A Survival Guide for a Counselor in the Apocalypse Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 

Because the world of the story had become my world, there were things I couldn’t help but notice, even if I didn’t want to. For example…

“That blazer… It’s from Baemyung Middle School.”

The blood-soaked uniform Cha Hyeongseo was wearing wasn’t from just one school. It was a mix, not even distinguishing between middle school and high school.

‘She’s probably not a middle schooler, though.’

To begin with, the blazer itself was a male student’s blazer. I didn’t know how things were these days, but back when I was in high school, the nearby Baemyung Middle School had different blazers for male and female students. You could tell by the color of the fabric attached to the end of the collar.

Yellow for males, blue for females. And that blazer was yellow. So, it was for male students.

“The vest and skirt are from Minhyeong Girls’ High School. And the gym uniform she’s wearing underneath, too.”

I didn’t know what kind of story Cha Hyeongseo carried. Even so, from the way she wore such mismatched clothes and insisted on keeping them, there were things one could infer.

“The reason you’re wearing a blazer that isn’t yours… it probably isn’t that different from what he or I went through.”

“……”

“At times like this, people in the same situation should stick together. Don’t you think?”

Pushing aside Lee Hoin, who was staring at me in shock, I continued.

“Anyway, come if you want. I’ll wait until 9 p.m.”

Until we disappeared from her sight, Cha Hyeongseo stood rooted in place, just glaring at us. I didn’t even need to turn around to know.

 

—

[Her hostility is extremely strong! It seems she intends to glare until the very end. If you don’t want to end up only increasing her wariness, you’ll have to prove yourself….]

—

 

…Unintentionally, I had eyes on the back of my head too.

 

***

 

When we had moved a fair distance away, I spoke to Lee Hoin, who was looking around the area.

“We’re going to keep walking for about an hour. We need to at least get a sense of what’s here.”

The ‘tour guide booklet’ was an item arranged by the ‘Eternal Pleasure Seeker.’ If upgraded, it would even allow us to see buildings written under hidden rules.

In other words… ‘Homes’ that didn’t appear on the map. Besides that, we also needed to look for other supply zones. With weapons like these, we wouldn’t be able to hunt enhanced mutants by day three.

For now, the important thing was…

“What, buildings? Those are all on the map–”

“No. Living things.”

At my words, Hoin frowned. But the priority was getting him used to this space… one far more chaotic and dangerous than the world we had known.

“Things are living here?”

“Even if they’re not living, we don’t know what might be roaming around. There’s no way a place like this would have nothing.”

“That’s….”

“If there was nothing, why would they give us weapons?”

Seemingly convinced, Hoin nodded lightly. Now that I’d told him something existed here, it was time to hint at how to deal with mutants efficiently.

Since there were two of us, we could divide roles. No need to take unnecessary risks.

“We might even run into the ones we’ve seen before.”

“…Those monsters?”

“Yeah. We ran from them at the mart, but here, even if we run, we’ll just run into something else. If we can fight them, we should fight as much as possible and keep moving forward.”

They were enemies we’d inevitably have to face. Running wouldn’t help at all in this kind of environment.

‘And if we can get spirit stones along the way, even better.’

Honestly, the rewards from this event weren’t much. It was the first joint event, after all. The greatest reward was ‘survival’ itself. Aside from that, maybe trait awakening accelerators.

‘The problem is it doesn’t only accelerate good traits.’

Still, every event had a hidden piece. And in this event, there was one.

The Story Merchant.

The Story Merchant wasn’t an agent of anyone, nor a ‘Third Party.’ Just a merchant who wandered across worlds and dimensions, buying and selling stories.

Their customers weren’t fixed either. They sold stories and items to us and to the ‘Third Parties.’

‘Just another kind of scumbag.’

A scumbag, but one you had to meet. Better a greedy swindler you could talk to than some deranged ‘Third Party’ you couldn’t reason with.

‘And since it’s not their official operating period, they’ll be wary of the narrator and won’t price things properly.’

This was where Cha Hyeongseo ’s luck peaked. She had encountered the Story Merchant at an escape route she found by chance.

There were 17 escape routes in this event.

Out of those 17, only one had the Story Merchant.

The very route Cha Hyeongseo chose.

Of course, Sa Jaeheon didn’t like the Story Merchant much, so it didn’t mean much to him.

The weapon Cha Hyeongseo bought from the Story Merchant was ‘Arahan Divine Fist.’

“A counterfeit, and it still ate up 10 low-grade and 36 lowest-grade stones.”

It was literally a counterfeit.

When a weapon with a legendary trait loses its world, it gains the trait [Lost Legend]. Losing its story through destruction applies equally to living and non-living things.

Such items lose not only their abilities but also their identity. They still have names, but they become easily replicable stereotypes.

The ‘Arahan Divine Fist’ was no different. Even if martial arts existed in this world, the story that weapons had built was in a destroyed world.

Which meant…

‘Even if you restore the legend, it’s useless.’

Only the original from the destroyed world held the true legend. Everything else was just imitation.

This world was filled with replicas and incomplete products.

At least, since martial arts existed in our world’s narrative, even a low-quality counterfeit still had some value.

‘But not worth 10 low-grade and 36 lowest-grade stones.’

Whether things would go like the original, I didn’t know, but this event had good spirit stone drops.

Normal mutants dropped 4 lowest-grade stones, while abnormal ones dropped 2 low-grade stones.

Meaning Cha Hyeongseo, in that condition, had fought at least 9 normal mutants and 5 enhanced ones.

‘And even ran at full speed for 20 minutes.’

But I wasn’t exactly lacking in physical ability either.

‘…Even if the Arahan Divine Fist was a scam, the Story Merchant doesn’t only sell trash. What I should buy is…’

‘Incomplete Transfer Mark’ and ‘Imperfect Subspace.’

I turned away from Hoin, who had been silently listening, and stood in front of a tree nearby. Estimating the size of a mutant, I struck the spot with my axe.

“They’re over 2 meters tall, and their arms are close to 2 meters too. So their reach is longer than ours.”

Unless dislocated, their fingers didn’t drag on the ground… they hovered slightly above it. And unlike before, where we fought on concrete, here the ground was dirt.

Using weight distribution like before wouldn’t work. They could just dig their claws into the ground and hold firm.

We had to be ready for anything.

“If we try to fight from outside their reach, we have no chance. Both of us use close-range weapons. Their claws reach from about here to here.”

On average, about 60 centimeters long.

Meaning if we got within that 60 cm, they had no way to retaliate.

Of course, misjudging distance meant getting sliced in half… but staying outside meant we couldn’t attack at all.

“We need to get inside their reach. So we’ll approach from behind.”

Attack from behind first to draw aggro or disrupt balance. When they attack, they extend their fingers fully, so if you’re already inside, you’re safe.

Before they fully turn, you leave their sight. Then the person in front attacks.

‘Honestly, it’s faster to just fight one or two.’

He was the type who learned by doing.

I finished explaining and began scanning the surroundings for a mutant.

“Hey… are we really making the right choice?”

Hoin lowered his voice.

“What? Fighting mutants?”

“No. Not that. What you said to her earlier.”

Her? Cha Hyeongseo?

“What about it?”

Hoin hesitated, then sighed deeply.

“You said it loud on purpose so she’d hear, right? About the map and everything.”

I didn’t confirm or deny.

“And saying you’ll find a way out? How are you so sure?”

“Why? You don’t trust me?”

“Not you. But she might not. What if she tells others?”

It was a valid point.

But honestly…

‘She won’t.’

From her expression, behavior, tone… You could tell.

Right now, she was too defensive, too guarded. Everyone was an enemy to her.

And she wasn’t the type to trust others blindly.

Even if she did spread it…

‘I can just escape through a route if someone comes after me.’

“So what if she does?”

“…You’re taking this too lightly.”

Hoin scratched the back of his head and sighed again.

“Whatever. You must have your reasons. It’s too late not to trust you now.”

A simple trust settled onto me.

Whether it was heavy or light, I couldn’t say.

So I didn’t respond.

I just didn’t want to die.

And I had no intention of letting Hoin die either.

If I die, he dies.

So I’ll survive no matter what.

And I’ll make sure he survives, too.

Because this choice… will not get Hoin killed.