Episode 2.
* * *
Worried that Manager Kim’s shouting might draw a horde of zombies, I decided to climb down from the rooftop.
Clang.
Startled by the spear I threw down from the rooftop, Manager Kim flinched and stepped back before scrunching up his face.
Unlike when I’d gone up, I leaped straight down.
Thud.
*My body definitely feels lighter.*
“Hey, Deputy Choi. What do you think you’re doing? Huh? Do you think this is the time to be catching zombies?”
“Manager. Please hear me out first.”
We had to stay at the company until we found a new safe zone.
No. Even if there was a safe zone, we had no way to move there immediately.
To move, we would need either the ability to maneuver around hordes of zombies or enough military force to hunt them all down.
Until we reached at least that level, it was better to stay at the company, which meant I had to convince people of why I was hunting zombies.
“We need to learn about the zombies.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“What if zombies get inside the company?”
“……”
We were blocked off on all sides, so it wouldn’t happen right away, but it wasn’t a probability we could ignore, either.
At my words, Manager Kim was painted with fear and trembled all over.
“Isn’t information about zombies the most valuable commodity right now?”
“What?”
I pressed on without giving Manager Kim time to think.
“Manager. I’ll collect information about the zombies and report it to you.”
“……”
“What would be the greatest achievement right now? The person who holds the most information about zombies is bound to receive preferential treatment.”
“Hmm, you do have a point.”
The moment I mentioned achievements, Manager Kim took the bait.
I drove the nail home while Manager Kim nodded.
“I’ll gather and report the information as quickly as possible.”
“But Deputy Choi. If this gets dangerous……”
“If it gets dangerous, I’ll be the first to die. I don’t want to die like a dog, either.”
“That’s true……”
I threw him another piece of bait.
“Manager. As you know, it’s become awkward for me to join any faction now. If I belong to one side, I’ll be labeled a traitor by the other.”
“That’s right……”
“I don’t want to be an outcast anymore. If you manage the information, Manager, I’ll stay in the field.”
“Really?”
I demanded something in return.
“In exchange, please supply me with two meals’ worth of food and water per day.”
“Well, if you’re going to collect intel on the front lines, I suppose we should provide that much support. All right.”
“Thank you.”
“You report only to me. Got it?”
Greedy as always.
“Understood. I’ll report back tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Good luck.”
Manager Kim’s steps looked light as he turned and walked away.
I could see it coming. The moment he returned to the main building, he’d probably report that he’d recruited me.
Anyway, the president’s faction wouldn’t touch me now.
*I’ll have to deal with the other factions while avoiding them as much as possible.*
“Tss……”
Zombies alone were suffocating enough, but watching factional politics on top of it was driving me crazy.
Spear in hand, I moved toward the materials warehouse. I planned to stay in the materials warehouse from now on.
Leaving the main building made securing food difficult. Of course, food existed in the shop window, but the problem was people’s attention.
If I procured food through the shop window while my supply route was unclear, I would definitely be suspected.
That was why I’d asked Manager Kim for food and water.
Now that the path to securing food appeared solid on the outside, there was no benefit to going to the main building.
“This is harder than before the zombies appeared……”
I leaned my spear against a makeshift bed sitting in a corner of the warehouse—don’t know why it was there—and sat down.
*Shop window.*
[5,800 POINTS]
Sitting on the bed, I fell into thought about how to allocate my points.
*I need to raise my Strength.*
For now, I could hunt by aiming for zombies’ eyes, but there was no telling how long that would remain possible.
*I need enough strength to pierce through bone.*
I needed to raise my Stamina, too.
The moment would come when I’d have to escape the company.
I’d have to break through zombies to escape then, and I didn’t want to die gasping for breath because I lacked the stamina.
I carefully surveyed the body modification section.
[Status Window Unlock] 1,000P
“……”
Why is this even here?
I clicked on Status Window Unlock.
[Status Window Unlock] 1,000P
Allows you to intuitively check your own status.
Enables stats to increase through training.
“Hmm……”
No matter how I looked at it, this was malicious.
“I don’t know who made this shop window, but whoever it is, they’re definitely a son of a bitch.”
I’d won first place in the lottery and received the special perk of 10x point acquisition.
Which meant that second-place or lower winners might have a lower-tier perk for point acquisition, or none at all.
The worst case was if someone had only obtained the shop window.
To acquire 1,000 points, you’d have to kill 100 zombies.
The odds of winning the lottery were slim enough, but what were the odds of safely hunting zombies?
*This is torture by hope.*
Torture by hope—the hope that if you just killed 100, you could train your body without hunting.
It told you to try your best because you could survive in this world, but I was strongly convinced it was laughing on the inside.
*If even I, the first-place winner, hadn’t been in my current situation, if I’d faced a zombie one-on-one on flat ground, would I really have been able to kill it?*
I understood in my head that killing zombies made me stronger, but I wouldn’t have been able to put it into action.
Because a single mistake meant death.
“They’re really screwing us.”
I’d luckily won first place and even obtained a safe hunting ground.
I didn’t know who had spread this system or for what purpose, but I was going to exploit it thoroughly.
*Purchase Status Window.*
I purchased and opened the Status Window.
Name: Choi Minjun
Race: Human
Strength: 7 Agility: 4 Stamina: 7 Intelligence: 7
POINT: 4,800
*So that’s how it is……*
I could make a general assessment.
*I just need to check my stats while raising them.*
To form a plan, I needed to understand all the items in the shop.
I checked the Life tab.
[Life]
[Food] [Safety] [Facilities]
The Life tab was also divided into three categories.
[Food]
[Bread] 1P
[Rice] 1P
[Kimbap] 1P
[Instant Noodles] 1P
[Triangle Kimbap] 1P
[Lunchbox] 2P
[Kimchi Stew] 2P
[Soybean Paste Stew] 2P
[Pork Cutlet] 2P
[Pizza] 2P
[Chicken] 2P
When I clicked on Food, a list appeared showing everything from simple bread to high-end cuisine, as well as water and beverages.
Food could be purchased for around 1 to 5 points depending on ingredients, water was 1 point for 1.5 liters, and drinks were 2 points.
*So killing one zombie covers three meals a day……*
Even if an urgent situation left me unable to move, I wouldn’t starve to death.
Next, I clicked on the Safety category.
[Safety]
[Shelter Kit +1 pyeong] 1,000P
“Wow……”
Safety consisted of just the Shelter Kit.
Wondering if it was the shelter I was thinking of, I clicked on it.
[Shelter Kit +1 pyeong] 1,000P
Creates a protective barrier zone that zombies cannot pass through.
Additional pyeong can be connected to expand it.
The kit can be removed and relocated.
“Wow, the system developer. What a real piece of trash.”
1,000 points for one pyeong.
To create a safe zone the size of a 10-pyeong studio apartment, you’d need to gather 10,000 points—without a perk, that’s 1,000 zombies.
“So even after busting your ass to kill 1,000 zombies, you only get a safe zone the size of a studio apartment? What the hell are you supposed to do with that?”
The moment you step outside that studio, it’s a danger zone. Even if not, if you get surrounded, you’re isolated.
The incomprehensible pricing made my head boil with anger, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
*Don’t think negatively……*
Maybe because I felt the shop window hadn’t been given out of goodwill from the start, I found myself looking at everything through a negative lens, so I took a moment to collect myself.
*Since I’ve decided to use it, let’s think positively. There are many ways to utilize it. First, let’s figure out everything about the shop window and then decide.*
With renewed resolve, I moved to the Facilities category of the shop window.
[Facilities]
[Household Generator] 1,000P
[Water Supply Facility] 1,000P
[Barbed Wire 3x10M] 1,000P
[Concrete Wall 3x3M] 1,000P
Facilities was a category containing things necessary for human habitation.
“Hah, now that the world’s ended, my dream of owning a home has only gotten farther away……”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
How many points would it take to make a decent safe zone?
After calculating, making a roughly 40-pyeong safe zone would cost at least 50,000 points.
*Still, it’s not hopeless.*
Personal firearms and armor. Physical ability enough to escape even if surrounded by zombies. And a safe space to rest.
The plans in my head proceeded one by one.
*Goal: 100,000 points. I need to gather at least 100,000 points before leaving the company.*
In zombie numbers, that’s a thousand.
I’d killed over 50 just today, so even with a generous estimate, I figured 20 days would be enough.
“Let’s do this.”
It wasn’t like I had anything else to do besides zombie hunting anyway.
Finally, I checked the Miscellaneous category.
[Miscellaneous]
[Mobility] [Misc]
“No way……”
When I pressed Mobility, everything from bicycles to motorcycles and cars. Even airplanes were there.
Among them, one vehicle caught my eye.
[KT-1 Combat Light Armored Vehicle] 100,000P
It had a matte gray body, the parts that should have been glass were designed with iron lattice bars, and the wheels weren’t rubber but metal gears—probably to prevent damage.
The price made me frown. But because it looked military yet was a vehicle I’d never seen in reality, my eyes were drawn to it.
*If unavoidable circumstances force me to break through head-on, I’ll have to buy this.*
The problem was that there would be no way to repair the vehicle if it got damaged, but when I pressed the Misc tab under Miscellaneous, I learned that repairs were covered too.
Because repair kits for items existing in the shop window were available in the Misc category.
It seemed like even if I gathered 100,000 points, I’d burn through them in an instant.
“Whew. Looks like I’ll have to hunt like hell for 30 days.”
Let’s roll! Snowball.
* * *
“Kkeeeek.”
“Kwoooh.”
Stab. Stab-stab.
*Just keep going like this.*
For the first three days, I’d used a spear made from a mop handle to push corpses aside before continuing to hunt from the security room rooftop, but soon the bodies piled up too high to push away, so I came up with another method.
A refrigerated truck parked behind the main building.
I drove the truck and parked it against the fence, then climbed onto the roof and leaned against the fence, making it possible to hunt from the fence as well.
Eleven days of zombie hunting, a week after I’d started hunting that way.
[98,700 POINTS]
Surprisingly, I’d gathered points close to the minimum 100,000 I’d aimed for.
Actually, if I hadn’t invested points into stats while hunting, I would have surpassed 100,000.
Name: Choi Minjun
Race: Human
Strength: 40 Agility: 40 Stamina: 40 Intelligence: 20
POINT: 98,700
I’d invested a total of 11,500 points to raise my stats to 40.
At around 10, I’d been at the level of a healthy average person; past 20, I gained strength and stamina equivalent to someone who trained consistently.
And past 30, my strength and stamina overflowed to the point that I wondered if it wasn’t national athlete-level ability from a lifetime of training.
*From 30 onward, I could pierce a zombie’s skull with my spear.*
And at 40, I could perform that process without strain.
I considered investing more points to raise them to 50, but didn’t.
At 40, I could hunt zombies with ease, and I didn’t get tired for about an hour.
*I can’t waste points when I don’t know how they’ll need to be spent in the future.*
Oddly, I couldn’t feel much difference even after raising Intelligence.
*My distracting thoughts have decreased and my concentration has improved.* That was the extent of what I could feel, so I decided to raise Intelligence later when I had the leeway.
*Let’s hit 100,000 today.*
After hitting 100,000, I’d celebrate in my hideout.
But plans never go the way you expect.
“Hyung. Working hard again today, I see.”
Just as I was about to thrust my spear, I heard a voice from behind.
*Sigh……*
When I turned around, I saw Jinwoo smiling broadly.
The leader of the young men’s faction and the president’s son.
And the main culprit who’d made me an outcast at the company.
It was Choi Jinwoo.
*He really pisses me off.*