Chapter 71: Membership Quest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: Membership Quest
Honestly, for me, living in the zombie apocalypse in Seongsu-dong had to be considered easy mode.
With all my stats at level 10, I could easily defeat even Level 4 zombies. So what were humans who, at best, couldn't even match Level 2 zombies?
When comparing them to low-level zombies, if their stats were equal, zombies might actually be better than humans.
At least zombies didn't know fear.
Anyway, after about ten of them fell and their loyalty vanished, the Delivery Rider Faction meekly agreed to comply with my demands.
"It's not like I'm telling you to disband and scatter. Just keep living among yourselves like you do now. Instead, you just sign up for the membership and live a little happier. Am I asking you to sign up for something that'll hurt you? I'm telling you, everyone benefits if they join. If you want to keep living in Seongsu-dong from now on, you won't survive without a Paradise Membership."
I didn't bother speaking at length.
Handing out carrots wasn't my job.
"I'll hand out business cards, so everyone here needs to sign up for the membership by today. Make it a five-week advance contract. By tomorrow, 300 people? If we don't hit at least 300, I'll come back and slaughter every last one of you until Seongsu Station is completely empty."
I spoke with absolute sincerity.
There was no reason to lie.
The people listening probably felt that sincerity too.
After all, to complete the quest, if it wasn't through membership sign-ups, I had to kill over 200 people.
So, I had done my duty.
I wouldn't urge them any further.
I only hoped they would meekly follow my orders.
It wasn't because I liked the delivery riders or because I didn't want to commit mass murder.
"I just thought of an amazing business linked with a delivery service."
On my way back, I marveled at my own idea.
Since the roads were blocked, I thought using transportation would be impossible for now, but seeing those delivery riders today made me feel like it might actually be doable.
There would be membership members who would come to eat by paying 10 Coins each, but a delivery service would definitely be needed for those who found it inconvenient or were too afraid to step outside.
What if I made the delivery riders do that?
Not just prepared meals, but delivering raw provisions seemed like it could be quite lucrative too.
No, actually, raw provisions delivery might be even more popular.
A meal is only 10 Coins, so paying a delivery fee on top of that feels like a huge waste. But since provisions can be bought in bulk at once, even if the delivery fee is somewhat high, it reduces the risk of venturing out to the food store themselves.
Sure, the number of zombies in Seongsu-dong was gradually decreasing, but it was still true that there were many left, and I had to consider the non-combatants.
So, even those delivery riders definitely had a use somewhere.
If I utilized them and distributed Coins appropriately, they could put their specialties to use, making it a win-win situation.
I had another system in mind related to that.
I wanted to hurry back and create it.
[Quest Complete!]
[1 Point Acquired]
[Normal Mode Level (★) Selection Ticket Acquired]
Before I knew it, I had killed 50 users, earning 1 Point and a Normal Mode Level.
The next user kill count requirement was 200.
[Hidden Repeat Quest 1-3]
– Kill users
– 0 / 200
– Reward: 1 Point, Normal Mode Level (★) Selection Ticket x2
Once again, I realized what a peaceful player I was.
It wasn't like this was an empty apocalyptic world with barely any users; in a world where you saw users just walking down the street, my kill count still hadn't reached 100.
If the veterans of the Zombie Apocalypse Gallery saw this, they might point and laugh.
Of course, since this was reality, it made sense, and even though I didn't really live my life worrying about such things, seeing this made me think... people call me a psycho, but maybe I have a human side after all.
I didn't really think so myself, but to others...
Or maybe not...
When I returned home, I saw a few people loitering around.
Even though I hadn't posted the announcement yet, they had come to buy provisions.
Since they said they had memberships, I let them in to buy provisions.
I was planning to post the announcement tonight anyway.
The membership system allowed for things like this.
[Announcement: As of 00:00 today, Paradise Membership benefits are active. Provisions purchase, meal services, and the bathhouse are available for use. We hope you use them often.]
Since it was an announcement, I wondered if I should make it sound a bit more professional, but since I was the king of this system anyway, I didn't see the point and just scribbled down whatever came to mind.
When I posted an announcement like this, this message would pop up first right in front of the eyes of all users who had joined the membership.
They could dismiss it if they wanted, but the important thing was making sure they had to look at it at least once.
After sending out the announcement, I holed up in my room again and focused on creating the system.
"System Creation."
The system I was thinking of this time was a way for users who joined the membership to earn Coins through it.
Of course, I wasn't going to just hand out my own Coins. It was about the work I needed done.
It was to make it easier to gather labor for building Paradise, setting up a part-time job format to recruit people more conveniently.
For example, previously, when cleaning and clearing out the studio apartment building, Kim Ji-hee had to write posts here and there to gather people. Now, I could just post a quest on the membership, and those who wanted to do it would show up on their own.
And once the work was done, Coins would be automatically paid out through the membership.
That way, there would be no trouble finding people, and the chances of weirdos showing up and acting like assholes would decrease.
At the very least, I could view the information of the people who accepted the quests through their membership profiles.
Also, this was something I had been planning for a while, but after visiting the Delivery Rider Faction today, I added to it: if I linked a rider-exclusive quest for the delivery riders to this, wouldn't we be able to use it like a modern delivery app?
When a delivery is requested, the delivery riders accept the order.
Once they deliver the requested provisions, I receive the Coins, and a portion is paid to the delivery rider as a commission fee.
Of course, there was one very big risk to this.
What if a delivery rider carrying provisions abandoned the quest halfway through and just ran off with the food?
I definitely had to keep such shitty situations in mind.
Automation is a great system, but in the end, humans are the ones running it, so trust can easily crumble depending on a person's whims.
Even if I could see their information through the membership, if they ran away, going out to catch them myself wouldn't be easy.
Still, I'd have to put some safeguards in place.
I had an idea for that on the spot, but I should build this first before thinking about it.
"A quest system. I can set the rewards freely, and this way, when clearing dungeons later, I can just put up a reward and have them clear it on their own."
Ultimately, my goal for Paradise was a world where I didn't have to lift a finger.
Of course, Level 4 or Level 5 zombies...
If strong bastards that I didn't even need to think about right now appeared, the time would come when I'd have to step up personally.
But at the very least, I believed that base-type play—building a faction—only truly worked when the leader's only job was to breathe.
Of course, such an ultimate goal was a story for far in the future.
Right now, creating quests like this was to help me earn more of my own quests.
I had learned that information obtained through "Residents" turned into quests, and I also found out that dungeon quests rewarded points.
In that case, if I gave membership members a quest to find the locations of dungeons...
And then I went and cleared those dungeons, wouldn't that mean I wouldn't have to go around searching for dungeons one by one myself?
I would use Coins to command users who would act as my hands and feet.
And those Coins were donated to me by these very users.
It looked like a virtuous cycle, but in the end, all those Coins would end up in my pocket.
"Heheh. Heheheh."
[Creating "Membership Quest".]
[Creation authority for "Membership Quest" is granted only to the Host.]
[Creation authority can be temporarily granted to certain "Residents".]
[Anything, including Points, Coins, and items, can be designated as a reward.]
And with that, the quest was complete.
I didn't use it right away.
I needed to test it out first to see if there were any flaws or things that needed to be improved.
"Oh? Oppa, you're back?"
Looking at Kim Ji-hee as she opened the door and walked in, I sent her a quest instead of answering.
"Huh?"
Kim Ji-hee frowned as she looked at the message popping up in front of her.
She gave me a look as if I were a pervert for a moment, then took off her outer coat.
Since there were many people walking around here now and Kim Ji-hee frequently went outside the building, her recent attire had lost its initial spirit, which I didn't quite like.
"Hmph... Oppa. Other people are whispering. They're saying I walk around without a bra."
Sure, a woman could wear short things on the bottom, but the top was different.
Her breasts were already large, and since I didn't let her wear underwear, even if she wore a loose, thin T-shirt, her nipples would poke through, and the curves of her breasts were often completely visible.
Especially when she bent over.
That was why Kim Ji-hee had been wearing a thin windbreaker lately.
Or a thin jacket if the evening air felt a bit chilly.
"Who cares what they say?"
She wasn't my girlfriend, so there was no need to feel jealous just because others looked.
Just a moderate look of envy.
But since she was my property, she shouldn't be showing her bare skin to others.
I stopped Kim Ji-hee, who had set aside her outer coat and was about to kneel before me to pull down my pants, and put her coat back on her.
Leaving the zipper undone, her body wasn't visible if she stayed still, but when she moved, her figure would subtly peek through the gap in a tantalizing way.
"Mmm. Good. The aesthetics of a tease."
It was good for people to have various reasons to maintain their membership.
And eye candy was definitely one of them.
Kim Ji-hee had a face and body that were worth well over 10 Coins just by existing.
Exactly 10 Coins' worth.
And this was what that got you.
Fair, pale thighs.
And the shape of her breasts pressed against her clothes, visible through her outer coat only if you were extremely lucky.
After setting the guidelines, I pulled up her outer coat and the loose short-sleeved shirt underneath.
"Kya!"
Her hidden, large white breasts spilled out.
"Wear it like this in front of me."
"Yes..."
With her top pulled up, Kim Ji-hee bent over to complete the Membership Quest and took my cock into her mouth.