Solo Play

I'd just stepped out of the villa and was picking my way forward again, careful as ever, when I found them—zombie corpses, strewn across the ground.

Our benefactor? The one who threw those beer bottles—did they clean this up?

If you wanted to pass in one piece, clearing the dead as you moved was the sensible thing. It tracked.

As expected of our savior! I knew I could count on you!

Thanks to that, the two of us covered ground without much trouble. My lower back was just starting to ache from staying hunched so low when—

Hongje Station!

There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was, every light blazing.

I'd been staring at a city sunk in darkness for so long that the sudden brightness felt wrong more than it felt like safety.

Looks like a fair number of people have already gotten out.

Zombie corpses were heaped around Hongje Station. Clearing that with only the two of us would have been seriously dangerous.

The entrance was lit. Zombies were sensitive to light. So of course—runners were always waiting at the exits. I'd been planning to sweep them once more people arrived and we could do it together. Someone had already done the work. Lucky.

"Let's head in."

"Yes."

To escape, we had to get down to the turnstiles.

Nothing down here either. No zombies. No people.

The echo-sonar bike helmet made scouting easy. Awake or asleep, I could pick a zombie up by sound from a good distance away.

"Junsung, if you stand inside the turnstile for thirty seconds, you should be able to get out."

"Yes. Wait—you're not coming, Jaeha?"

"I've still got a few things to take care of."

Truthfully, I'd considered escaping with him. But since I'd ended up in here anyway, I wanted to prove that the thing I'd only ever imagined was actually possible. Not that I had any intention of coming back a second time.

"Junsung, you're not planning to enter the Tower again, right?"

"No, no, no. Of course not. I think I took all of this far too lightly."

That was a relief. If he'd said he meant to come back, I would have had to talk him out of it somehow.

"Sell whatever you picked up in here to the hunters. They'll pay decently. Cheap, considering you bet your life on it, but still."

"Haha. Even so, I came out ahead thanks to you, Jaeha."

Lee Junsung flapped the hem of his jacket.

"Go on in, then."

"Right! Thank you, truly. If we ever run into each other outside, dinner's on me—and I mean a big one!"

He lived in the neighborhood too. We'd cross paths someday.

"Sure."

I waved and turned away. At first all I'd wanted was to dump him at the exit at the earliest possible second and bolt, but now that we were actually parting, it felt strangely hollow—relieved and sorry at once.

Yeah. This is more my speed.

Solo play suited me.

Entry to the first floor was solo by force. Once you were inside, though, hunters were free to band together. Party play had one drawback: skill levels climbed more slowly than they did alone.

Someone would say you couldn't even compare that to safety. I saw it a little differently.

How am I supposed to trust someone I just met?

I'd never actually heard of a hunter who stabbed you in the back out in the open. But you never knew. There had been that person who threw beer bottles at us. Or maybe I'd simply never heard the stories, because the victims had been wiped out to the last and never got the chance to tell them.

Okay. That one went too far.

Zombies were already overflowing. Why would people need to fight each other on top of that?

Beside the Hongje Station exit sat a pharmacy, and beside the pharmacy, a police station. The station would have Stage 2 zombies, though, so I passed on it.

Pharmacy first?

No hesitation. I went straight in.

Crunch. Crackle. Someone had already been through—the glass door was shattered. It was a pharmacy I used to visit all the time, and seeing it after the apocalypse left the place feeling strange.

I scooped up the pain patches, painkillers, and ointment scattered around the floor.

The subspace backpack. Ridiculously convenient, isn't it?

I didn't have to open it and pack things one by one. Pick something up, and it stored itself however I willed. Taking things out worked the same way.

Treatment first.

The throbbing from the bruises still hadn't settled. Using the subspace backpack, I stripped in a hurry and stuck a pain patch on.

Don't think I need the painkillers.

I grabbed bandages last of all and left the pharmacy.

I followed the road straight up, passing restaurants sealed behind their shutters, until one place made me slow.

Maybe I should farm this.

A café that was always packed. Something about a moon-and-stars aesthetic, if I was remembering right. I'd never been inside, so I couldn't say.

I eased the front door open and slipped in.

"Grrrrk."

"Kurk."

"Kruuu."

Three sleeping zombies. Honestly, I was still a little scared. But I had an E-rank hand axe now, so it ought to be fine.

I moved in behind the two that were clustered together. The third was off on its own, which meant if I dropped one first I could keep the rest of it one-on-one.

A light breath in. Then I smashed the back of a skull.

Crack!!

The hand axe bit down as easily as if I'd split a watermelon.

"Kwok?!"

"Krek?!"

The noise woke the other two. I front-kicked the nearer one, then brought the axe down on the one that had fallen. The fingers in the blade's path sheared away with the rest of it.

"Kweeeek!"

The last one came shambling in late. I knocked its arm aside and finished it where it stood.

"Hup. Hoo. Huh."

Even that short fight had heat climbing into my face.

Three of them is easy now.

Gear really was doing the heavy lifting. With a wooden bat, I would have had to fight like my life depended on it.

Time to farm. I hurried through every corner.

Café farming isn't half bad.

Brew coffee from the beans and drink it, and for a set time you got a boost to strength and stamina. It even cleared fatigue—better than water or soda. That was why hunters paid a premium for the stuff. Bring coffee in when you entered the Tower, and you could dope ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠yourself between fights.

Run it through this espresso machine and the effect got even better. To carry coffee in, you'd also need a tumbler obtained inside the Tower. Sell them as a set and they'd fetch more still. The LP player and the records went for a surprisingly decent price too. Collectors' pieces? Decoration?

Next stop was across the street, where the clothing shops lined the block. Get lucky, and I might farm some usable armor.

"Grrrrk."

"Kruuu."

"Krek."

Even at a glance, more than ten zombies were asleep between me and the other side. I bent low at the waist, held my breath, and moved with care.

Whew. Thank god for Quiet Footsteps.

I made it across without waking a single one.

Damn it. Two of them are sealed shut.

Unfortunately, only one clothing shop was open.

Creeeak—

Afraid of waking the zombies along the road, I slipped inside as quietly as I could.

Well, this is a letdown.

Nothing like the scene I was used to. The shop was bare, with more mannequins than clothes, and what clothes remained weren't the thick kind you could pass off as armor. Cardigans. T-shirts. Thin stuff.

What I did manage to salvage was this.

Well. Better than nothing.

Hands and neck were the spots that took the most hits. Short of what I'd hoped for, sure, but they were still solid pieces of armor.

Before stepping back outside, I checked the road through the floor-to-ceiling glass.

Hmm.

And then a mannequin caught my eye. Maybe... this could actually be useful?

I put the mannequin in the backpack too, and grabbed a few outfits that would never pass as armor. Past the shops with their shutters down, I stepped into a stationery store. A place like that had to have something worth taking.

Hm. What's this?

Nothing but junk like that.

The flashlight's decent, though.

Not that I'd have many chances to use it. Light woke the zombies.

Batteries aren't bad either.

Batteries from the Tower ran three times as efficiently as ones from outside. You could sell them not only to hunters, but on the open market.

Play this right, and it might actually work.

The plan I'd set at the start. The longer I farmed, the more usable ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pieces clicked into place.

I was still gathering things when the noise hit.

Thud! Crack! Boom!

Kwoooor! Kweek!

This way. The alley.

A fight, outside. I ducked behind a shelf and watched.

Five people were fleeing the zombies along the road.

Wait. They weren't just running?

The ones who'd been fleeing turned back toward the zombies and cut them down in order as they came on in a line.

Herding them for a farm, then.

I had no idea how they'd ended up together, but they looked solid. Two of them even looked like hunters. They finished the zombies and fell into cheerful chatter.

Should I go say hello? Stay hidden and run into them later, and it would just be awkward for everyone.

I came out of the stationery store and approached with both arms waving wide. They'd noticed; they turned my way. I got close enough and offered a greeting.

"Hey there, hyungs!"

"Oh. So there was somebody else."

"Looks to me like this one's a hunter too."

The hunter in question was a middle-aged man. And he was calling me a hunter?

Oh. The gear?

You couldn't tell an item from an ordinary object just by looking. The app only scanned something when it wasn't equipped.

Now that I think about it, I've farmed an awful lot.

I'd come in empty-handed, and already I was kitted out enough to be mistaken for a hunter. Maybe I really was one of those freak talents.

"You been farmin' out here all on your own?"

"Ah, yes."

"Solo farmin's a dangerous business. Care to come along with us?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm all right. I'm more comfortable on my own."

"That so? Well, all right. You look like a veteran, so I reckon you'll manage."

With that, the hunter led his group into the clothing shop I'd already been through.

Clearing the roadside for me. Don't mind if I do.

The perfect conditions for putting my plan into motion.

"Hoo. All right. Let's give it a try."

I stepped into a suitable shop and started getting ready to carry it out.