Chapter 16

Silently following behind, Sung-jin and Su-yeon felt nauseous watching Jun-sang dig through the zombie’s head with his fingers.

“Ugh…” “Ugh!” Naturally, those sounds reached Jun-sang, who was engrossed in his task.

“…” Jun-sang slowly stood up and glared at the two, taking a stance. This place was, after all, beyond the gaze of others. Even if player-on-player killing occurred, the outside world wouldn’t know. The moment Sung-jin felt Jun-sang’s eyes gleam, he quickly raised both hands and said,

“W-wait a minute.” “…” “Please, just listen to me for a moment.” Jun-sang frowned and immediately replied, “No.” “…” “Are you going to fight?”

Sung-jin felt something like a shimmer rising from Jun-sang’s body once more and swallowed hard. Su-yeon, without realizing it, stepped in front of Sung-jin and extended her club forward. If Jun-sang were to attack, it would be difficult for Sung-jin, a magic user, to withstand a single blow. Sung-jin, seeing the atmosphere escalate to a breaking point again, panicked and quickly said,

“We won’t fight. So, we’ll just…” But before Sung-jin could even finish his sentence… a woman’s piercing scream echoed through the forest.

“Aaaaaaaah!” For a moment, all three flinched and involuntarily focused their attention on the direction of the sound, but they didn’t move first. Then, the woman’s scream gradually began to subside. No, it was no longer a scream. It was a death rattle, uttered just before her last breath. The three looked at each other again. And without anyone moving first, they simultaneously dashed towards the source of the scream.

“M-my goodness…” Sung-jin couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration at Jun-sang’s sudden, wind-like dash forward. They had started running at the same time, but somehow, Jun-sang was already surging far ahead. How could he not be surprised?

“Incredible…” Even Su-yeon, this time, didn’t grumble but genuinely admired him. He might not know it, but with that speed, he could probably outrun most short-distance sprinters. However, these two didn’t realize that just a month ago, Jun-sang was not much different from other people. This change was the result of a month of dedicated, almost insane training, pushing himself to the point of muscle rupture.

But Jun-sang, oblivious to their admiration, swiftly dashed through the forest towards the source of the scream. Finally, he witnessed a sight where three zombies were piled on top of a person’s body, their heads buried, as if playing Go-Stop.

“Hup!” Jun-sang held his breath, grabbed the nearest zombie by the scruff of its neck, flung it backward, and then, as the zombie slowly lifted its head, kicked its head with all his might with his military boot.

Thwack! The military boot, specifically reinforced at the front like safety boots, shattered the half-rotted zombie’s mouth and tore apart the upper part of its mouth as if ripping it off. Despite two zombies being thrown away in an instant, the remaining zombie was still greedily tearing at the body of the person underneath. Jun-sang immediately turned, grabbed the neck of the one with its head buried, lifted it, and then held its head with both hands, repeatedly striking it with his knee.

Crunch! With the sound of facial bones breaking, the zombie’s movements ceased weakly. And by the time he kicked the completely still zombie away, Sung-jin and Su-yeon arrived belatedly.

“Hah!” The zombie initially thrown by Jun-sang staggered to its feet, then froze as it was hit by an ice chunk thrown by Sung-jin from behind. Seizing the opportunity, Su-yeon swung her club and sent its head flying like a baseball. But then… for some reason, that flying head came directly towards Jun-sang. Jun-sang had been calmly observing the two’s combat when a head suddenly flew towards him. He calmly extended his fist and shattered the head.

Thwack! And then he silently glared at Su-yeon, who had thrown the head at him. Su-yeon, meeting his gaze, felt a momentary realization but quickly averted her eyes, pretending not to notice. Jun-sang glared at Su-yeon for a moment, then turned and approached the fallen person. There lay a woman, seemingly in her thirties, clad only in her underwear.

“P-plea…” The woman desperately tried to speak to Jun-sang, but unfortunately, her condition was beyond recovery. The reason was… her belly was torn open, and all her intestines had been pulled out. The zombies had been greedily feasting on her internal organs.

Jun-sang, with a heavy heart, took her hand. Although he had potions, they were useless for this kind of injury.

“Ugh! Blech!” Su-yeon, seeing the horrific scene belatedly, turned pale and began to gag. Sung-jin, though not gagging, turned his head away, not daring to look directly. The woman’s lips twitched as if she wanted to say something more, then her movements ceased. And before anyone could do anything, she slowly turned into light and vanished from their sight.

“Phew…” Even Jun-sang, who had been smashing zombies like plaster figurines, couldn’t remain nonchalant witnessing another player’s death firsthand.

“No… I hate this… I hate this now… sob…” Su-yeon collapsed and began to cry, while Sung-jin bit his lip and merely looked up at the dark sky. The three of them didn’t know it, but the woman who had just been sacrificed had consumed a large amount of sleeping pills to overcome the mental fatigue she had experienced during the tutorial. As a result, she had suffered a terrible fate without even realizing she had been transported, let alone receiving any messages.

“Phew…” Although he didn’t know the intricate details, Jun-sang once again realized how dangerous his situation was. The time from message arrival to transfer was 10 seconds. There was no way to refuse an incoming quest, and the transfer would occur without fail, regardless of what he was doing. Whether he was eating, bathing, using the restroom, sleeping, or even making love with a partner… this cruel quest would occur without fail 10 seconds after the message arrived.

This meant, in other words, that he could never return to a normal daily life again.

“…” Jun-sang slowly stood up. He approached the fallen zombies and rummaged through their heads. Su-yeon saw Jun-sang and shouted,

“You bastard! Someone just died!” Jun-sang turned to her and replied, “So?” Su-yeon knew it too. That Jun-sang was the first one to rush like the wind when they heard the scream. But seeing him calmly digging through the zombies’ heads even after someone had just died in front of them, an inexplicable anger welled up inside her. No… to be precise, it was more accurate to say that an unknown rage surged within her, and Jun-sang’s actions happened to catch her eye at that moment.

“Sung-jin, let’s go.” “What?” Sung-jin was startled by Su-yeon suddenly getting up and walking away, but then he gave Jun-sang a bitter smile, bowed his head, and followed her.

“…” Jun-sang silently watched the two disappear from sight, then quietly spoke.

“Open Crimson Wolf.” Just then, a blood-red wolf appeared before Jun-sang. Jun-sang held the rags from the zombies to the wolf’s nose and commanded, “Find them. Leave none behind.” He too needed an outlet for the anger surging within him, and zombies were the perfect targets.

The Crimson Wolf sniffed the rags and immediately began to run, and Jun-sang, running behind it, soon encountered a group of zombies.

“Hyaah!” Jun-sang punched the lead zombie’s head. And as his fist, which landed squarely on the zombie’s philtrum, was slammed into the ground as if he were trying to drive it in, the zombie fell to the ground like a rotten log, its neck breaking and its skull crushing.

-Grrraaaah! Only then did one of the ambushed zombies turn towards Jun-sang, who was kneeling, but it couldn’t withstand the massive charge of the red wolf that leaped over Jun-sang’s head and tumbled over. Jun-sang immediately tucked his arms to his sides, stood up, and charged towards the zombies. The zombies swung their arms, trying to grab him, but at that very moment, Jun-sang’s body seemed to sway left and right, then suddenly dipped down, disappearing from the zombies’ sight. He had once again used the duck weave he employed when counterattacking Su-yeon’s attack.

This technique was what Jun-sang had dedicated himself to mastering most during the past month. Strangely, every card he drew seemed to be offense-oriented, and the Berserker combo even came with an option to unequip armor upon use. So, the evasion technique he was now using was what he had come up with. Weaving, which involves swaying the upper body in a U-shape around the waist to avoid enemy attacks. Ducking, which involves lowering the body by suddenly bending the knees. And the duck weave, which combines these two. Especially Jun-sang’s duck weave, executed with a powerful charge based on strong musculature, felt so threatening to the recipient that it seemed like he was instantly using a form of shapeshifting. Mastering such a technique in just a month was already far beyond the common sense of ordinary people. Perhaps it was a miracle brought about by his absurd regeneration ability and Jun-sang’s perseverance.

When this astonishing evasion technique, which even a kendo black belt like Su-yeon couldn’t prepare for, unfolded, the zombies, whose reactions were naturally slow, were simply helpless.

Thwack! Thwack! One zombie staggered, struck by Jun-sang’s two-hit combo, which seemed to appear like an illusion. After the two-hit combo, Jun-sang immediately stomped on its foot to immobilize it, then delivered a powerful hook to the zombie’s head, as if wielding a massive hammer. As this blow directly struck its temple, the zombie’s head burst open like a watermelon. As he shattered one zombie, another zombie rushed towards him with a roar, flailing its arms. Jun-sang quickly ducked and leaned far back. And as the zombie’s arm grazed his face, he lunged into the zombie’s embrace like a rebounding spring, unleashing a two-hit combo, whose cooldown had reset.

Thwack! Perhaps it was due to the momentum of its charge? The zombie’s neck snapped backward, and it fell forward weakly. After quickly dispatching three zombies, Jun-sang approached the last zombie, which was being dragged by the wolf gripping its neck, and stomped on its head with his military boot, ending the battle.

“Phew…” Nothing came out of the zombies’ heads this time either. But as Jun-sang turned to leave, he saw a glimmering metallic piece. Curious, he approached and picked it up.

“A coin?” It was stained with bodily fluids, possibly from the zombies, but by its color, it was a gold coin. Was it travel money for the afterlife? He wasn’t sure about the purity, but it felt substantial enough to be worth at least one 돈 (don – a unit of gold weight in Korea).