POARW 08

Chapter 8

So did that mean these people only had four characters to choose from?

No wonder nobody had picked Buster.

So that’s why they all chose something else.

“We’ve never heard of that character. What kind of ability does it have?”

“It’s a character that can strengthen the body.”

“Strengthen the body?! Like strength and stamina? Isn’t that insanely overpowered?”

“You can raise those pretty easily too with the Maker’s crafting equipment.”

“Ah… really?”

“It seems like only people who played No Way Home or cleared it can choose Buster. Even I didn’t know that.”

“Why would they make it like that?”

“I don’t know either… but it feels like consideration from the system.”

At the word “consideration,” Park Sang-il tilted his head.

He probably didn’t understand what was considerate about it.

So I shrugged.

“If you people had chosen Buster, you’d have turned into zombies long ago.”

“Does that character have a lot of problems?”

There was no need to explain everything in detail.

A rough explanation would be enough.

When I asked about their stats, they said all of them had 15 Strength, Agility, and Stamina.

Other characters started with 15 in each stat because of class bonuses.

But Buster…

“Buster starts with all stats at 5.”

Park Sang-il didn’t ask any further questions.

One-third of a normal character’s stats.

When zombies had stats around 12 or 14, surviving with stats of 5 was practically impossible.

Even I would have hesitated to choose Buster if I hadn’t received the game-clear reward and the Battle Steam closed beta rewards.

Park Sang-il scratched his forehead and asked,

“So if someone who knows nothing about the game picks Buster… they’re basically guaranteed to die early on?”

“Pretty much. That’s probably why they made it so only people familiar with the game can choose it.”

“What are your stats right now, Do-yoon?”

“Similar to yours. Just a bit higher.”

“So body enhancement means you can directly raise your stats.”

“……”

“Is it easy to raise them?”

“You can raise one stat point for every 100 points.”

“Only 1 stat for 100 points?! Then… are you saying you killed over 3,000 zombies in two days?”

One point per zombie.

To be exact, I’d earned around 5,300 points over the last two days.

Though 4,000 of those had been bonus points.

There was no reason to explain all of that in detail, so instead of answering, I simply stared at him silently.

Only then did Park Sang-il seem to understand as he stroked his chin.

“No wonder… I could tell when you were smashing zombie faces in. You’re definitely not normal.”

“……”

“Now I feel embarrassed for doubting and being wary of you.”

“It’s fine. I understand completely.”

As Park Sang-il looked dazed, Park Sang-ha, standing beside him, spoke up.

“At that level… shouldn’t we actually be grateful that you chose us?”

Neither Park Sang-il nor Park Sang-hoon responded to that.

Nobody said it aloud, but I could tell they all agreed with Park Sang-ha.

There were things I was curious about too, so this time I asked them something.

“By the way, where did you all come from?”

“Near Sangwangsimni Station.”

Sangwangsimni Station…

That was the northwest side of Seongdong-gu.

I tilted my head curiously.

“Was that your shelter?”

“By shelter, you mean the first building we reached?”

“Yeah. The first place you arrived at after being summoned into the streets.”

“There’s an elementary school in front of Sangwangsimni Station. We ended up there.”

I’d arrived at Shin OO Apartments…

Thanks to that, I learned something important.

Everyone’s shelter location was different.

Park Sang-il’s expression darkened.

“That place… wasn’t good.”

As his face hardened, Park Sang-hoon spoke from behind him.

“It was a gathering place for trash.”

“Trash?”

“We’re the same age. You can talk casually.”

“Oh… right.”

Yeah, Park Sang-hoon, the youngest of the three brothers, was twenty-eight too.

With a troubled look, he continued explaining.

Apparently, around two hundred survivors had gathered at the elementary school.

And because it was a school, they had to go outside to find food.

The survivors split into factions—those who wanted to go out and gather supplies, and those who wanted to stay put and wait for rescue.

Park Sang-il’s family belonged to the group that wanted to go outside, but they were outnumbered.

‘Well, with zombies roaming around, most people wouldn’t want to leave.’

A perfectly natural reaction.

“Then yesterday… things went bad.”

Park Sang-hoon let out a deep sigh and continued.

The people who stayed inside waiting for rescue attacked the ones risking their lives to gather food.

Their goal was simple.

Food.

The larger group overwhelmed them completely.

According to him, people who lost their minds over food were no different from zombies.

In the end, Park Sang-il escaped with his family.

They spent the whole night avoiding zombies and taking turns standing watch.

Then this morning, when they tried moving again, they were spotted by zombies, leading to the situation from earlier.

“If it weren’t for you, Do-yoon… our family would never have reunited.”

At Park Sang-hoon’s words, I slowly nodded.

“I think I understand the situation well enough. Then… you should all rest here.”

“Huh?”

I had a rough idea of how things had gone, and things were sorted now, so it was time to handle my own business again.

“I’m going out to hunt zombies with the time we have left. You all barely slept, so stay here and rest.”

“You’re going hunting?!”

“Yes.”

“Ah… right. You said you killed over 3,000 zombies in two days.”

“……”

“While we were struggling just to survive, there’s someone out there hunting zombies. This is unbelievable…”

Park Sang-il laughed in disbelief.

Then he picked up the kitchen knife he had set down earlier.

“I hate being carried by others. I’ll help too.”

“Honey.”

Kim Hee-joo grabbed the hem of his clothes anxiously.

Without saying a word, Park Sang-il nodded before giving Gyeong-seo a faint smile.

Just by looking at his face, I could tell.

He knew it himself.

A five-year-old child and a wife who had to care for that child.

Nothing in this world came free.

If he wanted his wife and child to receive equal food and be treated with dignity, then he had to make sacrifices himself.

Only if he personally went outside would he have the right to speak later if conflicts arose.

In this era of survival of the fittest, the right to speak wasn’t given freely.

It belonged to those who proved their worth.

‘The more I see him, the more I like him.’

He was both conscientious and intelligent.

Then Park Sang-ha and Park Sang-hoon also stood up and grabbed weapons.

“Three people are safer than two.”

“And four are better than three.”

The younger brothers clearly understood Park Sang-il’s position and were trying to support him.

Better than expected.

People like this were more than welcome.

There was no reason to refuse, so I went into the room, grabbed some usable notebooks and tape, and returned to the living room.

“Wrap these around yourselves.”

They had already seen the notebooks taped around my forearms and shins when we arrived.

Even without detailed instructions, they seemed to understand exactly what areas needed protection.

After preparing everything, Park Sang-il spoke to his wife in the kitchen.

“Take good care of Gyeong-seo.”

“Are you really going to be okay?”

“We need to get used to this.”

Park Sang-il glanced toward me and frowned slightly.

“This is okay, right? I think it’s better if my wife and child stay here.”

“Yes. That’s fine.”

I had no desire to drag baggage around while hunting either.

If Gyeong-seo started crying…

That would be a disaster.

I looked at Kim Hee-joo and Park Gyeong-seo.

“While we’re gone, please be as careful as possible.”

“Huh? About what?”

“Never open the windows, and don’t touch the curtains.”

“Ah, okay!”

“And don’t turn on any lights at night just because it’s dark. Be careful about the wind too.”

“The wind?”

“If the curtains move because of the wind, you could get noticed.”

Instead of replying, Kim Hee-joo nodded repeatedly.

Finally, I looked at Gyeong-seo.

“And… make sure he understands that he absolutely can’t cry.”

“…Okay.”

“No matter what happens, he can’t make loud noises. Earlier, when you were on the villa rooftop, the zombies inside the building came up because they heard Gyeong-seo’s voice.”

Holding Gyeong-seo tightly, Kim Hee-joo assured me she would take good care of him.

I stepped closer to Gyeong-seo and smiled warmly.

“Understood, Gyeong-seo?”

“Sniff…”

The kid started tearing up just from looking at my face.

I was smiling though… why was he crying?

Did I look that scary?

Still, he seemed to understand what I meant, because he pouted his lower lip and buried his face in his mother’s arms.

Once Park Sang-ha and Park Sang-hoon finished preparing as well, Park Sang-il looked at me.

“So, got a plan?”

“Since you can secure visibility, Sang-il hyung should take the lead and—”

“I told you to speak comfortably.”

“Ah, right. Hyung will lead, and we’ll only fight groups of five zombies or fewer whenever possible.”

I never thought the word “hyung” would come out of my mouth.

I’d never had anyone close enough to call hyung or noona, so the title felt awkward.

As I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably, Park Sang-il asked calmly,

“Can’t we just fight like before? Like at the church?”

“You planning to fight for just a few minutes? Once the number of zombies increases, stamina management becomes difficult.”

“Ah.”

“We shouldn’t kill a lot at once. We need to hunt slowly and steadily. Safely.”

“Didn’t expect you to think about stamina too.”

“Because this is hunting.”

Park Sang-il swallowed dryly and nodded.

I pulled the 3D terrain map out of my pocket.

When I pressed the button, the surrounding terrain appeared at a glance.

Park Sang-ha snapped his fingers.

“Ah! Right, that thing earlier! What is it exactly?”

“A 3D terrain map. It lets me check the surrounding geography.”

“How’d you get it? Can I get one too?”

“Probably not. I got it as a game-clear reward.”

“Can I see it for a second?”

Since it was a bound item and unusable by others anyway, I handed it to Park Sang-ha to confirm.

The moment he touched it, the screen shut off, and no matter how much he pressed the power button, the map wouldn’t appear.

“It’s bound to me, so only I can use it.”

“That’s fascinating. No wonder it’s a clear reward.”

At first, I thought getting a map as a clear reward was disappointing, but it had proven useful in countless ways.

Without it, I never would’ve understood the church’s structure well enough to rescue Park Sang-il and Park Sang-hoon.

“Then let’s move out.”

Gripping my baseball bat tightly, I stepped out through the front door first.

Three sturdy men followed behind me.

Our hunt continued until the sun went down.

We earned plenty of points, and I got a good sense of the three brothers’ abilities too.

At this point, most people still panicked at the mere sight of zombies, but these guys swung their weapons without hesitation.

They were still clumsy in some areas, but whenever that happened, I gave advice without holding back.

Until they got Maker weapons, they had to make sure zombies were truly dead after taking them down.

Never let your guard down around fallen zombies—watch out for the ankles.

Aim for the temples, cervical spine, or carotid artery whenever possible.

Instead of trying to crush them in one hit, break their balance and finish them safely.

They absorbed my advice like sponges.

“It’s way darker than usual tonight. I can’t see anything.”

At Park Sang-ha’s words from behind me, I tightened my grip on the baseball bat.

Even I was tense.

Tonight was especially dark.

Pitch-black darkness where you couldn’t see an inch ahead.

The world was already gloomy from the torrential rain and thick storm clouds, but tonight even the moonlight had vanished behind the clouds.

“Sang-il hyung, can you see anything?”

“It’s like wearing night-vision goggles.”

Park Sang-hoon kept marveling in amazement.

I’d only ever used Shooter abilities in the game, so I couldn’t imagine what it actually felt like for Park Sang-il to use them directly.

Park Sang-il stopped walking and scanned the surroundings before wiping water from his face.

“I don’t think there are any more zombies nearby. Should we head back?”

It was probably around eleven at night by now.

At his words, I nodded.

We’d already killed around 200 zombies, and my Stamina stat had finally reached 30.

There was no reason to overdo it.

It would be better to rest for tomorrow.

Because tomorrow…

The first main episode would begin.