I Became The Necromancer In The Post-Apocalyptic Zombie World

Chapter 58

—–CROW—– 

A head pressed tightly against the pristine white mat trembled with fear, small tear stains appearing one by one beneath it.

Lee Seon-ji was prostrating herself before me, begging.

The same woman who had chuckled indifferently while being electrocuted was now trembling uncontrollably, consumed by some unknown fear.

‘It’s understandable.’

Looking down at the prostrate Lee Seon-ji, I placed the chair I had been using to beat Park Sung-hoon upright on the floor.

Then, I sat down heavily on it and pressed my foot firmly on Lee Seon-ji’s head.

“What are you going to tell me?  You said you had nothing to say, didn’t you?”

“I-I’ll talk.  Everything you want to know. So please…”

Her voice trembled.  Although she had lost weight since I first saw her, her eyes had always been sharp.

There was something more important to Lee Seon-ji than her own life.

She had shown me a madness that suggested she didn’t care even if she died for it.

‘Then all I have to do is change the target of that devotion.’

If someone was devoted enough to sacrifice their life for something, all I needed to do was change what they were sacrificing their life for.

Especially someone like her, who harbored a sense of emptiness and clung to something fanatically.  Filling that emptiness was an easy way to win her over.

“Then shall we start by talking about this ‘Priest’ person?”

I said to her, pulling Park Sung-hoon up by his hair.  A soft moan escaped his lips as his hair was pulled, and Lee Seon-ji looked up at me with trembling eyes.

“…Yes.”

Resigned, Lee Seon-ji answered weakly, tears flowing from her empty eyes.

。 。 。

“How many people did you say…?”

I asked Lee Seon-ji again, doubting what I had just heard.

She answered, her face filled with fear,

“R-Roughly… three hundred.”

An unbelievable number, even after hearing it twice.

That was the total number of survivors in the group led by the Priest.

‘Not one hundred, not two hundred… but three hundred?’

An incomprehensible number.  In a peaceful world, three hundred people would be a common, insignificant number.

But the current world was far from peaceful.

We were living in a ruined world, overrun by zombies.

‘Three hundred survivors… in a place like this?’

Putting everything else aside, the fact that so many people had survived was astonishing in itself.

“Then there’s something I don’t understand.  How do they manage their food supply?  Even with rationing, three hundred people would need a huge amount.”

Even if they only provided the minimum calories necessary for survival, the amount needed for three hundred people would be enormous.

To sustain such a large group, even the food court of this department store wouldn’t be enough.

Unless, of course, they had some extraordinary power, like me.

“The Priest… you might not believe this, but she’s a true savior who performs miracles.”

Lee Seon-ji’s answer to my question sounded like something a cult member would say.

However, her eyes held not the fanaticism of a zealot, but the desperation of someone terrified and pleading.

“…A piece of candy is enough.”

“P-Please believe me! It’s true! If you check our search team’s belongings, you won’t find any substantial food supplies!”

When I pondered her explanation, stroking my chin, Lee Seon-ji seemed to interpret my silence as doubt and grabbed my pants, begging me to believe her.

I wasn’t doubting her.

The reason they could sustain three hundred people…

…was because the followers of the Priest received a “grace” that allowed them to survive for up to a week on the calories from a single piece of candy.

‘This confirms it.’

Hearing that, I was certain of the hypothesis I had been considering.

The Priest of the L Hotel, whom Lee Seon-ji followed…

…possessed a special power, just like me.

“Were you close to this Priest?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Trust.  Did the Priest trust you?”

“Y-Yes! Among the external followers, she cherished me the most!”

It seemed I had stumbled upon a valuable captive.

Satisfied with her answer, I looked down at her.

“By any chance, in the Priest’s room or nearby… was there a green crystal floating in the air?”

“How did you…?”

Lee Seon-ji’s eyes widened, surprised that I knew something she hadn’t mentioned.

My assumption was correct.

‘This will be a much greater harvest than I anticipated.’

I had initially thought this opportunity would simply provide me with a large number of human resources, but it turned out to be a goose that laid golden eggs.

‘And as the saying goes, you shouldn’t carelessly cut open such a goose.’

Even though I hadn’t heard everything yet, I could tell from her fragmented explanations that the Priest, like me, used crystals to strengthen her base.

However, the type of ability she used was quite different from mine.

If my ability was Necromancer, then the Priest’s ability was more like…

—Saint.

A ridiculous title that didn’t suit a cult leader, but it fit her perfectly.

“First, explain this ‘grace’ of the Priest in detail.”

I then listened to everything Lee Seon-ji knew about the L Hotel group.

And after compiling all the information, my one-line review was:

‘A female supremacist cult.’

That one line summed it up perfectly.

The leader, the Priest, was a woman, and all the executives were women.

Moreover, among the newly recruited survivors, women became regular members, while men became slaves.

The Priest’s followers accepted this as natural and followed her as the true savior of this world.

Even the men treated as slaves.

‘Well, I suppose it’s understandable, considering she lets them survive for a week on a single candy.’

It wasn’t strange.

Even Lee Ah-rin believed in me as her savior, like a cult member.

‘Now, how do I absorb that group?’

After hearing everything from Lee Seon-ji, I sat down, crossed my legs, stroked my chin, and pondered.

A forced merger by threatening them with a horde of zombies was impossible.

Lee Seon-ji had said that the hotel was safe from zombies thanks to the Priest’s grace.

‘She probably has some kind of protective barrier.’

Even I had an ‘Impregnable’ base defense skill among the crystal’s skills.

It wouldn’t be strange if the Priest had a similar skill.

‘This is getting interesting.’

My heart pounded like a child facing a new game, excited by the challenge of conquering the L Hotel.

If we fought head-on, I would win.

That was an unchangeable rule in this zombie-infested world.

So, if I wanted to, I could annihilate the Priest’s group at any time.

But that wasn’t what I wanted.

I wanted to absorb all three hundred of them without any losses, and I wanted to savor the Priest like a strawberry on a cake before claiming her for myself.

‘And she’s quite a beauty, too.’

I was quite excited after hearing Lee Seon-ji’s description of the Priest and her executives.

“Alright, thanks for the explanation.  It was very helpful.”

“T-Then…!”

Having extracted all the information and finished my contemplation, I stood up and looked down at Lee Seon-ji.

She looked at me nervously, her trembling eyes filled with a desperate plea.

Asking if I would spare her life.

‘Now, what should I do with you?’

I wasn’t satisfied yet.

However…

…after hearing about the Priest, I realized that Lee Seon-ji still had some use.

So, as I was pondering what to do with her…

“E-Excuse me…!”

…Park Sung-hoon, who was lying nearby, called out to me.

“C-Could I speak with you for a moment…?”

Like Lee Seon-ji, he asked cautiously, his voice filled with fear.

Intrigued, I moved to a different location as he requested and spoke with him privately.

“Ah, first of all, good job. Your acting was great.”

Of course, the glances, signals, and everything he had done while being beaten had been orchestrated by me.

I doubted he could have won Lee Seon-ji’s heart in such a short time otherwise.

But then…

“A-About what you promised me after this is over…”

“Yes?”

I had made a promise to Park Sung-hoon.

That if he seduced and won over Lee Seon-ji, I would release him from his life as livestock in the parking lot.

He wasn’t one of the dormitory residents who had treated me like a slave; he was just a survivor caught in the crossfire.

And since Lee Seon-ji was quite physically imposing at the time, I thought my order to sleep with her might be a bit much for him.

So, I had offered him an incentive to motivate him.

But now…

“C-Could you… change the terms…?”

He looked at me pleadingly, his eyes filled with desperation, but not avoiding my gaze.

“I-I don’t mind being a slave… I-I don’t mind being treated like less than human, naked…”

Tears welled up in his eyes.

What did those tears mean?

I listened to him, wondering.

“P-Please… don’t kill Seon-ji…”

The new condition he proposed was something I hadn’t expected.

“I-I don’t care what you do to me…! J-Just let her live!  I beg you!”

“…But… why?”

I was genuinely confused, so I asked him, bewildered.

Was he still immersed in his role, giving a method acting performance?

If so, the cut signal had been given a long time ago.

Park Sung-hoon lowered his head for a moment, then answered in a trembling voice,

“I… I’ve genuinely fallen for her.”

I was so shocked by his answer that my jaw dropped slightly.

“I’ll do anything.  Anything you ask, I’ll do it… so please, would you reconsider your decision?”

I had instructed him to seduce Lee Seon-ji through acting.

And in the end, he was supposed to have acted like a man whose pretense had turned into genuine affection.

‘I never thought he would actually develop feelings for her…’

I had thought his acting was a bit too good.

His conversations with Lee Seon-ji, his glances, even the way he had winked just now while being beaten…

…he had performed better than I expected, and I had been slightly surprised.

But it wasn’t just acting; it was genuine.

‘This is unexpected.’

Everything had gone according to plan, but I hadn’t anticipated Park Sung-hoon falling for Lee Seon-ji.

Taken aback, I fell into thought.

Park Sung-hoon watched me nervously, waiting for my answer.

‘What should I do…’

Now that I had more ideas on how to use Lee Seon-ji, Park Sung-hoon’s request put me in a difficult position.

I wanted to punish her appropriately.

After all, she had killed Yoon Hyun-seo’s father and tried to kill Baek Min-ah.

“Well, I understand for now.”

“T-Then…!”

“For now. I’ll think about it.”

“Thank you…! Thank you so much…!”

I wouldn’t kill Lee Seon-ji right away.

I still had use for her in taking over the Priest’s group.

I would decide what to do with her after that.

“Sob, t-truly… thank you.”

Park Sung-hoon, though the matter wasn’t settled yet, thanked me profusely, tears streaming down his face.

I led him back to where Lee Seon-ji was.

After exchanging a few words, they confirmed each other’s feelings, embraced, and shed tears of relief.

Both seemed relieved that the other wasn’t going to die.

‘Well, this might actually work in my favor.’

Regardless of Park Sung-hoon’s feelings, I needed to use Lee Seon-ji.

In that case, it might be beneficial that Park Sung-hoon had genuine feelings for her.

Love could be a source of great strength, but it could also become an inescapable burden.

Park Sung-hoon would be a good hostage to control Lee Seon-ji.

“Hey, I have one more question.”

“Y-Yes…! Ask me anything. I’ll do whatever you say…!”

Lee Seon-ji, overjoyed that Park Sung-hoon was alive, looked at me with a grateful smile.

She looked like a loyal dog, which I found pleasing.

“You were searching for survivors, weren’t you?”

“Yes… that’s right.  The number of followers is important for the Priest’s grace…”

Lee Seon-ji didn’t know the details of the Priest’s ability, but she explained that the faith of her followers was crucial to her power.

That’s why she had been searching for survivors like Yoon Hyun-seo.

Children, in particular, were easy to convert into followers because of their innocence, making them a valuable resource for the Priest.

“Then…”

Since she had been searching Seoul for survivors in my stead, I had something to ask her.

“Are there any survivors you haven’t retrieved yet? Virgins.”

I needed one more ingredient for my growth.

。 。 。

In front of a church, where a statue of the Virgin Mary stood firmly…

…lay a scene incongruous with the location: a multitude of corpses.

Corpses swarming with maggots, rotting away.

And also, a multitude of living corpses, still animated, not yet decayed.

A place that no longer functioned as a church.

But even within this church, there was still a follower praying to God, seeking salvation.

“Sister… are you going out today?”

“Oh my, you’re awake?”

Inside the church, the doors firmly shut to prevent zombies from entering…

…survivors clung to life, waiting for salvation.

Five young children and one woman.

The only functioning adult among them was a single, frail woman.

Despite this, Sister Grace continued her daily, life-threatening searches, a gamble to keep the children alive.

“Sister will go out and find something delicious, so Eun-ji, wait quietly with your friends.”

Outside awaited a cold, desolate city and zombies that would rush to kill her.

Despite the dangers, Grace smiled brightly and stroked the child’s head, trying to reassure her.

“…Sister.”

But even a child could understand the situation outside.

And that Grace, their protector, was venturing into that dangerous place.

Even knowing this, the child couldn’t stop Grace.

She knew that if Grace didn’t go out, they would all starve to death.

“…Sigh.”

After reassuring the worried child and sending her back, Grace tied the laces of her sneakers, which clashed with her nun’s habit, and looked at the firmly closed door.

Her habit’s skirt was torn short for ease of movement.

She wasn’t wearing any protective outerwear, like a leather jacket, to allow for quick movement.

If she were caught by zombies, a frail woman like her had no choice but to die.

Speed was her only means of survival.

Just in case, she adjusted her leather gloves.

‘I wish I could get rid of these too.’

Finished with her preparations, Grace clenched her fists nervously and looked down at her chest resentfully.

Breasts that had lost their meaning the moment she dedicated her life to God.

Unfortunately, they were quite large, becoming a hindrance to her mobility.

It wasn’t the first time she had cursed her body while running desperately, feeling the painful bouncing.

If only she could produce milk, she could at least feed the babies.

Grace wasted time with pointless laments before venturing into the city of death, then…

…stepped forward, determined to go out.

‘I really need to find a lot this time.’

The children had only had water for the past few days.

They were at their limit.

She had to bring back food from this search.

Even if it meant her life.

Reminding herself of her purpose, Grace steeled her resolve and, with trembling hands, unlocked the back door of the church.

—–CROW—– 

#Only READ at DarkstarTranslations