Ch.44. Choi Yu-na (1)

Choi Yu-na, a citizen of Gyeongju, was currently running along a mountain path on Namsan in Gyeongju.

With a large backpack on her shoulders and a hiking knife in one hand, she might have looked like a hiker visiting Namsan to an outside observer.

However, she hadn’t come to Namsan for pure hiking purposes.

“Huff. Huff… They’re still chasing me…!?”

Running along a hiking trail now devoid of visitors, Yu-na glanced back at the hideous group pursuing her and lamented her situation while gasping for breath.

What followed behind her wasn’t a wild animal commonly seen on hiking trails, nor was it a gang of loan sharks chasing her to collect a debt.

Considering that Yu-na and her family had never taken out private loans and were model citizens, the very fact that Yu-na was being chased by someone might seem strange in modern society.

But in the current era, the weak being chased by someone was an everyday occurrence.

The creatures chasing her could rightfully be called monsters.

The short, green-skinned creatures with only a cloth covering their loins, wielding crude clubs in one hand and small wooden pieces as shields in the other, could be described as goblins commonly depicted in fantasy.

Yes, these fantasy creatures—monsters called goblins that were usually just material for fantasy novels—had appeared in reality and were now pursuing Choi Yu-na.

With lustful expressions on their faces, the goblins were staring lecherously at Yu-na’s back… or more precisely, at her small buttocks, making her run with all her might as she sensed the threat to her chastity.

“If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have fled to the mountains!”

She lamented, recalling what had happened two months ago when the disaster struck.

* * *

Choi Yu-na had been an ordinary student.

This wasn’t meant sarcastically—she really was born into an average family in Gyeongju, loved by her ordinary office worker parents, and attended a regular school in Gyeongju. She was truly a common student.

With her pretty appearance, Yu-na enjoyed an ordinary school life without displaying any special abilities or talents. When she returned home, she was just a girl who enjoyed subculture with her friends.

To put it bluntly, Choi Yu-na was the very definition of “extra A” in a novel! She would have admitted it herself—she was living a truly ordinary life.

The destruction of Yu-na’s boring but peaceful daily life happened in the simplest way possible.

“Wh-wh-what?”

What occurred was commonly known as a zombie apocalypse, which had broken out across South Korea.

The situation before she came to Namsan could be summarized in that one sentence.

After returning home from school as usual and going to sleep, Yu-na woke up the next day to find Gyeongju city filled with zombies.

Yu-na and her family, who had set out early in the morning for school and work to spend another ordinary day, were thrown unprepared into the middle of a zombie apocalypse disaster.

“Wh-what is that…!”

“D-Dad?!”

Riding in her father’s car on the way to school, Yu-na panicked at the sight of zombies filling the streets. Her father quickly sensed something was wrong with Gyeongju’s streets and turned the steering wheel to head back home.

It was the decision of a family man trying to escape the zombie hordes filling the streets and save Yu-na’s mother, who would be defenseless at home.

However, sadly, what Yu-na and her father witnessed upon returning home was…

“Grrrrrr…”

“Wh… what… honey…?”

The despair of finding his wife, who had been perfectly fine before he left for work, transformed into a zombie.

In just a matter of minutes, his beloved wife had turned into a zombie. Yu-na’s father momentarily froze from the mental shock that struck his mind, and that hesitation was fatal in this disaster.

“S-stop! It’s me! It’s me! Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

“Grrrrrr…”

Yu-na’s mother, not recognizing that the man before her was her husband, mercilessly began to bite her defenseless father.

Biting his neck, blood and flesh stained the entrance, and Yu-na’s father screamed desperately, begging his wife for mercy.

But his wife showed no mercy despite his desperate pleas, only craving her husband’s warm blood and flesh.

“…!!!”

Shocked by this horrific scene, Yu-na’s mind went blank and she couldn’t do anything. She could only watch silently, screaming without sound and shedding tears as her father was devoured by her mother.

“Grwaaaaar…”

“D-Dad…?”

Then Yu-na witnessed her father turning into a zombie right before her eyes, infected by her zombified mother.

It was a scene that could drive anyone mad, but realizing that she would be the next target of her zombified parents, Yu-na fled to her room with a pale face.

After escaping to the master bedroom and locking the door, Yu-na muttered that this was all a dream, trying to escape reality.

“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts…! Why won’t I wake up?”

She pinched her cheeks and thighs, desperately wanting to wake from this nightmare, until they turned blue with bruises. But the pain throughout her body and the terrifying noise of something frantically pounding on the door cruelly proclaimed that all of this was reality.

“Aaaaaahhhhh!”

If there was anything fortunate for Yu-na, it was that the master bedroom contained a baseball bat that her father had prepared for self-defense in case of emergency, and…

“If I don’t do it, I’ll die…!”

Yu-na’s decision was quicker than expected.

She rapidly accepted that this wasn’t a dream but reality, and quickly realized that to survive, she needed to take down her zombified mother and father.

Perhaps it was resignation.

However, Yu-na had no time to deeply contemplate why the world had turned into a zombie apocalypse overnight.

Yu-na grabbed the weapon in the master bedroom to survive, and…

“Dieeeeeeee!”

She simply destroyed the monsters that had the appearance of her mother and father as they broke through the bedroom door.

To ensure they couldn’t move at all, Yu-na swung the bat wildly, destroying her father’s and mother’s bodies over and over again.

Only when the master bedroom was completely stained with her parents’ blood and flesh chunks did Yu-na stop swinging the baseball bat.

“Ah… Ahhh…!”

And then came the belated despair and regret.

The guilt of surviving alone.

For young Yu-na, the sudden death of her father and mother alone was enough to cause tremendous psychological pressure.

On top of that, she had destroyed zombies with her parents’ appearances… with her own hands until they were reduced to bloody pulps.

“I-I killed them…! I killed Dad! And Mom!”

When she realized that she had killed her zombified parents to survive alone, the psychological shock was a truth too difficult for young Yu-na to accept.

【 You have Awakened. 】

And as if to make her recognize that she had killed her parents with her own hands, a blue hologram window appeared before Yu-na’s eyes.

By killing her zombified parents, Yu-na had awakened to a status window commonly seen in hunter stories.

Faced with this surreal sight and thinking all of this must be a dream, Yu-na fainted as soon as the blue hologram window appeared. It wasn’t until a day later that Yu-na properly grasped the situation.

“Zombie apocalypse…”

Yu-na accessed internet communities through her smartphone, and all the internet communities were filled with stories about the zombie apocalypse that had occurred in South Korea.

This crisis wasn’t just affecting South Korea—the entire world was facing different types of disasters called apocalypses on a national scale.

Yu-na calmly read through the posts one by one, trying to understand the current situation, and she was also able to learn why she had awakened.

[Title: Kill One Zombie and You Awaken with a Status Window]

Literally, kill one zombie and you awaken with a status window.

This isn’t a troll post—you really do unlock a status window like in novels if you kill a zombie.

I killed a zombie I encountered this morning, and then a status window appeared along with a message saying I had awakened as an ability user.

You get one skill along with the status window. I got an elemental magic skill.

It seems everyone gets different skills, but you can find that info in other posts.

I’ve told you what I know, so don’t complain later that no one told you.

I won’t be taking comments, so make your own judgment.

PS. For those who might not believe me, here’s proof.

[GIF of summoning flames in hand.]

The post informed readers about the existence of status windows commonly depicted in fantasy or hunter stories.

According to the post, to awaken a status window, one had to hunt a zombie.

This meant that Yu-na had satisfied the conditions to awaken a status window by hunting her zombified father and mother.

Through the post, Yu-na was able to understand the situation, but conversely, she suffered from severe depression due to the fact that she had killed her father and mother with her own hands.

However, her desire to survive remained strong, so Yu-na called up her status window based on the information disclosed in the community.

“Status window!”

【 Name: Choi Yu-na 】

【 Race: Human 】 【 Gender: Female 】 【 Age: 16 】 【 Alignment: Neutral Good 】

【 Level: 1 】

【 Traits: None 】

【 Class: None 】

【 Strength: 8 】 【 Vitality: 12 】 【 Agility: 14 】【 Wisdom: 21 】 【 Mana: 19 】 【 Luck: 6 】

【 Skills: Divine Arts (Low) 】

The ability she had awakened was what’s commonly known as divine power… healing magic.

Having awakened with the abilities of a priest as depicted in fantasy worlds, she gained the power to work as a doctor in this apocalyptic world where medical supplies were limited.

In a zombie apocalypse where resources were limited, the existence of a priest who could heal wounds or diseases without consuming resources was incredibly reassuring.

“I can’t just stay here.”

Thinking she couldn’t remain at home, Yu-na took a baseball bat and went outside.

She made the excuse that training her awakened ability would be advantageous for survival, but her true motivation for going outside was the guilt of not being able to stay in the house where she had killed her father and mother.

Based on her awakened ability, Choi Yu-na dealt with all the zombies around her home, and during the process of handling nearby zombies, she was able to meet reliable companions.

Together with her companions, she headed to what was called a survivor camp where survivors gathered to find a safer place. Upon arriving at the survivor camp, she made significant contributions by maximizing her abilities.

She tried her best to use her abilities to treat all patients who came to her.

It might have been self-reproach and guilt for killing her father and mother.

“Thank you, miss.”

“No, this is what gives my life meaning.”

Yes, literally, she accepted everyone who came to her.

Suffering from guilt over killing her family, she clung to the vain hope that if she worked hard enough, all the survivors in Gyeongju could return to their normal lives.

However, her efforts seemed to be rewarded, as survivors from other camps or those acting alone would come directly to Yu-na for treatment, showing how hard she had worked.

She worked so hard that she deliberately ignored how her hair was turning completely white.

“Huh? You’re saying not to treat them?”

“That’s right. Ordinary people who haven’t awakened abilities are lower priority. Treat the Awakened first. And charge treatment fees for visitors from outside.”

“Forcing treatment fees in this situation will kill those people!”

Her altruistic behavior caused discontent among the Awakened in her survivor camp.

In a zombie apocalypse disaster, the most obvious things to be careful of were zombies and scarce resources… but what was even more frightening was humans themselves.

Logically, sticking together with other survivors would be most advantageous for survival, but numerous social experiments had proven what happens when many different types of people gather together.

Choi Yu-na, whose social experience was limited to school life, was bewildered by the leader’s sudden cruel orders and wanted to protest.

“What about us who are fighting! If your healing is delayed, we’ll all die!”

“T-that’s…”

However, in a survivor camp, this was an extremely natural occurrence.

Awakened warriors who could fight had to be prioritized over ordinary people who couldn’t fight. The longer the apocalyptic disaster continued, the higher the status of the Awakened would inevitably rise.

“We Awakened need to use ordinary people who haven’t awakened more properly! Ordinary people who can’t even fight properly should reflect on themselves!!”

“I-I don’t think that’s right…”

And gradually, those who fell into the ideology of Awakened supremacy emerged.

They advocated the cruel logic of power that the Awakened should rule over the powerless, and despite the leader’s warnings, Yu-na opposed this ideology and unhesitatingly used her abilities for everyone who came to her, especially the weak.

“Yes, it’s okay. The government will save us.”

With the belief that if they held out just a little longer, the government would surely save them.

This logic, frequently mentioned among ordinary people, was firmly believed by Choi Yu-na as well, and she thought that someday the proud South Korean military would come to Gyeongju and save it.

Moreover, communication channels from the outside hadn’t been completely cut off yet, and modern conveniences like the internet were still working well. There were even posts on internet communities claiming that an organization calling itself the government had declared a state of disaster and was urging for resolution.

In other words, there were reasonable grounds to believe that the government could save them.

“If we hold out, we’ll surely see the end.”

So even if small divisions occurred, if they endured, everything would return to normal.

Besides, as time passed, ordinary zombies were no longer a threat to the Awakened, and considering that even Yu-na herself had dealt with multiple zombies alone… there was no way the government’s military with powerful weapons would be defeated by zombies.

…That’s what Yu-na believed, but her faith was betrayed.

“Wh-what is that!?”

As time passed, the cracks signaling the division of the survivor camp grew larger, and what marked the end of that division… was the appearance of powerful mutant zombies.

“In just one day… so many Awakened have died.”

The camp Yu-na belonged to suffered great losses due to the attack of powerful mutant zombies.

Many Awakened died, as well as the ordinary people who supported them.

“Let’s each survive on our own.”

“Th-that’s dangerous.”

“Then will you take responsibility for those useless people? You won’t, right?”

“That’s…”

When half of the survivor camp’s population disappeared overnight, the division between the Awakened and ordinary people became uncontrollable, and they began to scatter to find their own ways to survive.

Choi Yu-na voiced her opinion that if they scattered like this, everyone would be in danger, but being naturally ordinary, she lacked the charisma or leadership to lead others.

Naturally, her opinion was overruled by other Awakened, and ultimately it was decided that everyone would find their own way to survive, and the camp was disbanded.

“Wh-where should I go?”

Having suddenly lost the survivor camp where she had been staying, Yu-na felt at a loss and simultaneously lost her place to go.

“I can’t go back home…”

She considered returning home where her parents’ bodies would be, but even if she returned home, electricity and water would already be cut off.

Moreover, the way home would surely be filled with zombies, and she was terrified that if a mutant zombie appeared, she would be bitten without resistance and become a zombie herself.

“Y-yes, let’s go to the mountains! There won’t be zombies in the mountains…!”

Therefore, she thought of heading to the mountains where there would be few people.

It might be inconvenient without modern amenities, but there would be wild vegetables and edible plants in the mountains, so she thought she wouldn’t starve to death at least.

Above all, there wouldn’t be terrifying zombies in the mountains.

Although there was a high probability that hikers had turned into zombies, judging that they would be easier to deal with than the zombies filling the city, she packed all her personal belongings and headed to Namsan near Gyeongju city.

“I’m such an idiot!”

And as Yu-na had expected, there were no zombies on Namsan.

Yes, there were no zombies that could threaten Yu-na.

Except for the fact that the Namsan she visited was filled with monsters that could be seen in a fantasy world.

Yu-na greatly regretted her past self who had burned with false hope as she continued to flee from the horde of goblins chasing her.