Chapter 2
Starplex Mall, Basement Level 1 Disaster Control Room.
“Ugh... Spam really is a classic...”
Reclining in a cushy office chair, I toss a fresh can of Spam onto the mountain of empty cans already piled up.
Exactly six months have passed since the apocalypse began.
The view of Yeouido from the rooftop CCTV feed in the disaster control room is still spectacular.
Yesterday, I watched a human-centipede monster coil itself around and up the dome of the National Assembly building.
Today, I was watching a horde of zombies march near the subway station.
“Did someone hold a VTS concert or something...”
Outside was a veritable demon realm (魔境). But it had nothing to do with me.
“Ugh... A full stomach is making me sleepy...”
The four tiles whose ownership I secured with Blueprint Control had become a perfect clean zone, maintained at 24°C and 50% humidity.
On top of that, objects on tiles I owned were subject to the Automatic Refill trait.
Even if I used up the Spam and bottled water, new items automatically filled the empty spots on the shelves after 72 hours.
Whether I ate canned tuna or wolfed down ramen, it was an endless refill.
Inside this perfect space, I had spent the last six months eating, sleeping, and playing offline mobile games.
“I leave the bathroom to your imagination.”
But nothing in this world comes free.
Ding-!
[Warning: Insufficient mana stones to extend ownership]
[Mana stones held: 0]
[Time remaining on ownership: 6 days 22 hours 35 minutes]
[Ownership will be released when the period ends.]
“Yeah, I know...”
After irritably closing the holographic window, I rubbed my face.
The ownership period for the tiles I designated lasted exactly six months after activation.
After that, I needed a currency called mana stones, dropped by zombies, to extend ownership and maintain these cheat-like benefits.
[Architect Main Quest 1: Defeat one mutant, obtain a mana stone, and extend your ownership!]
The system had helpfully opened a Main Quest and even provided a guide, but...
“Easier said than done....”
I turned my gaze away from the ruins beyond the tiles I had designated.
“Haha, hello, Zombie-sensei...”
There stood Zombie-sensei, always in the same pose and the same spot for the past six months.
Horribly twisted and completely stretched out, unmistakably a single being, yet Zombie-sensei watched me from every direction.
Its appearance was so sanity-eroding that I couldn't describe it in detail.
Oh, that window! That window!!
“Do I really have to fight that thing...?”
Fighting Zombie-sensei, whom I had to crane my neck ninety degrees upward just to make eye contact with, would be suicide.
Thunk-! Clang-!
Fortunately, Zombie-sensei couldn't approach the tiles I owned, blocked by a transparent wall, which was why I'd stayed safe until now.
But once the ownership vanished in a week, Zombie-sensei and I would become one, right?
“Ugh...”
Naturally, there was another way to obtain mana stones.
Was it because the first place I designated for ownership had been a supermarket?
-It identifies the original purpose of the controlled area and manifests it as a unique trait.
Just as the passive effect stated, the system astonishingly identified the original purpose of this space, then unlocked a customized skill for me.
[Trading Lv. 1]
[Trade items within your owned area with other people]
“Who’s coming all the way here to shop?”
It was a fact that either the Ministry of Artillery or the Ministry of National Defense had blown up every bridge leading to Yeouido.
At least, that's how it looked on the rooftop CCTV.
The bridges connecting Yeouido to the north and south were severed, and the Han River teemed with monsters like water ghosts.
Besides, even if someone came, they would have to reach an amicable settlement with Zombie-sensei up ahead. Was that even possible?
“Heh.”
No customers meant no business, and no business meant no mana stones.
No mana stones meant I couldn't maintain this facility, either.
It was simply a hellish choice between two options.
So did that mean I had to quietly wait for death like this?
“Oh, no! What a horrifying thing to say!”
That wasn't it.
I had one last hope of overcoming this fucking situation.
Ding-!
[Time remaining until the Black Zone's regular update: 14 hours 35 minutes 10 seconds]
“Ah, fuck, not this.”
An ominous timer had appeared in the corner of my status window three weeks ago.
It was a regular system message, different from the personal status-window alert telling me that my ownership would be revoked.
Given the nature of a K-apocalypse, wouldn't reaching zero trigger some shitty patch like increased difficulty or accelerated zombie mutations?
What I was pinning my hopes on was something entirely different.
“I have a Boss!!”
Two months ago, I spotted a creature gliding through the air on CCTV Channel 7, which showed the Yeouido area.
At first, I thought it was another type of zombie.
“Because I’d seen a few flying-squid-like Zombie-senseis before.”
But that wasn't the case.
The Boss was an Awakened like me, but possessed combat ability on an entirely different level from my pathetic power.
The feats the Boss had accomplished in this hellish Yeouido were truly astounding.
The Boss had cut down several flying squids in a single leap, and seen through the presence of that bastard lying in place of the collapsed Mapo Bridge, then stomped it flat.
Unlike me, who had been hunkering down, going toe-to-toe with those monsters already made the Boss superhuman. What more needed saying about that martial prowess when the Boss could simply slice them apart?
I watched those feats on the monitors and even sent a few rescue signals of my own. (Switching the CCTV direction)
Of course, the Boss never noticed, but that existence itself was my miracle of the loaves and fishes, my light and salt.
“Boss! You absolutely have to come today!!!”
I had no doubt about it.
The Boss would clean up this hellish area of Yeouido.
If possible.
I would welcome the Boss as my first customer and open the shop.
At that moment.
Rumble-!
A faint vibration traveled through the floor.
“S-surely not!”
It was definitely the Boss. The Boss's leaps had a distinctive sound and vibration pattern whenever the ground was kicked off.
Crash-! Shhk-!
And faintly, I could sense these weak sounds of combat.
“Booos!!! You started a little early today!!!”
Ignoring Zombie-sensei's oppressive gaze as it put on airs right in front of me, I grabbed some snacks and ran to the disaster control room.
“Seven! Seven! No! It’s nine today!!!”
I quickly worked the monitors and selected the CCTV covering the area where the battle had broken out.
“Oh, shit...!!”
The Boss was going toe-to-toe with the human centipede coiled around the National Assembly building that I’d seen yesterday.
“This is a freaking super fight!!”
Every time the Boss's sword aura flashed, the centipede’s carapace burst with wet pops and its organs were sliced apart.
“Win! Fucking win!!! Win, Booooos!!!!!!”
I stuffed snacks into my mouth and shouted, veins bulging in my forehead.
Zing-! Zing-!
I frantically switched the CCTV feeds around to cheer the Boss on in my own way.
“Now, Boss! The crown of its head!! It’s wide open! I’m not saying it’s balding!”
At last, the Boss evaded the enormous jaws, leaped into the air, and plunged a sword straight into the thing’s head in one stroke.
Rumble-!
The vibration reached all the way here. The human centipede crumpled to the ground.
“Heh... The centipede finally got centi-beaten...”
Heh heh.
I leaned back in the chair, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Holy shit... the level of this fight between my Boss and that centipede is unreal... It’s making my chest swell with pride...”
At that moment.
KABOOOOM-!!!!!
“...Huh?”
A new movement had been detected—not on CCTV 9, but on CCTV 1.
Had what fell earlier been merely its tail? The true body revealed itself on CCTV 1.
It was incomparably larger than before.
A gigantic maw, its dozens of limbs tangled together, burst through the ground and instantly engulfed the Boss from the waist up.
Crunch-!
“Huh...?”
Thud.
I collapsed at the same time, staring blankly at the monitor.
“No... noooo... Bossss...”
Where the Boss had been, only the lower half, backpack, and sword lay forlornly on the ground.
“You bastard!!!!!!”
Ding-!
[You have achieved a hidden achievement]
[Last Man Standing: You are the last survivor in the Black Zone! You have surpassed the limits of a mortal]
...
“Shut up, you bastard...”
What good was any of that?
*****
The next day, after crying myself to sleep from exhaustion.
“Sniff... sob... you bastard... He was my last hope...”
Like an idiot, I tearfully stacked empty water bottles and Spam cans into something resembling a stone cairn.
“Boss... May you go to a good place...”
I even wrote a message on top of the structure using a permanent marker from the stationery in the disaster control room.
[R.I.P. Boss]
In front of it, I set out a meal of the Buldak-crab-tempura combo I had planned to give the Boss when the Boss came.
“Even so, thanks to you, I was able to keep from losing hope...”
It wasn't a proper funeral, but it was the best I could do for now.
“Whew... That guy even made his exit a work of art...”
I craved a cigarette I'd never even smoked.
I regained my composure and turned my gaze to the status window.
[Legendary Achievement Reward: Upgrades a trait already possessed by an Awakened into a transcendent ability.]
[Trading Lv. 1] >>> [Shop Lv. 1] (Upgrade!!)
[Active] - You possess your own exclusive shop page and official gallery account. You may freely invite and ban members.
[Delivery Lv. 1] (NEW!!)
[Active] - Delivers items within your ownership for which payment has been completed through the shop by launching them to the buyer’s coordinates.]
The Boss's death hadn't been completely meaningless.
The achievement was completed the moment the Boss died, upgrading the skill I already possessed.
-Starplex-
[Out of stock x]
[Number of items currently available for registration: 0/1]
[Member list: 0]
[Number of members you can invite: 100]
I could now register items within the tiles I owned on my exclusive shop page and have them delivered once an invited member paid.
But so what?
“How am I supposed to invite members?”
No invitation screen appeared.
In the end, someone had to use the offline store before I could invite them as a member of the online shop, right?
If I invited Zombie-sensei and sent it Spam, would it eat this stuff instead of me?
“Sigh... Should I carry all the food remaining in the disaster control room out and try to hold on as long as possible...”
Was my Boss weak, or were the things here abnormally strong?
Just as I was about to go get breakfast.
Click-!
[System Message]
[Time remaining until the Black Zone's regular update: 3 seconds]
I realized that the regular update was about to arrive.
“Ah, fuck.”
Could Zombie-sensei enter my territory or something?
Even if I had to go, couldn’t I at least eat breakfast first?
What kind of shitty patch were they going to give me?
[181 days have passed since the beginning of the apocalypse!]
[The tutorial period for your region, the Black Zone, has expired.]
[Remaining survivors in the Black Zone are granted access to the convenience-feature gallery.]
The system window spewed out messages at a frantic pace, completely unlike what I had expected.
“What the hell?”
What, it wasn't an increase in difficulty or anything like that?
[Republic of Korea Server]
▶ Metropolitan Area Survivor Gallery (Seoul/Gyeonggi integrated) - [Access granted]
▷ Incheon Metropolitan City Survivor Gallery - [Access denied: Different region]
......
[Connecting to the Metropolitan Area Survivor Gallery]
“W-wait! A gallery?”
If it was a gallery, was it the one I knew?
The translucent holographic window smoothly transformed, taking on the shape of the familiar community bulletin board where, before the apocalypse, I’d spent ten hours a day camped out hitting refresh.
[Metropolitan Area Survivor Gallery (Current users: 83,215)]
-The gallery's access radius is restricted by area-
“I-is this for real...?”
Countless posts appeared when I pressed the Enter button.
- S-bung went to the Red Zone today lol [341]
- Don’t be stalkers, guys [312]
- A wave’s coming in—are we getting mobilized again? [221]
- Party recruiting—just need you [21]
- Why can’t the rat bastards even serve as proper meat shields? [314]
“Holy shit, it really is a gallery!!!”
I scrolled through the bulletin board in midair as if hypnotized.
Dozens of posts poured down every time I hit refresh. So many juicy rumors.
“Fuck!! Fuck yeah!!! This is it!!!”
It felt like I’d come home.
“I wasn’t the only one who survived!!”
Ah, if my Boss were still alive, we could have shared this joy.
“To get a patch this godly in a K-apocalypse...!”
The apocalypse director must be no ordinary talent to provide such user-friendly convenience features.
Just as I was about to read the newbie must-read posts.
“Huh...?”
I froze in place.
[Would you like to link your shop page –Starplex– to the Metropolitan Area Survivor Gallery?]
Because of the new alert that appeared before my eyes.
“W-wait a minute...”
Only then did I remember the description of the skill that had been upgraded thanks to the Boss.
“L-link...”
A new alert appeared with my answer.
[Link successful]
[Invite members to use the shop]
[Current list of gallery users you can invite]
YouPunkYouth
ZombieLover
SbungSbung
.....
Tears welled up uncontrollably in my eyes as I looked at those alerts.
“Ah... ahhh...”
I couldn't hold back the tears surging up.
My six months of hunkering down hadn't been in vain.
And the Boss's sacrifice had been far more valuable and noble than I had imagined.
“I... I didn't even know that... When my Boss died, I thought my last hope had vanished... Sniff...!”
The Boss's flame hadn't gone out.
That noble sacrifice had brilliantly opened up the road of survival I would walk from here on.
Sob!
I threw myself into a deep bow toward the Spam-and-bottled-water grave topped with Buldak-crab-tempura and shouted.
“Onii-samaa!!!”