Surviving the Apocalypse as an All-Time Best Overpowered Necromancer - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 45
45. Location Exposed (3)
After arriving at the empty house where he’d laid out bedding, Lee Kang-hyuk positioned zombies on the adjacent building’s roof.
The intention was to respond if anyone approached…….
But the zombies remained eerily silent.
‘Did he really leave?’
The image of Park Mu-jin turning away without a shred of hesitation lingered only briefly.
When Lee Kang-hyuk recalled how the zombies had failed to react when Lee Jae-hyuk and Im Jae-beom approached, he shook his head in frustration.
‘Do they only react when they sense danger? Or only when threatened?’
Based on how they’d growled right before encountering the horde, it seemed like the former.
But when they’d encountered Jeong A-ram, they’d remained still without a single growl, which suggested the latter.
“Tsk. Even my zombie alarm isn’t foolproof.”
Frustrated that events weren’t unfolding as he’d planned, Lee Kang-hyuk clicked his tongue.
‘Still, if they happen to be nearby, the zombies should at least force them to be cautious about approaching.’
As Lee Kang-hyuk surveyed the zombies positioned on the surrounding building roofs, he suddenly stroked his chin, lost in thought.
‘If they can’t approach…… that means they could slip away without being noticed…….’
If the zombies couldn’t detect any sign of them, it meant they were watching from a distance.
Once darkness fell and covered everything, observing from afar would become difficult.
At that point, they’d either continue watching from a distance as they did now, or move in closer.
He couldn’t predict how they’d behave.
‘If they’re still watching from a distance when night falls…… I’ll leave the zombies here and return to the Safe House.’
As long as the zombies remained in place, those watching from afar would think he was still here. He’d leave them and depart.
‘It’s a shame to lose the trained zombies, but except for Electric and Im Jae-beom, they’re easy to recover anyway.’
He’d abandon them.
With that decision made, Lee Kang-hyuk’s brow furrowed in irritation when he looked at Im Jae-beom.
‘What a mess this guy’s caused. Still, I did figure out how they communicate and put the Jungnang-gu Alliance in my debt, so it’s not a total loss.’
Honestly, aside from everything else, the fact that he’d uncovered how the Chungmuro Alliance communicated was itself valuable.
‘Of course, it only means something if I can erase all of this…….’
Gazing at the markings drawn on the building roof, Lee Kang-hyuk sighed, realizing he couldn’t do anything about them right now, and stretched.
“Let’s call it a day and get some rest for now.”
“Grrrgh…….”
“Roaaagh!”
He stretched loudly to make it look and sound to anyone watching from afar like he was settling in for rest.
After stretching with raised voice, Lee Kang-hyuk came down from the roof with Electric and Im Jae-beom and entered the house.
* * *
“Hmm.”
Upon arriving at the Myeonmok-dong shelter, Jeong A-ram was still lost in deep thought, unable to grasp the hint Park Mu-jin had given her.
‘What was so important about staring at empty air…….’
She didn’t understand. What could staring at empty air possibly mean…….
“Huh?”
Lost in thought as she sat on the bed, Jeong A-ram instinctively accessed the Community.
It was her habit to do so during rest, so she’d accessed it without thinking.
The moment she saw her own reflection in the mirror, something seemed to click, and she clapped her hands.
“Ah! The Community!”
Now that she’d grasped the meaning, Jeong A-ram immediately headed toward where Park Mu-jin was.
Moments later, upon spotting Jeong A-ram, Park Mu-jin smiled knowingly.
“Your expression tells me you’ve finally figured it out.”
“Yes! I was looking at the Community!”
“And?”
Her answer to why she’d been staring at empty air was correct.
But what Park Mu-jin actually wanted to know wasn’t simply that she’d been using the Community—it was why she’d been using it.
When he pressed for the reason, Jeong A-ram answered immediately.
“You must have wanted me to tell my allies not to track us, because they might be hiding nearby and attack anyone following us, right?”
As she looked up at him with a proud expression, Park Mu-jin chuckled and asked back.
“And?”
“Is there more?”
At those words, Jeong A-ram’s eyes widened.
Was there another reason besides what she’d just said?
What could it be?
If it wasn’t an ambush, there’d be no reason to avoid being tracked…….
As confusion crossed Jeong A-ram’s face, Park Mu-jin flicked her forehead again.
Flick.
“Homework.”
“Ow.”
Rubbing her forehead from the sudden flick, Jeong A-ram grumbled about the assignment and returned to her room.
“You smile like that only when you see her, sir.”
The moment Jeong A-ram withdrew, a subordinate standing nearby remarked as if discovering something curious.
Park Mu-jin, watching her retreating figure with a smile, simply shrugged.
“Once you have a niece of your own someday, you’ll understand.”
“Hmm, being an only child, I suspect I never will.”
“Won’t you understand once you have children? In any case, tell the eldest when he arrives. I’ll report on this matter myself.”
“Yes, sir!”
* * *
‘It’s about time to move, but with no reaction at all, it seems they’ve decided to stay put. Or perhaps they were never there to begin with.’
As dusk fell and Lee Kang-hyuk peered through the curtains, seeing the zombies remain silent, he glanced back at Electric and Im Jae-beom.
“…….”
For a moment, he wondered if it would be possible to slip away with these two, but since he couldn’t abandon them either, he nodded with resolve.
“Let’s go.”
Having made his decision, he slipped out of the house as quietly as possible.
He didn’t bother releasing control of the zombies positioned on the roof.
He’d already issued orders through his Command Domain not to follow him, so the connection would naturally sever once he was far enough away.
‘Even once the control link breaks, it’s dark now, so they won’t spot me. They’ll stay on the roof, and if they see zombies there, they’ll think I’m still inside.’
With that reasoning, the moment he left the house, he crouched low and moved carefully.
Whoosh.
Moving as quietly as possible toward the Safe House while keeping an eye out for pursuers.
Suddenly, his eyes met those of a single zombie hiding behind a parked car.
“!!”
“Grrraaagh!”
Click.
Perhaps because darkness had narrowed his field of vision, the zombie didn’t spot Lee Kang-hyuk until it was nearly upon him, baring its teeth.
At the same time, before Electric and Im Jae-beom could activate their skills, Lee Kang-hyuk activated his own first.
“Roaaagh!!”
“Corpse Control!”
Having successfully subdued the zombie in an instant, Lee Kang-hyuk immediately concealed himself between buildings.
He expected any pursuers hiding nearby would hear the commotion and come to investigate its cause.
But only the sound of zombies growling reached his ears.
Not a single sign of anyone else.
‘Are they gone, or are they just skilled enough that I can’t sense them?’
In this situation, Lee Kang-hyuk genuinely couldn’t tell if there were pursuers.
Or if perhaps he was suffering needlessly, with no one actually following him at all.
Naturally falling into contemplation, Lee Kang-hyuk sighed and shook his head.
‘Hah, even I can admit I’m an exhaustingly paranoid person. But…… I can’t afford to drop my guard. Whether there are pursuers nearby or not, I just have to do my best.’
Until he confirmed there were no pursuers, he’d assume there were and act accordingly.
That way, his odds of survival were higher. The moment that thought crossed his mind, his eyes met Im Jae-beom’s, and suddenly he remembered when they’d first met.
‘He used Water Snake to scout the area and found Seo A-rin and me hiding.’
An ability that utilized water.
So then…….
Would it still be possible now that he was a zombie?
As he was about to act on the sudden idea, a problem abruptly occurred to him.
‘But even if I find the pursuer using Water Snake…… how do I confirm it?’
The question struck Lee Kang-hyuk as he looked at Im Jae-beom, but he quickly realized that attacking was Im Jae-beom’s and Electric’s job anyway, and he shrugged.
‘Well…… if we spot a pursuer that way, that guy will attack on his own.’
If a pursuer was found, Im Jae-beom would respond.
After all, he was dead, transformed into a zombie.
Even if he’d been an enemy in life, he was on Lee Kang-hyuk’s side now…….
“Begin.”
Placing his trust in Im Jae-beom, Lee Kang-hyuk gave the order, and ten thin water snakes like living serpents materialized and scattered in all directions.
At that moment…….
The sensations of the dispersed water snakes began settling into Lee Kang-hyuk’s mind.
Startled by the unfamiliar feeling he’d never experienced before, Lee Kang-hyuk thought of how Im Jae-beom must have found him hiding this way, and he accepted the snakes’ sensory input.
‘Let me try moving them.’
He immediately attempted to control the water snakes directly, but they didn’t respond to his command.
‘Is it because this is Im Jae-beom’s skill? If so…… .’
He’d have to give orders through Im Jae-beom instead.
Shush-shush-shush.
‘That’s it.’
The moment he issued a command through his Command Domain to move the water snakes to desired positions, they immediately obeyed.
However, because the command had to go through Im Jae-beom, there was roughly a two-second delay between issuing the order and the snakes responding.
‘That’s a bit disappointing.’
It would’ve been much better if he could control the water snakes directly.
But if he did, he’d gain a new ability every time he killed an Awakener, so the system seemed designed this way for balance.
‘It looks like I’m limited to indirect use through my Command Domain as a medium. Well…… this isn’t so bad.’
Though disappointed, he accepted the system’s design.
More importantly, using the Command Domain to let Im Jae-beom read his intent and independently control the water snakes was far more practical from Lee Kang-hyuk’s perspective.
‘I already have plenty to think about during combat anyway. This is actually convenient. So let me get used to this two-second delay and search for any Awakeners hiding around here.’
Lee Kang-hyuk pondered how to compensate for the two-second delay while continuously issuing orders to find the Awakeners lurking somewhere in the area.
And so…….
While conducting reconnaissance for both training and to locate pursuers, one of the water snakes suddenly sent a signal.
‘What is it?’
Given that he’d ordered the snakes to attack on finding pursuers, the fact that one only sent a sensation suggested it had found something—a trace of something.
‘Hmm, a trace left by the pursuers?’
Despite thoroughly scouring the area, no pursuers appeared—only a trace was found.
Perhaps it was a trace made when they withdrew from nearby.
Or perhaps there were never any pursuers to begin with, and someone else had left this trace.
Deciding to investigate directly and judge for himself, Lee Kang-hyuk headed toward the water snake sending the signal.
‘Underground?’
Upon reaching the snake’s location moments later, Lee Kang-hyuk confirmed that it was underground, so he sent the zombies down.
“Let’s go. Electric, lead the way. Use Spark.”
“Grrrgh.”
Crackle.
After confirming there was nothing else to see, Lee Kang-hyuk descended underground, using Electric’s Spark as a torch.
‘This is…….’
As he descended the stairs, Lee Kang-hyuk saw the trace the water snake had discovered and turned to look at Im Jae-beom and Electric standing behind him.
A marking presumed to be left by these two was drawn on the wall.
‘They marked even here below ground, following the roof. Did they double-mark in case the first marking got erased or damaged? Or does it have a different meaning? A marking on a high building and a low building…… If I’d told them to leave a marking…….’
Stroking his chin in thought, Lee Kang-hyuk considered what meaning he would have assigned if he’d ordered Seo Hwa-rin and Seo A-rin to leave such marks.
‘The one on the roof probably indicates location, and the one here seems meant to convey a situation…… But what about them?’
Would they have used it for the same purpose?
Or did it mean something different?
“Tsk, forget it. Erase them. Let’s wipe out all the markings first, and then I’ll think about what they mean.”
Rousing himself from his contemplation, Lee Kang-hyuk decided it was safer to erase the markings and return than to waste time analyzing them, and he issued the order to Im Jae-beom.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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