FRAP 09

Chapter 09

Even If the World Has Ended, This Is Too Much

“Ah, ahh… it’s cold!”

When I left the house, it wasn’t this cold. But as night deepened, a chill seeped into every part of my body.

I must have forgotten for a moment—after spending two hundred years in another world.

That Grandpa Dangun had chosen a starting point with a ridiculously high difficulty.

Why does this country turn into a boiling cauldron in summer and a freezer in winter?

At least there was one small blessing: I now had proper work shoes. Broken glass, shattered sidewalk tiles, and bits of scrap metal were scattered all over the street. If I’d kept walking around in slippers in this situation, I would’ve stepped on something and caused real trouble.

‘Good thing I got shoes first.’

Next, I needed clothes.

What, just strip them off a dead person and wear them?

That’s the trap card.

Walking around in clothes that reek of blood would be no different from advertising my location to zombies and infected.

‘It was around here…’

I hurried toward the small clothing shop I had spotted earlier from the rooftop.

One way or another, I had to get clothes.

If I kept wandering around in just a T-shirt and a hoodie, I’d freeze to death before any zombie or infected got to me.

There was only one plan: get to the clothing store as fast as possible and secure cold-weather gear.

Every time I breathed, a cloud of white vapor puffed out.

‘Just how cold is it?’

As I rounded a corner in haste—

“Grrrraaah!”

A zombie suddenly appeared.

‘Damn it!’

I instinctively swung my new weapon.

—Thud!

With a dull impact, its body collapsed limply.

—Crunch!

When I stabbed the pointed end of the crowbar into its mouth, even its faint twitching stopped completely.

‘Ugh, my hands are freezing.’

Gripping cold metal in this weather felt like it was draining my body heat by the second. If I hadn’t had gloves, I’d probably have lost all feeling in my hands already.

‘Still, the power is solid.’

This was without even enhancing it.

Once again, thanks to the hardware store guy.

‘All right, from now on, I’ll call you Excalibar.’

It wasn’t a sword, but it was still a fine weapon.

Of course, it wasn’t a perfect weapon.

It was sturdy—but that meant heavy. Every swing consumed a lot of stamina.

Its center of gravity was also different from proper weapons like swords or maces, limiting my movements.

That was a pretty big drawback. Especially considering the pitiful stamina of office worker Kim Daesik.

‘Feels like my trait level should go up soon.’

Thinking that, I kept moving.

Once my trait leveled up, this problem would be much easier to deal with.

But for now, clothes were the priority.

—Whoooosh…

A biting wind swept through, lowering my already-dropped body temperature even further.

‘Ugh… uuugh…’

It seriously felt like my ears were about to snap off.

‘With wind like this, I might actually get frostbite.’

Frostbite was probably an exaggeration. What I was really worried about was catching a cold.

In an apocalypse, you can’t eat well or rest properly. Because of that, even an ordinary cold can easily drag on for over a week. During that time, your condition worsens, making it hard to move as you normally would.

I really wanted to avoid wasting precious time groaning over a cold during a period where every second mattered.

So while staying alert, I increased my pace as much as possible.

After dealing with a few zombies while braving the freezing wind, I finally reached the area near the clothing store…

‘Fuck, seriously!’

A curse slipped out before I could stop it.

A group of zombies was loitering around my destination.

‘They weren’t here earlier!’

When I checked from the rooftop, there had been none of them. Where the hell did they come from?

‘One, two… seven?’

The numbers weren’t trivial either.

Too many to just rush in and deal with quickly.

Especially considering the weight of Excalibar and my own lackluster strength.

But I didn’t have the luxury of looking elsewhere.

There weren’t any other clothing stores nearby, and wandering around in search of one wasn’t a good idea in this situation.

‘Is this temperature swing for real…?’

It felt like at least minus ten degrees.

Cursing internally, I reached into a pouch attached to my tactical vest(?) and grabbed a small adjustable wrench.

At that moment, something strange happened.

[ Ability activated. ]
[ Please select points to use for enhancement. ]
[ Satiety (100) / ??? (10) ]

What the hell is this…?

Is this auxiliary battery different from plain satiety?

‘This wasn’t a thing back in Archaea…’

After a brief moment of thought, I stopped worrying and activated the ability.

I’d find out what it was once I used it.

And to deal with that many enemies, I’d need to unlock the next ability anyway.

[ Using satiety. ]
[ Enhancing adjustable wrench. ]
[ The shape of the adjustable wrench changes. ]
[ Using ???. ]
[ Enhancing adjustable wrench. ]
[ The shape of the adjustable wrench changes. ]

When I applied shape transformation, the head of the wrench thickened and sharpened, turning into something like a small axe blade.

I tossed the wrench up and caught it, checking its balance.

Putting some snap into it, I threw the wrench.

—Thud!

The axe-like tip sank straight into a zombie’s skull.

A direct hit on the first shot.

“Grr?”

As their companion(?) fell to a sudden ambush, the remaining six zombies charged straight at me.

I immediately threw the second adjustable wrench, enhanced with the auxiliary battery.

Then—

—BOOM!

With a sound twice as loud as before, the zombie’s body flew backward as if it had been launched.

The power was on a completely different level from a normal adjustable wrench.

‘What the hell!?’

Before I could even calm my pounding heart, the remaining five zombies rushed at me.

—Thud! Thud!

I thrust the crowbar straight into the mouth of the one in the lead.

“G-grrk…”

The tip of the crowbar pierced cleanly through its skull.

I kicked the corpse away and swung at the second zombie.

‘So heavy.’

Maybe because my body was stiff from the cold—my already sluggish movements felt even slower.

“Grrk!”

Damn it, there were still three left.

Just then, a welcome message flickered before my eyes.

[ Trait level has increased. ]
[ Blacksmith (Lv2 → Lv3) ]
[ New function unlocked. ]
[ Lightweighting: Slightly reduces the weight of the selected target. ]

‘Perfect timing.’

I immediately used the newly acquired Lightweighting function.

[ The weight of the metal crowbar decreases. ]
[ Remaining satiety: 70 + 5 ]

As I swung the crowbar—now nearly half its original weight—the sensation of a zombie’s skull shattering traveled up my arm.

—Crunch!

‘Three left.’

I rotated my body, dodging a flailing attack, and swung again. With the reduced weight, movements like this were no longer difficult.

—Thud!

The result was perfect.

The lever part of Excalibar smashed cleanly into the back of the zombie’s head.

“Whew…”

Borrowing the now-perfected power of Excalibar, I neatly finished off the remaining two and retrieved the adjustable wrenches.

Then, as if being chased, I dashed into the clothing store.

“Haa… haa…”

The first thing I did was grab whatever clothes were closest and wipe the sweat off my body.

‘If this sweat cools down, I’ll really catch a cold.’

Then, while slowly regulating my breathing, I wiped the blood off the adjustable wrenches.

Weapons rust quickly if you don’t take care of them.

There was no way I’d just throw away a throwing weapon I’d enhanced using precious satiety.

As I cleaned the blood from the auxiliary-battery-enhanced wrench, a question naturally surfaced in my mind.

‘What is this?’

The power of weapons enhanced with the auxiliary battery was beyond imagination.

This wasn’t the kind of destructive force you’d get just by increasing durability with a crafting skill.

If possible, I really wanted to keep that auxiliary battery fully charged.

But I had no idea how to replenish it.

‘Does it increase when I overeat?’

Or maybe when I eat cleanly, without leaving even a drop of broth…?

That one was half wishful thinking. I was confident in eating deliciously—and in large amounts, too.

‘Do I have to receive food from other people?’

It would be difficult, but that did seem like the most plausible option.

After pondering for a bit, I turned my gaze toward the interior of the clothing store.

That was a problem for later. Right now, getting cold-weather gear was more important.

‘Wow… that’s a lot.’

From simple T-shirts to flashy floral shirts that could practically be called old ladies’ uniforms, a wide variety of clothes were displayed inside.

I quickly scanned for wearable items.

First, anything thin, flowy, or flashy was out.

No insulation, and they stood out too much.

As for color—black, if possible.

Not because of zombies or infected, but because of humans.

When society collapses, humans can be just as dangerous as monsters.

And against humans, black clothes are best. During the day it doesn’t matter much, but at night or in dark places, wearing black alone is a huge advantage.

Ninjas and assassins don’t wear black for style or personal taste.

Next were winter accessories—scarves, earmuffs, and the like.

Fortunately, the store had scarves and earmuffs, as well as miscellaneous items like handkerchiefs and socks.

‘Is this a secondhand shop?’

Judging by the condition of the clothes and the mix of various brands and off-brand items, it seemed to be a secondhand clothing store.

From my perspective, this was a stroke of luck.

It meant I could find a wide variety of clothes.

But there was one problem…

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

When I actually tried to pick something to wear, there were barely any men’s clothes.

‘Even if the world’s ended, I don’t want to go around cross-dressing!’

I wasn’t the type to care much about other people’s opinions—but still, this was too much!

What would people say if they saw me?

“Man, even if the world’s gone to hell, look at him proudly cross-dressing,” they’d say, clicking their tongues!

They’d think I’d finally seized the chance to flaunt some long-hidden preference!

‘No. Just no.’

Faced with this completely unexpected obstacle, my mind went blank. Panicking, I rummaged through the store, desperately hoping to find at least something labeled unisex.

“Huh?”

And then—at the bottom of a clothing rack—I discovered an unexpected treasure.