SALT 07

Chapter: 07

Enemy of Humanity (4)

As a result, I agreed to Sohui’s request.

It was to uphold my personal philosophy of always repaying both kindness and grudges.

“It’s definitely not because of the survival time.”

At least… Minjun’s heart thought so.

Muttering to himself, Minjun tossed and turned on the sleeping bag.

‘It’s pretty cozy. Should I take this tent with me when I leave…? My strength has increased, so carrying it shouldn’t be a problem.’

As the sun was setting, they finished discussing with Sohui that each of them would make preparations and depart at dawn the next day.

Minjun, who was resting inside the tent set up in the leisure equipment store, suddenly stood up at a passing thought.

‘Ah right, there was something I didn’t get to check earlier….’

Since this might be the last rest period, anything that could be inspected needed to be checked now.

He took out the tomahawk hanging from his bag and grasped it.

He had checked other things to some extent, but he hadn’t properly looked into the most important item—his weapon.

“Definitely… this one had something extra attached in front of the item name….”

The system window had clearly said it had a “special option.”

He didn’t know what the option was, but since it was listed as a “bonus for achieving the first silver rank in the region,” it had to be something good, right?

“Item window? No, that’s not it… then item info?”

Responding to Minjun’s muttering, the system displayed the tomahawk’s information.

「[“Loyal” Tomahawk]

Grade: Common

Info: A hand axe for close combat or throwing

*Special Option: Recognizes its owner and has the ability to return to its owner.」

‘It recognizes its owner? What is this, Mjölnir or something.’

Minjun examined the tomahawk from various angles. As someone who had already used it, he knew well enough—it was a solid, well-sharpened hand axe.

But no matter how he looked at it, it was just an ordinary hand axe. There was no hint of something mystical or any unusual presence.

‘Well, is there anything in this situation that even makes sense?’

Minjun abruptly stood up and stepped out of the tent. He placed the axe on the ground and took ten steps backward.

‘But how is this supposed to come back…?’

There were no instructions in the item info, so he hesitated a bit.

“…Huh? …Huh?”

Simply holding the desire for the axe to return was enough—it immediately flew back and landed in his hand.

Startled, Minjun rubbed his shoulders to loosen his stiff muscles, then looked at the axe again.

“I’ve only been using this to swing it around.”

When fighting the larvae, he hadn’t even had time to check such information and had just swung it blindly. If he had known about this feature earlier, he could have fought much more efficiently.

After that, he began conducting several experiments to further test its usefulness.

Embedding it deeply into a wall and retrieving it.

Retrieving it while placing various obstacles in between.

Retrieving it from a cornered wall, and so on.

After two hours of effort, he learned two things.

First, no matter how deeply the tomahawk was embedded in something, it would return without issue.

Second, the tomahawk flew straight toward him when returning.

If something blocked its path in between, it would hit that obstruction and fall to the ground.

‘Still, the fact that it returns alone is incredibly useful. It can be used both as a thrown weapon and a melee weapon.’

Minjun practiced throwing and retrieving it against a wooden wall until his back was soaked in sweat before finally stopping.

He would have liked to continue practicing, but there was one more thing he needed to check.

The [Common Grade Weapon Exchange Ticket] he obtained after defeating the giant larva.

Since the “Loyal Tomahawk” was also Common grade, he might be able to obtain another item with a special option. Naturally, he couldn’t help but feel anticipation.

‘I’ll need to choose something that will help with survival going forward.’

Thinking that to himself, Minjun opened the [Space Shop], and as the scroll bar shortened, countless weapons appeared before his eyes.

Among blades, there were fixed knives like kukri, bowie knives, machetes, as well as folding knives and automatic knives—everything imaginable.

Other weapon categories included fire axes, sledgehammers (also called “ohammas”), tactical shields used by riot police, recurve bows, and more.

Among them, three weapons caught Minjun’s eye.

[“Accumulating” Small Shield], [“Guaranteed Hit” Compound Bow], and [“Silent” Fairbairn–Sykes].

The [“Accumulating” Small Shield], an aluminum police shield, had a limit but could store impact and release it.

The [“Guaranteed Hit” Compound Bow] ensured that arrows would always hit their target, even for beginners.

The [“Silent” Fairbairn–Sykes] was a dagger with a slender blade that suppressed the user’s presence.

“Hm… which one should I choose?”

He remembered that when he used the signboard earlier, having a shield clearly made combat easier. But that made the other items more appealing as well.

If he had a bow, he could gain survival time without much risk.

And if the dagger’s effect could eliminate the “Apostle’s Natural Enemy,” that would also be beneficial.

After much deliberation, Minjun finally closed his eyes tightly and pressed the purchase button.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

When the wristwatch displayed [05:00], the alarm sounded.

Minjun, waking up with the rustling of his sleeping bag, groped around to find the camping lantern.

Just reaching out his arm made his muscles scream in protest. Given the chaos he went through yesterday, it was only natural.

“Ugh….”

With a click, the cold LED light illuminated the inside of the tent.

‘Still sleepy.’

The reason was that he had gone to bed very late after figuring out a plan to fulfill Sohui’s request and preparing for it. But now it was time to get up.

He needed to check the situation outside and meet Sohui to explain their future plans, so he had to move quickly.

Minjun slowly got up, half-opening his eyes, and began packing his belongings.

A short while later, after packing everything and stepping out of the tent, Sohui was already waiting in front of it, holding a flashlight with a cheerful smile.

“Minjun, did you sleep well?”

“You woke up early.”

“The power went out since last night. So I just went to bed early. In the morning, thanks to the flashlight you picked out for me, I had no problems.”

Sohui said while shaking the flashlight he had chosen for her.

“Although this was bound to happen eventually… it seems like the facility manager here really mismanaged the machine room. For a building of this size, the emergency generator shouldn’t have shut down already…”

Since Minjun had worked at an architecture office, he had some knowledge of machine rooms.

He felt a slight sense of unease, but since they would be leaving soon anyway, he dismissed it and prepared to depart with Sohui.

In the pitch-black living room of an apartment with not a single trace of light.

Yeongho, who was called Secretary Kim, could not comprehend what was happening as murders continued to unfold.

Since the power outage, people had been dying continuously in Golden Apartment, and now his own life was in danger.

‘Th—the Congressman is the culprit.’

Until now, he had endured solely out of loyalty to the congressman, but the situation at the scene of the latest murder betrayed his beliefs.

“Huff… huff….”

Secretary Kim Yeongho stepped urgently across the blood-soaked floor toward the entrance.

He had to escape before being caught.

Bang.

He kicked the door open and ran into the stairwell.

Without looking back, he hurried down the stairs.

As he descended the endlessly looping stairwell, he became lost in a chain of questions.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

Was it when he defended the congressman with everything he had after someone accused him of being a murder suspect?

Or when he followed him into this apartment?

Or maybe when he covered up Lee Gidong’s “mistake” while fleeing from the insects on the ground?

No. All of that was wrong. The real mistake was simply being born foolish.

‘But still….’

No matter how much of a fool he had been, he couldn’t just sit still and die.

‘I need to find that person.’

Though he had made many reckless mistakes in his desperation, if that young man—the one who had shouted at everyone to snap out of it—were here, he would be able to save him from this mad murderer.

With that hope in mind, he reached the first floor of Golden Apartment.

Clunk. Clunk clunk.

“Damn it, why is this locked again?!”

What he encountered on the first floor was an emergency exit tightly blocked by something.

‘If someone deliberately blocked it from the other side, maybe—but why would this—’

If this way was blocked, where could he go? Should he try exiting to the street instead of returning to Jamsil Station? He racked his brain as much as he could—

Before he could finish his thoughts… he felt a cold blade pierce his neck, plunging him into despair.

A familiar scent of perfume lingered.

“Gurgle… Congressman… why…?”

“Secretary Kim, thank you for everything so far. Thanks to you, the work went smoothly. As expected, our Secretary Kim is very capable! The best! Kukuku.”

As Yeongho coughed up blood and collapsed like a broken doll, Congressman Lee Gidong wiped the blood off his dagger.

“[‘Silent’ Fairbairn–Sykes]? This effect is incredible! Well, it’s a special-option weapon after all—it should at least be this good.”

Lee Gidong examined the dagger from various angles.

The rounded handle fit snugly in his hand, and the narrow, pointed blade was perfectly suited to piercing flesh and ending a life in an instant.

Above all, the ability to conceal presence was absurdly effective—especially in darkness, where its performance was overwhelming.

As expected, the idea he had of going to the machine room as soon as he saw the weapon’s effect still seemed brilliant in hindsight.

“Lee Gidong hasn’t lost his head yet! Hahaha! Now then, shall I see how much I’ve earned? [Status Window].”

As the congressman muttered into the air, the system window appeared.

「[Status Window]

Name: Lee Gidong (Bronze)

Title: Deceiver

Survival Time (ST): 3,263 hours

Karma: -3.2

Attributes

[Strength Lv.2] [Stamina Lv.2] [Agility Lv.2]

Passive Skills: [Self-Justification Lv.2], [Sweet Lies Lv.2]

Active Skill: [Shadow Step Max]」

“Kukukuku… If I can gain time this easily, why should I bother hunting those damn insects?”

“Now then… it’s time to go catch that cheeky kid… still, I should invest a bit.”

Muttering to himself, Congressman Lee Gidong clicked on each attribute in his status window.

[Would you like to consume 1,800 hours to increase Strength by 1 level, Stamina by 1 level, and Agility by 4 levels? (Y/N)]

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gidong pressed the Y button. Immediately, he felt a surge of overflowing power and grinned faintly.

“Haha… so this is why kids get hooked on games. Shh! That’s not the sound coming from my mouth. Shh-shh.”

Intoxicated by power, he threw a sloppy punch—but the sound of the air being sliced through was anything but trivial.