I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Chapter 10 –
Perhaps the reason the two-person dormitory at the entrance of the dorm complex was open
was because of Seol Ye-won.
Seol Ye-won, having run out of food she scavenged while roaming the dorms, headed
towards the dormitory dining hall. However, since there was no electricity, all the food had
spoiled, and with no other option, she turned to the convenience store.
And in the convenience store, she ran into the same men I had encountered earlier.
They lured her in with the promise of a hideout, and Seol Ye-won, excited to meet other
survivors, followed them without hesitation.
But as they made their way, she instinctively sensed a threat in their direction.
Seol Ye-won made a bitter expression and, as though still unable to understand, rubbed her
forehead as she continued speaking.
“You’ve played Last Ark too, so you know… there are some things that just shouldn’t be out
here right now. So, I ran.”
“Leader Zombies.”
I said it flatly, and Seol Ye-won made a diamond shape with her mouth, nodding vigorously.
“Have you seen them? The Leader Zombies?”
“I saw two of them.”
“Wait, two?”
Seol Ye-won tilted her head and stared at me blankly.
There were two, right?
I tilted my head in confusion as well, and Seol Ye-won folded her fingers as she spoke.
“Wasn’t it three?”
“Wait, what?”
There are three Leader Zombies in the dorms?
I scratched my head in confusion, trying to make sense of it.
“I saw two. They were fighting each other.”
“They fought? So, did one of them kill the other?”
“No need for that. They’re both zombies.”
“Remember how it was in the game? I never got past the early second episode, so I don’t
know what happened after that.”
I had seen instances where Leader Zombies gathered to increase their numbers, but I had
never seen them fight for territory.
Of course, it’s problematic to compare a program-based game to reality.
‘Wait. Hold on.’
If the setting follows Last Ark…
I absentmindedly scratched my chin, lost in thought.
Seol Ye-won, puzzled by my expression, looked at me with uneasy eyes and asked.
“Why, do you know something?”
“No… It’s just… it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why, what is it? Tell me.”
I wasn’t sure either, but if the game’s setting held true, the worst-case scenario might be
unfolding.
“Mutants.”
“Mutants?”
“Have you ever seen one?”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“In Last Ark, the origin of the mutants is the Leader Zombies. These Big Boss Zombies, who
have developed intelligence, need to constantly consume human brains to maintain their
intellect. If they miss the right time, they mutate into something else.”
Seol Ye-won looked at me blankly.
Then, she blinked her eyes and continued.
“Wait, hold on. Are you saying there might be mutants somewhere in this school right now?”
“No way. Mutants don’t show up in the first episode. They appear in the latter half of the
second episode.”
“Has anything logical happened since the fog spread?”
“…”
In the game, mutants only appear after the second episode, when firearms are obtained.
Right now, we’re in no shape to even face the Leader Zombies. If mutants also come after
us… our survival rate would be close to zero.
Seol Ye-won bit her lower lip and looked deeply troubled, then glanced at me nervously and
asked.
“Are… are mutants really that strong?”
“They don’t die easily even if you shoot them.”
Seol Ye-won exhaled in disbelief, rubbing her forehead.
Then, she looked directly at me and asked.
“How are we supposed to fight such monsters without even a safe house, and without the
main characters gathered yet…?”
It was a bleak situation, but we couldn’t just sit and wait for death.
Also, we didn’t have solid proof that mutants were even in the school, so there was no need
to jump ahead too soon.
Taking a deep breath, I looked at Seol Ye-won and spoke.
“I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
“I know the location where the safe house and the main characters are gathered.”
Seol Ye-won’s eyes lit up, and her ears perked up.
In order to increase our chances of survival, I needed to gather as many Last Ark players as
possible.
I looked at Seol Ye-won and said,
“There are people at the student union. Let’s go.”
“The student union?”
Seol Ye-won raised an eyebrow, tilting her head.
She soon gave me a skeptical look and, taking a step back, asked cautiously.
“You came from the dorms, right? How do you know if there are people at the student
union?”
“My classmates also used to play Last Ark. The day before the fog spread, they said they
were studying for exams in the club room.”
“… Are you lying?”
“If you don’t want to come, then I’ll go alone.”
I said it casually as I stood up. Seol Ye-won immediately grabbed my sleeve.
Then, after clearing her throat, she spoke.
“I’ll… go with you.”
***
With the food I had brought, Seol Ye-won and I filled our stomachs.
I thought I had packed a lot, but there wasn’t much in the bag.
Would we be able to make it through two meals if we ate it all?
After filling our hunger with canned goods, snacks, and canned snails, Seol Ye-won and I sat
across from each other, thinking about the best route to the student union.
Seol Ye-won took out her glasses and unfolded a map in the corner.
I tilted my head and asked her.
“Do you wear glasses?”
“Uh? Yeah.”
“Then why weren’t you wearing them earlier?”
“My vision’s not that bad. It’s about 0.7.”
She was at the borderline between wearing glasses or not.
I suggested she wear them more often, and Seol Ye-won gave a bitter smile as she wiped the
lenses with her sleeve.
Was it uncomfortable wearing glasses in the fog?
I silently stared at Seol Ye-won, and she parted her lips, moving them slightly.
“When I’m alone… there’s no need to force myself to look at things I don’t want to.”
In a world gone mad, even though she possessed Gabriel’s abilities, she was still avoiding the
zombies?
Well, I understood how being alone could lead to a pessimistic view of life.
I didn’t want to speak up and risk sounding like nagging, so I decided to stay silent.
Seol Ye-won adjusted her glasses and spread out the map she had brought.
The school layout.
It wasn’t something printed from a printer, but a map she had drawn herself.
“Did you draw this?”
“I thought a map would be useful to mark areas with a lot of zombies.”
She had meticulously divided the map into regions—Engineering, Natural Science, Fine Arts,
Music, Business, Humanities, Agriculture, and so on, detailing every building and terrain.
I couldn’t help but admire Seol Ye-won’s meticulousness.
“What are the areas marked with circles?”
“Those are the regions with a lot of zombies.”
“The more circles there are, the more zombies, right?”
“One circle for every 10 zombies. Less than 10, I mark with a triangle.”
It was impressive enough that she made the map, but she also personally counted the zombies
in each area, marking even the tiniest details.
She hadn’t checked every area on campus, but the zombies near the dorms, music building,
fine arts building, and natural sciences were all marked.
It had only been a little over two weeks, but it was clear that Seol Ye-won had already
covered a lot of ground.
Seol Yeowon studied the map carefully, then traced a line from the student union’s location to
our current position.
“If we cut straight across, it’s at least 800 meters.”
“If we go that way, we’ll pass the central plaza and the library, which is a suicide mission.”
Even without seeing them, I could roughly guess the number of zombies near the central
plaza and library.
During exam periods, the library was always packed, with no empty seats to be found.
The central plaza, located in front of the library, was a bustling place with students tired from
studying, people out for walks, and couples enjoying dates.
It was probably the second most zombie-infested area after the dorms.
I studied the map carefully and spoke.
“You haven’t checked the engineering building, right?”
“There’s only one path to the engineering building, so it’s too risky.”
Our current location was near the Natural Sciences building, and there was no way to get to
the engineering building except via the main road.
Since there was only one path, if anything unexpected happened, we’d have no backup plan.
It would be best to avoid the engineering building altogether.
Besides, engineering students often stayed up all night during exam periods, which likely
meant just as many zombies as in the fine arts building.
Seol Ye-won rubbed her chin thoughtfully, then pointed her pen at a spot on the map.
“How about going past the general education building?”
“That’s too close to the central plaza. It’s still dangerous.”
“Then going around toward the main building is the best option.”
“Right. There’s a roundabout in front of the main building, so there won’t be many zombies
there.”
“But the main building is close to the music building. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“The road between the main building and the music building is six lanes wide. Zombies don’t
have very good vision.”
From my experience, zombies could only see clearly for about 20 meters.
The main road was six lanes wide, and considering the sidewalks and the landscaping around
the buildings, it should be easy to stay out of their sight.
I gathered my thoughts, checked my watch, and spoke.
“It’s 4:30 PM, so we have about three hours.”
“Three hours? What do you mean three hours?”
“When it gets dark, we won’t be able to see anything. Gabriel’s abilities work well in the fog,
but not in the dark.”
Seol Ye-won pouted slightly and nodded.
In a world without electricity, it was pitch black.
On cloudy nights, it was hard to even see objects up close.
Then Seol Ye-won snapped her fingers and spoke.
“Oh, by the way, how about checking the fine arts building’s cafeteria on the way?”
“The fine arts cafeteria? We just saw zombies running from there. It’s dangerous.”
“I was going to give up on the fine arts cafeteria, but because of you, we have a chance.”
She glanced at me with a sly look, then pointed back to the map.
“The path you took was a side route to the fine arts building, right? The cafeteria is about 200
meters from the side route, closer to the main road.”
“You want to check the cafeteria before the zombies gather in the side route?”
“Yeah, it’s on the way anyway.”
“The chances of the food still being intact are slim. The power was cut off a long time ago.”
“The fine arts cafeteria is different. It was recently remodeled, and they installed solar panels
on the roof.”
Listening to Seol Ye-won’s words, I studied the map closely.
If we crossed the road from the Natural Sciences building, we’d reach the Comprehensive
Lecture Building, which was near the central plaza.
Since the central plaza was infested with zombies, it would be safer to cross between the
music and fine arts buildings.
Since we had to go to the fine arts cafeteria, it would be fine to check it out while moving.
“Alright, let’s just check the cafeteria and then proceed with the plan.”
Seol Ye-won nodded and immediately started getting ready.
She seemed timid, but she knew when to take action.
Was it a good balance of reason and emotion?
I had found a reliable ally.
***
After exiting through the back door of the design building, we cautiously moved along the
outer perimeter.
The fog limited our visibility to about 5 meters.
The fine arts cafeteria was about 300 meters away.
With Seol Ye-won leading the way, who could see through the fog, we headed toward the
cafeteria.
We moved silently for an unknown distance.
Suddenly, Seol Ye-won raised her palm and signaled for me to stop.
I stopped and squinted my eyes.
I couldn’t see anything, but Seol Ye-won pointed straight ahead and spoke.
“There are four zombies 50 meters ahead. What do you want to do?”
“Are there any zombies nearby?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
“Let’s push through.”
“Push through?”
I gripped the steel pipe and exhaled sharply.
If I killed five more zombies, I could earn points.
It was better to reduce the number of zombies, as long as they weren’t grouped together.
But I noticed that Seol Ye-won’s hand was trembling slightly.
Was she nervous?
It made sense. She’d been avoiding zombies and minimizing contact up until now, so this
was probably a natural reaction.
I looked at her and spoke.
“I’ll take the lead, you just deal with any zombies that try to charge us.”
Instead of responding, Seol Ye-won nodded.
With a monkey wrench in her left hand and a steel pipe in her right, she started running in the
direction she pointed.
Through the fog, I could see a large sculpture, and just then, the sounds of zombies moaning
reached my ears.
Grrr…
The zombies gathered in front of the sculpture turned and looked at us.
I took a deep breath and swung the steel pipe at the nearest zombie’s face.