I Became The Necromancer In The Post-Apocalyptic Zombie World

Chapter 21

—–CROW—– 

The next morning, I left the department store and headed for the warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The journey there felt like unwrapping a Christmas present.  Not that I’d ever received a Christmas present.

‘I wonder how they’re doing.’

Surely they weren’t dead?  It was a possibility.  They could have given up on life and offered their arms to the zombies, having the misfortune of being caught by *me*.  If that were the case, it would be a shame, but I’d have to be content with throwing their corpses to the dormitory guys later.

*Screech.*

The van came to a halt, its tires crunching on the sand-covered ground near the construction site. Honestly, I wanted to send a pigeon to check the situation inside, but that wouldn’t be much fun, so I came in person.  Of course, there were no survivors around here. I had made sure of that by scouting with pigeons before locking them up in this place.

‘Oh, right, that gamer girl…’

Come to think of it, there *was* one. That rich, shut-in girl lived a little further out, though not too close.  But she wasn’t close enough to be a concern.

*Creeeak…*

The metal door of the long-closed warehouse creaked open.  Seeing that the door was still locked and the garage on the other side was also locked, I figured the only ones inside were still those two.

“Hello~.  Did you two have a good time?”

I approached them, waving cheerfully with a joyful heart.  In the beam of my flashlight, I saw them huddled in a corner of the container.  They must have been asleep because they slowly raised their heads at the sound of my voice and the light.

“M-Mister Seo-ho…!!”

Private Kim Seok-ho called out to me in a raspy voice, running over and kneeling.

“You didn’t abandon us…! Thank you!  Thank you so much!”

‘He’s half out of his mind.’

His eyes were crazed.  Well, I would be too, if I were him. Surrounded by zombies trying to eat him, trapped without light, water, or food, waiting for an indefinite confinement. He must have almost given up hope, only to find me, his sole savior.  Corporal Sung Ho-soo seemed to be in a similar state, crawling towards me with tears streaming down his face.

“I’m sorry, I was wrong…. Please forgive me just this once. Please have mercy…”

Ho-soo, seemingly drained of all energy, prostrated himself before me, pleading.  It seemed he had realized something after I left and he argued with his subordinate.  Or rather, being trapped here for two days probably drove the point home.

“Hmm…. What should I do…”

I squatted in front of them, feigning contemplation, my hand on my chin. The two tear-stained men started speaking desperately.

“Please! Please just let us live! Then we’ll do anything you ask, Mister Seo-ho!”

“I’ll really do anything! If you tell me to go and bring you the head of the company commander! No, that bastard Kang Hae-seok, I’ll bring it to you right away!”

Their eyes were earnest.  They truly wanted to live.  I knew that look well. Because I had worn it myself.

“But you guys wouldn’t let me live even when I begged.”

My cold gaze swept over them, and their desperate faces hardened with despair.

“Besides, if you’re going to make a deal, you have to do it right. …Do you really think I need to ask *you* to take down Kang Hae-seok?”

Of course, at the moment, all I had was the ability to control pigeons, but even so, I was a necromancer, invincible to zombies.  Even if it took time, I had plenty of ways to deal with him in my current state.  More than anything, my grudge wasn’t only against Hae-seok.  These two had also done quite a number on me when I was starving.

“Then, …then are we just going to die here?”

Seok-ho’s trembling voice asked the question he had been avoiding. He must have been trying to deny it, but now, he had to face the truth.  I smiled gently at my pitiful junior’s tearful question.

“Of course not.”

My smile made their eyes flicker with uncertainty.  I knew that look too.  The look of someone grasping at a sliver of hope, just like when they were told in front of the department store that they would be spared if they brought back food.  I grinned and tossed a bag in front of them.

“Th-This is!”

The two men’s eyes widened as they checked the contents, their hands trembling.  It was food. Enough food and drinks to last them several more days if they rationed it.

“There’s only one person I want dead.”

As their starving eyes fixated on the food, I threw out a tempting offer.  The two men looked at me, their eyes filled with the will to live.

. . .

A day passed.

“You son of a bitch!!!”

*Wham, bam.*

Seok-ho’s fist landed sharply on Ho-soo’s face, sending a spray of blood and saliva flying across the container.

“Ooh~ Seok-ho, you’re doing great!”

After handing them the food, I had given them one condition.

“Eat all of this by today. If there’s any left when I come back tomorrow, I’ll kill you both.”

The food was meant to give them a full day’s worth of energy to recover their strength.  It wouldn’t be fun if they were too weak from hunger to put up a good fight. Of course, I wasn’t sure how much they would recover after a day’s worth of food following days of starvation, but…

“Wow, you’ve regained a lot of energy in just one day, haven’t you?”

When I visited them the next day, they were looking at me with tense faces, seemingly resolute.  They still didn’t know what I was going to ask them to do. But they probably had a rough idea.  They had heard that there was only one person I wanted dead.

“From now on, you two fight until one of you can’t fight anymore.  I’ll let the winner out.”

That was the condition I had set.  And the quick-witted Seok-ho immediately launched a kick.  He didn’t hesitate for a moment after hearing my words, kicking Corporal Sung Ho-soo in the head.

‘As expected, he has a stronger will to live.’

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be easy to beat someone you’d lived and relied on to the point of unconsciousness, just to survive.  But if they didn’t, they would die.  Starting with Seok-ho’s kick, the dogfight began.

“Ho-soo! Don’t you want to live? If you want to die, just keep getting hit~!”

I watched their fight, enjoying chips and cola I had brought from the department store.

“You motherfucker!!!”

Finally snapping out of it, Ho-soo glared at Seok-ho with feral eyes and lunged at him.  He climbed on top of Seok-ho and started beating him with the intent to kill.

“Hey, don’t kill him! If you kill him, I’ll kill *you*!”

Of course, killing wasn’t allowed.  If one of them died in the fight, I didn’t know if it would count as clearing the quest. That’s why the condition I set was to fight until one was incapacitated.

“Looks like they can’t hear me.”

It seemed the two, having abandoned reason for the sake of survival, couldn’t hear me.  If one of them passed out, I’d have to fire a shot at the ceiling to stop them.

‘Watching a fight is the best entertainment.’

I munched on my chips, enjoying the two men’s desperate struggle for survival.  I had considered various ways to torment them.  For example, I thought about pulling the teeth out of a male and female zombie, tying them up with their asses exposed in front of the men, and having them play rock-paper-scissors. The winner would take the female zombie, and whoever made the zombie cum first by fucking it would be spared.

‘But that carries the risk of infection, so I’ll pass.’

Besides, watching someone fuck a male zombie would be disgusting, even for me.  In the end, I settled on a simple, brutal fight for survival.

“Die! Die! Die!”

“I said don’t kill him!”

Seok-ho, having managed to shake off Ho-soo, reversed their positions, pinning him down and raining blows on his face.  In terms of physique, Ho-soo had the advantage. Seok-ho was only a little over 170cm tall and somewhat muscular, while Ho-soo was over 180cm tall and quite heavy.

‘But the underdog comeback is what makes it so much fun.’

I had expected Ho-soo to brutally crush Seok-ho and win.  But contrary to my expectations, Seok-ho’s will to live was stronger.  He overcame the difference in physique with sheer ferocity.  Whenever he was in danger, he resorted to biting, determined to win by any means necessary.

*Rip!*

“Aaaaagh!!!”

Ho-soo cried out, clutching his shoulder as Seok-ho bit into it, as if he’d been bitten by a zombie. He looked at his subordinate with terrified eyes.  Seok-ho stared back, his eyes gleaming like a wild animal.

‘He’s lost.’

Ho-soo had already lost the battle of wills. Seok-ho had shown his willingness to kill in order to win. That was how strong his desire to live was.  Finally…

“Die, you motherfucker!!!”

*Thud, thud, thud, thud.*

Seok-ho mercilessly stomped on Ho-soo’s face as he cowered in the corner of the container.  Putting all his weight into the blows…

*Crack, crunch.*

One by one, Ho-soo’s teeth flew out.

“Hey, hey! Stop!”

*Bang!*

Seok-ho’s ferocious beating continued until I fired a shot.  Startled, he looked at me with wide, trembling eyes, gasping for breath.  Then, as if realizing what he had done, he looked at Ho-soo’s mangled face. His nose was broken, his eye socket ruptured, and most of his teeth were shattered.  But he was still breathing.  Seemingly relieved, Seok-ho quickly prostrated himself before me, his back trembling as he pleaded.

“P-Please…! Please spare me…!”

The man who had just beaten his comrade to a pulp was now trembling before me, begging for his life.  It was laughable.

“You wanted to live that badly?”

“Please spare me…!! Please! Please just let me live!!”

He seemed to have finally realized that no matter how much he struggled, his life ultimately depended on my whim. He just kept trembling and pleading with me as if praying to God.

“But you know, you were pretty scary back there.  Are you going to do that to me if I let you out?”

“Absolutely not! I swear! I’ll break my own fingers if I do! I’ll never bare my teeth at you, Mister Seo-ho, so please, just spare my life!”

He pleaded earnestly, wringing his hands.  His teary eyes, full of snot and tears, looked up at me.

“Well, alright.”

I stretched my legs and stood up, pointing the K2 rifle in my hand towards the inside of the container.

“Eek!”

Seok-ho’s face paled as he followed the barrel of the gun, and then…

*Bang!*

The sudden gunshot made him flinch and cover his face with both hands.  Naturally, I hadn’t shot Seok-ho.

“…Gah.”

Ho-soo, shot in the chest, let out a short gasp and died.  He had already been brutally beaten by Seok-ho and was on the verge of death anyway.  I just delivered the final blow for the quest.  Then, I handed two things to Seok-ho, who was looking at me with trembling eyes.

“Th-This is…”

“Use that to tie your feet, and put the blindfold on yourself. Then I’ll let you out.”

“Ah…! Th-Thank you…!! Thank you…!!”

Seok-ho looked at me with tears streaming down his face, like a devotee who had just been saved.  He quickly and eagerly began to tie his own feet.  He used tape, meticulously wrapping it around his legs to make sure it wouldn’t come loose, and finally, he put the blindfold over his eyes.

“Give me your hands.”

*Rip, rip.*

I tied his hands through the bars of the cage, completing Seok-ho’s restraints.

“Wait a moment. This will take a while.”

“Yes! I’ll wait as long as it takes!”

He could live now.  He could get out of this place.  The thought brought a smile to Seok-ho’s face, despite being bound hand and foot and blindfolded.  I then cleared out the surrounding zombies, herding them back into the room where they had been originally confined.  It took some time, but now the inside of the warehouse was clear enough for Seok-ho to move around safely.  I entered the cage and lifted him up.

“This bastard is heavy.”

“Eek! I’m sorry!”

It was just a little joke. He was lighter than I expected.  It was partly because he was naked, but probably also because he hadn’t eaten properly and had lost weight.  To think he had nearly beaten Ho-soo to death with this weight.  I realized anew that there was nothing one couldn’t do when driven by the will to survive.

I put Seok-ho in the van and headed back to the department store.

“Wh-Where are we going…?”

“Somewhere nice. Be patient.”

“Is it… the dormitory…?”

“Do you want to die?”

“So-Sorry! I’ll keep quiet.”

The reason I was taking Seok-ho to the department store, of course, wasn’t to accept him as a comrade or anything like that. I parked the van in the department store’s first-floor parking lot and took him out.  He was still somewhat heavy, but light for an adult male.  I cut the tape binding his legs with scissors.

“Walk from here.”

I put a large dog collar around his neck, and Seok-ho nodded nervously without a word.  The first-floor parking lot and the interior of the first floor were clear of zombies. I had diligently cleared them out in the few days since I brought Na-yeon here. It had been a lot of work, but I had gotten the hang of it and had moved the zombies outside.  If there were that many zombies outside, no one would dare come near anyway.

“M-Mister Seo-ho. C-Can’t you tell me where we’re going…?”

Seok-ho, gauging my mood, couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer and asked me. We were now on our way down from the first floor to the basement. I reached the basement level and silently removed his blindfold.

“Th-This is….  Eek!”

“Shut up. Don’t make a sound.  If you want to live.”

Seok-ho gasped at the sight that greeted him and simply nodded at my words.  We were now in the basement, specifically the food court.  Just like the parking lot and the first floor, I had cleaned up the basement level in my own way.  It was still full of zombies.  The difference was that a path had been created using long shelves and other objects, leading all the way to the floating crystal.  It resembled a barricade.

“Go forward.”

Without a word, Seok-ho trembled and moved forward.  He couldn’t refuse with the barrel of my rifle pressed against his back.  By now, he must have realized that something was wrong.

“M-Mister Seo-ho…!”

Reaching the crystal, Seok-ho called out to me in a frightened voice, staring at the unidentified object.

“Please…! Please spare me!”

Tears streamed down his face as he looked at me with pleading eyes, like a child.  I gave him a gentle smile and said,

“I said I’d kill one of you myself. I didn’t say I’d let *you* live.”

“……What?”

I pressed the [Yes] button on the status window in front of me.  The message displayed was:

[Enhance Crystal?]

“…Ah, …Ahh.”

Seok-ho, sensing something strange happening, let out a look of despair before… he turned into shimmering particles and was absorbed into the crystal. I immediately checked the quest window.

*Ding.*

[Survival Quest – 3

Develop Base

Enhance the crystal to strengthen the base.

The current material required for crystal growth is a living human.

Living human 1/1]

“With this, the survival quest, growth quest, and main quest are all cleared.”

With one transaction, I had gotten a virgin, taken my revenge, and enhanced the crystal.  I smiled joyfully, thinking how incredibly beneficial this all was.

‘Now, I should make a move while filling Nayeon’s womb with my seeds.’

I headed upstairs, anticipating what kind of ability I would gain this time.

—–CROW—–