Chapter 113: Sweet Owner of Paradise
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 113: Sweet Owner of Paradise
Looking out for the people around me.
That was something that could never happen in my life.
Aside from my parents, I had no one I'd call "around me," and after they passed away, I didn't have a single friend.
My only friend was my VR rig.
I played Zombie Apocalypse every single day, and even in the game, I didn't have any friends.
It was a game meant to be played alone anyway, and I had no desire to soothe my loneliness by befriending NPCs.
Therefore, the proposition of looking out for others was fundamentally impossible for me.
It's the same now.
This is reality, and though I now have people under me, I still only think of myself.
I am the most important, and the people beneath me are merely parts to be used for my sake.
Even Kim Ji-hee, whom I consider closest to me, is ultimately just my sex toy and a doctor for healing.
But that doesn't mean I need to ignore them and leave them to die.
Just because I don't cherish and love them doesn't mean I have to treat them like garbage and use them up recklessly.
During the 1st Zombie Rush, I left Kim Ji-hee to her own devices to force her to come to me on her own two feet, but once she did, I kept her safe.
The 2nd Zombie Rush will be no different.
The "Residents" and "Level 3 Membership" members who have entered Paradise are my precious resources that I must protect.
That's why I built outer walls around their residential district and established Paradise in a location where I could easily protect them.
I summoned the "Residents" and "Level 3 Membership" members.
Oh Yoon-seop. Lee Mi-sook. Kim Ji-hee. Jeon Ye-sol.
The ten members of the Hunting Squad. Yeon Ji-yoon and the Doctor and Pharmacist Union. Oh Se-i.
Quite a crowd gathered in the cafeteria.
I spoke to them.
"In nine days, another Zombie Rush is coming."
No one here was ignorant of what a Zombie Rush was.
Thanks to those who had played Zombie Apocalypse during the 1st Zombie Rush, the term had spread, and even if most people hadn't read about it on their phones or the internet, they had at least heard the name once.
So everyone calls it a Zombie Rush.
Well, they didn't have to call it that.
Hell.
The march of the zombies.
You could slap any fucking name on it, and it wouldn't be wrong.
Everyone's expressions darkened.
There probably wasn't a single person here who had a relaxed, easy time during the 1st Zombie Rush.
Even I had gone out of my way to suffer through it.
In this world, your next survival is determined by how hard you struggled to live during the Zombie Rush.
It would be tough, but they had to farm as many zombies as possible, gain experience, raise their Mode Levels, and boost their stats.
If you don't suffer now, that hardship will only accumulate and hit you harder next time.
There might be an end to the Zombie Rushes, but reaching that end is no easy feat.
Of course, I didn't force them.
"If you just stay inside, you'll be safe for the most part. Non-combat personnel will be rationed ten days' worth of food per person, so eat this during the Zombie Rush."
Paradise didn't just need combat personnel.
In fact, Paradise ran much smoother with a large number of specialized non-combat personnel.
Forcing them to go out and hunt zombies during a Zombie Rush would be cruel.
While they needed enough combat power to defend themselves and the mindset to kill a zombie, that was strictly to prepare for the worst-case scenario—not to throw themselves into an endless wave of zombies.
"Um... are they the weakened zombies?"
Kim Ji-hee asked a pretty good question from where she sat.
Right now, the zombies inside the Safe Base had stats of zero.
They were already slow and easy to beat down, but now we had reached an era where even non-combat personnel went out to hunt zombies just to put food on the table.
If those kinds of zombies swarmed us, wouldn't it be manageable?
They might be thinking it would be easier than the 1st Rush.
"They'll be stronger. Probably. Level 2 zombies will be mixed in, too."
The Blood Moon makes zombies stronger.
It did during the 1st Rush, and it definitely will during the 2nd Rush.
Their lowered stats will go back up, and the sheer quantity of Level 2 zombies mixed in will overcome any weakness they might have.
Of course, even if the zombies grow stronger and regain their original stats, they'll still be relatively weaker than the zombies in other regions.
But we can't let our guard down.
"The Hunting Squad should do what they can. Once the main rush passes, focus on hunting the stragglers to farm stats and skills."
"Yes, sir."
"Understood."
Just by giving them information and providing food, they would prepare well enough on their own.
"If you get bored inside, gather around and play some board games or something."
"..."
Everyone offered awkward smiles at my "sweetness" in even worrying about them getting bored.
Well, considering that just a month ago, they had almost died after blindly facing a Zombie Rush without even knowing it was coming, knowing in advance, getting information, and preparing for it must feel incredibly surreal.
Receiving ten days' worth of food when their base wasn't even under threat to begin with.
It would be a miracle if they felt any sense of crisis at all.
But they had to get used to it.
Because that was exactly what Paradise was supposed to be.
At least, the place where I slept.
A place where, at least while sleeping, one could escape the threat of zombies.
A space where the members, excluding myself, had to work to keep Paradise running smoothly, but where their labor ultimately translated into my own safety.
Now that I had sweetly taken care of the Residents and Level 3 Membership members, it was time to look after Levels 1 and 2.
"Starting today, raise the price of food by 50% for the next nine days. Announce that there will be no food sales from day nine to day fourteen. Tell those who want to stockpile to buy now."
I wouldn't give them direct information.
However, I would specify the exact dates so they could catch on to some extent.
The idiots would complain.
Why raise the price of food that was selling perfectly fine by 50%?
We paid for our membership, this is a scam!
But there would definitely be those who sensed something was off.
Why suddenly set a precise window of nine days and sell it at a premium?
What's happening from day nine to fourteen that they won't sell food?
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
They might make guesses, but relying on mere speculation to buy expensive food would feel like a massive risk in a zombie apocalypse where coins were scarce.
But so what?
Whether I sold it at a high price or didn't sell it at all was entirely up to me.
True, suddenly raising the price without notice after they signed up for a membership was indeed a scam.
If I were a member, I'd be pissed too.
But what were they going to do about it?
Even if they came to complain to me, nothing would change.
The Paradise Membership system was, for all intents and purposes, my personal dictatorship.
If you don't like it, cancel your membership.
And while there might be backlash at first, as this repeated, people would eventually figure it out.
The way I delivered information.
-
All they gave me was a handful of coins.
There was no need to kindly hand over exclusive information to people who were merely buying the opportunity to "trade" with me using those coins.
They were different from Level 3 and Level 4 members, who were of direct help to me.
"If they ask, tell them you don't know. Be careful not to let any information leak. We need to squeeze every last coin out of them."
I warned the others.
Even so, information could still leak.
They might not all be deeply loyal to me, and there could always be outliers.
Like Oh Se-i, for instance.
"What happens if I tell someone else?"
Like that bitch... Wait, what?
"Who are you?"
Sitting among the gathered crowd with her legs crossed, a woman caught my eye for the first time.
Long straight hair, pale skin, a slender jawline, and sunglasses.
The delicate features and large eyes peeking through her slightly lowered sunglasses made me wonder if she was a celebrity.
"I'm Lee Yu-ri."
I had asked because she was a stranger, but she introduced herself surprisingly readily.
Instead of asking "Who the hell is Lee Yu-ri?", I checked her membership info.
28 years old.
Lee Yu-ri.
She wasn't lying.
Though I wondered why this woman, who possessed the strange mode called Level 5 Pro Streamer, was here, she did have the right to be.
"I bought the Level 3 Membership today. They told me to come here, so I did."
"Ah. Welcome."
I hadn't expected anyone to actually buy a membership that cost 200 coins a week.
Well, it wasn't like no one had ever bought a Level 3 Membership before.
Factions that made decent coins had bought it out of curiosity, and some who had probably stumbled upon a hoard of coins bought it and asked what benefits it offered, or if there were more.
But no one had maintained it continuously until now.
After all, the benefits were a bit weak compared to the price, and pulling in 200 coins every single week was no easy task.
Yet, of all times, Lee Yu-ri had purchased the Level 3 Membership at this exact moment, receiving benefits far exceeding the value of her coins.
"So, what you're saying, Oppa, is that if I want to stream safely, I just need to renew for another week, right? Hmmm... I'm short on coins... I guess I'll have to go milk some donations."
Her coy expression and shameless words perfectly illustrated her personality.
"Oh, by the way, can you only enter Trimage from Level 4? I really like Trimage."
Despite everyone being strangers to her, she struck up conversations with ease and spoke her mind clearly.
"By any chance, do you not accept people as Residents or whatever through a streamer audition? I've been a streamer for thirteen years, you know. I even did a short stint as an idol when I was younger."
She was pretty, that was for sure.
Great body, too.
"What can you do?"
"Stream! I'm someone who makes a living off donations from my streams, okay? I even bought Level 3 with the donations I got from streaming here."
"Ah."
She actually seemed capable.
Earning coins by utilizing her specialty even in a world like this.
"A cam whore?"
"..."
I wasn't sure if she'd be useful, but it was certainly an entertaining entrance.