Chapter 40
Ding-!
[1]
I sort through my thoughts in the ascending elevator.
Is this really the right thing to do?
“Will this really work?”
I don't know.
Fuck, no matter how much I think about it, there's no way to know the answer right now.
[2]
With a troubled heart, I check the Gallery.
Telescope Guy's breaking news, arriving one step too late.
Title : [Breaking News] We're fucked, fuck, we're all fucked.
(A rough summary of the situation. TXT)
I barely managed to eavesdrop using real magic, and for real, that bastard seems fucking insane
I'm running the fuck away for now, so I can't take questions
Huh?
ㄴ What!
ㄴ Ah, fuck... So that's what happened...??
A bastard who laid waste to three regions and tossed them to the zombies as food?
ㄴ Isn't this guy fucking insane
ㄴ This fucking...
ㄴ What a fucking lunatic...
No, apparently he came here intending to do the same to the Capital Area...
ㄴ What about the Head Mod? What happened to the Head Mod?
ㄴ Even with the Head Mod and the Myth Guild Master attacking together, it's an even match..
That bastard is even using Shadow Walker in battle
ㄴ What's that...?)
ㄴ You can think of it as one of the Red Zone's boss monsters ㅇㅇ
ㄴ Huh???
No, fuck
ㄴ Then is that why no announcement has gone up until now?
ㄴ How can someone that strong actually exist...?
ㄴ Isn't that bastard fucking crazy?
No, if it's the Head Mod and Yoon Seo-jin from Myth... Couldn't they handle even a Red Zone boss monster...?
ㄴ There are three more Head Mods next to that bastard right now;;
ㄴ ?
ㄴ What the fuck are you talking about now;;
The Head Mods from the three regions that bastard passed through...
ㄴ He revived all those Head Mods as corpses and is making them work for him;; They can use their abilities too;;
ㄴ ?
ㄴ Huh?
ㄴ This is fucking insane; ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Fuck ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ We're really fucking screwed ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Stalkers who figured out what was happening one step later than me.
Their opinions began splitting into several camps in an instant.
Then if the Head Mod and Myth collapse there... won't the northward advance happen in an instant...?
ㄴ Of course. There's no defensive line to the south either.
ㄴ Aren't we supposed to run?
But where would we run to...?
ㄴ The Red Zone is to the north... and beyond that is just the Black Zone...
ㄴ If we go west or east into the unexplored territory, it's the Blank Zone...
ㄴ So the Capital Area is basically an isolated island?
ㄴ ...
ㄴ ....
How were we supposed to know an outside force would come up from down there like this...?
ㄴ Exactly ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Fuck, who would've thought they'd come from below
ㄴ It's not even a zombie wave coming down from above ㅋㅋㅋ
An overwhelming sense of despair took control of the board's flow.
The scale of the disaster had gone beyond common sense.
In the minds of the survivors forced to face that horrific reality, only one emotion arose.
Complete helplessness.
Ah, fuck, is it really over?? ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ For real –the end– ㅇㅇ
ㄴ “The end,” my ass ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ It's ending this pointlessly ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Not even to zombies, but to an outside force ㅋㅋㅋ
Are you fucking laughing at a time like this, you lunatics ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Now we'll get our limbs cut off too and trail behind that bastard ㅅㅂ ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅅㅂ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
It wasn't until someone uploaded a post bordering on a scream.
That the Gallery, which had fallen into resignation, started churning madly again.
Are we really going to end things like this?
ㄴ Shouldn't the guilds band together??
ㄴ You think they'll band together...?
ㄴ If Myth, one of the major guilds, and the Head Mod went there and are still losing...
No, have the guilds ever banded together even once in the first place?
ㄴ Exactly
ㄴ All they ever did was exploit us and rush to fight each other
[Ironclad] ....
ㄴ [God of War] ...
No, if not the guilds, then we have to band together ourselves!!!
ㄴ We do...?
ㄴ Us, who aren't even guilds...?
ㄴ You want us to band together to fight those guys??
ㄴ How many people would even show up?
Can you fight with your life on the line?
ㄴ Who's going?
ㄴ Anyone?
ㄴ Nobody?
ㄴ ...
ㄴ ......
ㄴ ...
Even after refreshing, no more comments appeared.
“...”
No one was in a position to rashly come to a decision or take action.
Before long, only silence lingered in the Gallery.
“Sigh.”
To be honest, I hadn't expected anything.
In a ruined world like this, it was wrong to expect people to gather in the face of overwhelming danger.
That was why I was the only one who would help them.
[7]
Before I knew it, the elevator was nearing its destination.
“...”
I quietly closed the Gallery window.
[9]
The floor display pointed to the ninth floor.
Droning-!
But I could still feel the sensation of floating as the elevator rose through the air.
The elevator was carrying me higher. That was where my destination was.
“It's really fucking hard to make a living.”
Attracting customers is this difficult.
Ding-!
At last, I arrived at my destination.
*****
Meanwhile, on the battlefield on the outskirts of the Capital Area, where the bloody melee continued.
The situation was nearing its limit.
“Kraaagh!”
“D-Damn it... Don't get pushed back! Hold the formation!!”
The Myth Guild's phalanx was struggling even to maintain its shape under the pressure pouring down on it.
The First Battalion, which held the front line, had stood firm through repeated battles, but was on the verge of collapse.
Slash-!
“Huff, huff... I killed it...!”
“I took care of two here...”
Just as the guild members who had barely cut down the mutants' necks gasped for breath and began to hope.
“Throw them.”
“Feed them!”
The followers waiting in the rear under Jinhyeok threw the piles of corpses they had brought in carts into the middle of the battlefield.
“N-No!!”
“S-Save meeee!!!”
Then the fallen mutants devoured them, instantly healing their wounds and getting back up.
“Ah... Aah...”
Zombies that revived after eating food no matter how many times they were killed.
The brutal war of attrition with no end in sight was driving everyone to their limits.
Kaaaang-!! Kwoooong!!
At the same time, in the center of the battlefield.
Fierce flames and invisible repulsive force raged like a violent storm, then scattered.
“Ghk...!”
“Cough...!”
The two people who had been shoved back a dozen meters, scraping the ground.
Eunwol and Seo-jin.
The combined assault the two had unleashed. Its power had clearly been overwhelming, but.
Spit. Drip-drip.
Yet Baek Jinhyeok remained standing even as dark red blood flowed from him.
“....”
Jinhyeok looked down at the two gasping for breath with an emotionless gaze.
“The two of you are certainly impressive. Almost too good to throw away as food.”
Baek Jinhyeok, who had looked back and forth between Seo-jin and Eunwol, soon nodded toward Eunwol and continued.
“Administrator of the Capital Area. I will spare you.”
Jinhyeok spat out in an overbearing voice.
“Crawl beneath my feet and become the administrator of my army.”
Jinhyeok smiled and gestured with his chin toward the collapsing battlefield.
“Then tell me everything you know about the Capital Area. And everything about the System.”
“...”
“Of course, to keep you alive, every scrap of the Capital Area struggling to survive out there will have to be thrown to my army as food.”
It was not a negotiation, but a notification that offered not even the right to refuse.
Jinhyeok spread his arms with a confident, crazed smile.
“My army must grow even larger. I will go up to the Black Zone, subjugate every one of them, and bring this apocalypse to an end.”
As though he were someone who had grasped the truth of the world.
He declared arrogantly, as though he could see down upon everything.
“If I am the protagonist of this world, if I am the chosen one. It is something I can certainly accomplish.”
But Eunwol let out another derisive laugh, as though Jinhyeok's offer were laughable.
“I... cough... I believe I made myself clear.”
Eunwol spat blood-mixed saliva at Jinhyeok's feet and snapped back.
“I told you not to order me around, you fucking lunatic.”
At those words, the faint smile hanging at the corner of Jinhyeok's mouth went cold.
“If you won't tell me while you're alive, I can simply turn you into a zombie and rummage through your head to take it out.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the shadows beneath Eunwol and Seo-jin began to writhe.
Slither-slither-
“...!”
Crack-!
Hands belonging to Shadow Walker suddenly sprang from the shadows and seized the two by the ankles before they had time to dodge.
‘R-React...!’
‘When...?’
The two were caught before they had a chance to react.
“Urgh..!”
Jinhyeok approached the two, who soon lost even the strength to resist and were forced face-down onto the ground, and spoke.
“The vaunted System that you said would bring about miracles can't even save one of you, let alone work a miracle.”
Eunwol's pupils trembled at Jinhyeok's taunt.
“It's over now, Baek Eunwol.”
Crushed beneath it, she silently looked up at the sky.
‘System-nim. Please give me strength...’
And at that very moment.
Bzzzzing-!
Noise burst from the sky.
The exact same effect as when the restroom descended.
The air warped, and along with a grid pattern appearing, several cube sections began appearing one after another in midair.
“W-What's that...?”
“The S-System's...!”
“A-A miracle!!!!”
The Myth Guild members let out astonished exclamations.
Cube tiles that embroidered the air with a mystical light.
Just as they connected smoothly and began to cover the battlefield sky in light.
Crackle-!!
[System Error!]
[Warning! Coordinates conflict]
[Black Zone conditions cannot be established at the designated coordinates!]
[Access denied! Access denied!]
“What?”
“Uh...?”
At the unfamiliar message, Eunwol and Seo-jin's eyes filled with astonishment.
“What...?”
Even the relaxed expression on Baek Jinhyeok's face as he was about to kill the two hardened for the first time.
“The B-Black Zone...?”
“The Black Zone...?”
“This place is becoming the Black Zone??”
The followers and guild members who had been fighting all this time were also confused as they watched the warning windows appear before them.
“W-What the hell is going on!!”
“Is the System turning this entire place into the Black Zone??!!”
“That cube...! That cube is the Black Zone!!!”
“F-Fuck, what is this...”
A new notification appeared before them.
[Confirmation complete]
[Starplex authority takes top priority]
[Copying part of the Black Zone to the designated coordinates]
[Complete]
Then the cube-shaped structure appeared again.
That structure precisely enclosed the place where Jinhyeok, Eunwol, and Seo-jin were.
*
*
*
In the blink of an eye, the space changed.
It happened in an instant.
The fog of the Blank Zone. The scenery of the world. The bloody battlefield vanished from sight.
“!!!”
“?!”
“...?”
In the blink of an eye, the space changed.
‘W-We came in... into the Black Zone...?’
‘I-It's impossible.’
What unfolded before their eyes was the sensation of an unpleasantly soft red velvet carpet.
An endlessly long, dark hotel corridor filled with silence tinged by the smell of old dust.
“...What are you scheming?”
As Baek Jinhyeok narrowed his brow and looked around at the sudden change in space.
A set of rules hung on one wall caught their eyes.
1. When using the hotel corridors, please remain absolutely quiet for the sake of the other guests.]
2. If an employee approaches and gives you a warning, you must hand over one of your right molars, 30g of your tongue, or an ankle. After that, do not make eye contact and slowly leave the area. Do not run.
....
It was then.
-Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Somewhere beyond that corridor.
A horrible sound, like bones being scraped in the depths of an abyss, began to echo.
“...?”
“?!”
At the end of the corridor stood something with grotesquely long limbs, as though human bones had been forcibly stretched out.
It was an unknown mutant.
One that had never been seen, reported, or encountered even once.
[Do not look]
Eunwol and Seo-jin's instincts screamed at them.
[Do not look directly Do not look directly Do not look directly Do not look directly Do not look directly]
It did not belong to this world.
You must not look.
‘Th-Then is that...’
‘Is that really from the Black Zone?’
But what always dragged humans into the abyss was a moment of curiosity.
The instant Eunwol looked at it for just a moment.
[IP lookup failed!!]
[IP lookup failed!!]
[You are in the Black Zone! You are.... in! You are... in!]
[You do not existYou do not exist You do not exist]
[You are■■in■You are■■■■■■■■■]
Eunwol's System window began losing its shape and collapsing completely beneath a layer of static.
[The moon is standing upside down The moon is standing upside down The moon is standing upside down The moon does not stand upright]
[The first child says he is afraid]
[The second child says he is afraid too]
[The third child is afraid afraid afraid afraid afraid afraid.........]
[Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look? Why did you look?]
[Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?]
Then incomprehensible characters began boring into her mind like screams.
“Uuugh... Bleeegh...”
The capillaries in Eunwol's eyes burst, and she vomited up a mouthful of dark red blood.
“Urghhh...”
Seo-jin, who had been beside her, had already lost consciousness, convulsing and foaming at the mouth with his whites showing.
Merely looking at it caused reason to snap and the brain to melt.
The moment the minds of the two reached their limit.
Beep-!
[Unauthorized entities may not enter]
As the System's emotionless notification window appeared, Eunwol and Seo-jin were flung outside.
Thunk-!
Eunwol and Seo-jin returned to the battlefield where they had originally been.
“Huff... Haaah...”
Eunwol stared around in bewilderment at the place where she had just been.
“W-What is this...”
Inside that hotel, only one person remained.
Only Baek Jinhyeok.
*****
Baek Jinhyeok's brow furrowed as he watched Eunwol and Seo-jin get flung out.
‘Is this the miracle of the System they were talking about...?’
The reactions of the two who had vomited blood and foamed at the mouth before collapsing were not acting or hallucinations.
They were the result of being crushed beneath overwhelming, incomprehensible power.
‘Then does that mean this really is the Black Zone...?’
Just as Jinhyeok hurriedly turned around to assess the situation.
“...!”
The grotesquely bent and twisted unknown mutant that had definitely been standing far down the corridor earlier.
By then.
It had approached to within less than a handspan of Jinhyeok and was looking down at him.
It was looking at him.
It was staring directly at him.
Swish.
The grotesque entity raised one long finger and brought it to where its mouth should have been.
Shh.
Then it extended what might have been a hand and held it before Jinhyeok's eyes.
An act that seemed to demand something Jinhyeok possessed, just as written in the rules.
‘...!’
Crushed by its overwhelming presence, Jinhyeok was briefly confused and held his breath.
Ding-!
[An unidentified mutant has been detected]
[Would you like to use the unique skill Domination on this entity?]
A helpful System message appeared amid the tension about to explode.
“...Pfft... Pahahaha!!!”
At that moment, laughter burst from Jinhyeok's stiff lips.
“Ahh... So that's... that's what it was.”
Why the System had suddenly gone so far as to cause an error to guide him into the Black Zone.
Why the Awakened of the Capital Area, who had been enjoying the System from before, had vomited blood and convulsed before being flung outside.
It felt as though every piece of the puzzle had fallen perfectly into place.
“As expected... this world exists for me.”
Jinhyeok spread his arms wide and shouted joyfully toward the air.
“Now I understand why the System led me to the Black Zone.”
This place had been prepared to gift a Black Zone mutant to him, the only person who could end the apocalypse.
Jinhyeok faced the mutant right in front of him with crazed eyes and arrogantly extended his hand.
“I will subjugate you. You who will put the finishing touch on my grand cause.”
The very moment Jinhyeok confidently activated the skill.
Ding-!
[Warning: With your current stats, you cannot subjugate this entity]
Jinhyeok's pupils shook wildly, as though an earthquake had struck.
“...What?”
[Unable to subjugate]
[Unable to subjugate]
Then the System window, dyed bright red, began popping up madly.
[UnableUnableUnableUnableUnable]
[ImpossibleImpossibleImpossibleImpossibleImpossibleImpossible]
[How dare prey be insolentHow dare prey be insolentHow dare prey be insolentHow dare prey be insolentHow dare prey be insolent]
[A bug is trying to swallow the universeA bug is trying to swallow the universeA bug is trying to swallow the universeA bug is trying to swallow the universe]
“!!!!”
Soon, the System window began spewing errors madly and filling Jinhyeok's vision with grotesque text.
“F-Fuck, what the hell is this!!!!!”
Something had appeared before Jinhyeok's eyes as he began screaming and thrashing.
Flutter-!
A small Post-it note falling down.
“What...?”
Written there were words that seemed to have been written in human handwriting, not by the System.
[Welcome to the Black Zone, protagonist]
The note fluttered softly in the air.
The elevator's hum continued in the silence.
The front line was barely holding.
The sight crushed what little hope remained.
The hotel corridor's oppressive silence seemed to swallow all sound.
The note appeared strangely ordinary amid the impossible scene.
[Welcome to the Black Zone, protagonist]