The Infected
Ara kicked the bat that Enly had dropped when she fell, sending it flying into her hand with a light tap of her foot. She then smashed the head of the zombie lunging at her. With a clear, ringing clang, the zombie’s skull shattered and its body collapsed.
“Rest for a moment. I’ll handle the rest.”
Ara’s movements as she faced the swarm of zombies were nothing short of miraculous. She never overextended. She simply shifted her feet lightly. At least, that was how it looked to Enly. Yet the results of those steps defied all common sense. Even though several zombies charged her at once, not a single one could lay a finger on her. The zombies swung at empty air as if bewitched by her movements, tripped over their own feet, and even attacked their own allies. The very enemies that had threatened Enly with death countless times were now being toyed with by a single person.
“As expected of Hwaryeong. She’s a god!”
Thanks to Ara’s overwhelming display, Enly felt a wave of relief wash over her. All the hardships and near-death experiences she had endured until now could finally be left behind. Now that she was with Ara, all she had to do was focus on looting! She would show everyone the skills she had honed through endless practice and preparation in Dawn Escape!
Enly, who had only ever been teased while playing, was eagerly looking forward to finally showing the viewers her true abilities when Ara suddenly sprinted toward her from where she had been dealing with the zombies.
What? What’s going on?
Ara gripped the bat with both hands and swung it straight at Enly.
“Kyaaah?!”
Enly shrieked and covered her head, curling into a ball, but the impact never came. When nothing happened, she cautiously opened her eyes and saw the zombie that had been sneaking up behind her lying on the ground with its head caved in.
“It’s good that you feel safe with me, but you should still stay alert. If I hadn’t noticed, you would be dead.”
“...Yes! I’ll be more careful!”
Ara said this and then dashed off again to deal with more zombies. Watching her retreating figure, Enly clutched her trembling legs and let out a long sigh.
“Just now, Hwaryeong was scarier than the zombies.”
“Don’t badmouth Hwaryeong!”
No matter how scary Ara was, she wouldn’t do something like that! Enly shouted this while secretly feeling a twinge of anxiety. Even if Ara tried to save her before she turned, once she became a zombie, Ara would probably smash her head without a moment’s hesitation. Or maybe she would just say, “It’s just a game anyway,” and kill her with a casual “Die and come back to life.” That couldn’t happen. She had finally met Ara. If they parted ways again, she would have to go through that hellish struggle alone once more. She didn’t want to be left alone. She didn’t want to become an outcast in this zombie world again!
The moment Ara returned, looking as pristine as ever despite having fought dozens of zombies, Seol-ah grabbed onto Ara’s pant leg.
“Hwaryeong! Please don’t abandon me!”
Ara frowned and let out a sigh.
“First, explain what happened.”
*
After clearing out the zombies and returning, Ara had barely taken a step before Seol-ah suddenly grabbed her pants. What now? So she got injured on the way here.
“The car suddenly stalled, and then a zombie jumped out and smashed the window…!”
Enly’s story, filled with tears and frantic gestures, carried all her frustration and resentment. Ara roughly understood the situation.
“Is being bitten really that big of a deal?”
She might have gotten scratched, but was that really a problem? If the injury had been life-threatening, she would still be bleeding, but she wasn’t. Ah, right. Since it was a bite from the undead, there could be hygiene issues. Maybe it was time to use the emergency medicine the viewers had told her to bring from the mart.
“Um, Hwaryeong.”
“What is it?”
“You don’t know about zombies?”
Zombies? She wasn’t unfamiliar with them. The jiangshi she had fought endlessly in Murim were basically the same thing. In the end, if the dead rose and moved, they were all zombies of a sort.
“If you get bitten by a zombie, you turn into one.”
Is that so? She searched her memories, but that hadn’t been the case. The jiangshi in her world didn’t bite people. They were mindless, but they were created from the corpses of martial artists.
Ara tilted her head, and someone else spoke up.
Right. This wasn’t the world she knew. She couldn’t judge it by her own common sense.
“Enly. Does that mean you’ll turn into a zombie soon?”
“Huh? Y-Yes, that’s right.”
Rather than facing such a horrific death, it would be better to end it with her own hands beforehand. Thinking this, Ara looked into Enly’s eyes. Sensing something, Enly panicked and waved her hands wildly.
“Treatment! There’s a way to treat it! I can still live!”
“Is that so?”
She should have said that first. Why did she have to make Ara consider threatening her life? If Ara hadn’t been thinking about how to send her off painlessly, Enly would already be dead. When Ara lowered the bat, Enly finally let out a sigh of relief.
“You were really going to kill me just now, weren’t you?!”
“You’ll come back to life even if you die anyway. Better to go cleanly than die ugly.”
“That’s too much! Even if it’s ugly, it’s better to grit your teeth and endure!”
Whether she was upset that Ara had tried to kill her or not, Enly kept grumbling beside her. She said she had suspected it but never thought Ara would actually do it. She had trusted Ara, but Ara hadn’t trusted her. Ara figured if she left her alone, Enly would keep complaining all day, so she smashed the head of a nearby zombie and asked,
“So, how do you perform this treatment?”
“There’s a zombie carrying a cure. We have to kill that one.”
Apparently, there was a zombie carrying a yellow bag that stood out, and defeating it had a chance of dropping the medicine.
“I’ve killed quite a few so far, but I haven’t seen one with a yellow bag. Is that one rare?”
“Yes, probably.”
“And when you defeat it, what are the chances of getting the medicine?”
“About fifty-fifty?”
That was an ominous number. Probability could feel like an ally one moment and a nightmare the next. If both encountering the zombie and obtaining the cure depended on chance, things could get complicated.
“How long do you think you have before you turn?”
“Uh, I don’t know. A day or two should be fine.”
Hmm. It wasn’t that urgent. She could take her time searching.
*
“Was this game always this comfortable?”
Ever since teaming up with Ara, Enly had been experiencing what peace felt like. Before meeting her, every action had been filled with terror. What if a zombie appeared? What if she got ambushed and bitten to death? With all those worries, even walking had been nerve-wracking, and whenever she encountered a zombie, she would scream and attract more. But with Ara by her side, there was no need for such fears.
“There are no more undead in this house. You can relax.”
Ambush? Ara already knew where everything was and warned Enly in advance, so there was nothing to worry about. Fighting zombies? Ara took the lead and smashed every head, so all Enly had to do was loot from behind. Driving? …Not driving. When Enly heard Ara confidently say she could drive, she had climbed into the passenger seat. Less than a minute later, she had forcibly switched seats. Ara looked sulky, but there was no helping it. Riding in a car with her driving would leave even ten lives insufficient!
Ara was definitely skilled at driving. With her excellent dynamic vision and quick reflexes, it was only natural. The problem was that her idea of “good driving” wasn’t like a professional chauffeur—it was like a movie protagonist. Flooring the accelerator and yanking the wheel without mercy! At that level, the shaking inside the car alone could cook fried rice. Even in VR, Enly had felt nauseous and volunteered to drive to save her own life. The viewers were disappointed, but it couldn’t be helped. She would rather quit the game from motion sickness than turn into a zombie first.
“So now we’ll operate from this place as our base.”
“Yes. We’ll have to think about it when the zombie night comes, though.”
“Zombie night?”
“There are days when zombies swarm like crazy.”
If players were left alone without events, those with sufficient skill would eventually build peaceful havens in this hell. The tension would disappear. Zombie night was a gimmick to prevent that. Every few nights, zombies would rush toward the players’ locations in an attempt to kill them. The longer the days passed, the more threatening these nights became, forcing players to make a decision. Either find a way to escape this place or resign themselves to being trampled under the zombies’ feet. The former had such absurd conditions that it was practically an impossible Easter egg. Most players ended up with the latter outcome. That was what the developers intended, after all.
Enly explained zombie night to Ara but didn’t mention the latter part. She would try her best to escape, but it was practically impossible. Knowing and enduring was different from not knowing and enduring. Enly wanted to see Ara grit her teeth and fight the zombies. If it was her, she would definitely create a scene straight out of a movie.
“Alright, let’s eat and get some sleep for today.”
“Food?”
“Yes! I’ll cook for you!”
When Enly spoke with confidence, Ara’s eyes narrowed sharply.
What?! Why are you looking at me like that?! I’m a good cook!