Season 2: Chapter 10. True Survival (1)
"Blood, it’s blood... Blood!"
The class president became flustered and a few other students approached.
"What... what's going on?"
"What’s happening to the gym teacher?"
"Is it blood?"
"Did he get stabbed? Was it an attack or something?"
"What should we do?!"
The first students who took a look grew noisy. More followed as if drawn to the spectacle.
"Hey, shouldn't we call 911?"
"Yeah, I'm already calling. Vice president, quickly go get the nurse."
"Okay, I got it."
The girl who was vice president quickly ran back into the school.
"What the... why is there blood?"
"How... what should we do?"
"What's this? Shouldn't we also call the police?"
"Is he still alive?"
The students panicked in fear. Amid this, only Baek Joon-Soo's group remained relatively calm.
"Stupid scaredy-cats," the henchman Kim Woo-Jung spoke first.
Baek Joon-Soo stretched and pulled Yoon So-Hee's shoulder toward him.
"Should we take this chance to slip out?"
"What? What are you saying all of a sudden?"
"It's going to get crazy soon. Do you think the school will really notice if we leave? Let's go eat something good. I'll buy."
"Oh..."
Yoon So-Hee was taken aback by the sudden suggestion, but she agreed after seeing her friends nodding.
"Oh, that's a good idea. We should leave now."
"What are you two doing leaving alone? Let's all go."
The other students in the group chuckled in agreement.
"Wow, Baek Joon-Soo. You're so smart. How did you think of that?"
"I'm kind of smart."
He slyly laughed and walked toward the school gate with Yoon So-Hee. Along the way, they ran into Almond standing the farthest away. From their perspective, his name was Kim Ju-Hyeok.
Baek Joon-Soo hesitated as he saw something he shouldn't have and mumbled, "What's with that guy...?"
Young students would be especially scared with the gym teacher covered in blood and unconscious. Even if they pretended to be tough, they couldn't truly be unfazed.
However, what was with that guy? He truly seemed unbothered.
Baek Joon-Soo wasn't exaggerating. After all, Almond was interacting with viewers through his stream microphone and naturally appeared calm.
"It seems like it's starting, right?"
— Kill them all! Kill them all!
— My heart is pounding
— Is he going to kill them now?
— Shoot them all!
— This is a survival game, right? LOL.
Moreover, Almond was the only person who understood what was happening. From the fallen PE teacher, he could infer that a zombie outbreak had begun and would start preparing.
"What should we do first if zombies appear?"
— Gather food
— Get weapons first
— Wouldn't Almond be able to beat them up even without a weapon?
— Food is the priority. I'm hungry.
Almond carefully read the chat. It seemed many focused on food.
'I guess food is the priority.'
He realized he was starving and the viewers seemed right. It would also be a shame if he couldn't find a weapon.
Baek Joon-Soo passed by and patted his shoulder.
"Hey."
Almond heard the deep voice and fear took over again.
[Fear]
Of course, he couldn't speak.
"Can't you see in front of you?"
Fortunately, Baek Joon-Soo only glared at Almond and didn’t do anything else. Yoon So-Hee stood next to him with her arms crossed and pulled him away.
"Hey, Baek Joon-Soo! We need to leave now. We won't be able to if more teachers come. I want to eat spicy rice cakes!"
"... Alright."
Baek Joon-Soo moved on without taking his eyes off Almond.
"Let's go. Let's eat rice cakes. I'll buy."
"Yay!"
The two of them walked away. Then, the fear that gripped Almond dissipated.
"Ah. I can speak now. This fear effect needs to be patched so I can at least talk to viewers."
— LOL. So that's why he was tongue-tied.
— I was so engrossed I thought he really couldn't speak LOL.
— Baek Joon-Soo's presence is so overwhelming. I’m getting PTSD.
— He's gonna get Baek Joon-Soo someday.
True, Baek Joon-Soo was intimidating. Thanks to him, Almond knew exactly what to do.
This character already had a predefined choice between weapons or food.
"Even if we find weapons, this coward Kim Ju-Hyeok might get scared again and won't be able to do anything. I'll go with food."
Weapons seemed to be too much for this character. He would probably get scared while facing zombies since he couldn’t do anything against his bullies.
— Coward Kim Ju-Hyeok LOL.
— The name aptly suits him LOL.
— Shh. Be careful. Hodu can ban you!
Almond decided on his course of action.
"If anything happens, I'll go to the snack bar."
The first place he thought of was the snack bar loaded with ready-to-eat food.
[NotLoser has donated 1000 won.]
[Snack bar~? If someone like you stays there all day, do you think you’ll stay sane? LOL]
"... Thank you for your donation, Mr. NotLoser."
Almond only expressed his gratitude and ignored the content.
— LOL, real talk.
— Yeah, you’re going to get PTSD.
— That voice is annoying.
[AlmondPatisserie has donated 1000 won.]
[Shut up, you guys obviously never got bossed around. At the snack bar, there are only losers there because the scary guys all sent them there. It’s a safe zone.]
— What's with the pride? LOL.
— This one’s real LOL.
— He’s the king of losers.
The donations continued. It seemed the viewers perceived this as a brief rest time.
[JungGi-Chan’sSlave has donated 3,000 won.]
[Isn't the cafeteria better?]
"Thank you, JungGi-Chan’sSlave. It's past lunchtime, so there might not be any prepared food in the cafeteria. Raw ingredients... could be disadvantageous if the power goes out."
— That's sharp thinking! Is this the essence of Battle Large?
— Oh, walnut’s giving advice.
— Will you keep playing the pacifist role until the electricity is cut off? LOL.
— WTF is with that nickname? LOL.
[ACuriousViewer has donated 10,000 won.]
[Wait, does JungGi-Chan also have a shuttle? What kind of multi-level company is this? LOL.]
— A shuttle of a shuttle LOL.
— True that.
— It's like plankton in an ecosystem, right? LOL.
[JungGi-Chan'sBully has donated 10,000 won.]
[JungGi-Chan, this loner... pretending to be a slave. He turned out to be the master bully, bossing everyone around~]
— LOL
— Master bully haha
— He was only the middle man...
— Stop making fun of ForeverAlone...
— Master bully, good one!
[BreadScrooge has donated 10,000 won.]
[To be honest, waiting in the hallway at the snack bar and taking only one bite of bread is the best]
— That’s disgusting.
— You’re the worst.
— A fitting nickname.
Stories about Jung Gi-Chan (Forever Alone) being a loser during his schooldays were prevalent. Mentioning other streamers would normally be avoided, but Almond decided to let it be as long as they didn't cross any boundaries. After all, none of it was out of context.
Then, it happened.
"Hey! Teacher!" a desperate female student called out.
Almond turned around and looked puzzled.
'When did that happen?'
The gym teacher suddenly sat up. Everyone thought he had died, which was why the girl caused a commotion.
"Teacher! Are you okay? What happened!?" the girl asked about what transpired, but the teacher bit her neck.
Crunch!
The other students couldn’t understand the situation.
The girl, whose neck was bitten, couldn't even scream. She just turned her eyes to the face of the teacher who bit her.
Blood dripped down his bloodshot eyes, nostrils, and sharp teeth.
Moments later, a scream erupted.
“Kyaaaaah!”
"Damn!"
"What the...!?"
"Sun-Hee!"
All the kids stepped back, but none ran away. They were torn between fleeing or trying to help the girl.
“Arghhh...”
With the girl's neck still in his mouth, the PE teacher exerted even more force and tore away her flesh.
Crunch!
The girl couldn't even scream anymore and fainted from shock.
"You see... this is why I told you all to stand in a straight line!" the class president shouted while trembling.
The PE teacher fully stood up with blood dripping from his mouth. Slowly, he approached the kids. With a growl, he swung at them and scratched someone.
"Argh!"
One of the boys had been scratched and the attack left a red mark.
The PE teacher tried to scratch the others too, but they all dodged.
"Teacher!?"
"What the hell is this!?"
The teacher didn’t respond. He just kept trying to scratch the kids.
"Guys... is this... a zombie?" a girl continuously backpedaled and cautiously asked.
"He keeps trying to bite... and moves like... a corpse..."
"Do you think that makes any sense!?"
To everyone’s horror, the girl who collapsed earlier rose again. She approached the other students with her neck torn.
They gasped and stepped back. No one naively asked if she was okay this time. Now, there were two zombies.
"It's really zombies, isn't it!?"
"We need to get out, right!?"
"Yes! Let's head out of the school for now. Ji-Hyeon went to call the nurse and hasn't come back... It must be chaos inside the school, right?!"
As soon as those words came out, the students began running without hesitation.
"Ah, ahhhhhh!"
"Zombies! Zombies!"
All of them ran for their lives toward the school gate.
At that moment, a scream erupted from the front.
"Ahhaaaah!"
It was Yoon So-Hee's voice. Hadn't she gone toward the school gate a while ago?
‘Darn.’
Gulp.
Almond dryly swallowed upon seeing the scene outside the school gate.
"How can this be?"
"Can't we get out?"
"Oh no..."
“Argh...”
“Growl...”
Zombies crowded the school gate and lined the walls.
Although the students couldn't see clearly from a distance, there seemed to be more than a hundred of them.
"What... what is that?! Huh?! Baek Joon-Soo!"
"Be quiet!" Baek Joon-Soo responded with a panicked voice when Yoon So-Hee caused a commotion.
Zombies reacted to sounds. They all gathered toward the school gate due to Yoon So-Hee's scream.
Creak... Creak...
The school gate was made of metal, but could it withstand the weight of over a hundred zombies?
Creak...!
The gate seemed to be heading toward its last moments.
"Is... is that gate going to collapse?" Kim Woo-Jung, who was part of Baek Joon-Soo's group, asked while stepping back. He looked almost pale.
‘Hmm?’
At that moment, Almond felt an anomaly in his heartbeat. Not his, but Kim Ju-Hyeok's. His heart throbbed. Then, a peculiar emotion surfaced.
[Joy]
Joy? What could this mean? An explanation appeared as Almond wondered about it.
[All abnormal states have been temporarily removed.]
Suddenly, he felt light and his extreme hunger disappeared. Then...
"Aaaaah!"
The metal gate finally crumbled.
***
It was a mess. There were no better words to describe the situation.
"The gate's fallen! It's fallen!"
"Ahhaaaah!"
"Move out of the way!"
Students who ran toward the school gate collided with those fleeing back into the school and chaos ensued. Dust swarmed up around the gate.
The zombie horde slowly, but steadily closed in.
"Run back! Back!! Outside is hell!!!" the class president shouted as he ran.
Only then did all the students start heading back into the school.
Amid this—
"Shit... the PE teacher..."
Two zombies blocked the escape path: the PE teacher and the female student he had turned. Realistically, two zombies couldn't block off the vast area. However, they seemed huge in the class president's eyes.
"It's over—"
Just as he prepared to give up, a figure rushed out and knocked down the PE teacher.
"!?"
It was Almond. He tripped the zombie with his leg.
"Arghhh!"
Another zombie, the female student, lunged at him with her mouth wide open. Her teeth clashed together in mid-air. Almond dodged her quite comfortably.
In a flash, his hand grabbed the back of her head. With a swift motion, he pushed her to the ground and kicked her legs out. Using her own momentum against her, the zombie almost completed a half-spin and toppled over.
The class president and the other students all widened their eyes.
"You did it! Kim Ju-Hyeok! That was amazing!?" the class president joyfully exclaimed.
Almond ignored him and continued running forward.
"Hey! Hey! Where are you going!?"
The class president tried to follow Almond after seeing his usefulness, but he was too slow.
***
"Gasp... Gasp..."
Almond caught his breath and leaned against a wall. It was getting hard to run.
"This area... doesn't have any zombies. Maybe they haven't spread throughout the school yet."
The students had guessed the opposite. They thought outside was safe and the school was infested. However, the school compounds still seemed peaceful. This raised questions about where and how the PE teacher had gotten infected.
It seemed correct to start preparing here.
"I... I'm slowing down. I'll walk now."
[Very Hungry → Starving]
After a moment of elation, his condition deteriorated again. Almond had to walk slowly, almost like a zombie.
He glanced at the minimap as he walked.
[Convenience Store]
Finally, he reached the store.
***
[Beginner's Tip: In Zombie School, anyone can die at any time. Don't get attached to NPCs.]