Chapter 20 : Apocalypse (2)

– LOL. Where do you think you’re going without us for dinner?
– This game is famous for not caring about its players, but how does he get caught up in every single thing? LOL.
– WooSeok performing an exorcism in a wedding dress… This is precious.

“Hey guys, it hasn’t even been 10 minutes yet. I still need to finish reading the apology letters.”

If it were an arcade-style game, I would’ve played a few rounds, or if it had a story, I would’ve just finished the tutorial and ended today’s stream.
But of all times, it has to be a zombie game right before dinner.
Just looking at the captured screen makes me nauseous. Surely, the moment I start playing, I’ll have to say goodbye to dinner tonight.

“To change clothes, I have to go outside the capsule again, and they don’t sell men’s clothing inside the capsule. I have to eat dinner too.”

– For us, it’s a reward.
– It’s a capsule-based game, so the realism is awesome.
– Just keep wearing the clothes. I’ll join your religion.
– Don’t you see the viewer count rising after the screenshot of you in the wedding dress went up?

MissionGirl donated 100 Candies!
– So, if I set a mission, will you do it? 10,000 Candies for a playthrough.

– Wow, it’s MissionGirl, dropping 1 million won just like that.
– Dropping? On whom?
– She only appears in large corporations’ broadcasts, so does this mean even she can’t resist a man? LOL.
– Day 1 streamer, major corporation Jung WooSeok!

Mission!
Giving a mission that seems achievable for a great reward but isn’t is the best content for tormenting many streamers, but it also allows for some great broadcast moments.
Success or failure, there was no problem.
For a rookie streamer like me, it could be a stepping stone.

– You’re actually considering this?
– Would you have a gut-wrenching party with zombies at dinner time? LOL.
– Holding my breath until I see WooSeok as an exorcist priest! *inhales*

Yeah, now that I’ve decided to do this full-time, I should do it, right?
It’s my job to respond to viewers’ requests.
If I can’t have dinner, neither can they. It’s only fair.

“On the condition that you all watch with me, okay? No leaving!”

If I have to miss dinner, then so do they. No way am I suffering alone.
After securing this promise from my viewers, I entered the capsule store and began downloading the game.
It was the same game Yena and I were talking about in the chat a few days ago. I didn’t expect to be playing it so soon.

“Let’s continue the confession next time. And then, instead of apology letters, I’ll listen to your stories too.”

As I chatted with them, the game finished downloading.
The simple, radioactive-symbol game launcher dripped a green liquid, emanating an ominous aura.
Since it’s a game I started without any prior knowledge, I had no idea about the difficulty or the level of horror.

“Does this game have jump scares or anything similar?”

– Nope.
– Unless it’s special zombies, not really.
– But…

“But?”

– It’s incredibly realistic.

As expected, dinner is ruined tonight.

Soon, the familiar radioactive exposure warning symbol appeared in my vision, and the game started.

– There’s something we forgot to mention.

“What?”

I’ve never known these guys to say anything that benefited me.
They’re definitely hiding something.
They just enjoy my reactions, so they delay telling me.

– There are no jump scares, but it hurts a little at the start.

“What?”

At the same time, I felt something hit the back of my head.

“You should have told me that beforehand!”

With the pain, the logo disappeared from my view, and everything went dark.
And when my vision returned, someone was shaking me.

*Weeeeeooooweee* — along with the sound of a siren.

“This is no time to be lying around!!”

“Who…”

“We have to run! The experiment failed… Huh? A man?”

A woman in a lab coat, wearing glasses with one cracked lens, was limping somewhere, with my arm draped over her shoulder.
She seemed like she was about to say something urgently, but she stopped when she saw my face.
Her face flushed with a different kind of excitement.

– My girl is here!!
– She’s popular among the NPCs in this game, not just this one.
– She’s the best as a helper. Later, she’ll be your friend. LOL.
– But isn’t her line a little different?

The woman, who they called a helper, kept touching herself with my arm, which was resting on her shoulder, even while we were escaping.
She kept muttering, ‘Dangerous… dangerous…’ which made me wary of her.
Helper? Friend??

Alarms were blaring everywhere, and I could hear something breaking in the distance, but for some reason, this woman stopped and kept groping herself.
After a while, I heard the roar of some monster.
Given the nature of the game, that roar, which resonated even within this lab-like place, likely belonged to a zombie. But the woman still seemed lost in her own world, showing no sign of moving.

“It’s dangerous… dangerous, but…”

– LOL.
– My girl has… fallen.
– Honestly, if I were with WooSeok, zombies would be the last thing on my mind.

“Isn’t this a dangerous situation?”

– Yes.
– Originally, in this game, there’s no tutorial, and this girl is supposed to explain things as you progress.

As the vibrations continued, flasks on the lab walls began to fall.
Glass shards scattered, and as a hazy gas rose from the leaking liquids, the woman finally came to her senses.

“This won’t do! Even if you’re wearing a priest’s outfit, do you understand the situation?!”

– Who is she preaching to? LOL.
– It’s WooSeok’s fault for being hot.
– Honestly, the priest outfit is a whole new world.
– I’m a pastor, and my faith is wavering…

“I have a duty to create a vaccine, the hope of mankind… Ah… Ahh… If I’m not here, nothing… I… Ahhh…”

“Stop it!”

She kept trying to regain her senses but flinched at my touch and lost consciousness again, so I slapped her cheek.
I heard huge footsteps approaching from behind, and she was completely out of it, so I had no choice but to resort to violence.

I had to progress through the game. I couldn’t just stand there holding her while she groped herself. I had no other option.
The moment I slapped her, the left wall exploded from some impact, and the woman in the lab coat went flying.

“This woman is unconscious… Is it right to leave her? And this isn’t my fault, right?”

– You can’t finish the tutorial without her. She has the key to escape that area.
– Call her by her name, LOL. It’s Joanna.
– It looks like something was thrown from behind, causing it to break.

“Oh, come on… What is going on?”

I had no choice but to carry the unconscious Joanna and run in the direction she was heading.
The problem was, because I’d wasted so much time, the footsteps behind me had gotten undeniably closer.
Looking back, I could faintly see a massive creature running.

The creature, like a rugby player, lowered its body and forcibly smashed through doors smaller than itself as it ran.
Its muscles were bulging all over its body, and it seemed impervious to most injuries, not slowing down even with numerous shards embedded in it. The creature was much more grotesque than I had imagined.
Only the two massive, jiggling mounds proved that it had once been a woman.

At this rate, I’m definitely going to get caught.
I quickly looked around, trying to find a way to stop it.
Since this is a reality-oriented game, magic doesn’t work, so I needed a physical solution.

– Originally, Joanna explains things, and at the end, that boss gets stuck in the escape elevator, and you get away. That’s the ending.
– If MaWang caught it, then it must be designed to be caught…
– The problem is that no one else has ever caught it. LOL.

Thanks to the NPC who fainted as soon as the game started, I was forced into an unwanted hard mode.

I didn’t want to die such a pathetic death.

No, a lab that researches such monstrous creatures wouldn’t have any countermeasures, would it?
As I carried Joanna and ran, I looked around, but there wasn’t anything that looked like an armory.

*Kraaaaaaaaa* —

As if aware of my anxiety, the sound grew louder.
Resentfully glancing at the unconscious Joanna, whose lips were curled up in what looked like a blissful smile, I had no choice but to keep running.