Absolute Dweller-Chapter 190

Moon Byeong-ho and Kim Geon were soaring across the skies over the northernmost frontlines of Pocheon and Cheorwon, carrying out a special mission assigned to them by Kim Jae-hyun.

From atop a crow’s back, Moon Byeong-ho scanned the ground below and asked,

"What’s that place?"

"...Just a regular village."

Their mission was to secure ammunition from military bases.

Of course, if the goal was purely to stockpile ammunition, it would have been far more efficient to search rear-echelon storage depots instead of the front lines, but that task had already been assigned to others.

Even locating military bases was not as easy as it seemed.

Despite being on the frontlines, these areas were still inhabited, with farms, villages, and settlements scattered throughout.

"I never thought so many people would still be living in the front line regions."

"...Yeah, same here."

It turned out that simply flying over the landscape wasn’t enough to pinpoint military bases.

Both of them had served in rear-area units, meaning they had little to no knowledge of the front-line military installations.

But—

"...Found one."

That didn’t mean it was impossible.

The distinctive barracks, the wide parade ground, and the military vehicles camouflaged in the so-called 'frog pattern'—all of these uniquely military features made it easy to identify a base.

For Kim Geon, who possessed superhuman eyesight, recognizing these details from the sky was second nature.

However—

"...Looks like another dud."

There was one consistent issue they kept encountering at every base.

At the center of each military base lay a massive crater.

From the air, it looked as if a meteorite had struck, making it easy to spot from a distance.

Which likely meant—

"Another explosion?"

It was highly probable that those sites had once been ammunition depots.

The traces of a massive detonation were clear.

If an ammunition storage facility suffered a major impact, it would result in exactly this kind of destruction.

"How many times has this happened already?"

Moon Byeong-ho muttered in frustration.

"...This is the third one."

Just then, Kim Geon’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.

"...Prepare for combat."

At those words, Moon Byeong-ho’s expression immediately hardened.

"Monsters?"

The sky wasn’t entirely safe, even if it was safer than the ground.

Flying monsters weren’t as common as their ground-dwelling counterparts, but encounters still happened frequently.

However, Kim Geon’s response wasn’t what he expected.

"...No. It’s a person."

"What?"

Moon Byeong-ho followed Kim Geon’s gaze and squinted.

Far in the distance, something was approaching.

But from this range, he couldn’t tell whether it was human or a monster.

"Are you sure it’s a person? Are you certain?"

"...Yes."

"It’s not a humanoid monster?"

There were monsters that resembled humans, like those with avian lower bodies and human torsos.

But Kim Geon’s voice remained unwavering.

"...It’s a human."

Moon Byeong-ho’s expression darkened.

Because the person flying toward them was coming from the north.

Right now, they were scouting the front lines.

For someone to be flying through the sky toward them—

That meant they had come from even farther north.

In other words—

"...A spy?"

***

Ri Seong-ho was the last survivor of Pyongyang.

He hadn’t personally checked every location, but he knew this for certain because of them.

Those ominous beings, spreading death wherever they roamed.

He could still remember the paralyzing fear of his first encounter with them.

The undead horde, marching relentlessly from the north.

They trampled fields and farmlands, moving like a wave of corpses, radiating an instinctive, primal revulsion.

Watching the seas of undead covering the plains, he had felt the purest form of terror.

If there had been any other survivors hiding somewhere in the city, by now—they were all dead.

Because those creatures could sense life itself.

No matter how much you struggled, escaping from them was impossible.

Through their hands, his family, his comrades, his friends, and his lover had all died.

Right before his eyes.

And those who perished in their grasp—

Those sons of bitches!

Everything had been going so well before they arrived.

The government had collapsed, and countless people had died when the monsters first appeared, but all the people he cared about had survived.

Some of his closest comrades had even Awakened, allowing them to establish a new order.

In some ways, life after the apocalypse had been better.

Food was scarce at first, but monster meat meant they never went hungry again.

They could watch South Korean dramas together without worrying about being sent to forced labor camps.

And as the only ones with the power to fight monsters, people treated them like supreme leaders—almost as if they were revered deities.

He had felt like he had the entire world at his fingertips.

But that happiness didn’t even last a full year.

Those bastards deserve to be torn apart, bone and all!

With everything lost, the reason he flew all the way to South Korea was almost laughable.

"If even one-tenth of what they show in South Korean dramas is true... maybe there’s still a livable place left."

It was ridiculous.

Basing his hopes on fictional TV shows?

Sure, the fact that South Korea could still produce dramas suggested their situation was better, but he knew those were exaggerated, scripted lies.

Obviously, the entire nation had participated in their production.

His years of indoctrination told him that South Korea was a poor, incompetent country—but at least they knew how to make entertaining dramas.

"I’m probably going to die anyway."

Thinking that there might still be a safe place was nothing more than wishful thinking.

He had come this far grasping at straws, but he had no real expectations.

"I didn’t have any other choice anyway."

At first, he had tried fleeing north.

But the farther north he went, the larger the undead army became.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

There weren’t even safe places to rest on the way.

In the end, he had no choice but to fly south, where the numbers of those creatures were somewhat smaller.

"Mother..."

His stamina was reaching its limit.

He hadn’t slept in three days.

Short rests weren’t enough anymore—he needed real sleep.

"...Have I flown far enough?"

Looking down at the ground, he confirmed that the undead were nowhere in sight.

But he couldn’t let his guard down.

At any moment, they could suddenly appear.

He was alone now.

There was no comrade to stand watch while he slept.

And then—

Something caught his eye.

Ri Seong-ho noticed the flock of large crows flying rapidly toward him.

He had encountered flying monsters before, so he didn’t panic. Instead, he prepared for combat.

He drew a dagger from his chest pocket and began channeling his directional force into it—the same force he used for flight.

As his flight speed slowed, the stored energy within the dagger increased. Then, with precise aim, he hurled it toward what seemed to be the alpha of the flock.

BOOM—!

With a burst of air, the dagger shot forward at terrifying speed.

Ri Seong-ho was absolutely certain that this attack would kill the leader in one blow.

However—

“...What?”

Before he could process it, the dagger missed completely.

"That’s impossible..."

There was no way a normal monster could react to a projectile moving at such high velocity.

As an uneasy feeling crept up his spine—

Thud!

"Urgh!"

Something tightened around his throat.

He gasped in shock.

Someone had grabbed him by the neck.

He thrashed, trying to break free, but the grip was unbelievably strong—he couldn’t budge it ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ at all.

"Don't move."

A man's voice spoke from behind him.

A chill ran down Ri Seong-ho’s spine.

"You son of a bitch! Let me go!"

"Huh. It really is North Korean dialect."

The man muttered, sounding amused before continuing in a flat, emotionless tone.

"I told you—don't move."

At that moment, a cold, sharp sensation pressed against Ri Seong-ho’s throat.

But he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

He had never stopped channeling his power.

"Now!"

With a sudden surge, he activated his directional force on the man’s arms, forcing them apart.

Using that split second, Ri Seong-ho broke free and turned around—

And his eyes widened in shock.

"I used enough force to rip his arms apart..."

Yet the man looked completely unharmed.

Though he seemed momentarily surprised, there wasn’t even a scratch on him.

"I have to run!"

His instincts screamed danger.

This was not someone he could fight.

Without hesitation, he redirected all of his energy downward.

In an instant, his body plummeted toward the ground like a bullet.

Whiiiiiiiish!

With gravity and his directional force combined, he was racing toward the earth at lethal speed.

Just before impact—

BOOM!

He released a final burst of energy, reversing his trajectory at the last moment and slowing his descent dramatically.

He landed smoothly on the ground and immediately sprinted toward the forest.

But—

Thud!

"Hurk—!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Before he could even react, a hand grabbed him from behind.

The next thing he knew, he was slammed into the dirt.

The man held him down effortlessly.

Then—

Click!

A cold, metallic object pressed against his head.

"You might want to stop running."

Ri Seong-ho turned his head.

And his eyes widened in sheer terror.

"A gun...!"

The fear of death immediately snapped his mind into focus.

“D-Dongmu! J-Just calm down!”

"Just answer my question. Why did you cross into South Korea? Are you a spy?"

For a moment, Ri Seong-ho didn’t understand what the man was saying.

The nation was already destroyed—what did spies or South Korea even matter anymore?

It was ridiculous.

In a world where monsters had wiped out everything, who would waste time sending spies?

Then, a realization struck him.

"Wait... Could it be...?"

Now that he thought about it, there was something strange about the man pointing the gun at him.

For one—his clothes were too clean.

No tears, no holes, no wear and tear.

The only stain was a fresh one on his chest, likely from their recent struggle.

Which meant—

"That uniform was completely clean before this fight?"

And more than that—

"...He smelled nice."

It was a luxurious scent, something he had only ever smelled on high-ranking officials back in his homeland.

It wasn’t just his clothing that was suspicious.

His hair was neatly trimmed, his face well-fed and healthy—not a single sign of starvation or suffering.

Ri Seong-ho stared at him in disbelief.

"Wait... South Korea... Has South Korea not been overrun by monsters?"

"I asked you first. Why are you here?"

Ri Seong-ho’s voice cracked with desperation.

"I came to live! I just want to survive!"

Suddenly, tears streamed down his face.

"I just... I just want to live..."

The man with the gun narrowed his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

Still sobbing, Ri Seong-ho began to pour out his entire story—

About what had happened in Pyongyang.

***

Through Absolute Vision, I had been watching everything unfold with Moon Byeong-ho and Kim Geon.

And now, I was hearing everything the North Korean man was saying in real-time.

Just like our country, North Korea had been overrun with monsters, plunging into complete anarchy.

Like us, a small number of Awakened individuals had taken control, forming factions of power.

From just that, I could already guess that most other countries were in the same situation.

But the worst part?

[Ask him for more details about the undead horde.]

According to him, from Pyongyang to the very northern border at the Yalu River, the entire land was swarming with an undead army.

He had tried fleeing northward, but the further north he went, the more their numbers grew.

Which meant—

"Just how many of them are marching south?"

I needed to see this for myself.

[Kim Geon, I need you to scout northward immediately.]