24

Chapter 24

Mo Haein did not answer.

Thinking my words might have been ambiguous, I clarified them.

“I would like you to turn me into a zombie.”

At last, Mo Haein opened her mouth. But instead of answering, she released a deep sigh.

I had expected that reaction, so I steadfastly pressed my case.

“If I become a zombie, they won’t attack me first. The same applies while zombification is underway. From the moment three hours have passed after infection, the system classifies you as a zombie.”

It was something I had discovered after trying every manner of thing to clear the game quickly.

Unless an infected player attacked first, zombies would not attack them.

However, because there was no cure, it was a method that could only be used immediately before seeing an Ending.

I had deliberately let zombies bite and infect me before the Ending on several occasions.

‘This is our best option right now.’

It was a decent method that would both prevent the unfortunate possibility of Mo Haein attacking a teammate and allow me, the weakest person on the team, to avoid the boss zombie.

Mo Haein and I would repair the generator while Kwak Hanmuk dealt with the boss.

Contrary to my expectations, Kwak Hanmuk listened quietly to my explanation before calmly asking,

“What if we ask Lieutenant Colonel Je to handle the boss while you and I do the repairs?”

“We urgently need to gather the delivery items, and the emergency generator would likely be damaged.”

Je Hyuno’s attacks covered a wide area.

Since the boss battle would take place right beside the generator, a stray attack could smash the machinery.

For much the same reason, we could not put Je Hyuno in charge of the repairs. When it came to aggression, he possessed more than his fair share.

He was not someone who would quietly watch while a boss zombie prowled right beside him.

The chance that he would blow away the entire underground zone was approximately one hundred percent.

“I seeee….”

Kwak Hanmuk nodded deeply as though he understood completely.

When Mo Haein looked at him anxiously, he said something that perfectly justified her concern.

“Then I should become a zombie too.”

“Kwak Hanmuk!”

“What? It’s a solid plan.”

Kwak Hanmuk blithely drove Mo Haein mad.

“Even the Trial Response Agency won’t be able to execute us if every member of the Special Mission Team is infected. They wouldn’t dare blow off the heads of two team leaders, would they?”

“That doesn’t make any—!”

“You can’t die.”

Mo Haein froze where she stood. A moment later, her head dropped.

She remained that way for a long time before calling me as though speaking to herself.

“…Recruit.”

“Yes.”

“If we don’t reach the True Ending….”

“We will, without fail. Lee Gaon assured me that she can produce the vaccine within three days as long as we restore the power.”

“…….”

Mo Haein had two days remaining.

There was no helping it—she would have to live as a zombie for approximately one day.

We could keep her under control for a day, but any longer would not be good for her either.

‘She mustn’t remain a zombie for too long.’

Because zombies could not feel pain, she might damage her own body after losing her reason.

Even if the infection was cured through the True Ending, any destroyed body parts would not be restored.

My goal was to complete both the vaccine and the cure and clear DZD within three days.

“Captain. Trust me and bite me.”

“You’re just like Kwak Hanmuk.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“My apologies.”

When I immediately changed my response, Mo Haein gave a short laugh. Finally, she turned toward Je Hyuno.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je.”

The ultimate decision rested with him. Je Hyuno silently stared at me.

I naturally tensed.

He was impossible to predict, and because the goggles and gas mask covered his entire face, I could not read his expression.

Je Hyuno was the sort of person who might suddenly lash out with his metal hand and divide me into several pieces.

I anxiously wondered what emoticon he would display.

Then a voice emerged.

“Goyo.”

Not once had anything good followed when Je Hyuno began by calling my name this way.

I waited for him to continue.

“You should have told me if you wanted to die.”

His metal hand spread wide. Its sharp tips glittered in the dawn sunlight.

“I could do it for you.”

“I! Absolutely want to live.”

At my rapid answer, Je Hyuno clacked the fingers of his metal hand.

As he tapped them together, I swallowed dryly.

His voice, like something scraping the very bottom of an abyss, drove into my eardrums.

“All of you, don’t die when I’m not around.”

Kwak Hanmuk, Mo Haein, and I were reflected in his black goggles.

Murderous intent emanated from him as his fingers clattered without pause. It was directed at Trials—and at the Compatibles.

“I went to all the trouble of letting you live….”

He meant every word. None of us would have mistaken Je Hyuno’s statement for an empty threat.

“We can manage that much.”

“We’ll be careful.”

But the captains answered indifferently, as though they were accustomed to it.

It was almost as if they had promised to die by Je Hyuno’s hand if they had to die at all.

For some reason, I thought Je Hyuno might have smiled briefly at their answers.

Of course, because I could not see his face at all, it was only a guess.

“Goyo. Tell me what I’m doing.”

“I’ll write out a list of the items you need to farm and their locations. One of them is a zombie blood sample, but it must come from an ordinary zombie, not a Dead Zombie.”

With paper and a pen from the laboratory, I hurriedly scribbled out the list while also sending Je Hyuno a Message.

I will send the list through the System Window as well.

Checking a sheet of paper one item at a time would be inconvenient given the structure of Je Hyuno’s body.

I also wanted to demonstrate my usefulness.

‘Please let me live.’

I had to work diligently from this moment onward if I wanted Je Hyuno to spare me when we left DZD.

After receiving the item list and the blood-collection kit brought from the laboratory, Je Hyuno headed toward the emergency stairs.

The fifth-floor corridor where the laboratory was located had windows that could not be opened, so he needed to reach the roof before he could fly away.

Kwak Hanmuk decided to open the door for him and followed along to see him off.

Just before opening the emergency-stairwell door, Je Hyuno looked back at me.

~ ~

What was that supposed to mean now?

Even as I told myself not to be swept up in Je Hyuno’s emoticons, I found myself pondering the meaning every time something new appeared across his goggles.

Since they were tildes, perhaps they meant he would be back soon.

While I was still thinking, Je Hyuno disappeared into the stairwell.

Kwak Hanmuk left with him, so Mo Haein and I were alone for a moment.

The two of us sat down in a corner of the corridor.

“Should we get the biting over with before Captain Kwak returns?”

At my suggestion, Mo Haein let out an incredulous laugh and abruptly grabbed my arm.

“Don’t regret it, Recruit. I’m going to bite you hard enough to hurt like hell.”

“…Ah, I would prefer that arm, please.”

“Aren’t you right-handed?”

When she asked if it would not be inconvenient, I smiled sheepishly. Fortunately, Mo Haein obediently switched hands.

She gripped my forearm and met my gaze.

“I’m biting you now.”

Mo Haein opened her mouth. Her orderly teeth had sharpened to points.

Then she gently bit my forearm. The touch of her teeth tickled.

When my shoulder jerked, Mo Haein hurriedly pulled away.

“Did that hurt?”

I shook my head.

“It just tickled. I’m fine.”

“All right.”

She took a moment to breathe deeply, then brought her lips to my forearm again.

This time, she bit down without warning.

Crunch—the sound of flesh being pierced rang out with terrible clarity.

At the same instant, my heart began pounding violently.

Thump, thump. I heard each beat as though my heart were pulsing directly beside my eardrum.

My vision turned black, and a System Window appeared.

You have been infected!

Zombification is underway. (Current zombification progress: 10%)

Heat flooded my body as though the fever began the instant I was bitten.

This truly was different from the game. The process of becoming a zombie was no small ordeal.

I breathed deeply and calmly waited for my sight to return.

Fortunately, my vision soon brightened.

But pain still throbbed through my forearm.

Mo Haein remained clamped onto it, breathing roughly.

She was suppressing the impulse to tear away a mouthful of flesh. The veins bulging in her neck were visible.

“Captain.”

“Hoo, hngh.”

“Captain Mo. It’s all right. Take your time.”

“Urgh….”

She squeezed her eyes shut. After a short groan, she opened her mouth very slowly.

With a wet pop, Mo Haein pulled away from my forearm.

Her mouth completely smeared with blood, she muttered in a voice full of self-loathing,

“I almost really ate you…….”

“You did well.”

I staunched the wound and quickly moved away from her. If I stayed beside her, she was liable to take a bite out of me.

As I clumsily wrapped the bandage by myself, Kwak Hanmuk appeared.

“What? You bit him already?”

He strolled closer and extended an arm toward Mo Haein, saying, “Me too.”

“Aaaagh!”

Kwak Hanmuk screamed. Mo Haein had immediately bitten him as hard as she could, without the slightest mercy.

It must have genuinely hurt, because Kwak Hanmuk even teared up as he whined.

“Captain Mo…. That f*cking hurts….”

“Stop exaggerating.”

Mo Haein answered brusquely as she licked the blood from her lips. All the while, she stared fixedly at me.

“…I’ll go finish bandaging this.”

I quietly fled even farther into the corner.

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Before entering the underground zone, I met with Lee Gaon briefly.

The instant she saw me, she tried to scream, so I hurriedly spoke.

“I was bitten on purpose.”

“…….”

Lee Gaon stared at me, rendered speechless, then shouted in a lowered voice,

“Why would you do that?!”

I gave her a rough explanation that it was to avoid the zombies.

Before Lee Gaon could become truly angry, I offered her a bribe.

“Here.”

“This is….”

It was the portable cassette player Kwak Hanmuk had given me.

I remembered Lee Gaon complaining to Lee Seon in the game that she wanted to listen to music, so I had brought it for her.

Lee Gaon was an NPC of this world, so using the player to listen to music would not cause anything unusual.

“You might get bored when you take short breaks.”

Lee Gaon clutched the portable player. Her hands trembled so hard that her knuckles showed white.

“If you don’t come back, Gunbam-nim….”

She issued a terrifying threat.

“I’ll release every virus in the laboratory.”

“I… would prefer that you didn’t.”

“Then come back quickly.”

“Yes. I’ll be back.”

If Tak Jucheol and Paeng Sangdo learned I had been bitten by a zombie, things would become troublesome.

It needed to remain a secret from them for now, so I quickly said goodbye and disappeared.

But there was another, greater reason I fled.

It was the thought that had entered my head.

I wanted to bite Lee Gaon.

I could still suppress it without difficulty, but the instant the thought occurred to me, I hurried away for fear I might make a mistake.

The aggression zombies displayed toward humans was an instinct akin to hunger.

‘So this is how a zombie feels.’

To experience the mindset of a zombie, something I could never have felt in the game.

My heart fluttered slightly as I opened the emergency-stairwell door.

“You’re here?”

Mo Haein, who had been sitting on the stairs, rose to her feet.

Kwak Hanmuk pushed himself away from the wall as well.

He wore a small sling bag diagonally across his body. Inside were the items I had asked him to retrieve.

The three zombies descended the stairs.

Zombies appeared less frequently in the emergency stairwell, but it was not a safe zone.

They began appearing from the second-floor stairs onward, which Mo Haein and Kwak Hanmuk had not used.

We quietly passed the zombies and soon reached the first basement level.

The stairs leading to the second basement level were blocked by collapsed debris, so we had to cross through the first basement level to descend farther.

I intended to use the freight elevator.

Normally, players had to struggle through the ventilation ducts, but now that we were zombies, we could use the elevator.

Kwak Hanmuk opened the entrance first and gave a soft whistle as he stepped inside.

“Oh, the cafeteria.”

The first-basement emergency stairs opened into the cafeteria. Now that we were zombies, getting through it should be easy enough.

“I think we should farm food from the cafeteria as we advance. Let’s take our time checking the other areas along the way. There’s also a freight elevator connected to the second basement level, and inside that elevator….”

Kzzzt—a burst of static interrupted me.

I stopped speaking and looked around.

‘That came from the PA speaker, didn’t it?’

I was listening closely, wondering if I had imagined it, when—

Waaaaaah—!

A deafening siren suddenly began to blare.

The zombies sleeping throughout the cafeteria opened their eyes in unison and rose.

Amid their growling cries, a recorded female voice cut through the underground zone.

It was an emergency warning broadcast played automatically.

“Attention. All researchers must evacuate the laboratory immediately. The emergency generator is currently operating below three percent capacity. Estimated remaining power time is fifteen minutes.”

Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein looked at me simultaneously.

The announcement continued.

“In fifteen minutes, quarantine shutters will activate throughout every zone, sealing the building. Once again, all researchers must immediately—”

“Captains.”

I gave the two of them a new objective.

“From this moment, we have fifteen minutes to repair the emergency generator.”