The Novel’s Villain

56. Everyone lives in the same place. (1)

There were far too many zombies. They weren’t fast, but they applied pressure by coming at them from all sides. Some even fell from the top of buildings to the hordes below.

“Oh…”

It was like watching a zombie movie.

Now that he had thought about it, he realized he had never seen an actual zombie before, only skeletons.

‘Their stench is no joke.’

It was quite unsanitary.

The corpses moving with their organs dangling out of their bodies were disgusting. If this had happened in the past, Jin-woo would’ve felt nauseous, but now that he had created gigantic cockroaches, this much no longer had any effect on him.

As he admired the incoming horde briefly, the female soldier aimed her pistol at the zombies.

The other survivors she was with just passed by her and ran ahead.

“It will be difficult, but we have to go through them. For as long as we’re alive, there’s hope.”

“… Hmm?”

“Go!”

It was as if he was about to commit suicide.

In fact, he was wearing clothes that didn’t suit this situation. He was dressed in a casual suit, making him look like he wore his best attire to prepare for his death.

‘Should I follow her?’

He couldn’t feel the Emperor’s aura from her, but the hordes of undead might just be obscuring his senses. Either way, he decided to trail after her in hopes of getting more information about this world.

Jin-woo matched her pace, knowing full well this situation would end in a close call.

Entering a narrow alleyway, a large black man ahead of them growled.

“Damn it! The road’s blocked!”

“Oh, it was open when we passed by it!” A young white male shouted, clearly confused.

There were a total of three people in their group. The black man up front carried an ax, while the white male behind him carried a large backpack and a map.

Chains kept the gates locked tightly. They tried slashing and hacking their way into it but to no avail.

Jin-woo and the female soldier arrived at the scene.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s locked, damn it! This is probably the Marauders’ trap!”

Zombies came rushing from the end of the alley. The black man raised his ax, and the female soldier carefully aimed at them, preparing a final stand.

On the other hand, the white man plopped on the ground, his expression filled with despair.

Jin-woo looked at the incoming undead horde with the Magic Eye of Information.

[-] Zombie

Common zombie.

They increase their numbers by transmitting a special virus to humans. When bitten, it would infiltrate their immune system and turn them into a zombie within hours.

*[-F] Zombie Infection

They weren’t a problem for Jin-woo, but the others wouldn’t be able to stand against all of them since there were too many. Moreover, he was with commoners, not highly talented individuals.

If they were annihilated here, he wouldn’t gain any reward.

“May I help you?” Jin-woo asked casually, causing all of them to look at him.

The black man frowned.

He was a head taller than Jin-woo and was muscular. That alone told him he had great strength.

“Aren’t you the guy who just tried to commit suicide…”

“Oh, no. I was just looking around town when you guys appeared. Anyway, If I help you, you’ll have to take me with you. You do have a base, don’t you?”

The black man bit his lips. It was ridiculous, but he had no idea what to say.

As Jin-woo looked at them, waiting for their decision, the soldier began shooting the closest zombies to them.

Bang! Bang! Clank!

However, she soon ran out of bullets.

They needed to decide swiftly.

The soldier spoke first.

“Alright, alright! Just do something! Let’s buy him some time, Alex!”

“Damn it. The result will be the same no matter how I die.”

Jin-woo smiled. Pretending to go through the trash cans, he took out a plastic bottle from his subspace. He then approached the white man and went through his backpack.

“What are you doing…?”

“This should be enough.”

He grabbed a chemical-looking substance from it, mixed it with gunpowder and water from the plastic bottle in his hand, then pretended to reach into his clothes to take out a bag of black powder from his subspace.

Of course, it wasn’t anything special. It was just black salt from the Middle-World.

The white man called out to the black guy.

“Fall back, Jerry!”

“Tell me that guy’s making something useful, Alex!”

According to their conversation, the white male was Jerry, and the black male was Alex.

Alex couldn’t afford to listen to Jerry.

“Rachel! Use this!” He took a knife from his waist and tossed it at the female soldier.

Lightly catching it in the air, she thrust it into the approaching zombie.

Crack!

It pierced through its skull, causing it to drop to the floor lifelessly as Alex smashed another with his ax. They seemed quite adept at killing them, showing they had already done this a lot before.

‘I need to make this believable.’

Jin-woo held a plastic bottle mixed with chemicals and black salt in front of the door, then backed off towards Alex. Everyone’s eyes were on him.

Aww!

Using light magic, he blew up the door while ensuring it looked like the plastic bottle exploded.

The trio’s expressions blanked out.

Jin-woo patted down his dusty clothes and looked at them.

“Let’s go.” He immediately began running. Everyone followed him closely.

“You’re quite talented! Were you from the military?”

“Well, I used to be a soldier…”

He wasn’t lying. He just got discharged.

Jin-woo decided to keep a low profile while playing to the favors of everyone around him, moving earnestly only after gathering more information about the Emperor.

The zombies began to flock to the site of the explosion.

Alex frowned.

“Their numbers are rising.”

“This is better than being eaten in that alley, though,” Rachel replied.

Despite the extreme tension enveloping everyone, Jin-woo remained calm. He easily plowed through all the zombies in their path.

‘It can also infect animals, huh?’

In fact, it seemed capable of zombifying all living creatures.

Due to the heavy bag he carried, Jerry began to fall behind, ultimately enabling a zombie to grab onto his backpack.

“Ugh!”

“Jerry! Drop the bag!”

“I can’t! The medicines are all in here…!”

His bag was ripped off of him, causing his body to fall forward.

However, instead of saving himself, he ran towards the zombies and grabbed his pack with both hands.

Zombies rushed at him with their jaws wide open. In no time at all, they surrounded him.

“Jerry!”

Rachel tried to save him, but Alex grabbed her wrist, preventing her from going anywhere. Shaking his head, he knew they’d both be dead if they went to help him now.

“Go on ahead! I’ll take care of everything here and follow you! You know I’m good at running away!” Jerry shouted at both of them.

‘He has courage.’

Those lines took guts to say with conviction.

Jin-woo decided to help him.

He picked up the iron pipe that had fallen on the floor, its size just the right fit for his palm. He then used it to hit the floor, generating noise.

Bang! Bang!

The zombies heading towards Jerry turned their attention to him.

‘They’re all at the level of an average human…’

Whoops!

Jin-woo swung his weapon, causing a zombie’s head to explode.

Making his way towards Jerry, he cleared all the zombies in his path one by one. Shoving his weapon into one of their mouths, he swung it sideways.

Crisp!

With half of its face blown away, it fell to the ground. When it twitched, he stomped on its head to completely eradicate its bodily functions.

His iron pipe greeted those in front by bashing their skulls open, and he smashed those approaching him from the sides with his elbows.

“I should throw away my clothes.”

It was unfortunate. This was his favorite outfit.

They charged at him with their fangs bared, but Jin-woo barely made any effort to avoid them or their bites. Instead, he focused on reaching Jerry, who could only look up at him blankly.

Jin-woo decided to utter a line that would make him relax.

“I have no interest in men.”

Perhaps it was because of the influence of this world, but his words sounded a little cheesy.

Still, he just went along with it.

He picked up the bag on the floor.

“Let’s go.”

Jerry’s face turned pale as he stood up. There were more zombies around them now.

“Ugh, I can’t believe I’m going to die in a place like this with a man I just met… If we survive, I’ll give you a kiss.”

Boom!

Jin-woo made the head of an approaching zombie explode while looking at him.

“I’m kidding.” Jerry chuckled, avoiding his gaze.

Grinning, Jin-woo cleared the road, the sight of it causing Jerry’s jaw to drop open. Every swing he launched completely obliterated his target.

“I found them!”

“Jerry! Run!”

Alex and Rachel made their way to them, killing everything in their path as well. Noticing a zombie about to bite down on Alex’s neck, Jin-woo threw the pipe in his hand.

Wheeeeeeeew! Poseok!

It struck the zombie’s head from the side, ultimately ending its infected life. Alex could only stare at him with a bewildered expression.

Jin-woo and Jerry ran through the zombies and joined their side once more.

Jerry exhaled roughly.

“Ha… Ha… Ha… Nice to see you again.”

“Oh, Jerry… I’m amazed you can still joke around in this situation.” Rachel laughed.

Clink! Crash!

Not long after that, the windows of the buildings around them shattered, their fragments falling along with zombies. Except for Jin-woo, everyone else’s expression grew darker.

‘It’s raining zombies.’

It was such a waste he couldn’t watch this scene with the others.

“Run!” Alex shouted, and everyone swiftly obliged, but they didn’t just run randomly. Rather, they moved as if they were following a path.

The longer they traveled, the fewer the zombies became.

Alex wiped his sweat and walked over to a manhole cover. Opening its lid, Rachel and Jerry went in first.

He then looked at Jin-woo.

“This way.”

When he nodded while looking at the sewer hole, Alex grinned.

“Welcome to the Devil’s Asshole.”

“That’s a pretty good name.”

“It’s that dirty.”

Jin-woo entered the sewer.

The turbid water flowing through its canals was terrifying to look at. There were plenty of corpses and infected mice roaming around.

The smell was even more horrifying, forcing him to wrap himself up with mana to elevate its strong stench. In this state, filth could no longer reach his body.

“I’m glad you got this far.” Rachel sighed in relief as she gazed at him.

“Without you, we wouldn’t have survived. Thank you so much for saving us. My name is Rachel. This is Jerry and Alex.”

The two gave him a nod.

“I’m Lee Jin-woo. You can call me Jin-woo.”

He was always careful when revealing his name. Fortunately, it didn’t cause an explosion since this town had no mana.

They called him their savior, but they were still somewhat wary of him. That was only natural, though. He was just a stranger Rachel decided to help while she was running away.

‘Characters like her will die only after those around her are already gone.’

Jin-woo didn’t like horror movies, but he often watched zombie movies and dramas. They were the reason he began watching American shows.

Alex looked at him with a curious expression.

“Where did you learn your techniques? Special Forces? Either way, it must’ve been an amazing place.”

“Well, it’s a place close to minus 30 degrees in winter and 40 degrees in summer.”

“Haha! You sound like you’re from another planet.”

Alex was a police officer.

Since he liked military stories, Jin-woo told him about his past, but he misunderstood it.

“After two years of training in an extreme environment… You got summoned to serve and train in the state for six years… Your skills make sense.”

His unit’s boss was constantly offered an executive rank but was eventually discharged for holding onto his convictions. Rachel, listening in on their conversation, thought he was a lot like Alex.

Jin-woo didn’t lie.

He was just saying it as it was.

The sewer was directly connected to the inside of a building. Climbing up another ladder and knocking on its lid, it opened.

“Jerry.”

“Yes?” He looked at Jin-woo nervously.

He returned his bag.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

He bowed slightly after receiving it.

Everyone went up, with Jin-woo coming out last.

Quite a few people belonging to various age groups dawned upon him.

A stark-looking man frowned when he saw Jin-woo.

“You brought another lump.”

“He helped us. Without him, we’d all be dead.”

“He looks suspicious. He might be a spy for the Marauders.”

“If that were the case, he wouldn’t have risked his life to save us. He came back for Jerry when he was already surrounded by zombies.”

Rachel confronted him, then handed him the bag.

“Our loot is getting smaller every day.”

“As I said, this is all we can get now.”

“Let’s talk about this later.”

The man checked the bag, made eye contact with Rachel again, then shifted his gaze to Jin-woo. He pointed at his eyes then at Jin-woo using two fingers.

“I’ll be watching you.”

He disappeared among the crowd. The bag he carried with him was full of supplies, but there wasn’t enough in it to sustain everyone in the room. Jin-woo laughed bitterly.

“He’s a pretty tough guy.”

“He’s the leader here. But I do have the right to make personnel decisions. Follow me.”

Jin-woo followed Rachel, with muscular men trailing right behind them. They were probably the direct subordinates of their leader.

They entered a room with a desk and a chair in the middle.

“I’m not suspicious of you, but let me conduct a quick investigation.”

“It won’t hurt, will it?”

“… It might.”

Rachel took off her hat, revealing her beauty and charm.

The interrogation began soon enough, but he didn’t feel bad or anything about it. Logically speaking, it was a natural move.

Two men approached Jin-woo, tied his arms to his seat, and took off his shirt. He didn’t resist.

“Sorry. Please just bear and cooperate with us for now…”

His upper body stunned everyone for a moment. It was far from ordinary, after all.

Rachel coughed, regaining her senses.

“You have an amazing physique.”

“That’s because sports is my hobby.”

She didn’t believe him.

‘He’s clearly undergone rigorous training.’

In her mind, she had already painted him as a special agent of a national agency. She grew more cautious of him.

The men attached an apparatus to his body. On the other end of it was a machine that recorded waves using a needle pointing to what looked like a piece of paper.

‘A lie detector?’

“Your name is Lee Jin-woo, right?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you from?”

“Korea.”

The machine couldn’t find any faults in Jin-woo.

Every answer he gave turned out to be true. When he told her that he had no affiliations with the Marauders or other dangerous groups, Rachel nodded in relief.

“To stay here, you have to help the community. It would be nice if you could go out with us to scavenge for food like we did unless you have other specialties. What else are you good at?”

“I do a little cooking, but…”

“Really? That’s great. Jerry’s in charge of the kitchen, but he’s not that great of a cook.”

Jin-woo decided to help both inside and outside of camp.

Since nobody could cook properly, they only ever ate canned food. Although they had Jerry, his dishes were no different from simply opening and mixing canned goods together.

Rachel got up from her seat and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I’ll look forward to dinner tonight, then.”

Jin-woo was assigned a small room in the corner of the building.

It was dirty, but it had a bed, so it was comfortable in its own way. With a snap of his fingers, he eradicated all dust and pollutants, effectively increasing its coziness.

“First and foremost…”

Jin-woo installed the inter-dimensional Wi-Fi device Se-yeon created.

He then took out a cold beer and drank it.

‘This is refreshing.’

This was a privilege that only Jin-woo could enjoy in this world.

Secretly doing this when others couldn’t only made it even more fun.

He lay on the bed and took out his cell phone, checking the Shining Stars’ reviews from time to time.

Since it provided him an adrenaline boost and he was always curious about what the players were up to, he looked at its forum whenever he could.

Jin-woo checked the top post.

[Title: A New Heroine?

Author: Shining Master

Hello!

I am the Shining Master, the one who has targeted all existing heroines. Honestly, doing that made me so happy, I’m willing to repeat it endlessly.

Anyway, I recently bought Heart Boxes to collect all their extra outfits and items, but a new heroine appeared instead.

[New Heroine Card.jpg]

Its color is different from the existing heroine cards. Surprised and excited, I immediately activated the card and added her into the game.

But this new heroine… She’s my new all-time favorite character.

She says her name is Lee Jae-mi.

When I try to approach her, she runs away in a panic.

Every time she tries to say something, she falls over or accidentally bites her tongue.

She even shows off her ugly side on purpose, perhaps in an attempt to make me leave her.

However…

[Lee Jae-mi.mp4]

Look at her! She’s so cute!

She heals my broken heart!

Her difficulty level is incredibly high, but I won’t give up!

My desire to win her over is rising!

I applied for a leave of absence yesterday. There are no obstacles between us now!

Huhu, even right now, just making eye contact with her makes her run away. That’s why I plan to imprint myself on her slowly, one step at a time.

My life revolves around Lee Jae-mi now.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Lee Jin-woo for introducing her to me.]

Comments: 2,311

Sparrow Eagle: Oh, a hidden character?

Clen: All of her actions are cute, haha

Ji-joon Chang-seop: Praise God Jin-woo.

Lemon Tea: Wow, I’m going to buy Heard Boxes now.

Mr. Ajo: It works because she’s cute. It would be pretty hideous if a man behaved the way she does.

Jin-woo tilted his head.

‘Did they add another heroine?’

It didn’t matter, though. There was no need for him to worry.

He knew they could keep the game running without any problems.