I Am the Only Non-Returner

8 – High school girls were brought into the shelter.

Wasn’t this only for regular grades?

Showing a slightly bewildered expression, the short-haired child blushed all the way to her ears and lowered her head deeply.

Are you stupid? It could be a loss to present this kind of thing first.

Even if I get rejected right away, I won’t have anything to say, right?

Thinking that she’s still young, I made eye contact with the next child.

Since this one has long hair that reaches down to her chest, let’s call her Long Hair.

But why does she seem familiar? Is it just my imagination?

Divine Wrath (Special)

– Summons a spear of immense magical power and throws it. (When hitting a large to super-large target, damage +50%, usable once per 200 magic power.)

············

······Huh?

Phew, just a moment…

Feeling a bit disconnected from reality, I blinked my eyes for a while and then stepped outside the shelter.

Huh-!

As I emerged, the kids, who had shrunk away, were turned at a 45-degree angle.

Are they planning to run away if I make a mistake? No way.

I must catch them, for sure.

I got the feeling, yeah.

The sound of popularity coming from behind at that moment.

“Hey, oldie~ Long time no see, huh?”

When I turned around, there were a student guy showing me the middle finger multiple times, a guy in gym clothes, and two tattooed pork lovers.

I should count them as pigs, not people. Ugh, are they even human or just pigs?

The guys confidently standing next to the arrogant male student were quite hefty. They might be shorter than me, but the spread of their flesh seemed abundant enough to surpass a hundred kilograms.

The pigs were approaching, putting their fingers in and out of their fists, and looking at the girls behind me while smacking their lips.

Damn bastards…

Although I wasn’t particularly scared of the guys walking towards me with a sinister vibe, there was one thing that bothered me – my skills.

As someone who had seen the student’s flamethrower, I couldn’t help but be cautious.

I quietly asked the girls behind me who were tightly clinging to me.

“Skills don’t work in the neutral zone, right?”

Since my abilities aren’t activating right now, it might be only me.

“Of course, skills can’t be used in the neutral zone… But still, in the previous round, I saw several people die because of it.”

Ah, I see.

A wicked grin spreads across my face. This is uncontrollable, heh heh.

No need to worry about a bare-handed fight.

Come on, you little bastards.

“Sir… Can’t you just put us in our shelter? We’ll do anything if you do… sniff…”

Huh? Why are you suddenly crying···

When the short-haired guy suddenly began to whimper, his soaring combat power plummeted like a stock hit by a calamity.

“hehehehe, imitating the Apostle of Justice with that pathetic look? It was good when you were in the shelter, right?”

Before I knew it, the guy in front of my face started kicking my shin with his foot.

Tap, tap-

What does he believe to act like this in front of me? Normally, with my build, they wouldn’t dare… Are they trusting those pigs and their numbers?

“Huh? Cat got your tongue, old man? Are you mute? You were fine in the shelter yesterday, why? Oh, you guys at the back, let’s meet later, huh? Your faces look so pale, bouncing off like crazy. Even after digging your own grave, you still can’t figure out how to live?”

This guy really has an unfortunate look, with his eyes wide open, looking like he deserves a beating.

Fortunately, he boosted his combat power again, so without hesitation, I swiftly threw a short right hook at his jaw.

– Bam-!

– Thud-?!

It felt clean as it landed on his jaw.

Did I not know I had the guts to hit him like that?

After briefly watching the guy who slumped to the ground like a deflated balloon, I immediately charged towards the pigs.

The momentarily sluggish guys were surprised when I charged at them; one dodged to the side, and another tried to grab me.

Swiftly lowering my upper body, I dodged the reaching hand and plunged in, executing a backdrop.

– Crunch-! Thud-!

I heard something unpleasantly snap, but I didn’t care and immediately charged at another pig.

The pigs seemed to have learned somewhere to throw a punch, but it looked like slow motion, making me almost yawn.

– Thwack!!

Groan!

As I dodged to the side and threw a punch to his Adam’s apple, he crumpled from head to ground.

“Ughh…”

A man in workout clothes was staggering as if to run away, but when I gestured for him to come over, he fled without even looking back.

The guy who first took the hit had his neck twisted in an odd direction, making it look like it had elongated slightly.

He didn’t seem dead, but he was writhing and struggling to breathe as if it were extremely difficult.

“Hmm, it’s the first time I’ve had to write on the ground, it’s quite dangerous.”

Muttering quietly, I approached the student.

He still couldn’t quite come to his senses, but as I slapped him a few times, he started to regain consciousness.

“Ugh! W-what the hell! Ahh…”

“What’s wrong… You’re the one who started it.”

“Eek!”

Finally grasping the situation, he looked around and, seeing the pigs lying around, spoke with a pathetic expression.

“S-Sir! I-I was just playing around for a moment! I really won’t do it again-“

Snap!

Cough!

My hand is very large. I can hold a basketball with one hand.

I’ve seen the reactions when I slap someone with hand this size a few times in my life.

The drunk who picked a fight for no reason, the gangsters who caused a scene while asking for cigarettes, the guy who was suspiciously harassing my girlfriend at the gym, and the boyfriend of the woman who had an attitude.

Snap!

Cough-!

Thud-!

“Hu-! P-please spare m-me-“

Thud-!

“Hu-huk-! Hukhuk… I-I’m begging you…”

Thudthudthud-!

“P-please buy it… Buy it for me… Please…”

The guy, trembling like a quivering aspen, frantically waved his hands as if swatting away flies.

In reality, isn’t it best that the world has come to this, allowing us to educate these trash without any worries?

No police station to be taken to.

– Puh-!

– Coughack-!

You can tell from the looks. If the situation were reversed, would this guy have stopped here?

No.

Next time we meet, let’s make him pee just by looking at my fingers.

– Pow, snap, thudthudthudthud!

He concentrated for a while, ruthlessly beating the guy’s stomach and face as if beating a dog.

After giving him just enough so that he wouldn’t die, I threw him next to the guy with the broken neck.

“Hey, you pig bastard, clean up these guys right away.”

Staring at the guy who had fallen after a blow to the vital spot, he looked as if he was about to kill him. Incredibly, he got up at an unbelievable speed and dragged two guys towards the shelter where the student was.

Turning my head left and right, I found two high school girls staring at me intently.

“Uh…”

They were there, indeed.

How far did we talk?

“Ah, sir… How can we…”

Hmm… They saw that situation a while ago and still didn’t run away, now talking about the shelter incident.

The second high school girl is quite resilient…

Could it be possible that she has lived as long as I have by the second time? I’ll have to ask later, hehehehe.

Still, it’s a bit scary; every time I approached, they took a small step back.

“Where is your shelter?”

As I asked, the kids whose complexion had brightened a bit earlier pointed behind the guy I had stepped on a while ago.

A place I absolutely couldn’t see.

“Let me confirm a few things.”

“Um, sir, can’t we talk inside the shelter?”

Huh? Isn’t that the same thing?

Is there a difference between converging and entering the shelter?

Um…

“Well, let’s do that.”

As I went in first, the kids put their hands on the shelter.

Two players have requested entry.

Will you accept? Y/N

Judging from the request for entry, it seems quite different from fusion.

“Come in.”

The kids naturally stepped inside.

Resident population

– 2/90

Ah, so even temporary visitors are counted in the resident population.

＜01:39:44＞

There’s still plenty of time left.

They’ll probably have to leave when the time comes, right?

I activated the observer and checked after a long time.

189.

I think this might be the magic power value.

I couldn’t confirm it because skill usage is not allowed in the neutral zone.

I sat on the chair, crossed my legs, and suddenly asked, “Long-haired kid, how much magic power do you have?”

“I’ll share it with you···”

Oh, was that also being shared?

Now, regardless of what I do, I should keep in mind the E.T. gesture of pointing a finger first.

Tap-

Shin Ga-hee (Lv.3) (5)

Health: 22

Mana: 189

Strength: 9

Agility: 13

As expected. It was indeed an eye that could see mana as anticipated.

But even after leveling up twice, how is it possible that the strength is still 9?

However, what does that matter?

Mana is 189, unbelievable.

“No need to ponder. Let’s capture this one.”

If lucky, reaching 200 after leveling up about three times will enable the use of that special ability.

With such high mana, even before using the ability, she should be able to handle her share just fine.

Maintain the poker face. Poker face, poker face.

Hmm…

“······”

As the silence continued for a while, seemingly finding it hard to endure, the short-haired one made a suggestion.

“Um, should I share too?”

This one – only acts when it’s beneficial. Well, let’s see.

Naeun Chae (Lv.3) (5)

Health: 23

Magic: 47

Strength: 11

Agility: 15

As expected, her abilities were quite comparable to Gahee’s.

Her magic is low…

But her agility is relatively high.

Even as an observer, her magic appeared to be 47.

In fact, it’s not even that low.

More than half of the people she had observed standing blankly on the street in the past had less than 30.

Available Points: 781,961

Huh?

Using a skill on the short-haired person increased the points by 2.

It didn’t increase when I used the skill on the long-haired person earlier…

So, she must have tried using a skill before.

That’s why she seemed familiar.

“Did you two… fuse?”

“Yes, yes!”

“That’s right!”

In the end, it’s about being a set.

With their hands tightly clasped together, the short-haired person even had cold sweat on her forehead.

There was no hobby of tormenting kids.

“Alright, let’s join forces.”

ㅡ!!

– Kyaaah!

– eeewaaah!!

“Thank you, sir!! We’ll really work hard!”

“hehehehe, Gahee, we survived! Phew···”

“Eunchae··· Ugh··· I’m tearing up···”

Why is there so much excitement after finishing Stage 5 now?

Shaking my head, I felt my heart getting heavier.

Thinking about living with them in this space until we die makes my chest tight, and I find myself sighing constantly.

Whew-

Maybe because I’ve been living as if I’ll be alone forever, it might take some time to adapt.

“But why did you guys want to join forces with me?”

“What? Obviously··· Since we’re already at a level where we can build an intermediate shelter···”

Hmm··· Is it obvious? I guess so.

“When we merge, who becomes the shelter owner?”

“We’ll request it! Of course, the owner should be you.. But··· please don’t make unreasonable demands, we’ll work hard for you···”

“······”

Unreasonable demands? Is he talking about asking us to shoot zombies until we’re completely drained of stamina or something?

Both of them somehow avoid making eye contact, but I’m not such a bad person.

“I’ll try my best, but if the situation gets tough, there’s nothing I can do.”

Isn’t it better to almost die than to actually die?

As they thought that, a blush appeared on the face of Eunchae with short hair.

I wonder if she has facial flushing syndrome.