Chapter 86

The timing was almost as though Kwon Mieon had known Yeonhoo was just about to go to sleep. Yeonhoo stared at the message.

❮Kwon Mieon⠇

Text Message—SMS

Yeonhoo, sleep well.

...Does it have some kind of voice feature?

It was only a message, yet he could somehow hear Kwon Mieon’s voice. Fiddling with his hair at the strange sensation, Yeonhoo let out a huge yawn.

Seeing the good-night message made him feel as though he ought to hurry up and sleep. As he headed for the bathroom with light steps, he thought:

After I wake up, I’ll contact Kwon Mieon, make plans, and play the game too. This is fun.

He intended to log in as soon as he had slept off his fatigue. Zombie Village, now entering a new phase, was far too much fun.

I think I got a little closer to Miu, too.

What would happen when he logged in again later?

With his heart thumping in anticipation, Mo Yeonhoo could not possibly have predicted the trouble that would unfold in Zombie Village when he logged in again a few hours later.

For the first time in ages, Mo Yeonhoo woke feeling refreshed.

Though he had stayed up so late playing games, the face he turned toward the ceiling was bright instead of dark, unlike it had been over the past few days.

He had expected a bad hangover headache, but thankfully, he felt fine. Maybe it was because he had waited until the alcohol had worn off before falling asleep.

...Ah! I need to log in!

Blinking as he stared blankly at the ceiling, Yeonhoo suddenly sprang up. He snatched up his nearly dead phone and went straight into Zombie Village.

He waited through the loading screen with an anxious expression, then froze as soon as he entered the messenger.

(CH03) Miu: Just log in whenever you have time. No pressure.

The memory of yesterday came back to him, and all the tension drained out of his body.

Right. He said I don’t need to log in so relentlessly anymore.

Miu had said yesterday that gathering information would probably take time, so Yeonhoo could take it easy while Miu looked into things.

What a relief.

Letting out a breath, Yeonhoo scrolled up. Miu appeared to have spent the whole night gathering information and had sent him a number of messages.

Overall, none of it was good news.

(CH03) Miu: I don’t think we’ll be able to pursue for a while.

(CH03) Miu: They transferred servers...

They transferred servers?

An entire alliance had moved servers overnight. That could not have been easy.

(CH03) Miu: I contacted people who might know and posted a bounty, but there’s less information than I expected.

(CH03) Miu: It seems like they silenced everyone... Nothing’s circulating in the game communities either.

(CH03) Miu: Also, they haven’t fought or raided yet, so there are no records. I don’t even know which server they went to. They changed all their nicknames too, so their user information doesn’t come up in searches...

(CH03) Miu: I didn’t know they’d be this determined to cut and run.

(CH03) Miu: At this point, I’ll have to find them through people on other servers, so I think it’ll take a while.

When players transferred servers, their battle records reset. seemed to have fully cut its trail by using the fact that, after changing a nickname, a player’s information could no longer be accessed through their old one.

(CH03) Miu: And even if moved to another server, they’re still after me. So for a while, I’m only going out into the field with you, Momo, or alliance members.

Miu also seemed determined to avoid [N O V E L I G H T] taking the lead as much as possible, since the Core Blueprint for <47> in his possession was being targeted.

(CH03) Miu: So for a while, I’m going to rest in alliance territory and just keep an eye on the alliance members.

(CH03) Miu: I think we should treat this as a long-term fight.

(CH03) Miu: From now on, Momo, I think you should just play whenever it’s convenient and take care of your health.

(CH03) Miu: Sleep well, hehe.

So we’re pulling back for now.

It seemed they had concluded that, since there was nothing Yeonhoo and Miu could do right away, conserving their strength was the best option.

After all, Yeonhoo had worn himself out with two-shift work to find the spy, logging into the game day and night until his sleep schedule was a mess.

Miu needed to be careful as well. It really was best to rest and take time to regroup.

This feels more like a real war than a game.

Core Blueprints. Hidden items. Alliances that had been raided into ruin...

The more he thought about it, the more this whole situation felt far from ordinary.

If <47> became seriously entangled with , a Siege War would be inevitable. And they still had the spy within their alliance to catch.

A vacation!

Though it was only a temporary pause to prepare for what came next.

Oh, right. I need to get in touch.

Once his thoughts had settled, Yeonhoo belatedly realized that he needed to tell Kim Seongjae and Park Taekyun that he had gotten home safely. With the pressure to log into Zombie Village hanging over him, it had not occurred to him until now.

“Then I’ll head in. Get lots of rest.”

“Kwon Mieon?”

“Next time. I’ll see you next time.”

“Hey??”

Of course, he also needed to contact Kwon Mieon again. Kwon Mieon had rushed off as if something urgent had come up.

“It died....”

But his phone went black, as if launching the game had drained the last of its battery.

I should charge it, shower, and eat.

Now that he had free time for the first time in a while, Yeonhoo considered doing something productive—maybe even exercising.

《Zombie Village (Zombie Village: Flesh for Survival)》

“Exercise, my ass. Habits are terrifying.”

The moment he had showered and eaten, Yeonhoo’s body had faithfully carried him back in front of the monitor.

He gave a hollow laugh at himself, then gave up and slumped into his chair. His fatigue did not seem to have fully lifted yet; he yawned again and again.

“An update?”

Had it already been time for one? No wonder the loading screen had taken longer than usual. Boredom immediately settled over Yeonhoo’s face as he stared at the screen.

His eyes shifted to his charging phone, and he quickly picked it up.

I should get in touch with them quickly.

He turned on the phone, which had charged a little. Ignoring the missed-call notifications from Park Taekyun and Kim Seongjae, he tapped somewhere else.

I’m going to contact Kim Seongjae and Park Taekyun too. But he drove me home, so he comes first. And he was acting strange yesterday, too...

Though no one was watching, he thought as if making excuses while opening—

❮Kwon Mieon⠇

Kwon Mieon’s chat window.

❮Kwon Mieon⠇

Text Message—SMS

Yeonhoo, sleep well.

The same message he had seen that morning still sat alone on the screen.

What? Did I not turn on my data?

Yeonhoo stared at it, turned his data off and back on, and tapped around the screen before tilting his head.

That was all Kwon Mieon had sent him.

But that could not be right. Kwon Mieon was not the type to give up that easily.

He really didn’t send anything else? Ah, right. DMs!

Yeonhoo suddenly remembered StarGram and hurriedly opened the app. Then, seeing the updated name at the top of the DM window, he smiled.

It was K.

K >. ..

rnjsaldjs47

XX/XX, 10:12 PM

Yeonhoo, what are you doing?

Where are you?

Yeonhoo?

See? He did contact me!

Kwon Mieon was strange.

They did not see each other often, and Yeonhoo was not exactly diligent about replying to messages, yet Kwon Mieon constantly asked him what he was doing and where he was.

The DM window had become so familiar that it was almost comforting. Yeonhoo was about to send a reply when he paused.

...That was yesterday?

Looking again, he realized the messages had not been sent just now. It was not 10:00 a.m. It was 10:00 p.m.

Then aside from telling me to sleep well, he really hasn’t contacted me at all?

Yeonhoo stared at the screen in confusion. It was not as if he did not know Kwon Mieon’s personality. By now, several messages should have already piled up in rapid succession.

He cautiously scrolled up.

K >. ..

rnjsaldjs47

XX/XX, 1:22 PM

Yeonhoo, what are you doing?

Busy today too?

Yeonhoo??

Yeonhoo?

XX/XX, 6:00 PM

It says you just logged onto StarGram.

Why aren’t you replying...?

(Shared a post from 833jssa.)

The atmosphere here is nice, isn’t it? lol

XX/XX, 11:12 AM

I just came out to eat, and it made me think of you lol.

Isn’t this cute?

(Photo)

But have you eaten anything?

You must be busy. Contact me when you see this.

XX/XX, 1:22 PM

Nothing happened, right?

Why haven’t you been responding?

You haven’t been reading messages much lately either.

Can I call you?

XX/XX, 7:10 PM

Yeonhoo??

Yeonhoo.

Can’t you pick up?

Are you busy?

You’re not sick, are you?

Even while Yeonhoo had been living the life of a slave, Kwon Mieon had apparently kept sending messages and DMs without fail.

But why didn’t he send anything today?

Even when Yeonhoo did not answer, Kwon Mieon had always left more DMs...

As that thought formed, Yeonhoo suddenly stiffened.

...Am I waiting for Kwon Mieon’s DMs right now?