Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Third Floor Surprise
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The staircase connecting the second floor to the third.
Fast footsteps echoed from there.
Da-da-da-da-da-!
“Kim Cheonjae! Kim Cheonjae!!”
It was Ma Jeongwoo.
A red emergency axe gripped in his hand. He’d run here so frantically he was barefoot.
“Hey, Nick Jin. Or Jeongwoo.”
“Haa… haa… What the hell happened to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Some woman suddenly came running in saying everyone was dying. Was it a prank?”
“…Yeah, pretty much.”
His bewildered expression lasted only a moment.
Panting, Jeongwoo scanned the surroundings.
Zombie corpses lay scattered everywhere, green liquid pooling across the hallway floor.
“Kim Cheonjae, this is what I think it is, right?”
“…Status window?”
I’d done it, Yoo Sora had done it earlier when she bolted ahead. Now this guy too—same reaction.
Jeongwoo swiped at the empty air.
“Yeah. You see it too?”
“Yeah.”
“What the hell is going on? This a dream or something?”
He pinched his own cheek. Then realized it wasn’t a dream.
I’d already endured agony beyond imagination on the way here—no need for that nonsense.
I’d felt a knife plunged into my heart. Pinching a cheek wouldn’t wake me from any dream.
“You think pinching your cheek’s gonna wake you up? Go kick yourself in the balls instead.”
“You nuts?! That’d put you back to sleep, not wake you.”
I chuckled.
Weird to laugh in a situation like this. Then again, things were always a blast with Jeongwoo—even back in the army.
Jeongwoo pulled a cigarette pack from his pocket. No need to step outside; we lit up right there in the hallway.
Sizzle. Szzz.
Inhale. Exhale-.
I waved away the white cigarette smoke with my hand and continued.
“You showing up as unemployed?”
“Yeah. You too, right?”
“No. Does your status window say ‘unemployed’?”
Jeongwoo’s gaze drifted into empty space.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, that’s it…”
“…This isn’t a dream?”
“Who knows. Beats me.”
I patted his shoulder, took a deep drag, and started walking toward the opposite end of the hallway.
I had something to show him.
“Why there?”
“To show you.”
“Show what? Hey, don’t go! Zombies crawling everywhere out there. Saw ‘em from the window before heading down.”
“Ah, whatever. Just follow.”
I flashed a cheeky grin. Jeongwoo tilted his head suspiciously but trailed after me.
He clapped his hands when he spotted the stairs leading down to the first floor.
Two zombies under my control were barricading the entrance with broken furniture.
“Whoa! Those zombies… no way?”
“Yep.”
“How’d you do it?”
“How d’you think?”
I casually lifted my training shirt to reveal my wounded chest. He nodded at the bloodstains soaked around my heart.
“No way… you did that?”
“Yeah.”
“What if you’d died for real? What if it wasn’t a dream?”
“Better to off myself than get ripped apart by zombies.”
“…Fair point.”
We smoked while eyeing the two zombies blocking the entrance.
Inhale.
Exhale-.
Jeongwoo finished his first, eyes squeezed shut as he asked me.
“That bonehead’s your skeleton soldier, right?”
“Yeah.”
“…Hoo. So what now?”
“What?”
“Everything.”
I shrugged.
“…No clue. Gotta assess the situation first. Your phone working?”
“Yeah. But nobody’s picking up.”
I pulled out my phone and dialed Jeongwoo. If it was right next to him, we’d know if there was a problem or not.
Rrring- rrring- rrring-.
Only my phone rang with the signal.
Jeongwoo’s didn’t respond at all.
He checked the number on my screen and clicked his tongue.
“How’s that even possible? If the carrier’s down, there shouldn’t be a signal in the first place, right?”
“…It’s just like that thing.”
“Huh?”
“You gonna explain or what?”
I tapped my heart with a finger.
The first round of Land of Ruin: Last Game.
The tutorial game.
Jeongwoo let out an ‘Ah!’ of realization.
“Right… yeah. Come to think of it, the starting point in Land of Ruin is your house.”
“Ma Jeongwoo.”
“Yeah?”
“If this is Land of Ruin, then that bastard’s definitely in here.”
“…That demon prick?”
I nodded slowly.
“That’s right.”
“Well… yeah, probably. If this is Land of Ruin.”
* * * * *
Jeongwoo and I began searching from the second floor. A few rooms were already checked, so it wouldn’t take long.
Ding-dong.
“Anyone home?”
No response.
Ding-dong.
“Answer if you’re there. Otherwise, I’m forcing my way in.”
Still no response.
I pressed my nose to the door handle and sniffed.
A thick sausage stench wafted out.
‘Figured.’
Jeongwoo swung his axe hard at the door.
Whoosh-!
Crack!
Not even a scratch.
That confirmed it for me. This place’s owner wasn’t a player—it was the system.
“Ma Jeongwoo, step back.”
“Huh? Oh.”
Beep. Beep-beep. Beep. Beep.
Ding. Drrrrr-.
The door lock on 204 clicked open. No code, no entry.
[‘Anime Otaku’s Room’]
“…Let’s go in.”
The moment we stepped inside, the anime otaku’s junk was piled everywhere.
Half-eaten potato chips, figurines of protagonists from god-knows-what Japanese comics.
And his collection of bizarre crap.
Combat gear worn by characters from manga scattered all over.
I stepped back into the hall and yelled to Ma Jeongwoo on the opposite side.
“Jeongwoo, check this out.”
Ma Jeongwoo turned and eyed the chainmail.
“Armor? What’s this?”
“They say this room’s an exact replica of one of the operators’. Armor some anime character wore.”
“How’d you know this was that kind of room?”
“You think I’m a high-level player for nothing? I can tell at a glance.”
Ma Jeongwoo scratched his forehead with an awkward grin.
“I was a high-level player too.”
“I’m in a different league.”
“Aigoo… is that so? Must be nice being a supreme high-level player.”
Jeongwoo beamed.
He pulled the chainmail off the mannequin and slipped it on. It was so heavy his shoulders sagged.
“Ooh… not bad? This real metal? Feels solid.”
“Yeah. What’s the defense rating?”
“Defense 3. Movement speed -1.”
“Sweet. That’ll shrug off any zombie hits.”
“Total game-changer… How’d you even think to grab this?”
“Not like I hit number one for nothing.”
The chainmail was the only worthwhile find, but it was plenty.
Snagging a defense 3 piece of gear this early meant no dying to zombies.
Geared up, we hurried out of the room.
To breeze through the tutorial, we needed to find the demon ASAP.
Four rooms per floor. Clearing the second floor didn’t take long.
My place and Yoo Sora’s were already open. Just two left.
“Let’s head up.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, wait—where’s that Sora lady who came to get you earlier?”
Ma Jeongwoo rolled his eyes, thinking.
“No idea. You said it was urgent, so I just bolted.”
“You left her there?”
“Yeah.”
“Eh… whatever.”
After finishing the second floor, I checked the stairs to the first one last.
Just in case zombies had forced their way through from outside.
I let out a sigh of relief. Not even a twitch.
Makes sense for a tutorial—no zombies strong enough to shove furniture aside.
“Skeleton, join up here.”
-Kieak!
“Cheonjae, let’s go.”
“…Yeah.”
Jeongwoo took point with a stiff expression. Probably felt safer in the chainmail.
The third floor hit us with something unexpected.
Every door stood wide open.
And one person lay collapsed in the hallway.
We rushed over. It was the building owner, Park Dongpal.
His white hair was soaked in blood.
-Haa… haa…
Shallow breaths leaked from his mouth.
Jeongwoo gripped his hand axe, scanning front and back for threats.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
I patted Park Dongpal’s shoulder.
After shaking him a while, the building owner’s eyes fluttered weakly open.
Hadn’t noticed before, but his left eye was massively swollen now.
Someone had definitely clocked him.
“Uh… Cheonjae… that you…?”
“Uncle, what happened?”
“It’s….”
“Yeah?”
“Second floor… Yoo Sora… that bitch… she….”
Yoo Sora?
The neighbor girl I’d sent up to the third floor to fetch Jeongwoo.
Attacked by a person, not a zombie?
But why would Sora go after this old guy? His looks might pass for zombie-ish, but still….
“Why’d she do that?”
“That bitch… my head… with a hammer….”
“Sora hit you in the head with a hammer?”
“…….”
I got the gist without hearing more. But no clue why Sora would bash the old man.
What the hell in this situation?
‘…Something’s off.’
I carried the uncle into the nearest open room and laid him on the bed.
Rustle-.
Drew the curtains.
Click.
Flipped on the light.
“Sora hit you with a hammer, right?”
“Yeah….”
“Why?”
For a split second, a sleazy smirk crossed the uncle’s lips. Then he squeezed his eyes shut, hardening his expression.
“……”
No answer from the uncle. Just kept his eyes shut.
“Uncle?”
“Ah… sorry. Hurts so bad my mind blanked out for a sec….”
“Why’d Sora hit you?”
“No idea. Heard some weird noise in the hall, went to check, and damn if that bitch wasn’t swinging at my head!”
So Yoo Sora just randomly hammered the landlord? Out of nowhere?
Total bullshit.
I shook my head and told the building owner.
“Got it. Rest up for now.”
I stepped out and called to Jeongwoo guarding the entrance.
“Jeongwoo, I’ll grab some meds.”
“Yeah. Where though?”
“Eh, poke around the other rooms, something’ll turn up. Looks like the old guy’s head’s just lightly split—disinfectant should do it.”
“…Alright.”
* * * * *
One spot on this floor likely stocked with emergency meds.
303.
A nurse’s place—bound to have all kinds of drugs.
I yelled toward the open door.
“Anyone home?”
No reply.
Everything empty today.
I slipped inside quietly. Total wreck: no bed, blankets strewn on the floor, syringes tossed everywhere.
“…….”
I held my breath.
Presence from inside.
“Anyone there?”
Same as outside—no answer. But definitely human breathing and rustling from within.
Step. Step.
I crept forward cautiously.
“…….”
Two pairs of shoes?
At the room’s entryway: women’s sneakers next to men’s dress shoes.
303 was home to a male nurse from the university hospital.
What the hell?
And those sneakers.
Couldn’t recall perfectly, but I’d seen them before.
Shoes on a woman I knew….
Only one possibility.
The neighbor, Yoo Sora.
I knew exactly two women: my mom and Sora.
Putting it together, I strode boldly into the room.
Step! Step! Step! Step!
Made sure my footsteps echoed loud.
“……Come out.”
Silence.
“Come on out. It’s me, Kim Cheonjae.”
Creeeak.
The wardrobe door inside cracked open slightly.
There you are.
Why no answer?
I yanked the wardrobe door wide, irritation flaring.
-Kieeeek!
Two zombies burst out from inside.