One of the most underrated novels on WW. The translator is also quite good. If you like zombie apocalypse stories where the protagonist is a "unique infected" and fights other zombies, you should check this out.

Just don't expect the protagonist to be surrounded by beauties and sycophants, constantly delivering comeuppance to rivals, or constantly solving every problem in the most perfect way with his luck and ingenuity, like a cultivation novel MC would.

The story is very grounded, with a rational protagonist who tries to save who he can, but understands... more>> that he's surrounded by danger in a city overrun by zombies and mutant zombies, and that he doesn't have the kind of plot armor that would let him just explore everywhere and barely survive no matter what situation he finds himself thrown into. Instead, he focuses more on calmly communicating with humans about his good intentions, and trying to strategically protect them. There *is* a certain dopamine rush from seeing him save people and earn their deep trust and adminration, despite the fact he's visually undead.

Of course, there are enemies, and zombie fights. He's not the only zombie who can think, and there's a complex threat looming which he slowly begins to learn about and fight against. The more the story progresses, the more he's the one to initiate these fights, too, rather than remain largely passive. Probably ~50% of the story is intense action, ~30% of the story is intense discussions between the characters about their strategies, and ~20 of the story is other events like explorations, mass migrations, and non-violent interpersonal conflicts.

I do honestly wish, though, that the story had developed into a larger scale, and that the protagonist had been able to use plot armor to find ways to overcome the many things out of his control and take control of the situation earlier in the story, and perhaps find a way to raise his power level more safely and strategically. It's a gripping story, and things generally proceed in a positive direction (that is, it's not a tragedy), but I can't help but wish it was more of a feelgood story in certain ways. There's a constant sense of foreboding, since the world is such a dangerous place. That said, it's better than having a story where zombies are just bowling pins who are easily conquered by a protagonist surrounded by sycophants with no real challenges.

Oh, and I also wish the translator had provided a map of Seoul or something because there is SO MUCH discussion about different locations in Seoul, in terms of the locations of different safe zones, threats, shelters, and so on. I tried to keep track, but was lost a lot of the time. I also lost track of some of the names of side characters; a glossary for them would've been nice. Well, if you binge this, you won't have as big a problem with that, so I recommend binging it!

Edit: Finished the whole novel (the above review was written when I'd read about 75% of it). My opinion remains the same; it's quite a consistent novel. <<less