Chapter 23

What is the creature with the greatest survival ability on Earth?

Rats?

Cockroaches?

All wrong.

The creature with the greatest survival ability is humans.

No matter what disaster strikes, even if the world ends and everything turns to ashes, humans are so adept at survival they’ll survive until the very end eating rats and cockroaches. And this human survival ability was being demonstrated without reserve even in this unprecedented situation of otherworldly beings invading.

“…Wow.”

Yuseong unconsciously let out an exclamation at the cityscape spread out before him through the window.

Though he knew through NewTube that humanity was fighting against monsters, given what he’d experienced each time returning to Earth after completing quests so far, he hadn’t expected such a relaxed situation.

He had imagined a dark world and gloomy atmosphere like in apocalyptic or dystopian movies, with collapsed public order and people fighting over food.

However, reality was completely different from his imagination.

People walking in groups on the streets, loud music playing and neon signs shining brightly, food trucks set up here and there – except for the occasional soldiers and armored vehicles stationed around, the city was even more lively than before the situation began.

“Are you surprised?”

Belatedly remembering he was with a doctor, Yuseong cleared his throat and turned his gaze to the doctor before him.

“It’s very different from what I imagined. On NewTube they said we were struggling badly, so I thought the situation would be much harder…”

“Well, it was like that at first.”

The monsters appeared suddenly without warning all over the world, and among them were ones that weren’t affected by modern weapons or used abilities that defied common sense, so there were even places that couldn’t handle the monsters and were being pushed back.

Until the Contractors appeared, that is.

“I hear that suddenly voices come from somewhere asking if you want to make a contract, and if you agree you get mysterious powers… it sounds like a made-up story, but since people really do have incredible abilities like from movies or comics, we can’t completely deny it. I really don’t know what’s happening to the world.”

The contract terms differed for each person, and the size and type of power varied, but one thing was certain – the Contractors were very effective against monsters.

Unlike explosive weapons whose effects grow more widespread with power, they could deliver controlled and precise strikes, were effective in complex urban warfare, and could even damage beings immune to physical force.

Moreover, though extremely rare, some had transcendent abilities that surpassed modern weapons, allowing the chaos to be contained more quickly.

‘They say Korea in particular was very successful in its defense.’

The whole world, even America and China, suffered considerable damage, but Korea’s damage was minimal – their results could even be considered victorious, leading to numerous provocative videos on NewTube about “K-Defense” and “the superior Korean national character that doesn’t yield to crisis.”

Objectively speaking, it was just a coincidence of good synergy between tiny territory, population and economy concentrated in the capital region, and military power and scale ranking among the world’s best, but either way it was true that Korea had handled this chaos admirably, so there was considerable pride visible on the doctor’s face.

“By the way, how are you feeling?”

“I still feel like strength isn’t fully returning to my limbs, but it seems much better than at first.”

“The test results came back normal… but it seems aftereffects that modern medicine can’t detect remain. Besides difficulty exerting strength, are there any other symptoms?”

“Maybe sleeping a bit more than usual?”

“Indeed, your sleep time exceeded half the day. Muscle weakness and increased sleep time…”

Yuseong made up plausible answers to the doctor’s questions.

After being devoured by the giant plant-type monster codenamed Gigantic Ent and barely being rescued(?), Yuseong was transferred to a large hospital along with other critically ill survivors for intensive care and monitoring.

Of course, Yuseong hadn’t suffered a single scratch, but hearing the serious atmosphere and overhearing that the mobilization order for men hadn’t ended yet, he quietly closed his eyes.

Dealing with politicians who occasionally came to take photos and scientists coming in and out trying to determine if there were any strange effects from prolonged monster contact, he endured for a week until hearing news the mobilization would end, then casually pretended to recover and requested discharge.

“This seems sufficient for discharge.”

“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you, doctor.”

“It was all your own strength that overcame this, what did I do?”

The doctor’s words weren’t modesty but simple fact.

The victims whose life force was absorbed by the Gigantic Ent suffered serious aftereffects that modern medicine couldn’t cure – severe reduction in overall physical ability and resistance.

All doctors could do was prescribe painkillers and sleeping pills and help with rehabilitation training for those who regained consciousness, so naturally they thought Yuseong had recovered on his own.

…Of course, the truth was light years away from that.

“Normally we should observe your condition for a few more days but… given the current situation, it can’t be helped.”

Though Korea had handled things well, that didn’t mean there were no casualties.

With casualties from the initial period before properly grasping the situation and existing patients gathering in the safer capital region and cities from all over the country, there were severe shortages of manpower and medical supplies.

There was talk of deploying Contractors with recovery-related abilities to hospitals, but since the situation was already precarious just dealing with monsters, doctors had no choice but to struggle for now.

After completing simple discharge procedures and receiving back his belongings from when he was rescued, Yuseong left the hospital after a week of hospitalization.

“Ahem.”

Walking unsteadily in case anyone was watching, Yuseong continued until the hospital was out of sight, then switched to normal walking and sat down on a nearby bench.

Over the past week, Yuseong had researched many things through his smartphone.

The number and strength of Contractors, citizens’ reactions to Contractors and the current situation, types and strength of monsters, government policies, situations in different countries and diplomatic relations.

This was to roughly determine how to live going forward in this completely changed reality.

‘Monster corpses and parts are being traded at high prices since they have overwhelming utility and characteristics surpassing existing materials, and Contractors are forming companies to hunt monsters together, calling themselves Hunters and ranking themselves by strength… this is exactly like a Hunter story.’

“Hunters.”

Considering becoming a Hunter, Yuseong shook his head.

All he had now was physical abilities slightly above normal humans, enhanced senses, and the ability to create vines.

However, monsters’ strength varied enormously, and the strength of Contractors facing them varied just as much.

When he saw the battle between the giant monster Genbu that devastated Okinawa, Japan and the ability user who drove it away alone and earned the title “War God”, he had to check if a trailer for an unreleased superhero movie hadn’t started playing by mistake.

‘I could handle small monsters like orcs and goblins well enough, but since you never know what monster might appear where, I should focus on increasing power through quests while avoiding danger as much as possible.’

But there was a very serious problem with this.

“…How do I make a living?”

His home had turned to ruins and his bank account was empty since it was before receiving his part-time pay.

Though he received a card with some money called disaster relief funds when applying for discharge, considering current prices it would be hard to survive even a day.

‘Family…’

“Hey.”

“……”

“You there sitting on the bench looking clean-cut. Can’t you hear me?”

“Huh? Are you talking to me?”

“Ha, this bastard. Is there anyone else sitting on this bench besides you? Hey, got any money?”

“…Money?”

“Your face is all oily and neat-looking, seems like you’ve got enough spare cash to eat well even in this situation, so how about making a donation to your underprivileged neighbor here?”

Crack!

The stone in the man’s hand crumbled as he applied force while smiling.

“You know about Contractors right? I’m a Contractor and have trouble controlling my strength, so I might have unintentionally seemed threatening. So, can you help me out?”

“…Alright. But given people’s gazes and all, how about we go to that alley over there?”

“Acting proud despite your situation. Fine, let’s go.”

Seeing the thug naturally putting an arm around his shoulders, Yuseong also smiled brightly and returned the gesture while walking toward the corner alley.

“Now then…”

Thwack!

“Help the underprivileged, you say. That was quite a moving statement.”

“You crazy bastard!”

The thug who suddenly got hit in the back of the head charged with a demonic expression.

It seemed his claim of being a Contractor wasn’t a lie as holes were punched in the concrete wall, but Yuseong easily avoided all attacks just by tilting his head and kicked him back.

“Ugh!”

“Strong but no substance.”

In terms of pure physical abilities, the thug’s strength and agility weren’t much different from Yuseong’s.

However, unlike the thug who relied only on his strong power and recklessly threw punches and kicks, Yuseong was precisely controlling his body with sharp accuracy through Asura Perception Way and Shadow Moon Style 16.

While not a single one of the thug’s wild attacks landed, Yuseong’s strikes hit vital points without fail like a master swordsman’s blade.

Realizing he couldn’t handle this opponent, the thug glanced around before suddenly turning to flee without looking back, but unfortunately even that wasn’t allowed.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Seeing Yuseong instantly block his path using Flash Step, the thug immediately surrendered.

“Hii, hiik? I’m, I’m sorry! I had no way to make a living so I ended up having bad thoughts! I was wrong. Please forgive me just this once!”

“Hm? Why apologize when you did nothing wrong?”

“What?”

“We should help the underprivileged of course. So…”

Yuseong gently massaged the thug’s shoulders while whispering in a small voice.

“Help out the underprivileged.”