Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Stolen Devil
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Yoo Sora asked me as we descended the stairs.
“Cheonjae.”
“Yeah.”
“What happened to Dongtak...?”
Jang Dongtak?
He was infected with the zombie virus to an irreversible degree.
His entire body had turned yellowish-brown, his skin rotting away. He’d lost consciousness long ago.
At this point, it was safe to call him a full zombie.
But he hadn’t stopped breathing yet, so I couldn’t make him one of my minions.
We had no choice but to leave him on the second-floor landing.
We couldn’t risk bringing him along and having him turn into a zombie, spreading the virus.
I scratched my head and answered her.
“......He’s infected with the Z Virus.”
It might’ve sounded cold, but it was the only thing I could say right now.
Yoo Sora looked at me with a disappointed expression.
“Does that mean he’s going to die?”
“If we don’t treat him quickly.”
“So if we can’t treat him, he dies.”
“......Yeah. If time passes, he’ll turn into one of those zombies you saw.”
Silence followed.
It couldn’t be helped. In this tutorial with no cure, saving him as a human was impossible once infected.
Of course, there was one way.
Finding the devil quickly.
If I got my hands on the [Devil], I could turn him back into a human.
Yoo Sora bit her nails as she asked me.
“How do we treat it?”
“We find the cure and make Dongtak take it. If he can’t swallow it himself, we can inject it with a syringe.”
“Where’s that cure?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to start looking.”
“Can we find it?”
“I can’t promise.”
“What if we can’t—”
“I just told you. He turns into a zombie.”
Her words were grating on my nerves. She couldn’t even take care of herself, yet here she was filling her head with worries about someone else.
I straightened up and said to her.
“Sora.”
“......Yeah?”
“What’s your relationship with Dongtak?”
“What do you mean...”
I glanced down at her shoes. They were different from the sneakers she usually wore.
Why had the girl who wore the same sneakers every day changed them?
She must’ve left her place at Jang Dongtak’s without putting them on.
I asked for one reason only.
To tell her not to cling to Jang Dongtak. I didn’t care to know the details of their relationship.
I just didn’t want her touching my frayed nerves when I was racking my brain just to survive.
“Sora. Were you lovers with Dongtak?”
[Player ‘Yoo Sora’ shows embarrassment.]
“N-No!”
Yoo Sora licked her upper lip.
“Then why are you so obsessed?”
“It’s not obsession... He was the one protecting me.”
“The people here are all protecting you too.”
“......”
“Sora. Last warning. The first person you need to protect here is yourself, not others.”
“......”
“Worry if you want, but don’t let it distract you from everyone else.”
“...... Got it.”
Ma Jeongwoo, who’d been walking ahead, turned back and pushed my back.
“Hey, enough. Let’s go. Sora, drop the Dongtak talk too.”
“......”
“We got close to that guy too. Cheonjae’s just pissed because he feels bad about it, so don’t take it personally. Michael! What are you doing, not looking after Sora?”
Michael glanced around nervously before answering.
“Uh, y-yeah! Sora.”
“...... Speak.”
“You gotta shut up at times like this. Shut it, okay?”
Yoo Sora glared at Michael.
Michael scratched his sideburns awkwardly.
* * * * *
When we reached the first floor, it was packed with zombies like a rush-hour subway. It was almost funny how they shoved each other for space.
The vampire took a deep breath, then charged at them.
-Kieeeek!
“Kraaaah!”
Multiple zombies versus one vampire.
The winner was the vampire.
He overwhelmed them completely.
The vampire tore through the zombies like ripping paper.
“Good.”
I arrived at the staircase and uttered the command for this game.
“Create group. Invite: Ma Jeongwoo, Michael, Yoo Sora.”
[Waiting for responses from three players...]
“Everyone hit the accept button in front of you. Michael, the blue one. Okay?”
“Blue button? Okay.”
[Player ‘Ma Jeongwoo’ joins.]
[Player ‘Yoo Sora’ joins.]
[Player ‘Michael Beach’ joins.]
[Kim Cheonjae’s group. 4/5]
A new hologram window appeared.
It showed the members of my group and their statuses.
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「Player Group of Kim Cheonjae」
-Kim Cheonjae: Good (Blue)
-Ma Jeongwoo: Good (Blue)
-Yoo Sora: Good (Blue)
-Michael Beach: Good (Blue)
[Good (Blue): HP 90%+]
[Fair (Green): HP 75%+]
[Poor (Yellow): HP 50% or less]
[Critical (Red): HP 15% or less]
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Michael asked me.
“Cheonjae Kim. What’s this?”
“Group window. Lets you check the status of people you’re traveling with. Even if they’re far away, you know their situation.”
“Ooh! Group window!”
Groups are usually formed after the tutorial, with players you vibe with.
I hadn’t planned to make one this early in the game, especially with Yoo Sora’s uneasy behavior.
But seeing the first floor changed my mind.
An endless feast of zombies.
So what?
‘EXP bonus.’
You get an EXP bonus based on group size.
5% per person, so four members means 25%.
If things go well, I could get Jeongwoo’s job sorted before the second round starts.
Ding! Ding!
A golden light circled over our heads.
Already level 4.
Everything was going smoothly.
Which made me uneasy.
This game was always like that. Whenever things seemed perfect, something bad happened right after.
What was the worst thing that could happen to me now?
Something bad in the tutorial.
“...... Jeongwoo.”
“Yeah?”
“Thinking about it, where’d that musclehead go earlier?”
“Musclehead?”
“Yeah. The PE teacher.”
I’d forgotten until now.
Kim Dusic, who’d been moving with Jang Dongtak, was nowhere in sight.
I asked Yoo Sora.
“Sora.”
Yoo Sora answered absently, slightly off-beat.
“Yeah? Oh, yeah.”
“Kim Dusic. Where’s that guy?”
“Oh.... That guy....”
“Yeah. The huge one.”
Yoo Sora’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly before she glanced around and continued.
“He ran away.”
“What?!”
It was such an absurd answer.
I was dumbfounded.
Ran away?
The strongest-looking one among them ditched a woman and ran?
Unbelievable.
“When?”
“When we first ran into the zombies....”
“He just ran?”
“......Yeah. When Dongtak got bitten by a zombie. He told us to run.... And he bolted right away.”
“Leaving you behind?”
She nodded.
All that bulk, and he was the biggest coward.
Big talker.
I took slow breaths to calm my anger.
“Where’d he run to?”
“Upstairs.”
“Upstairs?”
We didn’t run into him?
“Yeah. I was so scared I was backing away, and he ran up the stairs.”
“...... No idea which floor?”
“No clue....”
If we didn’t cross paths, he must be hiding in some room.
Cowardly bastard.
Thanks to him, I learned one important fact.
Kim Dusic was a traitor.
I called out to Michael.
“Michael, if anyone comes down the stairs, shoot immediately.”
“Stairs?”
“Human or not, shoot right away. No warning.”
“Okay. Shoot on sight.”
* * * * *
Ding!
After clearing all the zombies on the first floor, a golden light circled over everyone’s heads.
Level 5.
The conditions for a normal job change were met.
Reach level 5 and acquire the weapon for the job you want, and you can do your first job change.
Jeongwoo raised his axe overhead and whispered quietly.
“Hero who guards the barren lands. Grant me your power.”
The axe flashed.
Gray dust fell like snow over Jeongwoo’s head, slowly absorbing into his body.
Soon, Ma Jeongwoo shuddered like he’d been electrocuted and dropped to his knees.
Thud.
“Hoo!”
“...... You okay?”
Jeongwoo’s beard and hair grew long. Visually, he was a perfect barbarian warrior.
He stared blankly into space, as if checking his status window.
“Nice.... It worked.”
“Barbarian Warrior?”
“Yeah. Assigned skills are... Steel Skin and... Berserker’s Roar. Whoa! These are total OP for early game?”
“Tanker build. Good thing you won’t die with those skills.”
Ma Jeongwoo borrowed a hair tie from Yoo Sora’s wrist, tied his hair up, and grinned.
Rustle.
Thud.
We checked every room on the first floor, but no ‘Devil’.
What was going on?
We’d confirmed everything from the second floor to the fifth.
The path to the rooftop was blocked too, so nowhere else to go.
Jeongwoo puffed on his cigarette and swung his axe at the exit leading outside.
Whoosh—Bang!
Even though it was just glass, it didn’t shatter, like something was blocking it.
A thin barrier seemed to protect the glass.
Sigh—
Phew.
Ma Jeongwoo tossed his finished cigarette butt on the ground and checked his watch.
“Kim Cheonjae.”
“Yeah.”
“Five minutes left.”
“...... Hoo.”
I closed my eyes and focused.
What had I missed on the way here?
I’d checked every room and drawer. Even cleared all the zombies along the path.
-Kieeeek!
A zombie came in through the entrance.
We couldn’t go out from inside.
But they could come in from outside.
Same as the old ‘Land of Ruin’ system.
“...... Jeongwoo. You said the path to the rooftop was blocked too, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then we’ve checked from first floor to fifth, right?”
“Yeah.”
“...... Michael.”
Michael, aiming his pistol up the stairs, looked at me.
“You called?”
“Open your bag.”
“...... My bag?”
“Yeah. Open it. Let’s see what’s inside.”
Michael tilted his head.
He lowered his gun and took off his bag, handing it to me.
I searched from top to bottom, but nothing.
“...... Thanks, Michael.”
“What’s up?”
“Nothing. But now I know who the culprit is. The one who took the devil.”
“Devil?”
Jeongwoo, who’d been watching, kicked the wall.
Boom!
“No way that bastard has it?”
“...... Probably.”
“Then why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“He probably doesn’t know what it is.”
“Ha....”
Yoo Sora looked baffled as she asked me.
“Ch-Cheonjae. Who’s ‘that bastard’? And what’s this devil you’re looking for?”
Did she know something?
“Sora. Did you happen to see a small vial?”
“Vial?”
“Yeah. Black one, about palm-sized. Like a perfume bottle.”
Yoo Sora clapped her hands.
Clap!
“I saw it! The one with the goat face drawn on it, right?”
“Y-Yeah! That’s it. Black vial with a goat. Where’d you see it?”
“Dusic had it. Said he picked it up somewhere. It fell from his pocket, and I saw him pick it up.”
“When?”
“When we were going from the third floor to the second.”
“That crazy bastard.... Jeongwoo!!”
Jeongwoo, who’d been listening, bolted up the stairs.
I yelled at Michael.
“Michael! Follow Jeongwoo!”
“Jeongwoo, okay!”
Thud thud thud thud!
I urgently told Yoo Sora.
“Sora. Go up to the second floor right now and grab all the shampoo and conditioner from the bathrooms in rooms 1 through 4.”
“A-all of them?”
“Yeah. Then sprinkle it on the stairs from first to second floor. That’ll stop the zombies from coming up.”
“...... By myself?”
I grabbed Yoo Sora’s shoulders.
“Yeah. You can do it, right?”
She didn’t answer right away.
After a moment, her stiff expression softened into a forced smile as she looked at me.
“Of course. Leave it to me.”
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