Chapter 128: Camping in the Hospital
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 128: Camping in the Hospital
Just as I was about to enter, a strange thought crossed my mind.
"Wait. Hold on. If it's the Hospital Director Zombie, isn't that the doctor girl's dad?"
Didn't she say Yeon Ji-yoon's father was the director of Hanyang University Hospital?
Well, he might just have the same title but be a different person.
But because the title was so familiar, it left a somewhat uncomfortable aftertaste.
"If I kill him, doesn't that make me the murderer who killed Yeon Ji-yoon's parent?"
Of course, that wouldn't stop me from killing what needs to be killed.
It's not like Yeon Ji-yoon is going to see it anyway.
"But going back and telling her I killed him after the fact would be a bit psycho, wouldn't it?"
Most people live on having lost their families after the zombie apocalypse broke out.
Sure, those who can look after their families will do so. But unless you have an extraordinary affection for your family like Oh Yoon-seop, and unless you have the power to protect them, surviving while keeping everyone safe is no easy feat.
In a world where it's hard enough just to pull your own weight and survive.
Every single family member has to play their part for there to be even a sliver of hope.
But what are the odds of that?
Take the trio of Oh Yoon-seop, Lee Mi-sook, and Oh Se-i. Oh Se-i only survives because Oh Yoon-seop and Lee Mi-sook were lucky enough to pull more than their own weight.
Almost no one starts with a useful skill.
Inevitably, one or two people become dead weight, and most families end up parting ways at this point.
After all, nothing is more precious than one's own life.
Even if you risk your life to protect your family, when you eventually run out of food, have no place to sleep, and are chased by zombies, the moment of choice will come.
Do you abandon your family?
Or do you die together?
People will make various choices.
But those who remain are ultimately the ones who made a choice.
Those who chose to die together wouldn't have survived up to this point.
And those who abandoned their families would now be alone.
An inevitable conclusion where only those who abandoned their families remain.
So, Yeon Ji-yoon would probably understand.
"Well, it might not even be him."
Either way, I have no way of knowing if the Hospital Director is Yeon Ji-yoon's dad or not.
To clear the dungeon, I have to kill the Hospital Director Zombie. Unless I want to die myself, it doesn't matter who the director is.
I cleared the hospital step by step.
There were far more zombies crowded inside the hospital than at the university, but honestly, it didn't feel tense at all.
The difficulty was technically a bit higher than Seongsu Station, but it was so easy it made me yawn.
My stats had gone up a bit, but on top of that, having Level 7 Hunting Expert and reducing all the zombies' stats by 1 was just too massive of an advantage.
They were already so agonizingly slow that I had to actively seek them out to kill them, but now they were practically crawling.
A Level 2 Zombie had to be involved just to be slightly better than a Level 1 Zombie used to be.
Squelch, squelch.
The zombies collapsed, piling up.
Patients who had come for treatment, the guardians who had brought them, the staff, and so on, all scattered across the spacious first floor of the hospital.
Seeing people in such diverse attire made it easy to grasp the atmosphere of this dungeon, which was nice.
Some of the more sentimental players would look at these details and write up their own lore.
On the community galleries.
Like, "On the day the apocalypse broke out here, this and that happened..."
I like events well enough, but I don't play games while indulging in delusions to that extent.
"Whoa. Look at how fast my bag is filling up."
So many zombies poured out that the corpses piled up, making it hard to push through. I actually had to take detours.
Level 2s mixed in among the Level 1s, and even some Level 3s.
The hunting itself was nothing special, but the farming time waiting for me after clearing each floor was incredibly sweet.
"Hospitals really are a demonic lair."
The medicines I had originally targeted were scattered all over the place, starting right from the first floor.
There were outpatient clinics on the first floor, and most importantly, an in-house pharmacy right by the reception desk.
"Whoa... For now, just take everything."
Having played my share of zombie apocalypse games, I knew the basic medicines.
But when it came to the massive quantities of specialized drugs found in a hospital, I had no idea what I was looking at.
That was why, when I went farming at pharmacies before, I didn't grab everything—only the things I recognized.
After all, even if I brought them back, I wouldn't know how to use them.
But things were different now.
Paradise had pharmacists.
They would definitely know what the medicines were just by looking at them.
I shoved all the medicines into my backpack, sweeping them clean.
Just in case, I didn't just take the pills; I grabbed the entire sorted containers themselves.
Once I sent them over, they'd figure out how to use them.
As expected, after packing and sending off loads of meat, I ran out of spare backpacks.
I called Kim Ji-hee and asked her to send more backpacks.
"Oppa. Did you get the varsity jackets too?"
"Yeah. I found some clean ones and sent them over."
"Ah! I'm still sorting through things, so I haven't seen them yet. Please be careful!"
Shouldn't the zombies here be the ones being careful?
It didn't feel too bad having someone worry about me.
It felt even better because I could tell she wasn't just saying it; she was genuinely worried.
"I'm going to fuck you so hard when I get back, so just keep organizing the warehouse."
"...Yes."
Looking outside, the sun was already setting.
I had set out early in the morning, and the number of zombies I'd killed already exceeded 500, so it was only natural.
Of course, at Seongsu Station, I had cleared a much larger number in less than an hour, but that was pure hunting time without any farming.
Even today, the actual hunting time didn't take that long.
But searching through every single zombie corpse to harvest meat and farming any useful items made the process take several times longer.
That's just how the zombie apocalypse is.
That's why broadcasts of it could get quite tedious, which is why only edited videos tended to get high view counts.
Urgent battles with zombies certainly keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
But once those intense battles are over, you're just taking your sweet time looting zombies and searching every nook and cranny of a house to pack up even a single piece of tableware. How could that be entertaining?
Of course, hardcore zombie apocalypse viewers and fans know that this is the true essence of the genre, so they actually look forward to the farming moments.
But a game can't succeed on such a niche fanbase alone.
It needs elements that the general public can enjoy.
Well, I don't know what kind of fucked-up method this zombie apocalypse used, but it forced itself down the throats of the entire population of Earth. So now, this has become the wise way to survive in this world.
But hey, I enjoy these moments, so that's all that matters.
"I should sleep here tonight and head to the second floor tomorrow."
It's getting dark.
With the power cut, the inside of the hospital will grow dark as well.
I could easily hunt with a flashlight, but there was no need to rush.
It's not something that will end just by pulling an all-nighter.
The hospital is quite tall, and trying to farm every single floor in the dark would be too much.
I might miss things even if I look right at them, and being fatigued would prevent me from utilizing my stats to their fullest.
There's no rule saying I have to sleep at home.
In a zombie apocalypse, when you go on a long-distance expedition, you expect to camp out.
At least here, I'm inside a building.
There are outpatient clinics on the first floor, so I can just pick a suitable consultation room and sleep there.
"This place will do."
I found a small room close to the entrance.
Unlike typical consultation rooms with sliding doors, this one had a hinged door with a lock.
It wasn't very big, but it was spacious enough to lie down, making it quite cozy.
Best of all, since I hadn't killed any zombies in this specific room, there were no corpses nearby, meaning no smell.
"It's been a while."
This used to be my daily routine.
Just a month ago, I spent more time sleeping inside monster-infested lairs while clearing them than in my own bed. Back then, setting up a base and spending more than half my time on expeditions—sleeping in my car or crashing at survivor bases—was completely natural and standard.
Since reality changed and I shifted toward a base-building playstyle, I started sleeping comfortably. But this kind of life is still hardwired into my body, so it doesn't feel awkward at all.
Besides, even though I focus on base-building, aren't I a Cheat Mode player who has also mastered the hunting style?
"Today's menu is..."
The special meal warehouse was stocked with an incredible variety of special meals.
Korean, Chinese, Western, Thai, and more.
There were even dishes I'd never heard of, but when out on the field like this, convenience trumped taste.
Among them, my favorite was hamburgers.
Even if I ate hamburgers every day, I'd never get tired of them.
Not that I ate them every day, but even if I did, they came from different brands and in various styles, so I could always mix it up.
After enjoying a burger, fries, and a cold cola inside the dungeon, I casually tossed the trash outside the door.
This is the great thing about the zombie apocalypse.
I hate littering at my own base, but when I'm out on an expedition, I can throw trash wherever I want and nobody will say a word.
"Ah, this is nice."
My sleeping arrangement was comfortable too.
Knowing I wouldn't finish today, I had brought a sleeping bag.
A Level 2 survival sleeping bag bought from none other than the Visiting Black Market Merchant.
It retained body heat and even had a cushioning option, making lying on the hard floor feel as comfortable as lying in a bed.
Though, of course, it couldn't compare to a multi-million-won bed.
And just in case, if I swapped the door with a "Safe Base-Exclusive Automatic Door" before going to sleep, I could sleep like a baby without a single worry.
And so, the first night at Hanyang University Hospital passed.