Apocalypse Hunter

“Customers beat my mom to death, and my dad selected me as his new prostitute. So, I stabbed him and ran away.”

Explaining her life in two simple sentences, Leona didn’t seem to hold a grudge or bear hatred towards the memory. However, it was a bit odd to Zin that Leona, who wasn’t reluctant to become a prostitute, would kill her father who’d tried to make her a prostitute. Leona seemed to realize what Zin was thinking and then shrugged her shoulders.

“Isn’t it strange for someone to take my money when I’ll be the one working my ass off? Mom lived that way, but not me.”

“You could have just run away. Why kill him?”

“If he hadn’t slapped my face when I told him to split the money 7:3, I wouldn’t have killed him.”

Leona giggled, and Zin laughed, too speechless to respond. If being reckless was a talent, Leona would be a genius in that department. Zin had told Leona to go to the castle, but now he didn’t think there was a need for that. The last village he left would be the perfect place for Leona.

“I take back what I said about the castle.”

“Huh?”

“You remember that we’re going to Ard Point?”

“Sure.”

“That’s a pretty good place.”

The people at Ard Point were benevolent. In a world where it was difficult to find any human hospitality, Ard Point could be a paradise for Leona.

“It’s a safer place where there are fewer beasts, less evil people, and it has more abundant resources compared to other places.”

“That’s perfect!”

Zin kept talking even though it felt unnecessary to explain further.

“There are no lords since it’s a Point, and it’s been maintaining a community. They’ll probably give you the opportunity to do something.”

Were there kids there?

Zin tried to remember his time at Ard Point, but couldn’t remember. But if it was a place where its people could offer three potatoes to wanderers, it was probably a good place to live. Zin smiled as Leona looked at him.

“Ard Point is not big enough to have a brothel.”

Where there’s a demand, there is a supply, but Ard Point wasn’t a big enough place to run a brothel.

“Wow… that’s good.”

Leona nodded, interested in Zin’s explanation. Shortly after, Zin grew tired of answering all the questions that Leona started to ask non-stop.

“Well, if you want to get there early, you’d better sleep early.”

“Yeah, I should do that.”

Leona picked up some pieces of cloth around the fire, lumped them into a pillow and lay down on the floor. Zin watched Leona, who fell asleep shortly after. He slowly closed his eyes as well.

Next day, the two started their journey while munching on dried-up ghoul meat. The road to their destination was neither too far nor too close, and they walked down the wilderness. The way was pretty quiet, most likely because the beasts were scared of the maneater. Leona kept on yawning as if she hadn’t fully woken up yet.

“Well, you didn’t steal my belongings yesterday.”

As Zin spoke those words, Leona started giggling beside him.

“I am a pro, you know, mister.”

“What does being a pro have to do with stealing?”

“A pro only steals what a pro can steal.”

“Do I seem like a hard person to pick off?”

“It felt like you’d get up at any moment.”

Zin always appeared to be on his guard, even when he slept. At her words, Zin looked at Leona playfully.

“Well, it sounds like you intended to do something.”

“!”

Leona realized her mistake and grew scared. She had good instincts, but she was still a kid after all.

“Well… I woke up in the middle of the night… and… um… you know what I mean… right?”

“Sure.”

Zin crossed his arms.

“A sleepless stray cat appeared to be sleeping, but when she tried to steal her master’s purse, she realized it wasn’t possible. So she just went back to sleep. And now she’s yawning like this. Is that your story?”

“No… not true… there’s some kind of misunderstanding here… maybe…”

Zin laughed at Leona, who looked scared to death. In order to survive in this world, a kid trying to steal a hunter’s purse was probably just a natural instinct.

Since Zin had to take Leona with him anyway, he was willing to let this matter go.

“You should be thankful for your survival instincts. It’s a great asset.”

“Yeah…”

Leona breathed a sigh of relief. Zin continued to ask:

“Have you stolen like this before?”

“This is the first time I’ve traveled with a companion. When someone approached me from afar, I always hid.”

If one couldn’t overpower another, it was the right choice to avoid the unknown.

“Well, you have some pretty good instincts…”

“Mister.”

Leona cut Zin off, slightly upset as she looked at him.

“Are you mad at me?”

“… Mad at you?”

“I think you are. You’re angry, right? Right?”

“You misunderstand me. I…”

“No, you’re not cool about this at all. Do you want to slap my face? Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

As Leona offered her cheek, Zin laughed, speechless.

“Haha… well, I don’t know what to say. You’re the one at fault, and now you’re telling me that I’m the one with the grudge.”

“See. You are mad, haha.”

As Leona laughed out loud, Zin looked at the hologram displaying his vital signs.

[BPM – 160]

His BPM had doubled. As smart as Leona was, she had a knack for annoying people out of their minds. Zin sighed and looked at Leona.

“This! I’m not mad, but I am annoyed.”

“Huh… what?”

—bam!—

With a smack on her forehead, Leona started crying out loud.

“Owwww!”

“Please be quiet and just follow me.”

“That hurt! Mister Bastard!”

Zin started walking forward, and Leona followed behind him, cringing.

Leona followed and kept pace with Zin as much as she could. A kid and an adult had different physical conditions. Because Zin’s physical stamina wasn’t ordinary, it was obvious that Leona couldn’t keep up with his pace.

However, to Zin’s surprise, Leona kept on following Zin without much complaint. But Leona was clearly struggling to catch up. Leona wobbled as if she’d fall down, but still bravely kept following Zin. So, Zin paced himself, and Leona was able to follow him without exhausting herself completely.

A pretty darn good place to live.

Zin and Leona didn’t encounter any beasts, even when they were very close to arriving at Ard Point. The beasts in the central region of the Korean Peninsula were mostly corpse hunters and poisonous dogs. If the incident at Zado City had decimated the Giant Wolves, then the surrounding areas would become an even better place to live. On top of that, many corpse hunters would have fled hundreds of miles away because of the appearance of that maneater. Ard Point had probably become a much better place to live.

“Hey, mister, is farming hard? I think I can take on farming.”

“Hmm… well.”

As they were approaching Ard Point, Leona grew curious and started asking questions.

“In farming, people utilize agricultural techniques, but a successful harvest depends on luck. It’s hard to learn, and even if you learn, harvesting depends on luck.”

“… Can you explain in words I can understand?” Leona asked angrily. Zin knew that Leona had a limited vocabulary, but he was annoyed by the fact that he had to explain in layman’s terms. Zin started to explain again.

“Farming is frigging hard.”

“Ah… I see.”

Leona kept on murmuring, “Damned world, nothing’s easy.” Although it had been a pretty peaceful return trip, Zin wasn’t too happy because he needed to hunt some beasts in order to extend his uptime.

And when they arrived safely at Ard Point, Zin thought it was too easy of a trip back.

“Wow… it’s tall.”

Leona stood looking amazed at the wall as if she’d never seen one before. Someone peeked out from the gate, and without a doubt, it was Baek-Goo. Baek-Goo started waving at them from afar as if he’d been waiting for the hunter to return. Baek-Goo started shouting to the people inside the wall.

“The hunter has returned! Open the gate!”

—krrrrrrrrrrr!—

Leona was amazed at seeing the steel gate slowly open.

“I really—”

Leona started shouting, unable to hold back her emotions.

“—really want to live here!”

The thick prison wall looked so safe to Leona that she became emotional. Baek-Goo climbed down a ladder from the wall and smiled at them.

“I was waiting for ya, hunter! Thought you were dead.”

Baek-Goo greeted Zin as if an old-time friend had returned.

“I wasn’t that late, you know?”

“Well, you could have died pretty quickly?”

“Look at you, trash-talking.”

“Yup, I became good at it. Don’t I seem taller, too?”

Baek-Goo pointed at his relatively short height, but Zin shook his head.

“Not at all.”

“Oh well… Anyway, did you get to accomplish your mission?”

“You could say that.”

“Who’s this little friend?”

“A survivor of Zado City. She’ll provide testimony.”

“It must have been quite a trip, trying to drag a small kid back. You sure are some hunter.”

Leona was startled when Baek-Goo called her a little kid.

“Little? You’re no bigger than I am!”

“Hmm? Really? Oh, excuse my words, haha!”

Baek-Goo just laughed at Leona’s snarky comments without arguing back. Leona was surprised that Baek-Goo would respond in such a weird manner.

“Now, I gotta get going. You know where the elder is at, right? Please go ahead to his building.”

“Sure, thanks.”

“See you later!”

Baek-Goo waved at them and headed back to the wall. The other guards and residents looked at Zin and Leona as they passed by. Everyone thought that the hunter would either get killed or flee, but they were glad to see the hunter return. Leona appeared annoyed.

“Who the heck was that? Your friend?”

“He just acts like that.”

“I hate those types of people.”

“Hmm, he seems like a type of person who can’t be hated.”

Leona shook her head at his words.

“I don’t like people who act too friendly when I’m not ready.”

“Well, I don’t think you’re any better?”

Baek-Goo and Leona weren’t too different in that they were both intrusive, personality-wise. They acted slightly different, but Leona was a little bit more snarky.

“Hmm… mister, you don’t get it.” Leona laughed.

“People hate those with similar personalities.”

As Leona spoke like a sixty-year-old granny, Zin laughed out loud.

“Whether you like it or not, there’s no point in acting weird in this place. You’re going to live here after all.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Leona covered her mouth as she smiled.

“Should I apologize later on?”

Leona looked like she was in a good mood, wondering what she should do.

The elder greeted Zin with the same look as the others, and Zin briefly reported what he’d observed. Leona, who’d come as a witness, talked with the elder as well. It was not smart to believe in a witness’s words just because one was a witness. And the elder started asking questions to test Leona.

“Is the Zado City’s guard captain still that big-nosed one? Does he still have that big mole?”

“Well. I don’t quite remember. He looked fierce and cold-blooded. Did he have a big nose? I don’t know. I don’t think he had a mole…”

“Hmm… you might actually be a survivor.”

“Elder, how do you know about the Zado’s guard captain?”

At her question, the elder gave a weird answer.

“Well, I don’t know him.”

“What? Then why are you asking me these questions?”

“I was testing you out to see if you were faking as a survivor.”

Looking at how Leona was thinking hard to answer his questions, the elder started asking her more, and as soon as he heard the answers, he nodded his head grimly.

“A pack of Giant Wolves… it doesn’t make sense….”

“Yeah, but it’s true!”

“A maneater appeared because of the corpses, and here’s proof.”

Zin pulled out a couple of maneater tentacles from the void storage, and he also pulled out some teeth he took from the Giant Wolves when he left Zado.

“Hmm… you wouldn’t have been able to hunt down the Giant Wolves in such a short period of time… On top of that, a maneater… Did you actually hunt the maneater?”

“I sure did. I won’t ask for more money as long as you pay what’s promised.”

“Very thankful for that…huh…maneater… what is going on….”

The elder had to believe Zin’s words because the Giant Wolves’ teeth, and a somewhat burnt maneater tentacle, weren’t items one could earn in a short period of time.

The elder nodded slowly, took out the reward from the safe, and placed it in front of Zin.

“Well done. If the Giant Wolves were finished off, there is no need to flee Ard Point. Thank you again.”

Zin opened the bag, counted the chips, and nodded his head.

“Two hundred. Perfect.”

“And this is a small token of appreciation for finishing off the maneater. It could have gone all the way here.”

The elder took out an additional 50 chips and gave them to Zin.

“I’ll take an extra reward any day. Thanks.”

“This is a much better outcome than trying to look for a new shelter. Thank you, I really appreciate it. You’ve brought some convincing evidence and finished the job perfectly. Even in my Nest days, I’ve never seen a hunter like you.”

The elder laughed, knowing that one of his biggest concerns had resolved itself.