Surviving the Apocalypse as an All-Time Best Overpowered Necromancer - Chapter 7

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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 7
7. Winter Approaches (1)
Thud.
“Phew. I didn’t know moving supplies could be this exhausting. You lot, get outside now.”
“Guuhhrrr.”
Though the Zombies had carried most of it, Lee Kang-hyuk had only moved a single box of Instant Noodles.
Even so, he wiped his brow as if worn out and ushered the Zombies back outside.
It was kind of them to help carry the load, but the thought of their peculiar rotting stench seeping through the house made him decide to leave them in the corridor instead.
“You stay.”
“Guuhhrrr.”
All the other Zombies went outside, but he kept the one he’d made from the dead man inside the apartment.
Though it reeked of blood, it hadn’t been dead long enough to emit the stench of decomposition, and besides—there was still more to examine.
But that was only for a moment.
“Hmm, I should put this on hold for now.”
Lee Kang-hyuk had pulled out a large-capacity Auxiliary Battery to test whether he could harness the Zombie’s Electric discharge in daily life, but worried the experiment might damage the battery, he decided to postpone it.
“Tomorrow, once I clean up the Underground Parking Lot and find a Car Battery, I’ll run the experiment.”
Rather than risk ruining a perfectly good Auxiliary Battery, Lee Kang-hyuk judged it wiser to find a common Car Battery for testing. He sent the Zombie outside.
“I hope it works out.”
As the Zombie left, Lee Kang-hyuk murmured softly to himself.
Winter was coming soon.
Looking at the roadside trees yellowed with age, he felt how little time remained.
Of course……
He had the Solar Generator and large-capacity Auxiliary Battery he’d stockpiled before the Catastrophe, so he could manage to some degree.
But come winter, when sunlight dropped sharply, even his current comfortable life would become impossible. In the midst of searching for a stable way to generate electricity through the cold months—
He’d gotten lucky: an Electric-type Zombie.
But it was too soon to feel secure.
Stabilizing the electricity the Zombie produced would require some work.
With that in mind, Lee Kang-hyuk decided he absolutely had to clean up all the way to the Underground Parking Lot tomorrow. Now he took his customary seat before the broadcast computer.
“Hmm.”
He hadn’t particularly planned to stream.
But after such an eventful day, hadn’t he?
He wanted to calm his nerves by talking with those who had his back and rooted for him. The moment he turned on the computer, he connected to Satellite Internet.
Fortunately, it worked.
Thanks to Elon Musk and his company.
Ah, and the service had already been converted to free.
His final gift to those who’d survived as humanity’s existence grew uncertain.
But……
According to chatter in the community, it wouldn’t last long.
That man had been confirmed to have turned into a Zombie, and with no one managing the service anymore, the internet would likely go down soon.
Fortunately, with the community in place, losing internet wouldn’t be a major problem. But until then, Lee Kang-hyuk decided to keep streaming—and he opened the broadcast naturally.
The moment he went live, people who saw the notification flooded in.
┖ What? Broadcasting at this hour?
┖ Did something happen?
┖ Wait, seriously? Host, you’re okay, right?
Since he usually only streamed during daylight hours when the sun was up—
Each person who entered kept asking if something was wrong, full of concern.
Warmed by his fans’ worry, Lee Kang-hyuk thanked each one for their concern.
Then……
He spotted the same nickname that had mocked him that morning and waited to see what it would say.
Sure enough!
As expected of a dog that can’t change its ways—the user came in and immediately started mocking and stirring up trouble.
‘Tsk, they’re gonna turn into a Zombie at this rate.’
Lee Kang-hyuk recalled the face of the man who’d become a Zombie. He checked the chat for his fans’ reactions, and seeing they were no different from the morning, he broke into a broad smile. He pulled out one of the instant Noodle packages he’d scavenged from the Convenience Store earlier and boiled it right there on camera, eating it in front of everyone.
Against mockery, he answered with pride.
Before awakening, all he’d had to show was the equipment he’d gathered—it was his only way to stand against them.
Ironically, this had evolved into a means of attracting more fans.
There was no mystery to it.
The very people who used to mock him came to his stream daily, waiting for someone to appear and mock Lee Kang-hyuk the way they’d once mocked their past selves.
And so……
The moment a mocker appeared, as it did today—
In perfect unison, his fans encouraged displays of superiority and mercilessly ridiculed the would-be critic.
Perhaps what mattered to these viewers wasn’t the quality of his stream or the content itself.
Perhaps it was simply the chance to legitimately mock someone else.
‘Tsk.’
This might be the true nature of humanity with its social bonds shattered, but it didn’t particularly matter to Lee Kang-hyuk.
Right now, he needed only one thing.
“Does anyone here happen to have Kimchi? Anyone willing to trade for Instant Noodles?”
Though the Noodles tasted good after so long, eating them plain without Kimchi felt like he was only enjoying half the meal. At his question, the chat filled with people offering to trade.
Even the user who’d mocked him when first entering the stream raised their hand repeatedly, offering to trade.
Of course……
Since his original goal was to show off, the trade never actually went through.
But Lee Kang-hyuk, genuinely wishing for Kimchi, ended his day that way.
* * *
“Well then, shall we start another day with energy?”
Though yesterday’s broadcast had been a spontaneous one at night, the early morning mood had drawn it out late. So today he’d decided to skip streaming.
Not because his body was tired, but to give people time to charge their phones in their own way.
Unlike him, they didn’t have access to many Solar Generators or Auxiliary Batteries.
So the moment he woke, with the plan to clean the first and second floors of the main building plus the Underground Parking Lot and find a Car Battery, Lee Kang-hyuk put on the Bone Armor he’d removed and set aside when returning yesterday, then left the apartment.
The instant he opened the door……
“Guuhhrrr!”
“Oh, you startled me.”
Lee Kang-hyuk jumped at the sight of Zombies standing blankly in front of the door.
Recognizing them as his own in the next moment, he let out a sigh of relief, then shook his head in exasperation.
“I need to find a proper place to keep you lot.”
He didn’t want to be startled every time he opened the door.
There were plenty of places to store the tamed Zombies.
He could just break into the apartment next door and leave them there.
Since he was the only living person left in this building, any apartment he wanted was his for the taking.
The apartment where he currently lived wasn’t originally his either. His old place was a one-room unit on the fourth floor of the same building.
But fearing that living so low would let Zombies climb up too easily, he’d moved higher. After days of searching, he’d found his current place.
Well……
If the building owner or the original tenant miraculously survived and came back, he’d return it.
‘As if.’
That seemed unlikely.
“Tch.”
Though he’d relieved his loneliness through streaming, Lee Kang-hyuk harbored a secret longing for human company. The thought of the man who’d attacked him yesterday made him hastily shake his head.
The Sixth Survival Rule: when a stranger approaches, stay alert first.
It would be different if he’d known them before the Catastrophe.
In this era, anyone approaching him had to be treated with caution.
Not everyone was evil, of course, but simply surviving this long was reason enough to be wary.
“Here we are.”
He’d reached the emergency exit door on the second floor.
Perhaps because he’d cleaned up to the third floor yesterday—he hadn’t encountered a single Zombie on his descent down the stairs.
But the real problem started after opening this door. He had no way to guess how many Zombies awaited beyond it.
And for good reason……
Several days ago, he’d raided the Restaurant for supplies and triggered an alarm, drawing a horde in pursuit.
They might have left after hearing yesterday’s commotion.
But that was merely wishful thinking.
Expecting plenty of Zombies, Lee Kang-hyuk steeled himself and checked the combat readiness of his tamed Zombies.
‘Still in good shape.’
The Bone Axes were in excellent condition. They seemed highly durable, crafted by skill.
“Good……”
Satisfied, he nodded, opened the second-floor emergency door, and gave an order.
“Attack!”
“Guuhhrrr!”
The moment the door swung open, the deployed Zombies unleashed a barrage. The second-floor Zombies reacted late but struck back—yet they couldn’t withstand Zombies wielding Bone Axes.
Throughout, the Zombie he’d made from killing the man—the Electric one—he kept from the fight.
Regular Zombies were enough, and he couldn’t gauge the exact output of its electrical discharge.
He decided to conserve it until he could charge the Car Battery.
And so……
While the Zombies deployed to the second floor fought—
Lee Kang-hyuk, arriving late from the Staircase, tamed new Zombies to fill gaps in numbers, then peered down at the lower floor.
“Guuhhrrr.”
“Gaaaahhh!”
The Zombies in the first-floor Lobby, hearing the sounds of combat, let out piercing shrieks.
‘Damn, there’s a lot.’
Lee Kang-hyuk’s expression darkened at the sight of them.
A rough count suggested numbers comparable to all the Zombies he’d hunted while cleaning the building.
So many had chased him that day……
‘I really was lucky then.’
Until now, he’d thought that day was unlucky. Realizing it was the opposite, he breathed a sigh of relief.
But only for a moment.
Excited by the noise, the Zombies that had been wandering the Lobby began climbing the stairs toward the second floor.
“Block them now! Bone Weapon Crafting! Bone Spears!”
Lee Kang-hyuk ordered the Zombies who’d just finished clearing the second floor to stop them, then used the freshly dead Zombies to craft Bone Spears.
“Bone Weapon Crafting! Bone Spears!”
He rapidly crafted three more Bone Spears, handed them to the Zombies, positioned them to guard the Staircase, and had them attack relentlessly.
Though the Lobby held many Zombies, the narrow stairwell meant only a few could actually engage.
Moreover, as they clawed up the stairs unarmed, they fell one by one to the armed Zombies, unable to mount any defense.
Yet the sheer numbers made Lee Kang-hyuk fear the stairs would be breached. He invested the Experience Points he’d saved yesterday into Charisma, taming two more Zombies from the Lobby.
[Congratulations. You have leveled up. All physical stats increase by 1.]
‘One more!’
As his level rose, Lee Kang-hyuk immediately invested in Charisma again and tamed another Zombie.
He was now Level 11.
Charisma was 15.
He could now command 15 Zombies total.
Moreover, the Zombies on the stairs paid the newly tamed ones no mind, fixating entirely on climbing—drawn only by their hunger.
The reason was simple.
They’d seen Lee Kang-hyuk on the second floor. The only living being among them, they clawed upward in ravenous frenzy.
Satisfied, Lee Kang-hyuk smiled and tossed Bone Axes to the newly tamed Zombies, giving his command.
“If that’s how you want to come—thank you kindly! Grab those Bone Axes and strike down the ones climbing!”
“Guuhhrrr!”
Following orders, the fresh recruits picked up the scattered Bone Axes and attacked the Zombies ascending the stairs.
Crack! Thud!
Squelch!
“Guuhhrrr.”
With pincer attacks from above and below, the number of climbing Zombies dwindled rapidly.
Lee Kang-hyuk’s Experience Points surged correspondingly.
By the time nearly all were dead—
Another level-up notification appeared.
Shortly after.
With no Zombie standing except those he’d tamed, Lee Kang-hyuk’s smile deepened.
“Well then……. Let me maintain the weapons and head down to the Underground Parking Lot?”

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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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