A lot of things had happened in the span of three days. A lot of people said that barricades had been set up in places leading to the outskirts, such as highways. At so places, not only barricades but also military trucks were parked in the middle of the road. When people protested, the soldiers showed a strong attitude towards them, while saying that they were only doing orders from their superiors. Fortunately, Hyung-jun Hyung was able to return to the gym through a provincial road where no barricades were installed. Though, he was currently saddened by the fact that her daughter had beco quite rebellious towards him.
“By the way, while I’m on my way here, the atmosphere was no joke. It feels like there’s poison in the eyes of the soldiers. It was completely different from yesterday when they were a little bit ta.”
“They must have heard so bad news.”
“I believe so. The person who stopped said that he’s a captain. I heard from him that so military personnel have been deployed to the nuclear power plant.”
“To the nuclear power plant?”
“Yeah.”
“Seems like whatever reason they got sent there is the cause of the power outage.”
“I thought so too. I also heard from soone who, by accident, heard an announcent in Ulsan. Those living near the oil production complex were ordered to evacuate.”
“Woah… that many people were ordered to evacuate all at once?”
“Whether it’s a war or a coup, that’s just crazy. How is the governnt planning to restore everything once it’s done?”
“Hyung-nim, what if… they think that there is no need to restore it?”
Hyung-jun Hyung’s eyes opened wide. Seed like he realized what I ant, “Are you talking about the zombie apocalypse?”
“I don’t know whether it was due to the apocalypse or not, but judging from the governnt’s action, it seems likely, no? Moreover, even though they are deploying soldiers into important infrastructures, they didn’t even call the reserve force.”
“Hmm… It does make sense. I stopped by the district office on the way here, but none of the civil officers were there, they all went ho.”
“Then my thought should be correct. It’s all because of the zombie apocalypse.”
Seems like the President decided to enact the Martial law in order to achieve an orderly end. Looks like he’s also shutting down the nuclear power plants and evacuated people living close to a petrochemical production complex in order to help future survivors living in an apocalyptic world. Apart from those, there are many other asures being taken. Such as shutting down the gas supply to the city, just like what happened right now.
“They even turned off the city gas. Wow, how the fuck are we supposed to live?” Hyung-jun Hyung grumbled as the gas stove in the kitchen refused to light up. At that ti, Kyunghoon and Bora returned to the gym. Both of them looked very excited.
“The atmosphere outside is no joke. So of the soldiers even started to use violence.”
“Really?”
“Yes. They probably beco like that because there are stubborn people who won’t follow their order. But, if they expect us to follow their order, can they at least tell us the reason? How can they just order people around without any reason like that?”
“It seems like the situation is getting worse.”
Then, not long after, Mikyung and Yoohyeon also returned. Their eyes were red. It seems like they have a problem with their family, so it’s best to just keep my mouth shut.
Hyung-jun Hyung then called people together. “Let’s gather together first. Seongho… is also a mber of ours in a way, so stay and listen too.”
Looking at his expression, it seems that Kyunghoon disagrees with that statent, but he did not dare to bring it up. It seems like he thinks that there is no need to fight with Hyung-jun Hyung.
“I heard a couple things when returning here from Gimhae. Big accidents are happening all around the country right now. Electricity, gas, internet, nothing works, so isn’t it reasonable to call it an apocalypse already?”
“Yes…” The gym mber answered in unison.
“I don’t know when the zombie apocalypse will happen, but let’s act according to our plan from now on. We’ll start to limit the amount of food that we can consu for each day… and we’ll also have to secure as much drinking water as we can.”
“From now on?” When Mikyung asked, Hyung-jun Hyung simply nodded his head.
“Our situation right now, it’s like an apocalypse, just without the zombies, right? We don’t know when this situation will end, so we can’t just recklessly consu the food we have.”
“That’s right.” Bora nodded in agreent.
Things would beco clear as soon as tomorrow cos anyway. It wouldn’t get better, rather it would get worse and worse.
Anyway, as soon as the eting was over, everyone started complaining about the heat. It was sumr currently, so without an air conditioner or fan, it was obvious that everyone was drenched in sweat.
Everyone fanned themselves with the front of their T-shirt and grumbled.
“Wow, it’s hot. I’m dying, really.”
“It’s completely steamy because of the high humidity.”
anwhile, I quickly jotted down a tutorial plan in a note before giving it to Hyung-jun Hyung. It was a strategy I devised while taking the lowered difficulty into account. As soon as Hyung-jun Hyung saw the note, his eyes widened.
“This…”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen his videos, so it wouldn’t be 100% accurate, but it should be roughly correct. Please keep in mind that you have to be extra careful because the escape route at the beginning varies depending on your location. And after the tutorial is over, items will appear, and you need to take it with you.”
“Where will the items appear?”
“In the ga, items will spawn in a nearby location. The location is random, so you have to find it by yourself.”
“Huh? So, items will appear from empty air?”
“Didn’t the goblins appear like that too?”
“…well, yeah.”
In this kind of ti and situation, it wouldn’t be surprising if magicians and dragons from fantasy worlds start to appear.
Hyung-jun Hyung grabbed the note and tapped my shoulder.
“Thank you. Actually, I worried about this a lot. That Kyunghoon said that he had watched many Survival Life tutorial videos. I want to ask him about it but I’m never really sure how to ask.”
“Don’t thank , Hyung-nim, it’s only natural. Rather, I’m sorry that this is all I know.”
“What are you sorry for? In the future, if you ran out of food, co to .”
“I will do so, if I still survived at that ti.”
“That’s right…”
I said my goodbye to the gym mbers and went out. I still thought that not joining their group was the best choice. If I let Hyung know about my abilities and join his group, my post-apocalyptic life would certainly beco more comfortable. But, it would be difficult for them to survive. Although the difficulty was lowered, zombies were still a scary opponent. Even more so if it was a reinforced zombie. Just the thought that reinforced zombies would be mixed in the middle of countless normal zombies while attacking the gym sent shivers down my spine. They would be unable to survive if they were together with a guy like , as stronger zombies and monsters would spawn in my vicinity.
As I was on my way to my house, I heard a loud noise from a distance. It was from the convoy led by the tattooed man’s tow truck, running crazily on the empty road. The soldiers blew whistles to stop them, but to no avail. They only keep accelerating even more.
Two thugs who were sitting on top of the storage box saw and spitted on .
“See you later, you bastard! Hahaha!”
Yeah, see you tomorrow.
.
.
.
As I arrived in front of my house, I got reprimanded by the soldiers who passed by my ho. They ordered to quickly enter my house. It seems like after working nonstop for several days, there’s no more trace of their gentle and persuasive tone, replaced by a thorny and aggressive tone.
When I went up to the second floor, I saw a woman hiding in an empty place on the first floor.
“Sooyeon, is that you?”
“Shh. Have the soldiers gone away yet?”
“Yes, they went away already. But, what are you doing here?”
“I have sothing to tell you. In the underground parking lot of Busan Civic Park, there’s a construction going on.”
“A construction?”
“Yes. The laborers and materials just suddenly arrived one day. I saw it from my house using a telescope a few days ago.”
“Is it currently still under construction?”
“No. It’s already finished. They are insanely fast, aren’t they?” Sooyeon shook her head.
I don’t know what was being built there, but does it make sense to finish it in re three days?
“I can’t explain it, but it seed like the whole process was rushed. The parking lot was quite large, so the laborers and materials needed to build whatever inside must be substantial… Afterwards, a wing body truck just ca in. They must have put sothing important inside.”
Seems like they were building an unbreachable shelter.
“It looks like they’re making a shelter.”
“That’s right. Rather than making shelter for the people, the governnt just makes shelters for the politicians. Usually, people like them who could move undetected were the most dangerous kind of people.”
“Since they’re in a rush, it seems like sothing is about to happen soon.”
Sooyeon nooded. Her shoulders slumped. “Haaaah, I hope it will happen sooner rather than later. This situation is just so ssed up!”
“There’s no guarantee we won’t turn into zombies though.”
“I’m just frustrated. Don’t you feel sothing like this sotis? When you don’t do anything, you feel frustrated. You just want to do sothing or you feel like you will explode.”
She’s indeed a fiery noonim.
“Why are you telling all this?” I asked her.
“If I say it was just cause… it will be weird, right? Sohow I feel sothing from Seongho.”
“What kind of feeling? I’m nothing but a slightly buff guy.”
“Before, when we t for the first ti in front of the hardware store, you told us that a war club was the most suitable weapon, didn’t you? I’ve been gathering informations on my own, and it seems like the spores that infects people and turn them into zombies are settling in the skull?”
“It seems so.”
“However, people didn’t believe the information which said that once the spores settled in, the most suitable thod to get rid of it was drilling through the weakened skull.”
“Well, in the first place, there’s so much information on the internet to the point where people can’t decide which one to believe.”
Kwon also posted so information, but after stealing his phone, I deleted all of it. As a result, until a few days ago, the awakened community was tainted with all sorts of unverified tips. So of them might be written in the wrong way deliberately to make people suffer.
“I rembered what Seongho said back then. Weapons that have so protrusion works better against zombies. The ebony sticks that are rumoured will be available to be bought with points once the Shop is open, does it perhaps also have so protrusions?” Sooyeon said while clasping her fist with the other hand.
“I think so… yeah… I think I rember seeing it in one of his videos.” I deliberately said it vaguely.
Sooyeon’s eyeglasses glead. “I know that you gave Manager Hyung-jun a thod to avoid the zombies. You are aweso. It would have been great if the n in my group were like Seongho.”
“How are the people on your team?”
“It’s a bit strange for to say this when I’m the one who decided to work with them, but they were people who didn’t want to work hard but still expect to get a share from the result. Anyway, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being close with Seongho. I’m not being a nuisance, am I?”
“Not at all. If both of us survive, we should help each other later.”
“It’s nice to hear that.” As Sooyeon had brought so information, I should give her sothing too. I took my notes out, ripped a page out of it and squatted down. Then Sooyeon squatted beside .
“What are you writing?”
“Tutorial strategy.”
“Sorry? Didn’t you say you haven’t played the ga?”
“That’s right. But I often watch the live stream of I Love Gimbap. My mory isn’t accurate, so do take it with a grain of salt.”
She happily clasped her palms. “Wow, if I take this and spread it around, will I beco well-known?”
“Since you’re a doctor, aren’t you popular enough?”
“I’m not. I felt like people in my group were slightly ostracizing as I wasn’t an awakened.”
“If they think that since they have so superpowers, they can fight against the zombies, then they wouldn’t be able to survive for long.”
“I know, right. I have to go and try to convince them not to try and fight against the zombies.”
She stood up and took a pen from the front pocket of her jeans. Then, she wrote sothing on the palm of my hand.
“This is my place. Eden Villa Room 302. If you heard rumors that I was dead, take everything inside.”
She would know that what she said doesn’t make sense. I don’t even know where her group was, so how could I hear anything if sothing happened to her? But I understood her feelings. She just wants soone she knows and trusts to use the supplies she stored up to survive, which in this case, was . Though, I don’t know why she suddenly thought about sothing like that.
“All right. Be sure to survive. I’ll see you later.” At my words, she smiled and handed a pouch. It’s the sa pouch which contains a pain reliever antibiotic pack I got from her before.
“For so reason, I felt that because Seongho fights well, you will get hurt a lot, so I prepared so more for you.”
“Thank you very much.”
“See you next ti.”
She turned around and left as if nothing had happened.
.
.
.
20 hours until the zombie apocalypse happens.
I spent the remaining ti inside the forest while doing chores, such as organizing the warehouse. Although the moat was still far away from being done and it’s still a little dangerous here, I just kind of wanted to be here to calm my mind.
“When looting tomorrow, I should put the portal here.” The place I would anchor my portal at was the vacant lot in front of the cave. It’s because the ti I have to loot was limited, so I won’t have enough ti to organize every single thing that I looted.
“There are too many places to loot… Looks like I have to prioritize looting tal-made things and dicines ” The rest could be delayed as they wouldn’t be destroyed. I could just loot it in the future.
I checked the map of my neighborhood and decided on a route. I have to move as effectively as possible because there’s only 5 hours between the arrival of the zombies and the corrosive disease. On top of that, I also had to prepare for the tutorial.
“Currently, I’m level 6…” and there’s an opportunity for levelling up waiting for tomorrow. It was a thod which could only be used right when the corrosive disease struck. If I do it right, I could gain levels as well as a lot of points easily.
“The possibilities are good enough.” I nodded and closed the map. With Dingo in tow, I walked around the forest near my shelter. Because I have a big job waiting for tomorrow, I didn’t want to exhaust my stamina today if possible. I hoped those damn goblins were busy today and didn’t show up here.
Dingo sniffed a couple tis and went ahead to lead sowhere.
“Ah, they were the first thing I ever found in this forest.” To my surprise, Dingo led to the solar apple tree I stumbled upon on my first day in the forest. On its branch, there were 2 plump apples dangling ready to be picked.
“…it’s strange.” It’s only been around a month, but there’s already 2 full grown apples? No matter how I looked at it, the solar apples on the branch had the exact sa size as the solar apples I picked back then.
“How did you grow so fast?” Perhaps it was because the soil on this forest was so nutritious since there are various monster poops and carcasses?
I picked the two solar apples and put them in my backpack.
“However, it just doesn’t make any sense that they grow this fast simply because the soil is good.” Another reason buds in the back of my mind. Perhaps, it was because the whole forest was enchanted? If it was indeed the case, if I make a garden and plant so crops, will it grow faster?
“I need to check.” It’s difficult to do it right away, but once things stabilize, it’s worth a try. I don’t know anything about farming except for digging the soil and putting the seeds in, but as I have books and many videos about basic farming thods, I could just learn from them in the future, when I have the ti.
I wandered around the shelter so more to check whether the goblins had dug so traps. As it turns out, they have. Dingo sniffed at the ground before pounded the ground with his front paws. When I dug into the soil Dingo pounded at with a shovel, I was greeted with a hole. Several wooden spears could be seen protruding upwards at the bottom of the hole.
It’s a trap which had been made ticulously by the goblin… However…
“I’m big, you idiots.” On top of that, I’m not even barefoot. Let alone my feet, stepping on sothing like this won’t even leave a dent on my boots. Well, all traps made by goblins were always like this. ticulous but sloppy at the sa ti. I broke the wooden spears and covered the hole with soil.
“There’s still 19 hours left…” Now, it’s ti to calmly wait for the zombie apocalypse to co. I returned to the shelter, checked the CCTV for any kind of movent outside, before playing the tutorial video on repeat.
“It won’t be too difficult because the difficulty has been lowered.” The thod of gaining points had also been expanded. I was really curious about what those thods were going to be.
“Well, I guess I will find out tomorrow.” I opened the portal at the vacant lot in front of the cave and returned to the otherside together with Dingo.
There really isn’t much ti left now.
.
.
.
At midnight, I went up to the roof of my house with Dingo. But contrary to the ti, the weather was piping hot.
“At this point, I feel like living in a tropical nation, it’s no joke.” A report from the Korea teorological Administration said that this sumr would record the worst heat wave in 40 years. Though, it was not too surprising as those guys always said sothing like that every sumr.
Because of the heat, Dingo stood a little bit away from . Truly, what a naughty guy.
I looked up at the sky.
“By now, the US military forces should be preparing to intercept the teorites…” Well, it was just a deduction. Because no matter how I think about it, I wouldn’t be able to get my hands on those kinds of informations. Afterall, all kinds of ways to acquire information such as the internet and TV channels were being restricted. It was hard to even know what the Korean governnt was doing, let alone the governnts of foreign countries. All I knew was that there were a lot of soldiers around the Busan area.
“And that the end is coming…” There’s still 13 hours left. While the hot night breeze hits my face, I suddenly rembered the mont when I opened my status window for the first ti and beca aware of the situation. I rembered I still served Mikyung a bowl of tteokbokki after I heard the news about the Silver Dragon teor.
In the anti, for the last 32 days, I had made a lot of preparations. But I couldn’t confidently say that it was enough in any way. There must be sothing I have missed. I’m still human after all.
However,
“I have no regrets.” It was useless and dumb to cling on to the ti that had already passed. It was better to use that ti to just run straight ahead.
“…” The wind hit my body once again. But this ti, the wind carried so strange sensation. I opened my eyes and looked at the sky above. The night sky in the northwest was shining red. It was not a pleasing red but a bloody and violent red.
Then monts later,
“Oh…”
Hundreds of lines passed through the night sky.
It was only at that ti I finally realized. The Silver Dragon teorites had finally arrived on Earth. And that ant one thing. The Aricans had failed to intercept the teorites.
“Finally…”
The apocalypse is just around the corner.
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