I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Chapter 13 –
Just as I was about to jump out the window, Seol Ye-won suddenly grabbed my waist and
pulled me back, causing me to fall backward.
‘Huh?’
What… such strength.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I fell onto my back.
“Cough!”
I gasped and rolled around on the floor, coughing violently from the pain.
On the other hand, Seol Ye-won, with tears streaming down her face, suddenly started hitting
my arms and back.
Her punches, accompanied by her sobbing, weren’t playful at all.
She was really hitting me with all her anger, as if to express deep frustration.
When I grabbed her arms in pain, she spoke through her sobs, her tears like drops of water.
“Who said you could just die like that?”
“……”
“Roll up your pants.”
Her eyes, teary but full of fury, warned me without a word.
If I didn’t, I could expect another punch.
I sighed and reluctantly rolled up my pants.
What followed left me speechless.
The zombie’s tooth marks were clearly visible on my pants, but my calf only had bruises.
The pants weren’t torn.
Seol Ye-won picked up something small from the floor and, holding it up for me to see, said:
“I know you’re quick to judge. It’s an advantage, but also a weakness.”
What she was holding in her hand was a broken tooth.
Looking at the face of the zombie she had pierced with a pipe, I could see its flattened nose
and missing teeth/
Had its teeth fallen during the process of smashing its face with the pipe?
Seol Ye-won threw the tooth onto the floor and said:
“Don’t act so recklessly.”
I couldn’t respond.
I had been bitten by a toothless wildcat.
My heart raced and my mind went blank.
What should I call this feeling?
I felt both alive again, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what would have happened if I had
jumped out the window.
It was terrifying just to imagine.
I had acted so recklessly.
What would have happened if Seol Ye-won hadn’t been there?
My life would have ended just now.
Seol Ye-won quickly got up and reached out to me, saying:
“Get up. The alarm is about to stop.”
Her gaze had changed.
She no longer looked like someone who was exhausted and pessimistic about life; she now
seemed determined.
Seeing her like that helped clear my muddled thoughts.
I grabbed the pipe lying on the floor, took a deep breath, and got back up.
Yeah, it’s not over yet.
I nodded, raising the tension that had been loosened before.
***
By now, the mist had started to rise to the second floor.
I descended the stairs, careful to silence my footsteps.
The front and back doors of the main building were still crowded with zombies.
It was clear that the zombies’ hearing wasn’t as good as we thought.
The zombies on the first floor hadn’t heard the loud alarm from the third floor.
Seol Ye-won scanned the hallway and motioned for me to follow her as she headed for the
side door.
When we reached the side door, Seol Ye-won raised her hand to signal for me to stop.
She pressed her back against the corner and peeked into the narrow corridor leading to the
side door.
She quickly turned back and signaled the number of zombies with her fingers.
Three zombies in the narrow hallway.
If we moved quickly, we could take them out before they made any noise.
“Come back.”
I whispered, and Seol Ye-won responded in a quiet voice.
“I’ll take the right.”
“……”
I was troubled by the sight of her shaking hands after killing a zombie.
But in order to survive, Seol Ye-won also needed to adapt.
She knew this, and that’s why she insisted on handling the right-side zombie.
I decided to trust her this time.
Nodding once, I gripped the pipe tightly.
The tape-wrapped handle was sticky.
I couldn’t tell if it was from the zombies’ blood, the sweat on my palms, or the tape, but as
long as it wasn’t slippery, I didn’t care.
“Ha!”
I inhaled and dashed toward the zombies.
The zombies, facing the side door, turned their heads awkwardly as they sensed the
movement behind them.
Rather than thinking of killing them in one blow, I focused on silencing them before they
could alert other zombies, aiming for their throats and jaws first.
Crack!
The zombie in front of me collapsed to the ground with its dislocated jaw.
At the same time, I drove the monkey wrench in my left hand straight into the throat of the
zombie behind it.
Kaha…!
As the zombie on the right opened its mouth to charge, I noticed a thin steel rod piercing its
cheeks.
Seol Ye-won had rushed in and pierced the zombie’s cheeks with a pipe.
Then, she quickly used the cross screwdriver in her other hand to stab the zombie’s eye.
Crack…!
The zombie that had collapsed on the ground grabbed my thigh like a leech.
I quickly pulled out the monkey wrench and hit the zombie on my thigh with the handle, then
stretched my right arm to drive it into the throat of the zombie whose vocal cords were still
struggling.
Without stopping, I drove my knee into the skull of the zombie stuck to my thigh, slamming
its head against the wall.
Its eyes lost focus.
To make sure it was done, I didn’t forget to crush its skull with the pipe, just like before.
After dealing with the three zombies, I looked at Seol Ye-won. She wiped the blood from her
face and surveyed the hallway.
She looked around, then furrowed her brows and spoke to me.
“They’re coming. We need to move fast.”
“Have they spotted us?”
“Not completely. They just heard the noise and are coming to check.”
I nodded and quickly moved toward the side door.
As we stepped outside, the dim world stretched before us.
The visibility we had within a 5-6 meter radius earlier was now reduced to just 3 meters.
With the limited visibility, other senses took over.
The humidity that tickled the tip of my nose and the zombies’ distant cries echoed more
clearly in my ears.
A tension gripped my whole body, drying out my mouth.
It was a situation where I couldn’t predict when or where a zombie would jump out.
Seol Ye-won tapped my shoulder and pointed straight ahead, moving a step ahead.
If we delayed any further, even Seol Ye-won would have trouble navigating the terrain.
Gabriel’s ability was limited to clearing the mist, not to improving visibility in the dark.
Though our sight was narrow, this was the campus I’d been walking around for a year and a
half.
From here on, I was familiar with the way.
I took note of the terrain, the shape of the flowerbeds, and the types of street trees, mentally
calculating our location.
The downhill path, the grass, the sidewalk, the inclined road, and the number of speed bumps.
I quickened my pace, silent on my feet.
Grrr… Grrraahhh!
From behind, the growls of zombies reached us.
With the alarm silenced, it was clear the zombies in the main building were pouring outside.
I grabbed Seol Ye-won’s arm. She narrowed her eyes, checking the rear.
In a low voice, she said:
“It’s fine. They’re still 60 meters behind.”
“What about the ones following us?”
“There’s no one looking in this direction.”
We had left the parking lot by the side door, but should we move onto the main road now?
There was no time to waste.
The twilight was settling in, and in a world with no power, it would soon be pitch-black.
I quickly ran through the school’s layout in my head and spoke to Seol Ye-won.
“Let’s avoid the road and go into the forest next to us.”
“The forest? I don’t know that way.”
“I do.”
In April, the cherry blossoms bloom across the flower paths.
It offered the advantage of not having to pass through each lecture hall, but it was on a high
hill and a dirt path, so few students used it.
Once we passed the hill, the basketball court would come into view, followed by the student
union building.
Together, Seol Ye-won and I raced through the forest path.
As expected, there were no zombies wandering through the forest.
After running nonstop for two minutes, I saw the rough dirt path turning into a smooth
rubberized floor.
The basketball court.
Grrrr… Creak!
Suddenly, a zombie’s growl echoed from the ground near my feet.
‘Where is it?’
I scanned the area, but couldn’t see any zombies.
As the sun set, I could sense Seol Ye-won’s tension rising.
The darkness, thick as pitch, obscured everything.
I spun around, desperately trying to spot anything.
“Right!”
Seol Ye-won’s voice followed as she sharply turned her head to the left and spotted the
bloodshot eyes of a zombie lunging toward us.
It was too late to dodge.
Without thinking, I grabbed Seol Ye-won’s ankle.
She lost her balance and fell forward, avoiding the zombie’s attack.
Seizing the moment, I hurriedly got to my feet and swung the pipe.
Thwack!
In the thickening darkness, it became hard to make out the zombie’s appearance.
I thought I had hit its head, but this one was quite tall too.
The zombie, struck in the neck, staggered as if its cervical spine had broken.
To make sure it was finished, I swung the pipe again, crushing its skull.
With my focus reaching its limit, I felt the sensation of the zombie’s skull caving in through
the pipe’s handle, my fingertips tingling with the impact.
The zombie, now crumpled and shaking like a reed, collapsed onto the ground.
Even with my stamina boosted by five points, I found myself out of breath.
I glanced at Seol Ye-won, who was curled up, groaning in pain.
Had she been bitten?
“Are you okay? Why are you like this?”
“I think I sprained my ankle.”
Had I pulled too hard?
She had survived, but it seemed like she had injured her ankle when she fell.
Grrrrr… Grrrrr!
Then, the growls of zombies came from the forest path we had just passed.