Episode 10 (Revised)
Episode 10 (Revised)
After everything was over.
That evening.
"Ugh..."
Intense pain arrived.
It was because of the Sacred Body Elixir.
My bones ached, and my muscles hurt as if they were cramping.
It was an indescribable sensation, like something inside my body was being forcibly rearranged.
Geudeuk!
It was painful enough to make me clench my teeth.
However.
I overcame all of it.
Morning.
"Heok!"
When Lee Su-ah opened the door to wake me up.
She quickly put her hands over her eyes.
She was peeking at me through the gaps between her fingers.
"Wh...who are you?!"
It was a reaction unlike Lee Su-ah.
Thinking she was playing a prank again, I shook my head and got up.
"Who else but Choi Han. We have a lot to do today. Let's get ready to go to Basement Level 1 right away."
".....Choi Han?"
Her reaction is too weird.
"What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"
"No....your body has changed!"
"What are you talking about?"
I didn't understand what Lee Su-ah was saying.
"Look in the mirror!"
She immediately grabbed my hand and headed to the bathroom.
My reflection appeared in the mirror there.
"Heok! What the!"
"I told you it was real!"
I was shocked as soon as I saw it.
My height, which was in the mid-170s, had suddenly exceeded the mid-180s.
My muscles had increased, my build had grown larger, and above all.
"I've become handsome!"
That was the biggest change.
My nose became sharper, my eyebrows thicker, and my supraorbital ridges protruded.
It felt like looking at a handsome foreigner! Until last night, it was a face I didn't really pay attention to in the mirror.
Now, I couldn't take my eyes off it.
"Wow!"
What a change this is!
'Sacred Body Elixir!'
It was thanks to this.
I observed my body with satisfaction.
I clenched and unclenched my hands.
I felt a density that couldn't be compared to yesterday.
Lee Su-ah, who was next to me, was also drooling while looking at me.
Then.
"Oh, right!"
I remembered what I had to do.
"Hey! We're busy today! We need to get ready right away! Clean up the 2nd floor."
As I said urgently.
"Uh...uh? O...okay!"
Lee Su-ah was moving hurriedly while wiping her drool.
I ignored Lee Su-ah and left the bathroom.
What greeted me as soon as I came out was.
"Good morning, Master."
It was the zombie Lee Hyeon-jae.
I had implanted a command in him.
To absolutely obey me and Lee Su-ah.
And so, he changed like that.
"Follow me."
"Yes, Master."
It was the day to deep clean the inside of the research complex.
I need to get rid of the dead zombie corpses.
Otherwise, gas would rise, and along with the disgusting smell, it wouldn't be good for our health.
"Wait, hold on."
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Can't I sell the zombie corpses?"
I thought I could sell them at the gallery shop.
I immediately went to the 1st floor and approached the zombie corpses.
"Let's see...."
I immediately tried selling the zombie on the shop window.
Then.
-Drug Zombie Corpse - 10,000 Ether.
"Oh! It sells!"
The price was very cheap, but the fact that I could sell the corpses was a gain.
I went around the entire 1st floor and sold the corpses to the shop.
Then.
-Ether Held: 4.5 million Ether.
"Nice, right?"
This was just the 1st floor.
I went straight down to Basement Level 1.
There were the corpses of the Variants.
-Variant Corpse - 1 million Ether.
On top of that.
"You Variant Zombies, thanks for your hard work."
-Variant Zombie Corpse - 100,000 Ether.
Even the ones I was controlling.
I sold them all.
-Ether Held: 7.8 million Ether.
"It's clean, right?"
"Yes! It is very clean!"
Lee Hyeon-jae, who was next to me, started buttering me up.
But suddenly.
'This research complex....why was it built?'
I wondered.
Why on earth did the research complex mass-administer drugs to the zombies, and why was the Abomination on Basement Level 2 created?
Such questions arose.
I immediately asked Lee Hyeon-jae.
"Hey, you said you were a researcher here."
At my question, the pale Lee Hyeon-jae nodded.
"Yes, I was."
"Then what's the purpose of this place? Why inject drugs into zombies?"
"That is....."
Lee Hyeon-jae, who organized his thoughts for a moment, continued.
"This place was not originally built as a research lab for zombie research."
"...Then?"
"It was a place for researching and developing chemical agents."
"....."
"However, the research director hurriedly brought something in. It was an order from the government."
"What kind of order was it?"
Something is gradually starting to become clear.
Lee Hyeon-jae closed his eyes and recalled his memories.
"It was an order to cooperate with researchers sent from the government. From then on, large trucks and helicopters started transporting massive amounts of supplies."
"Hmm....then the stuff in those trucks on the 1st floor is the drug?"
"That's probably it."
The trucks that were in this research complex.
It means those trucks were full of the drugs that were administered to the drug zombies.
"From what I see, they injected drugs into the zombies....what were they trying to do?"
"I heard it was a vaccine, but....looking at what they were actually doing..."
Lee Hyeon-jae frowned slightly.
"It seems they wanted to create biological weapons."
".....Weapons?"
The government tried to use zombies as weapons?
That's why there were Variants and Abominations on Basement Levels 1 and 2.
Those guys wanted to make weapons through research.
"But why did they all die?"
"It wasn't because we did something wrong. As soon as a certain drug was completed, this place was disposed of."
"Hmm....."
So, in the end, this guy was abandoned too.
Then...
"Where did those guys go?"
"As far as I know, they headed to the super-large shelter in Seoul."
"Seoul, huh...."
The situation in Seoul is a bit better.
There were many people there, quarantine facilities, military units, etc.
Because they could take immediate action, the government responded quickly and built a dome in the center of Seoul.
That became the super-large shelter.
However.
"We won't be able to get in."
No matter how good the super-large shelter is.
You need an entry ticket.
Not just anyone could enter the shelter.
"Hmm....."
I'm worried.
Honestly, from the perspective of shelters that favor Awakened.
Our existence would naturally be welcomed.
But.
"My existence is a bit strange."
An Awakened who uses necromancy.
If the organization that used this research complex saw me, wouldn't they try to capture and experiment on me?
"That's scary."
I felt like I shouldn't stand out.
I felt like I should pretend to be a physical-type Awakened with the help of the Valkar people.
Or, there is another way.
"I just need to get stronger."
One-man army.
The ultimate stage a necromancer should pursue.
I must achieve that stage.
To do that...
"Growth is the top priority."
If I've mainly caught normal zombies and variant zombies until now.
From now on, I need to catch Variants.
Because that gives a lot of experience points.
"But where would there be a lot of Variants..."
At that moment.
Lee Hyeon-jae, who was next to me, said to me as if he had thought of something.
"Choi Han-nim. How about going to a place with a lot of radiation?"
"Radiation?"
"Variants are created by radiation. Those Variants on Basement Level 1 were also individuals injected with radiation."
"Ah....."
There was a way.
Then...
"Don't I have to go near a nuclear power plant?"
"As it happens, I know of a nuclear power plant!"
Lee Hyeon-jae said, as if happy.
"Good, then lead the way."
We headed to the nuclear power plant.
Daejeon Metropolitan City.
A place close to the countryside located on the outermost edge.
There was a nuclear power plant there.
"Is that it..."
There was a huge building in the distance that looked like Cheomseongdae.
It was a nuclear power plant.
But it looks like it hasn't been in operation for a long time.
The outer walls of the nuclear plant's cooling tower had concrete peeled off in places, revealing the rebar inside like rusted ribs.
"Oh....I can see the radiation just spewing out."
Is it thanks to the Valkar region being unlocked and eating the Sacred Body Elixir?
I could even see things harmful to the body.
"So what are you planning to do?"
Lee Su-ah asks from the side.
She was also frowning, as if she didn't like this place either.
"Let's just check for now."
"....."
The most important thing is to check if there are any Variants.
I approached the nuclear power plant.
Then,
Normal zombies started to appear.
However.
"Oh...it really is weird."
"Right?"
The zombies exposed to radiation also looked bizarre.
They had one extra arm and leg, and some individuals had their arms and legs turned into tentacles.
Furthermore.
-Radioactive Zombie - 10,000 Ether.
The price was the same as the drug zombies.
10,000 Ether is not a bad price.
"Alright, for now, don't engage directly."
"Got it."
If they were mutated by radiation, it was highly likely that the zombies' blood was contaminated with radiation itself.
Radiation is what collapses the atomic structure of matter.
Therefore, it was dangerous if we fought directly.
"Corpse Control."
The easiest thing is my skill.
Bringing them under my command.
It was a very easy task, without even fighting.
"My current Cost is...8 Cost..."
Since it's 1 Variant and 1 Skeletal Species each, that's 7 Cost.
1 Cost left.
I moved by controlling the radioactive zombies and selling them immediately.
But because of the 10-minute cooldown, my movement slowed down.
During that 10 minutes.
I had no choice but to use the Variant and the Skeletal Species.
"Good job."
"This is really convenient."
The radioactive zombies were dying with one attack from the Variant and the Skeletal Species.
However.
"Hmm...as expected."
The skin of the Variant and the Skeletal Species exposed to radiation was slowly melting.
"Is it the radiation after all?"
I felt like I had to ask the gallery for a solution.