I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 245: Pursue Romance

After being flustered, my face went blank.

In the end, I forced a laugh.

It was clear how rude my question had been.

"Um, sorry for asking such a weird question... But I was really curious..."

My hands naturally rose to my chest.

As I fidgeted helplessly, he tapped my head a couple of times.

For some reason, he also had a slightly bitter smile.

"Hmm... You must've been really curious."

Kim Junseo crossed his arms and fell into thought.

'This is awkward.'

The silence that came with his contemplation was uncomfortable.

I could only watch him cautiously for a long while.

"Um, uh..."

I wished he would say something.

Was he angry because of my question?

I couldn't even speak properly and just kept watching him nervously.

"Hmm... Is there really a need to loot?"

"Well... It'd be easier to survive if we took things..."

"...Someone must've hurt you badly, huh?"

"Ah..."

Come to think of it, it felt like I might've been hurt by someone, or maybe not.

My head was spinning as memories seemed to surface, then fade away.

"I don't know who robbed you... or where you learned this, but most adults don't loot."

"What about when there's no other way to survive?"

"Even then, they don't. I'd rather die than loot from you."

Shk shk-

Kim Junseo made a gesture of slitting his throat with his thumb.

It was hard to tell if he was saying this because we had resources now, or if he truly meant it.

Still, since he said so.

I decided to trust him without doubting for now.

"I'm sorry. I guess I was thinking too negatively."

"It's fine, the bad ones are the adults."

"The adults?"

"Yeah. I'll teach you what a real adult is this time."

A real adult.

It meant he would prove that what I said was wrong.

Kim Junseo's confident declaration made me believe him.

Only then could I feel my tail wagging slightly.

"Okay, I'll do my best too."

"Yeah. Let's hang in there until we win."

After the heavy conversation ended, we chatted a bit more about everyday things.

A little later, Kim Junseo went in to catch up on sleep, and I was left alone on watch.

It was proof that everyone trusted me.

'A party without betrayal in a zombie world.'

I hoped it would stay like this until the end.

My tail wagged as I waited for the sun to rise.

---

---

We all moved in formation.

When zombies appeared, we coordinated, and when water was scarce, we shared our water bottles.

Levinas also generously shared the carrots she brought with everyone.

Thanks to that, her bag quickly emptied.

"Uu."

Levinas pouted, holding up her empty carrot bag.

She seemed devastated that she couldn't eat any more carrots.

"Levinas, are you having a hard time?"

"It's hard...! Levinas wants to sing loudly, but can't...!"

Ah.

So it wasn't because of the carrots, but because she couldn't sing.

Levinas shook her empty bag up and down, frustrated.

"If you want to sing, why don't you just belt it out?"

Hong Seongwoo shrugged as he spoke, his sword in hand.

Kim Junseo and Nam Doyeon flinched but didn't object.

"Is that okay...?! If I sing, the bears will come rushing in...?!"

"A world where kids can't sing is too sad."

My ears perked up at Hong Seongwoo's words.

It was truly a cool thing that only a genuine adult could say.

"...You're suggesting we go for romance, right?"

"It's better for the kids' education."

"...There are more important things than winning, after all."

Kim Junseo and Nam Doyeon nodded as they exchanged a few words.

It seemed they were willing to give up on winning for Levinas's sake.

They really were good adults.

"Then can Levinas sing...?!"

Levinas's eyes sparkled as she hopped up and down.

She jumped quite high despite not having magic.

"Go ahead and sing your heart out!"

"Okay! I'll sing with all my heart!"

Levinas grinned and took a deep breath.

Then she began to sing at the top of her lungs.

"Invincible horned rabbit! Strongest horned rabbit!"

"Grrrr?"

The zombies reacted to Levinas's singing.

Everyone except Levinas raised their weapons as if on cue.

"Ugh... This is romance and style."

Hong Seongwoo muttered as he walked towards the zombies.

Nam Doyeon watched his back with narrowed eyes.

"So you like this kind of thing?"

"Yes. Isn't that why we met?"

"...I suppose so."

Nam Doyeon glanced at me as she answered.

I didn't know why she was looking at me.

For now, I decided to deal with the zombies that were starting to get close.

"Zombies coming from 3 o'clock."

"Okay."

Twenty zombies were rushing towards us, drawn by the song.

If we fired guns, the sound would spread far and attract more.

Could we really get through this?

I wasn't sure, but it was the most fun situation since coming here.

"I'll hunt the running ones."

I had about fifty bullets left.

Though I had no mana, I had practiced shooting without it.

Guns were easier to shoot than bows, too.

Bang-!

I shot the head of a zombie sprinting at full speed.

Its head was pierced, and it collapsed right there.

I kept picking off the fast ones one by one like that.

"There's one going for Levinas on the left."

"I'll get it."

Hunting was easy now that there were no quick ones.

The most effective weapon for zombie hunting was the shotgun.

Three zombies per shot, sometimes even four.

Even if it didn't kill them all, it usually inflicted meaningful damage.

'This is easier than I thought.'

If we did this well, we might take them all out without anyone getting hurt.

I decided to do my best for everyone's sake.

---

---

A nearby building, first floor.

We were all lying down, just panting.

"Ha, haah..."

"Whew..."

"Oh god, I'm dying."

Everyone except Levinas had collapsed from exhaustion.

The fight had been quite intense, but we'd managed to survive without anyone getting bitten.

We'd run out of ammo because of it, but that didn't matter.

We were able to get a few more supplies thanks to killing all the zombies in the area.

"Gyeoul's really good with a gun."

"Yeah, it's my specialty."

After resting a bit, my stamina recovered.

When I got up, Nam Doyeon looked at me with surprised eyes.

"...You've already recovered?"

"Yep."

"I'm jealous. I should've been born a beast-kin."

"Hehe..."

I wasn't originally a beast-kin either.

I scratched my head as I maintained my pistol.

It was a matter of inserting bullets into empty magazines.

Click- Click-

As I was inserting bullets one by one like that.

A strange sound came from somewhere.

"Grrrr."

"A zombie?"

The sound came from right above us.

The third floor of the building.

"There are zombies up there...?"

"Yeah... I can hear them..."

Everyone held their breath as if on cue.

Hong Seongwoo, who was on point, carefully looked up the stairs leading to the upper floors.

"Hah!"

Hong Seongwoo quickly closed the door and ran towards us.

Thump thump-!

A horde of zombies pounded on the closed door.

The force was significant enough that it seemed like it would break soon.

"The stairs are blocked. What do we do?"

"We got rope from the supplies. Let's use this to get down."

Maybe because they're survival experts?

They quickly made a ladder with the rope.

At the same time, Crash-!

The iron door shattered and zombies began pouring in.

"I'll hold them back! Escape first!"

Kim Junseo ran towards the zombie horde, shotgun in hand.

Even without mana, his movements seemed to slow down like in slow motion.

'Ah...'

Zombies were torn apart by Kim Junseo's shotgun blasts.

I stood still, blankly staring at his back.

It was because I felt pathetic for doubting him.

Even though I had doubted him like that.

Kim Junseo was trying to sacrifice himself for me, the one who doubted him.

I could tell with my beast-kin instincts.

That he would have acted the same way even if this wasn't a competition but a real situation.

'Have I been living too negatively?'

What I needed wasn't doubt, but the ability to distinguish between good and bad people.

Maybe I'd been living doubting everyone because I lacked this.

My eyes narrowed fiercely at this belated realization.

Not because I was angry at myself, but to save everyone.

"I'll hold them back!"

"G-Gyeoul?"

Bang-! Bang-!

I advanced forward, firing my pistol.

Even though I killed one with each shot, zombies kept pouring in through the stairs.

"Gyeoul! Come here!"

"I'll be fine! I can't win the prize anyway!"

"No, that's not the issue here!"

"It's okay! Go on ahead!"

I moved forward, firing my gun.

When I ran out of ammo, I quickly swapped to a new magazine.

I used up four magazines in an incredibly short time.

'I'm out.'

Was it really time to sacrifice myself now?

I hurled myself at the oncoming zombie horde.

"Aaahhh!"

"Gyeoul!"

The zombies gnawed at my flesh.

But I only felt little pricks, and it didn't really hurt.

I closed my mouth tightly, embarrassed that I had screamed for nothing.

Then I gave a thumbs up to everyone, feeling sheepish.

It meant for them to escape while the zombies were busy eating me.

I saw it in a movie once and thought it looked kind of cool.

"Waaaahhhh!"

In the moment I was being buried by the zombie horde, I could see Levinas running towards me.

The others tried to grab Levinas, but she dodged them with quick beast-kin movements and approached me.

"Waaah!"

The last thing I saw in the competition was Levinas leaping high above me.

Heya! this chappy is late cuz I wanted to test the rss feed with it. Was meant to be Saturday but I read manga instead.. Done now :p

However, we are starting bonus chap oct! bonus chaps for donos and ko-fi subs! So, we got a bonus chap today!

(kofi link below for anyone interested!)

6/6 Enjoy the chappy!

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