The Shelter

The moment my fingertip pressed the button floating in midair, the world changed.

Behind me, the four massive pillars of blue light that had been stabbing toward the heavens began to fade in unison, as if by prior arrangement, their radiance ebbing away until they vanished completely. And in the place where that light had been, atop the grass of the Buk-gu District Office Sports Ground, a low, massive mechanical hum began to resonate—a deep thrumming that seemed to make the very earth vibrate.

Kuuuung—

The dirt and grass of the field rose into the air and disintegrated, and from beneath them a massive gray structure began to rise.

It was a wondrous and overwhelming sight. Walls of smooth alloy, a massive entrance gate, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and mysterious lights glowing blue from every side of the building—this was the moment my Shelter, the one I had only ever drawn in my dreams over the past five months, finally revealed its true form.

At that sudden transformation, the zombies that had been blindly swarming toward the light pillars lost their target in an instant and began to mill about in confusion. Their gazes were now stolen by the newly appeared massive gray building. But one among them was different—the mutant.

Kieeee—

To that thing, the Shelter's appearance meant nothing. Its sole objective was one and only: to tear apart the prey right in front of it—me. Paying no mind to the chaos of the other zombies, it poured its last remaining strength into a charge, jaws torn wide as it lunged at me.

Thung—

But the horrific pain I had braced for never came. Instead, a dull impact against something transparent and solid rang out right in front of my face.

I barely managed to open my eyes. The mutant stood frozen just before my face, as if blocked by an invisible wall. Its razor teeth and claws scraped madly against the transparent barrier, producing a spine-chilling kigigigik—, yet it could not advance so much as a single millimeter further.

I looked to the tip of my left finger, still hovering over the system window. There, beneath the button I had pressed, another had activated.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠most basic defensive barrier for protecting a base, just as it had been in the game. And right now, it had saved my life.

Kraaaaah…! Kyueok!

Blocked by the invisible wall, the thing still refused to give up. Madly—truly, utterly madly—it gaped its jaws and bit at the barrier, lunging toward me again and again. Watching that tenacious, relentless frenzy, I smiled and moved my finger once more.

With a clear, crystalline thung—, something launched from the upper reaches of the massive gray building that had only just fully revealed itself.

It was a silver structure shaped like an enormous umbrella. The construct shot swiftly into the air and came to a gentle stop high above the Shelter. Then twelve wings, like the ribs of an umbrella, began to unfold in silence.

Watching that, I offered a final farewell to the mutant still thrashing toward me.

"Goodbye, you fucking bastard."

In that instant, from the umbrella-like structure floating in the air, thousands upon tens of thousands of barely visible something began to pour down like rain.

They were pure fragments of energy. Wherever those fragments touched, the zombies' bodies burst apart like balloons—pop! pop! pop!—scattering dark crimson blood and flesh in every direction, vanishing without even time to scream, like one vast fireworks display.

The mutant charged to the very end, determined to kill me. Even as the rain of energy struck its entire body, it drove forward against the Force Shield until the last. But in the end, blocked by the invisible wall, it let out a grotesque moan—and that body which had looked so solid exploded midair, head and limbs tearing apart in different directions.

With that final system message, I closed my eyes under a fatigue I could no longer endure. Strength drained from my entire body, and my consciousness drifted far away. Five months of hellish journey—all that tension and terror crashed over me at once. Ha… am I going to die like this?

Still, it didn't seem like such a bad end. At least I had done it. I had kept my promise. I had finally built the perfect sanctuary for them, right before my eyes. Satisfied in my own way, I was just about to let consciousness slip away completely—

Thung. Thung-thung.

From somewhere, a dull, desperate sound of something hard pounding against the transparent wall rang out. But beyond that sound, I could hear nothing. It was like watching the world through thick glass—I could see their movements, see the shapes of their screaming mouths, yet not a single voice reached my ears. They were slamming the butts of their rifles madly against the Force Shield that stood between us and me.

Idiots… I forgot to turn the shield off.

I wrung out the last of my strength, raised my trembling left hand, and reached once more toward the system window in the air.

The moment the transparent wall vanished, the three of them stumbled inside and dropped to their knees beside me as if collapsing. Even so, their voices still reached me only as a distant, buzzing tinnitus.

Yeong-ju grabbed me by the collar and shook me, shouting something. Her face was a mess of tears and snot. Then, suddenly, she began pounding her fists into my chest.

Puck. Puck.

…That hurt like hell? Pain I could feel in a body that had gone completely numb made me open my eyes again.

"Don't you die! Hey, you bastard! If you die here, I'll fucking kill you myself! Get up! Get the fuck up!"

Her desperate fists, and her curse-laced screams finally punching through to my consciousness—that shock faintly rekindled the dying ember of my awareness.

Yang Jin-ju and Nam Jin-ju were startled and tried to stop her, but with my eyes open, I forced my mouth to work with the last of my strength.

"…Th-that room inside… the one with the… cross… mark…"

I pointed toward the interior beyond the Shelter's massive entrance. Desperately dredging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up game knowledge with a mind that refused to turn over…

"Take me… there… Put ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me… on the long… metal… chair…"

With those words, I finally let go of every sensation and sank completely into a deep, dark abyss with no end in sight.

My sense of time seemed paralyzed. I had no idea how long had passed, whether I was dead or alive—and just as the thought crossed my mind that this might be death itself, a voice began to reach me from far away, very faintly.

At first it hummed as if heard underwater, but it grew steadily clearer, gently shaking my paralyzed consciousness awake.

"…Is he really going to be okay? It's already been five days."

Yang Jin-ju's worried voice.

"He'll be fine. That machine said it was still treating him, right? Look—his wounds are almost completely healed…"

Nam Jin-ju's voice followed.

"But still… he won't wake up. If he just stays like this…"

Then I felt an intense gaze pouring down on me.

"Hey."

Yeong-ju. Her voice was low and calm, but it carried a fierce will.

"Get up already, you bastard. If you don't want to watch the rest of us living it up in this paradise you built while you're the only one left out—open your eyes right now."

At that voice, I finally lifted my impossibly heavy eyelids.

As my blurred vision slowly focused, the first things to enter my sight were the three faces looking down at me. And beyond them, a ceiling of smooth gray alloy—unfamiliar, yet not alien.

"Oh… Oppa, your eyes are open! They're really open!"

Nam Jin-ju spotted me first and let out a cheer. Yang Jin-ju also let out a sigh of relief and wiped at the corners of her eyes.

But Yeong-ju was different. The moment she confirmed my eyes were open, she threw a fist straight into my solar plexus without a second's hesitation.

Puck—!

"Guehk—!"

At the unexpected heavy impact, I let out a croak like a frog having its throat cut.

In that moment, a cold mechanical voice rang out from the machine scanning over my body, and with the sensation of something cool being injected into the spot where I'd been hit, the throbbing pain began to vanish as if it had been a lie.

"Hey! Are you insane? What are you doing to someone who just woke up?!"

Yang Jin-ju cried out in shock and tried to stop Yeong-ju. But Yeong-ju pointed casually at the monitor of the machine beside me and said,

"See? The effect's solid. Nothing wakes a guy up better than this. Wow, though—this is amazing. It really heals automatically."

She was examining the machine this way and that, genuinely impressed. I barely collected myself and looked around. And at last I understood. This was the Shelter. And we… had survived.

A short while later, supported by the three of them, I left what appeared to be the medical bay. The floor I stepped on for the first time in five days felt strangely smooth, and the air inside the Shelter was incomparably fresher than the outside world.

We sat around a smooth white table in a wide space that looked like a cafeteria and finally began a proper conversation.

The three women had clearly made use of the Shelter's shower facilities; they had shed five months of grime and looked soft and clean. Dressed in the clean gray tracksuits stocked inside the Shelter—a bit large, but spotless—they seemed almost like different people, brimming with energy.

"…I was asleep for five whole days?"

"Yeah. We really thought you were going to die. It looked like you were barely hanging on by a thread."

Yang Jin-ju said.

"But that treatment machine was seriously incredible. The second we laid you on that long metal chair, it started scanning automatically and began injecting all kinds of drugs and nanobots. Even the bite marks on your back that looked critical to us, and the missing fingers—everything got treated."

"It said treatment of the unidentified infectious virus was complete, too? That has to mean the zombie virus, right?"

Nam Jin-ju added.

"Oppa, and look at this! The treated areas are a different color!"

She pointed at my right hand with wonder. I lifted my hand and looked. It was true. The pinky and ring finger that had been torn off and gone were perfectly regenerated.

When I felt my back, the horrific wound had vanished without a trace as well. Only, the newly grown flesh was different from my original skin tone—pale and smooth like a newborn's. Thanks to that, my body now looked like a patchwork rag.

"Whoa… this is completely wild. Not a single scar. So if we get hurt later, we can just get treated there? You could even use this for cosmetic purposes—it'd be a gold mine."

Letting the women's chatter wash past one ear, I dumped the ramen crumbs left in the bowl in front of me into my mouth. The last remaining outside food they had saved for me.

"But… what about food? Did you starve for five days?"

"No, not that… We just split what we had little by little. It's completely gone now, though."

At Yeong-ju's words, I shook my head.

"There should be emergency rations. Enough to hold out until the hydroponics facility is fully operational. That's how it was in the game."

I searched my memory. The structure of the Shelter in the game. Right next to the cafeteria, at the dead-end wall at the end of the corridor. There had been a secret storage room there.

"Follow me."

I stood and left the cafeteria. Then I headed for the smooth wall at the end of the corridor, the location I remembered from the game. To anyone looking, it was just a dead-end wall.

"Oppa, that's just a wall. We already checked everywhere…"

Nam Jin-ju was about to say when I stepped in front of the wall. As if the system recognized me as the master, a soft whirrr— sounded and a section of the wall slid silently inward, revealing a hidden space.

"Huh? Wha—? What is this?!"

"A door… a door just appeared!"

The three women screamed in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Inside the door was a not-particularly-large storage room. Within it stood a four-tier shelf, and on it ten white boxes labeled 5-Person Emergency Ration Set (30 Meals) were stacked neatly.

"See? Told you they were here."

I said with a shrug. The three women came into the storage room, looked at the mountain of food boxes, and let out cheers mixed with joy and wonder.

"Holy crap! What is all this?! So we don't have to starve anymore?"

Nam Jin-ju bounced with excitement. Yang Jin-ju, too, seemed to have her legs give out from relief and leaned against the wall. Only Yeong-ju was still staring at me as if I were some strange creature.

I smiled with satisfaction and moved on toward the next hope.

"All right, then let's go see the real deal. To the hydroponics room that'll be our eternal vegetable garden."

Full of anticipation, I opened the door to the hydroponics room at the very end of the corridor.

But the moment the door opened, my expectations shattered to pieces.

What greeted the me who had expected a greenhouse lush with green plants was a vast, empty room.

Plant-growth LED lights were installed on the ceiling, and complex piping and nutrient-supply devices were laid out across the floor in a grid pattern—but on top of them, not a handful of soil, not a single seed was to be seen. Only cold machines greeted us in silence.

"…What the hell. Why is there nothing?"

At my hollow mutter, Yeong-ju, who had followed behind, pointed to one wall of the room.

"Look at that."

There, a massive screen occupied the entire wall, and on that screen a single line of cold green text was displayed.

Seeds. Without seeds, all of this facility was nothing more than a useless lump of scrap metal?

I had thought I had escaped hell and arrived at a perfect utopia—but this utopia was nothing but an empty shell, missing the most important thing of all: life.