Morning came.
Donghoon slept soundly for the first time in a long while. The mattress, the barricades, and the guards on watch had let him relax. It was the first night in three days he'd slept without staying alert.
He got up and went down to the first floor. People were gathered in the lobby—about fifteen of them. They sat at tables eating rice and soybean-paste soup. He had no idea where they'd gotten the soybean paste, but it smelled good.
As soon as Donghoon entered, everyone's eyes turned toward him. Most of them were wary. An outsider. The new guy who'd arrived yesterday. Donghoon ignored them and sat in an empty seat.
He accepted a bowl and began to eat. The soup was warm. It felt strange to be able to eat hot soup in the ruined world. In the web novel, Zone 2 was an organized group with a systematic food-management system. The rationing system Jin Seoha had established early on had been maintained for three years. Even after Jin Seoha disappeared, the system remained.
The man sitting beside him spoke up. He was in his late twenties and heavily built, with broad shoulders and several scars on his forearms. They looked like scratches from a Crawler.
"You're the guy who came in yesterday, right? I heard you took down a Howler by yourself."
Donghoon nodded.
"For real? With just one ax?"
"Yeah."
The man looked Donghoon up and down, sizing him up. Donghoon wasn't big—five foot nine with a lean build. The enhancement process had added some muscle, but he was nowhere near as bulky as this man.
"You don't look that big."
Donghoon didn't answer. He kept eating.
The man snorted and turned away. He whispered something to the person beside him. Donghoon's enhanced hearing picked it up.
"You think that asshole's for real? Yuna says she saw him."
"Who knows? The boss let him in, so he must have something."
"But he only got here three days ago, right? Does it make any sense for him to take down a Howler in three days?"
"He's an Enhancer. Guess he got lucky."
Donghoon didn't care. When he finished eating, he stood up.
Lee Jaehyuk was waiting in the lobby. He was the guard in charge whom Donghoon had met at the barricade yesterday. He had short hair and sharp eyes, with a steel pipe strapped to his waist.
"The boss says you're joining today's supply run. Come with me."
Donghoon followed Lee Jaehyuk outside.
Four people were standing in front of the barricade. Five, counting Lee Jaehyuk. Six with Donghoon.
Lee Jaehyuk introduced him.
"Han Donghoon. New arrival from yesterday. He's an Enhancer."
The four people looked at Donghoon. Their reactions varied.
One of them nodded. She was a woman in her thirties with short hair and a sharp-looking face. A steel pipe hung from her waist. She had heavy dark circles under her eyes, but her gaze was clear—the eyes of someone who had survived for three years.
"Kim Soyeon. Enhancer."
Soyeon gave Donghoon one quick once-over and lost interest. She wouldn't judge him until she'd seen what he could do. Donghoon liked that.
Another person stood there expressionless. A man in his forties, big and taciturn-looking. A sledgehammer was slung over his shoulder. Stains of black liquid remained on its head—the blood of a monster. He'd wiped it down, but couldn't remove it completely.
"Choi Taeho."
That was all. He gave only his name and fell silent. He didn't even look at Donghoon. It wasn't that he wasn't interested; he was simply a man of few words. There had been no character like him in the web novel. He was someone who existed only in the third cycle. The survivors were different in every cycle.
The remaining two were non-Enhancers, in charge of carrying supplies. Donghoon heard their names, but they didn't stick in his mind. One was a woman in her forties, the other a man in his twenties. Both wore backpacks. Neither had a weapon. Non-Enhancers didn't take part in combat. The Enhancers opened the way, and the non-Enhancers carried the supplies. That was Zone 2's division of labor.
Lee Jaehyuk spoke.
"Today's target is the mart three blocks west. There may still be canned food and medicine. Be careful—it's a Crawler territory. No signs of a Howler, but you never know."
West. Toward the rift. Donghoon recalled what he knew from the web novel. The closer they got to the rift, the higher the monster density. Three blocks west of Zone 2 was still within the safe range, but they needed to stay alert.
The barricade opened. The six of them went outside.
The city was quiet. It was daytime, after all. Crawlers would be hiding in the dark for now. But building interiors, basements, and shadowed alleys were dangerous.
As they walked, Donghoon observed Kim Soyeon and Choi Taeho. Both were Enhancers. Their movements were different from those of ordinary people. Their footsteps were quiet, their eyes swept over their surroundings quickly, and their centers of gravity stayed low. The movements of trained people.
Soyeon's hand stayed on her steel pipe even while she walked. She held it in a position where she could draw it at any moment. It was a habit ingrained in her over three years. But her field of vision was narrow. She watched ahead and to the sides, but never looked up. In the web novel, third-grade Hunters attacked by leaping down from rooftops. It wasn't a concern while only first- and second-grade monsters existed, but anyone who failed to build the habit would pay for it later.
Taeho was the opposite. He watched his surroundings carefully, but his hearing was dull. That was only natural compared to Donghoon's enhanced hearing, but even so, he made far too much noise with his footsteps. The weight of his sledgehammer was partly to blame. It was difficult to walk quietly while carrying a heavy weapon.
Donghoon said nothing. It was his first day. He wasn't in a position to point out their flaws.
They arrived at the mart. The shutter was down. Lee Jaehyuk raised it, and it screeched. Donghoon listened closely. There was no sound of movement inside.
They went in.
The mart was dark. They turned on their flashlights. Shelves had fallen over, and products were scattered across the floor. Most of it had already been taken, but a few things remained in the corners: bags of expired snacks, shattered glass bottles, and dust-covered detergent. Almost nothing was usable.
Soyeon quickly searched between the shelves. Her hands moved with practiced skill, sorting the usable items from the useless ones in an instant. She'd done this dozens of times over the past three years.
"Four cans. Two tuna, two saury. They're past the expiration date, but they're still edible."
Soyeon handed the cans to the carriers.
The two carriers began collecting the canned food and medicine. Lee Jaehyuk and Soyeon guarded the mart's entrance. Taeho checked the back of the store.
Donghoon went farther back. There was a storeroom. Its door was closed.
Donghoon listened.
He heard something.
Beyond the door. A scratching sound. Faint, but unmistakable.
Donghoon turned around. Taeho was searching the shelves three aisles away.
"Mr. Choi."
Taeho turned.
"There's something in the storeroom."
Taeho approached and listened. Then he shook his head.
"I don't hear anything."
Donghoon's hearing was more sensitive than Taeho's. He drew his ax.
"I'll open it. Watch my back."
Taeho hefted his sledgehammer and took position behind Donghoon. His face remained expressionless, but his grip tightened around the handle. He was tense. Even after three years, not knowing what waited behind a door was enough to make anyone tense.
Donghoon opened the door.
A Crawler was crouched inside. Light poured in when the door opened, and the Crawler flinched. Its movements were sluggish because it was daytime.
Donghoon stepped inside and brought his ax down. The back of its neck. A precise strike. One hit was all it took.
The Crawler collapsed without even a scream.
Taeho watched from behind Donghoon. He hadn't needed to raise his sledgehammer.
"...Fast."
It was the first time Taeho's voice held any emotion. Surprise. And something else. Relief? No. Recognition. When a man of few words said something, he meant it.
Donghoon wiped off his ax and searched the storeroom. There was nothing else besides the Crawler. A few cans remained on the storeroom shelves. Donghoon took them and handed them to the carriers.
They left the mart. The backpacks filled with supplies were heavy. The two carriers wore them while the other four escorted them back.
On the way back, Lee Jaehyuk came up beside Donghoon.
"Taeho told me. You took down a Crawler in one hit in the storeroom."
"I got lucky. It was sluggish because it was daytime."
"That wasn't luck. You heard it first. Taeho didn't hear a thing."
Donghoon didn't answer.
Lee Jaehyuk looked at him.
"To get this good in three days... your growth rate is abnormal. You know that, right?"
Donghoon knew. In the web novel, the protagonist Jin Seoha had also grown at an abnormal rate. He hunted efficiently because he had the knowledge of fifty cycles. Donghoon was the same. With knowledge from the web novel, he struck weak points precisely, killed efficiently, and accumulated enhancements rapidly.
But he couldn't explain that.
"I've always been a fast learner."
Lee Jaehyuk snorted. His eyes said he didn't believe it. But he didn't press further. That was common courtesy in this world. Everyone who had survived had their own reasons.
They returned to the base. They put the supplies in the storeroom and dispersed.
Donghoon went up to his room on the third floor. Sitting on the mattress, he took out a sheet of paper—the record sheet he'd brought from Zone 3.
He added new entries.
'Crawler kills: 8 total. Howler kills: 1.' 'Zone 2 Enhancers: Park Jeongsu (boss), Lee Jaehyuk (security), Kim Soyeon, Choi Taeho, and me. Five total.' 'Zone 2 population: 87.' 'Supplies: Food is rationed. Water: one liter per day. Medicine: scarce.'
Donghoon stopped his pen and thought.
In the web novel, Zone 2 was a group with plentiful supplies but insufficient combat power. Zone 7 was the opposite. It had combat power, but lacked supplies. The two zones forming an alliance was how the web novel unfolded.
But that was the story of the fiftieth cycle. There was no guarantee the same events would unfold in the third. The people were similar. Park Jeongsu was here, and so was Lee Jaehyuk. But there were also people who hadn't appeared in the web novel. Kim Soyeon and Choi Taeho. Neither of them had appeared in the fiftieth cycle. They were survivors who had made it only in the third.
The people who survived were different in every cycle. So were the people who died.
Donghoon folded the paper and put it in his backpack.
After dinner, Donghoon went to find Park Jeongsu.
The boss's room was on the second floor. Donghoon knocked.
"Come in."
Donghoon entered. Park Jeongsu was sitting at a table, studying a map. A single candle flickered on the tabletop. Shadows fell across Park Jeongsu's face. Deep-set eyes. Tired eyes. But eyes that had lost none of their sharpness.
"What is it?"
"I want permission for a night hunt."
Park Jeongsu looked at Donghoon.
"A night hunt?"
"I want to go outside the barricade at night and hunt Crawlers."
Park Jeongsu's eyes narrowed.
"Are you crazy? You want to go out at night?"
"Crawlers are nocturnal. Hunting them at night is more efficient."
"More efficient? You mean getting yourself killed?"
"I won't die."
Park Jeongsu stared at Donghoon for a long moment. The candle flickered. Park Jeongsu's shadow moved across the wall.
"Why?"
"Because I need to get stronger."
Park Jeongsu leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"I like the honesty. But if you go out at night and die, that's a loss of manpower. There are five Enhancers among eighty-seven people. Losing even one would hurt us badly."
"That's why I need to get stronger. At my current level, one Howler is my limit. If two come at once, we won't be able to stop them."
Park Jeongsu's expression shifted, just slightly. It was the expression of a man who knew Donghoon was right. The expression of someone who had lived with this problem for three years.
"...There are conditions."
"What are they?"
"You go alone. Don't take anyone else. And come back before dawn. If you don't return, we won't come looking for you."
"Understood."
Donghoon left the room.
Night fell.
Donghoon left the base through the barricade. The guard looked at him. It was Lee Jaehyuk.
"You're really going out?"
"Yeah."
"You crazy bastard."
Lee Jaehyuk said it, but he opened the barricade for him. Then he added quietly,
"Don't die."
Donghoon nodded and walked into the darkness.
His enhanced vision pierced the darkness. The outlines of buildings, the edges of roads, the shapes of debris. He could see everything. His enhanced hearing caught a sound. Three blocks away, Crawlers were moving. Four feet scraping across the ground. At least three of them.
Donghoon gripped his ax and walked.
It was time to hunt.
Donghoon didn't smile. But his heart was beating faster. Not from fear—from anticipation.
This was what he'd imagined while reading the web novel. A night spent alone hunting monsters in the ruined world. It was frightening. But it was thrilling, too. The coexistence of those two emotions was Donghoon.
In this world, Donghoon was growing stronger every day. Like the protagonist of the web novel. No, in a different way from the protagonist. Jin Seoha had the knowledge he'd built over fifty deaths. Donghoon had the memory of reading that knowledge.
The same knowledge. A different source. A different person.
Donghoon followed the sound of the Crawlers through the darkness.
How many could he kill tonight?
Donghoon quickened his pace.