eyes.

He couldn’t even scream.

“Huh?”

Kicking the man away, I immediately charged at the remaining two.

Another man opened his mouth but reflexively dodged.

Thwack!

Gripping the rod short, I swung and hit the man’s head.

Then the narrow-eyed man swung his weapon.

Whoosh

The steel pipe he swung passed over my head.

“Fck!”

Lowering my stance, I dove straight in.

Dropping the rod, I grabbed his legs and tackled him.

Clang― Thump

I secured the top position.

I swung my fists.

Thwack Thwack Thwack Thwack

In an instant, the narrow-eyed man’s face was a mess.

His nose was crushed, and blood poured from his mouth.

“Cough. Fck… Why.”

The narrow-eyed man struggled fiercely, but the strength difference was too great.

He quickly gave up resisting.

I didn’t expect him to give up so quickly.

It seemed to be about the pharmacy access issue.

Without responding, I got up and retrieved the metal rod.

“Save me… Please save me. I was wrong.”

Then the narrow-eyed man said he was wrong.

He seemed to realize arguing with me was useless.

“Fck, I said I’m sorry! No, I apologize. Sorry…”

Pointing the sharp tip of the metal rod downwards, I stabbed straight down.

Stab―

That was the end.

After confirming the kill, I took the oil lantern.

---

I returned to the pharmacy building.

Two people stood in the building corridor.

Jang Hoseop and the pharmacist.

“Ihyeon-ssi. Don’t tell me…”

The pharmacist held a candle in his hand.

Seeing my appearance, he staggered.

My clothes were now stained with red blood too.

“No, right? No… Those students…”

The pharmacist leaned against the wall.

Then he asked with a trembling voice.

I looked at him and shook my head.

Thump

The pharmacist collapsed.

“Did you kill them all? Those kids?”

Then he asked me with an expression of disbelief.

This time, I nodded.

“But why… Did you have to do that?”

Actually, I had contemplated too.

Unlike when I committed murder on the bridge, this time I had ample time to think.

What I contemplated was the aftermath of killing the narrow-eyed man’s gang.

Because other people were here.

So I worried I might pay the price for breaking the social contract.

“Me too… Because of me. I also have responsibility…”

The pharmacist muttered like someone out of their mind.

Then he started getting angry at me.

“There was no need to kill them. They were still kids… Because of me…”

The reason the pharmacist blames himself is because I whispered something specific to him earlier.

That one goblin is weak, but they’re dangerous when attacking in groups.

That awakening a fundamental skill is a possibility, not a guarantee.

That only he should know this.

When speaking to everyone, I intentionally limited the information.

Hiding the risks and emphasizing the benefits.

So they would be tempted.

Anyway, the person I needed to pay the ‘medicine price’ to was just the pharmacist.

The pharmacist kept quiet as I asked, and this was the result.

“I almost died.”

“What?”

The pharmacist looked at me with a blank expression.

I tell him the reason why I had to lure them out and kill them.

“If I hadn’t killed those three, I might have died.”

After briefly explaining, I went up to the second floor with Jang Hoseop.

“Uh… Hyungnim.”

“Yes.”

Arriving at the empty office, Jang Hoseop called me.

“Did you really almost die because of them?”

His voice held doubt.

“No.”

“Then why did you tell the pharmacist… Ah. To comfort the pharmacist…”

“That’s not it either.”

I didn’t lie to comfort the pharmacist’s heart.

Perhaps it seemed that way because our ways of thinking are different.

“Uh… If you’re okay with it, could you explain in a little more detail?”

Putting down my weapon, I looked at Jang Hoseop.

He looked genuinely curious.

“That man glared at me with eyes that wanted to kill me.”

“Well, because you hit him… Ah.”

“Because the world has changed strangely. I thought leaving loose ends would be dangerous.”

The reason I decided to deal with the narrow-eyed man’s gang after contemplation.

I concluded that this country wouldn’t quickly regain stability.

Jang Hoseop nodded.

“Ah, so that’s what you meant… Trying to help the pharmacist ended up like this.”

“No. I fought those guys because they interfered with my business, not to help anyone.”

This was something I didn’t need to say.

Jang Hoseop’s expression hardened.

He knows it too.

That I intentionally revealed my inner thoughts.

Swishhhhh

Just then, it started raining.

Spring rain.

“Huh? Hyungnim! It’s raining?”

Jang Hoseop spoke with a cheerful voice.

“Going to the roof, right?”

“Yes.”

We stopped talking and headed to the roof.

The cool spring rain washed away the heat of battle and the blood.

---

Jang Hoseop and I slept in shifts, and the next day arrived.

“Stab.”

We came out to the street with the survivors from the pharmacy building.

We tied the limbs of a captured goblin and brought over a woman.

“I-I can’t.”

“Okay. Next person.”

We are trying to figure out how one awakens a fundamental skill.

Whether it’s just about killing monsters, regardless of the process.

Whether age, gender, etc., are related.

It’s for information gathering, but I don’t intend to force anyone.

“Ihyeon-ssi, just a moment.”

As I called the next person, the pharmacist asked me to wait.

Then he persuaded the woman.

That she had to kill the goblin.

To have courage.

“Ugh…”

Stab

Eventually, the woman killed the goblin.

And awakened a fundamental skill.

“Then I’ll go catch more.”

I spent the entire morning clearing the next block.

This area was also full of only goblins, and I learned a few facts.

First, goblins don’t level me up much anymore.

My experience pool itself has grown larger, and the efficiency feels lower.

‘Age and gender are unrelated.’

Among the survivors from the pharmacy building, 3 awakened fundamental skills.

The pharmacist, the young woman, and a middle-aged woman in her 50s.

The sample size is small, but anyway, the age groups are all different.

The pharmacist is in his 30s, and the young woman is in her 20s.

“Maybe if we catch several, others can awaken too?”

Jang Hoseop commented after seeing the notes I wrote in my notebook.

“That might be possible.”

“How about… should we go further?”

Jang Hoseop’s level also rose slightly.

Thanks to diligently following me and catching goblins.

“No. Let’s stop and search this building.”

I called the pharmacist and told him we would enter a commercial building.

“I’ll go up first and check.”

“Okay. We’ll start searching from the 1st floor.”

The survivors will gather supplies.

I told them about some essential items, including maps.

We climbed up to the roof of the intact building like that.

We found 2 people on the way and sent them to the pharmacist.

“Hyungnim. Do you happen to smoke? I picked up some cigarettes earlier.”

“No. I don’t smoke.”

“Okay. I’ll throw… No. I’ll keep them.”

This building is taller than the pharmacy building.

The rain stopped at dawn, and there are no buildings obstructing the view nearby.

I gaze at the slowly flowing Han River.

Most bridges have collapsed.

“Oh? That bridge is intact. What bridge is that…”

Jang Hoseop came next to me and looked at the Han River together.

“That’s the Han River Railway Bridge.”

“What? Oh… How do you know?”

The bridge where Line 1 passes.

I crossed that bridge so many times.

“I plan to cross that bridge.”

I need to go to Gangbuk (North of the River).

Because my home is there.

There’s something I absolutely must find at home.

Before that, I decided to sort out my relationship with Jang Hoseop.