25. What Happened to Them. (1)

“Phew…”

I leaned on the underpass entrance and lifted my head.

Thud, thud. Drops of blood fell from my chin and fingertips.

It’s already night.

I wanted to check the time, but my whole body was soaked in blood, making it awkward to take out my phone.

I might as well go back and check.

I shook my sword to remove the blood and sheathed it.

Swish, swish-click.

The human beasts I killed today.

I don’t know how many, but my level is 14.

That means I’ve killed over 260 since I got my new specialization.

With two kill counters, the number of kills I make in a day has definitely increased.

I must have shot over 70 arrows today.

The 30 or so arrows I originally brought were duplicated and gradually increased, so I shot over 70 and now have two or three left.

Counting exactly how many is too troublesome.

I’m tired after shooting arrows and slashing all day.

Even with the Stamina skill, archery is more stamina-consuming than I thought, making my back and shoulders sore.

Maybe it’s because I’m not used to it yet.

My body will get stronger after shooting a thousand arrows.

As I walked home, I opened my status screen.

I gained 10 distribution points from today’s raid.

Currently, Perception is 5, but Spirit is 71.

…It’s awkward!

One point is quite annoying.

I might as well accelerate it once more.

I set Spirit to 75 and Perception to 11, then closed the status screen.

My stats are now in the double digits. Considering I only had one acceleration point when the apocalypse started, it’s a significant improvement.

With the addition of the Wild Hunter specialization, my combat style has changed quite a bit.

It’s different from the days when I would just lie around and wait for the acceleration to recharge, then go out and hunt in a rush.

After one hunt, I keep my distance.

Then, I shoot arrows.

With 1 point of stats recovering every 5 minutes, I can shoot one arrow every 5 minutes, or 12 arrows per hour.

Doing this all day, I ended up with more kills from archery than from using acceleration and slashing.

As a result, while I could only hunt 135 in three raids a day with acceleration and slashing, the addition of ranged attacks more than doubled that.

Close and ranged attacks.

The combination of the two.

It’s not bad, considering I need to focus on leveling up.

With 20 kills per level, the leveling speed is quite fast.

The only downside is that, roughly calculating, I could get over 160 kills just from archery in a day, but I don’t have enough arrows.

I can’t carry 160 arrows.

I’ll have to carry a quiver on my back.

Moreover, the arrows I have in the building don’t even reach 160.

I’ll have to rely on the quiver that duplicates 3 arrows per hour, but it’s a bit too few, honestly.

I wish I had more arrows.

Still, I’m killing a lot more than before, and I can now venture deeper. I think I’ll be able to recover a significant number of the arrows I shot by tomorrow.

As I approached the large mart building, Tae-young, who was on guard on the second floor, opened the shutter to greet me.

“You’re back. Well done, Seong-hun.”

…Hmm.

It seems he’s using even more formal honorifics now.

“Yes. Have you eaten?”

“Ah, yes. I had kimchi stew. You should eat too, Seong-hun.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Yes, I need to.”

As I entered the building, I heard a thud and a whizzing sound.

I stopped and looked in the direction of the noise.

It was inside the mart.

A few people were standing there.

They were holding bows.

They must be practicing.

Click-click-click-

As I heard the shutter closing, I walked towards the mart.

I should wash up first, but I wanted to see what they were doing.

As I opened the mart door and entered, people turned to look at me.

So-hyeon, Ye-eun, Jeong-seo, So-eun, Mr. Hoon, Jun-hyuk, and Han-tae.

Seven people.

“Oh, Oppa. You’re here?”

So-hyeon and Ye-eun ran over to me.

I smiled and looked beyond them.

They had brought ramen boxes from the third-floor warehouse and taped them thickly, placing a pillow in front.

The pillow must have been from the bedding section, which they used as a target.

I smiled and said,

“You’re practicing?”

“Yeah, it’s fun! But I haven’t hit anything yet.”

“I tried too, but I couldn’t even get close to the target. It’s really hard.”

So-hyeon seemed to be able to draw the bow quite well.

As for Ye-eun, well, drawing the bow takes some…

“It’s okay. Keep practicing.”

Jun-hyuk and Han-tae were each in position, holding their bows.

They must have been taking turns practicing.

Jeong-seo and Mr. Hoon were also holding bows, waiting for their turn.

I nodded to each of them and said,

“I just came to check. Keep practicing.”

“Ah, sir. Thank you. We’ll keep at it.”

They bowed to me in response.

Mr. Hoon.

This man, who was trembling in fear just the other day, seems to be regaining his confidence as he lives here.

That’s right.

One must protect their family with their own hands.

I looked at So-hyeon and Ye-eun and said,

“Keep practicing. I’ll go upstairs and wash up.”

“Oppa, Oppa.”

As I turned to walk away, Ye-eun called out to me.

“Hmm?”

“Oppa, Han-tae baked baguettes this afternoon. Should we have cream cheese pasta with baguettes tonight?”

“Sounds good. Have you eaten dinner?”

So-hyeon shook her head.

“We were waiting for you, so we haven’t eaten yet.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

So-hyeon handed her bow to Mr. Hoon and came over to me. The two of them giggled and followed me.

Cream cheese pasta.

I haven’t had pasta in a while.

 * * *

“Guh…!”

I thrust my hips forcefully, filling Ye-eun.

She clung to me tightly, letting out a moan.

Her body trembled, indicating she had reached her climax.

I immediately pulled out and grabbed So-hyeon’s knee, entering her.

I thrust my hips, feeling the warm, slick sensation.

“Aah.”

So-hyeon clung to me.

Her plump breasts made me happy.

After showering, I had filled So-hyeon, and just now, Ye-eun.

It felt great.

I held So-hyeon and slowly moved my hips, savoring the afterglow.

So-hyeon’s face was flushed from the prolonged pleasure.

Ye-eun got up, breathing heavily, and walked to the kitchen. The slight sway in her steps made me feel a bit playful.

“I hope the pasta didn’t burn…”

It hadn’t been drizzled with olive oil and had been left in a pot of boiling water for almost an hour while we were entangled.

I smiled and said,

“It’s fine even if it’s a bit burnt.”

Ye-eun pouted and looked at me.

“It’s become udon. What should we do?”

Hmm.

“Cream cheese udon sounds delicious, doesn’t it?”

So-hyeon, who had been lying under me, giggled at the comment. She had been moaning faintly as I thrust into her.

Ye-eun also chuckled.

Laughter erupted over a rather uninteresting comment.

The three of us laughed for a while.

Well, whatever.

Dinner is cream cheese udon.

And that night.

Ye-eun’s room.

We were about to fall asleep on the spacious king-sized bed when someone knocked on the door.

A cautious knock.

“Sir, are you asleep? Sir.”

The three of us rubbed our eyes and got up.

“Ugh… Who is it…”

So-hyeon complained.

I laid the women back down and got out of bed, putting on my underwear.

Only Mr. Hoon calls me “sir.”

I wiped my eyes with my palm and opened the door.

Sure enough, Mr. Hoon was standing there.

“Yes. What’s the matter?”

“Seong-hun, someone is here to see you.”

Behind me, I heard rustling as the women got up from bed.

I tilted my head.

“Me?”

Mr. Hoon nodded.

“Yes. Well, I thought you should decide what to do.”

…Decide?

What does he mean?

I scratched my head, yawned, and grabbed a T-shirt and shorts, putting them on hastily.

So-hyeon and Ye-eun were looking at me.

“Oppa, are those people back again?”

“Should we come down too?”

I shook my head.

“It’s probably nothing. Go back to sleep.”

As I stepped out, I saw Jun-hyuk and Tae-young standing behind Mr. Hoon, holding bows.

Hmm.

They seem to be preparing for something.

Should I take my sword too?

…No.

With people holding bows, I can just have them shoot if anything happens.

I walked to the elevator, shuffling in my slippers.

The men followed.

Damn, I’m yawning.

I yawned once and asked,

“What’s going on? Who’s here? Are the cockroaches back?”

The men looked at each other and shrugged awkwardly.

“Well… They are from that group, but…”

Their expressions suggested they weren’t sure how to explain.

Ding-

The elevator opened.

“Let’s go see, then.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, sir.”

On the first floor, Jeong-seo was on guard.

“Seong-hun.”

“What’s the matter?”

Jeong-seo approached me and spoke cautiously.

“They’re from that group, but they seem to be defectors.”

My eyes narrowed.

I walked over, tilting my head and asked,

“Defectors?”

“Yes. They say they ran away. There are ten women and three men. I’m not sure if they’re telling the truth or have some other purpose, so I didn’t open the door. I thought it was best to inform you first.”

…Ran away?

“Do they have weapons?”

“No. They’re all empty-handed.”

We arrived at the shutter.

I nodded and said,

“Let’s see. What they want.”

The men nodded and removed the steel pipes on either side of the shutter.

Then, they lifted the shutter.

Click-click-click-