Chapter 24: Survival Comes After a Meal (1)

Chapter 24

‘Now that I think about it, that house had nothing to eat.’

He had felt something was missing when he searched the house, and it was food.

This was somewhat unlucky. Usually, during the preliminaries, houses contain at least a small amount of food.

‘It’s about time to find some food…’

The sun was already high in the sky. He hadn’t eaten anything since last night.

Moreover, he was even hungrier from swinging his sword all day without rest.

If he wanted to solve tonight’s dinner, he needed to start looking for food now.

‘The easiest thing to get would be…’

Kim Jinsung’s gaze turned towards the stream he had crossed earlier.

The only thing he could hunt right now was those fish monsters, but…

-‘Only eat monsters as a last resort.’

The instinctive reason he was reluctant to eat monsters.

Because they taste terrible.

How many chefs, since the ‘Day of Despair’ 500 years ago, have tried to create various dishes using monster meat as an ingredient?

Almost all of them failed. That’s how bad the texture of monster meat is.

Tough, hard, fishy, bitter, smelly, and with a terrible texture… In short, it has all the undesirable qualities for food.

‘I remember from TV, they only ate it as a last resort.’

Kim Jinsung vividly remembered the expressions of the players on TV who ate monster meat.

All of them grimaced, barely holding back their gag reflex as they chewed.

‘So what now? Do I have to eat grass?’

The most straightforward method is, of course, to cook and eat plants.

As long as you avoid poisonous mushrooms, even if they taste terrible, they can somewhat fill your stomach.

‘Let’s search a bit more.’

Kim Jinsung decided to explore further first, as he wasn’t starving to death yet.

As he continued to push through the grass and explore the surroundings,

“…Huh?”

Soon, Kim Jinsung’s eyes widened.

Suddenly, there was a delicious smell of food being cooked.

He was drawn to the smell as if enchanted.

It took him quite a while to reach the source,

‘A grocery store?’

It was a small one-story building with ‘Grocery Store’ boldly written on the sign.

‘Was there such a building in the Colosseum…?’

As far as he remembered, he had never seen it on TV before.

Kim Jinsung looked around the building.

The area, neatly cleared of every tree and blade of grass, contrasted sharply with the dense bushes nearby.

After checking the surroundings, Kim Jinsung thought to himself,

‘Isn’t this space too blatantly set up for a fight?’

If it weren’t for the smell of food wafting from the chimney on the roof, he wouldn’t have thought so much about it.

The smell naturally draws all nearby participants to this place.

‘Look, people have already gathered.’

The sight of two participants, now cold corpses at the entrance of the grocery store, caught Kim Jinsung’s eyes.

‘And they haven’t been dead long.’

Seeing blood still flowing from one of the bodies, it was clear they had died less than 5 minutes ago.

This meant there was a very high chance someone was inside the grocery store.

‘Going in now would be suicide.’

And of course, the building had no windows. So, without going directly to the entrance, there was no way to check the inside.

But he couldn’t just pass by without any food.

‘What should I do?’

After a moment of contemplation, Kim Jinsung came up with a good idea.

‘Right. Let’s try this method.’

Kim Jinsung turned around and went back into the bushes.

-He’s turning back.

-Did he notice something?

-It’s a bit disappointing if he just leaves like this…

The chat reacted somewhat regretfully to Kim Jinsung turning back.

The commentators reacted similarly.

[Ah, did Kim Jinsung sense something? He’s turning back the way he came!]

[Good. That’s a wise decision for someone his age.]

The commentator praised Kim Jinsung. If he had recklessly entered the grocery store, even Kim Jinsung, with his outstanding performance so far, would have been in great danger.

[But it seems the other participants around don’t intend to back off like Kim Jinsung.]

[That’s right. It seems everyone is getting hungry.]

[Indeed, it seems that no matter how powerful the Awakened are, they can’t fight against hunger!]

As the two commentators discussed, the TV screen was broadcasting the entire scene around the grocery store.

A drone camera floating high in the sky showed several participants hiding in the bushes near the grocery store, watching cautiously.

Baek Jun, watching the TV screen, said to Jang Seungwook beside him,

“I told you, it would definitely draw aggro.”

“Really, it did.”

The grocery store was a new addition for this 12th season.

Baek Jun’s idea was to significantly reduce the amount of food participants could find near their starting locations and instead set up a few grocery stores to create more interesting scenes.

And it seemed to be a success already. The scene of participants watching each other, even just that, was providing immense immersion to the viewers.

The rising instant viewership rate and the incredible speed of the chat were proof.

—Hmm?”

At that moment, Baek Jun’s eyes lit up while watching the TV.

– Huh?

What’s that?

Isn’t that Kim Jinsung?

– Huh? Wait a minute! Could it be?

The viewers were also surprised, and so were the commentators.

[Uh? What’s this? Kim Jinsung is coming back! But why?]

[Ha, haha! Is he doing this on purpose? If he planned this, it’s really amazing!]

On the TV screen, they saw Kim Jinsung sprinting back towards the grocery store with all his might.

At that time,

Inside the grocery store, there was a tense atmosphere.

Seven corpses lay near the main entrance.

Surrounding them, three men were pointing their knives at each other, their foreheads soaked with sweat from the tension.

One wrong move and they could be ganged up on and killed.

That’s when it happened.

Bang!

Another loud noise came from the wall opposite the entrance of the grocery store.

At the same time, one of the participants approaching the entrance collapsed to the ground.

“Damn! That scared me…”

“Another one bites the dust.”

The three men’s gazes turned to the automatic shotgun mounted on the wall.

The shotgun, embedded with a mana stone, automatically fires bullets when it detects the movement of a living creature at the entrance of the grocery store.

But the power of those bullets was no joke.

These participants were skilled enough to easily block bullets, yet they were instantly killed by a single shot.

The three inside had been lucky to enter during the reload timing after someone else had died.

The problem was…

‘How do we get out?’

‘I’m not confident I can block those bullets with mana…’

‘Why doesn’t this building have any windows?’

They had been lucky getting in, but would they be lucky getting out? That was their worry.

That’s why they were all hesitantly watching each other.

‘I’ve got all the groceries in my bag, now I just need to get out…!’

‘Who’s going to make the first move?’

‘Hey, you with the sturdy armor, why don’t you take the lead?’

As they all secretly wished for someone else to move first, that’s when it happened.

Kuwooooaah!

A familiar monstrous roar echoed from afar.

At the same time, they realized the thudding footsteps were getting closer, and all three heads turned forward.

Their eyes widened in shock.

“Yikes?!”

“A Twin-Headed Ogre?!”

A massive Twin-Headed Ogre was charging towards the grocery store at an incredible speed.

The target it was chasing was none other than Kim Jinsung.

Kim Jinsung, who had turned back earlier, had deliberately provoked the distant Twin-Headed Ogre to bring it here.

‘Now’s the time to jump!’

Kim Jinsung leaped right in front of the entrance to the grocery store.

Almost simultaneously, the Ogre’s massive fist struck the entrance.

With a crash, the front glass door shattered completely, and the shotgun reacted to the movement.

Bang!

Kuwaah~!

The Ogre, hit in the abdomen by the bullets, writhed in pain.

Blood was quickly flowing from the thick skin of the Ogre, but this only seemed to enrage the Twin-Headed Ogre even more.

Kuwooooaah!

The Ogre charged into the grocery store and began swinging its fists wildly.

The first thing to be destroyed was the automatic shotgun that had attacked it.

Next, naturally, were the three participants who had been in a standoff inside.

Kwaang!

“Ugh, aargh!”

Crack!

“Save me, aah!”

One was instantly killed by a direct punch to the head, and another was caught by the Ogre while trying to escape.

As the captured man was being pounded into the ground, the last one managed to sneak out of the grocery store.

“I’m alive! Hahaha!”

The man cheered inwardly, realizing that the Twin-Headed Ogre was no longer chasing him.

‘I’m always so lucky…!’

Swoosh.

His lucky day came to an abrupt end with a single slash from Kim Jinsung, who had followed him.

After snatching the plastic bag from the fallen man’s hand, Kim Jinsung quickly checked the entrance.

As soon as he confirmed it contained food,

‘Let’s bolt!’

He activated his unique trait ‘Magi’ and sprinted towards the mountain summit with all his might.

Other participants who had been hiding and watching were suddenly conflicted.

‘What?! He’s running away!’

‘Let’s chase that guy!’

‘I’m going to loot the grocery store.’

‘I should wait until that Ogre leaves before I do anything…’

Soon, the participants split into two groups.

A few decided to chase after Kim Jinsung, while the majority still waited cautiously around the grocery store.

Kuwooooaah!

But it seemed like it would be a while before the enraged Twin-Headed Ogre’s rampage would end.

A little later.

“Phew….”

Kim Jinsung, who had been running hard, finally caught his breath on a thick branch at the top of a tall tree.

He looked back.

He saw a few participants who had been chasing him now caught by monsters they had encountered on the way and forced into battle.

‘Good, this should be far enough to have escaped safely.’

The distance between where Kim Jinsung was now and the grocery store was quite significant, making it unlikely for anyone to know where he was and chase after him.

‘Now, shall I check the contents?’

Kim Jinsung took a closer look inside the heavy plastic bag he had obtained after defeating the man.

‘Yes! This is it!’

Seeing the food packed inside the plastic bag, Kim Jinsung silently rejoiced.

With this amount, he could ration it out to last the entire week of the preliminaries.

‘Now, let’s distribute it into my backpack. I can’t carry it all in one go.’

He took off his backpack, hung it on a nearby branch, and began transferring the food from the bag.

He was about halfway through when suddenly, he felt an inexplicable chill at the back of his neck.

At the same time, every cell in his body screamed at him to move if he didn’t want to die!

So, Kim Jinsung instinctively reacted.

He used his Beast Karma points to activate his unique trait ‘Magi.’

Just as he covered his body with Magi for protection,

Thump!

He heard something deeply embed itself into flesh.