I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Chapter 2: Becoming a Character in the Apocalypse Game
Is it fearlessness? Or is it just arrogance clouding his mind?
Despite seeing the floor manager with his own eyes, is he still planning to go out?
As he confidently approached the floor manager, the manager, who had been scanning the
surroundings, lunged at the gym addict—commonly known as “Hel-chang.”
The gym addict hesitated when he saw the floor manager’s face, but quickly raised his guard
and planted his feet firmly.
When the floor manager was within striking distance, the gym addict swiftly kicked the
manager’s thigh.
Thud!
“Ugh… shit.”
The sound was so jarring it made me shiver, starting from my tailbone and running up to my
neck.
The floor manager staggered and fell, but immediately grabbed the gym addict’s side with
both arms.
“Aaagh!”
The strength of the floor manager was evident as his fingers dug deep into the gym addict’s
side.
With a grimace, the gym addict bit down on his teeth and began pounding the floor manager’s
head.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Despite landing punch after punch with his thick arms, the floor manager didn’t seem to feel
any pain.
Soon, the manager sunk his teeth into the gym addict’s lower abdomen and began twisting his
head viciously.
Like an alligator grabbing its prey, the manager twisted his entire body, tearing at the gym
addict’s abdomen.
“Gah! Aaaaagh!!”
The gym addict struggled to shake off the manager, but the manager had already lost all
semblance of reason—he was nothing but a wild beast now.
I… I couldn’t just stand there.
Without thinking, my body reacted before my mind could catch up.
With the club I was holding, I struck the floor manager’s head with all my strength.
Bang!
The heavy sensation at the tip of my fingers sent a tremor through my right arm.
Grrr… Crack!
Under normal circumstances, anyone would have collapsed from that hit, but the floor
manager twisted his head violently and glared at me.
Even with blood pouring from his head, the bastard didn’t die.
Looking at that terrifying sight, my heart began to pound in my chest, and cold sweat formed
on my forehead.
The thing before me wasn’t a human.
It… It was a monster.
I swung the club again, this time with a firm determination to crush the manager’s skull.
Bang! Bang! Crack! Whack!
“Jae-hyung! Jae-hyung!”
Jang Byeong-cheol grabbed my arms and pulled me back, forcing me to snap out of it.
My trembling arms felt like they had no strength left.
The pounding of my heart, as frantic as a racehorse’s hooves, brought me back to my senses.
I gasped for breath, my head spinning.
The dizziness made me feel nauseous, and a foul sensation rose from my stomach.
“Ugh!”
I couldn’t hold it in. I threw up, my legs giving out as I dropped to the floor, holding onto the
ground to steady myself as I continued to retch.
“Are you… are you okay?”
“What… What happened?”
“Call the police! Call the police!”
The doors to the fourth floor opened, and students began to pour into the hallway.
They froze in horror as they witnessed the horrific scene in front of them.
None of them dared to approach.
Only Jang Byeong-cheol, the one who still seemed sane, grabbed my arm and pulled me back
into room 401.
He guided me to the bed, and I collapsed onto it.
My vision wasn’t quite right.
Was I too tense?
The edges of my vision seemed to distort, like a black curtain slowly closing in, as anxiety
swelled within me.
I… I killed someone.
No, did I really kill a person?
Was it really a person I killed?
Killed?
The moment I smashed the floor manager’s head with the club replayed in my mind like a
snapshot—a clear and horrifying image of shattered skulls, brain matter spilling out, and
fresh blood splattering.
Even as his head was crushed, the manager’s body still reached for my flesh, writhing in
hunger.
The ringing in my ears, the drumbeat of my heart, and the chaos in my mind made it
impossible to think straight.
I got up from the bed, like someone possessed, and walked toward my desk to grab my
phone.
I didn’t even know why, but I needed to hear my mother’s voice.
• “The number you are trying to reach is unavailable. Out of coverage…”
The message kept repeating, over and over again.
My hands were shaking uncontrollably as I desperately tried to dial again.
“Jae-hyung.”
“Sob…”
“Jae-hyung!”
Jang Byeong-cheol shook my shoulder, and in that moment, I dropped my phone.
Tears flowed like a river, uncontrollable, as I wept like a newborn.
The emotions I couldn’t keep in gripped my heart, suffocating me.
Was it fear? Or was it guilt?
Words couldn’t express what I was feeling, only tears poured from my eyes, my body
trembling like there was an earthquake inside me.
Jang Byeong-cheol gently pressed me back into bed.
“Jae-hyung, look at me. Look at me, you bastard!”
“Hyung…”
Jang Byeong-cheol gently cupped my cheek, speaking in a soft voice.
“Rest, leave the rest to me, just rest.”
“Hyung… I killed someone. I… I killed a person.”
I couldn’t contain the storm in my heart.
I was angry, frustrated, scared, and even more than that—terrified.
Was it fear? Was it guilt?
I couldn’t put it into words, I just cried and cried, my entire body shaking uncontrollably.
Jang Byeong-cheol held my hand tightly.
“You did well. You did the right thing.”
“I… I killed someone. Sob…”
“No, you saved someone. You saved everyone out there.”
His words of comfort, though well-intentioned, didn’t ease the turmoil inside me.
I wiped my tears with my right arm, sobbing uncontrollably. Jang Byeong-cheol covered me
with a blanket, like a mother comforting a child.
He gently patted me on the back.
“Don’t worry, just rest.”
“Hyung…”
“You did the right thing. You saved everyone outside. Don’t worry.”
“But what about the gym addict? He… He was bitten by the floor manager. You saw it too,
didn’t you?”
“I’ll take care of it. Just rest and don’t think about anything else.”
Jang Byeong-cheol gave a faint smile and lightly tapped my cheek.
Biting my lower lip, I did my best to calm down.
The past 21 years of my life, everything I thought I knew, felt like it was being negated.
Chirp- Chirp chirp- Chirp-
The warm breeze blowing in from the half-open terrace, the chirping of sparrows.
It was an ordinary, peaceful morning, just like any other.
“Ugh!”
I shot up from the bed, as though I had just woken from a nightmare.
Had I cried myself to sleep without realizing it?
My head throbbed.
The shocking scenes from yesterday flashed through my mind like vivid photographs.
‘Where is Byeong-cheol hyung?’
I couldn’t see Jang Byeong-cheol anywhere.
As soon as I placed my feet on the floor, I felt something wet underfoot.
Plop.
Looking down, I saw brown stains on the floor.
Dozens of footprints were stamped on the floor, and the shoe rack and drawers blocked the
door.
Five buckets stood in the room, each filled with sloshing water.
On the desk, there were various snacks laid out.
My body froze instinctively at the sight.
A cold chill ran through my veins.
Like someone possessed, I followed the footprints on the floor with my eyes.
At the end of the trail, I found footprints leading toward the terrace.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
Just confirming the footprints made my heart race.
My hand instinctively went to my chest as I followed the trail out to the terrace.
On the railing, there were two large handprints stained in red.
‘No way.’
I wiped the blood from the railing, but sticky, fresh blood smeared on my fingers.
Seeing the blood on my fingertips, my mind went blank.
With trembling arms, I peered over the railing to look at the world below.
When I glanced down at the first floor, I could make out a human figure lying motionless,
face down in the thick fog.
The body didn’t move at all.
Though I couldn’t clearly see the face, the shirt the person was wearing was burned into my
memory.
“Ah… no. Nooo…”
The words “no” kept spilling out of my mouth.
I had teased him just yesterday, joking about how he wore that green shirt every day until it
turned yellow from constant use.
And now that very shirt was torn to shreds, fluttering in the wind.
***
How many days had passed?
The eerie cries I heard in the hallway had become a daily occurrence.
Zombies, monsters, ghouls.
It didn’t matter what they were called anymore.
The one thing I was certain of was that the world I once knew no longer existed.
The screams, the desperate cries for help, the voices calling out for life—those no longer
echoed through the halls.
I sat in my room, motionless like a living corpse, too tired to move.
The stench of my own body was unbearable, and my hair was so greasy that it felt like I
might lose my mind if I didn’t scratch it.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Biting my nails, I stared blankly at the ceiling.
My phone remained silent, and there was still no sign of rescue teams.
The fear, loneliness, dread, and anxiety were eating me alive.
‘Water…’
I got up from the bed and walked to the desk, only to find that there was only one bucket left.
The snacks that had once piled up were now nearly gone.
With hollow eyes, I examined the tally marks I had made on the wall.
One, two, three, four…
It was already halfway through the month.
I had rationed the food, hoping the rescue team would arrive soon.
But now, all that was left was ten chocolate bars, two bags of snacks, and one bucket of
water.
“Damn…”
Even if I rationed, the food would last about a week at best.
By now, the rescue team should have already arrived, right?
They’re all dead.
They must all be dead.
Everyone’s dead now.
“Damn them… those bastards…”
I muttered curses, my fists trembling uncontrollably.
Wasn’t it better for me to follow Byeong-cheol’s path?
Yeah. Let’s end it.
What’s the point of living?
A life full of pain… Let’s end it now.
I stood up and made my way to the terrace, where I noticed dried bloodstains on the railing.
What had Byeong-cheol been thinking?
He knew he was turning into a monster, but he still went out to get me food and water.
What had been going through his mind when he did that?
Had he wanted to save me?
As I looked at his handprints, my heart softened.
I touched my forehead and grimaced.
I had cried so much over the past fifteen days that I couldn’t shed another tear.
My emotional state had been deteriorating with each passing day, and the heat in this area,
which reached up to 40°C, made it even harder to think straight.
With no fan, no air conditioning, and no cold water, I was stuck in the suffocating heat.
Looking at the endless fog stretching before me, I made a firm decision.
If my future was just death, I wouldn’t walk down that path alone, miserably.
“I’ll kill them all.”
I picked up the club from the floor and stared at the shoe rack blocking the door to room 401.
Ah, right.
Even if I’m going down, I’m going to make I’ve had my fill first.
I tore open the snacks and stuffed them into my mouth without hesitation, even eating five
chocolate bars in a row.
Then, I buried my face in the bucket and drank the water greedily.
“Ah…”
I shoved the remaining five chocolate bars into my pockets.
Thud.
Was it because of the heat? One of the chocolate bars had slipped from my pocket and fallen
under the bed.
“Damn it…”
Grumbling, I got down on all fours and crawled under the bed. There, I saw the chocolate
bar, but along with it, there was a piece of A4 paper.
Unconsciously, I picked up the paper and looked at the writing on it.
When I saw what was written on it, I felt my breath catch in my throat.
The paper was stained with blood.
The first sentence read my name.
It was Jang Byeong-cheol’s will.
Like someone possessed, I urgently grabbed the paper and the chocolate bar.
[Jae-hyung, I’m sorry I’m leaving without saying goodbye.]
The first sentence of the will.
[After you fell asleep, Hel-chang regained consciousness. He must have been moved to
the break room, but since he’s so strong, he broke the door and came out.]
[While I was filling up the water in the bathroom, the hallway turned into chaos, and I
got bitten.]
I ran my trembling hand over the will.
My lips couldn’t calm down.
He had been the one keeping me alive for the past fifteen days.
According to the will, he hadn’t been attacked after getting bitten by the zombie.
It takes about 20 minutes to turn into a zombie.
In that time, he had gathered supplies, stored water in the bathroom, and barricaded the door
while writing this will.
The last part of the will read:
[I know living away from home isn’t easy. And you understand how good it feels to meet
people from your hometown.]
The reason Jang Byeong-cheol and I became close, even though we joked around, was that
we relied on each other.
Jang Byeong-cheol’s hometown was Apgujeong in Seoul, and my hometown was Jamsil.