Chapter 132
Chapter 132
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Deceive, Burn, Plunder
-----------------------------------------------------------------
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Hyoseon Girls' High School sat so close to the mountainside that it might as well have been halfway up the slope. Because of that, undead—which typically lurked in urban areas—rarely ventured up to the school grounds.
That meant it was a prime spot for survivors to hold out. Sure enough, quite a few had gathered at Hyoseon High.
Most of the survivors who had settled there were students from the school itself. They had stayed on after returning early from Lunar New Year break to train rigorously in the gym for the National Youth Sports Festival in March. The disaster had struck right in the middle of their sessions, and they had been holed up in the school ever since.
The girls, along with a handful of PE teachers, had awakened during the chaos at school. They fought off invading zombies and scavenged special weapons and gear from the occasional supply drops that came their way.
Among the awakened students were rare class holders: an Engineer and a Plant Farmer. Thanks to them, the school had transformed into a makeshift fortress. Turrets crafted by the Engineer's skills dotted the perimeter walls, automatically intercepting any approaching zombies. The Plant Farmer's tree roots and vines had woven into the walls, reinforcing them and shielding the school from outside threats.
With the help of these unique classes, Hyoseon High had become half-fortress, half-sanctuary. With ample stockpiled food, the survivors saw no need to venture out. Especially not when the Farmer had turned the sports field into an orchard bursting with fruits, eliminating any reason to leave.
They weren't completely cut off from the world, though. They didn't roam much themselves, but they occasionally took in outsiders who showed up.
A young couple with a child, for instance, or boys from the neighborhood begging for help—they welcomed them all. And so, the original students now coexisted with survivors who had trickled in from all over.
This gave them a steady stream of news from the city below: tales of thugs holed up in the sports center getting wiped out overnight, black cockroaches attacking zombies and humans alike.
Or possessed cultists peddling strange religions. Rumors of monsters infesting some nameless mart.
Of course, the Hyoseon survivors—who rarely set foot outside—dismissed most of it as gossip. The world might have ended, but no one believed in spider-legged human torsos wandering around. All they had ever seen were zombies, so skepticism came naturally.
Even so, by accepting newcomers, they picked up plenty of valuable intel... but they played it safe, ignoring it all to focus on fortifying their own base.
"Ji-seon unnie!"
"Yawn~ Already time for the shift change?"
"Yeah. Everything quiet on your watch, unnie?"
"Yep. Same as yesterday. Boring as hell."
Two high school girls in bloodstained gym uniforms—Lee Soo-kyung and Kim Ji-seon—stood watch with bows at the ready, scanning the surroundings.
They chatted casually, tension nowhere in sight, laughing and joking around. Aside from the second watch shift, not even an ant had stirred. The few visitors were always harmless survivors, so they let their guard down.
"No newcomers today?"
"Nope. Haven't seen a soul since those four guys last week. Not even an ant."
"The four survivors... Oh, you mean those Jinshim strategy team guys?"
"Yeah, them. But those dudes were kinda weird, right?"
"Weird how?"
"They kept spouting all this strange stuff."
"Eh... probably just saw some scary shit out there."
"Maybe... All that talk about headless knights or cockroach swarms. Monsters besides zombies? Kinda funny."
The four members of the Jinshim strategy team—who had seriously considered fleeing Seoul—had made it inside Hyoseon High. They were still reeling from Gu Gyohan exploding into a Dullahan and the brutal clash with Jang Jojun's crew.
Yoon Ji-ho, the bespectacled curse specialist, had lost all will to raid. With the team's brain checked out, their dreams of clearing the game evaporated. They had devolved into ordinary survivors.
"Anyway, it's been way too quiet lately. Feels like something's about to pop—like a field boss or whatever."
"Don't jinx it! You say crap like that, and it actually shows up! Last time one popped nearby, the teachers had a hell of a time taking it down. Spit it out quick—phooey, phooey, phooey!"
"Phooey~ Better?"
"Yeah. Watch your mouth, seriously. Bad vibes stick."
"Ugh, unnie! If words alone summoned doom, we'd all be dead by now."
"Sigh... Whatever. You wouldn't get it. I'm heading down—see you this afternoon."
"Yes, unnie! Get some rest!"
"Yeah... You too."
Soo-kyung, the junior, gave her senior Ji-seon a playful bow before taking her seat as the designated sniper.
Lee Soo-kyung the Ranger and Kim Ji-seon the Marksman rotated rooftop duty. Soo-kyung handled days; Ji-seon took nights. Both had exceptional eyesight and specialized in long-range weapons, making them perfect for surveillance. They were rare classes with clear roles, so the school treated them like gold—top-tier perks and all.
They were still level 15, stuck from holing up without proper leveling. But it didn't faze them. Their job was watching the perimeter, not frontline fighting.
Besides, any aggressive survivors had likely wiped each other out downtown. And zombies wouldn't head their way after devouring the city stragglers. Complacency reigned.
"Hmmm... So boring..."
Soo-kyung sighed at the clear sky, identical to yesterday's. Survivors dropped by occasionally—like those four guys last week—but even that had slowed. Ghosts prowling at night seemed to have thinned the herds.
Physical attacks did nothing to the invisible specters that lured the living to their doom. Downtown echoed with screams every night. Hyoseon stayed ghost-free for some reason, but the city bled survivors daily.
Having never left the school since the fall, curious Soo-kyung could only imagine the horrors in the apartment-choked streets below. She daydreamed of joining a scouting party to check it out. But her role pinned her to sentry duty. All she could do was hope something happened.
"Huh...?"
Lounging in her chair, fantasizing about raiding marts and stores in the empty streets of the ruined world, Soo-kyung spotted three figures climbing up from below.
"Whoa! Survivors!"
She yanked the rope tied to her chair. It rang the emergency bell downstairs. A welcome distraction from the tedium—she pulled hard. The tinkling bell drew the on-duty PE teacher up to the roof.
"Zombies? Or survivors?"
"Uh, people coming up from way down there. Survivors."
"Lemme see... Three of 'em? Can't make out faces. Guys or girls?"
PE teacher Yu Hye-ji squinted at the distant climbers. Her eyesight wasn't as sharp as Soo-kyung's.
"Hang on... All women. One's got short hair, piercings, dual swords... And what's that?"
"What?"
"That pink-haired girl's weapon... It's a hammer, but it's as big as a person."
"No way... She fights with that?"
"Whoa... And the last one's a super tall blonde foreigner."
"A foreigner too?"
"Yeah, white lady. Carrying a red scythe."
"Women strolling with weapons like that. Players, all three. Got it. Keep watching. I'll handle the rest."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Yu Hye-ji headed back down. Soo-kyung scanned for any hidden companions trailing the trio.
Non-awakened got vetted and welcomed. Players? Different story. You never knew their intentions, so caution was key.
"Halt right there!!!"
Yu Hye-ji and the school's players shouted from atop the plant-reinforced walls.
The three women—approaching with blank expressions—stopped and looked up, the dual-sword wielder drawing her blades.
"You three! Players, right?!"
The short-haired woman stepped forward at Yu Hye-ji's call, yelling back.
"Yes! We're awakened! Our camp got torched last night by skeletons and ghosts... We barely escaped! Please, help us!!"
Her voice dripped desperation, her face a mask of terror on the verge of tears. It looked utterly convincing.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇