Chapter 6: Actually, This Is Better
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 6: Actually, This Is Better
There were definitely some strange things.
For one, I clearly remembered taking off my goggles before going to sleep, yet when I opened my eyes, I was inside the game.
And even for a company praised ten years ago for its ahead-of-its-time technology, the realism was just too overwhelming.
Unless they had literally scanned my brain, replicating the exact interior of my apartment was practically impossible.
And then there was the upstairs auntie I saw last night.
At this rate, maybe I was the dumbass for still thinking this was a game.
But if that were the case, what was up with these messages?
[Unable to log out.]
The message was clearly telling me it was a game.
"...Did an apocalypse game actually get installed over reality or something?"
It sounded absurd, but what if it was real? The thought crossed my mind.
Then, yesterday's events came back to me.
Thinking about it that way, it made a strange kind of sense.
The sight of people fleeing in terror, fighting, and causing utter chaos.
If they weren't NPCs but actual people in a real situation, it would explain why they looked so incredibly lifelike.
Then what about the woman I met yesterday?
She had felt incredibly vivid and wet back then, too.
It was my first time getting my dick sucked, so it hadn't been easy to tell if it was a game or reality. But what if it really was real?
"Ah."
Finally, the auntie came to mind.
"..."
The reason I had thought, If this were reality, I would have done X, was because reality and games are fundamentally different.
In a game, people aren't alive, so it doesn't matter if you do things you'd only ever imagine doing.
In a world turned into an apocalypse, there's no need to feel guilty about killing people, but there's also no need to go out of your way to commit mindless murder.
While that wasn't my personal creed when playing zombie apocalypse games, I needed to think differently if this was being applied to reality.
"Did she die?"
Actually, whatever the case, not much would change.
A zombie apocalypse was basically my reality anyway. Whether this was some trick of the gods, a realistic game I couldn't log out of, or reality turning into a game, the bottom line remained the same: I just had to not die.
In my 100,000 hours of playing zombie apocalypse games, I had never once played with the mindset that it was okay to die.
Though I had inevitably died a few times along the way, I had played every single game with absolute sincerity, fighting to survive.
So, I wasn't afraid.
If anything, I was excited.
"I should at least go check."
That was that.
I went outside to check if the auntie was alive or dead.
The door to Room 201 was closed.
I punched in the passcode, and the door opened.
"What's the deal? Is she dead or alive?"
The closed door meant someone had shut it. But if the auntie had closed it, there was no way she would have just left it like that after giving me the passcode.
Beep-beep-beep—
As the door opened and I stepped inside, I heard the heavy thudding of something rushing toward me.
"Die!"
Like a charging bull, she came running at me, wielding the golf club I had abandoned yesterday.
Her frame was actually bigger than mine, which might have made anyone else flinch, but my body was already ducking as I lunged toward her.
"Ugh!"
There was no room to dodge in the narrow entryway, so I dove for her lower body, grabbed her, and flipped her backward.
"Whoa. Holy shit. She's heavy as fuck."
Using her forward momentum, I should have flipped her easily, but I had to use every ounce of my strength.
Thud!
True to her weight, the sound of her hitting the floor was massive.
The auntie was alive.
Judging by the rattling sound coming from the half-broken bathroom, the zombie was probably in there.
"Grr..."
I could feel her glaring up at me from the floor with sheer resentment.
She had every right to be pissed.
"Auntie."
"Who are you calling auntie, you ahjussi! I'm not even married!"
"Old maid, then."
"Hey!"
"No, is that really what's important right now? Auntie, do you want me to get rid of this zombie?"
"..."
"Should I get rid of it, or not?"
"Get rid of it."
I figured she must find this absurd.
I would have, too.
Some guy who claimed he was helping only to wreck the place and leave suddenly shows up the next morning offering to help again. Of course it was weird.
But well, it couldn't be helped.
Over the course of the night, I had been trying to make sense of this bizarre situation, and I was just trying to maintain my own boundaries in a scenario that might actually be reality.
If she had died, well, that would have been that.
But she was alive.
I opened the bathroom door and smashed the head of the zombie that must have been her father.
Then I went down to the first floor and brought back the food from yesterday and today's rations that I had piled up in my apartment.
"...What is this, ahjussi?"
"If you get clingy after receiving this, I will actually kill you next time."
I warned her and left the apartment.
Given her personality, there was a very high chance she would keep bothering me in the future, but now that I had my Safe Base, I wouldn't even hear her if she knocked on my door, so it would be fine.
"Sigh. Is this really reality?"
I returned home and tried to soothe my complicated feelings.
What I did yesterday was stupid, but what I did today was even stupider.
Honestly, I could have just ignored her entirely.
What if reality had actually turned into a zombie apocalypse?
Even so, my actions wouldn't change.
If a woman came running to beg for her life, I would look at her face, demand a price, and pull down my pants without hesitation.
If anyone showed hostility toward me, I would kill them without fail, and if they got in my way, I'd kill them too.
But what I did to the second floor last night was just for fun.
A mindless venting of frustration at reality.
That went against my zombie apocalypse code of conduct; it was like a senseless punishment without cause.
So, I cleared the slate.
From now on, even if I felt like venting for no reason, my actions wouldn't waver.
Because from this point forward, I would live in this game with the mindset that it might actually be reality.
"I should go hunt some more zombies."
I felt relieved.
And thrilled.
If this really was reality, it meant I was the only one living with a bunch of insanely overpowered cheat modes installed.
And it meant everyone else besides me was a user.
[Please check the unverified mode.]
"Huh?"
While I was visiting the second floor, a new message had popped up to find me.
-
This mode had activated.
[Bull Rush (★)]
- Strength increases by ★★ for 5 seconds.
- Charges toward the target.
It wasn't my mode; it seemed like the mode the second-floor auntie had used was visible to me in that moment.
"Whoa... it can do this too?"
This is way too broken.
More importantly, does this mean other users can use modes too?
"Doesn't look that great, though."
Then again, if everyone had insanely broken modes like me, it wouldn't be a cheat mode.
It's only a cheat mode if I'm the only one who has it good.
Anyway, I learned something new.
No wonder she felt so damn heavy.
If I had taken a direct hit, I probably would've been sent straight to the afterlife.
----------------------------
Today, I ventured a bit further outside.
There weren't as many people as yesterday, and there were more zombies roaming the streets.
It seemed like people had completely stopped going toward the Homeplus.
I could see a few people moving through the alleys.
Thinking that they weren't NPCs but actual people made me curious.
What kind of thoughts did they have as they faced this apocalyptic end?
If this was reality, it was actually a situation I should be taking a bit more seriously.
But since I've experienced this kind of situation for 100,000 hours, I didn't think much of it, figuring I'd survive somehow.
Above all, my food situation was sorted.
Though I had given today's food ration to the auntie without even looking at it, it had undoubtedly contained simple food and drinks along with a Special Meal.
At least I wouldn't starve to death.
"Excuse me. Hey, excuse me!"
"Yes?"
I was wandering around looking for isolated zombies when a group moving through an alley called out to me.
I had never used polite speech in a zombie apocalypse, but thinking of this as reality, the honorifics slipped out naturally.
I approached them as they gestured to me.
An ahjussi from a group that looked like a family of three or four asked me urgently.
"What are you doing out there? There are zombies around."
"Ah."
I'm going to smash that zombie's head in.
Since the atmosphere didn't seem right for me to say that, I stayed quiet. He read the room and clicked his tongue.
"Come with us."
"Where to?"
"Didn't you get the text? They said Seongsu-dong residents are gathering at the Community Service Center right now, so we're on our way there."
"Ah."
Come to think of it, if this was reality, there would be cell phones and TVs working.
I hadn't realized because it had been quite a while since I threw away my phone after my parents passed away.
"Can I come along too?"
"Aren't you a resident here?"
"I am."
"Then of course you can. Let's go."
I got a feeling.
This is it.
The unique fun of a multi-server.
Situations that only happen when you get involved with other people.
I'm sick of just tangling with zombies.
Sure enough.
"We have to stick together, even if it's just us! We're former special forces..."
Seeing the people gathered in the Community Service Center's auditorium listening to a speech, my hunch turned into absolute certainty.
This is the place.
Hanging out here seemed like it would be way more fun than wandering the streets all day killing Level 1 Zombies.
"We plan to use Seongsu Apartment as our main base, set up barricades around it, reclaim the police station, and ultimately reclaim the Homeplus. Just trust us and lend us your strength!"
A group led by hulking, heavily tattooed thugs.
How could I possibly resist?
And then, amidst the buzzing crowd, I spotted a familiar face.
It seemed she had spotted me too.
We were quite a distance apart, but our eyes met.
"..."
The way she glared at me with a scowl had a different kind of charm compared to when I was looking down at her from above.
Feeling glad to see her, I waved at the woman I had seen yesterday during the day.