The Quest Even the Protagonist Failed

Clothes torn or cheeks slapped—whatever it took, what needed doing had to be done.

Mothers and fathers screaming as they realized the things in their arms weren't children at all, but dolls. Men reeling in shock as they discovered the women they'd been clutching were old enough to call "ma'am." People collapsing into despair at the death of the cult leader they'd followed, believing he would save them.

First things first—I had to calm these people down before the chaos swallowed everything.

"Yeongji… bring me my Yeongji… Bring me my daughter!!!!!!!!"

"Seongyun! Where's our Seongyun?! Where is our Seongyun..!!!!!"

"Elder! Give us our child back! Give us our Minji back!!!!"

"Oppa, it's me…"

"What's wrong with this lady?! Snap out of it, ma'am!!"

"It's me! The mole right here!! You said the mole here was cute!!"

"Ah… wh-why is there a mole there… ugh!!!!"

"The Leader… is dead…"

"What kind of Leader was that?! I saw it! That monster tore out a human heart and ate it!!"

"What are you talking about?! Don't spout nonsense!"

"I saw it too!"

"We all saw it! Everyone who was standing there saw it!"

"That can't be… Elder Choi! Say something! These people are talking crazy—why are you just standing there listening?!"

The only person who could settle a crowd this far gone was Elder Choi—the one who'd used his Faith skill to bind their belief in the first place.

Of course, there was always the chance he'd try to flip the situation and use them against us.

Assuming, that is, that his genitals still mattered to him.

Thok—

The black iron rod between his legs gave his lower half a light upward tap, and Elder Choi shuddered violently as he shouted.

"C-calm yourselves! I will explain everything!! That man was not the Leader! He has been deceiving us this entire time!"

"Deceiving us?! What do you mean?!"

"The one who called himself God's proxy was a devil wearing human skin! With a devil's power he showed us false appearances and made us believe those lies were the truth!!"

"What are you…"

"All of you, go to the National Assembly. Seek the soldiers' aid!"

"But that place is a den of demons…"

"Silence!!! That, too, was nothing but a fabrication spun by the man who has been deceiving us!!"

Those still under the Faith skill gradually settled under Elder Choi's words. The parents who had lost their children did not.

The moment they understood their kids were gone, the Faith skill had shattered completely.

"So what now?"

"Call the soldiers and have them take these people. Suho, get in touch with our people."

"Our people?"

"This is our shot at getting into the National Assembly."

"But we…"

"We can go now."

The people who'd interfered with the bridge demolition had already been reported as KIA. Mixed in with a crowd this size, we could walk into the National Assembly without much trouble.

Captain Son Gijun or the soldiers who'd been there might recognize us, sure—but the ones who'd actually sabotaged the operation were me, Suho, and Jaeyeol. If we said the others had been operating separately, they wouldn't pin the crime on people who'd arrived late.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"What about us, then??"

"You want to go?"

"I'm not saying I want to go. I'm just asking out of curiosity."

Seonye, Jeongyeon, Huijin.

Jaemin and Yeonghun were decent enough in a fight, but these three college girls were, frankly, dead weight.

Still, if they wanted to stay, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't about to force them out. I'd grown a little fond of them, and as atmosphere-makers they made things more fun when they were around.

"Looks like they all want to go…"

"What about you, Suho?"

"Obviously I'm sticking with you."

"Then that settles it."

Suho took Elder Choi and the others and headed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for the second-floor commercial building we'd turned into a shelter. He'd leave our people there and bring back anyone who wanted to go to the National Assembly to the church.

A clean roster with just Suho added to our original group. Not bad at all.

"Could I have a word with you for a moment?"

I was sitting there, resting and turning things over in my head, when Baek Sihyeon came looking for me.

Yu Eunseol had been treating me like I didn't exist ever since she slapped me, but Baek Sihyeon clearly had a lot he wanted to say.

"Maybe leave it there? If Yu Eunseol's alone, something might happen."

"I'll worry about Eunseol myself..!!"

He looked like he wanted to grab me by the collar, but settled for clamping down on my forearm instead, glaring at me with eyes that practically radiated killing intent.

"Don't you ever do anything like that to Eunseol again. If it happens one more time, I will not let it slide."

"Got it. That all you wanted to say?"

"Let's never see each other again."

"We will. I like you, after all."

"Ha..!!"

"Look at it this way—aren't I kind of your savior? You and Yu Eunseol both survived because of me. Granted, the fact that you're here at all is also my fault."

"Exactly! I'm not grateful in the slightest, so spare me the self-congratulation..! And I would have protected Eunseol no matter what."

"So if I save you next time, will you be a little grateful then?"

"That will never happen. Because I will never see you again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep. That's why you warned me in the first place—don't do that again. If you really thought we'd never meet, you wouldn't have needed to warn me at all."

"……"

Instead of arguing, Baek Sihyeon turned and walked back to where Yu Eunseol was waiting.

He knew it too, on instinct.

If they survived, we'd cross paths again.

I'd stuck around in case anyone tried to jump Baek Sihyeon and Yu Eunseol, but now I was outside the church watching the scene unfold.

Military trucks rolling up to the church one after another.

"How'd you get in touch with the soldiers?"

"Told Baek Sihyeon to report in. Have his people call the military. They would've shown up anyway, though."

"Why?"

"They lost their money. Hundreds of billions of it. They were probably just waiting for sunrise."

"Ah…"

"You're not bummed? Everyone's leaving you behind."

"A little worried, maybe. Not bummed, though."

"Good."

Every single person who'd crossed the bridge with Suho and me had decided to go to the National Assembly.

They'd crossed Seogang Bridge for that exact reason in the first place.

"So why keep this guy alive? People still seem to believe in him and follow him."

"He's useful."

"Useful how?"

I looked straight at Elder Choi.

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that…"

"……"

If Elder Choi hadn't been here, I would've stayed at the church myself, climbed into a military truck, and gone to the National Assembly.

Moving with the protagonist's party, resolving conflicts, growing stronger—that would've been the comfortable path.

But I'd already cleared two major quests.

The church, and the Licker in the bank.

I hadn't managed to kill the Licker, but even if I went back, I doubted the system would hand me another quest for it.

That left only a handful of major quests remaining.

The department store, the resistance, the final confrontation with the military, and the escape from Yeouido after that. That was about it.

All of those showed up in the late stages of the Yeouido arc. Rather than grind through the minor quests before then, it made more sense to use Elder Choi and clear the one quest even the protagonist fails.

With Elder Choi, success would be almost trivial.

The quest even the protagonist fails.

This one has a trap built in.

Namely: zombies get stronger after sundown.

Naturally, people refuse to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leave safe ground once the sun goes down—and that refusal is the trap itself.

Because this is a quest that has to be done after dark.

Granted, with or without that, it's a quest you absolutely cannot clear in the early game.

Unless you have Elder Choi.

"Kraaagh…!"

"Kraaah…"

"Grruh…"

"Grrraaah…"

"Kraaah…"

We'd prepared while the sun was still up, and the moment it set we headed straight for the quest site.

Walking calmly through a horde of zombies that had grown even more vicious after dark.

"……"

"……"

"……"

"……"

"……"

Everyone moved in total silence, barely even breathing.

And the zombies packing every direction simply opened a path for us as we went.

To their eyes right now, we looked like enormous balls of fire.

"KRAAAAK!!!"

"KRAK!!"

"……"

"……"

A zombie suddenly whipped its head toward us and shrieked, and everyone nearly made a sound out of pure shock—but they clamped hands over each other's mouths and held it together.

The moment anyone made a noise, the moment anyone bumped a zombie, the moment someone fell or broke into a run—the Illusion skill would drop.

But as long as we walked quietly, we were nothing more than roaring pillars of flame in the zombies' eyes.

"……"

It was a waste, honestly.

If skills had ranks, Elder Choi's Illusion skill would be S-rank at minimum.

But I had zero intention of killing him and using a Skill Acquisition Ticket.

Illusion alone couldn't produce this level of power.

Illusion, Faith, and finally Sacrifice.

You needed all three skills working together for Illusion to perform like this.

So using Elder Choi once and calling it done was the right way to treat this skill.

I could keep him around and put him to work, sure—but the risk was far too high.

One moment of carelessness and he could slap Illusion on the whole party, and they'd all come at me trying to kill me.

Which meant this was as far as it went.

Elder Choi's usefulness ended here.

A Spawning Ground always had hundreds of zombies stationed inside by default.

They had a queen to protect, after all.

And the moment the queen sent out a distress signal, every zombie in the vicinity would pour into the Spawning Ground at once.

That was why even Baek Sihyeon and his party—protagonist buff and all—failed this quest.

The first failure. And Lee Jeongcheol's death.

Oh. If I clear this, does that mean Lee Jeongcheol doesn't die?

"Is this… really the Spawning Ground..?"

"Something about it feels gross enough that it probably is…"

"Why is it so quiet here..??"

We could talk now.

Why?

Because there weren't any zombies around.

That was exactly why this quest had to be done at night.

Once night fell, every last zombie left the Spawning Ground.

"Let's go. Time to kill a queen."