Chapter 89: A Sense of Security
That was especially true for someone like Byun Minseong, a direct descendant of the family line.
The old man was hopelessly old fashioned.
To him, the women of the Byun family were little more than sacrifices to be consumed whenever necessary.
They simply were not worth valuing.
She had originally believed that the apocalypse would change this situation.
The reality, however, was the exact opposite.
The old man would rather spend resources strengthening subordinates who did not even carry the Byun family’s bloodline than invest those same resources into her, someone who genuinely belonged to the family.
His reasoning was even more absurd.
He believed that there was no point in women becoming stronger.
As long as they lived under the protection of the men of the Byun family, that should be enough.
What a joke.
In the apocalypse, lacking strength meant that even if you wanted to become someone else’s dog, there was no guarantee anyone would want you.
Although the old man knew perfectly well that she was restless and overly ambitious, he still assigned people to keep an eye on her, refusing to give her even a single opportunity to leave on her own and gain levels independently.
Perhaps it was not that he failed to understand her situation.
He simply did not want to.
Fortunately, he was already old.
And after the apocalypse began, the Byun family had become riddled with holes from top to bottom.
The old man’s network of informants was no longer nearly as effective as it once had been.
She had no intention of abandoning the Byun family altogether.
Long before the apocalypse arrived, she already understood the advantages that came with belonging to a powerful faction.
There was even less chance she would willingly give that up now.
Besides, part of the Byun family belonged to her as well.
Why should she be the one forced to leave?
...
The world was full of different people living different lives.
After spending an entire day working nonstop, Joo Joowon finally finished counting all the supplies he had brought home.
The moment he looked over the stockpile, an overwhelming sense of security immediately surrounded him.
Even if he would not necessarily be able to take all of it with him in the future, and even if some of it might never actually be used, there was still something deeply satisfying about simply looking at it.
Back when Joo Joowon used to play games, he had never been the type of player who hoarded items.
In fact, whenever he accumulated things he could not immediately use, he usually felt they only wasted inventory space.
Now, however, he felt completely differently.
If he had access to an in game backpack or warehouse system, he would absolutely stuff every single item inside without hesitation.
"Meow?"
Byeol’s biological clock remained as punctual as ever.
When the little cat noticed that Joo Joowon still had not returned to bed, he eventually came looking for him to remind him that it was time to sleep.
Joo Joowon picked him up and gave him a habitual kiss on the head before carrying him back to bed.
Yet the moment he lay down, the memories he had been deliberately trying to forget suddenly surged back into his mind without warning.
The images replayed themselves over and over again, preventing him from falling asleep no matter how many times he tossed and turned.
Coincidentally, there was no telling when the rain outside would finally stop.
There were no zombies waiting to be hunted in the morning either.
So Joo Joowon simply gave up trying to force himself to sleep and instead allowed himself to indulge for a while, talking to Byeol about everything weighing on his heart.
Fortunately, although he talked endlessly, he never expected Byeol to actually respond.
As a result, the little cat gradually became drowsy while listening and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Only Joo Joowon continued muttering away by himself.
This had always been Joo Joowon’s preferred method of dealing with stress.
Find something, anything, and speak his thoughts aloud to it.
Saying things out loud was always better than bottling everything up until it eventually made him sick.
After all that rambling and emotional unloading, Joo Joowon had absolutely no idea when he finally fell asleep.
Unfortunately, he did not wake up naturally the next morning.
Instead, he was awakened by a starving Byeol.
The hungry cat repeatedly stepped on his chest while meowing loudly, demanding that Joo Joowon wake up and open a can of food for him.
An eight kilogram cat was not light by any standard.
Being stomped on by that amount of weight made breathing surprisingly uncomfortable.
Joo Joowon slowly sat up in bed and quickly realized what was happening.
"You’re hungry?"
"Meow~"
Joo Joowon carried Byeol downstairs and opened a can of food for him.
Only after watching the little cat lower his head and begin eating enthusiastically did he turn around and head off to wash up.
He had only just finished filling the basin with water when he caught sight of his reflection in the surface and suddenly froze.
He did not feel groggy at all.
Normally, someone who rarely stayed up late and then suddenly pulled an all nighter would feel absolutely miserable the next day after waking up.
This was especially true for someone like Joo Joowon, who maintained a relatively regular schedule.
Yet at this moment, he did not feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable.
The person reflected in the water looked energetic and lively, without the faintest trace of exhaustion.
To be honest, Joo Joowon had never really felt much difference from the increase in his attributes.
The main reason was the lack of any clear comparison.
Ever since obtaining the Compound Crossbow, he no longer needed to personally fight zombies in close combat.
As a result, he had never developed any real sense of what those increased attributes actually meant after leveling up.
Only now did he finally feel that the improvements were genuine and tangible.