Chapter 18

I had already seen in the game that Je Hyuno’s vocal cords had mutated to the point that they no longer sounded human.

But even knowing that, hearing it in person made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I forced my paralyzed mind to think.

‘How did he know?’

This was a completely unexpected situation.

Je Hyuno waited for my answer as he slowly moved one finger.

The sound of metal striking against metal echoed through the air.

Under that silent threat, I carefully opened my mouth.

“I…”

Tap.

The sharp tip of one of his fingers rested against my chest.

Even through my clothes, I could feel the edge of the metal.

With just a little more force, it would pierce my heart.

He had deliberately chosen that spot.

It was a very clear warning.

Lying meant dying.

So I discarded every lie and answered truthfully.

“I was the one who told you to stay still, Lieutenant Colonel.”

At the same time, a system window appeared in front of Je Hyuno.

I would like to complete Dead Zone Delivery with you and achieve the True Ending.

It was the Message I had sent him.

Je Hyuno silently looked at the system window.

I swallowed hard.

The tension was so overwhelming that I could feel even my hair standing on end.

Fortunately, the darkness of the night concealed the shivers running across my face.

I abandoned my original plan of pretending it was a system mission.

Instead, I decided to try convincing him using the system window itself.

What do you think about having an extremely useful recruit?

I started with an eye-catching line and quickly continued writing.

A recruit capable of communicating freely through system windows inside the Trial!

A recruit who knows Trial strategies and items that even Samra doesn’t know about!

A recruit capable of stopping you from attacking Captain Kwak and Captain Mo!

If you trust me, I promise you a fast and convenient way to clear this Trial.

At the end, I added a small threat.

If we keep this up, we’ll all end up turning into zombies after failing the Trial.

I could imagine the bewildered expressions on Mo Haein’s and Kwak Hanmuk’s faces.

I had told them I would try to persuade him.

But from the outside, it probably looked as though the two of us were simply standing there in complete silence.

‘Even though I really am trying to persuade him, Captains.’

I watched Je Hyuno, hoping that would be enough.

Everything I had written should have interested him.

His only goal had always been to clear Trials as quickly as possible.

He had never taken more than a week to complete any of them.

However.

He didn’t react.

His metal hand remained pressed against my chest.

Finally, I resorted to my last option.

The one I had never wanted to mention.

I also know what happened in Zero.

The Trial that turned you into an Infected.

I held my breath as I waited for his reaction.

^ ^

A smiling emoticon appeared on his goggles.

Before I could understand what it meant, I heard a deep whisper.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve…”

Those few words seemed to rise from the abyss itself.

And I immediately realized one thing.

‘I’m finished.’

My first plan had failed completely.

“Captain Kwak!”

I took off running as I called out to him.

The prayer beads wrapped around me and flung me through the air.

At the same time, the jeep waiting some distance away accelerated at full speed.

My body landed on the rear spare tire.

Sitting on it and still bound by the prayer beads, I looked toward where Je Hyuno had been.

I could no longer see him in the darkness.

But that didn’t mean I was safe.

I knew he would catch up to us soon.

The jeep sped over cracked, pothole-ridden asphalt.

Every time it hit a rock, my body bounced along with the vehicle.

“Captain Mo, it’s your turn!”

“I know, Recruit.”

A pale hand emerged from the window and braced itself against the body of the jeep.

Mo Haein climbed onto the roof of the jeep.

The infection had already strengthened her body tremendously.

She was able to climb onto the roof of a moving vehicle without any difficulty.

Even so, Kwak Hanmuk secured her legs with the prayer beads to keep her from being thrown off.

Mo Haein watched the darkness for a few seconds.

Then she drew the Black Moon Blade.

But she didn’t aim behind us.

She aimed forward.

She lightly tapped the roof with her spear.

At the same time, the prayer beads wrapped around my waist also restrained my arms.

I was completely bound.

I looked like a prisoner kidnapped by an armed organization.

From where I was, I looked ahead of the jeep.

The sound of the engine attracted hordes of zombies.

But none of them could match the jeep’s speed.

In the blink of an eye, we passed through Yellow Zone.

Then Red Zone.

And finally entered Dead Zone.

The moment we did, the Dead Zombies appeared.

Unlike ordinary zombies, these ones could keep up with a jeep traveling at full speed.

But I wasn’t looking at the zombies.

I was looking at the sky.

There was a tiny black dot in front of the moon.

And it was getting bigger.

“Ten seconds!”

Mo Haein announced Je Hyuno’s position as she swept away the zombies blocking the road with her spear.

But more kept appearing from the sides and behind us.

“Damn it, he’s fast!”

Kwak Hanmuk had barely finished speaking when Je Hyuno came into view.

So did the countless black crescent blades he launched.

“Captain Kwak!”

At Mo Haein’s shout, Kwak Hanmuk slammed the accelerator to the floor.

The jeep shot forward.

Dozens of black crescent blades sliced through the exact spot where we had been only an instant before.

“Graaagh!!”

The zombies trying to attack the rear of the jeep were torn to pieces.

The attacks aimed at me ended up hitting the zombies instead.

The next instant, a metal hand came crashing down onto the jeep.

The very moment the air was split by a deadly whistle, the prayer beads lifted me up.

The hand missed by a hair.

It only scraped the rear of the vehicle.

Screeeech!

The screech of metal echoed for a long time.

Deep claw marks were carved into the jeep.

But the spare tire remained intact.

And once again, Je Hyuno’s missed attack ended up massacring the zombies running alongside the vehicle.

Dozens of Dead Zombies roared, baring their teeth.

They sprinted with all their might, trying to reach me.

But they couldn’t touch a single thread of my clothing.

Much less stir up the dust from the wheels.

Every single one of them ended up being torn apart by Je Hyuno’s attacks.

The second plan.

“Using Je Hyuno to clear out the zombies.”

It was working perfectly.

It was precisely the plan that had made Mo Haein call me crazy with complete sincerity.

And, to be honest.

It had a few minor drawbacks.

I had to serve as bait so Je Hyuno would launch his attacks.

Mo Haein had to fight the zombies ahead while standing on the roof of the jeep.

And Kwak Hanmuk had to drive while simultaneously controlling the prayer beads.

But the results were outstanding.

Mo Haein only eliminated the zombies blocking the road.

Je Hyuno took care of the rest.

Watching dozens of Dead Zombies disappear every time he attacked was unbelievably satisfying.

It was like activating a cheat code in a video game.

Besides, this was the second time we had escaped from Je Hyuno.

Maybe we had become professionals by now.

Compared to the first chase, everything felt much easier.

I continued swinging cheerfully from the back of the jeep, enjoying my role as bait.

Then.

Our eyes met.

Mo Haein’s and mine.

“……”

While fighting the zombies, the half-zombified Mo Haein stared directly at me with the Black Moon Blade in her hand.

Her expression made it clear that she had a lot of things she wanted to say to me.

The moment I realized it, I stopped smiling to myself.

Mo Haein frowned deeply before swinging the Black Moon Blade at the zombies once more.

Thanks to Kwak Hanmuk driving like an absolute madman, the laboratory soon came into view.

As befitted Dead Zone, the surrounding area was a complete wasteland.

In Yellow Zone and Red Zone, a few buildings were still standing.

But in Dead Zone, the only building left intact was the laboratory, built from reinforced materials.

It stood alone, like the last hope of a ruined world.

Using Je Hyuno like a game exploit, we had reached the laboratory in record time.

I quickly scanned the surroundings.

“Captain Kwak, turn right!”

Kwak Hanmuk sharply turned the steering wheel in front of the laboratory.

The tires left long black streaks across the asphalt.

The jeep swayed dangerously, nearly flipping over from the oversteer.

Just as the drift was completed.

A black metal hand lunged at me.

Je Hyuno had been waiting for that exact moment.

The instant the jeep slowed down and Kwak Hanmuk became too focused on driving to control the prayer beads.

But I still had one final card left.

‘Restriction.’

Restricting ‘Je Hyuno.’

Although it only lasted a few seconds, the effect was absolute.

The metal hand that would have torn my body apart this time froze in midair.

Unable to control his wings, Je Hyuno crashed to the ground and rolled violently across the asphalt.

“Ugh…”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

My eyeballs felt as though they were burning.

Even so, I managed to endure it because I had been prepared.

‘I didn’t want to use it again.’

But if I hadn’t, I would have died.

And enduring pain was far better than dying.

However.

I knew I couldn’t use that ability again.

I had the feeling that one more use would permanently damage my body.

The jeep came to a screeching halt.

With a sharp tug, the prayer beads released me and dropped me onto the ground.

At last, my feet touched solid earth.

“Ah…”

My legs immediately gave out.

My vision was stained dark red.

The sound of my heartbeat thundered inside my ears.

“Recruit!”

Mo Haein jumped out of the jeep and caught me before I fell.

Kwak Hanmuk also hurried out of the driver’s seat.

The moment he saw me, his eyes widened.

I wiped the blood beneath my chin with the back of my hand and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m fine. I’m just in critical condition. It’s because of hunger and thirst… Give me a moment to eat something, and I’ll recover right away.”

“…What?”

The two of them stared at me in complete bewilderment.

I felt a little embarrassed.

‘The three of us have gone hours without eating, and I’m the only one who ended up like this.’

They had pushed their bodies far harder than I had.

And yet neither of them had reached critical condition.

The difference in our physical abilities was obvious.

Trials only increased your attributes to the minimum level required to complete them.

But they never reduced abilities that were already above that minimum.

From the very beginning, I had been far below Mo Haein and Kwak Hanmuk.

That was exactly why I should have managed my hunger and thirst much more carefully.

But I had been so focused on Je Hyuno that I made a basic mistake.

“What the hell did you do to end up like this?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not asking for an apology.”

Mo Haein ran a frustrated hand through her hair and turned toward Kwak Hanmuk.

Before she could even speak, he was already pulling the backpack out of the back seat.

He dumped it straight into my arms.

Everything inside spilled on top of me.

I looked at the mountain of food I was holding.

“I think one can and one bottle of water will be enough.”

“Yeah, yeah. Eat all of it.”

He unwrapped an energy bar and practically shoved it into my mouth.

As I chewed, the deafening heartbeat disappeared and my vision returned to normal.

Mo Haein handed me a bottle of water she had already opened.

While I drank, Kwak Hanmuk couldn’t stop exclaiming.

“Damn it, seriously, this Crazy Night hyung is going to drive me insane.”

Crazy Night.

My nickname kept evolving.

First it had been Chestnut.

Now it was already Crazy Night.

As soon as my hunger and thirst were restored, I looked back at Je Hyuno.

Until then, he had remained motionless where he had fallen.

Then he slowly began to stand.

Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein immediately stepped in front of me to protect me.

Je Hyuno simply made a gesture with his hand.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno, have you come back to your senses?”

Kwak Hanmuk asked suspiciously.

An emoticon appeared on the goggles.

ㅇ (

‘Is he winking?’

It seemed to mean yes.

Then he gestured with his hand, signaling for me to come closer.

When Kwak Hanmuk stepped forward, Je Hyuno shook his head.

Mo Haein also took a step forward.

He shook his head again.

He only stopped when I was the one who stepped forward.

As I hesitated over whether I should get any closer.

Click.

The sound of Je Hyuno removing his protective goggles echoed through the air.