Broadcast Begins
"Donation: 1,000 won!!"
Rock bottom of life.
"Thank you!"
A guy in his mid-twenties with nothing better to do than fire up a game stream: Go Cheon-su.
As a greeting, he stood on his head in his chair, but his viewer count was a pathetic one. That lone viewer stuck around only because even for a measly 1,000 won, he put on a special show.
Thud!
But that "special show" was just pathetic nonsense. Go Cheon-su tumbled to the floor, staggering through the pain shooting through his body as he hauled himself back up.
"Satisfied, bro!?"
He bellowed it triumphantly, but the viewer's response came right away.
Spot on. His character lay sprawled like an idiot on the monitor, marked dead.
"Ahaha, sorry about that."
He revived at the save point right away. What he was playing was a horror disaster game—his go-to genre.
As he geared up to start over from the save point, another message popped up in the chat window he'd left open in the corner of the screen.
A sharp jab. But he grinned wide and fired back.
"Don't say that, bro. You're the reason I'm not killing myself."
He'd tried every odd job under the sun, but after one loan tanked his life thanks to family crap, he had zero drive left. What was life anyway? And the only one tossing him cash purely because he liked it? This viewer.
Random nonsense. He brushed it off.
"Sure thing~ Your fave, much appreciated."
Thud.
As his character swapped guns, a rumble shook the floor—nothing like when he'd faceplanted earlier.
"What the—?"
BOOM!
"Ah, fuck!"
The whole room shook, making him flinch hard.
"Bro, you hear that? Something blew up outside."
He cracked the window. Far off, explosions chained one after another. Black smoke billowed into the sky.
"What the hell."
Chaos everywhere. People bolted like in some disaster flick.
"Bro, something's off..."
He glanced at the monitor and froze. It was off.
"What the hell is this."
The PC seemed totally fried—no response no matter how he poked it.
"Shit."
He stepped out of his rundown apartment. Had to see what was going down outside at least.
Cautiously, he peeked around the building. Spotting a woman sprinting his way, he called out—
"Hey?"
"KYAAAAAAAH!"
—but she didn't even register him, just fled like hell.
Gone in a flash. As Go Cheon-su blankly clocked her mad dash, suddenly—
"!?"
Go Cheon-su stared at the chat logs floating in his vision.
"What, what the fuck!?"
"Ah... no! What is this! Wait, don't copy—"
Go Cheon-su's panicked face twisted as he tried to speak, but the chat overlay mocked his every move like it had eyes on him. He was speechless—but not for long.
Grrrrrrrowl—!
He had to tear his eyes from the chat.
Huge roar!
The reason? Right in front of him.
"Wh-what the hell is that…!"
A twisted, blood-smeared human shape. First thing in his head: zombie.
Grrrrrowl!
"What the fuck is this!"
Zombie barreling straight at him. Go Cheon-su backpedaled and tripped ass-over-end. It pounced, jaws snapping for his throat.
"UWAHHH! UWAHH!"
Instinct kicked in—he booted the zombie off and bolted like mad.
"Fuck…!"
No clue what was happening. Zombies everywhere.
KRAAAAA!
One chased from behind. Arms pumping wildly, Go Cheon-su cranked his speed. The zombie screeched and kept pace.
It caught him. They tussled in the street. Zombie lunging fangs-first for his neck nonstop.
"You fucking dog…!"
He tried kicking it off—no dice. Backpedaling, he hit a car with its trunk wide open.
"UWAHHH!"
In the struggle, he got shoved into the trunk.
"Get off…!"
Go Cheon-su pummeled the zombie's face with fists. No pain response—it just pressed in. Nearly climbing in with him, then he finally landed a kick.
Kyahk!
Zombie flew back, gut-shot. Go Cheon-su slammed the trunk shut.
"Hah... hah."
Darkness. Catching his breath, he heard scratching. Zombie pounding the trunk outside.
He flinched, groped around. Pitch black. But he found a small door to the back seat.
Flung it open, stuck his hand through to check—
KRAAAA!
Another zombie in the back grabbed his sleeve, filthy jaws gaping.
"UWAHH! Again!?"
Yanked hard, Go Cheon-su thrashed wildly.
Screaming, he ripped off his shirt and tossed it to the zombie.
Thud!
Zombie tripped on the shirt. He slammed the partition shut.
Thud thud thud thud!
Zombies hammering both sides. Vision blocked, but chat logs blazed clear. Whatever this was, he was in deep shit he never saw coming.
"Hah."
Air thick. He groped again, desperate for anything.
"Why the fuck is this happening to me…!"
Found only the trunk release lever. One play.
"Whew."
Gripped it, deep breath. One, two, three.
CRASH!
Braced his back, popped the trunk—zombie smashed by the lid, reeling.
Go Cheon-su bolted for his building, punched the code, slipped through the first-floor glass door.
"Faster, faster, faster!"
Door clicked shut like a spell. Zombie recovered, charged the glass.
Reinforced glass. Should hold fi—
SHATTER!
"FUUUCK!"
Dodged the exploding glass, backed up.
Grrrrrowl!
Zombie glared with burst veins.
"Zombie…!"
He bolted up the stairs. Screams echoed from everywhere. Not just him in this mess.
"Ah…!"
Zombie too fast—couldn't reach his floor. Kept climbing, grabbed the rooftop door handle. Locked.
Rattle rattle.
"I'm gonna lose my fucking mind…!"
Suddenly yanked—nope.
Sniff.
Hallucination or not, the terror felt real. Zombie closing from below, he twisted the handle desperately.
Creeeak.
Door swung open. Just rusted shut, looked locked.
Bang!
Slamming it behind him on the roof, Go Cheon-su scanned for cover. Only busted AC unit.
Dragged it to block the door.
Bang bang bang bang!
Zombie pounding. He leaned on the railing, gasping.
Grrrrrowl!
But no break. Zombie on the roof too.
"This is some next-level bullshit…!"
Landlord fatty. Always jacking up rent like a maniac—now a real monster.
Grrrowl!
Dodged the charging landlord zombie, sprinted across the roof. Tripped on a sudden green box.
"Grahk!?"
No excuse—it wasn't there before. No mercy: landlord zombie mounted him, fangs bared.
"GRAAAH!"
Landlord zombie weighed a ton. Go Cheon-su endured the thrashing atop him, then blanked for a split second.
With everything he had, he shoved the landlord zombie aside.
KRAAAA!
Undeterred, it lunged again.
"This is such bullshit…!"
Go Cheon-su dashed to the railing. Zombie charged to grab him.
"Lower my rent, you psycho fuck!"
Dodged aside—zombie slammed waist-first into the rail and flipped over.
KRAAAA!
Gut flopping wildly, it plummeted off the roof.
KRAAAA...
Gone. Go Cheon-su staggered, collapsed to the rooftop.
"Whew... I li—"
Bang bang bang BOOM!
AC unit shoved aside. Broken handle useless—door flung open, zombie arm thrusting through.
"Are you fucking kidding."
No disaster like this. He staggered up, shoved the unit back. Zombie pushed harder from inside.
He held... held... then got shoved back.
Zombies pouring in. Not one—three. No bare hands against that.
Backpedaling in panic, his foot hit the green box. Eyes locked on it.
"Wait, this…!"
Streamer instincts fired. Someone called it a supply box.
He ripped it open. Wooden baseball bat inside.
"This is…!"
Like Arthur finding Excalibur.
Endless chat spam chewed at his vision.
Yeah. He was streamer Go Cheon-su.
The bat swung toward the three oncoming zombies.