People's Selfishness

After receiving what I figured was a linked white quest, I left the department store without so much as telling the others where I was going.

I headed back to the villa first, explained that the department store was packed with people and that I had no choice but to help them, then returned to the commercial building we'd designated as a safe zone.

"They shouldn't be short on water right away over there, but if they ever run low, come here and fill up. Only the second floor has safe water, so don't take any from the other floors."

"So zombies can't get in here either?"

"That's right. Most monsters can't get in."

"Most??"

"Thinking you're absolutely safe is dangerous. And it might not actually be safe."

"Ah...."

The middle-aged man who'd once suspected Jaemin and Younghoon of being murderers nodded. A few other villa residents who could still move around outside with relative safety had come along with him.

Until the shop appeared in the place I knew about, this was the only spot you could get water—aside from whatever bottled water you managed to scavenge while roaming around.

Of course, revealing a place we were going to stay for a good long while to outsiders sat a little wrong with me, but they weren't going to get any stupid ideas. They'd seen with their own eyes how dangerous I was and how strong we were.

"Just take the water and go. The second you cross the line—wanting to wash up, wanting to rest a bit—it's over."

"A-alright..! You don't have to look so scary about it..."

I gave them a light warning just in case, then left them free to fill up at their leisure. After a long stretch of filling empty plastic bottles stuffed into bags and eco-bags, the middle-aged man and the villa people finished getting ready to leave.

"Then you two can carry these."

"Huh??"

"What?"

"We're not going."

"What??"

"We're going to stay here."

I'd more or less expected Seo Hayun to say something like that, but the middle-aged man and the villa people—who clearly hadn't seen it coming at all—looked completely stunned. They had every reason to be. Even Seo Hamin, the strongest person in the villa, stood motionless at Seo Hayun's side without so much as twitching.

"H-Hamin, you're staying here too..?"

"Yes."

"Ah...."

"If you stay, Hamin, what are we supposed to do..."

"What do you mean, what? Survive on your own. You gonna whine and beg a young woman to take care of you?"

"Hey, come on, hyung-nim, what are you talking about? When did we ever whine..."

"If that's not it, then just carry this."

"Augh! How are we supposed to haul all this?!"

Having shut down any chance of persuasion or pleading, the middle-aged man told Seo Hayun and Seo Hamin how grateful he'd been, said to take care of themselves and that they'd see each other again, then led the others back to the villa.

"He's a decent adult."

"Yeah."

"When he was suspicious of us I thought he was just some idiot, but I was wrong."

"So, hyung, you're not going to help the people at the villa anymore?"

"Dunno."

The quest only said to support people's growth. It didn't specify particular people, so I figured I'd at least check once whether helping the villa residents would count.

"Alright, shall we get moving too?"

"Yes."

I had no intention of heading straight back to the department store. If I was going to support people's growth, I needed to find the places for it first.

The reason I'd been so determined to buy a Safe Zone Setting Ticket before leaving Yeouido was that Apgujeong was nothing like a peaceful place.

In the webtoon, after the contaminated water started flowing and Baek Sihyeon's group clashed with the soldiers and left Yeouido, Apgujeong was hell itself by the time they arrived.

Real zombies born from the Zombie Queen packed the streets just as thickly as the ordinary ones. Insects wandered around casually. And above all, special zombies made their first appearance here.

"What's a special zombie?"

Gihun was the only one I could talk to without filtering, so I answered as thoroughly as I could.

"The zombies the Queen produces are weaker in body, but faster and stronger."

"You already told me that before we went to the hospital."

"Listen. Among those things, whether they're made as mutants or the Queen deliberately creates them, I don't know—but there are zombies with outstanding traits. Those are special zombies."

"Outstanding traits?"

"For example, some are insanely fast, some are strong, some can jump high, some have great lungs."

"Great lungs? So sound-attack zombies show up too?"

"You joking?"

"Then what?"

"They're alarms. When one of them screams, zombies from a much wider range come swarming in faster and more immediately. Sometimes even the insects react to the sound."

"Ah... that's pretty horrifying..."

Zombies created by the Queen were as strong as ordinary zombies that had gone through two or three more inflection points. And they were more vicious, more sensitive, more relentless—as if night had fallen.

Even ordinary zombies became unmanageable once their numbers hit the hundreds. The idea of stronger, more violent ones pouring in from an even wider range was nightmarish just to imagine.

But that was nothing.

"The really terrifying ones are separate."

"There's more??"

"The Queen's bodyguards, and the commanders who lead the zombies."

"Bodyguards..? Commanders..?"

"The bodyguards are just strong. Guarding the Queen is their job."

"There weren't any of those at the hospital."

"That place wasn't even producing zombies properly. A Spawning Ground that's actually cranking them out will have bodyguards."

"How strong are they?"

"Up through the mid-game, one of them can go toe-to-toe with the protagonist."

"Insane..! How many are there?!"

"No idea. And they keep getting stronger over time, so even later on the bodyguards are pretty rough to deal with."

"Then the commanders??"

"Obviously stronger than the bodyguards. But the bigger problem than their strength is their intelligence. And they use that intelligence to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠give orders to other zombies."

Commander zombies were genuinely dangerous and a massive headache. But no matter how much the story's difficulty had ramped up, they wouldn't show up here. If they did, it wouldn't be a difficulty spike—it'd mean we were looking at the ending.

So where the hell was the Spawning Ground?

No matter where I looked, there wasn't a single zombie made by the Queen in sight.

A place this peaceful turning into that kind of hell in just a few days?

"Does that even make sense..?"

"Kraaagh!!!!"

"Kraak!!"

"Kraaaagh!!"

"Kraaaaagh!!"

"Kraaa!!!"

"Yeah, this doesn't seem to be the place."

"Looks that way. Let's move on to somewhere else."

"What about these things?"

"A bit many for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just the two of us to kill, no?"

"Plenty, yeah."

Gihun slammed his gauntleted fists together and charged the oncoming zombies. I joined in, swinging Mook.

We searched everywhere a Spawning Ground might be, but even after two full days of scouring, we never found one.

On the morning of the third day since the contaminated water appeared, we filled plastic bottles and large water-cooler jugs we'd scavenged while hunting for the Spawning Ground, then headed for the department store.

"You're opening up nicely today."

"Th-that..! Is that water..?"

"Water..!!"

"J-just one sip..!!"

"Want some?"

The three men who'd stubbornly refused to open the door last time nodded furiously at the sight of the water bottles in my hands. If they'd refused again today I wouldn't have given them any, but since they'd been good and opened up, I handed over a bottle I'd filled from the bathroom and headed inside.

"Ugh..!!"

"Augh...!"

"Uurk!!"

"Uk!!"

"......"

I'd expected something like this, but the condition was worse than I'd thought. The department store that had still smelled relatively decent was, in just three days, thick with a foul stench, and the unwashed people looked bad enough that a homeless person would have given them a free pass. Of course, only a handful of them looked and smelled that bad.

"Kang Juhan-ssi..!"

Was this even the same person?

Seong Eunho, who'd once radiated the aura of a successful young entrepreneur, had turned into something resembling a street homeless man in three days and greeted me in a weak voice.

"You alright?"

"Yes! I can still hold on!"

Unlike the three men at the door, Seong Eunho didn't immediately demand water. Instead he stared at the bottles in my hands with an intense gaze.

"But I don't see many people around."

"They're staying elsewhere.."

"Mind explaining what happened in detail? While you drink some water."

"Th-thank you!!"

Seong Eunho snatching the bottle from my hand almost like he was seizing it, he was about to tip it back the second he cracked the lid—then he froze mid-motion and walked off somewhere. He dropped to one knee on the floor, crouched down, and held out the bottle.

"Drink."

"R-really??"

"But don't drink too much. Other people need some too. Got ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it?"

"Yes!!"

He'd given the water to a kid who looked like a lower elementary schooler. Not only that—he shared it with everyone around him, then barely managed to catch the last few drops dribbling from the empty plastic bottle.

"Oppa, is it okay if we hand some out?"

"Sure."

"Everyone, come over here and get some water!"

"We've got plenty of water over here!"

"Just one of the small ones."

"Here."

I tossed a 500ml bottle to Seong Eunho, who was still looking regretful.

"Drink."

"Thank you..!"

He ripped the lid off and drained the bottle in an instant, then panted for breath while thanking me over and over. But gratitude wasn't what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know what had happened here.

"Well...."

Before I'd left the department store last time, Seong Eunho had asked how they could solve the drinking water problem, and I'd given him an answer.

The shop. Points. Quests.

Through that, Seong Eunho had grasped the information about the shop and the importance of quests and points. So not long after I left, he'd gone outside with a few people—to the apartment complex right behind the department store, to find drinking water and bottled water, and if possible to pick up quests.

But the problem had happened while Seong Eunho and the others were away.

A strange tension hung inside the department store.

People who still thought of themselves as customers—who considered themselves superior to everyone else—had gathered in one place and were murmuring among themselves.

"Don't make it obvious. Move carefully."

"Then we'll pretend to go to the bathroom and gradually head downstairs."

"That sounds good."

They were planning something. Specifically, they planned to steal the remaining food and drinks in the food court. No—they planned to seize the entire food court on the first basement level.

"But what if Seong Eunho comes back and says something..?"

"Right.. that guy's a killer who even takes down zombies..."

"It's fine. As long as we hold our positions properly, he won't dare charge in."

When the zombies first appeared, people who'd turned had been rampaging inside the department store too. The first person to risk his life and step up to save those in danger had been Seong Eunho. Encouraged by that, some others had joined in, and they'd barely managed to clear every zombie inside the building.

After that, Seong Eunho—who'd earned everyone's trust—had been managing the food court in the basement. He hadn't volunteered for it. People had foisted it on him, saying someone trustworthy needed to handle it.

He hadn't wanted the job, but Seong Eunho had distributed the food strategically—starting with what spoiled fastest—so they could hold out as long as possible. Until now.

But that was over. The food court had been seized by other people.

"What the hell are you doing?!!"

"Don't come down!! Block the elevators and the emergency stairs right now!!"

"Come any closer and you die!! You'll die!!!"

"You crazy bastards!!!!!"

They'd been spotted midway, but the operation succeeded. They'd called the elevators down to the basement and jammed the doors so they couldn't close, and men with golf clubs held the emergency stairs and even the escalators, keeping people from coming down.

Some people made a quick decision and bolted up to the fifth floor, where the restaurants were.

"Hey, you crazy bastard! This is my restaurant!!!"

"Don't come any closer!! I'll actually stab you!!"

Owners didn't matter. Whoever got there first and started swinging a kitchen knife became the new owner.

All of this had happened over something as ordinary as water. Water they could no longer use had detonated the selfishness of people who'd been holding out reasonably well until then.

I pulled a wet wipe from Nari's inventory and handed it to Seong Eunho, who wore a hollow expression.

"So that's how you ended up like this?"

"That's how it went.. Thank you.."

"Food and water are one thing, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but they won't even share wet wipes?"

"....No.."

"How can people be like that?! It's so cruel, really.. sob..."

"Don't worry! I'll protect you!!"

"Huh...??"

"Just trust me! Nari! Give me some food! Wait, your name is... Ah! I'm Won Gihun!"

"I-I'm... Jeong Sora..."

"Sora-ssi... even your name is beautiful! Hahahaha!!! Hey! I said give me some food, what are you doing?!"

Just as I'd expected. Gihun had fallen for her at first sight.

Unfortunately, it looked like even in this world Gihun wasn't going to escape lifelong singlehood. Jeong Sora's thoroughly overwhelmed expression was plain as day.

Anyway—the black quest was the complete opposite of the white one. Honestly, I liked this side better. The quest itself, and the rewards too.