Season 2: Chapter 21. His Unique Play (2)
"Wow, how many are there?"
The gates in front of the school field collapsed. While chaos ensued, Bubblegum stayed in the nurse's office and counted the number of Choco Pies.
"Three, four... seven..."
It was a peaceful scene compared to the current situation. After counting all the Choco Pies, Bubblegum expressed his thoughts.
"The nurse's office is quite nice, isn't it?"
Bubblegum, the survival expert, seemed to like the nurse's office.
"At this rate, couldn't we just stay here? If only there's a way to deal with pooping..."
He sneakily glanced toward the sink in the nurse's office.
— Why is he looking at the sink? lol
— Don't give up your humanity!
— No way he's thinking of that lol
"Ahem. I was just looking. Just looking. Ugh, seriously."
Bubblegum shifted in his seat and looked at his cell phone. He even made sure it was fully charged. Then...
Bzzzzt.
"Ah. The emergency message has finally arrived."
The emergency message announced the current disaster. It essentially signaled the start of this game.
[Emergency Message: The zombie virus is spreading. All citizens, please read the instructions...]
"... They are asking us to stay indoors and wait for assistance. What. Wait? Why wait?" Bubblegum said while aimlessly wandering toward the door and lying back down on the bed.
— He's really good at waiting lol
— A master of waiting
— He’s ‘weight’ing
"Look, look. I've played a lot of zombie games, you know? I've watched a lot of movies too. If you act rashly at the start, you're just an extra."
— That's true lol
— So the government was right to tell you to "wait"
— Always waiting lol
"For now, let's try to hold out with Choco Pie and cola."
Bubblegum tore open a packet of Choco Pie to alleviate his hunger and drank cola to boost his spirits. Then...
Thud. Thud.
"Nurse! The PE teacher! The PE teacher!!"
It was the class vice president. She had seen the fallen PE teacher at the field and rushed to the nurse's office.
"The PE teacher suddenly collapsed! Are you there? Where have you gone...?"
Bubblegum quietly ate his Choco Pie and waited for her to leave.
— He looks so dead inside, lol
— So ruthless...
— This is definitely a game lol
"Ahem. Everyone, it's already tough enough for me to survive alone, okay?"
— Agree
— That's true
— The vice president...
The vice president eventually became a zombie while wandering somewhere for the absent nurse. Then she headed to another floor.
Had it been ten minutes? The howls of zombies echoed through the annex corridor.
"Growllll..."
"Growl!"
Bubblegum put his ear to the door.
Shuffle shuffle.
He could hear footsteps.
“It seems like there’s quite a lot of zombies.”
Then...
Gurgle gurgle.
A thunderous sound came from his stomach. It wasn't from hunger.
[Current Urine Level: 95%]
[You need to take action!]
[Current Fecal Level: 87%]
[You need to prepare!]
— He saw it coming, huh?
— Zombie School: Face the consequences of all the crap you've dumped in your lifetime.
— War with poop.
"Ah... This game is brutal. It's deliberately designed like this, isn't it?"
As the number of zombies increased, his digested meals needed to make an exit. The scene with Almond wasn’t a coincidence.
— At least you have a golf club, bro.
— You're used to crapping in games. Just do it on the floor.
— If you have a golf club, it's possible even for you.
Feeling supported by the chat, Bubblegum cautiously opened the door and stepped out.
Swish...
Ding.
A bizarre mission suddenly appeared.
[Do a forward roll while crapping your pants for 500,000 won.]
"Excuse me, what do you take me for? I'm seriously playing this game right now!"
— This is insane, LOL.
— Rolling forward, LOL.
— Damn, LOL.
— I'm eating, LOL.
Bubblegum declined the mission.
"I'll pass on the mission. I'm out."
He tightly held the golf club with both hands and cautiously stepped into the corridor.
The zombies reacted immediately.
"Raaahhhhhhh!" a zombie groaned and slowly approached.
"Oh, here it comes. Here it comes...! I'll just avoid that one for now!"
The zombie was slower than he thought.
Tap-tap!
He quickly dodged and easily evaded it. It was like dribbling past someone in soccer without even kicking the ball. In other words, the zombie was pretty easy to dodge. However, that was true when there was only one zombie.
"Raaahhh!"
"Roooah!"
Two... no, three zombies blocked his path. He had to fend them off.
“Ah, frick...”
Bubblegum considered retreating, but...
The zombie he previously dodged was now following him. Of course...
[Bowel Status: 95%!]
[Bladder Status: 100%!]
He couldn't hold back any longer. He felt a trembling sensation like the vibrating controllers of old console games.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh... I need to break through. Ah..."
Bubblegum cursed the game and charged forward.
"Aaaaahhh!"
The zombies responded and approached.
"Raaahhhhhhh!"
The closest zombie opened its mouth wide.
Bubblegum tightly gripped the golf club and shouted, "Going for a hole-in-one!"
There was a saying that being naive was also bravery. He confidently swung the golf club in a clean arc at the zombie's head.
Whoosh!
However, he missed. Not only did he miss the zombie’s head, but he didn't even touch its shoulder. Instead of a hole-in-one, it was like hitting the ball out of the golf course.
He didn’t have time for any disappointment because he did achieve a hole-in-one, after all.
"...!?"
It was Bubblegum's own head!
— ???
— ?
— What?
— ...?
Thwack!
Bubblegum's head tightly filled the zombie's mouth. It was so precisely placed that it seemed to be jammed in there.
When the golf club missed, the imbalance caused his foot to slip and his head lurched forward. Simply put, he just fell over. Because of this, his head went precisely into the zombie's mouth.
"Kaak?!"
Even the zombie made a surprised sound and looked around, trying to figure out how to digest this. Understandably so because its mouth was stretched as wide as Bubblegum's head. Its jaw was already loose.
Only now did the audience realize the situation and burst out laughing.
— Saw that hole-in-one, LOL!
— LOL!
— LOL!
— That was crazy!
— I kind of feel sorry for the zombie, LOL!
Crunch! Crunch!
Nevertheless, the zombie enthusiastically chewed on Bubblegum with its loose jaw.
"Ah, ah! No, don't! Stop!"
Bubblegum continued to push the zombie with his head and tumbled forward. Then...
[Your excretion level is over 110%!]
[You can no longer hold it in!]
The screen went dark and an embarrassing sound could be heard.
— Huh?
— Seriously?
— OMG
The screen didn't turn off because he died. It turned off because of the excretion system during gameplay.
Squelch~!
A sticky sound could be heard, followed by a message.
[Very Unpleasant]
— LOL!
— This stream is genius, LOL!
— Did that mission earlier predict the future?
— Crazy, LOL! Following that, another message appeared.
[Survival Failed]
Bubblegum died after being surrounded by zombies.
Bam!
[MissionMan has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]
[Just take it~~]
The reward from the earlier mission Bubblegum refused was still donated. The chat window rapidly scrolled up.
— ??? When you're famous, people will applaud even when you poop (literally).
— LOL!
— This is legendary!
— Is this contemporary art?
— Death art, LOL!
— Andy Warhol, step aside! This is art!
***
After dying, Bubblegum returned to the game's waiting screen.
He cleared his throat and spoke about his first play experience, "Ah... It was so close. I nearly made it."
— Close to what?
— The mission? You completed the mission. What are you talking about?
— Baek Joon-Soo saw it right. Yoon So-Hee slapped his hand. You used your head as a weapon, right?
— Where are you even going with this? LOL
— I almost did it, LOL!
— I did break almost all of the zombie's teeth with my head.
— That was a legendary hole-in-one, LOL!
— Bro, I'm gonna die from laughter, LOL!
Countless chat messages mocked him. One could easily feel bad, but Bubblegum continued the stream unperturbed whether or not he was used to this.
"Ah. Anyway, I did complete the mission, right? Thank you for the mission money."
— You refused it earlier, LOL!
— So predictable, LOL!
— LOL!
— Who would've thought he'd actually do it? LOL!
"Let's go again. I'm doing it right this time. I've got the hang of it, you know?"
— Going down the same path again.
— I heard the hang of it was caught by your future grandchild.
— Let's go down that path again~
"Again. Let’s go."
***
Bubblegum continued trying, but didn’t make any significant progress. Being surrounded and killed by zombies became routine.
Even if he managed to reach the bathroom, he would either die from tetanus after getting scratched by a windowpane or tumbling down the stairs...
"This sucks. Seriously, this game."
He truly experienced various kinds of deaths. For now, his attempts had been halted.
"I'll quickly check how Almond does this."
In the end, he decided to try following his senior's methods and briefly searched for Almond's videos. It was a clip where Almond secured the bathroom by neutralizing the zombies. The title had a comical vibe. Something like, 'If I need to poop, I kill the zombies.'
"... What is this?"
The video content was entirely different.
"How do you do this? The start is so different, right? And doesn't this look even more disadvantageous?"
— You shouldn't try to avoid the first attack lol.
— Don't watch that lol.
— Did you refer to the wrong thing?
— It looks like Almond is playing the game harder, right? Lol.
Bubblegum watched a few clips and repeatedly exclaimed, "Wow... wow..."
"But doing it this way won't work, right? Didn't Almond die?"
— Nope.
— Almond is still alive.
— He's live-streaming right now. Want to watch?
Bubblegum felt surprised. Almond’s situation seemed even more severe than what he faced, but Almond still hadn't died once yet.
"He's still alive? Still on his first life?"
— Yes.
— He's actually doing quite well, lol.
— Culture shock. A streamer is still alive in the game?!
"Let me quickly check how he’s progressing. Can I do it like this...?"
Driven by curiosity, Bubblegum entered Almond's livestream.
"Wow. He's got both the bathroom and the snack bar..."
As the viewers mentioned, Almond seemed to be doing quite well. He was more organized than expected.
"He's even doing laundry? That's impressive. So he claims more territory by closing the fire doors?"
— Wow lol.
— He really set up his base lol. Who's that cute snack bar girl? lol
— The quality is on another level.
"There are NPC allies too! Wow, starting with the snack bar looks good?"
Bubblegum was having this potentially dangerous thought when...
"Huh?"
He was taken aback when Almond ran into someone.
Bubblegum immediately recognized them as the ones who badly beat him up just a while ago.
"Those jerks are still alive?!"
It was Baek Joon-Soo's gang.