Season 2: Chapter 55. The Original Play (1)
Almond reflected on his survival as a new day dawned in the world of Zombie School.
"I've survived quite long for a high school student in a zombie apocalypse."
However, he felt it was just the beginning and understood the playstyle of survival games. The school was just the prologue. The real survival would begin once they left for the government shelter, but the developers hadn't created that part yet. Almond was unaware of this.
"Time to leave the school."
With this thought, Almond began planning for the next phase of survival.
***
Almond gathered the students together.
"Everyone, gather around."
He stood at the highest point in the gymnasium and called out for everyone to assemble under him.
"We might feel safer now, but we don’t know when the power will go out. The bread from the snack bar won't last forever."
The school couldn't be their permanent refuge. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Right."
"The food will run out eventually."
"Yes."
Almond continued, "Let's go out once. Even if we stay in the school, we need to start getting food from outside."
There were murmurs of agreement and no one openly objected. They knew this day would come. Their path had been unclear, but now they had a guiding light in Almond who stood before them and explained the situation.
"And we have an immune person. If we reach a shelter, we can get vaccines."
Almond speculated that one immune person could cover vaccines for ten people. That was probably why the government allowed ten people per immune person into the shelters. Otherwise, the goal would be to save as many survivors as possible regardless of immunity status.
"There are fifteen of us..."
Not everyone here could be covered with one immune person.
"Can we find more immune people outside?"
The distribution of immune individuals in the Zombie School universe seemed higher than in other zombie content. It wasn't stated explicitly, but information gathered from YouTube and portal sites suggested this.
"How much longer can we use our phones?"
Almond sensed they didn't have much time left.
"Let's move quickly. First, we need to make more weapons at the construction site."
"Okay!"
"Yes!"
The students efficiently moved toward the construction site to begin their tasks.
***
The students devoted all their efforts to making arrows and spears at the construction site. Everyone focused on making weapons except for a minimal guard to prevent zombies from being attracted by the noise. Some were also assigned to ensure the workers had enough food.
"Hey! Bread delivery! Move it, will you?!"
"Sorry..."
Ironically, the remnants of Baek Joon-Soo's gang handled the bread delivery. They carried things back and forth like slaves. They received some food in return, albeit only half the amount others received.
"Eat that and then move these iron pipes over here."
"Okay."
They didn’t have long for mealtime. The students armed themselves with rigorous efficiency, dedicating their entire day to weapon production. By late afternoon, they finished making forty arrows for Almond and another archer along with ten more spears. Now, each student could wield a solid steel spear.
Finally, they completed all the preparations.
Almond addressed the group under the dim glow of the evening sun, "It's time to start exploring."
He pointed at Soo-Hyun standing beside him.
"Uh... The exploration will consist of groups of five. Our goal is to find a route to the shelter. We must return before the day ends..."
Soo-Hyun signaled and the class president unfolded a large map. He had prepared this map in anticipation that they would lose phone service soon while the others busily made weapons.
"We need to find livable locations between here and the shelter, identify where mutant zombies might be, and scout potential food sources."
Soo-Hyun then explained the crucial rules they had to follow.
"The rules will evolve, but for now... Rule 1: Never bring anyone back to the school. We can't verify if outsiders are infected, so we can't risk it."
The students nodded in understanding.
"The exception is immune individuals. If you find one and can communicate via phone, inform us immediately. If not, your priority shifts to bringing that immune person to our school."
Having an additional immune person would significantly benefit their situation.
"Rule 2: You must reach and return from your assigned exploration area. Mark it with this spray. If you can't make it, you'll need to explain why."
"Rule 3: Leave as much evidence as possible. If phones work, take videos and photos. If not, bring back something from there as proof."
Soo-Hyun placed several spray cans on the table, indicating that they were essential for marking territories.
His well-organized exploration plan impressed Almond.
"I didn't prepare this. It seems the game is programmed this way."
— Soo-Hyun's so smart!
— Looks like the game itself is guiding this.
— Now it really feels like a survival game!
— The exploration will be exciting.
The students clapped in appreciation after Soo-Hyun explained all the rules. He blushed and quickly exited the stage. Then it was Almond's turn to assign teams for the day's exploration.
"Today's exploration team leader is me, and the other four will be..."
Almond was about to manually select the team when suddenly...
Ding.
[Exploration Journal]
A new window appeared.
— Oh, finally an interface?
— What's this? Lol
— Ah, right, this is a game!
— Only now they give us this, lol
The game had never provided any helpful interface before, but now it offered an exploration journal.
[Exploration Team Composition]
Upon opening it, Almond saw a window for team composition that listed the student's names:
[List]
[Lee Gil-Soo]
[So Yoo-Jung]
[Ji Do-Hoon]
...
Each name had space for players to make notes. For example:
[Kim Hyun-Ah]
[Store clerk. Adult. Not particularly skilled at anything. Can lift the spirit of others. Very loyal.]
— Lol, why such notes?
— No particular skills, haha.
— So funny!
— Poor noona...
— Sorry for her...
"Nice. Getting something like this means the game will probably get harder from here..."
The previously unhelpful game became a bit more accommodating, implying that the challenges ahead would escalate.
"Anyway, let's choose the team."
He selected four to accompany him using the system window instead of verbally announcing it. The chosen students stepped forward.
"Everyone, get ready with your weapons. Let's head out."
Their names currently had no notes next to them, but surely that would change after today's exploration.
***
Many students gathered to help with the preparations perhaps because it was their first exploration.
"Take an extra loaf of bread just in case."
Hyun-Ah kept stuffing bread into Almond's bag.
"Noona, this is enough for three days of isolation..."
"Just take it. You like Soboro bread, don't you?"
She seemed particularly worried about Almond, though she didn't openly express it. Soo-Hyun also approached and sneakily handed him something.
"Almond, take this."
It was a metal rod... No, a steel arrow.
"You can probably shoot this. I couldn't make many, just three. They're much stronger than the wooden arrows, but harder to shoot."
Clank.
Behind him, other students brought a cart with something on it.
It was a bow.
"You'll need this to shoot those arrows."
The compound bow could deliver much greater force with its pulley system.
"I've reinforced the school's practice compound bows. The original ones were practically toys."
"Why go to all this trouble?"
The steel arrows would have been more than enough to effectively handle zombies. All this extra preparation seemed unnecessary, but Almond appreciated it nonetheless.
"Who knows what we'll encounter outside. There might be something even tougher than the one on the second floor.”
— Pizza Bread, so touching...
— So kind...
— Legendary Pizza Bread
[PizzaBreadDateMe has donated 10,000 won!]
[Soo-Hyun... It's so touching]
The other exploration team members were also surrounded by friends offering support and encouragement.
"Be back by twelve o'clock."
"Just run if you see anything weird, okay?"
"Did you pack your phone?"
There seemed to be a lot of concern. It was just a half-day exploration, but they were leaving the school for the first time since the zombie outbreak.
"We're off."
"Let's go."
The team, equipped with their food, weapons, and communication devices, stood up from their place in the gym. As they reached the school gates, Almond double-checked his arrows.
"Twenty arrows..."
It felt like too many, but it made sense to be well-prepared for their first exploration.
"Lead the way, Do-Hoon."
He turned to Ji Do-Hoon, the navigator with a phone and a power bank. Almond asked him to open the map shared from Soo-Hyun's account, which had potential bases marked along the route to the shelter.
"Our destination today is a large supermarket about two subway stops from here."
Following Do-Hoon's guidance, Almond and the students stepped beyond the school gates for the first time since the outbreak began. It seemed like a good spot to end the stream.
"Today was fun."
— ?
— No, it's already time?
— Don't go!
— Stop!
It was already past midnight. Time flew by after he dealt with the bully gang. There was even more to do in the game now.
"Starting tomorrow, we'll begin exploring. It should be a different kind of excitement."
— But if we can go outside, doesn’t that mean the game is huge???
— Can't wait for tomorrow, haha.
"Till next time!"
Almond paused just as he was about to end the stream.
"Wait a moment. I'll raid someone."
— A raid?
— What's the occasion?
— Nice!
— Refugee toss, lol
— Please don't go!
***
A man gasped for air while clutching a baseball bat as he ran down a school corridor and reached the end.
"Phew... Ah, damn it...!"
He turned around, resigned to whatever fate awaited him.
"Bring it on! Come at me! But one at a time, please!"
"Groooar..."
"Screeeech!"
Before him were numerous zombies...
"Hey, I said one at a time... huh?"
[Almond has raided you with 18,452 viewers!]
Such a message popped up on his screen.