Bang, bang —!
I pounded hard against the invisible transparent barrier stretched across the red boundary line. It bounced my hand back over and over, as though there were an impossibly thick glass wall there.
After beating against it for a good while, I looked down at my stinging hand. My hand had gone red for nothing.
I was furious.
Being thrown out onto the street without warning wasn’t enough — now I was locked up and couldn’t even leave the zone. Who could possibly take that in stride?
But whether it was because of that damned Trait: Mental Stability, the rage that had surged all the way up to my throat quickly subsided.
There has to be some way out.
I had already broken free of the Special Supply Station, with all its countless restrictions, and I didn’t have to be dragged around by quests the way Players were. I had plenty of time, so I’d just have to look for a way to leave the zone step by step.
For now, let’s try moving along the boundary line.
Maybe there was something like a gap somewhere that I could slip through too, right?
…Yeah, no.
How is it sealed off this completely?
I walked along the boundary line well into the evening and still couldn’t find a single opening.
Originally I had intended to check the entire boundary line, but I was now too exhausted to even consider it.
“Haah…”
I turned my back to the boundary line and sank down right where I stood. My legs were trembling too much to walk any further.
I pulled out yet another bottle of water — I’d lost count of how many it was — and gulped it down as I looked up at the sky.
The red glow of the sunset beyond the overcast sky had already nearly faded. It looked like it would be pitch dark within minutes.
This time I scanned my surroundings. Most of the buildings were destroyed, but surprisingly, some of the smaller shops and low-rise buildings among them looked relatively intact.
The sun’s gone down, so it’s better to rest well than to push myself.
I took a good long drink, got to my feet, and headed into the shopping complex visible ahead of me.
Looking along the large and small shops lining both sides, I spotted a building that seemed quite promising.
There was a furniture store here, of all things.
The sign was old and completely unmaintained, but the words ‘Furniture Outlet Discount Store’ were still legible enough.
At a glance, while all the glass windows near the entrance were broken, the rest of it had no windows to speak of — likely because of its warehouse-style structure. If I picked the right spot, it seemed like it could easily block out the chill of the night.
More than anything, there’ll be beds.
Maybe it was because I’d been living in a bed, half by force, for two years — but out of sheer habit, I wanted to sleep somewhere soft. In that sense, the existence of a furniture store was quite appealing.
Pant, pant —
The moment I stopped in front of the furniture store, I heard the heavy breathing of some kind of animal.
I turned toward the sound, and there were three large wolves — appearing from who knew where — staring at me with their tongues hanging out. The way they awkwardly wagged their tails looked uncannily like dogs happy to see their owner.
I gave a small wave, and the wolves came closer and bounced around me adorably. One of them led the way into the building I had been heading into, looking back repeatedly as if urging me to follow.
Is this their hideout?
I had a feeling it might be, and sure enough, the spacious furniture store had several more wolves spread out inside. The wolves that had been prowling around the interior perked their ears up and came charging toward me, which was honestly quite alarming.
They rose up on their hind legs as if tiptoeing and grabbed at me with their front paws from all directions. Then, panting eagerly like they were thrilled to see me, they tried to lick my face.
“Wait, wait. No licking!”
I desperately shielded my face and pushed them back.
“That’s enough — everyone, sit!”
I raised my voice slightly and glared.
The wolves flinched and tilted their heads in unison.
When I told them again to sit, one of them awkwardly lowered its hindquarters. Whether it actually understood or just happened to do it by chance, I had no idea — but since it had properly sat down, I gave its head a vigorous pat.
At that, the rest of the wolves settled down around me too, their eyes shining. I made sure to pet every single one of them without exception, and while I did, I lifted my head and slowly looked around the interior of the store.
There are some decent pieces of furniture too.
I had been worried since the wolves had claimed the place, but here and there I could see furniture and beds that looked to be in reasonably good condition.
It wouldn’t be bad to stay here for a while.
As long as I could somehow manage the wolves’ flying fur and the dust, it seemed like it could be a fairly comfortable place to rest.
While I was eyeing the beds and picking out which one I’d use, the last sliver of sunset light slipping in through the broken windows disappeared entirely.
It felt too dark, so I reached for the flashlight I had prepared in advance — but just then…
Grrrr!
Awoooo!
Owooooo —!
One by one, they started howling.
There’s no moon to see from inside a building — what’s gotten into them?
Ears ringing, I hunched my shoulders and switched on the flashlight.
“What in the…?”
In that short span of time, every wolf around me had transformed into something entirely different.
< Werewolf Lv. 32 >
These things weren’t wolves at all — they were werewolves.
The moment the sun had fully set, they had become muscular werewolves standing nearly two and a half meters tall, and they were now gazing steadily down at me. Even without the flashlight pointed directly at them, their golden eyes gleamed in the dark — the kind of thing that, if I had come across it without knowing what I was dealing with, even I might have screamed.
Fortunately, even having fully transformed into werewolves, their inner nature was more or less the same. The awkward tail-wagging that imitated a dog’s was still there, and so was the dopey open-mouthed panting.
One of them was standing behind me, kneading my shoulders with its front paws as if trying to give me a massage. The makeshift carrier with the Pet Egg in it made its posture look quite awkward.
Hm? Front paws?
I grabbed the hand of the werewolf massaging my shoulder and shone the flashlight on it. It still had the general shape of a wolf’s front paw, but it also looked something like a thick human hand. It seemed sturdy enough to grip and swing a club or weapon with full force.
In that case, could it also lift and move broken furniture and other debris with both hands easily enough?
I looked at the werewolves tilting their heads at me and grinned.
“You lot are going to have to help me out.”
There were plenty of useful workers right here, weren’t there?
***
“What?! Iseul’s team still hasn’t come back?!”
A small group that had made their base in a building near the Zone 2 boundary line. Its leader, Kim Seokju, wore an expression of dismay at the news that Jeong Iseul’s team had yet to return.
The team made up of four capable fighters, including Jeong Iseul, had also been in charge of securing food for the day.
“What do we do? The werewolves will already be swarming the roads by now.”
The man in the disheveled clothes who had finished making his report shuffled his feet anxiously and looked out the window. Through the visibly grimy, long-unclean window, a pitch-black night sky was visible.
Werewolves of level 30 and above were densely stationed throughout the area.
Even so, the reason Kim Seokju’s group had made this place their base was because of the werewolves’ traits.
While the sun was up, a werewolf’s level was cut in half, reducing them to nothing more than slightly ferocious wolves. At that level, even the members of Kim Seokju’s group could manage. That was why they had decided settling here was better than moving somewhere else crawling with more dangerous monsters.
Under the leader’s direction, they organized a team every three days to go out and gather food — but today’s assigned team, Jeong Iseul’s, had gone silent.
The food remaining in the base was enough for only a single day.
The people gathered here weren’t particularly strong fighters, so they didn’t have many Coins either. They had scraped together every last one and handed them to Jeong Iseul’s team — and if that team had been taken down by monsters on the way back?
No. Or maybe they took the Coins and ran…
The creeping anxiety quickly began spinning out all sorts of negative hypotheses.
But Kim Seokju shook his head.
No. Knowing Iseul’s personality, she’d sooner hunt down any traitor and beat them senseless than betray anyone herself.
The others he couldn’t vouch for, but Jeong Iseul — the most capable member of this group — was someone he could trust.
Having made that judgment, Kim Seokju hooked his two favorite hand axes onto his belt and spoke to the man.
“I’ll go look for them, so keep the others calm and stop them from panicking while I’m gone.”
“What? Alone? Are you out of your mind?!”
The man shook his head in alarm, but Kim Seokju’s resolute expression didn’t waver.
“Visibility’s already poor, and bringing a bunch of people would just make them harder to manage. It’s better for me to go alone — at least I have a stealth skill.”
“But…!”
The man who had tried to argue further soon fell silent.
Just as Kim Seokju said, among those currently left behind, there was no one who would be of any real help. It was obvious that anyone he took along would only slow him down.
In the end, the man had no choice but to watch in silence as Kim Seokju stepped out of the base alone.
Before long, Kim Seokju activated his stealth skill and ran quickly toward the shopping complex not far from there. That area was the route Jeong Iseul’s team would use to return, and also a path they had to pass through without fail when traveling between the supply station that sold food and the base.
Something’s off.
As Kim Seokju entered the shopping complex, he looked back the way he had come.
On the entire way here, he hadn’t seen a single werewolf that should have been prowling the area. He had no idea what to make of it.
There was something else strange too.
Then why are there so many over here?
Having entered the shopping complex, Kim Seokju noticed that the further in he went, the more werewolves there were roaming around.
Werewolves typically had a habit of prowling indoors during the day and out in the open at night. That was exactly why this shopping complex street had been a route they used without fail when going out to secure food — but right now, what lay before him was completely the reverse of what he was used to.
The point where the number of werewolves noticeably increased was around when he passed in front of one wide shop building.
Kim Seokju, holding his breath and staying concealed to avoid being spotted by the werewolves, suddenly snapped his eyes wide open.
This smell…?!
Kim Seokju found himself sniffing the air without thinking.
From somewhere came the incredibly mouthwatering scent of Omori kimchi stew.
