Chapter 65
The outskirts of the Yellow Zone bordering the Orange Zone.
The parking lot of a large supermarket that had nearly collapsed.
“Let's search quickly and get out of here.”
Party leader Kim Tae-cheol whispered in a low voice.
“I'm trying...!”
“Don't make any noise! They'll hear us.”
Behind him were two seasoned Stalkers and two scavengers.
A porter was frantically searching through the trunk of a scrapped car.
Just then, one of the scavengers, a revolver strapped to his waist, shouted.
“B-Boss! I found something! It's a battery!”
“What?! A car battery? Fuck...! Are we finally getting lucky...!!!”
“N-No! Two AAA batteries...!”
Silence fell over the party.
“Where are they...! That's enough...!!!!”
“Should we sell them on the black market right away?”
“I found a can of dog food and two bags of crackers too..!”
“Okay! If we boil them in rainwater and make porridge... that'll cover one meal...!“
Even this counted as a successful farming run.
There were days when they couldn't find anything at all. That was simply the reality of this world.
“Let's leave it to the porter for now and slowly head back.”
“You still lasted the whole day today, right, sir? You'll Awaken soon.”
“Ahaha... Maybe I'll get a starter pack if I'm lucky...!”
“Could I borrow that shovel? I need to make a grave for my little sister at the hideout.”
Just as the party, their expressions brightening, was about to leave.
Thud-! Roll...
The porter, his tension released, accidentally dropped the can of dog food from his bag.
“...!”
“Damn it...!”
At the same time, as though they had been waiting for it, dark shapes poured out from beyond the hazy fog in the distance of the parking lot.
Kieeeek-!!
“Zombies!!!”
“There are more behind us!!!”
There were five Walkers.
And three Runners came darting through the gaps between them.
Bang-!!
One startled scavenger drew his revolver and fired, blowing apart one Runner's shoulder.
“No! Don't shoot! The noise will draw more of them!”
“Damn it.”
Kim Tae-cheol shouted urgently.
“Finish them quickly and get out!! Porter, fall back!! Minji, cast a spell!!!”
Kim Tae-cheol leaped forward with a butcher knife in hand.
Kieee-!
The battle broke out in an instant.
One Runner flew at Tae-cheol, and he skillfully sliced through its neck.
Meanwhile, the mage Minji burned the Walkers where they stood with fire magic.
Crunch-!
The scavengers each took care of one Runner. It seemed the battle was over, but then.
One Runner broke through the flames and pounced on the porter from behind, biting into his neck.
“Aaaaaagh-!!!”
Red blood spurted from the back of the porter's neck like a fountain.
“Fuck!!”
Tae-cheol threw his butcher knife and killed the Runner, but the porter had already lost too much blood for anything to be done.
To make matters worse, they had no potions.
“Cough... keh-heg...”
“...Damn... Sorry about this... Minji, burn him...”
“...Yes, boss.”
Without even having time to ask the porter's wishes, Minji brought his bag over and burned him with flames.
It was an unavoidable measure. If he died like this, he would obviously become infected and rise again.
“That's a shame... He only needed to last one more day...”
“Let's take the mana stones.”
Minji and Tae-cheol rummaged through the zombies' corpses with bitter expressions.
Soon, they checked the mana stones extracted from their bodies.
“Ten mana stones from five Walkers... and forty from three Runners.”
“...This fucking sucks.”
The price they paid for losing a companion was a mere fifty mana stones.
Ding-!
At that moment, a status window appeared in Minji's vision.
[Fire Mage Main Quest 17: Hunt 5 lesser mutants and submit 20 mana stones (Complete!)]
[Reward: Mana + 10! 100 mana stones awarded!]
“Haha...”
Minji let out a hollow laugh as well.
They cleared Main Quests to become stronger.
But clearing a quest right away didn't provide them with food.
To become stronger, they had to farm and risk their lives killing zombies.
But if they were injured or made even the slightest mistake in the process, their survival was immediately threatened.
Even after the apocalypse, life continued in the same constant state of being starved for mana stones.
“For now... post proof in the Gallery. The guild needs to verify that we've finished farming.”
“Okay.”
Title: [MinjiMinji] Haul from farming the outskirts of the Yellow Zone
Today's haul: 2 AAA batteries, 1 can of dog food, 2 crackers, 50 mana stones dropped + 100 mana stones from clearing a Main Quest
Killed: five Walkers and three Runners ㅇㅇ
But once I go to the pharmacy vending machine, buy disinfectant and potions, it's all gone ㅠ
The porter guy was going to Awaken tomorrow, but he's dead ㅠㅠㅠ
What's the point of clearing quests when I can't even cover the labor costs... I barely got one meal today ㅠ
Aw, poor porter dude ㄲㅂ...
ㄴ He only needed to last one more day for the starter pack;;
ㄴ What a waste
Just as Minji was about to close the Gallery window with a gloomy expression.
The comments section began saying something else.
Huh?
ㄴ Did this bastard complete the quest?
ㄴ Looks like it. Five Walkers ㅇㅇ
ㄴ Isn't it complete?
ㄴ Yeah, it is!
Ah, fuck! I'm so jealous!!
ㄴ Ah, I can't go farming because of an injury ㅅㅂ
ㄴ Me neither, I have a cold ㅠ
Did you get the quest reward right away?
ㄴ Minji bro, did you get it?
“Quest...?”
She had already cleared a Main Quest, so what on earth were the Gallery users talking about?
“Boss? Did you clear a quest?”
“What? I'm still nowhere near finishing my Main Quest.”
Kim Tae-cheol also looked bewildered, and Minji hurriedly posted a comment in the Gallery.
Then what on earth were these users talking about?
[MinjiMinji] What quest are you talking about? I just posted that I cleared a System Main Quest?
ㄴ You haven't read the announcement yetㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Check the Shop's announcement, bro
“Could it be System-nim?”
Minji hurriedly checked Starplex's announcement in the Gallery.
“Huh?”
Title : [★Starplex★] Starplex's First Daily Quest Event
To guarantee your minimum right to survival, our Shop has prepared a new event.
[Daily Hunting Quest (Instant delivery upon uploading hunting proof to the Gallery)]
Lower-tier (5 Walkers) hunt > 2 Mild Tuna cans + 2 bottles of Odassu
Lower-tier (3 Runners) hunt > disinfectant + bandages + 2 cans of Spyam + 2 bottles of Odassu
Lower-tier (2 Spitters) hunt > disinfectant + bandages + 2 cans of Spyam + Spyam Mayo cup rice + 2 bottles of Odassu
Intermediate-tier: Subjugate 2 Heavies.....
[Caution: You may be penalized for cheating, such as reusing photos]
[Participation in this quest is limited to once per day]
We hope for your enthusiastic participation.
Minji's eyes widened as she read down the announcement.
Five Walkers.
Three Runners.
Because it matched the contents of the proof photo she had just uploaded exactly.
“Boss... Th-This...”
Just as Minji was about to speak to Tae-cheol in a trembling voice.
Whiiiiir-!!
A System portal opened in the sky.
Thud-thud-!!
Items fell from it.
Four refreshing bottles of Odassu beaded with condensation.
Beside them fell compression bandages and disinfectant.
And two cans of tuna and two cans of Spyam.
The delivery had arrived exactly as written in the announcement.
“...?”
“Uh...?”
“Yes...?”
The party members stared at the items with dazed expressions.
Minji soon spoke.
“Boss, should we go hunt zombies one more time?”
*****
Meanwhile, a new topic was sweeping through the Capital Area Survivors Gallery.
It was the official zombie-hunting quest launched by the Shop.
- Lower-tier quest – Complete [33]
- I did the quest!! [44]
- I barely managed it too!! [44]
- Daily quest – Complete-
.....
Users who had completed the quest were appearing from every direction.
I checked the posts one by one and made the deliveries.
“Oh. The participation rate is insane.”
The reason I had gone so far as to write an announcement and launch a daily quest was simple.
“Let's save the Capital Area's farming economy!!!”
The Capital Area's farming communities were far too weakened and lifeless compared with what I had expected.
Looking more closely, I found that the reason was the stingy reward structure of the Main Quests.
“There's something seriously wrong with this user-hostile operation.”
Compared with current prices, the amount of mana stones survivors obtained by hunting zombies was pitifully small.
“The fact that you could die while fighting zombies is kind of... fatal...”
Simply put, the rewards were far too small for the risks.
They could die while clearing quests to become stronger.
They could die while farming.
If they failed at farming, they would have to go hungry that day.
If they were injured or infected, they couldn't go farming anymore.
Either way, they were finished.
“They're practically sunfish.”
It was simply a vicious cycle.
“What kind of game design is this?”
On top of that, even compared with prices in the outside world, the amount of mana stones survivors could obtain by hunting zombies was low.
The system also made it take a long time to grow strong enough.
One of the reasons I was going through this whole shitshow in the first place was to encourage new Awakeners.
And to take care of the existing users too.
Besides, this worked perfectly with the starter-pack and mentorship events I had launched earlier.
I started my Stalker life with that starter pack!!!
ㄴ I'll kill five Walkers today!!!
Walkers are kind of tough...
ㄴ Could we have a bug-killing quest instead...!
ㄴ ?
ㄴ These bastards are trying to get free handouts
A bug-killing quest, seriouslyㅋㅋ
ㄴ Ah, bugs are vectors of infection tooㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Bugs are zombies too, technicallyㅋㅋ
Shop, are you seeing this? I just killed five flies ㅇㅇ
ㄴ So you can send me Odassu right away ㅇㅇ
ㄴ [Head Mod] Get out
ㄴ [This user has been banned]
ㄴ Shop blasphemy deserves a ban
ㄴ This is it
ㄴ G r e a t S h o p
ㄴ G r e a t S y s t e m
I'm doing the mentorship event at the White Night Guild right now!!
ㄴ Please, senior members, give up the final blows during the mentorship event!!
ㄴ If I get the starter pack + quest rewards...
ㄴ I think I'll be well supplied for survival from now on!!!
ㄴ Even if I'm short on mana stones, I don't think I'll go hungry...!
Look at the newbies saying they probably won't even go hungry.
“Good, good.”
This was all an investment in the future and in my customers. It would all come back to me.
You have to balance out the quality of life a little so they'll farm mana stones harder and make purchases too.
“Though someone like me who only receives mana stones probably can't understand....”
It was a consideration for the customers who earned mana stones outside while sweating blood, shedding tears, and breathing their last.
“They have to stop worrying about food before they can go hunting or do anything else!”
And in this shitty zombocalypse, my Shop's sales were directly tied to security in the outside world.
The fewer zombies scattered outside, the fewer minor zombie waves would reach the slums.
That way, they could rest a little more comfortably.
Then they could find the strength to push their actual Main Quests, scrape together mana stones, and spend some of them too.
“And it's free for me, anyway.”
The goods cost me nothing, and I was using them as bait so the superhumans outside would hunt the zombies for me of their own accord.
Of course, I was worried.
[Troublemaker NEET] Fuck, doesn't this mean nobody will buy anything during the opening rush?
ㄴ [Troublemaker NEET] Is the System bastard's brain empty;;
ㄴ ㅇ?
ㄴ Do you think killing three Runners is a joke?
ㄴ You've gone crazy from watching guild-master-level fights every day
The handout rewards start with killing three Runners.
ㄴ You have to kill three Runners to get them.
ㄴ Please! Get out of your room!!!!
ㄴ You go clear some daily quests too!!!!
It was a once-a-day quest anyway ㅇㅇ
ㄴ Right, it's only once per day anyway ㅇㅇ
ㄴ It's literally feed
ㄴ It eases our worries about newbies dying out too
ㄴ It also listens to all the existing survivors' whining
ㄴ The System is simply the god of game management ㅇㅇ
Even existing users could do this.
ㄴ We're living it up tooㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Who knew there was a daily quest systemㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Absolutely love it
ㄴ G r e a t S y s t e m
We knew System-nim would hand out freebies to us too!!!!!
ㄴ But what does the System have left if it gives away this many freebies?
ㄴ Seriously, is the System going bankrupt...?
System: You all are what remains for me.
ㄴ Kyaa
ㄴ This is true game management.
ㄴ That line makes me think of ‘that’ Kang Sun instead of Mount Geumgang.
I took a picture of System-nim's face ㅇㅇ
ㄴ (A roughly edited photo of blinding light)
ㄴ Ahㅋㅋㅋ Don't set off a flash at dawnㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ So dazzling, so dazzling
ㄴ Light-System
ㄴ Simply... the god of game management...
“Looks like there's no problem.”
The opening-rush profits should be fine.
Besides, the existing survivors' reactions were good too.
“And at least I don't have to pack anything.”
As they say, people learn from their mistakes. It was nice not having to pack the boxes; I could just send everything out.
But there were downsides too.
Title : Shop-nim!!! I cleared the quest!!! Woohoo!!!!
(A roughly edited collection of gruesome corpse photos. JPG)
Look!!!! I killed six Runners!!!!
Kwahaha!!!
Wait, fuck, you killed six of them?
ㄴ Kraaagh! What is this!
Put a mosaic over it, please!!!
ㄴ My eyes ㅅㅂ
ㄴ Zombie corpses are a whole different level!!!
ㄴ Go survive for three hours and come back
Title : Quest – Complete-
(A roughly edited gore photo. JPG)
Who am I?
A Heavy Hunter ㅇㅇ
That's right, I'm a Stalker who cleared the intermediate daily quest ㅇㅇ
Kraaagh!!!
ㄴ Kraaagh!!
ㄴ My eyes!
ㄴ My eyes!!!
Fuck, I can tolerate Runner corpses, but
ㄴ I can't take Heavy corpsesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ No way ㅇㅇ
ㄴ I need to bring instant rice and mix it in right away
ㄴ Seriously, that's all quest rewards. Rewards.
Now that you mention it, our Heavy looks different.
ㄴ Look at all those contents
ㄴ A nutritious snack for our child
ㄴ They actually give that stuff out...
ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The Gallery inevitably filled with gore photos.
“Hmm... Who cares.”
Just kidding. This really can't be helped.
I need proof before I can send the rewards.
“There really is no System... I'm literally running a cottage industry...”
If I could check everything through the System and send the rewards, how nice would that be?
And then.
Head Mod!!! Is this okay?
ㄴ Please crop this!!!
ㄴ [Head Mod] This is...
ㄴ [Head Mod] The world has changed, and I follow System-nim's will!!
ㄴ [Head Mod] Just like the lewd photos last time! It's an unavoidable act necessary to complete the daily quest!
ㄴ [Head Mod] From now on, I encourage gore photos!!!
?!
ㄴ ?
ㄴ ㅇ?
ㄴ Yes?
ㄴ I'll create a Gallery the likes of which you've never experienced before;;
Seriously, fuck, I've lived to see a Gallery that encourages goreㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ The Head Mod is kind of a boomer, but in this area... he's surprisingly progressive;;
ㄴ Kraaagh! What about our eyes!!!
What do you mean, gore photos?
ㄴ We look at stuff like that while eating, don't we?
ㄴ You're not much of a Stalker yetㅋㅋ
Well, the Head Mod says it's okay, so no problem.
“So, real System? How's my trolling?”
They're not clearing your quests—they're clearing the ones I made.
“Do they like me better?”
They're showing me expressions they could never show in front of you.
They curse up a storm while clearing Main Quests, but in front of the tuna cans I send them, they can't help wriggling with delight.
“What do I do? The Awakeners you made... have become unable to live without me.”
Is this... NTR?
“It's not my thing. Seriously.”
Anyway, I'll keep trolling you in ways you never imagined. I'll troll the game board you created.
Anyway.
- [Head Mod] : I did encourage gore photos, but
- [Head Mod] : Go ahead and ban absurd trolling or mockery posts as usual ㅇㅇ There's a little less work now, so manage things a bit more comfortably
- [Speedrun] : Doing my daily quest
- [Shop Wiki] : Doing my daily quest
- [Healer Union] : “Daily quest”
- [Troublemaker NEET] : Hehe;; lol;; sry;;
- [Head Mod] : ...
The administrators were also diligently clearing their daily quests.
“This is keeping me busy!”
I had to pack starter packs and deliver daily-quest rewards, so I barely had any time to rest.
“What now...? Real System...? My trolling is only just beginning.”
Since I had already started something, I decided to take it even further.
[Title : [★Starplex★] New Special Welfare Policy Announcement
To ensure sustainable survival in the Capital Area, our Shop is implementing a new support policy.
1. [Environmental Cleanup]
Mission: Burn and clean up abandoned corpses, filth, and trash in safe zones, then upload proof
Reward: 6-pack of ramen + 5 bottles of Odassu + soap and hygiene-product set
2. Special Welfare Support for Families with Multiple Children and Infants
Mission: Upload proof of a survivor party or family accompanied by a pregnant woman, an infant or child under five, or multiple children
Reward: Premium family tent + premium formula + diapers + children's vitamins + premium thermal blanket and organic snack set delivered regularly
Our Shop takes responsibility for you from cradle to grave.
Uh...?
ㄴ What???
ㄴ Yes??
ㄴ ??!!!!
Multiple children...?
ㄴ A welfare policy...?
ㄴ Wha...
ㄴ Gasp
As I watched the Gallery about to descend into chaos, I added one more word.
“Reconstruction Action.”