Deus Ex Machina (1)
Drip, drop. Plop.
The rain of raw meat and entrails that had poured from the sky for several minutes finally came to a halt. The mutants, as if they'd chosen easier prey, ignored the barricade entirely and tore into the chunks of flesh like madmen. Crunch! Snap! Amid the spine-chilling sounds of their feast, a heavy silence hung over the soldiers atop the defense line.
"..."
"..."
It was Kim Tae-hyeong, the captain, who shattered the suffocating quiet that no one dared break.
"It's not over yet..."
"C-Captain...!"
Kim clenched his trembling hands behind his back, glaring at his men with bloodshot eyes.
"This is our only chance while those bastards are distracted by the meat!!!"
His shout reignited reason in the soldiers' eyes.
"Before they finish gorging and swarm back—search for the wounded and fall them back, repair any breaches in the barricade as best you can. Execute!"
"E-Execute!!"
Roused by his bellow, the soldiers sprang into disciplined action. Some hauled debris to patch the barricade, others dashed off in search of any remaining ammo or firearms. That's when it came.
"N-No need for that... huff... huff..."
A ragged voice from behind, gasping for breath.
"Y-You...?"
"Nearly died running here... haaah... haaah."
A woman in a deeply pulled cap, steadying her heaving breaths. It was Juddak, Baek Eun-wol.
"J-Juddak, how did you get here...?"
"Looks like I made it just in time."
"...No, ma'am."
"Without the System's miracle, we'd probably be..."
Kim gazed past the barricade at the horrific mutants greedily devouring the flesh and continued.
"Not just us, but every civilian behind the line would be their prey by now... or infected, tearing into each other."
His adjutant nodded bitterly, face drained of color.
"We were completely out of ammo. Without that miraculous rain, we wouldn't have lasted another minute."
At their desperate confession, Baek Eun-wol adjusted her cap brim and gave a small nod.
"Yes. The System Lord doesn't perform miracles Himself—He wants us to create them."
Her calm response prompted Kim and his adjutant to snap their bloodied heads up in unison, as if on cue.
Their gazes turned to the pitch-black night sky where the miracle rain had fallen moments before.
"..."
"..."
No slogans or orders were needed. The two men slowly raised their callused hands toward the sky that had saved all their lives—a salute of utmost reverence and weight.
"!!!"
"...!"
The soldiers, moving in perfect sync, froze at the sight. Without a word, they too thrust their callused hands skyward.
In perfect silence, devoid even of commands, the soldiers offered deep loyalty and gratitude to the miracle—and the dark night sky—that had saved them.
Baek Eun-wol watched the scene, caught her breath, then murmured coldly at the mutants clustered around the meat.
Exile
****
Meanwhile, at the 1st Relief Center.
"Raaagh!!!"
Kang Seok-hyun's fist smashed through the rooftop door into a walker's jaw. Crack! The rotting jaw shattered, sending the zombie tumbling down the stairs.
Kang and the able-bodied men and stalkers were holding their final stand on the rooftop, tending to the most critical patients.
The third wave had hit right after Cha Do-hee left. Fortunately, compared to the first and second waves she'd cleared, this one was weaker—mostly quantity over quality, with feeble walkers and runners instead of Red Zone abominations. They'd barely held with everything they had.
But now, they were at their limit.
"Come on if you dare!!!"
"Group up! Group up!!"
"Fall the patients back!!"
Everyone on the roof knew deep down. 'Damn...'
'We can't hold...'
The healing from Kang Seok-hyun and the medics, squeezed out to save lives, had run dry. The first-floor barricade was long gone, stairs piled with corpses like a mountain. The mutants climbed over them relentlessly.
Dozens, hundreds pouring onto the roof—it was only a matter of time. Despair.
'Sorry, Miss Do-hee.'
Kang gripped his bloodied bandage, swallowing bitterness.
'Looks like... this is the end.'
Guilt crushed him—he couldn't lighten her load of rescuing the kids against impossible odds.
"Director. Let's hold till we can't."
"Yeah. No giving up."
"Protect the patients to the last."
But Kang and the others, refusing helpless death, steeled their bloodshot eyes once more.
The mutants should be charging up the stairs any second—hair-trigger tension.
But an eerie silence lingered.
"Huh...?"
The horde didn't come. The grotesque howls that battered the door, the horrific scrabbling up the building—gone.
Instead, commotion from beyond the rooftop railing.
"L-Look over there...!"
At the urgent cry, Kang and the others cautiously raised torches and peered over the edge.
Their eyes widened in shock.
Drip! Thud! Splat! Massive chunks of raw meat and bones rained from the pitch-black sky like a storm. Mutants approaching the building scattered toward the fleshy piles in the open lot, entranced.
"W-What the hell...?"
Kang muttered dumbly when someone shouted.
"S-Salvation..."
"It's salvation!!!"
"The System's salvation!!!"
Kang's mind raced. 'But we're still desperate...'
Once they finish the meat, the blood scent would draw them back. Isolated on the roof.
"While they're distracted—rebuild the barricade, evacuate patients fir—"
Kang was issuing urgent orders when—
"Director!!!"
"Director Kang, you okay!!!"
Voices from the chaotic lot below, beyond the falling meat.
'Those people...'
Kang recognized them instantly.
"Director! We're here!"
"We didn't forget you treated us for free last time!!"
"Repaying you for saving our boy—now!!!"
"Let's go together!!!"
Stalkers and nameless men he'd treated gratis sometime back.
"You're not dying here!!"
"We'll come to you! Hold on!!"
They charged from behind the defenseless, feasting mutants, swinging blades and clubs.
Only then did Kang clasp his trembling hands and whisper.
"The System Lord truly sent... a hand of salvation..."
****
When your head's a mess, run. Sprint till stray thoughts vanish.
But that's a luxury for safe, idle worlds where life isn't on the line.
"Uweeeek!!!"
Dark red gore surged up her throat.
"Ugh..."
Cha Do-hee barely kept her knees from buckling, wiping blood from her lips without pause, staggering onward.
Body torn to shreds in pain. Thighs screaming like snapped cables. Flesh devoured far beyond limits.
But it wasn't the physical agony driving her mad.
'What if I'm too late... if this reckless stunt was pure idiocy...'
Thoughts that clung tighter the harder she ran, strangling her mercilessly.
"Too late... too late... way too late..."
Blood tears welled in Cha Do-hee's eyes. At last—the slum village entrance.
The scene was eerily quiet.
"..."
No mutant horde clogging the entry. Instead, dark blood pools staining the open lot. Scattered tiny bone fragments and meat scraps everywhere.
"Ah..."
A beastly groan escaped her.
The wave had swept through, zombies feasted and left. She dreaded imagining who those bloodstains and bones belonged to.
And the trail of blood led straight to the piano academy shelter.
"No... no..."
Time to bear the weight of her reckless choice, the deep responsibility.
Ongoing Challenger Task: Protect Pangyo Defense Line, 1st Relief Center, Entire Slum Village
Success Probability: 1% / Difficulty: Hell
Failure Penalty: Awakening Ability Revocation & All Stats Reset
What she truly feared wasn't task failure.
"Please... please no..."
Tears streamed endlessly. Worse than death: imagining the kids she vowed to protect torn apart by zombies.
Squelch. The blood trail led down to the basement stairs, into the pitch-dark hallway. Her gaze fixed on one corner.
"Ah..."
The kids' shelter: a massive old grandfather clock. Its door—meant to be sealed—stood wide open.
Crunch...!
A walker hunched inside, head buried, devouring something.
Shelter door open. Mutant inside eating. The horrific truth hit.
Plop.
Something snapped in Cha Do-hee's mind.
"Aaaaaahhh!!!"
Her final, desperate strike, squeezing every last ounce of strength.
Slash!!
The walker's head flew off in one clean cut.
"Huff... haa... ah..."
Cha Do-hee collapsed too.
"Cough..."
Blood sprayed from her mouth like a fountain. Backlash from her overtaxed body. Heart pounded wildly then faded; lungs tore in agony as vision flickered black.
'Penalty on top... I'll die...'
But she ignored her torment.
'Kids... sorry... I couldn't protect you...'
Guilt alone swirled in her mind: failing the children.
'Sorry I was late...'
As reason flickered out—
In the abyss of black despair, dazzling golden system windows flooded her vision.
Crazed system updates.
'...Huh?'
In her crumbling consciousness, Do-hee stared blankly at the incomprehensible messages.
"S-Success...? How...?"
She couldn't grasp it—
Then.
"...Unnie Do-hee?"
A voice echoed in her ear.
"Unnie...? You okay?"
The sweet voice she'd prayed for. Salvation.