Season 2: Chapter 25. Customer (4)
— Wow, hahaha.
— It feels refreshing for once, haha
— That was awesome!
— Crazy, he felt thrilled!? Now they're all doomed!
— Finally! Damn it!
— Kim Woo-Jung finally got what he deserved, haha.
Almond finally attacked Kim Woo-Jung for the first time.
[Thrill]
He received the thrill status along with it.
'Thrill?!'
Almond's eyes lit up at the word. Could he engage in a full-frontal confrontation now? However, the following warning also appeared.
Ding!
[You are still not accustomed to attacking people. Continuing such lethal attacks may significantly increase your negative points.]
[Zombies resemble human figures.]
What did this mean? For a moment, Almond thought the statements sounded contradictory.
'Killing zombies is like killing people. And getting used to it means...?'
He seemed to grasp something. Some critics said the same thing. The zombie genre initially grew popular because of the thrill of shooting and killing human-like figures without guilt.
The current message conveyed a similar context. Killing zombies could make one accustomed to attacking people, which meant killing zombies was akin to gaining experience points in this game.
Thud!
He heard sounds of pain outside.
"Uh, ughhh! Damn it! You! If I catch you, you're dead!!! I'll rip you apart, you bastard!"
Even after being stabbed, Kim Woo-Jung threatened to kill Almond. This was not just a casual threat. He truly intended to kill Almond.
'Now that I think about it, earlier too... he really tried to kill me.'
Kim Woo-Jung had thrown the wrench earlier with lethal intent. If it had hit, the heavy metal tool would have certainly caused a fatal injury, especially to the back of the head. In this world, such an attack meant death. Such a mindset was common for people used to fighting, but how could they decide to kill so easily?
Now, Almond began to understand.
'By killing many zombies?'
Kim Woo-Jung's gang had gained experience by killing numerous zombies.
Then, someone placed a mission.
[Bubblegum has donated a whopping 500,000 won!]
[Teach Kim Woo-Jung a lesson!]
— Wow!
— Gum! Gum! Gum!
— No way!? Isn't this THE Rolling Thunder Bubblegum!?
— Bubblegum!?
— Wow, a big shot, haha.
— Rolling Thunder, haha, with a thunderstorm in his stomach, haha.
"Wow, thank you for the donation, Bubblegum."
Bubblegum donating in person was a big deal, but the donations didn’t stop there.
[StudentSupervisor has donated 100,000 won!]
[Eradicating school violence. Very commendable.]
[NeverBeenBullied has donated 200,000 Won!]
[The only good bully is a dead bully.]
Viewers apparently found great satisfaction in Kim Woo-Jung getting stabbed and continued to donate generously.
"Thank you for the donations, Student, NeverBeenBullied..."
— NeverBeenBullied, you sure about that?
— StudentSupervisor = Student???
— Nutty reading method, LOL!
While Almond read the donation messages...
Ping!
The blade embedded in Kim Woo-Jung's hand broke as he forcefully removed it.
"Ow... that must hurt."
— That's none of my business, LOL.
— You're the one who stabbed him, dude.
— LOL, talking in the third person.
Almond was momentarily in awe of Kim Woo-Jung's endurance in removing the blade in his hand.
"Ah, Aaahhhhh!"
As expected, Kim Woo-Jung's painful screams echoed from beyond the door.
Almond subtly asked the viewers, "What do you think about going out to fight?"
— Isn't that a bit dangerous?
— It's a shame to lose the barricade :(
— It doesn’t seem good to attack people yet!
— Seems like you need to accumulate experience with zombies first before fighting people.
The viewers shared Almond's thoughts. It seemed necessary to gain the mental fortitude to survive in this apocalyptic era by gaining experience through killing zombies.
Sure enough, his thrill status also came to an end.
[Thrill Status Has Ended]
It felt like it lasted around ten seconds. Almond stored away this useful information for future reference.
— When will Kim Woo-Jung die, really :(
— Someone, please set a mission to kill Kim Woo-Jung. Almond might do it if there's a mission.
— Seems like you need to kill more zombies to kill Kim Woo-Jung.
Some viewers wanted to kill Kim Woo-Jung right away. It made sense. Throughout their school life, he had beaten and bullied the main character. It wasn't just a few hits in jest, but beatings severe enough to knock someone unconscious.
Now, even in this chaotic world, he tried to destroy their barely secured sanctuary. He even seemed intent on killing them when he threw a wrench.
From Kim Ju-Hyeok's point of view, Kim Woo-Jung was a despicable figure.
"Everyone, calm down. Still, killing is..."
[Mission Registered!]
[If Kim Woo-Jung is killed, say "Chikichya" for 100,000 won]
"... It will greatly help Ju-Hyeok's emotions."
— LOL, damn.
— "Emotional Cultivation"
— Shit, LOL.
— Crazy dribble, LOL.
— This one, I agree~~~ LOL.
While everyone empathized with Kim Ju-Hyeok's feelings...
"Soboro Bread! You have to come out now!" Hyun-Ah shouted from the back.
Almond stood more toward the front of the barricades.
She cut more ropes and added, "We're going to strengthen the barricades even more! It's starting soon!"
Her plan was just beginning. Indeed, Hyun-Ah's strategy was more meticulous than expected. It reminded him of a classic old movie called Home Alone. They would inflict pain on the intruders step by step. First, Almond stabbed the hand that reached through the doorknob’s hole.
Next...
***
Outside the school snack bar, Kim Woo-Jung looked at his wound and could see through the back of his hand to the floor. He cursed profusely as blood gushed out, but the pain felt even more excruciating.
"Haah..."
"Hey, hey. That needs to be disinfected."
Disinfected? The thought of disinfecting the wound seemed horrifying. If he didn't act now, he could end up with tetanus-like complications and could possibly need to amputate his arm. In their current situation without a medical system, even a small wound could be fatal.
"Ugh... It's a good thing we took over the infirmary," Kim Woo-Jung muttered to himself as he wrapped his hand with a bandage and prepared to return.
"It seems like they've set up barricades. It's going to be tough to break through now."
Baek Joon-Soo seemed displeased and shook his head.
"There were only three of them."
He stood staunchly and his posture indicated that he didn’t plan on turning back.
Kim Woo-Jung panicked.
"... What?"
"We're ten in number. Can't we break through a barricade set up by just three people?"
"What are you talking about? The number doesn't matter. If they've stacked up all the items inside..."
"We have many mouths to feed. We have to break through somehow."
"!"
What? Many mouths to feed? Kim Woo-Jung caught on to Baek Joon-Soo's intentions.
‘This bastard...’
Their team was unnecessarily large, which meant it would still be advantageous to break through to the snack bar even if it meant sacrificing someone. In their current situation, the most suitable sacrifice was obviously the injured Kim Woo-Jung.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, someone pointed toward the back of the corridor.
"Where did these zombies come from!?"
They spotted the zombies crawling on the floor.
"Did they come from outside!?"
"What? Didn’t we lock the fire door?"
They had tightly tied up the broken fire door on their way here, so the zombies couldn’t have come from outside. These zombies came from the music room.
The zombies started crawling out one by one through the back door that Almond left open. All the noise had attracted them.
Although they had been previously neutralized, some recovered enough to crawl on their arms and a few could even walk.
Splatter!
A pool of blood stained the previously clean corridor.
"Kraaaagh!"
The zombies at the front that could walk charged toward the gang of students.
Splatter! Splatter!
"This is crazy."
"What's that? Why are they crawling?"
"What do we do...?"
The students panicked as the zombies blocked their escape route.
Baek Joon-Soo shouted, "Fight!"
Startled by his shout, the students took their positions with their weapons. The injured Kim Woo-Jung also managed to stand in place.
"Raaaagh!"
The zombies approached with their mouths wide open.
"Hit them!"
Thwack! Thwack!
The students swung their hammers and golf clubs. The heads of the zombies that approached first burst open, and they collapsed as if melting.
"Kraaagh!"
However, they couldn't react in time to the zombies crawling on the floor.
Splatter! Splatter!
The continuous attacks from below were inconvenient and the students couldn’t get rid of these zombies one by one with their golf clubs or hammers. Avoiding the attacks was even more difficult.
Crunch!
"Oh, oh...!"
One of the students was bitten, but that wasn't all. Two more students in the front were bitten.
"Damn it, fuck..."
"No, no!"
Then, Baek Joon-Soo and two others immediately struck the heads of those three.
Thump, thump, thwack—!
"Damn it. Useless brats. Watch out for the lower ones too!"
Baek Joon-Soo, with his athletic prowess, skillfully smashed the heads of the zombies crawling below.
Thump! Thwack!
"There aren’t many left!"
As the number of zombies dwindled...
Crunch!
Kim Woo-Jung's leg was bitten.
"...!?"
It seemed impossible to fight with one injured hand. However, Kim Woo-Jung quickly smashed the head of the zombie that bit him and wrapped his wounded leg. No one had noticed yet.
A short while later, Baek Joon-Soo dealt with all the zombies after their group lost three students.
He spat on the blood-drenched corridor floor and muttered, "Damn it. We just did a favor for someone else."
He realized something. They ended up clearing out the zombies for the snack bar team and even lost three members of their own in the process.
"Let's... let's go, Joon-Soo," Yoon So-Hee spoke with a face full of fear. She clearly wanted to leave immediately after experiencing the zombies blocking their escape route.
"We can't just leave like this."
Baek Joon-Soo was reluctant to abandon the snack bar when they worked so hard to clear out the area.
"The snack bar is right there."
"What are we supposed to do then... stay here and die?!"
"Yeah, we’ll die too if we just go back."
"?!"
"We need to keep watch. It's troublesome if we leave and they start barricading the fire doors again."
In reality, the snack bar team didn't have the means to barricade the two fire doors again, but Baek Joon-Soo didn’t know that.
"From now on, we'll take turns keeping watch and report via our phones. You go first."
Baek Joon-Soo pointed to one of the students with a cell phone.
"Ah? Oh... okay."
The student nodded, but clearly wasn’t keen on the idea of keeping watch alone. Disobeying the order could mean death.
"But... am I doing this alone?"
The designated student looked around as if questioning the feasibility with zombie corpses scattered everywhere. Wouldn't it make more sense for at least two or three of them to stand guard?
"Yeah. You do it alone. There are no more zombies in this building now. We'll start by blocking the front door," Baek Joon-Soo firmly reiterated the command to do it alone.
There was no need to give the students a chance to conspire by pairing them up.
"We'll switch every two hours. Come to the infirmary then. You can run away from a zombie if you encounter one, okay?"
With those words, Baek Joon-Soo turned and led his group away.
"Ah..."
Baek Joon-Soo suddenly seemed to recall something and hoisted his hammer over his shoulder. Then, he swiftly turned and looked back—
"You shouldn't have come."
Thwack!
He blew off Kim Woo-Jung's head.
"!"
All the students froze. Baek Joon-Soo approached and lifted the fallen Kim Woo-Jung’s leg. When he pulled up the hem, the bite mark from a zombie could clearly be seen on Kim Woo-Jung’s leg.
"I let you off without any pain considering our history. If anyone else gets bitten next time and keeps quiet, you won't die so kindly," Baek Joon-Soo warned them and walked back through the corridor.
***
Almond peeked through the gap in the doorknob and muttered, "Chikicha."
— LOL
— OMG
— What a freebie, LOL
— Free money!