Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Aracelli woke up only after two days had passed. Since Yoo Seodam was always with her, it could be said that the two were sleeping side by side for two days.
“Euugghh…….”
Aracelli struggled to open her heavy eyes as she struggled from severe headache. She found this simple task to be harder than the time when she worked day and night to figure out the fourth law of Magic Mechanics.
“Are you awake?”
“…..Professor.”
Yoo Seodam squatted down and held out a plate. It was a plate of warm soup. As soon as Aracelli saw his face, she woke up and hurriedly asked.
“Are you okay now?”
“That’s my line! Is your body okay now? And.. Why are you giving your mana to other people when you can’t even breathe without it?”
“I’m okay!!”
After receiving the bowl from Yoo Seodam, Aracelli realized that she was wearing a strange outfit. The blood that covered her body has been cleaned and she was even wearing clean underwear.
Yoo Seodam smiled awkwardly and said.
“There was a risk of contamination, so I cleaned it up a bit…. Moreover, you’ll feel cold if I leave you alone.”
“Ah….”
Her face was burning hot. She had never shown her body to any man in her entire life. But soon after realizing that the other person was Yoo Seodam, she smiled.
“I guess it’s okay.”
“Re…ally?”
“Yeah! Because it’s Professor.”
Does their relationship have anything to do with this? As Yoo Seodam pondered over her answer, Aracelli started drinking the soup. She had a hard time finding proper food after arriving in this world, so the soup was like a divine gift for her. She ate it slowly while savoring it.
After confirming that Aracelli had started eating her meal, Yoo Seodam walked slowly towards the railing.
Aracelli had brought his body and settled on the top floors of a tall building for safety reasons. it was a pretty wise decision, and for two days, Yoo Seodam didn’t move from their dwelling.
*Rain sfx*
Heavy rain poured down from the sky.
Yoo Seodam leaned on the railing and looked at the world.
?I Alone Have A Shop Window In A Destroyed World?
#Apocalypse #Survival #Awakener
#Cider_Oriented #Shop_Window
It was a dead world.
The gray high-rise buildings which were similar to the buildings on earth were extremely desolate. Torn signs and leaflets were soaked in the rainwater lying on the ground. The words ‘The end of the world has come!’ was scribbled in red spray and had faded, but the despair contained in it was vividly conveyed.
Yoo Seodam initially thought this world was a perished Earth. But, fortunately, the system told him that this place was another world with a similar level of science, technology and civilization with Earth.
[Your current lifespan: 1978 Days, 6 Hours, 49 Minutes]
His lifespan had decreased drastically due to Bang Ho-win’s hunt. It could be said that he still had plenty of lifespan, but the amount was not enough to return to Earth.
[‘The Desolate City, Cartan’ world where level 201 protagonist ‘Kim Ha-soo’ resides,]
In other words, in order to return, Yoo Seodam had to find and hunt the protagonist, Kim Ha-soo.
“Professor.”
While Yoo Seodam was staring blankly at the destroyed city, Aracelli approached him and grabbed his sleeve.
“Have you finished your food?”
“Yes. By the way, where did you get the food?”
“I always carry it in a place similar to a subspace.”
“….You can use subspace in another world?”
“You can’t?”
“I can’t even come with clothes. The only thing I could carry is the bullet Professor gave me….”
Aracelli said so as she fiddled with the bullet in her neck.
Somehow Yoo Seodam felt guilty about it. He never thought that Aracelli would keep the bullet he threw at her at their farewell.
“It’s not even an expensive or a good bullet, Shall I change it to something better?”
“No!”
Aracelli cut Yoo Seodam’s words off unknowingly, and because she was embarrassed, she immediately said.
“Well,…I like this one. It’s the first gift Professor gave me.”
“Is that so? Okay then.”
After that, when Yoo Seodam fell silent, Aracelli stood right beside him. It was her first time in a world with an earth-like civilization. As she stared at the pouring rain, Yoo Seodam pointed to a building in the distance with his finger.
“Can you see that?”
“….Ah.”
At the place where Yoo Seodam pointed, Aracelli could see a huge monster. There was no other word to call it except ‘monster’.
At first glance, It looked like a giant earthworm. However, its body was made of a liquid-like substance. Moreover, its distinctive trait was that it has a human face. It was incredibly scary.
“Just what is that…….”
The humanoid-faced monster had enormous, out of proportion eyes. And, it was staring at the place where Aracelli and Yoo Seodam stood.
“Don’t worry. That guy can’t see.”
“Sorry? How do you know that, Professor? Have you ever seen that before?”
“No, it’s my first time seeing it.”
Just because Yoo Seodam was a veteran hunter, doesn’t mean that he knew all kinds of monsters. Moreover, it was impossible to know all monsters from different worlds. However, since he had fought numerous monsters his entire life, he was able to discern their characteristics to some extent with their appearances alone.
“From its eyes, I could guess that that monster was a kind of monster that lived in the dark. You could say that those eyes were kind of a failed evolution, because for monsters who lived in the dark, evolved hearing are more suitable for survival. That monster is an entity that escaped from the darkness after failing to evolve.”
“Then how does it know that we are here…….”
“From vibration.”
“…Is that even possible?”
Aracelli questioned. The monster that she saw was sitting on the rooftop of a building at least 5km away. Through vibration? In this rainy weather?
“Monsters are like that. Anyway, we have to move out from this place today. Because, yesterday, that guy was farther away. But, little by little, he’s moving towards us.”
Yoo Seodam estimated the rank of that monster was at least S-rank. In other words, this place was so dangerous that an S-rank monster was kicked out of the survival race and came out to the city centre.
As Yoo Seodam turned around and sorted out his luggage, a question crossed his mind.
‘If Earth somehow lost the war against monsters….’
wouldn’t Earth become like this too?
It was a useless question.
* * *
“There will be other survivors.”
As Yoo Seodam had expected, the streets of the city were full of monsters.
Both Yoo Seodam and Aracelli wore poncho to shield them from the rain as they carefully roamed around while having conversation. Even though the rain was so severe, they didn’t have any difficulty in conversing because of their superhuman hearing.
“How do you know that?”
“I looked around and found out that all the food was stolen. It was proof that the survivors struggled for a while to survive even after the war was over. Time seems to have passed quite a bit… If they are alive, the survivors would have formed a group.”
“Ah!!!”
Aracelli’s expression brightened at the word ‘group’, but Yoo Seodam couldn’t be relieved.
Groups in the apocalyptic world were highly likely to become a kingdom of disorder that did not attach much significance to order and deviated from normal laws. In other words, the possibility that the group was nothing but a criminal gang couldn’t be ruled out.
Those with strength become rulers, and those with food become law. Rather than monsters, those groups could be more dangerous. Of course, that didn’t mean that the monsters weren’t dangerous.
Swoosh!
Aracelli’s eyes were opened wide as she saw Yoo Seodam cut off the neck of a wolf-like monster, which had been running towards them silently with a sword.
‘So it turns out that Professor wasn’t a wizard.’
Aracelli admired him because she thought that he’s a professor of Magical Science, but it turns out that he’s not a wizard. However, he still deserves to be called ‘Professor’ one way or another, and she didn’t have any intention to stop calling him Professor anytime soon.
‘Because Professor is Professor.’
Aracelli thought so, and closely followed behind Yoo Seodam.
“It is the entrance to the subway station.”
“Subway? Is it similar to magic railway?”
Was it called that in Vivienda Empire? Yoo Seodam’s memory was vague since it had been a few years since he had left that place. Nonetheless, he still nodded.
As Yoo Seodam carefully entered the station while looking at the sign that was different from Earth but written in a similar language, several monsters turned their gaze towards him. But before they could even run towards him, a hole carved in the head of the monsters by the silencer-equipped Winchester.
Afterwards, Yoo Seodam beckoned to Aracelli to follow him after he checked the safety of the station.
Currently, the amount of mana inside her body was about 5%. It was tricky to properly fill her mana in this place because the amount of natural mana here was lower than Earth. Because of this Yoo Seodam decided to fight while keeping her behind.
She takes off her poncho and moves along the path. Aracelli frowned at the sight of monster corpses which died with their corpses deformed and ruptured.
“You are incredible…. How did you kill those things with just one shot?”
“Because I hit them on the head.” (T/N No shit Sherlock.)
Yoo Seodam readied his Winchester and then asked Aracelli.
“Have you ever encountered monsters like this?”
“Well, there were very few monsters like this back in my hometown. The ones I fought against was the demon army… They were devils that were much smarter than humans, so they bothered us in a more vicious way.”
Aracelli used her brain to beat the devil and became a hero of the world by killing all demonic hordes in her world.
“Even when I travel to other worlds…. I always avoid monsters. Even if I meet them occasionally, I pour out my mana to kill them.”
Aracelli was not a battle wizard. Rather, she was closer to an outstanding scholar. She was only able to exert powerful strength in battle because she is a 9th Circle Magician.
She practiced self-defense to some extent for dealing with people, but she couldn’t deal with monsters using only that. If Aracelli, who had little to no experience in dealing with monsters and is only able to beat her opponents due her overwhelming mana, lacks mana, she would become completely defenseless.
“By the way, Professor, why are you going underground like this?”
“I’m searching for possible survivors. I have to find someone.”
“…Who is it? Are you referring to those who absorb all the ‘Blessings of The World’?”
(T/N quick reminder, ‘Blessing of the world’ is Aracelli’s way of addressing ‘Probability’)
At her words, Yoo Seodam turned his head and stared at her eyes. At first glance, her blue eyes, which are as clear as the sky, seems innocent. However, they contained deep wisdom underneath them.
“You are right.”
Yoo Seodam replied briefly, and Aracelli did not inquire further.
They walked the subway for a long time while silently removing the monster. And at some point, they found junk blocking their way in the distance.
Aracelli told Yoo Seodam that it was a dead end, but Yoo Seodam raised his arms and told her.
“Pretend to surrender for now.”
“Yes.”
Shortly thereafter, someone shouted from a distance.
“Who are you! Identify yourself!”
The man shouted through a very small gap between the door of the collapsed train, which was filled with various junks. Perhaps it was a barricade to prevent monsters.
“We are humans. A wanderer who was passing by and came here because we wanted food.”
Of course, there was still plenty of food in the inventory, but Yoo Seodam lied as a part of the act. It’s because he didn’t think they would answer honestly if he said ‘Let me ask you for direction.’
“We have nothing to do with you! So fuck o.. No, wait. Come closer. Quickly!”
“Which one I should believe?”
“If you don’t want a bullet piercing your head, you’d better do what I told you to.”
It was ridiculous because both Yoo Seodam and Aracelli’s physical durability was not so weak that they could easily penetrate by a bullet. And if they wanted to, it was possible for both of them to bounce off a bullet that was being shot at them.
As Yoo Seodam and Aracelli approached, the lights ignited and lit their faces. It was then that Aracelli realized that there were lots of men beyond the barricade.
‘What is that? Did I see it wrong? They are such great merchandise. I’ve never seen anything like them before.’
‘How can such a thing still remain in the wild these days….’
‘We have to catch them unconditionally. Hopefully, we’ll get a bonus from the boss.’
‘Let’s get it in quickly!’
They joked quietly among themselves, and before long the one from before shouted again towards Yoo Seodam and Aracelli while pointing his gun towards them.
“Come in!”
The door of the collapsed train slid open with a noise. Upon entering there, Yoo Seodam could see there were four men armed with firearms that did not exist on Earth. However, as soon as Yoo Seodam saw the guns, he recognized the characteristic features of their guns.
Is it using a 5.56mm bullet? The gun is at the level of the Earth in the late 20th century to the early 21st century.’
After that, Yoo Seodam scattered a bit of mana to the air and confirmed the strength of the men around him. One of the four men had a D-rank level of ‘ether’. In other words, it means that this world has the same superpowers system as Earth.
‘I guess that awakener or whatever tag refers to this.’
Yoo Seodam assumed that the D-rank awakener was the leader among the four, and he approached Yoo Seodam with his gun muzzle facing towards him. No, he kept his gaze fixed towards Aracelli.
“Food trade. You must have known what we want for the trade, don’t you?”
“Who knows?”
“Everything we want!”
Then he laughed as he pointed his gun at Aracelli. His laugh and expression were both unpleasant.
“Women are a good currency. The younger and prettier they are, the higher their value will be. I don’t think I would be able to find such a fine merchandise anymore. Anyway, congratulations. If you trade her to us, you will at least not starve. I don’t know if you will like the ‘food’ though.”
At the words of the man, Yoo Seodam’s brows scrunched. It was evidence that he couldn’t manage his facial expressions, but those who did not recognize the signs of danger slowly flocked towards Aracelli.
“Professor…..”
Aracelli called him. It wasn’t because she was terrified. Rather, it was as if her cold eyes were asking, ‘Can I scare this bastard a little?’.
Yoo Seodam sighed. He contemplated what he should tell Aracelli. But before he even gave an okay sign, the men did it on their own.
“Wow, little girl. Don’t be scared. Before taking you to the boss, we will do a quality check-“
He suddenly stopped talking, no, he couldn’t speak any more.
Swoosh!
Because his tongue has been plucked off.
“Uh…uhh?”
Knowing that his tongue had been plucked off, the man retreated as he tried to stop the blood from his tongue. Then, belatedly, she realizes that the girl in front of him, who looked like she had never held a knife in her entire life, was holding his tongue in her finger and smiling coldly.
“Wha..what the hell…!”
The other guys screamed as they quickly aimed their gun and tried to fire, but there was only the clicking sounds from their gun. When they hurriedly looked at their guns, they realized that all the bullets had been removed.
‘What? Where??’
They turned their heads and saw Yoo Seodam, who looked like a pushover because he wasn’t even armed, was holding three magazines in his hand.
“As expected, this magazine is also the same as the one from the world I lived in.”
When? How? They didn’t have time to think about it.
It was because a dull, unpleasant sound echoed through the subway. Their limbs couldn’t function anymore. Yoo Seodam then grabbed the throat of the D-rank awakener and choked him harder.
“Oh, woo-wook!!”
“Does it hurt?”
The four men had shiny, greasy faces. Yoo Seodam had encountered guys with such faces quite often on the battlefield.
In a world with little to eat, there was only one thing a greasy face meant.
‘Cannibals.’
In fact, there was no reason to touch a cannibal unless they hurt you. They must have been turned like this in order to survive in this destroyed world.
However, the problem was that they tried to touch Aracelli.
‘I was going to quietly get information about Kim Ha-soo so I could return…’
Yoo Seodam squatted down and tapped their wriggling cheeks before saying,
“From now on, you will crawl and guide me to your boss. Then who knows? Maybe I’ll let you live.”
Nod!
The D-rank awakener desperately nodded his head up and down while muttered towards himself.
‘Unlike us, Boss has real superpowers… The moment we go there, they are all dead!’
Then, 30 minutes passed.
The boss of the subway survivor group also crawled around on all fours in front of Yoo Seodam.