Chapter 60
A post containing miraculous news appeared in the Capital Area Survivors Gallery.
Title : There really... There really was a vaccine!!!
I was holed up in front of the vending machine with a party, having run away with a few ordinary people.
But the vaccine was registered in the vending machine!! It's really a vaccine!! A preventive vaccine!!!
!!!!
ㄴ ?!!!!
ㄴ !!!
A vaccine really existed?
ㄴ It's a real vaccine!!!
ㄴ We can buy it right now!!!
ㄴ We can buy it as soon as we get to a vending machine!!!
(Some rough verification)
ㄴ ...!!!
ㄴ ...?
ㄴ This is... a vaccine...?
ㄴ I've never seen this before...?
So there really is a vaccine?
ㄴ It can prevent infection???
ㄴ But how did they make it...?
ㄴ For real, how did they make it?
ㄴ They said specialized drugs were needed.
The point was that a preventive vaccine really existed and had been registered in the medicine vending machine right away.
What the hell!!
“How did they do it...?”
Didn't they say specialized drugs were needed? Did it suddenly spring up from the ground?
I searched the Medical Center and found that although it had none of the drugs one might obtain from a university hospital, it did have an in-house prescribing area and compounding room.
I don't know much about this stuff, but there were drugs that looked like specialized medicines you wouldn't find in a pharmacy.
Of course, I wasn't certain, but if they really could complete the vaccine, I thought it wouldn't be a waste to send them what they needed, so I was about to do just that.
[Myth] System-nim... System-nim helped us...
ㄴ [Myth] System-nim sent us more medicines than we could count... allowing Si-yeon to complete her quests up to Stage 232...
The... System...
ㄴ The System helped her complete her quests?? Up to Stage 232...?
ㄴ Holy shit...
ㄴ It was the System...?
ㄴ The one that let her discover the vaccine?
But how did they make it?
ㄴ Didn't they say specialized drugs were needed...?
ㄴ Exactly!!
[Myth] The ordinary people we had taken in shared, one by one, the specialized medicines they had been rationing until now...
ㄴ [Myth] They all needed those medicines themselves... but they gave them to Si-yeon...
ㄴ Ordinary people...?
ㄴ Specialized medicines...?
The users who understood what was happening—and I—finally grasped the situation.
“Ordinary people...?”
The ordinary people taken in by the Myth Guild had given Si-yeon every drug she needed.
“Damn... They actually... pulled this off...”
Even I hadn't anticipated this.
Specialized medicines would all be directly tied to their owners' lives or chronic illnesses.
And they had shared them.
“But how did they register it in the vending machine...?”
They had definitely said the vending machine was a long way away.
At that moment, a familiar user's nickname appeared.
How did you register it in the vending machine...?
ㄴ My question exactly... Isn't it quite a distance away...?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ
[Speedrun]YoumustrespectmeIheardthenewsontheGalleryandwhilemercilesslyslaughteringbugsIcarriedMythGuild'smaknaeSi-yeonandcoveredthedistancewhichnormallytakes15minutesin‘1minute’andcompletedtheregistrationatthepharmacy
ㄴ !!!!
ㄴ Speedrun...!!! Went to the Myth Guild!!
ㄴ What!!!!
[Speedrun]IwillnowgotoanotherguildanddistributethepreventivevaccinesIboughtfromthevendingmachinetoeveryoneAllordinarypeoplepolishyournecksandwaitThisisarecord-breakingachievementandblahblahfuckyouwon'treadthisfaranywayI'moffwaitforme
ㄴ ?
ㄴ No fucking way, I read the whole thing lol
ㄴ This guy's getting weirder and weirder lol
ㄴ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Meanwhile, she was apparently doing nothing but slaughtering bugs, lol.
ㄴ If the problem isn't solved, let's consider whether we lacked power.
ㄴ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Guys!!!! Speedrun is going!!!!
ㄴ Then... is there really hope...?
ㄴ If we can just vaccinate the ordinary people...
ㄴ Wouldn't that be enough??
Ordinary people... can gain infection resistance?
ㄴ Even just that... would be hope...
“Damn. Speedy actually... This...”
....She really pulled it off. She actually did it.
Yeah, if you wanted to be technical, it was a somewhat moving moment.
“...”
She had stepped forward to help people like that without even being asked.
“Ahem...”
Maybe I had been harboring the same thought unconsciously.
“Fuck... I thought I had to do everything alone.”
Unlike everything that had happened so far, this time I was genuinely a little scared.
Exaggerating only slightly, enough to nearly piss myself?
That was probably why, without realizing it, I had been thinking I had to solve everything by myself.
But that wasn't true. They were all doing their best from their own positions in their own ways.
They were struggling and striving to resolve this situation without losing hope.
“That nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Typical tough-guy behavior. I don't cry over stuff like this.
“Life should be enjoyable and exciting!!!”
I hurried to the pharmacy.
If the vaccine had really been registered in the vending machine, it should have been copied to my main branch too.
I was trembling. Had the vaccine really been copied over?
“Is it here!!!!”
It was similar to what happened when the red potions first appeared.
White potions I had never seen before were neatly arranged on the counter.
“Wow... Is this the preventive vaccine?”
There appeared to be at least 500 of them.
“It works.”
But I had one concern.
The important thing was the vaccine's price.
“I can't sell this.”
Of course, I wasn't planning to sell it.
I needed mana stones, sure, but I could simply deliver it without selling it.
But setting the price was entirely the branch manager's authority.
Determining the price of products registered in the Shop was entirely up to Branch Manager Si-yeon.
The preventive vaccine she had alchemized would command whatever price people were willing to pay in this situation.
What would I do if Si-yeon had set a price?
So I registered the vaccines in the Shop to check the price.
-Starplex-
[Product : Lesser Mutant Infection Prevention Vaccine
[Price : 0]
[Stock : 500/500]
[Not Open]
“...”
Si-yeon had registered the vaccine in the vending machine for zero mana stones.
So that anyone could obtain the vaccine if they needed it.
“Yes, this is it...”
This was pretty touching, too.
Our branch manager really was someone whose intentions aligned perfectly with mine.
Of course, I hadn't been planning to sell it anyway. But I needed at least some justification, didn't I?
“Fortunately, I have plenty of justification.”
With the branch manager setting the price at zero, there was no way I could sell it.
As the company president, I had to listen to my employee's opinion too.
“If that's what our branch manager wants.”
I willingly decided to respect her wishes.
****
At the same time, throughout the Capital Area.
Every guild was continuing its desperate last stand.
White Night's temporary reception camp.
“Haa... haa...”
“Huff... huff...”
Kim Mu-jin and the officers were all battered and bruised, breathing heavily.
But they were not standing alone.
“Th-Thank you!!!!!”
“Let's... hold out a little longer...”
“Mister! Hang in there!!!”
Behind them stood a dense formation of ordinary people who had refused to run.
They too had raised steel pipes, clubs, broken bricks, or anything else they could hold as weapons, covering the Awakeners' blind spots.
“...Damn it. I told you to run.”
“How could we run away?”
“We know you pushed yourselves to protect us.”
“We have some decency. We can't do that.”
Seeing them, Mu-jin murmured with a faint smile.
“You little bastards... That's what I call romantic...”
They were proving it firsthand.
That the pessimists had been wrong.
That everyone could unite in the face of an overwhelming catastrophe.
Thus, everyone in the Capital Area was doing the best they could in their own way.
Each carrying their own mission, they were standing against this desperate situation without yielding.
But despite that resistance, the limit was clearly approaching.
“Damn... Is it coming again...”
“It never ends...”
Just as White Night's defensive line began to collapse under the sheer numbers pouring in.
“Kyaaaaaaaaak!!!!!! Save meeeeeeeee!!!!””
“How is itttttt!! Cool, riiiiight!!!!!”
“Noooo!! I think I'm going to die!!!!!!!!”
A woman's scream rang out from somewhere in the distance.
- Kyaaaaaak!!
- Gweeeeeek!!
- Aaaaaang!
At the same time, the zombie wave rushing toward them and the insects wandering nearby all began melting away.
“W-What is this!!!”
“W-What... is going on...?”
A dark shape crossed the battlefield, trailing a violet aura like a tail, coming into the bewildered people's view.
At the center of its trail were two women.
“Faaaaaster!!!!!!”
One woman was running madly with a strange gunny sack slung over her shoulder and another woman tucked under her arm.
“Bleegh!!!! I think I'm going to vomiiiiit!!!!”
“Do it if you haaave to!!!! As much as you waaaant!!!!”
“I said stopppppppp!!!!!!!”
The other woman, hanging from her side like luggage, was too busy retching repeatedly.
“W-What on earth are you doing!”
A Stalker, stunned by the absurd sight, spoke up.
“Can't you see? We're disinfecting!!!! Disinfection vehicle!!!”
“Pardon...?”
“Don't you know what a disinfection truck is? If you have any sense, run after us!!!!”
The woman racing at an incredible speed gave an absurd answer.
“You must reeeeeespect us while we're disinfectiiiiing!!!!”
“Speedrun-nim!!! Please respect me first!!!!”
“Now we're heading to Ironclad!!!!!”
They vanished from sight in a flash.
White medicine bottles remained where the two women had disappeared.
“Huh...?”
“W-What is this...?”
“No way!!!!”
The guild members who cautiously approached soon recognized what the medicine was.
“Preventive vaccines...!!!!!!”
“It's a vaccine...! A vaccine!!!!”
“Everyone, gather here!!!! The vaccines have arrived!!!!”
The vaccines had arrived for the people who needed them most.
*
*
*
[White Night] Damn!! We got the vaccines!!
ㄴ [Ironclad] We got them too!!! We're giving them to the ordinary people we took in first.
I got one too!!!
ㄴ Me too!!
ㄴ It came all the way here...?
Speedrun was so fucking fast I couldn't even see her;;
ㄴ For real, I wanted to see her face at least once;;
But why are the zombies all melting...?
ㄴ That's Maknae's disinfecting aura.
ㄴ ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ Speedrun is running around disinfecting places before Si-yeon's aura duration ends ㅇㅇ
ㄴ So... that's what was happening?
Speedrun <<< This bastard is just carrying Si-yeon around and running all over the place lol
ㄴ ???!!
ㄴ Thanks to her, the zombie wave that poured into the streets is all melting away.
ㄴ No fucking way, she really was a disinfection van... lol
ㄴ Fuck, how is she running around the entire Capital Area like that...?
ㄴ She's Speedrun.
ㄴ She did this last time too ㅇㅇ
At the same time, posts were appearing one after another from ordinary people and guilds that had received vaccines while continuing their resistance.
Ares, the largest guild alongside Myth.
But they had to endure the most desperate situation of all.
“It won't stick...! The weapon just passes right through!!!”
“Concentrate your magic more!! Don't let the shadow spread!”
Despite Guild Master Baek Kang-san's roar, the body of the Shadow Walker gliding across the battlefield could not be struck easily.
Whenever a sword grazed it, it scattered like smoke before coming back together.
And whenever magic poured down, it hid inside the shadows.
‘We've dragged this out too long... This is dangerous...’
They kept attacking the Shadow Walker, but still couldn't land a decisive blow when—
“Haa... haa... Guild Master... we're really at our limit now!”
“Another Walker has appeared in the rear holding area...”
News arrived that another infected person had appeared in the rear holding area they had barely stabilized.
‘Damn it... We need the vaccine, at least...’
To get this situation under control, they had to stop ordinary people from becoming infected first.
Only then could all the guild members concentrate their firepower on the Shadow Walker.
The Gallery was filling with news of other guilds receiving vaccines, but Ares was the exception.
‘Is it not going to reach us...?’
No matter how fast Speedrun was, she couldn't appear at every location at the same time.
Graaaaaah!
Just as the Shadow Walker's hand reached toward Baek Kang-san.
“D-Damn... My strength...”
Despair descended into Baek Kang-san's eyes.
“Shadow Walker!!! I haven't forgotten the humiliation you inflicted on me last time!!!!!!!!”
A voice came from somewhere.
“W-What is this?”
“N-No way!!!”
Then a figure appeared.
“I will avenge that humiliation now!!!!!!”
It was Head Mod Baek Eunwol.
“Head Mod-nim!!”
“We heard you were personally taking responsibility for the ordinary people alone...! When did you!!!”
The Ares guild members and all the ordinary people who had gathered among them turned toward where Eunwol had appeared.
“Pinned.”
A chilling sentence issued from Eunwol's lips.
- Graaaaaah!
The Shadow Walker's movements, as it tried to flee by changing its form, were completely sealed as though nailed in place.
With its body no longer capable of becoming fluid, Eunwol climbed onto it.
And her overwhelming power rained mercilessly down upon it.
“Exile.”
Boom-!
Its body began to burst apart.
“Pathetic creatures... Did you think you could destroy us with this? With an ordeal this small?”
Boom-!
Another chunk of its flesh exploded.
Boom-!
“System-nim already gave us everything we needed long ago, and will gladly continue to care for us.”
Boom-!
“We will all heed System-nim's will and rebuild the world that is destined to be destroyed!!”
Boom-!
“You cannot kill us!! Because we will never give up!!!!”
- Fwoooooosh-!
At last, the Shadow Walker's form scattered in every direction.
At the same time, dark-red blood sprayed outward all around them.
“Listen, everyone. A vaccine has been developed by the saint chosen by System-nim...”
Soaked in blood from head to toe, Eunwol spoke without moving from her spot.
“...!”
“H-Head Mod-nim!!”
“...”
As the ordinary people and every member of Ares held their breath, all their gazes focused on her alone.
“And the vaccine is coming here now...!!!! I have no doubt it will arrive!!”
Eunwol's voice, full of conviction, rang out among them.
“So...! Everyone hold out! Hold out until the very end!!!!”
Flames slowly began to kindle in the eyes of those clouded by despair.
“Protect and stand with the weakest until the very end!!!!”
Those who had dropped the weapons in their hands gathered their strength and rose again.
“And together, all of us!!!! We will face this ordeal head-on!!!”
Soon, Eunwol delivered her final words.
“Everyone, fight until the very end!!! Do your best!!! Defend the Capital Area!! You yourselves are hope!!!”
And with those words—
“...Damn...!!!!”
“U-Uaaaaaaaah!!!!”
“Yeah...! Hold out!!!!”
“Let's fight to the end!!!!”
“Let's do this!!!!!”
Cheers erupted from everyone.
“Because that is what System-nim truly wishes for!!”
As though answering them, Eunwol roared.
At the same time.
Whiiiiir-!!
The sky warped, revealing a portal.
“N-No way...!!!”
“S-System-nim...!”
“The System answered our prayers...!!!”
“System-nim!!!!!”
“It's the vaccine!!”
“It's a vaccine!!!!!!”
Preventive vaccines began pouring down on them from beyond the portal.