Raiders Mart

When Ji-an woke up the next morning, she felt a strange sensation. Until yesterday, she had been consumed by sheer terror and dread, but now, it felt as if those emotions had been washed away. She was certain she had dreamed of something last night, though she couldn't quite recall the details. However, she did remember that the man from next door, Kim Saebyeok, had appeared in it. Having miraculously regained her composure, Ji-an felt a growing desire to rely on him. Her eyes drifted toward Saebyeok as he busied himself preparing various things for the morning.

Ji-an was an incredibly timid person who always hid her face behind thick glasses and long, messy bangs. It wasn't that she was ugly; she was perfectly average. She was simply plagued by excessive fear. Everything that existed in 3D outside her monitor terrified her. The unpredictable nature of reality, which demanded split-second reactions before she could mentally prepare herself, was an overwhelming burden she despised. Consequently, she always maintained a defensive posture, striving to make herself as transparent and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠invisible as possible. As quietly as she could. Even during vacations, staying cooped up at home was her ultimate comfort. A cozy sanctuary of her own, where she never had to worry about having her energy drained by social interactions. It was during one of those blissfully sweet vacations in her cozy sanctuary that the world suddenly ended.

At first, her heart had fluttered with excitement, reminiscent of the web novels she loved to read. She had quickly opened her status window and accepted the gift sent by TF-54.

Ji-an had been utterly flabbergasted. Naturally, she had expected to become a mage or some other elegant class. At the very least, she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had hoped for a standard warrior or knight. Instead, she was saddled with a class that couldn't possibly suit her less.

"Sigh..." Ji-an had quickly pulled herself together, grabbed a bag, and bolted to the convenience store in front of her building. But she hadn't been able to do a single thing. The sheer horror of people stabbing and slaughtering one another inside the store... Reality was vastly different from the stories on her monitor or the words on a page. The agonizing expression of the last person she saw, stabbed in the back and left to die, was still vividly burned into her memory.

Running and running, she had barely managed to escape back to her room, only to hear absolute chaos erupting next door. Screaming, vomiting, things being thrown and shattered... Ji-an had crawled under her blankets, covered her ears, and shivered in terror until dawn. Eventually, the noise died down, though the occasional sound of breaking furniture still echoed from the adjacent apartment. Even in the midst of this nightmare, she felt her stomach growl. Thinking she must be losing her mind to feel hungry at a time like this, she opened the refrigerator. That was when the system message suddenly materialized before her eyes.

"Are you insane?!" At that exact moment, the sound of shattering windows and human screams echoed from outside. "Ugh..." Ji-an collapsed to the floor, weeping and trembling uncontrollably. As the terrifying noises drew closer and closer, she remained utterly paralyzed. When the screams and crashes finally moved toward the apartment next door, she let out a small sigh of relief. Thank goodness... It bypassed me... But then, a thunderous boom shook the building, and a massive hole was blown straight through her wall.

"Hiccup!" Ji-an hurriedly clamped her hands over her mouth, but her hiccups refused to stop. What do I do? The man next door knows I'm here... She was terrified. He was someone who could slaughter monsters. What if he attacks me out of nowhere? What if I don't open the door? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He literally blew a hole in the wall, how could I possibly stop him?Knock. Knock. Knock. To Ji-an, Saebyeok's knocking sounded like the Grim Reaper tapping on her door.

Clap!

"Ji-an? Ma Ji-an?"

"Ah... Yes?!"

"Are you alright? I called your name, but you were just staring into space."

"Ah... No, it's nothing. I'm fine."

"Did you pack everything you need?"

"Yes..."

Saebyeok observed the dazed Ji-an for a moment before finally clapping his hands right in front of her face. Only then did she snap back to reality.

"Let's get moving first. It's better to act quickly, especially if we want to secure food..."

"Right!"

"..."

"??"

"Um... are you really going out dressed like that?"

"I-I'm sorry..."

"You don't need to apologize... but do you not have any other clothes besides that dress? Even a tracksuit would be better..."

"I tried, but... I've gained a bit of weight recently..."

"Sigh... Let's just go."

"...Okay," Ji-an replied in a barely audible whisper, tightly gripping her backpack and the aluminum baseball bat she had bought for self-defense.

Raiders Mart.

Is that brand not doing anything? Saebyeok scrutinized Ji-an, but nothing seemed particularly different about her. By the way, Woongtae mentioned he used to go there often... It must be the same place, right? He had only drifted off into thought for a brief second when three zombies suddenly appeared ahead. The creatures sprinted toward them at an alarming speed.

Thwack! Crack! Thud!

Emboldened by his victory over the Alpha Licker, Saebyeok dashed forward and pulverized the three skulls without hesitation.

"This might be easier than I thought."

With every alleyway they crossed on their way to the mart, the number of zombies steadily grew. From three to four, then from four to five in the next alley... The increase was so gradual it felt perfectly manageable. By the time Saebyeok had slain twenty-two zombies—excluding the first three—the sign for Raiders Mart finally came into view. Fortunately, there were no signs of anyone else occupying the building. Saebyeok and Ji-an naturally pushed open the entrance. However, what awaited them inside was a massive horde of zombies packing the supermarket to the brim.

There were easily dozens of them.

Grrr... Groan... Shuffling...

As if their food delivery had just arrived, the zombies began shuffling toward Saebyeok and Ji-an. Saebyeok spun around to make a quick exit, but to his horror, dozens more had already gathered outside, slamming their heads against the glass doors as if begging to be let in.

"H-Hic... Wh-what do we do?!"

"What do you mean, what do we do?! We fucking fight! You must have received something from your status window too! Pull out whatever you have, now!" Saebyeok roared, swinging his crowbar wildly.

Shit, there are too many of them! Dammit!

Groan... Thwack! Crack! Crunch! Splat!

Ominous, wet sounds filled the first floor of the mart. The only saving grace was that these zombies were slow.

"Fuck! Ji-an! This way, now!"

Saebyeok urgently grabbed Ji-an's hand as she swung her baseball bat in frantic circles. Realizing they couldn't escape, he decided their best bet was a bottleneck where he could extend his tentacles in a straight line. Spotting a long, narrow hallway leading to the employee breakroom, he bolted toward it.

"Huff... Huff..." Ji-an gasped, her breath completely giving out.

For a split second, Saebyeok couldn't help but think, I've dragged a total liability along.

"Ji-an, get behind me!"

Pulling Ji-an behind his back, Saebyeok unleashed his spear of tentacles toward the zombies packing the hallway.

Body Xenomorphosis!

Squirm! Slither!

The black tentacles twisted into a spiral, sweeping through the oncoming zombies.

...Yet, more zombies continued to pour through the shattered entrance of the first floor, reinforcing their ranks.

"Ah, fuck. Can't I spread this out radially?"

The only Body Xenomorphosis Saebyeok could manage was limited to his right hand, twisting and thrusting it straight forward. While he could adjust its thickness, he hadn't yet attempted to split it into multiple radial branches.

Slither! Splat! Crunch!

Zombies collapsed into wet heaps of crushed flesh. By the time Saebyeok unleashed his third tentacle strike, he began to suspect that every single zombie in the neighborhood had gathered here. It finally made sense why there were no other survivors around.

"Even if I die, this mart is fucking mine!"

Saebyeok began to lash out with his tentacles, swinging them like whips. While one could argue he was carrying the entire fight single-handedly, Saebyeok was still just a novice survivor. He couldn't hold off a horde of this size alone forever.

It was at that moment a bizarre, hysterical laughter erupted from behind him.

"Hehehe... Hahaha... Ah... Fuck! What the hell is this?! What the actual fuck?! Ruining my sweet, precious vacation, you motherfuckers!!!"

"Ji-an?"

Pitter-patter-pitter-patter!

"Hahaha! Since it's come to this, let's all fucking die together! FUCK!!!"

Ji-an ripped off her glasses, threw them aside, and gripped her aluminum bat with white knuckles. Screaming like a banshee, she charged forward.

Thwack! Crack! Clang! Smash!

She was wearing a dress, but whether her underwear was flashing or not was the absolute least of her concerns. Saebyeok had no idea what had possessed her, but he wasn't about to waste this opportunity. Carefully controlling his tentacles to avoid hitting Ji-an, the two of them pushed forward together. It was a brutally desperate battle.

Despite the despair of facing such overwhelming numbers, Saebyeok noticed something strange: every time he killed a zombie with his tentacles, he felt a portion of his mana restore. This allowed him to unleash far more strikes than before. Eventually, however, his mana ran completely dry, forcing him to raise his crowbar and swing it manually.

Crack! Crunch! Thwack!

Finally, Ji-an jammed her baseball bat straight through the jaw of the last remaining zombie and kicked it, impaling the creature completely. The supermarket was now painted with blood, unidentifiable fluids, splattered flesh, and the mangled, crushed remains of the undead.

The system messages flashed before Saebyeok's eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Huff... Huff..."

For a long while, the only sound in the mart was their ragged breathing.

"Ji-an, are you okay?"

"Y-yes..."

In that brief moment, Saebyeok saw her eyes glow a deep, blood-red before fading back to their original dark color.

"...I see. Should we block the entrance first?"

She nodded. Summoning the last remnants of their strength, the two of them shut the first-floor doors and dragged whatever they could find to construct a makeshift barricade.

After double-checking every single opening on the first floor, they made their way back to the employee breakroom, praying that it would be empty.

Squeak... Creak...

Hanging from the ceiling was the body of a woman. Her eyes were rolled halfway back into her head. The agony of her final moments was painfully evident; her neck and the rope were covered in deep, savage scratch marks. Broken fingernails littered the floor, alongside pools of urine and feces. They say even a dry rag yields water if squeezed hard enough. Summoning a near-superhuman effort, Saebyeok cut down the deceased woman while Ji-an cleaned the floor. Cleaning, in this case, simply meant sweeping the solid waste out of the room. They had no strength left to do anything more.

After tossing the woman's body toward the pile of dead zombies, Saebyeok retrieved the backpack he had discarded during the battle and stepped into the breakroom. As Ji-an, now completely out of her Berserker state, gagged and struggled to look at the corpses, Saebyeok felt a sudden chill. He found it bizarre how utterly unfazed he was by this gruesome scene.

Is this the influence of the madness?

But right now, it didn't matter. All he wanted was to rest.