Chapter 33

THWACK— THWACK—!

The boy brought the trophy down on the man’s head.

But the man made no sound.

With each blow, he only swayed like laundry hanging on a clothesline.

A short while later, the boy threw aside the blood-soaked trophy.

CLATTER—

Then he sank weakly to the floor.

The smell of blood filled the space where sound had vanished.

-Jae-gyeom, check the man’s condition.

At Cha Si-eon’s instruction, Kwak Jae-gyeom suddenly came to his senses and moved.

“He’s dead.”

-Seal him immediately.

Cha Si-eon’s calm voice made me feel like I was losing my mind.

“Hyung, help me a bit.”

Jae-gyeom said this while spreading out a foil blanket.

I helped Jae-gyeom seal the corpse that had suddenly appeared.

“Are we using this to get Ha Yu-ju out?”

-No. We cannot seize a means of survival that a citizen secured on his own.

“Then…….”

“It’s fine.”

A weary voice cut into the conversation between me and Cha Si-eon.

“I can’t move that bastard by myself anyway. So do whatever you want.”

The one who said that was the boy who had killed the man.

He was sitting roughly in the pool of blood, head lowered.

He looked powerless, as if he did not want to do anything anymore.

-Jang Han-bin.

At Cha Si-eon’s call, the boy glanced this way.

-If you give up on escape, your action will become retaliatory murder.

The boy, Jang Han-bin, let out a hollow laugh.

His reaction said he did not care either way.

But Cha Si-eon did not mind and continued.

-We will support your escape. In exchange, we would like you to share the corpse you secured so that our agent can escape as well.

He meant to get both Ha Yu-ju and Jang Han-bin out together?

This man was quite heavy.

But two people?

No, it might be possible.

I remembered the bag I had placed beside the desk.

The black plastic containing part of the first victim.

I brought it over and handed it to Jae-gyeom.

“It looks about 10kg.”

“And that man?”

“Even lowballing it, 90kg.”

A total of 100kg.

“I’m 46kg.”

Ha Yu-ju said in a cracked voice.

Then the remaining weight was 54kg.

It was impossible for me, but that friend named Jang Han-bin seemed like he might just make it.

Now the problem was whether the person himself was willing.

But this guy did not even say yes or no.

“You said you’re Jang Han-bin, right?”

At my question, he quietly turned to look at me.

“How old are you?”

“Second year of high school.”

“Are you really not going out?”

“If you want to use that, just use it.”

Jang Han-bin spoke as if he had no interest.

We would be grateful if he yielded it to us.

But we could not simply accept it when the guy in front of us was still a high schooler.

“What are you going to do alone here? Is there no one outside who’ll look for you?”

“No.”

“Then let’s meet up. I’ll buy you food.”

Jang Han-bin had answered cynically, but then he frowned.

What, were you expecting me to say, Don’t you have a mom?

Sorry, but I am an editor who has covered all kinds of ruined developments.

Your parents must be worried about you. I don’t have parents. The silence that follows. The solemn atmosphere.

There was no way I would step on such a common land mine.

“Let’s go. I’ll buy you anything you want to eat.”

At my coaxing, Jang Han-bin hesitated.

Right, this guy would not want to be left alone here either.

Whether he was being stubborn because he did not trust us, or because he was too exhausted, I did not know.

Certain that he was wavering, I held out my hand, meaning for him to get up.

“Get that away!”

But Jang Han-bin shouted in horror.

Startled, I withdrew my hand, and Jang Han-bin also seemed flustered as he swallowed a breath.

But only for a moment.

As if trying to hide something, he began glaring at me.

“Don’t touch me…….”

His eyes were not merely fierce. They held killing intent.

At that moment, I realized anew.

This guy had just killed a person.

This was not some ordinary high schooler’s rebellious phase.

It was the wildness of a human who had crossed the line and reclaimed himself in a pool of blood.

Feeling threatened, I tried to step back.

Then Jang Han-bin’s hand entered my sight.

A hand with dried blood stuck to it.

But it was trembling.

As if he was about to freeze to death.

……This is driving me insane.

I licked my dry lips and checked the floor.

The trophy Jang Han-bin had thrown earlier.

Fortunately, it was quite far away.

I should be able to hide behind Jae-gyeom before Jang Han-bin picks that up, right?

Trusting my reflexes, I opened my mouth again.

“All right, I won’t touch you. Anyway, try to hold on just a little more. I know you’re tired right now, but it’d be a waste after enduring this much.”

“I said it’s fine……!”

“The situation was fucked up. It wasn’t your fault.”

“……!”

“So let’s leave. There’s no need to keep staying in this fucked-up mess.”

Jang Han-bin’s eyes shook greatly.

Second year of high school, 17 years old.

Still a young age.

Too little experience to properly interpret what he had gone through.

Of course, I had never directly killed someone either.

Nor had I ever suffered something at the level of a crime from another person.

So I did not know what this high schooler was feeling right now.

But I could tell he was overwhelmed.

And that he was still at an age where he needed help.

Around the time Jang Han-bin’s agitation settled, I asked again.

“What do you want to eat once we get out?”

Jang Han-bin looked at me in displeasure.

Even so, he muttered so quietly it was almost silent.

“A hamburger.”

An excellent choice.

---

As I moved the baggage, I asked in a quiet voice so the others could not hear.

“Did you know in advance that Jang Han-bin was alive?”

-Why do you think so?

“You said earlier that we can’t seize a means of survival secured by a citizen.”

-That is correct.

“That doesn’t add up. You said even an arrest subject has citizen rights guaranteed until a guilty verdict.”

At first, Cha Si-eon had told us to use the corpse the man had hidden to get Ha Yu-ju out.

Was that not seizing a citizen’s means of survival?

But Cha Si-eon had sent us here without hesitation and let me untie Jang Han-bin.

On top of that, when Jang Han-bin went to kill the man, he had told me this.

To do nothing and stay still.

The circumstances were overflowing.

But Cha Si-eon answered with perfect composure.

-I was briefly confused. I will be careful going forward.

Oh, sure.

It was a lie without even sincerity, but I decided to let it pass.

Because everyone else must have been doing the same.

While we talked briefly, I came outside to where the field was.

The light scattered by the lighting towers was dazzling.

That light illuminated only the field.

So the appearances of the 「Running Corpses」 wandering over it were far too clear.

They looked like visuals that might appear in a Korean zombie film.

Clothes one could see anywhere.

Bodies missing parts here and there.

Clouded pupils.

And blood.

It was a painful sight.

I deliberately blurred my gaze and approached the field.

The 「Running Corpses」 only loitered within the white lines of the field, and for some reason, they did not seem to perceive anything beyond the line at all.

So even when we passed right beside them, there was no reaction.

“Ha-ma, Jang Han-bin. You two warm up. Stand back-to-back, watch the surroundings, and if anyone approaches or anything happens, shout immediately.”

Jae-gyeom instructed Ha Yu-ju and Jang Han-bin.

Both were in bad condition, so they had to rest even briefly.

Instead, Jae-gyeom and I walked around the area and dragged over all the wheeled player benches and portable goals.

Then, with nylon cords found inside, we connected them like a train.

For now, we roughly stretched that out near the field.

And the next thing to do was…….

“Seo Do-un, fighting!”

At Kwak Jae-gyeom’s encouragement, I nodded gloomily.

Gore…… really is not my taste, but…….

Making up my mind, I stepped inside the field line.

HRAAK—! KRAAAK—!

At the same time, the 「Running Corpses」 charged madly toward me.

At the sight of bleeding zombies thundering toward me, my heart seemed to freeze.

On top of that.

“Hey, they’re ridiculously fast!”

“It’s fine, just hold out. Only the fast ones are fast!”

“The one biting me will be the single fastest bastard……!”

“Hyung, hyung! Try using Sister Sa-ra’s ring!”

I held out the hand wearing the ring toward the zombie charging at me.

10m, 5m, 3m, 1m…….

YANK—!

Kwak Jae-gyeom grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled.

Thanks to that, I was able to get out beyond the line just before being bitten.

Then the zombies that had been rushing at me with their eyes rolled back stopped dead as if it were a lie.

“I can see why people would fail.”

At Jae-gyeom’s words, I clutched my pounding chest and nodded.

Wow, I got a proper first-person survivor-view experience of a zombie movie.

My heart seriously almost dropped…….

On top of that, those zombies, just as their name 「Running Corpses」 suggested, ran extremely well.

Almost the same speed as living people.

And a few of them were extraordinarily fast, at the level of athletes.

Also.

“The ring doesn’t work.”

“Looks like it. Maybe because they’re ambiguous as Special Zone entities.”

The ring Baek Sa-ra had given me, which she had said was part of the body of some named dangerous entity.

Since I had once seen an effect like the miracle of Moses, I had secretly held expectations.

Unfortunately, it seemed this cheat key did not work here.

But it was fine.

“There are 8 in front, right? The zombies that were ridiculously fast.”

Rattle— click—

Jae-gyeom changed the gun’s magazine.

Then he simply shot the 8 we had just marked.

BANGBANGBANGBANG—!

When the gun loaded with live rounds roared, the lower bodies of the zombies that ran especially well burst apart with it.

Right. It was fine even if the cheat key did not work.

Because among my possessions, there was Kwak Jae-gyeom, firearm holder. Yes.

“Okay, clear.”

-Conserve ammunition.

“Yes, sir.”

This field, crawling with enormously fast zombies, was an international-standard soccer field.

The shortest distance from outside the field to the center circle was about 35m.

From there, the shortest distance to the goal was another 50m.

This was the minimum distance Ha Yu-ju and Jang Han-bin had to run while carrying 100kg of organic matter.

Could another person carry it for them?

No.

---

Precautions

4. The loser’s corpse must be carried directly by the person seeking a victory judgment. If another person’s assistance is excessively included, confusion and distortion may occur in the judgment.

---

If our hands touched it and the judgment went wrong, everything would be ruined.

But it was not as if we could simply tell Ha Yu-ju and Jang Han-bin to power through it no matter what.

So we decided to adjust the environment.

Install cover on the field.

Herd the 「Running Corpses」 to one side.

And among them, cripple the fast ones in advance.

We repeated this process about four or five times.

With that, the 「Running Corpses」 had gathered on one side of the field, and among them, the ones that were especially fast had now become 「Corpses That Cannot Run」.

But because there were too many corpses, it was still not a level where we could relax.

“Should we do a little more?”

“Do you have the bullets?”

“We’re cutting it pretty close. Ah, I should’ve carried a butcher blade like Sister Sa-ra.”

Kwak Jae-gyeom complained while absorbed in flattening the field, but Cha Si-eon cut in.

-Jae-gyeom, stop now and proceed with the operation.

“Now? I’m still uneasy.”

-Yu-ju’s condition is poor.

The moment Jae-gyeom heard that Yu-ju was not doing well, he turned around.

“Ha-ma! We’re going now. Are you okay?”

Ha Yu-ju, who had been sitting on the floor, lifted her head.

“Sorry. I don’t think I can move well.”

Contrary to her calm voice, Ha Yu-ju’s face was flushed red.

It had been 1 hour since she had endured with her wrist severed.

Ha Yu-ju was burning with such a high fever that it was a wonder she was conscious at all.