## Chapter 92 – Zombie Parade
Even that kid was getting tired, so I managed to keep my distance while chasing.
You can’t ignore the stamina of a grown man, forged by rolling around in this other world. The quality of real-world experience is just different from those brats. When it comes to a fight to the death, the adult will always win in the end.
“How far are you going to chase me?!”
And I was a seasoned hunter, calmly pursuing my weakened prey. Did they think I’d just chase them for a bit and give up? How naive, how laughable. If you’re going to steal money, you need the guts to run to the other side of the planet at least.
“To the afterlife!”
In adventurer society, the value of 5 silver is, to put it extremely, like a mother’s virginity. If you gave those adventurer bastards 5 silver and told them, “Take this and go kill your father!” they’d cheerfully laugh and say, “Yes~!” while hacking their own dad to pieces. Those goddamn trashy bastards. I really suffered when I was F-rank.
I’m digressing, but the conclusion is that I’m going to catch that brat and chop them up. It was an unavoidable fate now. Since they touched my money, they had to die. I didn’t particularly want to kill them, but I had to.
Actually, unlike adventurers, you can kill criminal beggars without much trouble.
“Haa… haa… Stop while I’m asking nicely. I’ll even let you off with just your left hand if you do, hehehe.”
I tried to negotiate. Of course, I had no intention of letting them off with just a wrist.
“Keuh…!”
Just then, the kid changed direction. I turned, knife leading the way, and chased after them. We ran around the alleyways like that for a few minutes. Finally, we emerged from the alley.
“…Where is this?”
Beyond the alley wasn’t a snowscape, but a full-blown slum. Behind the buildings that looked like they were about to collapse was a desolate field. Was this the central plaza of the slum? Shacks and similar makeshift structures were built along the edge of the circle. Overall, it was a poor neighborhood with a yellowish tinge. It made me feel bad, like I was looking at my past.
All sorts of stalls and similar low-grade establishments lined the field. More than anything, there were a lot of beggars wandering around. They started glaring at me as if I were a stranger. Not a good look.
“What are you looking at, you goddamn beggars? Get lost?”
I brandished my knife a few times and spat out the words, and the crowd dispersed, each going their own way. The pickpocket had disappeared into the crowd somewhere along the way. Shit, how am I supposed to find that bitch here?
Ah.
Come to think of it, they have black hair.
Black hair isn’t very common in this neighborhood. Almost everyone with black hair is either a nomad or a barbarian. If a black-haired girl with such distinctive features was living by pickpocketing, someone would definitely know them.
Anyway, since I had to get my 5 silver back, and I felt like my head was about to explode with rage, I barely managed to calm myself down and started asking the beggars loitering around.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for someone.”
“…”
My first target was an unarmed old woman. I was prepared to beat her to death if necessary, but she didn’t even pretend to listen to me, so I felt sorry for her, thinking she must be suffering from severe Alzheimer’s. Let’s ask someone else.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for someone.”
“…Someone?”
Next, I asked a scrawny young man with messy hair and a beard. He was also unarmed. No, he was beyond unarmed, he was only wearing pants. His shriveled ribs were showing.
“Yes, someone. Have you seen a girl with a black head like mine? She’s my younger sister. I heard a rumor that she lives here, so I came to find her.”
“Ah, you mean that barbarian pickpocket?”
“You know her? Do you know where she lives?”
Saying she was my sister was just something I made up, but things were working out better than I expected. He mentioned pickpocketing. I knew it. If someone has distinctive features, rumors are bound to spread.
“Money.”
He stroked his beard and held out his hand.
“Huh?”
“Give me money. I’ll tell you if you give me money.”
“Well… I don’t have my wallet with me right now, but I’ll definitely give you a reward later, so could you just tell me this once…”
But since I had just been pickpocketed, I had nothing. I was the kind of person who always repaid favors, so I tried to ask him somehow.
Of course, if it didn’t work out, there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t just beat up innocent people. I couldn’t cause unnecessary trouble…
“You don’t have any? Then get lost, you pathetic bastard.”
“What?”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard something.
“What? Pathetic? Hey, what did you say?”
After mulling over those words, I realized he had cursed at me. The anger I had barely suppressed towards the pickpocket surged up. My hand reacted instinctively.
“Uh, uh…? Kehk, kehk! W-wait a minute!”
“You fucking bastard, suddenly cursing at me?”
I grabbed him by the neck. He was so small and scrawny that he fit perfectly in my hand. When I squeezed my grip, he coughed.
“Hey, what did you say? Say it again.”
“Keh, kerhk! Kerhk!”
“No, you fuck! I said say it again, why aren’t you talking! I’m already pissed off, you’re making me even more pissed off, you shithead! You’re dead, you fucking bitch!”
ㅡWhoosh!
ㅡThud!
I picked him up and slammed him into the ground.
“Kuhak!”
He was so light that it felt like I was lifting a dry corn stalk. I kicked the guy who had become one with the ground.
ㅡThwack, thwack! Thwack!
“Ugh! Aagh! Kuaaaagh!!!”
It was a transcendent attack with the power of a 3rd-dan black belt in Taekwondo. I was about to go crazy with anger, so I couldn’t control my violence at all.
“You little punk! Let’s! Speak! Nicely! Okay!”
“Kuh, kuhak! S-stop! Stop! Help me, guys!”
“Am I your ‘hyung-nim,’ you fucking ballsack!”
The assault continued until I felt better. Occasionally, the surrounding beggars glared at me, but when I glared back with a fierce expression, they screamed and ran away. You have to be tough with these damn beggars to avoid getting screwed over.
“Ugh…”
After turning him into a rag, I was able to obtain useful information. The black-haired girl was an orphan involved in a criminal organization in the slum, living without a fixed residence and paying protection money with her pickpocketing earnings.
I wondered if he was lying to get out of the situation, so I kept asking the same thing while diligently feeding him punches for about 5 minutes, but there were no errors in his answers.
“I-it’s true! Please believe me!”
Then that’s probably all he knows.
“I see. Then give me everything you have.”
“Y-yes? Uh, I don’t have anything!”
“What do you mean you don’t have anything? What do you eat then? This bastard lied to me!”
“Kuhaaaaagh!”
He still didn’t seem to understand, so I took the knife off my belt and beat him with the sheath. He clumsily raised his arm to block, but his weak arm could never block my attack. I beat the guy who was screaming while clutching his forearm.
“Uaaaaagh! Stop! Please stop!”
He screamed in admiration at my dazzling swordsmanship. I guess that’s why people go to kendo tournaments. The cheers of the audience were the best reward. Satisfaction welled up inside me.
“If you don’t have anything! Take off your pants! You bastard!”
In the end, all I got from him was information about the pickpocket and 5 coppers. I thought about taking his pants too, but they were too dirty, so I just gave them to a passing ajumma.
Leaving the tattered guy behind, I headed to the deepest part of the slum. When I asked the beggars for directions along the way, they suddenly started answering kindly, as if they had all become different people, which confused me.
This place was a good place with the smell of people living. The slum was kind of like my second hometown. I also lived in the Krasheim slum when I was a newbie in this world. It was a truly hellish memory.
It was while I was exploring the slum.
“Hey, black hair.”
“Huh?”
Someone called out to me.
…The only reason someone would call me in a place like this would be for something bad. With a cold, stiff body, I glanced around at the front and sides. There was no one who looked like an enemy there. I haven’t been surrounded yet, I guess.
The escape route… I can run that way for now.
“…”
I put my hand on the hilt of my sword and slowly turned around.
I had to prepare for the worst.
“Oh my, do you have some business with me?”
I scanned them, pretending to be confident.
There were six men who didn’t look very well-nourished. They were all dressed more shabbily than me when I go to the convenience store, they looked incredibly poor. Half of them weren’t wearing clothes, and the other half were dressed like beggars.
But the knives they were holding were definitely not a product of poverty.
It was a gang of back alley robbers.
I calmly assessed how many I could kill if I fought them now.
It was a big mistake not to wear my armor. If I had my quilted armor, steel breastplate, and gauntlets, I would have just charged in like a dog without hesitation and sliced them all up and asked them what I wanted to know.
But right now, I’m just wearing casual clothes with a sword.
…This is a bit troublesome.
“Business… You’re looking for your younger sister?”
“Oh my, are you going to find her for me? How kind of you.”
“I didn’t know she had such an older brother.”
“I didn’t know my younger sister had become a pickpocket either.”
I really didn’t know that either.
A younger sister I didn’t even know existed suddenly appeared, and she stole my wallet. There’s nothing but shock and horror (and intense anger).
“…You turned Roden into a rag. He’s already poor, you know. I don’t think it’s right to take his pants, even if you take his money.”
The guy I was talking to suddenly frowned, as if he was in a bad mood. So the guy I turned into a rag was named Roden.
It was truly a mystery of nature that someone like that even had a name. After all, human power can’t uncover all the mysteries of nature.
“Who’s Roden? And what’s your relationship with my younger sister?”
I was starting to get seriously curious.
What these guys’ relationship was with my younger sister.
“We need to have a more in-depth conversation, don’t you think? Personally, I’m an overprotective person… I need to find out what kind of friends my younger sister has made. If she makes bad friends… it breaks my heart.”
ㅡSreung.
“I need to find out what kind of guys my beloved younger sister’s friends are like myself.”
I mumbled appropriately and drew my sword.
The long blade of the bastard sword flowed out of the scabbard.
Unfortunately, it seems like I’ll have to feed my sword blood again today.
“C-crazy talk!”
Just then, a shrill voice echoed from behind the men. I knew this voice. How could I forget my younger sister’s voice? Ah, that’s not right. She’s not my younger sister.
“I have nothing to do with that guy! Just kill him, guys! How far are you going to chase me!”
The black-haired girl pushed through the crowd and came forward. The shocking truth caused the area to fall silent. That’s right. She’s not my younger sister. It was so shocking that my head was spinning.
The murderous intent surged with the shocking twist.
I felt like my eyes were going to roll back.
“…What’s going on?”
The man said.
Haa, fuck.
It’s a golden holiday. And it’s a city festival with the good intention of purifying the undead, so why the hell am I stuck here killing people? I was starting to feel a sense of disillusionment with life. I’ll refrain from suicide for Claudia’s sake.
Anyway, target acquired.
I’ll kill them all.
“Ah, fuck it, yeah. Your onahole stole my money. Got it? If you don’t want to die, give back what you stole, kid. I’m not lying, I might really pull out your spine while you’re still alive.”
“Onahole? What does that mean?”
“Ah, the nuance doesn’t translate. Whatever. Come at me, you bastards.”
Bluffing.
Anyway, the situation had reached the worst possible point. It’s only natural to do the worst possible thing when the situation is at its worst. I drew my sword and screamed voraciously, contorting my face. To be honest, even I would have trouble fighting six people at once.
But they’re practically naked, and their weapons are just knives.
The reach difference between my bastard sword and their knives is overwhelming. There’s no way they can beat me with those knives, even if they’re resurrected.
The only thing I’m worried about is six people attacking at once, but that kind of teamwork is impossible unless they’re professionally trained, and since they’re just back alley robbers at best, I figured they’d run away in a panic if I killed one or two of them, so I bet on that.
These guys lose their will to fight if you just kill one of them. If they had the guts not to lose their will to fight, they wouldn’t be living so miserably in this back alley. They’re all pathetic, so they live like this, doing this kind of thing to make a living.
In this kind of brawl, the one who chickens out first loses.
ㅡPapapat!
I struck a Siljang Kwonbeop pose with my sword in hand.
“Kuikui.”
ㅡThis is my strongest.
