2―5. Lockdown
On the fourth day, following Jeong Minha’s goal, they searched for nearby convenience stores. When he thought about it, even if they went to a restaurant, the chef would probably already be a zombie.
Originally, it was set so that zombies would increase several-fold as days passed, but thanks to Jeong Minha killing most of the zombies on the street the previous day, only the basic number of zombies remained. Still, it was equally dangerous, so the two moved while minimizing their footsteps as much as possible.
Then finally, they discovered a familiar building.
“Hyung…! Isn’t that a convenience store?”
The sign written in English looked a bit different from the convenience store they usually knew, but the scenery inside the window was in an all-too-familiar form. When they went inside, it was overflowing with food marked in blue. Jeong Minha had the most excited expression of the entire day.
“Can I really eat all of this? I don’t have to pay?”
“Yeah, you can eat as much as you want.”
Seo Sihan only ate one energy bar and one piece of bread, then stood guard at the door. Meanwhile, Jeong Minha began looting the convenience store in earnest. The development team department, which had planned to charge an additional fee when actually operating the game but was thinking of providing everything free to these grateful testers, could only be shocked at the completely emptied convenience store afterward.
Anyway, Jeong Minha, who ate his fill, spoke with a much softer tone while slightly pulling on Seo Sihan’s sleeve.
“Hyung, I’m really sorry for being stubborn earlier…. And thank you so much for ultimately doing everything I wanted. Thanks to you, I fulfilled one item on my bucket list!”
“No, I’m the one who was sorry for being too firm…. But which one?”
“If a zombie outbreak happens, my goal was to go to a convenience store or mart that’s not operating and eat as much as I want.”
“Oh…. But you could do that even without such a situation, right? Even now, if Minha wants, I can buy you a convenience store or mart—”
“No! It has to be this kind of situation.”
“O-okay….”
Seo Sihan, who was MBTI S, had difficulty understanding the goal of Jeong Minha, who was N, but either way, he was satisfied since Jeong Minha looked happy now.
Before they knew it, the sun on the fourth day was setting. Seo Sihan, who was gathering the remaining necessary supplies at the convenience store, discovered a piece of paper on the display and picked it up to show.
“Minha-ya, want to see this?”
“Yes? Wow, what is this?”
“It seems to be a map of here.”
Jeong Minha received the map Seo Sihan handed over and held it. Seo Sihan, who came to the side and looked at the map together, smiled and turned the map 180 degrees.
“You’re holding it upside down.”
“Ah!”
Looking at the map properly again, the current convenience store’s location seemed quite close to the destination, the safe zone.
“We’re almost there?”
“Right. Should we just leave now?”
“Hmm…. Since it’s night now, it seems a bit inconvenient for activities…. Should we stay here for tonight?”
“Should we?”
But at that moment, suddenly a large vibration was felt.
At the same time, along with the sound of a helicopter flying around outside the convenience store on the street, a voice like an announcement broadcast was heard.
[Seoul City XX District, no surviving entities confirmed, closing off the area.]
“Huh?!”
“Uh…?”
Soon after, an ominous sound like buildings collapsing could be heard from outside. Whether all the zombies that had been inside buildings came out onto the street because of the loud sound, outside was filled with screams along with unknown sounds.
“Th-they said if we do well, we can escape on the fifth day! Why is this happening already?!”
“I didn’t hear this explanation either…. Could it be that the deadline is midnight transitioning from the fourth day to the fifth day?”
“What?! What time is it now?!”
Seo Sihan checked the game wristwatch on his left arm. In game time, it was currently 7:12 PM. Jeong Minha, checking his own watch similarly, hastily ran around the convenience store once.
“Hyung! There’s a back door here! Come this way!”
The entrance they’d come through was already full of zombies. The newly discovered back door was a passage leading to another shopping building. Following Jeong Minha who was running ahead, Seo Sihan unfolded the map again.
“Can you see in the dark?”
“Roughly with the wristwatch light….”
The wristwatch, which had been an initial possession along with the compass, even handled a small light function. It was insufficient to illuminate the path, but appropriate when checking objects right in front of their eyes. Therefore, Seo Sihan quickly scanned the map using the light and said.
“Let’s avoid the central road as much as possible and move between buildings. It’ll take more time, but that seems safer.”
“Okay.”
“If you turn right over there and go straight a bit more, it says there’s a weapons warehouse?”
“Really?”
Following Seo Sihan’s human navigation guidance, Jeong Minha ran ahead. From behind, he could hear a kind and detailed voice continuously saying not there, a bit more ahead, yes, that way, watch the threshold, etc.
Still, since they were running between dark buildings, the risk of injury was high. The two avoided nearby obstacles while illuminating ahead as much as possible with the small light of their wristwatches.
Whether all the zombies had gathered on the central road because of the announcement broadcast and bombing-like sounds from earlier, there were only a few between the buildings. But it was hard to see in the darkness. When Jeong Minha, startled by a suddenly appearing zombie, fell backward, Seo Sihan supported him and dispatched the zombie with the axe.
“You’re really reliable, hyung.”
“Without Minha, I would have already died….”
“Me too….”
After dispatching about four popping-out zombies as they went, the weapons depot finally came into view. As soon as he saw a gun model attached to the sign, Jeong Minha’s face lit up as he kicked open the building door.
“Wow, this is crazy!”
Inside were all kinds of guns and bullets fully displayed. Jeong Minha walked around with quick steps, picking up and putting down guns, carefully choosing.
Seo Sihan stood guarding the door entrance while proudly watching the excited Jeong Minha, then showed doubt when he saw Jeong Minha approaching right away shortly after.
“You already chose?”
“Yes. This is for you, hyung.”
“Me?”
Jeong Minha held up a long gun and handed it to Seo Sihan.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a shotgun. You seem good at close combat, hyung. It’s about 50m? Around that distance, if you just shoot close up, it’ll definitely kill.”
“Oh…. What about Minha?”
“For me, as expected… a pistol.”
Jeong Minha smiled and showed two pistols held in both hands. In his left hand was the one he’d first obtained inside the abandoned building, and in his right hand was the gun he’d just brought from the weapons depot.
“Can you shoot with both hands?”
“My left hand’s accuracy drops a bit. But if I shoot at a short distance, I can easily hit the head at least.”
“Wow….”
“Since you have a close-range gun, hyung, I was thinking of doing long-range, but we’re escaping soon anyway and it seems like we’ll have to fight up close…. I’m still most familiar with pistols.”
“I like it.”
Seo Sihan looked at Jeong Minha with expectant eyes. Minha shooting with both hands, that would be really cool…….
Just then, once again a bang sound rang out and sounds of nearby buildings collapsing could be heard. They really didn’t give them a moment to rest. Seo Sihan, who unfolded the map one last time, quickly rolled his eyes, trying to memorize the remaining path.
“The safe zone is at the end of the central road…. From here on, we really have to go while fighting. Will it be okay?”
“We’ve come this far, so we have to, right?”
“Right.”
To fight in even a slightly advantageous terrain, the two used a ladder in the corner of the weapons depot to go up to the rooftop. Jeong Minha, who went up first, looked around the street and sighed.
“Wow…. The world is completely ruined?”
“It became chaotic in the meantime….”
The street seen from above was truly nothing but chaos. It had been a ruined city from the beginning, but now it was more serious. As if they’d launched missile-like bombardments from above, fire was rising high and spreading between the haphazardly collapsed buildings.
“Earlier they said something about lockdown, could it mean they’re just pushing away the city along with the zombies?”
“Right…. Now it seems we’ll have to avoid fire while going too. Let’s go down to that hill.”
“Okay.”
The weapons depot rooftop was fortunately attached to the hill next to it, so they could avoid another hellish cable car-like situation.
Before they knew it, the wristwatch was pointing to 10 PM. There were 2 hours left until midnight, but in reality, there would only be a few dozen minutes left.
Jeong Minha checked the pistol bullets once more, looked around at the zombies gathered in droves on the street, and made up his mind.
“Let’s go now!”
“Okay.”
The final big brawl began.
Now there was only one path, the central road. At the end of it, a building marked as a safe zone was visible. They had to break through no matter what.
They shot wildly at zombies while avoiding overturned cars, spreading fires, and collapsed building debris everywhere. When both of them shot their guns, the sound rang out even louder. Even the scattered zombies all began gathering.
