Season 2: Chapter 33. Kim Ju-Hyeok’s Accomplishment (2)
Kim Ju-Hyeok, the scaredy-cat, had never properly stood up to Baek Joon-Soo's gang. He was lucky if he didn't wet himself in front of them. However, what if it wasn't Baek Joon-Soo's gang?
‘Maybe it'll work.’
Almond wasn't certain. It was just mere speculation, but he should be able to overpower anyone who wasn't part of Baek Joon-Soo's main gang.
For instance, Almond had a normal conversation with the class president early on in the game. He even brushed past him once and nudged his shoulder.
Almond made his decision.
"I'll go this time."
"You, you're going?" Hyun-Ah asked with wide eyes. "No, why? Do you need to use the restroom again?"
— LOL
— LMAO
— Nutty YouTube fan Kim Hyun-Ah - :(
— Hyun-Ah watches YouTube too!
Sang-Hyeon raised his hand, shocked by the game's excessive AI.
"No!"
— LOL
— No!
— Strong denial, LOL
Almond denied it too strongly and Hyun-Ah looked at him oddly.
“Okay, okay...why are you being so..."
Soo-Hyun interjected with a heavy heart, "Then why do you want to go out? It's too dangerous outside. We already talked and we thought it would be best to wait until dawn when they're asleep, then ambush the lookout."
Almond's decision didn’t seem so smart judging from how the NPCs tried to stop him, but since when did Almond play the game wisely?
Even though he won the LIL tournament, he never knew when the first minion spawned and how long it took. Despite that, he led his team to victory. The NPCs couldn’t persuade him.
He ignored their continued nagging and checked the time.
"Dawn is too late."
Waiting until dawn would waste too much of his streaming time. Above all, Almond didn’t prefer to hold out in one place and farm.
During his Battle Large era, surviving to him meant killing the enemy.
— Hey! The stream won’t be any fun!
— This is the meta-streamer
— I miss Battle Large :(
Soo-Hyun asked incredulously, "What? Too late? Do you have a dinner appointment or something?"
— Quick thinker, sheesh~
— ??? Yes~ I have a dinner date with Raina~ You nerd~
— Raina: (Surprised)
Of course, he didn’t have any dinner appointments in this situation.
Almond came up with another excuse, "Um... I think now is the right time after being attacked by zombies."
"That also makes sense..."
Surprisingly, Soo-Hyun nodded in agreement. It seemed he was persuaded.
"Then, let's remove the barricade."
***
A student stood still in the middle of the hallway filled with zombie corpses. It was the first watcher that Baek Joon-Soo chose. His badge read Jang Seong-Soo.
He felt anxious at first, but seemed a bit better now. However, he kept turning his neck uncomfortably.
"Ugh... My neck..."
Baek Joon-Soo and his gang occupied all the beds in the infirmary, so Jang Seong-Soo had to sleep on the floor with Chocopie box wrappers as bedding.
He kept turning his neck despite the redness from rubbing his neck too much.
Crack...
It sounded like his bones had readjusted.
"Oh."
However, that sound didn’t come from his neck.
Whirring...
"?"
His gaze slowly turned toward the source of the sound.
Creak...!
The convenience store door slowly slid open.
Creak...!
A loud noise could be heard from inside the store.
"What's that?"
He approached the store with his bat.
Boom!
The convenience store door rattled.
He took another step closer, tightly gripping his bat.
It was a foolish move. He should have taken out his cell phone instead of holding on to his bat.
Creak.
The store door opened and he made a careless mistake after seeing the face that appeared.
"Kim Ju-Hyeok."
Jang Seong-Soo smirked.
Kim Ju-Hyeok was known as the weakest in the class and was always being picked on. Moreover, he didn't have any significant weapon. The broomstick he held couldn’t be considered a weapon unless teachers used it for discipline.
"Just surrender," Jang Seong-Soo muttered and calculated when to strike Kim Ju-Hyeok. If he killed this guy, his own rank would increase. Within their group, killing meant rising in rank.
“You should listen to me. Baek Joon-Soo isn’t human anymore. You're going to die—"
‘Huh?’
Jang Seong-Soo only realized too late.
Kim Ju-Hyeok was in a spear-throwing stance. He was always the weakest in class, but now...
‘I have to dodge...’
If Jang Seong-Soo didn't dodge, he felt like he'd die.
Fear.
Facing Kim Ju-Hyeok, an unfamiliar emotion froze him. His legs, as if stuck in thick mud, wouldn't move. It was because of that guy's eyes. That guy clearly saw him as prey. The 100% confidence that he'd win made him feel even weaker.
Instead of the bat, Jang Seong-Soo foolishly held up his cell phone. He decided he couldn't win and thought he should call for backup.
The weak typically gathered in numbers. Perhaps this was a wise decision, but not in this case. The cell phone had been the actual target all along.
Whoosh!
After the whooshing sound, a burning pain spread across Jang Seong-Soo’s wrist.
Thunk!
"Arghhhh!"
A wooden spear was now embedded in his wrist. It felt like his bones had been welded together.
"Ah, ah...!" Jang Seong-Soo screamed and fell to his knees.
His legs gave out, his heartbeat skyrocketed, and his breathing hastened. He felt as if he was hyperventilating. Even fighting zombies didn’t feel like this even though they looked human.
Jang Seong-Soo had no aversion to killing people. Why couldn’t he fight back against this one?
Kim Ju-Hyeok approached slowly and looked down at Jang Seong-Soo.
"What is this? Why are you giving the phone to me? Is this some difficulty adjustment?"
"You seem to have a dumb setting."
The way he spoke was strange, but the words were undoubtedly insulting.
Then, Almond suddenly realized.
"Oh. The mic channel is..."
— LOL!
— This is on purpose, right?
— Lol, he’s questioning the dumb setting of the character with the dumb setting on.
— Verbal abuse
— Physical and verbal abuse!
— This is the mid-laner!
Almond mistakenly spoke in the game chat instead of the stream channel, but he didn't care. The opponent wasn't an important NPC anyway. Making a mistake with his words didn't matter.
He snatched the blood-stained phone from the opponent. The internet and communication systems still worked, so this phone was valuable.
“There’s no problem using this... but..."
He tried to unlock the phone that required face ID.
“Oh, it’s locked. It needs a face ID.”
His gaze shifted to Jang Seong-Soo, who was still clutching his wrist.
— Crazy, lol.
— Why are you looking at his face after realizing you need face ID? lol!
— Are you gonna steal it?
??— Hey, nut! You should control yourself!
— Lool~ Jang Seong-Soo must be hella scared.
"What are you doing?" Almond asked amid the chaos.
Jang Seong-Soo slowly raised the bat. He rose abruptly and decided to swing it.
Swoosh!
"Give it back, you loser!"
It wasn't a surprise attack at all. Almond saw him in plain view.
Obviously, such an attack wouldn't work on Almond. He simply moved closer without even dodging.
"Huh?"
Thud...!
Almond blocked the bat swing. The heavy bat couldn't swing properly when he blocked the point of force.
"Hey, let go! This fucking—"
Thud!
Almond's palm struck Jang Seong-Soo's throat and silenced him.
"Cough! Choke! Hack!"
Jang Seong-soo drooled from the pain.
Then, Almond kicked him in the abdomen.
Thud!
Jang Seong-Soo flew back and rolled over and over.
In the meantime, Almond grabbed the wooden spear he had thrown earlier. He targeted a vital point and struck Jang Seong-Soo with the blunt end.
"Gasp... Hoo..."
Jang Seong-Soo's eyes rolled back and he fainted. All this happened in the time that it would take to swing a bat once.
Almond instantly struck him at three vital spots. It was too much for a mere student to bear.
— That was so easy.
— Wow, that's insane.
— Almond would be great in a fighting game.
— Lit!
“Darn. You shouldn't have fainted."
Almond grabbed the slackened Jang Seong-soo by the collar and slapped him on the cheek.
Slap!
"Open your eyes."
"Uh, ugh... Please, spare me. I was wrong, please."
"No. Just open your eyes."
"Please...! I'm just a nobody."
"Just open your eyes."
"Huh...? Okay."
Almond shoved the cell phone close to the awake Jang Seong-Soo's face. The phone unlocked as it recognized his face.
Next, Almond went into the security settings to change the face ID, but that required another verification.
"Now, one more time."
Everything went smoothly.
Almond set his own face as the new face ID.
Click.
He tested it using the lock button and the phone perfectly unlocked.
"Done."
[DamienGone has donated 10,000 won!]
[“Raina” completed.]
— LOL, the phone is just like Raina.
— Raina LOL.
— Phone-Raina LOL.
— Rai... Why only the phone...?
"Thanks for the donation."
— No name, LOL
— Don't even think of being called by your full name with just 10,000 won.
— LOL.
For some reason, viewers named the phone after Raina.
***
"Wow! Soboro! You're incredible!"
Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun came out of the store after he subdued Jang Seong-Soo.
"We'll tie him up!"
She came out with a bundle of ropes and expertly tied Jang Seong-Soo.
— It’s like packaging a delivery, LOL.
— They look like they wouldn't feel anything even if they threw him into an incinerator, LOL.
— That's right, do that.
Jang Seong-Soo asked as he was being tied up, "Um, um... What about the bathroom?"
He couldn't move like this, let alone go to the restroom.
Hyun-Ah looked down at the helpless Jang Seong-Soo and replied with a bright smile, "Ah. Bathroom? Don't worry about that!"
Jang Seong-Soo felt relieved. He didn't think they would deny him a bathroom break.
"You won't need to!"
"...?"
"Why do you need to poop when you won’t be eating at all?"
"!?"
Jang Seong-Soo turned pale.
— Insane, LOL.
— Pro troll, LOL.
— What is he talking about lol? You will starve to death!
[EggPlant has donated 2,000 won!]
[Isn’t General Hyun-Ah an OP wizard character? She has rope binding skills, college level intelligence, and mental attacks too.]
— Rope CC LOL.
— LOL.
— LOL, it's real.
After tying up Jang Seong-Soo, Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun wondered where to put him. They didn't have to think for long.
"Hmm. The music room."
They decided to throw Jang Seong-Soo into the music room.
"Let's go to the music room!"
***
A while later, Almond continued examining the cell phone he acquired. He hoped to find some information and discovered a group chat with Baek Joon-Soo's gang.
[Construction team. Ready?]
[Yeah, with this, we can unlock it.]
[(Photo)]
[Come now. We have to be up by 2.]
[OK, OK.]
[When is the next shift?]
[In an hour.]
Almond read their messages and pondered.
Creak. Creak.
He could hear Soo-Hyun and Hyun-Ah in the background as they used the furniture from the music room to form more barricades.
"Wow. We can make a lot more barricades since they cleared out all the zombies."
"We can block both the east and west sides with this."
Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun giggled and were seemingly pleased, but Almond wasn't listening.
[Raid the snack bar at 2 AM, sweet LOL]
[They'll be so surprised]
[It's a damn sausage bread party tonight]
"Wait... Stop."
The problem wasn't building more barricades. Baek Joon-Soo’s gang had found a way to break in.
"Huh? Why? You rest. We got this."
"It's not that."
Almond pointed to the snack bar store where they had holed up all day.
"Pack as much bread as possible."
— Why is he taking the bread?
— Is he really doing a bread run? LOL.
— Bread bomb drop, LOL.
Everyone, including the NPCs, felt puzzled by Almond's sudden demand to collect all the bread.
"What?"
"What's going on?"
Almond scrolled further and concluded, "We have to leave now."