Chapter 28

For a moment, I doubted what I had just heard.

Lee Gaon’s sobbing voice continued.

“Sniff… Mr. Gunbam… Hic… I’ll wait for you in the laboratory…”

The transmission ended.

For someone who had just said she had killed someone, she sounded relatively calm.

Even so, it was still shocking.

What the hell had happened upstairs?

I wouldn’t know until I saw it for myself, but the curiosity was killing me.

‘Was it Tak Jucheol… or Paeng Sangdo?’

Paeng Sangdo talked too much.

It was possible that Lee Gaon had lost her temper and impulsively killed him.

Although Tak Jucheol wasn’t much better.

Every time he opened his mouth, he was just as unpleasant, so there was also a good chance he had been the victim.

As I wondered which one it had been, I discreetly shifted my gaze toward Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein.

Mo Haein barely reacted to the announcement.

Kwak Hanmuk, meanwhile, continued pinning the Chef Zombie beneath his boot as he remarked admiringly,

“Wow, that researcher looked innocent, but she’s got guts.”

Even though the boss battle had already ended, the Chef Zombie continued writhing beneath his military boot.

He was desperately trying to gather the fragments of the gonggi stones scattered across the floor.

His bloodstained fingers scraped repeatedly against the metal floor.

After the battle ended, his body had returned to its original form.

But if he kept using his hands like that, he’d eventually destroy them.

I hurriedly unclipped the carabiner and ran over to the Chef Zombie.

With Kwak Hanmuk’s help, I tied him securely with the climbing rope and fastened him to a metal shelving unit in the generator room.

“What if he breaks the rope?”

“I’m going to set up a very simple backup mechanism.”

I climbed onto the metal shelving unit and tied a string to a pipe on the ceiling.

At the hanging end, I tied a gonggi stone.

The vibration from the generator’s engine caused the stone to sway slightly.

The Chef Zombie couldn’t take his eyes off it.

“Even if he breaks the rope and manages to climb onto the shelving unit, with that injured leg, he won’t be able to reach it.”

Since all of his attention would be focused on the stone hanging just out of reach, he wouldn’t have time to do anything else.

Kwak Hanmuk frowned at the precautions I was taking.

But perhaps because I had told him it was related to the True Ending, he decided not to argue any further.

He took off his work gloves, which were soaked in oil and blood, and stretched with a long yawn.

“Huff… I’m exhausted. As soon as we get back to the laboratory, I’m going to scarf down a chocolate bar.”

Then he started throwing punches into the air as he laughed.

“I’m gonna beat the hell out of that chocolate bar!”

Mo Haein looked at him with complete disapproval.

I looked at the two of them before cautiously asking,

“Uh… aren’t you going to arrest me? Or will you do it after we finish the mission?”

I wanted to prepare myself mentally, so I took the opportunity to justify myself.

“The truth is, I don’t know why my eyes turned like this either. And for some reason, the zombie infection disappeared, though I don’t know why that happened either…”

“Did you forget already?”

Mo Haein interrupted me.

“That’s exactly why you’re still a recruit.”

“…Ah.”

That’s right!

I’d already been arrested!

All the worries I’d had up until that moment disappeared instantly.

It had already been confirmed that I was an anomaly.

And the only thing the Trial Response Agency wanted to verify was whether I could actually clear three Trials within one month, just as I had promised.

The fact that my eyes were now glowing as well was a trivial detail compared to the success or failure of clearing the Trial.

I felt much more at ease.

I smiled faintly and bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

“You have nothing to thank me for.”

Mo Haein answered firmly, clearly drawing a line.

Then she gestured with her chin toward the emergency generator, which was roaring once again.

“Why did it suddenly break down?”

“I don’t know.”

She stared at me.

Her expression seemed to say,

So there are things you don’t know after all.

‘Of course there are plenty of things I don’t know.’

I knew every detail related to the game I had played.

But beyond that,

I knew nothing.

Or rather, I couldn’t know.

The generator’s sudden malfunction was exactly what puzzled me the most.

My eyes turning golden could more or less be explained by the fact that I had become the System.

The system windows themselves had hinted at something like that.

‘It would actually be stranger if becoming the System hadn’t caused any changes.’

But the generator.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find a single clue.

Before entering his berserk state, the Chef Zombie didn’t possess enough destructive power.

It was impossible for the generator to have ended up in that condition without some outside factor.

In fact, at first I had even wondered.

‘Could Lieutenant Colonel Je have come crashing into the generator instead of collecting the items I asked him to get?’

The only hypothesis I could come up with was that changing the True Ending might have caused some kind of effect.

‘Although I’m not even sure about that.’

For the time being, my value to the Trial Response Agency depended on the knowledge I possessed about the Trials.

If things kept diverging like this from now on,

I’d be in trouble.

If possible, I needed to figure out the cause.

“I’m fucking starving… enough already…”

At Kwak Hanmuk’s gloomy muttering, I immediately stopped thinking and started walking.

The route back to the laboratory was completely different from before.

Once the Chef Zombie had been defeated, part of the underground area became sealed off, but in exchange, the staircase became usable again.

The emergency stairs that had been blocked when we first entered the underground level were now open, but no one was surprised.

Although it mimicked reality with remarkable accuracy, the Trial was still a virtual space.

Since it operated according to the game’s rules, no matter how realistic Dead Zone Deal was, it was inevitable that it would contain unrealistic elements.

On the way back, I picked up a couple of snacks and handed them to Kwak Hanmuk.

Covered in grease and completely filthy, he tore open the wrapper of a Choco Pie with his teeth, without using his hands, and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth.

As he chewed the cake, he crushed the zombies that lunged at him.

All of this had happened because I had turned human again.

Feeling somewhat guilty, I promised to get him even better snacks.

When we reached the sixth floor, the zombies that had respawned gave us a warm welcome.

While Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein dealt with them, I ran to the laboratory door and pounded on it.

“Lee Gaon! Lee Ga—!”

I didn’t even get to call her name twice.

The door opened.

“Mr. Gunbam!”

Lee Gaon grabbed me and pulled me inside.

Since I was exhausted after fighting the Chef Zombie, I ended up letting her drag me.

Then, the next moment, she hugged me tightly.

“Mr. Gunbam, Mr. Gunbam…! I knew you were still alive!”

The hug caught me off guard.

But I quickly recovered and awkwardly patted her on the back.

The part of my chest where she had buried her face was soon soaked with tears.

After crying her heart out for quite a while, she finally calmed down and lifted her head.

Gently, I eased away from her a little and asked,

“Are you hurt?”

“No. I only have a few bruises.”

She showed me her arm, which was completely covered in bruises.

In a normal world, anyone would have been horrified to see such a bruise.

But in Dead Zone Deal, getting out alive while paying only that price was practically a bargain.

I let out a sigh of relief and looked around the laboratory.

I searched for Tak Jucheol and Paeng Sangdo.

But they were nowhere to be seen.

“I’m glad to hear that. Could you tell me what happened?”

“Well… you see…”

Lee Gaon began recounting everything that had happened while we were in the underground area.

Shortly after we left, the announcement about the laboratory lockdown had sounded.

Tak Jucheol and Paeng Sangdo, who had been cooperating obediently with the vaccine’s development until then, completely lost their minds the moment they heard it.

They started shouting that they had to escape immediately and caused a huge commotion.

But it was useless.

The blaring announcement woke every sleeping zombie, and they flooded the entire building.

Even the sixth floor, which we had completely cleared, filled with zombies again.

Given the physical condition those researchers were in, escaping was completely impossible.

They realized it immediately as well.

“We’re dead! We’re all going to die!”

While Tak Jucheol screamed in despair, Paeng Sangdo spoke with surprising calmness.

“Not necessarily.”

Tak Jucheol, who had survived time and again thanks to Paeng Sangdo’s cunning, looked at him full of hope.

Then Paeng Sangdo raised a finger and pointed at Lee Gaon.

Tak Jucheol and Lee Gaon both immediately understood what that gesture meant.

He wanted to use Lee Gaon as bait to escape.

Exactly as they had done with Lee Seon.

“…Ah, right. Gaon. We still have our Gaon.”

Tak Jucheol grinned from ear to ear.

“Gaon, I’m begging you. You’re the only one we can count on now. We’ll take care of developing the vaccine, so…”

“Wasn’t turning my brother into a zombie enough? Now you want to do the same to me?”

“Come on, that’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it?! What you want is for me to go out there and die!”

“How dare you talk back to me like that?!”

Tak Jucheol shouted furiously as he pointed at her.

At the same time, Paeng Sangdo threw a punch at her.

“I got this bruise on my arm trying to stop him.”

“That’s…”

I couldn’t understand how anyone could bring themselves to hit Lee Gaon.

“So I got really angry… and I shot him.”

“…What?”

“Oh, the zombie captain left me a pistol. The captain who turned into a zombie first.”

That wasn’t actually the part that had surprised me.

Misunderstanding my reaction, Lee Gaon blinked.

She seemed to wonder what else she needed to explain.

I decided that from now on, I needed to treat her even better, so I straightened my posture and listened to the rest.

In short.

Paeng Sangdo, wounded by the gunshot, crawled out of the laboratory in tears.

Tak Jucheol ran after him.

“I never imagined so much blood could come out of a person’s body. I’m sure he died…”

Even though she had fired the shot, she seemed deeply shaken by having witnessed it with her own eyes.

After being left alone, she trembled for quite a while.

Then, taking advantage of the zombies chasing Paeng Sangdo and Tak Jucheol, she went down to the broadcasting room and made an announcement looking for me.

“Are you sure you don’t need a research assistant?”

If necessary, I thought I could still find one of them and bring him back.

But Lee Gaon immediately shook her head.

“There’s no need!”

She grabbed my clothes tightly and said desperately,

“Stay here, where it’s safe. I can do everything by myself.”

Her eyes trembled with pure anxiety.

For her sake, I lied.

“Yes. There won’t be any more dangerous situations.”

There was still one last problem left.

But knowing about it in advance would only make her worry, so I chose to tell a white lie.

Visibly relieved, she finally managed a small smile.

“But…”

As she looked at me, she suddenly seemed to realize something.

“Mr. Gunbam… Didn’t a zombie bite you?”

She examined me over and over again.

After repeatedly confirming that there were no visible signs of zombification, I decided to answer honestly.

“I know you might not believe me, but the infection disappeared.”

The moment she heard my words, she froze completely.

Her eyes and mouth opened wide as she stared at me in astonishment.

‘It’s normal for her to have a hard time believing it.’

Anyone would think I’d gone crazy.

I was prepared to understand whatever reaction she had.

But suddenly, Lee Gaon grabbed my arm tightly.

And as if she had just received a revelation, she exclaimed,

“Mr. Gunbam!”

The strength with which she squeezed my forearm was surprising.

I barely had time to flinch at the gesture before her next words left me even more bewildered.

“I’m going to draw your blood.”

With her eyes shining with excitement, she declared,

“Right now.”