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Chapter: 1
Prologue
“Ah—ah, ahem. My name is Won Jigu. I’m in New York’s… huh? Is this New York…? Anyway, I’m a survivor. Broadcasting on all AM frequencies. If anyone is still alive, come to the pier every day at the time when the sun is highest. I’ll provide food and a place to sleep, and I’ll protect you. Uh… was there even a pier here? Anyway, over!”
As always, there was no response.
No—actually, it wasn’t even transmitting.
Because this radio was broken!
Jigu stared blankly at the radio, which didn’t respond no matter which button he pressed. After a long sigh, he tossed it into his inventory.
[Inventory 12×12]
Broken radio ×3
“How is it that there isn’t a single working radio?!”
Nya, nya, nya……
Jigu’s voice echoed through the empty street.
Today marked day 432 since he’d been trapped in this godforsaken zombie game. In all that time, Jigu hadn’t encountered a single survivor.
“Is anyone there?!”
Yo, yo, yo……
Overcome by horrific loneliness, Jigu collapsed onto the spot and screamed at the top of his lungs.
In response, an enthusiastic roar erupted from far away—the cheers of a zombie horde.
Kiiii! Kraaaah!
The once-silent street was instantly filled with filthy howls. Scrrk, srrk—the sound of dragging feet grew closer from the mouth of the alley.
At that moment, Jigu’s calm field of vision began to tinge red from the edges inward.
It was the effect of his detection skill, warning him of incoming danger.
“Uh-oh.”
Startled, Jigu sprang to his feet and jumped onto the kick scooter he’d casually tossed on the ground. He needed to get back to a safe place before things got worse.
Drrrk, drrrk.
The child-sized scooter—far too small for an adult—rolled vigorously beneath his feet.
ppp—ppp—
“…Ha. I didn’t sleep a wink……”
With hollow eyes, Jigu shut off the alarm and groaned as he staggered upright.
A bathroom not even two pyeong in size.
That was Jigu’s bedroom.
“Don’t these things ever sleep? I should report them for noise complaints. …Wait, would that be neighborhood noise instead?”
Rain had poured relentlessly all night, and lightning had eventually joined in. The thunder alone was enough to drive him crazy, but the zombies—worked up by the noise—had screamed nonstop. He’d only managed to fall asleep right before dawn.
“I mean, haven’t they seen lightning before? Heard thunder before?!”
Noise attracted zombies.
Every time thunder struck, zombies would get riled up and cause a commotion. But last night had been especially loud.
What, did they throw a party among themselves or something?
Snorting derisively, Jigu picked up the pen hanging on the wall and drew another tally mark on the tile.
Scriiitch—
Twenty tally marks per tile.
One entire wall of the bathroom was already crammed full of them.
“…Four hundred forty-four.”
It had been 444 days since he’d been trapped in this damn zombie game.
“Log out.”
He tried requesting a logout, but as always, there was no response.
“AAARGH! You goddamn trash game! Log out! Log out! Let me log out already!”
If it’s a game, shouldn’t it at least have a logout button?
But no matter where he looked, there was nothing of the sort.
Then at the very least, shouldn’t it tell him how to escape the game? A quest, maybe? Some kind of clear condition?
But there was nothing.
The only thing this trash game had was—
“Status window.”
Won Jigu
Health: 100% / Infection Rate: 0%
[Skills]
– Earth Protection Zone
An absolute safety zone exclusively for Won Jigu (maximum 6㎡).
A zone that completely protects Won Jigu from all threats. Only an enclosed, independent space may be designated as a protection zone, and the safety of that space must be secured.
Only Won Jigu and his party members may enter the protection zone. The zone is解除 when Won Jigu leaves it or manually deactivates it. If a vehicle is designated as the protection zone, the effect only persists while the vehicle is stationary.
No attacks of any kind are possible within the protection zone.
– Detection (Passive)
Detects danger within a 500m radius.
– Guiding (Passive)
Reduces a Sentinel’s mutation rate through physical contact.
If the mutation rate is 100%, this skill has no effect.
– Inventory (12×12)
Can store objects with a volume of up to 1㎥. Items stored in the inventory are unaffected by time. Up to 999 identical items may be stacked per slot. Living beings cannot be stored.
[Party Members]
– None –
Yeah. The status window. That was it.
For a game, the UI was astonishingly minimal—and unfriendly.
Jigu reread the incomprehensible status window yet again before letting out a heavy sigh.
“Infection rate—I’ll assume that’s the zombie virus… but Guiding? What the hell is a mutation rate?!”
No matter how many times he read it, he couldn’t figure it out.
The only skill he fully understood was Earth Protection Zone.
“A zone that completely protects Won Jigu from all threats.”
The “independent zone” mentioned in the description referred to a fully enclosed space—like a single room or the interior of a car.
Meaning, declaring ‘Protection zone from here to here!’ in the middle of an open field would be completely useless.
Maximum area: 6㎡.
That’s about two pyeong.
The reason he slept in this cramped, dark bathroom instead of the master bedroom with its soft bed was precisely because of that tiny maximum range.
Typical American houses had huge rooms.
Inside the narrow bathroom, the edges of the floor glowed faint blue, clearly marking the Earth Protection Zone.
Inside this blue line, he was safe.
It didn’t block sound—outsiders could still tell he was in there—but they could never enter.
It truly was an absolute safety zone, limited solely to Won Jigu.
Well. And party members, too.
“But that’s assuming I have party members……”
In 444 days, he hadn’t seen a single survivor—not even a living dog.
With a gloomy sigh, Jigu cautiously opened the bathroom door and peered outside through a narrow crack, barely a handspan wide.
“…Mm. Good. Safe.”
The edges of his vision were faintly tinted red, signaling mild danger—but it was well within a safe range.
‘When it’s really dangerous, the whole screen turns dark red, like a dead-ending screen.’
If he had to quantify it, the current danger level was about 5%. At the very least, no zombie was about to jump out in front of him.
The reason Jigu had survived 444 days without being bitten—or killed—was entirely thanks to the Detection skill.
Depending on danger level, the skill tinted the edges of his vision red, and when death was imminent, it flooded his view with dark crimson as an advance warning.
A faint edge tint like this meant: Zombies are within 500 meters, but they’re not dangerous.
Jigu’s vision stayed at about this level most of the time. It couldn’t be helped—zombies were always wandering around outside.
“…Let’s eat.”
What should he eat today? He was sick to death of canned peaches.
Grumbling, he rummaged through his inventory—but still ended up pulling out canned peaches. Just looking at them made his mouth fill with sweetness and his stomach churn.
“This isn’t peaches. This is rice. Rice. Warm, fluffy white rice…….”
Eyes closed, he brainwashed himself and shoved a whole chunk of yellow flesh into his mouth.
As he mashed the lukewarm, mushy fruit with his teeth, a cheap sweetness spread across his tongue.
“Gghk—ugh… white rice, my ass…!”
Damn canned peaches. Damn zombie land!
Well, it’s already ruined. Then rot even harder!
Stuffing the half-eaten can back into his inventory, Jigu cursed the godforsaken zombie land like he did every morning.
It was an ordinary morning.
Yes. That’s what he thought.
[Tutorial Quest]
– Rescue Survivors (0/2)
Success Reward: Unlock Game Clear Quest
Failure Penalty: Game Clear Failure
A quest appeared.
After 444 days.
Jigu stared blankly at the floating window, blinking in disbelief.
Is this… real?
Am I not just completely losing my mind and hallucinating?
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heartbeat thundered through his entire body. His chest felt like it might explode.
Hope he’d forced down for so long, anticipation, doubt, and distrust all tangled together chaotically.
He might be able to go home.
If he cleared that quest—if he completed the game clear quest……!
But life never goes the way you want it to.
[Emergency Quest]
– Reduce Caliph Roxberg’s mutation rate to below 90% within the time limit (00:29:59)
Success Reward: Earth Protection Zone Skill Upgrade
Maximum Area 6㎡ → 66㎡
Failure Penalty: Game Clear Failure
Finding a survivor was good news—but an unexpected emergency quest immediately tripped him up again.
Mutation rate.
He didn’t know exactly what it meant, but he clearly remembered seeing it in the skill window.
– Guiding (Passive)
Reduces a Sentinel’s mutation rate through physical contact.
If the mutation rate is 100%, this skill has no effect.
After 444 days, he’d finally found a survivor—but the unconscious man’s mutation rate was 99%. A terrifyingly close call.
So… you’re telling me to physically touch this guy to lower his mutation rate?
……Yeah. Looks like this game has no intention of letting me go easily.
Damn it.
This really is a hopeless, godforsaken zombie land.
