Taking Matters Into My Own Hands
Just do it myself. [Combat Start]
Rumble—the sound of another room being added echoed through the space. My phone screen showed a third square had appeared on the opposite side of the zombie’s room. I decided to wait. Objectively, I looked stronger than the zombie, but charging in without knowing what the “enemy” even was would be a rookie mistake.
I stared at the CCTV feed and waited. A metallic click rang out as the door on the far side swung open. What stepped through was a humanoid figure roughly the same size as the zombie. “A person…? A dwarf?” It wasn’t a child. Their head wasn’t disproportionately large compared to their body like an underdeveloped human; they were simply short, with proportions that otherwise matched an adult.
The moment the dwarf spotted the zombie, it drew a dagger from its waist. The zombie let out a piercing shriek in response.
“Kieeeek! Kieek!”
The sound carried through the doorway with raw, living intensity. This wasn’t some staged drama. It was a battle cry filled with the absolute intent to kill.
For a brief moment they faced each other in tense silence. Then the zombie lunged. There was no elegant exchange of blows like in games—just a messy, animalistic brawl. The dwarf shoved the zombie’s face back with one arm while stabbing wildly with the dagger in the other. The zombie, seemingly indifferent to pain, kept charging even as holes were punched through its body.
They shoved, stabbed, tumbled, and rolled. In the end, one of the zombie’s arms was severed by repeated knife strikes. Its durability was absurdly low. The dwarf smiled in victory. He was battered himself, but at least he had avoided being bitten.
I clicked my tongue at the sight. “Are you kidding me?”
The sloppy fighting made sense—their intelligence seemed as low as their physical abilities. But the zombie losing like this felt wrong. “Feels like I pulled complete garbage…”
Usually even the worst summons were given at least one win in their first fight. This one couldn’t even clear round one. If the summoner had to step in personally every time, what was the point of being a summoner at all?
Sighing, I opened my door. Click—the zombie and the dwarf both turned toward me at once. The enemy flinched, then raised its dagger in my direction. It had decided I was the greater threat. Normally, the one with a weapon held the overwhelming advantage. The dwarf seemed to know this too; it smirked at my empty hands.
“Oh? You’re looking at me like I’m dog food?”
“Okay. So we’re doing an item fight, huh?”
I took two steps forward and picked up the thing lying on the floor—the zombie’s severed arm. The grip wasn’t great, but it would work well enough as a blunt weapon. I gave it a few test swings. Whoosh—whoosh. The air whistled.
Then my eyes met the dwarf’s. “What are you looking at?”
I charged and swung the makeshift club. Whoosh—thud! The dwarf had no time to defend. Even if it had blocked, the physical difference was too massive for it to matter. The blow sent the dwarf tumbling into the corner, where it lay still. An inevitable outcome. I was nearly twice its height and far heavier; it was like being hit by a car.
To the dwarf, I had been an unbeatable disaster.
The fight was over. I looked down at the defeated zombie.
“Hmm…”
The club in my hand was completely ruined. Recycling it looked impossible. “Well… you served your purpose.”
I tossed the arm back. The zombie scrambled over and clutched it tightly to its chest.
Buzz—the phone vibrated. I checked the screen.
[Turn into Zombie] [Feed]
Two options hovered over the corpse-like enemy. “Ah… so that’s how zombies are made.”
The zombie stared at the body, drooling. It didn’t move without my command, only watching me nervously. “Garbage is still garbage whether there’s one or two of them…”
I had to reserve judgment on the Zombie Summoner class itself. In games and comics, summoners usually got to control all kinds of monsters. But this basic zombie was undeniably trash. Adding one more wouldn’t change anything.
“Fine. Eat.”
I pressed [Feed]. Honestly, part of me hoped the zombie might get stronger through feeding. Trash was still trash, but even one useful unit would be better than nothing.
Chomp—chomp—slurp. Watching it devour the corpse so greedily almost made me queasy, but thinking of it like feeding a dog killed any emotional reaction. It felt about the same as watching a wild boar from the mountain behind my childhood home eat an escaped zoo monkey.
“Is that it, then?”
The [Receive Reward] button had lit up. At least this stage seemed finished. I waited until the zombie finished eating before pressing it. The result was disappointing, but it had tried its best. I’d lived through enough disgusting workplaces that treated effort as worthless just because the outcome wasn’t great. I wasn’t about to become that kind of boss.
The zombie, still gnawing on meat, dug into the corpse’s brain and brought it to me like an offering. “So that’s what a dwarf’s brain looks like.”
“Mm… no. You eat it.”
The zombie hopped in delight and crunched down on the brain. Just watching it eat was strangely satisfying. At least the sight didn’t make me hungry.
“If you’re done eating, let’s go.”
I pressed [Check Reward].
◈ Random Lowest-Grade Armor
◈ Random Lowest-Grade Skill
“Oh…!” The word “weapon” stood out more than anything else. The skill was interesting too, but in a fight between weaklings, the presence or absence of a weapon made all the difference. “This is how it should be. Fighting without weapons crosses the line.”
I pressed [Confirm].
Tutorial completed.
Bright light enveloped me. When I opened my eyes again, I was sitting in the familiar dark room on the chair. The only difference was that my hands were free this time. At least that was an improvement.
I checked the rewards first.
Leap
When I touched the claw on my phone, a small weapon materialized in front of me. No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t something I could use. “So… this is for the zombie.”
The helmet was the same. When I summoned the armor to check, it was far too small to fit my head. “Infant-sized, probably.”
“What about the skill?”
Skills didn’t summon physically. The presence of a [Grant] button suggested it was also meant for the zombie. I’d hoped I might be able to use the skill myself, but that hope shattered instantly.
“Of course.”
Thinking about it, it made sense. My class was Summoner—what kind of rewards would I get? Still, there was always an alternative. I picked up the chair I’d been sitting on. It was sturdy and spacious, clearly provided with my physique in mind.
Whoosh—whoosh. “Good grip. Good weight. Good durability.”
“Excellent.”
How practical could one object be? It worked as both a weapon and a resting place. Plus, it felt like it would be replaced with a fresh one after every round. “Ah, I wonder if the severed arm gets replaced too?”
Everything followed game-like rules, so maybe it was possible. On the screen, a zombie icon had appeared on the right side. It looked like I could drag the zombie into a room to summon it. “I can choose the placement?”
I looked around. It had been too dark to notice before, but now there were doors on all four walls. I tried opening them, but they wouldn’t budge. “Doesn’t matter.”
I picked a random room and summoned the zombie.
Rumble—the familiar noise. From the opposite side came the zombie’s wail. “Kieeeek!”
Click—I opened the door and saw the same zombie from earlier. I recognized it by the missing arm. “Ah… so zombies don’t get replaced.”
On second thought, it didn’t really matter. There was only one claw anyway, so it could only equip one side. I gave the one-armed zombie the claw, the helmet, and granted it [Leap].
“Hey. Try leaping.”
The zombie understood and jumped. It sprang up to its own height before landing. “Do it again.”
This time the jump was noticeably lower—[Leap] hadn’t activated. It was an active skill, not passive. “Not bad…”
Leaping one’s own body height required considerable strength and flexibility. The skill itself seemed useful. The problem was the zombie’s condition. Losing an arm had ruined its center of gravity, making even walking awkward. The claw on its remaining arm only made it worse.
The one silver lining was the jagged bone protruding from the severed shoulder. “Did it regenerate by eating?”
That seemed the most reasonable explanation. The regeneration was too minimal to be a full recovery from clearing the round. I patted the zombie’s shoulder.
“You got an investment, so do your best.”
“Kkik-kek.”
“Hmm… right.”
“What was that supposed to mean?”
Maybe once my summoner stats improved I’d understand it. Not that it mattered much. What would I even do with zombie conversations?
“Alright. Let’s go.”
I pressed the [Combat Start] button on my phone without hesitation. There was no reason to waste time.
Rumble—the sound of a room being added came from the opposite side of mine. “Ah, my chair!”
I rushed toward the chair room. Just as I grabbed it, the far door opened. Three dwarves, each holding a dagger. Confirming there were no additional threats, I swung the chair immediately. The sound of the lead dwarf’s skull shattering rang out. Thud—
My ambush threw the enemies into confusion. I used the opening to smash the chair down on the next one. Thud—
When I glanced at the last dwarf, the one-armed zombie had already leaped and driven its claw into the creature’s stomach.
“Kkik-kek!”
The dwarf shoved the zombie away and staggered. Its face turned pale as it clutched the hole in its abdomen; its movements grew visibly sluggish, as if poisoned. “Ah, right… zombies aren’t physical fighters. They’re poison units. I forgot because their stats are garbage.”
The one-armed zombie I’d thought was trash suddenly looked extremely useful. Not bad at all.
Messages popped up on my phone one after another, signaling the end of the fight.
[Turn into Zombie] [Feed] [Check Reward]
The battle had ended once more.