Chapter 12: We Have a Guest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 12: We Have a Guest
What is a Zombie Rush?
Explaining it would take quite a while.
The game Zombie Apocalypse is basically just a zombie world with a high degree of freedom.
The reason people call it user-unfriendly is because it's a fucking realistic game; once you start, it just drops you somewhere random and tells you absolutely nothing.
Users have to survive on their own, and all information is filled in by the users themselves, sharing it on the Zombie Apocalypse Gallery.
It's the kind of game that naturally makes you go, What the fuck is this shit?
So, even though there's not much to it, you find yourself having fun just trying to survive.
Knowing nothing actually makes it more enjoyable.
Once you fall for the thrill of discovering things one by one in the great unknown, there's no turning back.
Just surviving day to day is so hard that even if the game doesn't tell you what to do or give you any goals, it doesn't hinder your gameplay at all.
But that's only from a newbie's perspective. For the veterans, the game eventually starts getting boring.
Ironically, because the game tells you nothing, you gradually learn through experience how to survive using standardized playstyles, which halves the fun of survival.
You've already figured out the most efficient routes to survive no matter what situation you're thrown into, meaning that, practically speaking, danger no longer exists.
From that point on, the veterans start 'enjoying' the game in various other ways.
The prime example is construction.
They find a house, modify it, build on it, and remodel it to create their own base.
Since nothing in the world has an owner anymore and you can just take whatever you want for free, it's not difficult.
Some people learn to play instruments, while others grow plants.
And once they've done all that, they quit.
Because there's nothing left to do.
Setting aside how strong the zombies are, knowing how to avoid them means they are no longer a threat.
So, they start imposing self-restrictions.
That's why mods came into play.
Originally, their fundamental purpose was to ease quality-of-life features so that struggling newbies could enjoy the game more comfortably and easily.
Conversely, veterans use them to make the game harder, squeezing out every last drop of extreme fun.
That's the Zombie Rush mode.
This, too, was content that Zombie Apocalypse didn't natively provide.
And for good reason—zombies don't act in groups.
They can't think, so how could they gather, move in groups, and form packs?
But with this mod, once a certain amount of time passes, the zombies form a horde and invade.
You can customize the settings in various ways, but usually, zombies swarm the location the user has claimed as their base for a set duration.
Naturally, the difficulty starts low, with a moderate number of low-level zombies, but as time goes on, higher-level zombies join in, and their numbers swell.
Since this is a mod setting, the reason or causality behind the zombies swarming is a bit forced.
What about in reality?
Since there's a set time, maybe they really will swarm from all over for no reason, just like in the game.
But who cares if they do?
I just have to do my best in the situation I'm given.
"For now, the points I can get within five days will be around three."
Kill 10 Level 2 Zombies.
Unless I fight them inside my base, this is a bit tough with my base stats.
It might be possible if I have a few secondary weapons, but setting that aside for now, killing 200 Level 1 zombies and the hidden quest of killing 5 users are the ones I can clear relatively safely.
This is enough.
With just one Hunting Cheat Mode combined with the Base Invincibility Mode, I should easily be able to fend off a Level 1 Zombie Rush.
Also, since I won't be able to leave the base much during those three days, it's best to stock up on plenty of coins.
It only costs 6 coins a day, so I won't run out, but other uses for them might pop up.
I need to keep hunting consistently.
Killing 200 zombies isn't hard since they're everywhere once you step outside, but the problem is the 5 users.
Since I've already killed two users, I only need to kill three more.
This is actually the harder part.
Even now, on the third day, there are still plenty of users around, but if I were just going to slaughter anyone, I wouldn't have helped the upstairs auntie in the first place.
People who deserve to die.
Those who attack me or intend to.
I wasn't particularly worried about this either.
Though it wasn't bait I threw out specifically for the hidden quest...
...I'll get a bite soon enough.
Even though I only left in the morning and returned after dark, it felt like I hadn't been home in ages.
I wanted to just lie down and sleep, but since there's a time limit, I have to meet today's quota.
The number of zombies I hunted all day today was about twenty.
Looking at the time spent, it wasn't a very high number.
Rather than hunting with all my might, I spent more time shooting the breeze with Kim Ji-hee.
Just as I was leaving the house to fill the remaining quota of ten, I heard a rustling sound from above.
"Ahjussi!"
"..."
I wondered what it was, and it turned out to be the upstairs auntie.
"Why aren't you answering? I've been looking for you all day."
"What."
I had done more than enough for this woman.
When I asked her coldly, she frowned deeply and demanded:
"Why aren't you giving me any today?"
"Giving you what?"
"Food! The stuff you gave me yesterday. Why aren't you giving me any today?"
"Wow."
I was genuinely amazed by her sheer audacity, completely devoid of any gratitude or apology.
"Why the hell should I give you anything?"
"You killed my dad! And you stepped all over the food in our house, too!"
That was true.
But calling it "food" was a stretch; there was barely anything in their fridge.
In fact, the food I had given her was far more than what they originally had.
She had simply misunderstood.
Misunderstood my reasons for giving her food.
This was exactly why I hadn't wanted to give her anything.
Still, I had done enough.
I walked up the stairs toward her.
I pulled out a new kitchen knife I had casually swiped from an open apartment on my way back.
"W-what! What are you doing?! Ahhh!"
I slashed her neck right then and there.
I didn't stab her to kill; I just lightly nicked the skin to make the blood spray.
You shouldn't be nice to people.
Especially in an apocalypse—treating people like human beings only brings stress.
I hadn't done her a favor; I had merely compensated her for my actions. Yet, she mistook it for charity and thought she could walk all over me.
"You fucking bitch. Act like shit one more time, and I'll make sure your head is resting right next to your dad's."
And surprisingly, while it might not work in reality, in the apocalypse, people like this understand perfectly.
Leaving the collapsed woman behind, I headed out to fill my quota.
By the time I quickly hunted ten zombies and returned, she was gone.
Whether she went back inside or somewhere else, I didn't care.
Not particularly caring, I went back to my apartment, took a hot shower, and had another blissful sleep.
In a way, I thought it might be a good thing that this place had become my reality.
If I had logged out to the real world, I would have had to sleep on that squeaky mattress.
It felt like a reward.
I slept for another eight hours on the fluffy blanket and mattress.
---
Had there ever been days where I slept this soundly?
In reality, sleeping four hours a day was a lot, and usually, I just logged out occasionally to take two-hour naps.
Playing the game was fun, and sleep itself didn't hold much meaning.
When all you do is eat, sleep, shit, and play games, what's the point of sleeping a lot?
Since I didn't expend any energy and just sat around gaming, sleep was merely the bare minimum required to stay alive.
But now, I realized just how blissful sleeping could be.
Because I was active and productive all day, sleep came easily, and with such a great environment, I felt completely rested.
Above all, the lack of noise was the biggest factor.
Waking up and chugging water from the daily supply that had arrived right on time made for a perfect start to the day.
On top of that, the daily food supply had increased once I reached Level 2.
I now got five Hetbahns, four 1.5-liter bottles of water, ten packs of ramen of various kinds, and a mix of snacks, nuts, and canned food.
Meaning I now had snacks to munch on.
Not to mention the special meals.
"Fucking delicious."
Normally, I was the type who couldn't stomach food right after waking up, so I usually skipped breakfast.
Once I woke up and started getting hungry, I would hold out until evening, then make do with whatever was most filling and provided the bare minimum nutrients.
But here, the meal I had right after waking up was the most delicious.
Today's special meal was steak rice bowl.
Well-seasoned chop steak, fried rice, and even side dishes.
Cutting up the grilled pineapple, placing it on the fried rice along with a piece of steak, and shoving it all into my mouth in one bite—the corn, peas, and various flavors melted together in a burst of heat.
"Fuck. This is sex!"
And today, there was a cold soda included again.
Today, it was lemon-lime soda.
"Ahhh."
Taking a gulp completely washed away any lingering sleepiness.
I felt like I could have a highly productive day.
The only slight disappointment was that after eating such a delicious meal, I'd have to settle for ramen or plain rice for dinner.
Well, I could always just grill some of the meat I kept in the fridge.
Today's goal was forty zombies.
I had to move quickly, so I hurried out of the house.
When I opened the door, a welcome guest was standing there.
"Oh? You're already here?"
There were two guests I was waiting for, and this was the welcome one.
"We have a big problem."
Kim Ji-hee had come to find me with an anxious look on her face.