Chapter 46: Visiting Black Market Merchant (★★)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 46: Visiting Black Market Merchant (★★)
Sunday is a rest day.
Though the concept of a weekend has long since vanished ever since the zombie apocalypse broke out.
Zombies don't take Sundays off.
But the black market merchant comes on Sundays.
"Where is he?"
I woke up after a good night's sleep, opened the door, and looked for the black market merchant.
Base Invincibility applies to a total area of 800 pyeong, but the Safe Base currently only covers this building and two warehouses.
Since it didn't specify exactly where he would appear, I figured he'd be somewhere within this perimeter.
Fortunately, I didn't have to go far.
When I opened the door to Room 201, a person wrapped from head to toe in black clothing was sitting right in the middle of the empty room we used as a warehouse.
"Welcome, Host."
Upon spotting me, he stood up and bowed deeply.
"Uh... nice to meet you..."
Were black market merchants always like this?
These guys usually treated users like absolute shit, never hesitating to pull any dirty trick just to rip them off for a single penny.
And yet, here he was, giving me a full ninety-degree bow.
"I have brought many items specifically for the Host."
The Visiting Black Market Merchant laid his wares out across the floor.
There was everything from weapons and food to armor and medicine.
There were even toy-sized model cars and machines.
"These have been miniaturized. If you use them in your desired location, they will return to their original size."
"...Is that even allowed?"
Isn't this taking user feedback a bit too far?
Of course, even in the original Zombie Apocalypse game, things like the rare backpacks were basically just space-expansion and weight-reduction magic that players turned a blind eye to for the sake of convenience.
No matter how much people clamor for "realism," if a game is as tedious and exhausting as actual reality, players will inevitably quit.
So, there was no point in questioning the origin of the black market merchant in the first place. The game had already overlaid itself onto reality, so why bother overthinking it?
Still, it was fascinating.
It wasn't just the miniaturized toys that were impressive; there were genuinely a lot of fascinating items.
Maybe it was because he was a Level 2 Visiting Black Market Merchant.
He had far more goods for sale, and of much better quality, than any merchant I had encountered back when I was just playing Zombie Apocalypse.
"Wow. There are so many cool things."
Kim Ji-hee came up late, rubbing her sleepy eyes, and her eyes sparkled as she looked around.
My main focus was on the medicine.
`[ZA Preventive Vaccine (★)]`
- A preventive vaccine that blocks the zombie virus.
- Prevents zombification caused by scratches.
- Duration: 7 days
ZA Pharmaceutical Company.
This company requires some explanation.
The name "ZA" is, predictably, short for Zombie Apocalypse. In the game, it was set up as the company responsible for supplying vaccines to players who installed the vaccine mod.
The lore behind it—which nobody really asked for—goes like this:
When the zombie virus spread and the apocalypse began, humanity's extinction seemed imminent. Numerous pharmaceutical companies scrambled to develop a vaccine, but ZA Pharmaceutical Company was the only one that actually succeeded. Through various stages of clinical trials, they successfully developed three levels of vaccines: Level 1, which prevented infection from scratches; Level 2, which prevented infection from bites; and Level 3, which halted the infection process in humans who were already turning.
They had successfully developed these three vaccines and were in the process of commercializing them.
But then, for unknown reasons, the zombie virus leaked inside the research facility. All the researchers died, and the developed vaccines were scattered far and wide... a reasonably plausible, albeit cliché, backstory.
In other words, players had to run around searching for these scattered Dragon Balls.
After all, having a few more farming goals always adds to the fun.
But now, that company existed in reality.
It's not like a real "ZA Pharmaceutical Company" actually existed, but this was proof that the black market merchants here were indeed the same ones I knew from the game.
Well, in any case, the more vaccines, the better.
In Zombie Apocalypse, players who were terrified of dying would often crank the vaccine drop rate up to around 5%. This essentially created an "easy mode" where, as long as they weren't surrounded and killed instantly, they would never die of infection.
It really did lower the difficulty significantly.
Since Zombie Apocalypse is fundamentally a game about struggling to avoid becoming a zombie, having a reliable supply of vaccines completely eliminates that core anxiety.
In reality, though, I didn't need the game to be "fun" or challenging.
No one wants to end their one and only life by turning into a zombie.
"This is 50 Coins?"
When I picked up an item, its price appeared alongside its information.
The Level 1 vaccine was 50 Coins.
Cheaper than I thought.
"All items are provided to the Host at cost. Once your Host rank increases, discounts will also apply."
"Oho."
Figures. There was no way these greedy bastards would sell something as precious as a literal lifesaver for a mere 50 Coins under normal circumstances.
In terms of actual value, there were plenty of people who would gladly pay 500 Coins for it.
Sure, it only immunized against scratches, but even with a mere 5% chance of infection from a scratch, the extreme stress of waiting for symptoms to appear—constantly agonizing over whether that 5% would trigger—was enough to drive anyone insane.
I grabbed one for now.
Inside the Safe Base, we were already immune to infection from scratches, but since I could resell it for a profit, there was no reason not to buy it.
For that reason, I figured it wouldn't hurt to buy up most of the hard-to-find items sold here in advance.
It wasn't like he had a massive stock anyway.
There were only two Level 1 vaccines.
And there was also a Level 2 vaccine.
`[ZA Preventive Vaccine (★★)]`
- A preventive vaccine that blocks the zombie virus.
- Prevents zombification caused by bites.
- Duration: 5 days
There was only one of these.
The price was 200 Coins.
It felt a bit expensive, but it wasn't a bad price.
I grabbed this one too.
Even I had to be careful about getting bitten.
If I got bitten outside and the infection took hold before I could make it back to the Safe Base, I'd be helpless.
It didn't hurt to keep one as an extra life.
Plus, if one of my "Residents" got infected, I could administer it to them if I had a spare Level 2 vaccine on hand.
There was no need to worry that the short duration meant the vaccine would go to waste if I took it and didn't end up in an accident.
It was a bit of a trick unique to Zombie Apocalypse, but if you took the vaccine immediately after being bitten or scratched, you would still get the full preventive effect.
Of course, the ideal strategy would be to wait and see if the 5% or 50% infection chance actually triggered before taking it, but there was a reason it was called a preventive vaccine.
Once symptoms actually manifested, it was useless.
So, you had to take it the moment things felt off while waiting. If your timing was even slightly off, the expensive vaccine you bought would go to waste, so you might as well take it early to get your money's worth.
After all, taking it beforehand and not getting bitten was better than the alternative.
Aside from those, most of the other medicines were buff potions.
Potions that temporarily boosted strength.
Recovery agents that accelerated healing.
They were basically straight-up RPG potions.
I stockpiled a few of these as well.
Next were the equipment.
There were plenty of weapons and armor, but the biggest reason to seek out a black market merchant was the guns.
Guns were lined up neatly in one section.
From pistols and rifles to shotguns—the most preferred weapon in Zombie Apocalypse.
Even though he claimed to sell them at cost, they were expensive.
500 Coins for a single pistol. 1,500 Coins for a rifle. 1,800 Coins for a shotgun.
Ammunition, of course, was sold separately.
Seeing that he charged 20 Coins per bullet, I immediately looked elsewhere.
It might actually be cheaper to just farm guns and ammo.
Even if I did buy them, it was something to consider only when I could get a merchant discount or had Coins to burn.
For now, I already had guns and ammo stored in the weapon armory anyway.
Then, a familiar backpack caught my eye.
"Wow. A Level 3 Backpack."
A backpack almost identical to mine, with only Level 1 weight reduction, cost a whopping 500 Coins.
"Fuck... I can't afford this."
The more backpacks, the better.
Even when playing solo, having a spare backpack is convenient.
It was a bit of a cheesy exploit, but as long as your carrying capacity allowed it, you could easily stuff a backpack inside another backpack.
But paying 500 Coins for a backpack that I could get for free just by sitting around?
Fuck that.
No matter how many Coins I had, I wasn't going to pull that kind of stupid shit.
Instead, I bought the belt next to it.
`[Multi-Purpose Survival Belt (★★★)]`
- Weight Reduction (★★★) = 70%
- Can store up to 3 items.
This was a rare item, different from a backpack. You could think of it as a combat belt.
It felt like a magic pouch where you could store weapons like daggers, axes, or swords, and pull them out whenever you needed them.
While a rare backpack was meant for carrying looted goods, this belt was for combat—since you couldn't exactly open your backpack to rummage for a weapon in the middle of a fight.
These rare belts were incredibly hard to find, and the weight reduction option was actually far more crucial for storing weapons than for a backpack.
Bladed weapons are surprisingly heavy. Hanging one from your waist is fine, but if you start carrying multiple backup weapons, the weight becomes incredibly cumbersome and annoying.
So, this was an absolute must-buy.
"Holy shit. 1,000 Coins?"
My hands trembled.
"Thank you, Host."
By the time I finished shopping, the 4,200-odd Coins I had were down to barely 1,000.