I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Chapter 15 

Yoon Hye-ri continued in a dejected tone.

“We couldn’t even leave the basketball court, and all the people from the Dance Club got bitten. The people from Ye-bong-gak said they’d buy time, but… I don’t know what happened after that.”

The basketball court meant they had been wiped out before they could even make it 500 meters from here.

Yoon Hye-ri didn’t say anything, keeping her head lowered.

I noticed her hands, clasped tightly together, trembling slightly.

I wasn’t sure what comforting words to offer.

I thought it would be best to wait for her to settle her troubled mind rather than press her for answers right now.

After a short while, Yoon Hye-ri squeezed her eyes shut and continued.

“While the Dance Club members were getting bitten… we ran away.”

“…”

“I wanted to help, I really did… but I just… couldn’t…”

Her shoulders trembled lightly.

I patted Yoon Hye-ri gently, letting out a shallow breath.

What could we do?

None of them were in their right mind, and in a situation where survival was the only thought, it was hard to hold on to reason.

In situations where life and death are on the line, morality ceases to exist.

Only instinct and intuition remain.

I avoided her gaze, feeling bitter, and Yoon Hye-ri sniffled, continuing her story.

“After that, we just hid and stayed alive in the club room, waiting for the rescue team to arrive.”

Just staying alive?

Choi Hyun and Jeon Wan-soo must have been assigned the quests from Last Ark, right?

They should have understood the situation faster than anyone, so I couldn’t believe they did nothing.

“Did Hyun or Wan-soo do anything strange?”

“Strange behavior?”

“Like being able to see better in the fog or talking about things you couldn’t understand?”

“Last Ark?”

At the mention of Last Ark, I widened my eyes in surprise and nodded.

Does Yoon Hye-ri know about Last Ark too?

“Hye-ri, did you play Last Ark?”

“No, I didn’t… but everyone else was talking about Last Ark.”

“Even Jin-young and Jung-woo? When?”

“After we came back from the basketball court, it was just a series of dark days… Wan-soo oppa suddenly said he had a quest, and then everyone else said their quests were opening too.”

Suddenly, I remembered when my first quest appeared.

I hadn’t received any quests for half a month, then an S-rank quest appeared, asking me to check on my parents, followed by a main quest to clear Last Ark Hell mode.

It was only after that main quest appeared that I realized the chaotic world I was in was exactly like Last Ark.

So, does that mean even people who played Last Ark can’t use their abilities unless an S-rank quest is created for them?

I focused on Yoon Hye-ri’s story and asked.

“What kind of quest was it? Do you know the details?”

“Well… Wan-soo oppa was worrying about our parents and complaining about our situation, and then suddenly he said that… I’m not really sure.”

“Others too?”

“Yes, Wan-soo oppa said he had to go home, no matter what, even if it meant dying. The other oppas said things like ‘Don’t you care about your parents too?'”

“Then the quest appeared?”

“Yes, that’s when they mentioned you too.”

Me?

I tilted my head and looked at her, and Yoon Hye-ri shyly murmured.

“They always talked about you, saying you were the best at Last Ark. They all said they had to find you, Jae-hyung oppa.”

“So, everyone except you is a player?”

“Yes.”

Among those who didn’t play Last Ark, Yoon Hye-ri was the only survivor with immunity to the fog.

One out of every ten.

I scratched my eyebrows, feeling confused, and asked.

“So, after the fog spread, did they start moving a week later?”

“Yes, after that, Jung-woo oppa gathered everyone, and we all decided to stick together. We thought that if this world has changed like Last Ark, there has to be a way to survive.”

It seemed that Lee Jung-woo had lifted the dark mood, giving hope to the group.

So, Jung-woo must be the leader of this team and their spiritual pillar.

If Jung-woo is the leader, then I agree with that.

He wasn’t someone who spoke much, which made it hard to approach him at first, but that made him thoughtful and careful.

I slowly nodded and continued with my questions.

“How are you getting food? Did you take it from the convenience store on the second floor?”

“We have a refrigerator in the club room, you know? We’ve been surviving with the leftover food, and recently, we raided the convenience store.”

Ah, right.

The refrigerator was full of snacks and drinks.

In the club room, we ate and drank, and all the leftovers were kept in the fridge.

“Wait, the refrigerator?”

If the refrigerator is working, that means there’s power, doesn’t it?

It seems the solar panels on the new student union building are working properly.

I clenched my fists, silently cheering.

If the convenience store is working, doesn’t that mean the cafeteria on the first floor of the new student union building should have power too?

Then, frozen food would still be good.

I looked at Yoon Hye-ri with hopeful eyes and asked.

“Where are the others?”

“They went to get weapons.”

“Weapons? What kind of weapons?”

“Someone from Ye-bong-gak said there were weapons in the business department professor’s office.”

When I asked for more details, Yoon Hye-ri seemed to be thinking deeply, then tilted her head as if unsure.

“I heard something about a katana… and a hunting knife? That’s what they said.”

Is that possible?

Carrying real swords is legally impossible, isn’t it?

Did they get permission?

It’s a strange hobby for a business department professor to have weapons.

I don’t know how they brought them in, but it’s good news for us.

“So, they all went to get weapons?”

“Yes, they went to the business department building this afternoon.”

It was already evening, and the sun had set.

The fact that they hadn’t returned meant something had gone wrong for them as well…

“Weren’t they supposed to be back by now?”

“They didn’t say anything about when they’d be back.”

The quickest and safest route to the business department building would be through the back door of the new student union building.

The narrow circular staircase leading to the back door was too cramped for two people to walk side by side, and it quickly branched off to the library, the engineering department, and then to the business department building.

Should I go look for them now?

‘No, not yet.’

It’s night, and the world is consumed by darkness now.

Going outside is practically suicide.

I’m also physically exhausted.

For now, the best I could do was wait until tomorrow morning, hoping that my classmates and the older guys were still alive.

A sigh escaped me from the confusion in my heart.

I looked at Yoon Hye-ri and said, “Hye-ri, check on Ye-won’s condition and then go into the clubroom together.”

“Huh? O-what about you, oppa?”

“Someone has to be on night duty.”

“Ah… but you need to be checked, too…”

“Do you really want to see my naked body that much?”

“A-ah, no… then… for now…”

Tap-tap-tap—

In that moment, I heard the sound of many footsteps.

In a world where all noise had disappeared, the sound of even a small drop of water was crystal clear.

Focusing my hearing, I realized the source of the sound was outside the building.

I grabbed the steel pipe I had set on the floor and headed toward the source of the sound.

The sound wasn’t coming from the front; it was coming from the spiral staircase leading to the back door.

I hurriedly ran to the window on the opposite hallway and saw the surface of the thick fog rippling.

Had the zombies from the main building followed us?

No, if they had followed, they should’ve entered through the front door, not the back.

Squinting my eyes and staring into the fog, I spotted a human figure running toward us, carrying something heavy in their bag.

Thud-thud-thud—

“Grrrrr!”

At the same time, I could hear the growls of multiple zombies following the survivor.

I swung open the iron door leading to the spiral staircase and leaned over the railing to look down at the first floor.

“Close it! Close it quickly!”

“I know, damn it!”

Due to the dense fog, I couldn’t make out their faces, but I recognized the voices.

It was Jeon Wan-soo and Choi Hyun.

Hearing their voices, I quickly ran down the stairs.

Had they heard my footsteps?

Jeon Wan-soo’s voice followed.

“Hye-ri? Hye-ri!”

“It’s me, you bastards!”

After a brief silence, I heard Choi Hyun’s voice, clearly flustered.

“Park Jae-hyung?”

“Yeah!”

When I finally reached the first floor, I saw Choi Hyun and Jeon Wan-soo, both covered in blood.

Seeing them like that, I felt a pang of confusion but forced myself to stay calm and asked, “Where are Jung-woo hyung and Jin-young hyung? You said you went out together.”

“What the hell, when did you get here?”

“I’ll explain later. Right now…”

“Grrrrr!”

Bang!

Immediately after, I heard the sound of zombies banging on the back door.

The stick wedged under the bottom of the door had created a dent, and the door opened about five centimeters.

Seeing this, I widened my eyes and shouted, “What the hell are you doing? Why isn’t it locked?! Close it now!”

“This door’s broken, it won’t close!”

Jeon Wan-soo gritted his teeth and blocked the back door with his body.

Choi Hyun, holding a bag, ran up to the second floor and threw something out of his pants pocket through the window.

Whistle—Bang! Thud! Boom!

It was a firecracker, known as “Jiral-tan.”

The bright light and the loud explosions of the firecracker momentarily distracted the zombies.

Seizing the opportunity, Jeon Wan-soo grabbed my collar and we rushed to the iron bars between the first and second floors.

As soon as we entered the safe zone, we closed the sliding iron bars and locked them.

But the firecracker’s noise quickly subsided, and the zombies outside began to pressure the back door again.

“Grrrrr!”

As the back door was completely blocked, I saw a few zombies circle around the building and head toward the front door.

The sight sent a chill down my spine, and I felt a rush of cold blood.

The back door of the new student union was adjacent to the back door of the library, and the front door was only about 10 meters from the old student union.

If they were running around screaming like that, zombies from the library and the old student union would surely converge.

Even if there were no resonance zombies among them, the large number would be overwhelming.

They wouldn’t stop at the second floor, either; they’d climb up, pushing their numbers.

It was suicidal to face dozens of zombies outside with no plan.

Quickly thinking, I came up with a solution.

If resonance zombies were mixed in, it would be all for nothing, but for now, the priority was to put out the immediate fire.

I needed to counterattack.

I turned to Jeon Wan-soo and said, “Hold out here.”

“Huh?”

“The zombies are heading to the front door! I’ll handle it, so just hold out here!”

After saying that, I hurriedly ran up the stairs.

When I reached the fifth floor without stopping, I found Yoon Hye-ri, looking terrified.

I looked her straight in the eye and asked, “Do we have any chains or microphone cables in the clubroom?”

“Mi-microphone cables? Yes, yes, we have them.”

“Take it and wait on the second floor.”

“Huh?”

Yoon Hye-ri looked at me, her eyes wide in confusion.

Since there wasn’t time to explain, I set my bag down and said, “Are all the iron doors on each floor locked?”

“Huh?”

“The iron doors that lead to the spiral staircase! Like that one!”

I pointed to the iron door right in front of us.

It was a large double iron door.

The new student union had iron doors on every floor blocking the hallways and stairs.

Yoon Hye-ri nodded vigorously and answered, “The third and fourth floors have the door handles chained. The security guard always locks those doors…”

“Fine, what about the second floor?”

“The second floor? It’s open. Because they’ve been moving materials for the pool hall construction, they’ve been leaving it open…”

She seemed a bit flustered, probably due to the urgent situation.

I grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eye, saying firmly, “Listen carefully. I’m going to lure the zombies into the second-floor hallway. Once they follow me, I’ll move them to the back door stairs. When I come out, wrap the chain or the microphone cable around the door handle.”

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean by that…”

“Just do as I say!”

Instead of arguing, she nodded.

I immediately headed toward the barricaded front stairs.

I cleared the box from the bottom of the barricade and headed down the stairs, continuously running through thoughts in my mind.

There was no way to lure the zombies outside of the student union, so it would be best to trap them inside before they multiplied further.

Considering the range of the zombies’ hearing, trapping the zombies around the new student union would prevent more from gathering.

For now, putting out the immediate danger was the priority, so dealing with the zombies that had already entered could wait.

The bodies of the zombies lined up on the stairs would erase our scent, making it unlikely they’d come up.

We had to counterattack, risking everything before the situation escalated beyond control.