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Before he could even read the letters,

"Yoo, Yoo Do-hyuk?"

"…"

His name popped out of the man's mouth.

Do-hyuk looked at the man, surprised, but he could understand the situation better. Do-hyuk though to himself if he should do it but he decided it's no use thinking about it, he took his mask off and revealed the lower half of his face. A groan came out of the man's mouth.

"Nonsense, no..." Do-hyuk's decision was right. "This bastard…"

Do-hyuk's revelation petrified the man. As Ji Min said. Do-hyuk was the man who kicked major ass before the regression.

"Casita... Casita said .... you ... the Phenomenal Nines will not remember..."

"But I do." Do-hyuk bluffed without knowing what the man was saying, "I also remember what you were saying just a minute ago. Did you say you'll tear my limbs? Or how I won't be able to die in peace?

Do-hyuk might seem cold from the perspective of the observer, but it was a hundred pure bluff. But at least, Do-hyuk knows one fact, bluffing can be valuable too in a fight if it works on this guy.

"You're the one who will die. Now take responsibility for what you said."

"Uh... ah, ah, ah!" The man mumbled with a frightened face.

The man rushed to Do-hyuk. "He's….not running away…"

He wasn't expecting for the hopeful situation. Do-hyuk lifted his arms and balled up his body. The man's fist landed on his side.

"...! "

Barely.

He barely held his scream. The man's fist was sharp, too sharp for a man far from a calm state of mind.

"I, I'm not dying!!!!!!" The man blinded by his fear threw his fist mercilessly.

This meant, realizing the opponent he was confronting was 'that' Yoo Do-hyuk, was that much of a shock. However, as Do-hyuk experienced firsthand, the magnitude of the fist this man was throwing half-consciously was far above the level of the average guy. It was as if his skills has cultivated after surviving for many years.

"Die, die, DIE!!!" The man's scream and the sound of a fist pounding Do-hyuk filled the stairway.

Do-hyuk was silent as he took the blows. He heard it somewhere. Even in martial arts, as long as you protect pressure points, it would be the offender who will lose their strength first.

"I can stand it." He didn't know exactly, the 'intake' of the knife from his thigh changed more than just curing his wound.

His stomach wasn't full, but he felt the fullness and vitality like he had a full hearty meal. "There shouldn't be much difference in the abilities, anyway. Then it would be him that will drop first." He can't be sure though.

It was a speech to make him feel better. Do-hyuk reassured himself to endure the pain. He recalled his cut and torch was gone. And...

.. Haa .... Haa .... "

The time has come. The point at which a man's physical strength bottoms out. The fatigue awakened the man, then he turned his head and saw the fire extinguisher and spears laying on the floor. As soon as his eyes and body retreat to pick it up, Do-hyuk made his move.

He planted a devastating blow on the man's face.

"Ugh-!" Before the first moan was out of his mouth, Do-hyuk threw the second and third punches.

His punches seemed amateur compared with the man's punch, however, they were blows which carried the full physical strength of Do-hyuk. The man threw his body to the wall, raised his hands, and buried his head in them. He took the same pose as Do-hyuk did before, but Do-hyuk did not throw more punches right on the man's guard.

Instead, he gave a much heavier blow

Bash!

He strucked the man's both arms.

"Aaaauugh!!"

Do-hyuk had picked up the fire extinguisher. He had enough practice with wielding a fire extinguisher during the last few hours.

Smash!!

The third blow broke the man's right arm. The man attempted to kick Do-hyuk, but because of the gap between the two was too narrow, the first kick missed. He tried a second time, but it collided with the fire extinguisher Do-hyuk struck in a reflex. With that blow, the man broke his knee. When the fire extinguisher strucked his broken torso, the man fell toward the lower stairs.

Do-hyuk did not bother to help the man, when the body stopped rolling on the bottom of the stairs, the neck of the men was bent over strangely.

<< Human Kill >>

<< Gained 17 Coin >>

What is this? There was a reason for not killing a human. Still, '17' is an ambiguous number. Does the coin amount change depending on the condition? His trail of thoughts stopped here.

Do-hyuk was appalled with himself. He realized the coin was the first thing that came to his mind after he killed a person. His head was calmer than expected. To be honest, if this is the guilt of killing a person, it wasn't bad as he thought. Then, he noticed his body trembled. After five seconds or so,

Slap!!

He slapped both sides of his cheeks with the palm of his hands.

"Let's move ....." It is natural for the mind to be uneased, but he was a modern man who has lived a normal life for twenty-something years and has just killed a man. That is that, and this is this. "You have to move. Otherwise, you'll die." He'd either forget about the whole thing like a psychopath or regret it for the rest of your life,

Whatever happened already happened, one must move. No matter whatever the f*ck happens in your mind, the body has to do things properly. Do-hyuk looked at the fire extinguisher. The paint was peeled off and its bottom part was dented, but it seemed to be able to play the role its role well.

"Good" With that murmur, he put the mask back on and went down the stairs.

Slowly and discreetly, with prudence in all senses, he decided to go outside and get more coins. He can't do much, the best he can do is to survive.

…

The streets were calm. There were more dead bodies than living ones, and they are all spread all over the place. Corpses layed around either from goblets or humans. There were no angels in sight, and maybe that affected the pheromones to fade and act differently than before.

The Goblets are diurnal creatures, they returned to their timid personality and hid somewhere to pass the night. Only the stragglers that woke up too late from the pheromones occasionally roamed the streets at night.

There was a hunter who was looking for such stragglers.

Struck-

It was Do-hyuk.

"Easy."

Do-hyuk could certainly feel it. That the goblets are much weaker than when they were attacking like they lost their minds. Do-hyuk inspected between the buildings and corners of the alleys to hunt the Goblets one by one. Even though the goblets are weaker, it drained his mind and body to move around in a much wider space while watching his back.

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- Current Amount: 377 Coins

But Do-hyuk grinds his teeth to last longer.

"Little bit more."

Do-hyuk couldn't see anyone else hunting for goblets. He took this opportunity to earn as much as coins as possible. Besides, the 'bone knife' that the man had before gave him so much power. If you can get items like that by killing the goblets, it was all the more reason to hunt.

"I can still kill two or three more. More…"

Do-hyuk clenched his teeth and swung the fire extinguisher. In view of Do-hyuk's actions,

"What the hell is he doing?"There must be many people who had this question in their minds. Most of them were experts, among the people in this quarantine zone, these were the guys who had the skills to reach the top before the regression.

The reason they were able to see Do-hyuk was because they were sheltering at high points of buildings, rocks, or trees. There, they were watching the whole street while taking a break.

"Can he even move tomorrow?"

Before the regression, there was one rule to keep without exception. If it is not necessary to do so, do not get your muscles tired to a certain degree. When the black tower, Casita's needle, rotated for the first time, the whole human race underwent a forced development and awakening. That strength is not a superpower that comes out indefinitely without a source. It consumes oxygen and calories, and it needs breathing and rest.

You are only stronger, the body is still judged by the rules of the human body. This is why so many people in the world before the regression have failed. They did not think of how much activity was appropriate for the reformed bodies and moved them recklessly, it was no wonder then why their muscles ached. Of course, muscle pain is not a simple discomfort. It's a sign of overworked muscles recovering and regaining its strength. This is a phenomenon called supercompensation.

However, that was only before the awakening. From the moment of awakening, humanity has already exhausted the possibility of natural growth. There is no supercompensation. The means of raising the abilities are only the devices that god and angels have arranged, such as 'achievements' or 'coins'. Therefore, one must not overwork their body. They must always leave an adequate room to prepare to face this new world where on would not know when things would happen.

Now was that time, when the sun comes up, the angels will present a new event.

"By that pace ... well, even if he stops for a while, his body will scream in pain."

Like others, Cho Chang-hoon looked down at Do-hyuk with no emotion as well. "He will be naturally thinned out since he can't move" Or he'll die before then.

"But his ambition is impressive."

If they were able to see Do-hyuk, or if it wasn't for the mask he was wearing, they would realize the man behind this ridiculous sight they were witnessing was Do-hyuk. Only then would everyone, including Cho Chang-hoon, would have different thoughts. They probably see his action carried some kind of meaning, or they would've taken a risk to go down and cut off the buds of the big tree. But the mask was covered Do-hyuk's face and ensured his security.

So, the gazes of everyone held either ridicule or sympathy. With all of their eyes watching his every move, Do-hyuk was able to hold his strength until he reached his breaking point.

...

When he opened his eyes, there were two things he realized. First, it was daytime, and…

"Uhh ...!!" He was in an unbelievable anguishing pain.

He was inside a warehouse, when he felt he had drained every drop of his strength last night, Do-hyuk walked to the nearby commercial building. Maybe it was nothing, but he could feel eyes on him he couldn't see. So, he paid more attention and entered the small restaurant in the backside of the building intentionally. The freezer that stored the food was turned off, so after closing the door and stacking boxes to block the entrance, he was able to close his eyes with the greatest of ease.

Everything seemed to be safe, the problem was the muscle pain.

"Uh… ah…" It was much more intense from yesterday when he collapsed with Jimin after the first rotation of the black tower. In addition, his body is not healing itself.

Do-hyuk couldn't lift his upper body and moaned on the ground. It was so painful it felt like he was losing consciousness every time he closed his eyes.

Splat -

After falling on his head multiple times, Do-hyuk barely held up his arms to lift his upper body.

'I have to eat.' Of course, he had no appetite in this situation, but his body, his instinct is telling him to consume something.

You are empty now. You are depleted. If you do not eat, you will have more terrible things happen to you.

His trembling arms patted over the stacked boxes, then spilled everything from inside because he couldn't lift anything out of the boxes. Thanks to that, he was able to eat what was spilled out.

Soggy half-melted raw meat.

Unwashed Vegetables.

Freeze-dried rice and various noodles.

Even sauces.

'I… ' Using his hands and his mouth, Do-hyuk chewed all that fell on the floor at random. When he got so weak, he would sit still as a corpse, then woke up erratically to pick up the food again. 'I… I…' Like a worm that wriggles on the floor.

He is refueling the price of the action that he consumed the night before through calories and relaxation.

'I want to live.' The light coming in through the vents was cut off. A full day has passed, and now its night time again. Something must have happened outside. However, Do-hyuk was inside here the whole time, just like how the experts thought while making fun of him.

"…" Finally, the pain began to fade to such an extent that he could feel his stomach filled. Do-hyuk closed his eyes.

"… Whew." Not to 'faint', but to 'sleep'.

Then…

<> [Over the Horizon]

Body…

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And mind…

Was finally able to fully rest

<

He started to grow.

End

Chapter end