Surviving the Apocalypse as an All-Time Best Overpowered Necromancer - Chapter 61

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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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Chapter 61
61. Hearts Connected by Rail (3)
“…….”
“…….”
The expressions of the two people facing the Skeletons could only be described as one thing.
More bewilderment than fear.
Well…….
Relieved that they hadn’t panicked, Lee Gang-hyuk smiled awkwardly and explained what had happened.
Once he finished explaining the events from the early morning the day before, both of them stared at the Skeletons again before nodding as if they understood.
“……I see.”
“No wonder! You’re a Necromancer, but it was strange that you were only taming Zombies!”
Unlike Seo Hwa-rin, who accepted it despite her shock, Seo A-rin spoke as if she knew about Necromancers, and Lee Gang-hyuk asked in surprise.
“What? Have you met another Necromancer before?”
“No? Not directly……. Someone above told me about it. Whenever he saw Zombies, he’d think of a lost lover, and he’d often tell me stories about things that happened back then.”
Often?
It seemed they’d been having conversations before he was even assigned the role of the helpful officer.
At the same time, Lee Gang-hyuk recalled how the man’s behavior toward him and Seo A-rin had been subtly different recently.
“I see. Still, be careful not to get too close. He might be manipulating your emotions to gain your favor.”
Seo A-rin was a sentimental person.
The kind who could even feel affection for Zombies.
So when Lee Gang-hyuk spoke with concern, worried that the man might try to use this against them to escape, Seo A-rin smiled brightly and showed her confidence.
“Yes! Don’t worry. I’ll make sure there’s no problem!”
Her expression radiated certainty.
She seemed to understand what he was worried about, so he decided to trust her for now.
“Right. Then……. Are both of you all right?”
The continued question. Perhaps because they could feel how much he cared about them?
“Yes! I think I’ll be fine. After all, these are beings you created. There’s no problem for me!”
“I……. To be honest, I’m not quite adjusted yet, but I’ll naturally adapt as I see them more. Thank you. For worrying about us in case we were shocked.”
At her words, Lee Gang-hyuk let out a breath of relief and scratched his cheek in embarrassment.
He then changed the subject and told them about the arrangement to meet Kim Tae-sik.
“By the way, I’ve arranged to meet the Alliance Leader of the Jungnang-gu Alliance in two days.”
“What? The Alliance Leader?”
“You’re meeting the Alliance Leader directly?”
Perhaps because they hadn’t expected such a statement, both of them asked again to make sure they’d heard correctly.
“Yes. I’ve set it for 1 P.M. in two days.”
As this was the reaction he’d anticipated, Lee Gang-hyuk nodded and stated the meeting time.
Then he unfolded a map and pointed to a location.
“The place we’re meeting is right here.”
“What?”
“……Are you serious?”
The moment they saw where Lee Gang-hyuk was pointing, both of them tilted their heads in confusion.
He had pointed to the summit of Bulamsan.
“Yes. The city areas have too many Zombies and far too many places to ambush from. So I arranged to meet at the mountain summit. I thought it would be a good place to hide the Skeletons. And……. Just in case things go wrong, it’s a location where we could stage a show of force.”
As he spoke and looked at Seo Hwa-rin, she wore a startled expression.
The last remark meant he was planning to threaten them by setting the mountain on fire if they made any aggressive moves, which is why she was taken aback.
“I don’t mean actually setting a fire—just a threat. With your skill, controlling flames through fire would be easy, and even if a fire accidentally started, we have you and this guy here, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
At his explanation, Seo Hwa-rin felt somewhat reassured, but she still looked uneasy.
“But they’ll likely have more people than us……. Will we really be all right?”
“That’s why I’ve arranged for only two people to accompany each of us. If they break their word……. We’ll escape exactly as I just said and relocate our base. I know of places in this area where we can hide.”
There was a decoy base, but if they fell out with the Jungnang-gu Alliance, it was only a matter of time before that decoy was exposed.
So Lee Gang-hyuk had scouted alternative locations in preparation for the possibility.
Just then, he remembered that there was an old temple halfway up Dobongsan, so he’d already planned to flee there.
In a mountain temple, neither Zombies nor people would likely come looking for them.
“Hmm, I understand. I’ll do my best.”
“Hiking after so long……. It feels like I’ve returned to the old days, and I like it.”
At Lee Gang-hyuk’s words, which seemed to have plans for everything from the meeting location to what to do if things went wrong, both women smiled with relief.
“In that sense, today let’s focus on training rather than Farming. We’ll patrol the surrounding area.”
“Yes!”
They readily agreed to his suggestion to train in preparation for any complications, get in sync with both women, and assess the performance of the Skeletons.
* * *
Kim Tae-sik chose Park Mu-jin and Jang Man-ho as his companions to accompany him to the designated meeting place, as Lee Gang-hyuk had requested.
When he called Jang Man-ho to explain the situation, the man asked as if in disbelief.
“You’re meeting at the summit of Bulamsan?”
“That’s what they wanted.”
“Why? Setting that aside, how could you agree to that? What if that bastard’s set a trap at the summit!”
At his words, Jang Man-ho grumbled. But despite his tone, his expression was filled with worry and anxiety.
“There’s no trap.”
“What?”
Yet when Kim Tae-sik spoke so definitively, frustrated Jang Man-ho appealed to Park Mu-jin beside him as if asking for help.
“Come on! Second Brother, say something too. You’d have to be insane to hold a conversation at a mountain summit. Why don’t we just go to his base……. No, wait? We could just tell him to come here!”
Park Mu-jin merely smiled bitterly, as if he’d already tried to persuade him, and shook his head.
“Seriously!”
As Jang Man-ho began to grumble, Kim Tae-sik spoke first.
“Man-ho, I understand your concern, but I ask you—what did I say was most important in winning people over?”
“Suddenly with that again……. You always pull that out when we’re at a disadvantage. Trust. It’s trust.”
“Right. Trust. The fact that they specifically asked to meet at Bulamsan’s summit means they don’t trust us yet. And that’s exactly when we need to show that we trust them all the more, isn’t it?”
“But why should we……. Is that person really so important that you’d go that far?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m overestimating him.”
Park Mu-jin opened his mouth to add something to what Kim Tae-sik said in response to Jang Man-ho’s question.
“From my perspective of having met him directly, I think your judgment is sound.”
“Even Second Brother? What on earth is that guy…….”
At his words, Jang Man-ho grumbled in confusion, while Park Mu-jin recalled Lee Gang-hyuk’s demeanor and smiled.
“He’s someone with a very strong will to survive.”
“What? Who doesn’t have a will to survive?”
At the continued complaint, Kim Tae-sik placed his hand on Jang Man-ho’s shoulder and spoke as if coaxing a sulky child.
“Since we’re doing this anyway, let’s just think of it as having a relaxing hike with family after so long.”
“What’s that……. We’ve never hiked together before anyway. Still, it’s only me who worries, always me.”
With that, Jang Man-ho abruptly stood up and left the room.
“Where are you going?”
“To climb the mountain. I’m going to prepare for the hike!”
It seemed he’d finally agreed after continued persuasion.
Once Jang Man-ho left, Kim Tae-sik let out a long sigh and shook his head.
“Anyway……. That guy’s temperament is something else.”
“Still, Man-ho’s concerns aren’t entirely unfounded.”
“Why worry when we’ll be there? And you met him directly—you should know better than I do. Did he look like the type to set traps?”
At the question that followed, Park Mu-jin stroked his chin as if thinking, then nodded.
“Honestly, he does look like the type to set traps. Of course, not to attack others, but for his own defense.”
“Then I want him all the more.”
“I feel the same way.”
Park Mu-jin also expressed his agreement at his words.
And for good reason…….
In a world like this, people who understand exactly what they need to do to survive and move accordingly are rarer than you’d think.
Most simply lack the ability and merely follow whatever the Shelter administrators tell them to do.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re bad people.
Such people are necessary to maintain a Shelter.
But to develop a Shelter further, you need someone like Lee Gang-hyuk who takes initiative and is specialized in survival, so both men discussed ways to persuade him.
* * *
“Are you ready?”
“Yes!”
“I’m ready too.”
Before heading out, Lee Gang-hyuk asked to check their status, and both answered with confidence.
“Good. The purpose of this training is to assess the Skeletons’ performance and to synchronize our movements. If it seems dangerous, we’ll abandon the Zombies and withdraw immediately.”
“Understood.”
There was no need to stake their lives on training.
So both women nodded, hoping that situation wouldn’t arise.
At the same time…….
Seo A-rin looked at the Skeletons and spoke.
“Since these are the first Undead you’ve created, I’m really curious how they’ll perform.”
“I’m curious too. Let’s see how they do in actual combat……. Anyway, let’s head out.”
From what he’d seen them form a formation the day before, they seemed superior to the Zombies, but real combat could be different, so Lee Gang-hyuk expressed his concerns and set out.
They decided on Dobongsan Station as the hunting ground. If negotiations with the Jungnang-gu Alliance went well, they would need to connect the rails.
While training, he intended to secure Dobongsan Station, which would be connected to Myeonmok Station via rail.
Of course, since it was a transfer station, they decided to hunt as safely and carefully as possible without overextending.
Even if they were to exchange goods using the rails, it wouldn’t be finished in a day or two, so there was absolutely no need to rush.
“There aren’t as many Zombies here as I thought?”
As they moved toward Dobongsan Station and spotted few Zombies, Seo Hwa-rin voiced her question.
Still, she seemed anxious, constantly scanning her surroundings.
She was worried that like Seo Do-gyeong, who had entered a building to draw aggro from the Zombies and died, another person might have been chased down by Zombies and killed.
Lee Gang-hyuk reassured her.
“I think it’s because I killed a lot of Zombies when I came out to get the Welder before. I killed quite a few of them then.”
“Ah! So that’s……. What? You killed all those Zombies alone?”
Her reassurance lasted only briefly.
If the area had so few Zombies, he must have hunted an enormous number.
That he’d hunted all of them alone…….
Seo Hwa-rin asked in surprise, and Lee Gang-hyuk shrugged as if it was fine.
“Yes. A Job-Exclusive Quest popped up at the time, so I was too busy to notice.”
“Even so, you could have called us. We didn’t even know you were suffering that much…….”
If you hadn’t mentioned needing the Welder, there would have been no reason for you to fight the Zombies alone…….
Seo Hwa-rin bowed her head, feeling sorry that Lee Gang-hyuk had been put in danger because of her, and Seo A-rin chimed in.
“That’s right! What if you got hurt hunting Zombies alone!”
Lee Gang-hyuk was the team leader and an essential person for their survival.
When both women spoke as if angry, having assumed that he’d returned safely and been avoiding Zombies as was his nature, a flustered Lee Gang-hyuk gestured toward the Zombies and mumbled a response.
“These guys helped, so it was fine…….”
“Even so.”
“……Next time, I’ll definitely call you.”
“Yes! Definitely.”
Having finally heard the answer she wanted, Seo A-rin beamed, and Lee Gang-hyuk shook his head as if he was no match for her, then pointed ahead.
“We’re almost there now. Let’s prepare.”
“Yes!”

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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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