Surviving Every Worldview

Chapter 15: Surviving the Undead (1)

I had a weird encounter in the alley, but was able to get home without incident.

I was worried I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight after what happened, but…….

I checked and it was still around 6:15pm.

It’s winter and the sun sets early, so it’s still evening.

It’s not even scary anymore, because I’m not scared anymore.

What’s the point of being scared when what I just saw is someone’s story?

It was probably someone who created something in the horror genre.

[Uncover more facts to access information.]

[NEW GAME] came at the right time.

My guess was right, but I need to find out more.

Still, the status window made me feel better.

It felt like I was reading a light web novel after watching a horror movie.

I called Seol Do-yeon and explained everything that had happened to me.

We agreed that we would solve the case and I would tell her the results later.

“……I got out of it somehow, but what happened to you?”

“Oh…….”

Suddenly, Do-Yeon had a strange reaction.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Is that why you’re the kind of person who talks to strangers?”

“What?”

“You’re so good at talking to people you’ve never seen before that you can kick them out without a fight……!?”

Why has she been like this for days now?

Maybe she still hasn’t gotten over the last time I accidentally left her alone.

“Don’t be weird, so what happened to you?”

“I… haven’t caught it yet.”

“What, if you haven’t caught it yet, has someone else already?”

It was a disappointing result, but not a disappointment.

She doesn’t have any combat-related talents, and there’s nothing I can do to help her but it was a failure nonetheless.

“Huh? No, I just haven’t figured it out yet, I didn’t lose it.”

“What do you mean, it’s been that long and no one’s walked by and taken care of it?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention this… Wait!”

Do-yeon’s voice trailed off for a moment.

Soon, I could faintly hear the sound of a window opening and the click of a photo being taken.

Two photos that were soon DM’d.

They showed black barricades stacked and joined together to form a fortress, a structure that looked like it was holding something in.

“I couldn’t think of what to do with it, so I locked it up like this.”

So…….

You mean there’s a giant zombie trapped in that structure?

“How long are you going to keep him there?”

“Until we come up with a good idea? Don’t you think that’ll buy us some time?”

“Unless someone breaks it on purpose?”

I unconsciously clamped my mouth shut.

If I said something as open-ended as that, the Unwritten Rules might actually encourage someone to vandalize the structure.

Like saying, “It’s cleaner than I thought it would be inside,” might invite a monster to appear.

In this case, it’s better to affirm that there is no other possibility.

“Yes, it’s possible. Did you use your head?”

“I was just scared, so I put it off.”

“You don’t mind a compliment.”

To be honest, I didn’t even think about it.

I thought it was going to be one of two things: get it or have it taken away, but instead, she locked it away so no one could touch it and gave us time to get ready.

I’m sure she’ll do fine with a little help.

“Then…….”

I pulled the statue I’d gotten earlier out of my pocket and fiddled with it.

This reward, obtained in a special way, is merely a tool for storing power, and its use is completely up to me.

Of course, I could use it to create something entirely new.

“I have something for you, can you come over to my place tomorrow?”

Wouldn’t it be better to leave it to Seol Do-yeon?

I need her help, whether it’s making a tool for us or a weapon for me.

Meanwhile, Do-yeon paused, as if puzzled.

“Suddenly? On the subway?”

“Yeah. It won’t take long, and we have plenty of time before the last train leaves.”

There were many reasons why I told her to come here.

For one thing, I don’t have a courier right now, and for another…….

“Hmmm… Isn’t it hard right now?”

I asked.

“Why, do you have work to do?”

“No, don’t you take the subway? I don’t have a car.”

“Oh.”

Right.

You don’t take the subway, do you?

We only have internet and phone service because the undead haven’t attacked the facilities.

I immediately thought of not being able to send packages, but why didn’t I think of the subway?

I’m an idiot.

At this rate I’ll have to have to pick her up at the beginning of every episode.

“……would you like to move to my neighborhood?”

“I’ll do it if you pay for me.”

“I recorded it, so you can’t say something different later.”

“Yes. Whatever.”

I was serious, but she didn’t believe me.

As soon as I find a way to make money, I’ll jump on it and do it.

I didn’t think she was actually asking me to do it, so I just said yes, because a promise is a promise.

“Well, that’s too bad. I’ll pick you up later when I get a chance. I have someone I want to introduce you to.”

“Introduce ……?”

Suddenly, Seol Do-yeon’s voice trembled.

“Okay, okay, wait, suddenly? Who?”

“Didn’t I tell you last time? I’m going to get several people to help me.”

“That’s true, but… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you introducing a friend before.”

“Really?”

I didn’t bother to ask or tell her about each other’s personal relationships, because real-life friends are different from online friends.

Right now, I don’t know what kind of friends she has but I’m sure I’ll be introduced to them sooner or later.

“But…you’re not going to make that introduction right away, are you?”

“We could do it today if we had time.”

“No, no, no!”

I heard a dull thud over the phone, as if she had dropped her phone.

If this had been a face-to-face conversation instead of a call, I would have been slapped instead.

“I, I’m not ready, and I’d like to push it back as far as I can…….”

“For how long?”

“Like… a year?”

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

“Oh no, no, no, no!”

“Seriously, I’ll see you tomorrow. Didn’t you just say that as a joke?”

While Seol Do-yeon was sincerely annoyed and refused, I secretly told her the reason and hung up the phone quietly.

I made sure she was safe and doing well.

Now it’s time to go find the people who really need my help.

* * *

7:00 PM.

I stepped outside and headed to the school before it got any later.

Unlike in the city, the roads are full of the undead.

I’m only able to do so because [Text Thief] hides my presence so well.

This is what I get for not being able to fight.

“This didn’t take as long as I thought.”

Fortunately, after 40 minutes, I made it to the university without running into the strange doll under the streetlight again.

The school buses are now out of commission.

I’m sure many students are stuck here on their way to lectures.

The same goes for club members.

The city center is relatively safe as people are more numerous, but I cannot predict how bad the situation will be at the university.

I wonder if the people I know in those places will be okay.

It’s not that I don’t have a goal-oriented thought that if I’m lucky, I’ll find a way out.

That was a bonus compared to worrying about the members of my club.

I could find that later.

[Your story begins.]

I abandoned my bike, sneaking past the hordes of undead, and raced out of the main building.

It’s about four hours after the episode begins.

The barricades and bloodstains blocking the entrance to the main building explained what had happened.

“I don’t think we should clean it up…….”

With my physical abilities strengthened by the story, I leap over the barricade with ease.

No one is inside, but some of the classrooms are lit up.

They’re hiding and waiting for rescue.

I don’t need to go through them.

I head straight up the stairs to the club room.

Again, the lights are on, just like the lecture hall on the first floor.

I knocked on the door as softly as I could and called out to the people inside.

“Is anyone here? I’m here to help.”

“Oh, at the front, who’s……?”

The voice sounded like a woman’s, but it was small and hard to tell who it was.

“It’s me, Yoo Seon-woo.”

“You? I thought you weren’t at school…No, please come inside.”

I said my name, and the junior, who I hadn’t seen many times, let me into the club room.

I couldn’t really remember his name, but I knew he was one of the programmers from his face.

“Is everyone okay? Are you guys hurt?”

“No, thanks to the help of the seniors…….”

I let the junior’s words drift out of my ears and checked to see who else was in the room.

The junior who opened the door for me, senior Hyunseok leaning against the wall with his eyes tightly closed and Seorin, lying down with her face covered by a cushion.

There are only four of us here but the club has a total of eleven members, including me.

I wonder if the rest of the members are okay.

I cautiously approached senior with a serious expression.

“Uh… Seon-woo, are you here? I thought you weren’t at school and didn’t call.”

“I came to help. What about the others?”

“To help…? Well, I don’t know about the others. I’ve been trying to contact them, but a few haven’t answered yet.”

Hyunseok had been tapping his foot and picking at his head ever since I arrived.

It’s like he’s about to get overwhelmed with emotion and go outside to find everyone but I can’t send someone without a story out.

“It’ll be okay, it’s exam time and some people went home early. I’m sure everyone has their own reasons.”

“Yeah, like……they lost their cell phone while running around. Right?”

He asks, desperate for an affirmative answer.

I nodded and turned to Hyunseok.

“You said you’ve been in contact with a few of them. Have you heard where they are now?”

“They’re in the dorms. The rest are either hiding at home or I can’t reach them.”

They’re better off hiding at home.

Someone will eventually show up to clean up the mess, whether it’s the cops or someone looking for a hidden piece.

However a campus is out in the middle of nowhere, with only students, it’s probably more dangerous than most places.

That’s why I told her yesterday not to go outside.

In other words, there shouldn’t be anyone named Lee Seorin here.

I sighed and walked over to the person lying on the couch in the club room.

“Sis.”

She pushed the cushion off her face and made eye contact.

I thought I could detect a hint of drunkenness in her, just like yesterday.

“Why are you here? I haven’t heard from you.”

“Yeah…….”

“I told you yesterday not to go outside, but you didn’t believe me?”

“……No, I didn’t.”

Of course not.

There’s no way a person who awakened the story would have glossed over the word “dangerous”.

“You’re here to help the members of the club, right?”

“…….”

“Well, get up. Let’s go help them.”

I grabbed her hand and tried to pull her to her feet, but she silently pulled herself up on her own, as if she didn’t need it.

She pulled my hand and started to walk out the door.

“I’m going to go. You two stay put here.”

“Wait, what difference does it make if Seon-woo is here?”

“I’m in a hurry, so I can’t answer.”

Hyunseok’s question was brushed aside and the door to the club room slammed shut.

As we stepped over the barricade and out into the street, sister leaned her head on my shoulder.

“I told the boys yesterday, don’t go out today if you can help it.”

“Yeah.”

“They said no, and they wouldn’t believe me if I told them what was going to happen.”

“…….”

“I knew it was going to happen today and I didn’t tell them.”

I didn’t answer.

I knew I just needed to listen.

As if on cue, she quickly turned to look in the direction of the dorms with her usual smirk on her face.

“So, what do we do now?”

“I’ll lend you my weapon. Just lead the way to the dorm.”

“If I get bitten, will I become a zombie?”

“No, it’s a necromancer zombie, not a virus zombie.”

“What’s the difference…….?”

I handed her the baton I kept in my back pocket.

She wielded it like a child, then laughed when she pressed the button and electricity shot through it.

“Be careful with that.”

“Uh…Is there something else I need to be careful about?”

“…Don’t say anything ominous today. That’s it.”

“Okay, let’s go!”

With exaggerated gestures that didn’t match what she was holding, Seorin took the lead in the dark campus in the middle of the night.