Season 2: Chapter 246: Group Project (2)
Only a desk stood between Almond and the zombie with bubbling acidic fluid.
Rumble...
As he watched the acidic fluid bubbling, it seemed like the desk would melt like ice cream. Almond had no means to block the attack. That wasn’t all.
[Panic]
[Physical movement will be slowed by more than 90%]
His body, damned as it was, experienced a panic state in this crucial moment. Almond had struggled considerably during the early access period of Zombie School since his character had a frail body.
Was this a similar concept? Wasn't his character ostracized and bullied back then?
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
Eventually, the zombie spewed out the acidic fluid.
— So cool
— Failing right from the start? Lol
— Ah, panic!!
— ??? I'm a fan!
Ssssss...
His flesh disappeared in an instant like bubbles, revealing white bones, and his vision quickly dimmed. His body collapsed.
Then, it went completely dark.
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling di~ng ding-a-ling ding-a-ling di~ng??
The school bell rang again.
‘Huh?’
***
"Yawn. What's next? Language class?"
"Ah. Nap time again."
"It's Korean, right? Not math? I haven't borrowed the book for math yet..."
Almond opened his eyes to the sound of students chatting.
'It's a classroom... a normal one.'
This time, it was a classroom he knew well and not something from a horror movie. After class, the students were laughing and chatting.
"Ah~ I'm sleepy~~~"
"When do we go home~?"
"What's at home?"
"He pretends to go home. This guy. He's going to the PC cafe."
Morning sunlight bathed the classroom. It felt warm and peaceful, for now at least.
— ???
— Eh?
— Regression…
— Yu Sang-Hyeon creating elites!?
— Ah, it's the prologue lol
The chat speculated that he had returned to the past. Then, was what he saw earlier the future?
"Hey. How long are you going to sleep? Get up. Let’s go to the snack bar."
Someone grabbed Almond's shoulder and shook him.
[Oh Ji-Hoon]
He checked the name tag that read Oh Ji-Hoon.
Ji-Hoon made eye contact with him and asked again, "Aren't you going to the snack bar? Where's your name tag? If the teacher catches you, it’ll be a headache~"
Ji-Hoon's tone sounded a bit cheeky, but he seemed genuinely friendly and wasn’t a bully.
Ding.
[Find your name tag.]
The game seemed more friendly than before. Almond thought so as he searched his pockets. He quickly found it in his right pocket, but the name tag was blank without a name.
Ding.
[Set your name.]
This was where he named himself.
[Almond]
"What's this? Almond, why do you keep your name tag in your pocket? Anyway, let's go to the snack bar."
"Ah, right."
Almond stood up to memorize the school's layout and wanted to look for the other players.
Then, this message appeared.
[Find other teammates who had the same dream.]
— Why does the message sound like that? lol
— Isn't it like textbook language? Because it's a school? lol
— Oh. It must be referring to Tako and Gum.
Finding his teammates was the first task.
Almond followed Ji-Hoon to the snack bar. Perhaps they would all meet at the snack bar.He went downstairs and headed to the snack bar while following Ji-Hoon.
It was a familiar place.
'These are the stairs where we transported bread with the snack bar girl.'
The scale felt a bit larger, but the school’s structure remained almost identical to the previous version.
However—
"What's this?" Almond muttered to himself unknowingly.
He encountered one of the large mirrors usually found on the school stairways.
— Eh?
— Oh what? Almond's face is in the game
— Different concept from before
— But is that Almond? Looks a bit different
A sharp nose and round but sharply ending eyes, a jawline with a decent weight, and shoulders chiseled from archery…
'It's my face.'
It was definitely him, but a bit different.
'It is, but...'
Was it a rendering difference? No, the level of technology they had could certainly make it identical. Then why is it slightly different? Would there be a reason to deliberately make it different?
— Ah. He got younger!
— Wow, high school Almond is so…
— So cute lol
— Crazy, he got younger? Crazy, crazy
— Is that, oh my… drool, am I drooling here? It's lovely!
Yes, Almond had appeared with his high school face in the game. This was one of the differences from the early access version. The graphics engine now backtracked through the user's past to implement the face from that era as accurately as possible.
"What are you doing, dude? What's with staring at your ugly face? What are you looking at?" Ji-Hoon urged him to move faster from beside him.
— ?? Ugly?
— Typical high school behavior: Friends never say you're handsome even if they’re dying lol
— Who's calling him ugly? This guy looks like a sweet potato
Despite the viewers’ outrage at the comment, Almond merely nodded absentmindedly due to other thoughts.
"Ah. Yeah. Yeah."
He was thinking that the faces of his teammates also changed, which would confuse him.
'If it's showing our high school faces... Well, I don't look much different...'
Normally, finding Takoyaki in Zombie School wouldn't be a hard task. He'd be the only bald one. Now, it was a different story. What about high school Takoyaki? Was he bald back then?
While Almond contemplated this, they had already reached the basement with the snack bar.
"Ah! Just a bite!"
"Crazy dude! You eat the sausage bread!"
"Noona! You have to give us lemonade too!"
It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but students noisily bustled around.
"Wow... We have to get through that. What do we do?"
— lol, no need for zombies
— So this is why it's a zombie game??
— Did you know? In the official launch, a special zombie called the snack bar zombie appears
— It's nostalgic, wow.
Ji-Hoon scratched his head anxiously.
A boy with lush hair greeted Almond while they hesitated, "Hey! Almond! Join our line here!"
At first, Almond thought it was just an NPC. However, the boy’s tone and facial features gave it away. It was Takoyaki.
— A total transformation
— No way, lush-hair Takoyaki lol
— Wow, can't get used to this!!
"Uh, Tako bro?"
"Yeah, come here!"
Ji-Hoon excitedly pushed Almond as if saying, 'Let's go. Let's go.'
They joined Takoyaki’s line.
"Turns out we were in the same class. Almond, your face is easy to recognize. Where's Bubblegum?"
Someone suddenly spoke out at that moment, "I'm here. So you guys were here too?"
He popped out from among the many students.
Pop.
It almost seemed like he really made such a sound as he smoothly emerged from the crowd. The student was neatly dressed with fair skin.
"Wow," Almond exclaimed without realizing it.
Bubblegum was still plump, but he had half the weight compared to the real Bubblegum.
— Bubblegum's popular days, wow
— Bro...?
— Wow, how did they implement this??? It's amazing.
A notification sounded as soon as they all gathered.
Ding.
[Well done!]
[Classmates who dreamed the same dream - Completed]
Following that, a new quest appeared.
Ding.
[Discuss the dream with your teammates.]
— lol Well done lol
— The school concept is spot on lol
— Aren't we supposed to talk about dreams?
They had to discuss the dream, but they couldn't just start talking recklessly.
[If other classmates hear this ridiculous story, you will lose credibility]
[If your credibility is low, NPCs will not believe your words and will not follow your commands.]
This game wasn't just about surviving alone. They had to lead other students to survive as much as possible, so losing credibility would cause significant difficulties. They had to be alone first.
'That's simple.'
Almond nudged Ji-Hoon and said, "Hey, Ji-Hoon. Go back to the classroom."
—...?
— Old school habits coming back...
— lmao, does he really think that will work?
"What? What are you talking about? You crazy? I've been waiting to buy bread!"
"Just go."
— lol Just go lol
— Fact: If it was a real school, he'd have gone without a word.
— Just go lol
Ji-Hoon only yelled out even more out of frustration despite Almond's persistent urging, "Ah! I'm going to eat bread and then go! If anyone's going, you go!!"
Surprisingly, it was Bubblegum who calmed the almost-possessed Ji-Hoon.
"Hey, hey! Calm down! That's why I bought several!"
Bubblegum distributed bread to Ji-Hoon and the other students near them.
Ji-Hoon's face, which had turned red, quickly calmed down.
"Uh... what!? You're really just giving it away? This is the loyalty of Class 3!"
It sounded like his likability was increasing.
Swish.
"Wow, thanks."
"I'll enjoy it."
Once they received their bread, all the students returned to the classroom first. It was that simple.
"Alright."
Clap!
Takoyaki clapped once to gather their attention.
"Now that they’re gone, let’s talk quickly. Both of you..." Takoyaki nodded at the two faces and started speaking, "Did you see any running zombies?"
Running zombies? Was there such a thing? No matter how much he tried to remember, Almond had never seen such a thing. It wasn't even the right setting. All he had seen in the classroom was a zombie waking up like a corpse and spitting acid.
Could he have unknowingly pressed the skip button? Almond, who had experienced unique progressions in this game, even considered this possibility.
"Uh? Run... Did they run? Hmm..."
Bubblegum also seemed unsure.
"Huh? Didn't you see them? Some zombies were running around. Like... trying to block the main entrance of a building with bars and failing. Then they ran away..."
"What are you talking about, Tako? It was the playground."
"... What?"
Almond interjected, "Uh, I was in the classroom."
— Are the dreams different??
— What, different dreams?
— Couldn't even dream properly NG
“What…?”
Takoyaki awkwardly stroked his hair and tilted his head.
"Ah."
Clap.
He clapped as if realizing something.
"We each received different hints."
"!"
"That's right. It's only natural that our dreams are different. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any reason to ask us to share them."
"Ah. So you mean we compare our dreams and prepare for what might happen in the future?"
"That’s right!"
— Oh...
— Game experience is intense
— As expected from the prophetic octopus
Takoyaki suggested a plausible hypothesis.
The only dream Almond had was dying in panic due to a zombie spitting acid. This information was hardly enough to save students during a zombie outbreak, but if each of their dreams was different?
That changed things. By combining the information from each dream, they could find some direction.
"Bubblegum said he was at the playground and I was at the main entrance. Almond?"
"I was in the classroom, but everyone was dead. I'm not sure if I was knocked out or sleeping. When I woke up, I ran into a zombie spitting something and died."
"Spitting what?"
"That... like hydrochloric acid."
"Ah..."
“Oof,” Bubblegum seemed to have a weak stomach and almost gagged. However, he continued chewing on his bread despite that.
"To put these dreams together... we need to know the sequence of events. The order in which things happened."
"Right. Otherwise, it's all separate."
"Almond said the students were already dead at his scene. What about you, bro? Were they mostly zombies?"
"No. No, it wasn't. There were more students. Just as the zombies were starting to enter the school."
"Ah."
Takoyaki nodded as if he roughly understood.
"So the order would be your dream, then mine, and then Almond's."
"Ooh..."
Bubblegum pretended to be impressed and scratched his head.
"But... why is it like that?"
At Bubblegum’s question, Almond quietly perked up his ears. He didn't know either.
— Why is he asking? lol
— lol
— That’s classic Gum~
— Almond looking around quietly waiting for an answer lol
— Almond~ I can see your eyeballs rolling~
— It doesn’t seem like this team project will be easy.