The Law of Equivalent Exchange
"Equivalent exchange comes first with greetings. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Jeong Seok."
"I'm Eleanor! Please call me Noah."
A bespectacled man who looked intellectual. A demure young lady who seemed like the daughter of a florist. And a tall man in military uniform.
"My name is Choi Chang-young. …Do you happen to remember me?"
"Of course I remember. You were the Necromancer, weren't you?"
"How novel your reactions are." I remarked while glancing at the viewer chat. I had assumed my excellent memory was already common knowledge. After all, I had proven it during my very first broadcast. We had indeed met in a ranked Gate Attack Mode match back then. Even at the time, I had recognized they were VTubers from their usernames, though I never imagined they belonged to Serenade KR. The world truly is small.
"Huh~? You're acquainted with Chang-young?"
It seemed Inagika was already familiar with all the Serenade KR VTubers. I would later learn that despite her usual air of having a few screws loose, Inagika was surprisingly active with external collaborations. While she didn't interact much with overseas VTubers, she apparently had quite a few connections with domestic ones.
"We're not exactly acquainted. We simply crossed paths in a ranked match a long time ago."
"I see~. So what are you all doing here?"
Inagika casually stepped in front of me. It appeared she intended to mediate between me and the Serenade KR VTubers. Though she usually seemed to be missing about five screws, Inagika surprisingly knew how to act the part of a senior.
"Hm? Are you guys heading to the bank too?"
Inagika, who had been speaking on my behalf, widened her eyes slightly. To summarize the situation: the Serenade KR VTubers had also received an advertisement from Dead Rouse, just like us. Apparently, streamers from several countries besides Korea had received the same ad. So if one could cross the ocean, it would even be possible to meet Japanese VTubers who had received the ad in this world—though crossing the sea itself would be an incredibly grueling task. In any case, the four Serenade KR VTubers who had taken on the advertisement were also engaged in survival activities, and like us, they had come to the bank because they needed money, leading to this encounter.
However, their ultimate goal differed slightly from ours. While we planned to earn enough for shelter admission fees—the place where we could safely log out—the Serenade KR members had already been preparing a safe house.
"Spending money on a shelter is such a waste. It's way better to just build a safe house."
Masina said this.
"Oh my, is that possible, Sina?"
"…Don't come any closer. Talk from over there."
"That's too much."
Somehow, I had earned her dislike. Viewers had once compiled statistics showing that I had interfered with Sina's promotion matches five times. Was it because of that?
"If you explore around, you can encounter NPCs. Among them are some you can trade with. The shelter facility manager is one such NPC, and they all demand cash."
Eleanor explained. It was a curious concept. In a world where everyone had become zombies, money should be the most useless item imaginable. Perhaps in this world, money functioned as a form of farming element. Just as one might enter a mine to dig for ore or venture into a forest to gather herbs in a sandbox game, it seemed one had to enter a bank in this world to "mine" cash.
"So through trading, you can purchase weapons and such, or reinforce your base. I suspect raising the tech tree will also require money."
"I see. Then have you already visited the bank, Sina?"
"…Why are you asking me?"
"Because we're close, aren't we, Sina?"
"We're not close at all!"
She threatened me with an "Ugh!" but fundamentally, she was far too short. Standing beside the towering Inagika, she posed no threat whatsoever.
"We attempted to visit the bank, but there is a high-ranking entity inside that has been giving us trouble."
Choi Chang-young spoke. According to his explanation, the zombies in this game were classified by "infection stage." Infection Stage 2 was stronger than Stage 1. That was the general idea. All the zombies we had encountered on the streets so far were Infection Stage 1—slow-moving, mindless, ordinary zombies. From Stage 2 onward, their movement speed increased, though the difference from Stage 1 was not yet dramatic. Starting from Stage 3, they supposedly possessed "special traits"—elongated arms, the ability to scale walls, and so on.
"The one currently occupying the bank is Infection Stage 5. In RPG terms, it would be an elite or boss-level entity."
It was an entity whose two legs were rooted to the ground, rendering it immobile. Instead, it controlled all the zombies inside the bank and fired acidic liquid from a distance. That was why approaching the bank was so difficult—they couldn't even get inside.
"Which floor is it on?"
"The top floor."
"That's why we can't enter the bank…."
"We do have one homemade bomb, but the elevator is broken, so even getting up there seems difficult."
"In that case, would you give that bomb to me?"
"Pardon?"
"The bomb…?"
I extended my hand toward the Serenade KR VTubers. At first, they wore puzzled expressions, but with the superb negotiation skills and charisma befitting a ducal daughter, I skillfully persuaded them.
After receiving the bomb and a walkie-talkie, I immediately scaled the exterior wall of the building.
"Wait, what the…"
Choi Chang-young's bewildered voice rose from below, but I had already reached the top floor. I opened a window, slipped inside, and hurled the bomb. To brace against the blast, I gripped the windowsill tightly so I wouldn't fall.
—KABOOOOOM!!
A deafening roar erupted, sending shockwaves even to me clinging to the outside of the building. Carefully avoiding a fall, I climbed through the window. Then I drove my knife into the neck of a half-mashed zombie.
—Thwack
"This is Aurora. I've taken it down, so start clearing from the lower floors and work your way up."
[Uh…, Ah, understood….]
Choi Chang-young's voice over the walkie-talkie trembled.
***
"Waaah…."
Eleanor, the Serenade KR VTuber, gazed at Aurora in admiration. She's so cool…. Perhaps because her own academic background was lacking, Noah found people more capable than herself impressive.
"Ugh…, that monstrous woman."
Masina was flinching beside her, though. She seemed to be suffering from promotion match PTSD.
"Since she says it's cleared, let's head up too."
Jeong Seok adjusted his glasses and spoke. Among the four Serenade KR members, Jeong Seok served as the team leader. It was because, true to his appearance, he was the most calculating and intellectual among them.
Following Jeong Seok's instructions, Noah and the other Serenade KR VTubers (+ Inagika) entered the bank building. Each of the Serenade KR VTubers carried a gun. Coincidentally, their starting point had been near a military base. They had encountered several zombified soldiers, defeated them, and farmed guns and ammunition.
—Bang!
The moment the trigger was pulled, the smell of gunpowder spread. Unfortunately, ammunition was scarce. To conserve bullets, they had set the selector to semi-automatic. Even so, taking down Infection Stage 1 zombies posed no difficulty. A single headshot was enough to drop them. Perhaps because it was still early in the game, only weak zombies appeared for now.
'But I heard the game gets progressively harder….'
It was supposedly a game where the world level rose over time. Later on, things might not proceed so easily. That thought made Noah start to worry already. In that case, perhaps she should try to get closer to Lora now. After all, Lora might help again.
"Have you arrived?"
When the Serenade KR VTubers finally reached the top floor, Lora was lounging in a chair, waiting leisurely. Beneath her feet lay the corpses of zombies. It seemed she had cleared them all with nothing but a single survival knife.
…Insane.
"Inagika, I'll leave the rest to you, alright?"
"Yeah! I can do it, Mom!"
"Um…, would it be all right if we used the computer system as well?"
Choi Chang-young asked Lora cautiously. Lora smiled brightly in response.
"Yes, feel free."
"Thank you!"
Choi Chang-young bowed his head. Afterward, the "Great Ducal House" and "Serenade KR" connected to the bank's computer system and obtained deposit and withdrawal privileges. This allowed them to withdraw money from ATMs. Of course, there were dozens of banks in Korea, and the game featured around ten different types of ATM machines. However, it wasn't possible to withdraw from every ATM nationwide. To access a different type of ATM, one would need to visit that bank's headquarters again, connect to the system, and obtain new privileges—just like this time. Still, having even one type of ATM they could use was no small achievement. For the time being, they wouldn't have to worry about money. That alone was a significant gain.
"There's even an armored cash transport vehicle."
After investigating the bank building a bit more, Lora discovered the armored vehicle. A large amount of cash was also stored inside the bank headquarters. Since things had come to this, they decided to load as much as the transport vehicle could carry and move it. The Serenade KR VTubers drove the armored vehicle, while Lora and Inagika drove a smaller car to clear the path ahead.
"We received an enormous amount of help from EYEAI."
Jeong Seok muttered somewhat sheepishly as he drove. The two vehicles safely exited the area and arrived at the safe house that served as Serenade KR's base. A tall wall surrounded it, topped with sharp iron spikes. Electricity seemed to run through them as well. The windows were the same—covered with bars through which current flowed, and upon closer inspection, the glass itself was a special shatter-resistant material. CCTV cameras were installed around the house, constantly scanning the surroundings. Since an AI monitored everything in real time, there were no gaps in security.
"This place looks quite secure."
"It is, isn't it? We went through quite a bit of trouble replacing the windows with sturdy ones."
At Lora's words, Noah unconsciously replied.
"We're also planning to install interception devices here."
"Oh my, interception devices? How do you operate them?"
"It seems the AI handles everything."
"That's nice. Then it means things will become even safer thanks to me, right?"
"That's right! So thank you so much for helping us today!"
"Not at all."
Lora smiled kindly at Noah's words.
"I didn't help you for free, after all. So there's no need to thank me so much."
……What?
Swish.
For some reason, Lora drew her survival knife.
"Members of Serenade KR, it would be fair to say that you obtained those deposit and withdrawal privileges entirely thanks to me, wouldn't it?"
"Uh…, W-well, yes…?"
"But there's a saying, isn't there? That to obtain something, an equivalent sacrifice is required—the law of equivalent exchange. So shouldn't you all show some sincerity as well?"
Steel or iron blood…? Was she referring to the alchemist? As if to answer on behalf of the flustered Noah, Jeong Seok approached Lora.
"…Well, thank you for your help today. If it's compensation you want, we'll provide it. What is it that you desire?"
"This house."
"Pardon?"
"I feel like receiving this house as a gift."
Lora said.