Apocalypse Tyrant

Survival of the Fittest (4)

Crack—!

“Keeeeeek—!”

The department office right next to the Philosophy department office where Ko Janghun had been hiding as quiet as a mouse.

“…Hello?”

There were two treasures I was looking for in the Chinese Language and Literature department.

Two zombies running towards me barefoot, as happy as I was at the friendly greeting.

I twisted my body exactly the same as before, hearing the sound of chairs and tables breaking—crash.

Boom—!

One zombie charging into the Chinese department’s major lecture room like déjà vu, and another zombie quickly following that zombie.

Splat—!

I kicked the following zombie with all my strength.

Rather than breaking its posture as I had been doing every time, it was a kick that primitively pushed away the enemy.

“Keek—!”

The zombie cleaning the corridor pathetically, pushed by my kick along with a short monstrous sound.

I hurriedly moved my gaze from the second zombie to the first zombie.

“Keeeeeek—!”

The zombie rushing at me with an even more chilling monstrous sound, as if it knew its companion had been hit.

Whoosh—!

A savage wind pressure follows on the head of the zombie that had attempted a meaningless leap to the major lecture room.

Splat—!

The metal pipe striking up a round ball at once like a cleanup hitter reacting to a pitch he had been waiting and waiting for.

The first zombie collapses to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, along with its completely caved-in side of the head.

[Dexterity: 7 -> 8]

I invested in Dexterity simultaneously as the kill point came in, then watched ahead again.

“Keeeeeek—!”

The zombie that had finally stood up after finishing a long corridor cleaning.

It started sprinting towards me while shaking its shoulders grotesquely.

One zombie at this point.

Moreover, it was one zombie with more than enough time and distance to respond, but I quickly turned my back.

I go up the stairs past the store while constantly maintaining a certain distance from the zombie.

“Keeeeeek—!”

The stupid zombie that only knows how to run at full speed and doesn’t know how to control its speed, falling on its face and crashing into walls every time it turns a corner.

But its obsession with prey was unrivaled.

The zombie bastard chasing to the end with only me in its blood-red eyes.

I hurriedly leaped over the rooftop door while constantly glancing back as if cheering it on.

“Keeeeeek—!”

I leaned my body close to the side of the rooftop door and stared ahead.

“S-Segye-ssi… Th-this is really safe, right?”

There was Ko Janghun trembling dadadak— while holding a monkey wrench.

“As long as Ko-ja-ssi doesn’t do anything stupid.”

When I calmly met his eyes again as if warning him, Ko Janghun who had been vibrating his whole body like a vibrator complained even in that situation.

“N-no—! Not even Janghun-ssi, let alone Ko Janghun, why have you been calling me Ko-ja since earlier—”
“Keeeeeek—!”
“Hiiieek—!”

Ko Janghun’s eyes that had been expressing dissatisfaction became rounder than ever.

One zombie that had become more ferocious than ever upon discovering the bait reflected in those round eyes.

It spreads both arms wide towards the bait that was only pathetically trembling.

And—

“Keeeeeek—!”

It fell face down on the ground, caught in the clothing trap just like all the zombies that had come up to the rooftop so far.

I quickly crushed the zombie that had fallen face down like a frog.

I fixed it in place using my body weight and firmly pressed down its annoying arms with both knees bent.

Crack—!

A savage sound bursting from the zombie twisting its body violently.

While listening to the sound of something twisting violently, I hurriedly grasped its hair tightly.

“Keeeeeek—!”

The zombie that had been suddenly ambushed and its body restrained was transmitted directly to my buttocks as it struggled frantically to stand up somehow.

I applied more force and pressed down on it while focusing my mind.

An unfamiliar energy gathering in my right hand grasping its head more and more tightly following my will.

Probably that energy that the system had called ‘Magic Power’—

Ah, for me it’s ‘Royal Authority’, right?

Anyway, the ‘mana’ needed to activate skills responded to my will.

Skill.

My skill that was unlocked as soon as I obtained the ‘Royal Authority’ stat, which I had wanted so much.

I was a bit flustered when I first read the unfamiliar sentences like Partial Incompetence (部分無能) and you are an incompetent monarch, but it didn’t really matter.

The skill usage method was clear as if someone had hammered it into my head.

Woong—!

A very faint golden energy moving stealthily from my right hand grasping the zombie to the zombie’s head.

My heart pounded with anticipation as I watched that sight.

Partial Incompetence (部分無能).

No, Incompetence (無能).

It literally means having no ability, but the usage method I naturally came to know was a bit different.

Although the status window seemed to suddenly mock me with things like incompetent monarch—

This was a kind of wordplay.

The subject of incompetence was not me but something else.

In simple terms, a kind of ‘nullification ability’ had fallen into my hands.

That very ‘nullification’ skill that consistently proves its worth as an unshakable Tier 1 no matter where you go—.

‘…If it’s a skill that nullifies something—’

And the thought pondering where to use the skill naturally led to—

‘Couldn’t it nullify infection too?’

To this small experiment that started while crushing a zombie.

“…How is it? Anything different, Ko-ja-ssi?”
“Ugh— Ugh—”

Ko Janghun looking at the zombie head I was firmly grasping while shuddering.

Ko Janghun who had been alternately looking at my eyes full of anticipation and the zombie’s face slowly shook his head.

“Ugh— It’s just a zombie, Segye-ssi…”
“Look carefully one more time. Nothing different?”
“…It’s just a zombie, Segye-ssi.”
“Keeeeeek—!”

The zombie letting out the same monstrous cry as if to support Ko Janghun’s careful answer.

The expectation that I might have obtained a skill approaching Tier 0, beyond Tier 1, cooled down coldly.

Thud—!

The zombie head that had been crying like an annoying alarm clock stopped crying at once.

[Dexterity: 8 -> 9]

Splat—! Splat—! Splat—!

The zombie head striking the ground repeatedly as an outlet for anger.

Ko Janghun’s body also flinched each time black blood splattered on the asphalt.

Scrape—!

Only after grinding the zombie’s face on the asphalt one last time did I dust off my hands and stand up.

“Clean it up.”
“…Yes sir!”

My insides boiled as if someone had given me rice cakes then taken them away.

The fact that the nullification ability doesn’t work on zombies means it’s exactly the same as when I didn’t have a skill, right?

If at least infection nullification had worked, I could have gathered points at a completely different speed than now—

If not even that— Partial Incompetence is a skill that might as well not exist for me right now.

Royal Authority.

The word that flashed through my mind as I looked up at the sky with deeply furrowed brows.

Clearly, the status window had unlocked skills due to Royal Authority reaching a certain value.

Then, it meant more Royal Authority was needed to obtain useful skills.

In other words—

“Uweeeeek—!”

I continued my thought while looking at Ko Janghun who was still constantly dry heaving, unable to adapt to corpses.

I needed more people like Ko Janghun.

“Ko-ja-ssi.”
“Uweek— Y-yes, Segye-ssi.”
“Put that aside for now and follow me.”
“…Pardon? Where to?”

Ko Janghun looking up at me with his small eyes opened as wide as possible while stripping the corpse’s clothes.

I jerked my chin downwards and gestured with my eyes.

“The department offices below.”

I need to speed things up a bit.

There was one reason I brought Ko Janghun down with me, who clearly wouldn’t be of much help.

The ‘strong fear of violence’ that the status window had said was a factor in him submitting to me.

I was planning to amplify that fear quite a bit.

So that he wouldn’t even dream of having any stupid thoughts.

But the department office search with Ko Janghun flowed a bit differently from my thoughts.

“As expected—! I have a junior I know in the Chinese department and that bastard was abnormally obsessive-compulsive for a male bastard—”

A mouth blabbering so fluently it’s hard to believe it’s the same Ko Janghun who was trembling dadadak— just earlier.

“There’s an unwashed kitchen knife in his department office that he uses to peel fruits, cut pizza— well, once some bastard was cutting packing tape with the kitchen knife and he gossiped about it so much—”

Screech— Screech—!

Green tape and a sack placed in the corner of the department office.

And a kitchen knife that doesn’t look very clean even at a glance, even without obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“…How about it? I’ve often seen it in movies, so I tried making one with what’s available, hehe—”

Ko Janghun who had instantly made an improvised kitchen knife spear grinned cunningly while holding out the kitchen knife spear to me as if presenting it.

…Really.

He’s definitely not someone who would die in some random place.

When I shook my head lightly with a smile, Ko Janghun carefully gripped the kitchen knife spear tightly.

After that, he went into the department offices where I had dealt with zombies first as if taking the initiative, and picked out items that seemed necessary for us like a ghost.

A black bag slung on his back at some point and a kitchen knife spear tightly gripped in both hands.

It was amazing yet frustrating, as if seeing the textbook definition of a porter.

The bathroom and lounge in front of it bisecting the center of the 4th floor.

We had almost finished searching the department office corridor that could be called the left side based on that center.

[Dexterity: 10]

Meanwhile, I had dealt with zombies that occasionally popped out from inside department offices, and now the Dexterity stat had also reached double digits like the Strength stat—

Now there was only one department office left unsearched on the left side.

[Psychology Department Undergraduate Room]

Only the Psychology department office was left.

“Honestly, isn’t it absurd? Calling themselves the Psychology department but blatantly setting the password to 1111. A bluff that absolutely wouldn’t work if there was even one person who knew someone in the Psychology department—”

Ko Janghun now blabbering non-stop as if his mouth had completely loosened.

But I didn’t really mind since he was whispering in a sufficiently low voice.

Beep—! Beep—! Beep—! Beep—!

The door lock flashing with electronic sounds following Ko Janghun’s hand movements.

“Well, it’s not just the Psychology department, the passwords for the department offices here are, well, if you just know one person in that department—”

Ko Janghun’s mouth that had been confidently pressing the door lock suddenly closed.

His mouth that instantly became tightly shut and his eyes moving urgently left and right.

Ko Janghun’s eyes quickly scanned me and the department office doors I had broken, then he smiled awkwardly at me.

“Ugh— Should I shut up for about 5 minutes?”

I smiled as if it was absurd at his careful question and gestured with my eyes towards the department office door that was half-open.

“Just hurry and open this.”
“…Yes sir.”

Beep beep beep—!

The Psychology department office opening wide with a cheerful electronic sound at the end.

“…”

Whether zombies or humans—

I frowned while looking at the department office with no signs of life at all.

It’s not a very satisfying conclusion—

“Keeeeeek—!”

At that moment, a monstrous sound echoing from the central bathroom, perhaps reacting to the door lock sound.

A zombie that burst out of the bathroom with thud thud— sounds started running towards us.

“Spear.”
“Yes sir!”

The kitchen knife spear placed in my hand right away as if we had agreed on it beforehand, even though we hadn’t.

I slowly switched the hands holding the metal pipe and kitchen knife spear.

I awkwardly gripped the kitchen knife spear and spread my legs for my first ever javelin throw.

I took in the zombie bastard running towards me with glowing eyes while imitating a javelin throwing posture I had seen somewhere before.

“Keeeeeek—!”

Perhaps due to the influence of the Dexterity stat, the zombie’s next action felt clearer the more I focused my gaze.

The Dexterity that had reached double digits induces ‘faster’ actions than the zombie.

“Hup!”

My right hand thrust out while exhaling my breath at once.

A savage cutting sound that didn’t match the awkward posture left my hand.

Swish—!

The zombie running only in a straight line without any other stupid moves.

And the kitchen knife spear extending straight like a beam of light, cutting through that straight line.

I was certain it would hit something clearly, but—

Splat—!

I didn’t think it would be the zombie’s head.

“…Wow.”

A low exclamation flowing from behind me at the zombie falling backwards as soon as the kitchen knife spear stuck in its head.

It was a lucky shot I hadn’t intended at all, but there was no need to explain this to Ko Janghun.

I tapped Ko Janghun who was blankly staring at the zombie corpse with his mouth open after turning my head.

We needed to move to the rooftop if more zombies burst out of the bathroom.

“…”

Ko Janghun immediately nodding his head as if he understood my look.

I quietly waited for the next reaction while staring ahead again, but—

…

There was no reaction at all after the zombie that had burst out of the bathroom.

“Tsk!”

I clicked my tongue briefly while looking at the central bathroom that was our second objective and the department offices we had finished searching.

We had searched exactly half of the 4th floor, but the only survivors were me and Ko Janghun.

It was the first night I wasn’t spending in front of the rooftop iron door.

I lay my body on a suitable chair and turned my head to stare at the iron door.

There was Ko Janghun looking at his smartphone with a line of overflowing portable batteries placed there.

I opened my mouth while looking at Ko Janghun’s face illuminated by the faint light of the smartphone.

“Any new news, Ko-ja-ssi?”
“…No, it’s all the same.”

Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Busan, all the big cities have failed to control it—

Some obscure cults I’ve never even heard of are arrogantly raging that the end has come—

And other religions aren’t much different—

YouTube, communities, news comments—

The whole world is just going crazy without any solutions.

Ko Janghun’s low muttering flowing through the quiet rooftop.

I asked a different question at the news that wasn’t much different from when I had checked Ko Janghun’s smartphone.

“Is it just our country?”
“…No. It seems like the whole Earth is fucked?”
“What about America?”
“Yes. America also seems busy killing their own Yankee zombies.”
“The news says that?”
“No, YouTube.”

Huh, videos are still being uploaded to YouTube even in this world.

“What kind of madman uploads YouTube videos at a time like this?”
“There are many. Well, should I read you some real titles?”

Top 100 Weapons Useful in a Zombie Apocalypse (Focusing on Tools Easy to Find).

Easy Ways to Kill Zombies Taught by an Apocalypse Expert.

Foreign Media All Shocked! The Secret of the Korean Movie ‘Train to Busan’ that Predicted the Zombie Apocalypse!

I couldn’t help but laugh emptily at Ko Janghun’s voice reciting popular video titles while adding accents like a storyteller.

“…Huh. Those are titles that would get a lot of views.”
“…They’re crazy bastards.”

When you might not even be able to withdraw money from Google right now—

Ko Janghun’s dejected face muttering while looking up at the sky.

Yeah—

With America fucked too, and no sign of rescue teams let alone the military on the third day—

“At this rate, it’s not that strange that only we survived in the Humanities Building, right?”
“…That’s right. There’s probably only us left in the Humanities Building?”

Wasn’t the Humanities Building already a bit old?

“The facilities are garbage compared to other colleges, and the doors seem like wooden doors used decades ago, and the security is so sloppy, there was a thief in our department recently?”

I quietly closed my eyes while listening to Ko Janghun’s voice starting to blabber excitedly on his own again.

Yeah, with this level of chaos, university students who had just become adults couldn’t have a high survival rate.

“When we reported the theft, they just said some bullshit about changing the door lock password— I wonder when they’ll ever renovate the Humanities Building to be shiny and state-of-the-art like other colleges—”

…Wait a minute.

My eyes that had been chewing over Ko Janghun’s words suddenly opened wide.

“What did you just say, Ko-ja-ssi?”
“…Pardon? When will they ever renovate the Humanities Building to—”
“No, no! The very first thing.”

When I cut off Ko Janghun’s words that were about to continue on at length again, Ko Janghun who had been rolling his eyes derrr— slowly opened his mouth.

“That there’s probably only us left as survivors in the Humanities Building?”

…Right.

“‘In’ the Humanities Building?”

Ko Janghun nodded at my question thrown out with staccato emphasis.

“…Yes. There probably aren’t any in the Humanities Building.”
“It sounds like you’re saying there are survivors if not in the Humanities Building?”
“…Of course. I was just KakaoTalking until a moment ago?”

Ko Janghun waving his smartphone tick— tock— with a face saying what’s the problem.

I immediately got up from where I was lying and approached Ko Janghun.

“There are survivors?!”
“…Yes.”

Ko Janghun’s face clearly showing surprise as he looked at my face asking urgently as I rushed over.

I grasped Ko Janghun’s shoulders and asked again.

“Where?!”
“W-well, there are still many people I can contact. Business School, dormitories, Engineering School, library, Student Union Building—”
“…The library too?”

I had clearly checked the library that was crowded to the point of bodies rubbing against each other on the first day the zombie apocalypse started.

There are survivors left even in that hell?

“…Yes. Ah, there’s even a celebrity trapped in the library. You know that idol ‘Seolhee’? High Queens’ Seolhee. Wow— my junior club member was gushing about how her real-life visuals are a thousand, ten thousand times better than on broadcasts, calling her a goddess—”
“…Why didn’t you tell me?”

The tone that was about to continue on with a lengthy explanation is cut off abruptly.

Ko Janghun who was very carefully observing my mood as if sensing the cold atmosphere cautiously opened his mouth.

“Ugh— Since you prioritize safety so much, I thought you might be quite wary of unfamiliar people or places— And even if I told you this, we can’t go there anyway, and there’s no need to—”

Ko Janghun continuing to speak while rolling his eyes derrr—.

“Of course, since I know better than anyone how much you prioritize safety, I absolutely did not tell them that we’re on the Humanities Building rooftop and that we’ve stockpiled food. I swear on my life, really.”

I stopped the hand rising as if trying to make an ‘M’ shape and asked again.

“The closest place to the Humanities Building among what you mentioned is the library, right?”
“…Yes.”
“How many survivors are there now?”
“…About 30-40?”
“Oh— Many are alive. Then—”

With that many people, they must be very short on food?

Ko Janghun quietly nodding his head at my insinuating voice.

“…Yes— They say they’re forcibly drinking water from the bathroom, but since it’s clearly a library, there’s nothing to eat, and they’re whining so much on KakaoTalk about being hungry—”

I ignored Ko Janghun who was starting to get carried away with his own story again and organized the conversation so far.

Tyrant and Royal Authority.

The exclusive stat or whatever of mine that I learned about through Ko Janghun, and the direction of growth.

As power and authority increase, Royal Authority increases—

And locked skills are unlocked accordingly.

In other words, it meant a structure where I become stronger the more humans submit to me.

In that sense, the Humanities Building was the worst place for me to grow.

The only survivor besides me was that cunning and sharp Ko Janghun.

The Royal Authority I gained from a single survivor was only 1.

There was no vision at all, and even if I luckily fished out a survivor by some million-to-one chance, the probability of exceeding ten people was very low.

In that sense, the library—

“Um— Segye-ssi.”

A very careful voice breaking my reverie.

When I quietly raised my head, Ko Janghun who had swallowed gulp— hurriedly opened his mouth.

“I-if I did anything wrong, please just tell me and I’ll fix it right away. If you were uncomfortable with me KakaoTalking—”
“No.”

I cut off Ko Janghun’s words with a short answer and quietly stared into his eyes.

Those eyes carefully observing every change in my expression and fidgeting restlessly.

That desperate face unable to hide anxiety and impatience, just hoping I would think in a good direction.

It was a face that somehow poked poke— poke— at the deepest part of my heart.

Once— I had pondered such a thing.

Why is there an alias column in my status window?

And why is the word ‘Tyrant’ in there?

However, that word ‘Tyrant’ was the clearest word to me in the status window that was full of incomprehensible things.

It was a question that popped out an answer right away just by thinking about how I wanted to live if I could allocate stats—

If I gained power.

“You did well.”
“…Pardon?”

Ko Janghun letting his words trail off in bewilderment while looking at my broadly smiling face.

“I said you did well.”

I smile even more broadly while watching Ko Janghun trying very carefully to smile along with my broadly smiling face.

Securing the store, securing the bathroom, searching department offices to find remaining survivors—

I quietly erased such ambiguous plans with uncertain next steps from my mind.

They were no longer needed.

Because I now had a clearer plan than ever before.

Survival of the Fittest.