“I, I’m a father. I have to protect the children…….”
It was the man Pyeonghwa had entrusted the flamethrower to. Though trembling, he aimed the igniter at ImaDdakDae with a resolute face.
‘Huh……?’
ImaDdakDae blinked, unable to grasp the situation for a moment. The absurd scene of an NPC with no connection to him trying to shoot a flamethrower at his face unfolded before his eyes. What the hell…… Before his lips could even part, hot flames poured out from the tip of the igniter.
“U-uaaak! Hot, it’s hot! Kuaaak!”
“Kheuk, the children… I absolutely won’t let you touch them!”
“Kueoeo, st-stop, I surren…….”
<Yoon Gyeom team player, ImaDdakDae has died.>
ImaDdakDae declared surrender. Immediately, his body hardened to a gray color and became quiet as if dead. Unable to endure the pain of burning, he acknowledged defeat and cut off all sensations.
“Huheuk……!”
A player’s corpse appeared as a gray stone to other players, but to NPCs it looked like a real dead person. The man holding the flamethrower shed hot tears from the guilt of having killed someone. Pyeonghwa quietly approached him and patted his back.
“I, I… killed a person…….”
“Hey, he was a criminal. Hyung-nim is a cool father who protected the children. The kids will be proud too.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes.”
Pyeonghwa pushed the sobbing man toward the children. The children excitedly jumped around saying their dad was the coolest and strongest. The man regained his stability among his family.
[What am I watching right now]
[ㅁㅊ ImaDdak died to an npc…???]
[Seeing him feel guilt, it doesn’t seem like that mental-type skill from earlier;; what is it;;]
[npcs are normally ㅈㄴ passive how’d he do it]
So this works…… Pyeonghwa scratched the back of his head. It was true that he’d raised favorability thinking the timid and heavy-bottomed NPCs might move. But he hadn’t thought they’d be this proactive.
Well, whatever’s good is good. Comradeship was a very, very important element for the next plan.
Pyeonghwa shot the Heavenly Silkworm Thread to wrap around ImaDdakDae’s corpse. He intended to throw it outside the carousel for the survivors’ mental care.
“Kuung.”
With Pyeonghwa’s strength, he could barely drag it, let alone throw it. To make matters worse, the Heavenly Silkworm Thread scorched by fire snapped with a tok. Come to think of it, low-grade Heavenly Silkworm Thread was vulnerable to high temperatures.
Pyeonghwa immediately activated the Fox Transformation skill. Fox ears sprouted up on his head with a pyong, and a soft fox tail appeared swaying from his tailbone.
Fox Transformation was a skill that boosted all physical abilities by 30% for 20 seconds. Not only muscle strength but also speed and flexibility were amplified.
Pyeonghwa wrapped ImaDdakDae’s corpse with the Heavenly Silkworm Thread and stomped his foot. Using the acceleration from the running start, he swung his arm with all his might. ImaDdakDae’s body lifted with a whoosh, then flew outside the carousel. The thread that broke in midair was sucked back into Pyeonghwa’s vambrace with a whirr.
[Oh a new skill]
[What’s with that incongruously cute thingㅡㅡ]
[It disappeared guess the duration is short]
On the scorched floor where ImaDdakDae had been lying, bandages had fallen. They were farming items. A player’s equipment couldn’t be used by others from the moment of death, but items acquired within the map remained where they died. When he picked up the bandages, a notification window appeared saying he’d acquired an item.
<Old Bandages: Helps recover from wounds.>
Pyeonghwa approached the burned man with the bandages. He had already regained consciousness and was sitting with his back against the carousel. Judging by his labored breathing and hazy eyes, his condition didn’t look too good.
Pyeonghwa started wrapping bandages around his face. The man didn’t refuse and quietly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, clear focus had returned to his pupils.
“…Thank you for saving me.”
“Not at all. In times like these, we need to work together. For the children.”
Pyeonghwa quickly rolled his eyes to count the number of survivors. A total of 63 people. He thought this might be the highest score obtainable in phase 1.
Phase 1 would end soon. In phase 2, not only would zombies become stronger, but the safe zones would reduce to three locations. That meant they might face multiple opposing team members at once to secure a safe zone.
And from phase 2 onward, the team voice function would be unlocked, allowing communication with allies. Pyeonghwa checked his allies’ current status.
<(Alive)Pax*Team Leader
(Alive)KukuruPingPong
(Infected)KkukruPingPong
(Alive)TralalaleroTralala
(Alive)TungTungTungSahuru>
“Oh, they’re holding up well.”
Though KkukruPingPong had been bitten by a zombie and infected, no one had died yet.
The NPCs on the amusement park map were mostly families, so they had less wariness toward children. If they didn’t encounter the opposing team, the survival rate was high up to phase 1.
Moreover, Pyeonghwa’s teammates were veterans who had played the amusement park map dozens of times.
-♩♩♪♩♩♪♩
“Kyah! The zombies are climbing over the fence!”
The cheerful background music echoing through the amusement park changed to a gentle melody. At the same time, the fluorescent yellow-green line surrounding the carousel disappeared.
Gueoeoeo! The zombies’ cries intensified. Unable to withstand the zombies’ strength, the fence’s connecting links broke. Once one side was breached, surrounding zombies swarmed to that spot.
It was the start of phase 2.
“Damn, I think we need to move somewhere else!”
“Zombies are everywhere, where exactly can we go……!”
“Get back, it’s dangerous!”
The man who killed ImaDdakDae stood up with the flamethrower and shot fire at the zombies. The man with his face wrapped in bandages also picked up a thick carousel pole rolling on the ground.
Pyeonghwa created a thread wall as a temporary measure by wrapping the Heavenly Silkworm Thread widely around the carousel. Then, a notification of the phase 1 score total flew before Pyeonghwa’s eyes.
<Happy Amusement Park: Phase 1 has ended.
Pax team’s score so far is 139,720 points, Yoon Gyeom team’s score is 12,590 points. (View Details)
Team Voice (Locked) will now be unlocked. Well then, good luck!>
It was too early to relax with this score difference. Even though he’d saved this many people, most of the score came from ImaDdakDae’s surrender. The opponent could catch up quickly, so he mustn’t let his guard down.
-Hyung! Where are you? TungTungTungSahuru and I are at the Disco Pang Pang right now!
-Hyuuung, I got infected. I’m using items to delay the symptoms for now……!
-Ah~ Hurricane Swing is super fun, right? Rode it like seven times? So sweet, right?
-Hyung, hyung, hyung! I picked up five items!
Uwook! As the team voice function activated, high decibels dug into his ears. With survivors’ and teammates’ voices overlapping, it was chaotic.
When a tired-looking ( = _ = ) expression neon sign flashed on Pyeonghwa’s gas mask, viewers could tell team voice had been activated.
Pyeonghwa changed the setting to ‘Allow Team Voice Broadcast Transmission’ and opened his mouth. Since NPCs in the game couldn’t hear team voice content, it was fine to speak loudly.
“Kids, what did I tell you to do when using team voice?”
-Kuku! Say the first two letters of your ID before speaking!
-Kkuk. Only say what must absolutely be conveyed…….
-Tral, huh? Hyung! I found a safe zone! The Viking!
-Tung! The Viking? Damn, I’m on the opposite side!
“The Viking?”
The Viking was a large ride that could accommodate many people. More than half of the survivors here would die on the way, but it was better to have extras than not enough space.
From the carousel to the Viking wasn’t too far. Pyeonghwa grasped his teammates’ positions and assigned them tasks.
“Tral, go to the Viking and just observe the situation. If there’s an opposing team, don’t clash, just run. Okay?”
-Tral! Okay!
“Tung and Kuku said they’re at Disco Pang Pang, right? Kkuk is close too, so the three of you gather and do ‘that thing.'”
-Tung! Whoa, the three of us do ‘that thing’?
-Kuku! Oh yeah~ This’ll be fun!
-Kkuk, Yes…….
Viewers clamored asking what exactly ‘that thing’ was and to tell them too. It wouldn’t be fun if he told them here. Pyeonghwa grinned and looked around at the survivors.
Though the headcount was high, there weren’t many combat personnel. Less than half were adults, and people holding children had to be excluded from fighting power. Assuming kids from upper elementary school and up could fight zombies, movement seemed somehow possible.
“Seup, we need weapons…….”
[There are toolboxes in the carousel machine room]
[ㄴㄴ more often there aren’t any]
[Still try opening itㄱㄱㄱㄱ]
<Last On> was designed so that even the same map changed slightly with each playthrough. NPC positions and prop compositions would change. The cylindrical machine room in the carousel’s center sometimes had toolboxes and sometimes didn’t.
Pyeonghwa approached the machine room. The door was firmly locked with a padlock. Since it seemed hard to open with ordinary strength, he used Fox Transformation to boost his physical abilities.
Kwajik! After kicking the padlock a couple times with his walker soles, the lock broke and the machine room door opened.
