Why Are You Getting Out There?!

Is it really a rescue team?

I headed back to where everyone was gathered and checked the video posted on social media using the phone Yang Jaeyeol handed me.

It had been filmed from a bit of a distance, but there was no mistaking it — a helicopter landing on a rooftop, loading people into a net-like basket, then lifting off again.

Anyone could see it was a genuine rescue video.

"And this is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠near here?"

"It says it's a mixed-use apartment complex near Gongdeok Station."

That close? Just past one building and we'd be right there.

Was that how Yang Jaeyeol reached Yeouido first in the webtoon — thanks to this rescue helicopter? Then shouldn't he have been at the National Assembly too? No. By then he would've already gone dark, so there's no way he would've mixed well with other people.

Anyway, that wasn't what mattered right now.

The mixed-use apartment where the rescue was happening was two hundred meters away at most. But that was nothing to take lightly. There were people here who couldn't guarantee their lives over a mere twenty meters.

"W-we can't go!"

"Right! Ugh… we just can't!"

"Yes! You kids go and tell them we're here! That should work!"

First, those three ajummas. And the college girls over there, lips pressed tight with anxious faces — same story. At least O Jihye looked relatively composed, probably because she'd already come this far with me.

Ah, right. There was that.

Something I hadn't checked yet, thanks to the guys who'd been moping around ever since killing people from that evening through yesterday.

"What did you all get as quest rewards?"

I wasn't the only one who'd received a quest. I'd just gotten mine first. Apparently everyone else had received one the moment Jeong Doyun's group showed their true colors — everyone except me, that is. Strangely, the ajummas said they hadn't gotten any. Maybe because they weren't present when Doyun's group revealed themselves? Or because they were too minor as extras? Even though they were great cooks.

"I got a skill and a box."

"Two things?? Did you get a bonus reward or something? Hidden conditions, whatever?"

"There was no mention of a hidden condition."

"Then?"

"…It said kill reward…."

Kill reward? He got an extra reward for killing Jeong Doyun??

Oh, for fuck's sake…!!

"So you all got two each?!"

"No. The rest of us only got boxes."

"Whew…. Thank god… ahem…! What a waste."

Thank god. If those guys had all gotten kill rewards too, I'd have been genuinely pissed. Still, from now on, I was doing the killing myself.

But was it because it was Yang Jaeyeol who got it? The same way I had hidden conditions on quests that other people didn't?

"Hmm…. No way to check, huh…"

"Hyung, what did you get?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

I'd received a full three rewards. Stat points, plus two additional rewards for fulfilling hidden conditions. The bonus from the black quest was this unpleasant black box. And the bonus from the white quest was also a box — a pure, snow-white one.

Alright, shall we open them?

Of course, only after offering the sacrifices first.

"You guys open your boxes first."

This was it. The sacrifices. I'd held off on opening my own boxes this whole time just so I could offer these up. If they hadn't received boxes as quest rewards, all that waiting would've been for nothing — but four boxes? The wait had been worth it. I was practically glowing with satisfaction.

This time, I'm getting a proper reward.

"Huh…?"

"What? Why? What is it??"

"A die came out…"

Yang Jaeyeol opened his box first. And what came out was a die.

Don't tell me it's the die I'm thinking of?

"A random… stat die…?"

"Yeah. Have you gotten one of these before, hyung?"

"That doesn't matter! What's the highest number on it?!"

"One, one, one, two, three, four."

"……"

A random stat die. Exactly what it sounded like — an absurdly broken item that raised your stats by whatever number you rolled. The six faces of the die were randomly assigned numbers from 1 to 6, and which stat went up was random too.

What made it so broken was that even clearing a nightmare quest only the protagonist could possibly succeed at would normally net you a measly three stat points. Sure, I'd gotten three points more easily than expected, but factoring in the risk of a darkened Yang Jaeyeol hunting me down, it was never an easy quest.

Yeah. That was why it was broken. Did he think I'd waited just to watch this shit happen?!

"It's a four!"

"W-which stats?!"

"Strength and Agility went up by two each!"

"You fucking bastard!!!!! Why! Why! Why!!!!"

I was so furious I started pounding the floor. I should've opened mine first! I should've just opened them the second I got the rewards instead of holding back!

"Huh?? It's a skill!"

"What?!"

"Ooooh~~ nice flow. Then I'll—"

"Me first—"

"NO!!!!!"

I shot to my feet and charged at Kim Jaemin and Lee Yeonghun, who were raising their hands. No — I launched myself at them.

"Waaagh!!"

"Guek!!"

Like a pro wrestler, I flew sideways and crashed down on top of Kim Jaemin and Lee Yeonghun, pinning them with my body while craning my head up as high as I could and headbutting the air.

"Hyung! That's so cheap!!"

"You told us to go first!!"

"Let me live a little! Please…! Please…!!"

The black box that touched my head rattled violently, then its lid blasted open like an explosion.

Please…!! Please…!!!

"I-it floated up!!"

"What is it??"

"What is it?! I can't see!"

You can't see it anyway, so stop trying.

Leaving the two shouting guys behind, I scrambled up and checked the holographic black die.

But the joy was short-lived.

What the hell is this disgusting name?

"You fucking piece of shit!!!!"

It was a stat die, alright. But what the hell were these goddamn symbols?!!!

A cube-shaped die could hold one number per face. Yang Jaeyeol's had been 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4. Not the best numbers if you thought about it, but he'd still rolled a four — the highest — and more importantly, there were no symbols in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠front of the numbers. Or rather, there wouldn't have been. I couldn't see them, after all.

Mine, on the other hand, had rolled incredibly well. 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6. No ones at all, and two sixes — the highest possible. The problem was that every number had a symbol in front of it. And except for exactly one of them, they were all the same symbol.

−2, −2, −3, −4, −6, +6.

What kind of bullshit is this?!!!!

A one-in-six chance. Not a terrible probability on its own — but that only held if the other five outcomes didn't actively screw you over. This thing guaranteed a loss in every case but one. Almost always a loss. And in the worst case, a full six stats would vanish. The strength that had been enough to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pin those two guys could drop so low I couldn't even lift a pair of chopsticks.

The silver lining was that I still had a choice.

Whether I used it or not was up to me. I could just write it off as a wasted reward and never roll it. But it was a full six stats. Three points alone had made me that much stronger — if six went up, I might be able to reach Yeouido on my own, rescue team or Yang Jaeyeol be damned. Depending on which stats rose, of course.

"Hoo…."

I was torn. What should I do? Should I dump a lifetime's worth of luck into this one roll? And if a −6 came up….

"This is driving me insane…!!!"

Any rational person — anyone capable of thinking rationally right now — would walk away. But somehow, I had a feeling it would work out.

Yeah. Everyone felt that way. That "this time it's definitely going to hit" feeling that made people take out loans and walk into casinos, only to walk out buried in debt.

Walking away was the right call. Gambling when you could clearly see it wasn't going to work was pure stupidity.

"Alright… I won't—"

I cut myself off mid-sentence and reached out.

Someone might call me an idiot for gambling when it wasn't even a life-or-death situation. But somehow, I felt like it would work.

I lightly tapped the holographic square — not the black die, but the pure white box instead.

The item that came out of the pure white box I'd touched instead of the black die.

"Use it!!"

The moment I shouted, I swept my outstretched hand sideways and slapped the black die across the face. The die bounced and spun wildly in place before finally losing momentum and presenting me with my one-in-six chance.

…Should I even be happy about this?

Why the hell did Mental go up by three for no reason?!!!!

Surprisingly, O Jihye's box had also produced a skill. Protective Instinct was a kind of danger-sensing detector skill, one that a member of the protagonist's party obtained early on. It wasn't an amazing skill by any means — it didn't detect every threat, just occasionally triggered on pure instinct when you were about to die. But it was a gem of a skill that saved the protagonist's underdeveloped party members in the early stages.

And she wasn't the only one who'd gotten a skill. Three others had as well.

Setting the skills aside for a moment — Yang Jaeyeol's stats were genuinely broken. Compared to me he was lower across the board except for Agility, but I'd gotten a full +9 in total boosts while he only had +4. Even factoring in those three useless points dumped into Mental, his numbers were absurd. That was practically protagonist-tier.

And then there was the skill Indomitable. That was an S-rank skill the protagonist only obtained after a hundred chapters — the kind that made you get back up like a zombie even when you should have gone down. Not that skills actually had ranks in this setting.

Next, Park Mingu's stats and skill were fairly ordinary. But the skill Han Nari had received was the real jackpot.

Inventory. Exactly what it sounded like — the ability to store items. At level 1 the capacity wasn't huge, but food stored in the Inventory never spoiled or went bad. If we could just get Han Nari to a supermarket, we'd essentially have a walking food warehouse. Of course, we could already make that happen right now.

"I-I can't fit any more…! It says storage space is full…"

A little disappointing, but we'd packed as much food and water as possible from the restaurant and convenience store inside the sauna. Even if we went outside now, we wouldn't starve for a while. Not that starving was more likely than getting eaten by zombies anyway.

"But… if we take all this…."

"We're fine!"

"Just pass on the message for us!"

"Kids! Young man! Young lady! You have to tell the rescue team we're here, okay?! You got that?!"

The ajummas had decided not to come with us. The girls trembling with anxiety over there had wanted to stay behind too, but the guys had worn them down with persistent persuasion until they found the courage to go.

"Hyung, when are we leaving?"

"Just a second."

One turning point had already passed, so by nightfall the zombies would have physical enhancements matching the next turning point's power spike. We had to factor that in. Whether we moved during the day when both we and the zombies had clear visibility, or in the evening when I could maximize my Enhanced Vision skill.

Two hundred meters at most. A distance I could cover in under a minute if I just ran for it. But if I did that, I'd die too.

"Let's head out once first. Just you and me."

"Just me and hyung?"

"Looking at a map doesn't tell me enough. I need to see it with my own eyes."

I planned to set the movement strategy after confirming things with my own eyes. No — after confirming them with my own body.

(Th-there's nobody outside right now…!)

(Barricade the door properly.)

(Yes! Be careful, hyung! You too, Jaeyeol!)

(Got it.)

Yang Jaeyeol and I walked boldly outside through the door Park Mingu opened for us. Of course, the moment we climbed the stairs we had to crouch low and press ourselves flat against the wall.

(Jaeyeol.)

(Yes, hyung.)

(You go first and climb on top of that delivery truck over there. Can you do it?)

(Yes.)

(Then when I give the signal— hey…! Hey…!!)

Listen to the end of a Korean sentence, damn it!!!

"KRAAAAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAAA!!!"

"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!"

Zombies that spotted Yang Jaeyeol charging out on his own started screaming from every direction and swarming in. I was still crouched on the stairs, body hidden, and only after about twenty seconds did I sprint up the remaining steps.

"KRAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAGH!!"

"KRAAAAAAGH!!"

"KRAAAAA!!"

"KRAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Yang Jaeyeol had made it safely onto the delivery truck. Zombies surrounded it on all sides, and I quickly pivoted right, circling around behind the building.

Thud-thud—

The moment I hit the two-lane road behind the building, the mixed-use apartment complex rose high and clear directly ahead of me. And then a blaring horn cut through the air.

BEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!

"Waaagh!!! You drive with your feet, you bastard?!!!! Wait…?"

"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!!!"

"KRAAAGH!!!!"

"KRAAAAAA!!!"

"KRAAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAAAAAA!!!"

"KRAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAAGH!!!!!"

I was fucked. The zombies that had been chasing the car that nearly hit me were all staring at me now. And the car that had dumped them on me—

KRAAANG!!!!!

—shot out of the alley and slammed straight into the wall of abandoned cars packing the road.

"Ugh… dumb ass…."

Wh-what?? Why are you getting out of there?!!

"Urgh…!"

"Hey! Caveman!!!!"

"Kang… Juhan…? Ju-Juhan…!"

"Get back in! You stupid bastard!!!"

"Uwaaagh!!!!"

"KRAAAAAAGH!!!!!"

"KRAAAGH!!!"

"KRAAAAGH!!!!"

"KRAAAAAA!!!"

"KRAAA!!!!"

Caveman…

Why the hell is my friend here?!!