Chapter 27
I groped at my eye with one hand.
The heat beneath my fingers was searing.
I rubbed at it, but the dazzling gold reflected in the windowpane didn’t fade.
What the hell is this?
I was frozen, panicking, when a sharp shout cut through.
"Trainee!"
The Chef Zombie was moving again.
Its leg crippled, the Chef Zombie crawled toward me across the floor, face-down.
’Crawled’ wasn’t quite the right word — its speed was so insane it was almost running.
I backed away, ejecting the magazine and clearing the chamber.
My hands trembled a little, but I didn’t mess up.
The round from the chamber hit the steel floor with a hollow clang.
I shoved the Glock back into my sling bag and shouted.
"Please resume the repairs!"
I couldn’t check on Mo Haein or Kwak Hanmuk — I had to keep my eyes on the Chef Zombie.
But I could tell the repairs had restarted.
The halted progress bar on the system window was climbing again.
Current Repair Progress: 69%
The Chef Zombie was noticeably slower than before, making it much easier to deal with.
But my own reaction speed had dropped too.
My mind was tangled up over the golden eyes, and the system window kept popping up, blocking my vision.
[You feel a sense of alienation from yourself, but soon realize this is nothing.]
[Because you are ■■ ■.]
[This is merely a natural process of growth as a ■.]
[However, ■■ ■ must still remain hidden.]
[To keep the secret, you believe that now is the most perfect — and most appropriate — time to register ’Mo Haein’ and ’Kwak Hanmuk.’]
[Would you like to register ’Mo Haein’ and ’Kwak Hanmuk’?]
I shut down every window except the repair progress.
First, I had to survive this.
Dead, it wouldn’t matter what color my eyes flashed.
’Two jackstones left.’
I planned to save the last one.
I’d used the gun too — I couldn’t afford any more situations that would drain the Chef Zombie’s health.
But Phase 3 was about to start.
The moment I thought it, the progress bar climbed, as if it had been waiting.
Current Repair Progress: 70%
This was the trickiest stretch — from the moment the emergency generator repairs hit 70%.
The Chef Zombie, which had been crawling on the floor, suddenly began convulsing as it entered Phase 2.
"Grrrk... grrrk..."
Veins bulged across its body as it twisted in apparent agony.
The zombie’s blue blood vessels swelled grotesquely, and it cracked its joints one by one — ttuk, ttuk, ttuk — as if testing a newborn body.
Then it slowly turned its head toward the emergency generator.
The generator, now 70% repaired, was roaring with noise.
"KIIIIEEEE!"
The Chef Zombie let out a high-pitched scream and crawled at full speed, its apron dragging across the floor.
Toward the emergency generator. Not me.
This was why Phase 2 was so difficult.
The Chef Zombie always attacks the emergency generator.
No matter how much aggro the player draws, it breaks free in seconds. Even using a jackstone only buys three seconds.
So in Phase 2, melee combat was the best — the only — strategy.
I quickly pulled the carabiner with the climbing rope from my sling bag and clipped it to a steel shelf.
Then I looped the rope around a thick pipe, crossing it, and finally tied it around my waist.
After checking the knot, I chased after the Chef Zombie.
And grabbed its leg.
The left leg — the one I’d shot in the knee, leaving it barely functional.
It was wearing rubber boots, so I almost just pulled the shoe off, but I quickly grabbed higher up and hugged the limb tight.
"KKEUGH! KKEEE!"
The Chef Zombie thrashed violently, but it didn’t attack me.
In Phase 2, as long as the damage didn’t exceed a certain threshold, the emergency generator remained the priority target.
Dragging me along, the Chef Zombie pushed forward with one leg and both arms.
I was yanked across the floor until the rope around my waist went taut.
"...!"
Pain crushed through my entire body, like I was being torn apart.
I gritted my teeth and planted my feet against a dented section of the steel floor.
A clammy sensation touched my skin.
The dark red fluid seeping from the Chef Zombie’s leg was soaking into me.
Under normal circumstances, this strength would be beyond my ability to handle.
The rope was helping, barely, but I clearly couldn’t hold out much longer.
’Just a little more...’
Sweat streaming down my face blurred my vision.
I blinked hard, barely clearing my sight, and finally saw the leading digit change.
Current Repair Progress: 90%
The moment repairs hit 90%, the Chef Zombie began convulsing.
Its whole body trembled, limbs twitching grotesquely.
A precursor to Phase 3.
In Phase 3, the Chef Zombie enters a berserk state.
Part of its finger bones grow into kitchen knife shapes. Speed and power both skyrocket. It unleashes a barrage of attacks across the entire generator room with its transformed body.
Its leg was injured, but judging by how fast it had been crawling earlier, the wound probably wouldn’t reduce its berserk attack power much.
In other words, it would reach a level I couldn’t handle.
This was happening because, originally, Kwak Hanmuk was supposed to fight the Chef Zombie.
But the situation had already spiraled, and I had to try something.
I pulled away from the Chef Zombie, tearing off my work gloves and tossing them aside.
Then I took out the fourth jackstone.
To attempt something I’d never been able to do in the game.
’Back then, it was physically impossible.’
But now — maybe it was possible.
I gripped the jackstone hard. And pried the plastic casing apart.
Click. The jackstone opened.
My nerves, wound tight, relaxed just a little.
In the original game, this item couldn’t be disassembled.
When I checked the item, its description had changed too.
[Broken Jackstone: PLEASE! Use this only for playing jackstones!]
I poured the small metal filling fragments from inside the jackstone into my palm, then clenched them together with the plastic casing.
And I flung them in a scatter — away from the Chef Zombie, where its body transformation was about to begin.
The plastic casing and metal fragments scattered everywhere with faint sounds.
Compared to the diesel generator’s roar, it was nothing more than the rustle of falling leaves.
But the Chef Zombie reacted instantly.
Its convulsing body froze. The physical transformation stopped.
The guttural cries that had been rattling from its throat vanished completely, leaving only the engine noise filling the generator room.
The Chef Zombie stood frozen, as if glitched — then slowly turned its head.
Its gaze landed on the scattered jackstone fragments.
"Ah... ah..."
A different sound escaped the Chef Zombie. Unlike anything before.
It shifted its gaze helplessly across the fragments scattered everywhere.
Its head jerked wildly — up, down, left, right.
Then, abruptly, it began to crawl.
Not toward the emergency generator. Not targeting me.
Just crawling everywhere to pick up the scattered jackstone fragments.
But its hands — already mid-transformation — were lumpy with protruding bone.
Designed solely for destruction, they couldn’t pick up the tiny metal fillings.
At most, it managed to scoop up the plastic casing and shove it in its mouth.
While the Chef Zombie repeated futile motions trying to gather the fragments, the repair progress steadily climbed.
Finally, Kwak Hanmuk tightened the last screw.
Current Repair Progress: 100%
[Emergency generator repairs complete!]
A cheerful notification popped up along with the system window.
The moment I confirmed the completion window, Kwak Hanmuk grabbed the screwdriver in his hand and shot to his feet.
I blocked his path as he lunged toward the Chef Zombie.
No — tried to block.
"Captain Kwak — ugh!"
I’d forgotten about the rope around my waist.
I couldn’t move forward and fell backward instead.
My tailbone throbbed from the hard landing, but I had no time to check and shouted.
"Don’t kill it!"
Kwak Hanmuk, who had been about to stomp the writhing Chef Zombie’s back and drive the screwdriver into its nape, looked at me.
His gaze was razor-sharp.
I froze for a moment, then slowly moved my lips.
"The jackstones you brought me — they belonged to the little one’s father."
"So?"
Kwak Hanmuk asked, one foot still planted on the Chef Zombie’s back.
"Is that a reason to let the boss zombie live?"
"We’re going to develop a cure. It can be restored."
"Is it related to the True Ending?"
"...Yes."
Kwak Hanmuk’s eyes were still fixed on me. I slowly added an explanation.
"The sub-quest you got at the elementary school — it connects to the True Ending."
Kwak Hanmuk grinned and tossed the screwdriver into the air.
It spun end over end before landing back in his grip.
"You should’ve said so from the start."
It’s not actually related.
Whether the Chef Zombie dies here or not won’t affect the development of the cure or the vaccine.
But I wanted to save it.
Because I’d played DeZonDeal countless times and never once succeeded at this.
◆ Sub-Quest: Finding the Little One’s Father.
Accept the quest from the little one at the elementary school, and you receive a jackstone to use in the boss fight.
You’re supposed to use the jackstone to defeat the boss — so the quest was doomed to fail.
I’d tried everything, wondering if there was a way to succeed — starting with not using the jackstone at all — but I failed every time.
All I ever got was the ending where the little one, hearing of their father’s death, burst into tears and asked me to find him.
DeZonDeal might be a zombie apocalypse setting, but since I’d decided to make a cure this time, I wanted a more complete happy ending.
Of course, I can’t save every zombie.
’But I can save one or two that I know.’
As long as it doesn’t interfere with clearing the game.
And anyway — even if I don’t kill it, as long as the generator repairs succeed, it counts as a victory.
I flicked my eyes toward the system window floating in the corner.
[You have won the battle against the Chef Zombie!]
Kwak Hanmuk tossed the screwdriver and caught it again.
"Got a way to restrain this thing?"
"Yes. If you could just — keep it pinned a little longer, I’d appreciate it."
I quickly untied the climbing rope from my waist.
As I turned to unclip the carabiner from the steel shelf, Mo Haein blocked my path.
"Hold on."
She reached out toward me.
I stared at her approaching hand, tense.
Something I’d forgotten in the chaos with the Chef Zombie belatedly came back to me.
My eyes had flashed gold.
Mo Haein grabbed the zipper of the sling bag I wore across my chest and pulled it open.
She took out the pistol, pointed the muzzle at the floor, and pulled the trigger.
A click — the trigger locked back.
While she engaged the safety, I was still on edge.
But Mo Haein simply placed the pistol back in the sling bag.
’She’s not arresting me this time...?’
After being arrested on charges of National Calamity before, I looked at her, slightly dazed.
Then, from the generator room speakers — a crackle of static.
Followed by a familiar voice.
"U-ugh, R-Roasted Chestnut-nim...! A-are you alive...? Hic — if you’re alive, could you please come quick...?"
It was Yi Ga-on’s broadcast.
Before I could even be surprised that she’d turned on the broadcast, she dropped an even bigger bomb.
"S-sob, hic — I think I killed someone...!"