However, they couldn’t enter the safe zone.
Whether it was a trap as Seo Sihan said, or the final challenge as Jeong Minha said, the moment Jeong Minha carried Seo Sihan on his back and got a few steps closer to the safe zone, zombies came pouring out crazily again.
“Ugh!”
Jeong Minha had no choice but to temporarily sit Seo Sihan down on the ground. Then he quickly eliminated the zombies with his pistol. But after shooting all the zombies, another problem arose. The 10-minute countdown ended.
[‘Seo Sihan’ has become a zombie. Since the players were in a non-contact state, from this time on, it will proceed as a one-on-one match.]
A red warning window rang out once more and notification messages appeared in sequence.
“…….”
From this time on, just touching each other would be game over. Seo Sihan, as a zombie, could now move on his own.
When Seo Sihan stood up from his spot, Jeong Minha hesitated. Do I have to fight hyung like this? You’re telling me to shoot hyung now? We’ve been escaping together until now, but shooting him as soon as he becomes a zombie is too much! I should run away instead—as Jeong Minha prepared to run, Seo Sihan opened his mouth.
“Minha-ya.”
“……Yes.”
Seo Sihan, who took one step closer, soon smiled and said.
“I can move again now too, so let’s quickly look for the rescue team. Because Minha is going to escape.”
“Hyung…!”
Even knowing it was a game, Jeong Minha was greatly moved by Seo Sihan’s sacrifice and almost shed tears.
After that, the two moved about four steps apart. Then when they approached the safe zone again, zombies suddenly spawned and began pouring out again. Seo Sihan, who was the same zombie, couldn’t attack the zombies, so Jeong Minha handled everything this time too.
Now Seo Sihan had achieved his original purpose. Just watching Jeong Minha shoot coolly. Although he’d become a zombie, he was satisfied. But seeing Jeong Minha struggling alone also hurt his heart. Whenever zombies approached from behind, Seo Sihan informed him with words.
After eliminating the zombie horde like that, Seo Sihan unfolded and held up the map. And when Jeong Minha was about to step toward the safe zone again already, he hastily stopped him.
“Minha-ya, wait a moment….”
“Yes?”
“It seems like zombies burst out every time we approach.”
“Then doesn’t that mean to keep breaking through?”
“……Or maybe it’s telling us to go another way?”
“Oho.”
Seo Sihan pointed to a corner of the unfolded map with his hand and showed it to Jeong Minha. Fortunately, since the morning of the fifth day was dawning, it was clearly visible even with sunlight.
“The southern end is our current location. It’s toward the safe zone.”
“Yes.”
“And in the west, this… Question mark….”
“The one marked with a question mark?”
“Yeah. The other things are at least marked with pictures so you can recognize them, but only here is marked with a question mark…. Isn’t there something there?”
“Okay. Let’s go here.”
“Right.”
This time Seo Sihan took the lead and went forward. He could quickly grasp the terrain, and even if zombies suddenly appeared, Seo Sihan wouldn’t be attacked. Thanks to that, Jeong Minha followed Seo Sihan around and only comfortably shot his gun from behind when zombies appeared, walking along.
“Hyung, …huk!”
“Yeah?”
“Wow, that was almost a disaster! I almost grabbed your arm.”
“Oh, right…. Should we walk a bit more apart?”
“Yes….”
The two walked at an awkward distance apart like people who had fought. Looking at Seo Sihan’s back walking ahead, Jeong Minha felt a strange feeling. Even when going out to play, he’d always gone ahead, but following while seeing only the back view silently like this, it really felt like they’d fought. Even though they’d lived together for over half a year, they’d never fought like this…. Ah, we’re not fighting right now, though?!
“Hyung, what if we encounter wild animals while going like this?”
“I don’t think… there would be such things…?”
At Jeong Minha’s question, Seo Sihan laughed. Phew, it’s not that kind of atmosphere after all. Hyung is too nice, so there’s no reason to fight. Jeong Minha wanted to stand next to Seo Sihan right away and hold his hand or pat his back, but he held back because it would immediately be game over if he did.
After exchanging jokes several more times, they arrived at their destination before they knew it. It was a forest covered in dirt.
“Isn’t this just the same place as the forest where the campground was?”
“That was in the east, but… this also looks like an ordinary forest. Why did they mark it with a question mark?”
Seo Sihan walked around examining the surrounding trees and stones while holding the map. Watching such Seo Sihan, Jeong Minha sat down on a large stone placed nearby, thinking he’d drink some water for a moment.
No, he tried to sit.
“Ahhh!”
“?!”
Suddenly the stone sank to the ground, and Jeong Minha fell straight into a pit.
“Minha-ya, are you okay…?!”
As soon as he sat on the stone, it seemed to have automatically sunk into the ground. Fortunately, Jeong Minha was just startled, and didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere.
Seo Sihan tried to grab Jeong Minha’s arm to support him, then stopped right before. Similarly, Jeong Minha, who had been about to receive the helping hand, also extended his arm then quickly turned it away. Because their bodies couldn’t touch each other.
Jeong Minha just let out an awkward laugh and got up alone. Then, after getting out of the pit that came up to his knees and looking inside from above—
“This was made wrong… huh?”
The stone that had looked gray until just now began glowing blue.
“If we lift that stone….”
“I’ll try!”
Jeong Minha, extending his hand into the pit, immediately lifted the large stone. As expected it was a model, so it was lighter than he thought. No wonder when he sat earlier, it sank straight into the ground with him—he was so startled. They should at least write a warning sign. Thinking about it again, it was a somewhat embarrassing scream, so he grumbled unnecessarily while removing the stone.
“……!”
When he removed the stone, underneath it was a yellow box that looked like a treasure chest hidden there. Jeong Minha grabbed and lifted it as is, then carefully opened the box.
“……Huk!”
Inside the box was a gun with an appearance similar to the sniper rifle he’d used before. Jeong Minha, examining the gun closely, opened his mouth with a bewildered expression.
“This… looks much better than the sniper rifle I used earlier? A notification message says the range is much longer than before. It says it goes up to 2km, but the problem is….”
“Why…?”
Jeong Minha, examining the scope and bullets, laughed as if dumbfounded.
“The scope magnification doesn’t zoom in that much, and there’s only one bullet included.”
“Is there more hidden somewhere else?”
“No, hyung, do you want to try holding the gun?”
Jeong Minha held the muzzle and handed the grip side to Seo Sihan. Then a notification message about the gun also appeared on Seo Sihan’s device.
[This gun is a rare type made by a weapons testing organization, boasting a maximum effective range of 2km. However, the scope appears to have been switched by someone, and its performance doesn’t look very good. Also, there is now only one bullet left in this world that fits this gun.]
“It’s true….”
“And hyung, what does the writing below mean?”
“Hm?”
When he looked at the more info section at the bottom, the explanation automatically continued.
[Right before the zombie outbreak, researchers who predicted this situation left various records. Among them, the researcher who survived until the end hid this gun in a specific location. Hoping that whoever finds it will succeed in doing what can only be done from this location… to return the world to normal, the traitor…..―The document after this is torn and illegible.―]
“Something that can only be done from here?”
“Right. Seeing how they gave this sniper rifle calling it a rare item, it seems like we have to shoot something from here….”
Seo Sihan was staring blankly at the air. It seemed like he was reading the notification message once more.
“Returning the world to normal… that would mean the world before zombies appeared, right?”
“Probably?”
“Usually in such cases, I’d think there would be something like a cure inside…. But seeing how there’s a gun inside, it seems we have to shoot someone for the zombies to disappear.”
“Like a last boss.”
“Maybe because it’s a game?”
“And something like that would be….”
The two looked at each other. A moment of silence passed.
Soon Jeong Minha, as if realizing something, opened his mouth wide and asked in a shocked tone.
“……Hy-hyung. Don’t tell me from the beginning… you were the traitor…?”
“…….”
“You can only end it by killing your companion? This is a completely cruel game……”
While Jeong Minha muttered alone with a serious expression, Seo Sihan just silently walked around the area once.
“What are you doing, hyung?”
Seo Sihan, examining the nearby trees, called Jeong Minha.
“Minha-ya, look at this.”
