Free Web NovelChapter 28: Chapter 28
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard. Yi Ga-on’s tearful voice continued.
"Sniff... Roasted Chestnut... huuuh... I’ll wait for you in the lab..."
The broadcast ended.
She’d been pretty calm for someone who’d just killed someone, but still — it was surprising.
What the hell happened up there?
I couldn’t know until I checked, but I was dying of curiosity.
Tak Jucheol or Paeng Sangdo?
Paeng Sangdo was the talkative type — maybe Yi Ga-on snapped and killed him in a fit of rage.
But Tak Jucheol had a way of running his mouth too, and he was no less irritating. Plenty of reason to kill him.
Wondering which one it was, I quietly shifted my eyes to check on Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein.
Mo Haein showed no reaction to the broadcast. Kwak Hanmuk, still pinning the Chef Zombie under his boot, let out an impressed whistle.
"Didn’t think the researcher had it in her. Not bad."
The Chef Zombie, pinned under his boot, was still squirming even though the boss fight was over. free𝑤ebnovel.com
It was trying to pick up the scattered Goblin Stone pieces on the floor.
Blood-slicked fingers scraped against the steel floor.
Its body had reverted to normal after the boss fight ended, but if it kept using its hands like that, it’d really mess them up.
I quickly unhooked my carabiner and ran over to the Chef Zombie.
With Kwak Hanmuk’s help, we tied the Chef Zombie up tight with climbing rope and secured it to a steel shelf in the Generator Room.
"You sure it won’t break the rope?"
"I’m setting up a simple additional measure."
I climbed onto the steel shelf and wound a thread around a pipe on the ceiling.
At the dangling end of the thread, I tied a Goblin Stone.
The Goblin Stone trembled from the vibration of the generator engine.
The Chef Zombie couldn’t take its eyes off the swaying stone.
"Even if it breaks the rope and climbs onto the shelf, its leg is injured, so it won’t be able to reach the Goblin Stone."
It’d be too fixated on the stone just out of reach to cause any trouble.
Kwak Hanmuk looked dissatisfied with my measure, but maybe because of the True Ending connection, he didn’t say anything more.
He peeled off his Work Gloves, soaked in generator oil and blood, and stretched with a long, groaning noise.
"Man, I’m dead tired. Soon as we get back to the lab, I’m fucking demolishing some chocolate bars."
Then he cackled — "Fucking demolish some chocolate bars!" — and threw punches at the air.
Mo Haein made no effort to hide her scowl.
Watching them both, I asked carefully.
"Um... aren’t you going to arrest me? Or is that after we clear this?"
I asked in advance to mentally prepare, then added my own excuse.
"I don’t know why my eyes turned like that either. And the zombie virus infection somehow healed, but I don’t know the reason for that eith—"
"You forgot?"
Mo Haein cut me off.
"That’s why you’re a Trainee."
"...Ah."
I’ve already been arrested!
All the worry I’d been carrying evaporated clean away.
Either way, it was already confirmed that I was some kind of weird existence. Right now, TRA was testing whether I could close three Trials within the month I’d promised.
Whether my eyes started glowing or not, what mattered to TRA was whether I could actually close the Trials.
Relieved, I gave a small smile and thanked her.
"Thank you."
"Nothing to thank me for."
Mo Haein drew a firm line, then nodded toward the emergency generator humming loudly nearby.
"Why did the generator suddenly do that?"
"I don’t know."
Mo Haein stared at me.
Her look seemed to say, So there ARE things you don’t know.
I don’t know a lot of things, actually...
I knew every part of the game I’d played through, but nothing outside of it.
No — I couldn’t know.
The sudden breakdown of the emergency generator was something I found just as puzzling.
The golden flash in my eyes — if I said it was related to me becoming the System, that would roughly make sense.
The System window had been rambling about something like that too.
If I’m the System, it’d be weirder if nothing happened at all.
But the emergency generator — no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t even find a clue.
The Chef Zombie wasn’t that strong before it went berserk.
Without outside interference, there was no way the emergency generator could have suddenly broken down like that.
I’d even wondered at first if Je Hyun-oh had come to the lab and rammed the generator instead of delivering the items he was supposed to.
My only guess for now was that maybe my interference with the True Ending had caused it.
Not sure about that either.
Right now, my usefulness to TRA was determined by my knowledge of the Trials.
If things kept going off-script like this, I’d be in trouble.
If possible, I wanted to find the cause.
"I’m soooooo hungry... Let’s just go already..."
Kwak Hanmuk’s gloomy muttering snapped me out of my thoughts, and I got moving.
The way back to the lab was the complete opposite of before.
After defeating the Chef Zombie, part of the underground area gets sealed off, but the stairs become usable.
The emergency stairs — blocked when we first entered the underground area — were now open, but no one was surprised.
It was a Trial that meticulously mimicked reality, but in the end, it was still a virtual space.
A place that followed the rules of the game. Even DeZonDeal, for all its emphasis on realism, couldn’t avoid having unrealistic elements.
I picked up a couple of food items on the way and handed them to Kwak Hanmuk.
Kwak Hanmuk, grimy with grease stains, tore open the plastic wrapper of a chocolate pie with his teeth — no hands — and downed it in one bite.
He chewed as he beat back the zombies rushing at us.
This was my fault for turning back human.
Feeling apologetic, I promised myself I’d find him even better snacks.
When we reached the 6th floor, freshly spawned zombies greeted us.
While Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein dealt with them, I ran to the lab door and knocked.
"Yi Ga-on! Yi—"
The door opened before I could call her name twice.
"Roasted Chestnut!"
Yi Ga-on pulled me inside.
Exhausted from fighting the Chef Zombie, I let myself be dragged in — and then she threw her arms around me.
"Roasted Chestnut, Roasted Chestnut...! I knew you were alive!"
I was startled by the sudden hug, but after a moment, I awkwardly patted her on the back.
The spot where she pressed her face against my chest quickly grew damp.
Yi Ga-on, who’d been sobbing for a long while, finally calmed down and lifted her head.
I carefully pulled away from her and asked.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. Just a little bruised."
Yi Ga-on showed me her arm — a bruise so dark it was practically black.
In the normal world, it would’ve been shocking. But in the world of DeZonDeal, surviving at the cost of a bruise like that was practically a steal.
I let out a relieved breath and scanned the inside of the lab.
I was looking for Tak Jucheol and Paeng Sangdo, but they weren’t in sight.
"I’m glad. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Well... it’s like this."
Yi Ga-on told me about what happened while I was in the underground area.
Not long after we left, an announcement came over the speakers saying the lab was being locked down.
Tak Jucheol and Paeng Sangdo, who’d been cooperating with the vaccine production, completely lost it the moment the broadcast came on.
They started screaming that we had to escape immediately and causing a ruckus — but it was pointless.
Because the noisy broadcast had woken up all the sleeping zombies, and they were tearing the place apart.
The 6th floor, which we’d cleared out, was now swarming with zombies again. There was no way researchers with pathetic physical abilities could escape.
Tak Jucheol and Paeng Sangdo soon realized that too.
"We’re all dead! WE’RE ALL DEAD!!"
As Tak Jucheol wailed in despair, Paeng Sangdo spoke very calmly.
"Not... quite."
Tak Jucheol, who’d survived this long thanks to Paeng Sangdo’s scheming, looked at him with hopeful eyes.
Paeng Sangdo extended his index finger and pointed at Yi Ga-on.
Both Tak Jucheol and Yi Ga-on understood the meaning of that pointed finger instantly.
Use Yi Ga-on as bait to escape.
Just like they did with Yi Se-on.
"...Ah, that’s right. We’ve got our Ga-on."
Tak Jucheol grinned.
"Ga-on. I’m counting on you. You’re the only one left now. We’ll make sure the vaccine gets made, so..."
"My brother wasn’t enough? You want to turn me into a zombie too?"
"Now now, that’s not what I meant."
"Then what DID you mean?! You’re telling me to go out there and die!"
"Where do you get off talking back like that?!"
Tak Jucheol shouted and jabbed a finger at her — and at the same time, Paeng Sangdo swung his fist.
"I got this bruise blocking that punch."
"That’s..."
I had no idea what they thought they’d accomplish by swinging at Yi Ga-on of all people.
"So I got so pissed off that I shot him."
"...Huh?"
"Ah, the Zombie Captain gave me a gun before she left. The female Captain who was the first to turn into a zombie."
That wasn’t the part I was surprised by...
Misunderstanding my reaction, Yi Ga-on blinked.
Her expression seemed to ask what else she needed to explain.
I made a mental note to be nicer to Yi Ga-on from now on, then sat up straight and listened carefully to what came next.
Long story short: Paeng Sangdo, shot, ran out of the lab blubbering, and Tak Jucheol followed after him.
"I never knew a person could bleed that much. He’s definitely dead..."
She’d pulled the trigger, but witnessing the aftermath with her own eyes had clearly shaken her.
Left alone, Yi Ga-on trembled — then, waiting for the zombies to chase after Paeng Sangdo and Tak Jucheol, she went down to the broadcast room on the lower floor and called for me.
"Will you be okay without an assistant researcher?"
If necessary, I could track one down and drag them back.
But Yi Ga-on shouted a refusal immediately.
"I don’t need them!"
She grabbed my collar and spoke urgently.
"Just stay here where it’s safe. I can handle everything myself."
Her eyes, trembling with anxiety, were desperate.
I lied for Yi Ga-on’s sake.
"Yeah. There won’t be any more danger."
There was still one more thing left, but knowing in advance would only make her anxious — so I told a white lie.
Visibly relieved, Yi Ga-on finally managed a small smile.
"But..."
She looked me over, then murmured as if something had just dawned on her.
"Roasted Chestnut... you got bitten by a zombie, didn’t you...?"
Yi Ga-on kept examining me.
She kept checking, confirming that there were no visible signs of zombification, so I decided to be honest.
"You might not believe this, but the infection healed."
The moment she heard me, she froze.
Her eyes and mouth fell open as she stared at me, dazed.
Hard to believe, I know.
She probably thought I’d lost my mind and was talking nonsense.
Whatever reaction she had, I figured I’d understand — but suddenly, Yi Ga-on grabbed my arm.
Then, as if struck by lightning, she called out my name.
"Roasted Chestnut!"
The grip on my forearm was surprisingly strong.
I was startled by her sudden movement — but her next words caught me even more off guard.
"I’m going to take some blood."
Her eyes gleamed.
"Right now."
