Chapter 137: Paradise in Hell
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137: Paradise in Hell
My steps on the way back couldn't have been lighter.
Although the Zombie Rush had begun, all the grand plans I had laid out beforehand were now complete.
"Ah, that feels so refreshing. Fuck. Drug addicts in my neighborhood? I couldn't let that slide."
Even though the Yongsan US Military Base only half-overlapped with my Safe Base, selling drugs in my neighborhood was unacceptable regardless.
If anyone was going to sell them, it would be me. Who did they think they were dealing with?
And just like that, I completed Faction Quest 4-2 and claimed the rewards.
[Obtained 5 Points]
[Obtained Normal Mode Level (★) Selection Ticket x10]
[Obtained 30,000 Coins]
[Obtained Safe Base-Exclusive Teleport Portal (★)]
[Obtained Treasure Map (★★★)]
"Ah, if only they gave me just one more point."
Just one more point and I could have gotten Mode Predation to level 10.
Since I had already raised Mode Predation to level 9, my plan was to quickly push it to level 10, devour the modes I had to gather points, and then level up Hunting Expert.
If I had one regret about that, it was not devouring all of Jeon Jae-jung's positive modes before killing him.
Normally, the modes obtained through predation include active modes you can use and positive modes related to personality.
While active skills like "Cat Step" can be used immediately after devouring them, positive personality-related modes remain only in the [Predation Mode List] and aren't activated unless I manually add them to my active mode list.
That's why I generally avoid adding personality-related modes to my active list.
I already suspected that my personality might be influenced by these modes.
If I equipped even a positive mode and it unconsciously altered my personality, it would seriously ruin the fun.
Something like Leadership is actually a positive mode that would be quite helpful for someone like me who plays a base-building style.
But even if it gave me a slight stat boost, if equipping Leadership warped my personality even a little—making me sacrifice myself for the faction or turn into some altruistic leader who guides others—then I wouldn't be myself anymore.
So I hadn't really thought about taking it, but I should have at least recycled it for a 10% chance to get 1 point.
"I need to tighten my grip."
I've gone soft.
Accumulating one stack of self-reflection, I returned home.
In front of the house, I saw Oh Yoon-seop and the hunting squad hunting zombies with all their might.
They're doing well.
I briefly wondered if I should help, but I was hungry and lazy, so I dumped the zombies I had dragged along onto them and went inside.
I left a little after 11:00 PM and arrived in the morning.
Even factoring in travel time, it had taken quite a while.
Kim Ji-hee wasn't in the house.
She had said she would finish organizing the warehouse once the Zombie Rush started, so she was probably there.
When I went to check, she was indeed in the weapon storage, diligently organizing items.
"Oh? Oppa!"
"More work for you."
"..."
I tossed down the bag, now fully restocked with drugs, weapons, and ammo, and walked out of the warehouse.
"Oppa..."
Once the warehouse door shut, her hollow echo was cut off.
You chose to be the warehouse manager. Grit your teeth and bear it.
I had suggested using Oh Se-i as a sub-manager to help with the warehouse, but perhaps remembering the last incident, Kim Ji-hee insisted on handling it alone for now.
Well, from my perspective, it made sense for someone living inside the residential district to manage the warehouse located there, so I didn't press the issue.
Besides, Ji-hee wasn't complaining that she was about to die of exhaustion or anything.
And honestly, the system was well-designed enough that food rations could be routed directly to the cafeteria anyway.
After washing up, I enjoyed a relaxing cup of coffee.
The zombies moving along the wide road stretching toward the Han River couldn't see this way.
Since no sound leaked out either, they would assume there was nothing here and just pass on by.
This was the charm of the Base-Type Cheat Mode.
Watching a horde during a Zombie Rush from the window of a tiny studio apartment felt completely different from watching it from inside a grand mansion.
After finishing my coffee, I called Ji-hee.
"Come over, let's eat some meat."
"Owah!! I love morning meat!!"
Leaving her organizing unfinished, Ji-hee came over and set up the meat.
She looked excited, as this was the first time we were using the outdoor barbecue area since setting it up.
Mostly pork ribs and beef, along with sausages, which were a must-have for any barbecue.
Lettuce, pickled radish wraps, and rice were prepared as well.
"Hehe. I'll grill it perfectly for you."
Ji-hee grilled the meat with excitement.
The aroma of meat grilling over charcoal was definitely on another level compared to cooking it on a frying pan.
"I've always wanted to grill like this. I love it so much."
Was there anyone else in the world having an outdoor barbecue in the middle of a Zombie Rush?
"I wonder if the others are doing okay?"
"Didn't you see them? They were hunting outside earlier."
"Ah! I did! I wanted to say hello, but I was too scared to open the door."
"Yeah, just leave them be. If they die, they die alone. We can't let zombies get in here."
Though I said that, there was almost no chance Oh Yoon-seop and the hunting squad, who were hunting near our base, would actually die.
Even if they were trapped in the middle of the zombie hordes roaming during the Blood Hour, they wouldn't die.
Right now, the outer wall was just quietly watching the zombies pass by, but I had configured the automatic defense turrets to activate the moment a Level 3 or higher Membership member's life was in danger.
Of course, this wasn't active all day long; it was a defense option enabled only during the Zombie Rush. Normally, it only applied to those with Resident rank or higher.
After all, I was the one who told them to hunt, so it wouldn't do for them to die too easily.
Perhaps because I hadn't told them about this feature, they were fighting with everything they had.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
Not that they were the type to slack off just because they knew about it, though.
"Oppa, I'm good at grilling meat, right? I'd never done anything like this before, but I've been learning so much since the zombie apocalypse started."
"Better than at first. Meat always tastes best when a woman grills it."
As an idol trainee, there was no way Kim Ji-hee had ever cooked, let alone grilled meat.
So when we first got meat, she burned so much of it on the frying pan that the amount we had to throw away must have been several kilograms.
But through all that effort, she had now become a proper housekeeper who knew how to light charcoal and grill meat perfectly.
"I really think 'Paradise' is the perfect name."
"Tell me about it."
If Oh Yoon-seop hadn't come up with the name "Paradise," what would my faction be called right now?
Even thinking about it now, nothing fitting came to mind.
At best, I might have lazily thrown out "Zom-A" as a shorthand for zombie apocalypse and just stuck with it out of sheer laziness.
Paradise in Hell.
Just looking at the Paradise Gallery, it was obvious that even those benefiting from the Safe Base effects were struggling.
They had only been fighting weak zombies with stats below 1, so when hordes of buffed zombies came rushing in, they immediately panicked.
Of course, they could only whine like this because they were still alive.
The "All Stats -1 Level" debuff was still being applied.
Compared to the hell outside the Safe Base, the Safe Base here in Paradise could at least be called a livable hell.
Though to the people experiencing it, comparing their situation to the outside world was meaningless comfort, as they could only focus on the immediate threat in front of them.
On the flip side, because this Paradise had been much more livable than other places before the Zombie Rush, it might actually feel even harder for them now.
Since hunting zombies had been so easy, a hunting boom had swept through the Seongsu-dong area to the point where zombies were practically wiped out. It had actually been hard to spot a single zombie along the tram lines.
With zombies so scarce that people had to go on expeditions just to find them, who would have thought to reinforce their bases with barricades to prepare for a Zombie Rush?
They probably figured that instead of wasting time reinforcing their bases, it was better to go out, beat up some easy zombies, feel the rush of leveling up, and hoard coins to buy food.
Of course, the zombie apocalypse users who knew something like this might happen would have prepared, but a Zombie Rush was brutal no matter how much you prepared.
The Paradise Gallery had turned into a beggar gallery.
"They must still have it easy if they have the energy to whine."
Well, you need people like that to make Paradise feel like a true paradise.
A place where everyone is happy isn't a true paradise.
And starting tomorrow, I planned to launch a brand-new Paradise service tailored just for those whiners.
"Now that I've taken care of everything, it's time to rake in some coins and enjoy a happy Paradise life."
I was going to enjoy the 2x Coin Event, but I couldn't just enjoy it for free.
I was planning to take on requests.