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The man who came up to the roof looked to be in his mid-30s, and he was cleanly shaven, making him look unbelievably neat for someone you'd meet in the apocalypse.
'He's handsome.'
He had a sharp air about him, but his dignified and sophisticated appearance made even that seem attractive, and his solid physique at a glance showed that he hadn't neglected self-care. He even looked to be well over 180cm tall.
The man was exuding alpha male energy, and he was neatly dressed, making me feel even more pathetic in my sweaty and tired state.
Suddenly, I felt bad.
『Jiwi Han』
Traits: "Leader (lv.1)" / "Consistency (lv.4)" / "Cost-Benefit Analysis (lv.3)"
Even his traits were unusual.
'Some of us start with things like "Cold-Blooded (lv.2)" and "Social Anxiety (lv.1)," but what's with this guy?'
"Cost-Benefit Analysis (lv.3)" was a bit ambiguous, but when I thought about it in conjunction with "Leader (lv.1)," it seemed positive. Weighing the pros and cons was a virtue that a leader should have.
His list of traits seemed to say that he was great not only on the outside but also on the inside.
I felt even worse.
"It's none of your business."
"This is my private residence. Shouldn't I be able to ask for the identity of someone who has trespassed without permission?"
"... ."
I snapped at him just to be difficult, but he responded with a polite tone and a logical rebuttal, as if he didn't care, and I had nothing to say. It was also because of the sharp atmosphere that made me feel like I shouldn't argue.
"If you've come in to escape the zombies, please leave as soon as it's safe. If you need a place to take refuge, I hope you'll go somewhere else."
"That's going to be difficult."
The man's atmosphere, physique, and higher-level traits made me reluctant to clash with him.
But I couldn't give up easily.
This place was also a location I'd found after searching for an hour. Furthermore, I was skeptical that I could find a place with three buildings so suitable for auto-hunting, even if I searched for another hour.
"Could you tell me why it's difficult?"
"Uh..."
I hesitated about where to start and how much to explain. I wouldn't be able to convince him of the reason for needing to catch zombies unless I revealed the "Hacking" skill.
'Is there any need to hide it?'
But when I thought about it, it seemed like an unnecessary concern.
There was no need to hide "Hacking." It was better for me to tell someone who needed help or cooperation. Someone who wanted to know their own traits, raise the level of their traits, or acquire a trait they wanted would naturally have to give me the initiative.
Thinking about it that way, I realized that the condition of having to give me the initiative, which I had only thought of as a difficult condition, might be advantageous for me.
Of course, I wasn't going to tell them everything about the skill. There was no need to tell them that I could see other people's trait lists without conditions or that I could take traits from people if I met the conditions. No one would welcome the fact that I could see through them and take their traits. It was better not to reveal features that could unnecessarily raise suspicion.
If I could hide those things well, there was no reason not to reveal "Hacking," which could make the other person willingly come under my control.
If someone hated coming under me so much that they would rather kill me, then I could think about whether to run away or kill them in return when that happened.
Perhaps it was because I had already killed three people, but it seemed that my courage had grown quite a bit, to the point where I didn't want to avoid making soy sauce because I was afraid of maggots.
"I need to catch zombies here."
"...What do you mean?"
"Hmm..."
I wondered how to explain to this man why I needed to catch zombies and how I planned to do it.
'Should I just show him?'
Then it suddenly occurred to me that seeing is believing, and it would be most effective to just show him. Even I hadn't thought that zombies were so stupid until I saw them crashing into the wall and falling, twitching at the back gate of the National Defense University.
It was easier for me to just do it and clean up afterward than to try to explain and persuade him. It's always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
"I'll show you why it has to be here first."
"Please tell me fir─"
"Aaaaaah!"
I interrupted the man and screamed at the top of my lungs. My voice echoed loudly in the quiet neighborhood.
"What are you doing?!"
Seeing the usually polite man flustered made me feel like I was relaxing a bit.
Honestly, it was reckless to call out to the zombies without any information about how many would come down from the Gangbyeon Expressway.
But with this building structure, I was confident that I wouldn't die even if hundreds of them swarmed over. I could just stay on top of the building where the zombies couldn't climb. It would take quite a long time to clean up if hundreds of them really did swarm over, though.
Anyway, that's why I just called out to the zombies.
Rumble—
"Huh?"
But just as I expected, I really heard an ominous sound coming from the Gangbyeon Expressway. It was the sound of footsteps, as if the ground was shaking.
Soon, zombies began to pour down from over the hill. Even at a glance, there seemed to be dozens of them.
"All because of one crazy bastard..."
The man sighed as he looked at the horde of zombies with a bleak expression.
I was also taken aback because I didn't expect so many zombies to come down, but I tried to act nonchalant. I felt like I would get hit with a bat if I showed that I was flustered.
"Relax. They're too stupid to climb up to the roof of this house anyway."
"Is this a time for jokes? If you want to die, die alone, why are you dragging innocent people in!"
"People? There are other people, no, let's talk about that later. Let's take care of the zombies first."
Ignoring the man who was still politely scolding me even in this situation, I immediately went downstairs.
I had learned that it was important to make the zombies aware of the path they could take to climb up while auto-hunting. Because if the stupid zombies couldn't see the path to climb up, they would try to break down the doors and windows.
When I was auto-hunting at the back gate of the National Defense University, I was comfortable because it didn't matter whether they came inside or not, but this time I was planning to lure them in myself because it seemed like there were people left in the house.
"Swish!"
As soon as I went downstairs, a zombie jumped at me.
"Die, you bastard!"
To lure the zombies and give myself encouragement, I swung the crowbar at the charging zombie. The crowbar, which I had become familiar with after using it for a few days, naturally struck the top of the charging zombie's head.
Without even having time to check whether the zombie was dead or alive, I immediately went up the external stairs. Because the zombies that had come down from the Gangbyeon Expressway had heard my shout and were swarming up the stairs.
But the zombies that had swarmed to the entrance of the stairs were causing a bottleneck among themselves because they were pushing each other to get in first.
Clang clang—
Seeing that, I stopped halfway up the stairs and banged on the stair railing with the crowbar to attract more aggro.
"Come on in!"
I used the terrain to my advantage and smashed the heads of the zombies that broke through the crowd one by one. Fighting zombies on the stairs, where only one could come up at a time, was easier than fighting zombies in front of the office building.
But no matter how easy it was to deal with them, there were far more zombies pushing in from behind than zombies I was killing, so I couldn't help but be pushed back little by little.
When it seemed like I had gathered enough zombies, I finished smashing the head of the zombie in the lead and immediately turned around and went up to the roof.
"Shriek!"
"Shrieeek!"
The zombies shrieked as if to say, "Don't let that guy get away!" There were so many of them that the sound was quite intimidating.
But I was the one who had broken through countless zombies at the back gate of the National Defense University. My courage had grown to the point where I could ignore the sound of the zombies barking from below the stairs.
When I went up to the roof, I saw the man looking at me with incomprehensible eyes.
"Why in the world are you doing this..."
"Well, I've already done it. Just wait a bit. I'll show you what I'm trying to do."
I glanced down the stairs and replied. Then, just as a zombie was about to climb up to the roof, I quickly ran across the roof and over to the middle building where the man was.
As expected, the zombies also jumped after me and crashed into the wall of the man's house and fell to the ground. The zombies that followed did the same.
Fortunately, there were no zombies with traits that increased physical abilities, so no zombies followed me over.
"See? I told you they're too stupid to come over."
"...Haa."
I heard the man finally sighing in relief after seeing the zombies crashing their heads into the wall and falling down one after another.
"Why are you going to such lengths? It won't change anything if you kill a few more zombies like this."
"It's not over yet, so let's talk after I'm done."
I went back to the empty roof since they were all crashed down below the building.
Clang clang—
"You stupid bastards! It's over here!"
And I banged on the stair railing again to gather the zombies that were milling around.
"Shriek!"
"Shrieeet!"
The zombies immediately responded to my aggro and ran towards the stairs. There were so many of them that it was hard to believe that I had just crashed a bunch of zombies to the ground. Zombies were coming down from the Gangbyeon Expressway in real-time, chasing after the zombies in front.
"Wow, there are really a lot."
I smiled slightly as I looked at the point masses that were tightly packed together at the entrance of the stairs, fighting to get in first.
I was so glad that I didn't give up this honey hunting ground.
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