I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Chapter 22

“Where are the others?”

Lee Jung-woo asked, wiping the blood from his face.

Right, it’s still too early to feel safe.

I needed to check the condition of Jeon Wan-soo, Choi Hyun, and Yoon Hye-ri, who had gone into the convenience store.

I gestured for him to follow and moved ahead toward the store.

As I pushed the door open and entered, I could see Jeon Wan-soo and Choi Hyun sitting on the floor, breathing heavily.

There were five corpses in the store. It seemed there had been zombies inside as well.

I glanced back and forth between my classmates and asked, “Are you all okay?”

Jeon Wan-soo wiped the sweat pouring down his face and smiled broadly.

It had been tough, but they had reclaimed the store without any injuries.

Choi Hyun looked at the food in the store and sniffled as he said, “Look at this. There’s so much to eat.”

His voice was almost trembling with emotion.

The chocolates displayed outside had melted, but snacks and canned goods were still edible.

Moreover, the power was back on, so frozen foods seemed to be preserved well.

Seol Ye-won, with her mouth agape, checked out the food in the store and then dashed straight to the ice cream section.

She grabbed a melon-flavored ice cream, her eyes wide with excitement as she hurriedly tore open the bag.

“Wow… wow! Amazing!”

She ate the ice cream with the delight of a child.

They had endured the sweltering heat without a fan.

The ice cream felt like a much-needed rain in a drought.

Then, the whole group ran to the ice cream box, each grabbing a flavor they wanted.

Lee Jung-woo and Jeong Jin-young watched their younger companions with warm smiles, chuckling lightly.

I sighed in relief and leaned against the checkout counter.

For a while, we wouldn’t have to worry about food.

“Everyone, ice cream is great, but let’s gather the food first.”

As I smiled and spoke to the group, they all nodded in agreement.

Soon after, Seol Ye-won came over to me, handing me a melon-flavored ice cream.

I smiled lightly at the hard, frozen treat and said, “I’ll eat it later.”

“Enjoy it while you can.”

“……”

“Hey, you guys! You should eat ice cream first too!”

After giving me the ice cream, Seol Ye-won handed one to Lee Jung-woo and Jeong Jin-young as well.

Her bright demeanor made me chuckle involuntarily.

We raided the store and moved the food to our clubroom.

The refrigerator in the clubroom quickly filled with frozen foods, while snacks, dry goods, canned foods, and chocolate bars piled high on the desks and shelves.

After going back and forth between the second and fifth floors multiple times, we hadn’t even moved half of it.

Especially with the frozen foods, the refrigerator in the clubroom was small, so we had to leave most of them at the convenience store.

Jeong Jin-young organized the inventory in his notebook as he spoke.

“With this much food, we could comfortably last a month.”

A comfortable meal…

I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten my fill.

But just because we had enough food, did that mean we could afford to eat leisurely?

Seol Ye-won looked at the piled-up food and asked me, “Now that we’ve secured food, shouldn’t we start making plans?”

As everyone’s attention turned to Seol Ye-won, she shrugged her shoulders and continued.

“In the end, we have to reach the ending for the zombies to disappear, right?”

“That’s true. Do you have any plans in mind?”

When Lee Jung-woo asked, Seol Ye-won casually replied.

“Jae-hyung and I are thinking of going to the Ark in Seoul.”

“Seoul? Isn’t it faster to go to the Ark in Busan?”

At Lee Jung-woo’s question, Seol Ye-won scratched her head and looked at me.

I licked my lips and said, “It’s because of a quest.”

“What quest?”

“The S-rank quest that Ye-won and I have. Isn’t there a quest for everyone to check their homes?”

“Oh.”

Lee Jung-woo scratched his sideburns and looked troubled.

If I remembered correctly, Choi Hyun and Jeon Wan-soo were from Gyeongsan, Lee Jung-woo was from Gumi, and Jeong Jin-young and Yoon Hye-ri were from Pohang.

I visualized the geography of South Korea in my mind and thought of the optimal route.

Would it be fastest to go from Gyeongsan to Gumi, then to Pohang, and finally to Seoul?

We had secured a safe house, and with six players now, all that remained was…

‘Vehicle modification.’

Before clearing the first episode’s safe house, we had to modify a vehicle to create a zombie-proof car.

If we didn’t, we would frequently face death in the second episode.

Would it even be possible to modify a vehicle without a Rose?

Suddenly, Jeon Wan-soo’s major flashed through my mind.

“Wan-soo.”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you in the automotive engineering department?”

“Yeah, why?”

I snapped my fingers and asked Wan-soo.

“Can you modify vehicles?”

“If I have the materials, I can. I’ve been fixing cars with my father since I was a kid.”

Then, Lee Jung-woo, sitting in a chair, tilted his head and asked.

“Are you saying we should proceed with the episode without a Rose?”

“There’s a possibility that there’s no Rose on campus. It might be faster to look for one while we progress through the episode.”

“Is there a place nearby where we can modify a vehicle?”

At Lee Jung-woo’s question, Jeon Wan-soo shrugged nonchalantly.

“We can modify a vehicle in the automotive engineering department’s lab.”

“Are you sure you can do it? What if a wheel comes off while driving?”

“Don’t worry. I’m the top of my class. I’m only a sophomore, but the professor asked me if I was thinking of going for a master’s degree.”

“With the fog, is it even possible to drive when visibility is so low?”

“We have two Gabriels, right?”

Jeon Wan-soo said proudly.

Well, if Jeon Wan-soo was at the front, using his visibility in the fog, it wouldn’t be a big problem for the other vehicles to follow.

Lee Jung-woo, with his arms crossed, looked deep in thought for a while, then finally sighed and spoke.

“Okay, but moving in this state is dangerous. Everyone must have felt it; with our current stamina, it’s hard to survive.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with Lee Jung-woo’s words.

He looked at the group and asked, “Then let’s decide here. We can either move to the practice room immediately or eat as much of the food we have and build up at least some stamina through exercise.”

He asked for everyone’s opinions on the two options.

Jeon Wan-soo responded as if it were obvious, “We need to build our bodies first. Right now, I can’t even run for five minutes without feeling like I’m dying.”

Jeon Wan-soo insisted on eating well and exercising to build stamina.

I agreed with Jeon Wan-soo’s opinion.

The strength and stamina stats had to be increased.

In the game, you could increase these stats through exercise.

Isn’t there a saying that stamina is power?

If you don’t build your strength, there will come a time when your body can’t keep up, and you’ll give up on life.

Moreover, a healthy mind comes from a healthy body.

As Jeong Jin-young and Seol Ye-won remained neutral, everyone’s gaze turned to Lee Jung-woo.

Lee Jung-woo thought deeply, stroking his chin, and after a while, he nodded and replied, “Let’s eat. Let’s eat and definitely exercise.”

“Hyung, we need to prepare for emergencies. What if we run out of food, or what if zombies swarm us while we’re exhausted after exercising?”

Choi Hyun countered, but Lee Jung-woo shook his head and answered.

“That’s what I’m saying, considering the possibilities. If, by any chance, the solar panels break down, all the food in the refrigerator will spoil. It’s a waste to save it. And stamina? It can’t get lower than zero.”

“…….”

“It’s still the first episode. Later, there might not even be a chance. So we have to build our stamina while we still can.”

At Lee Jung-woo’s words, Jeong Jin-young, who had been quiet, chimed in, “Now that you mention it, that makes sense. I vote for exercise too.”

With Jeong Jin-young supporting, Choi Hyun didn’t argue anymore.

As the proposal was roughly settled, Seol Ye-won looked at Jeon Wan-soo and asked, “Building stamina is good, but is it realistically possible to modify the vehicles? The distance from Gumi to Pohang is quite far, and modifying the vehicles will compromise fuel efficiency.”

“Gas stations are everywhere in South Korea.”

“What are the chances there’s still fuel left?”

“I think the chances of it being empty are lower, to be honest.”

As Jeon Wan-soo replied with a light laugh, Seol Ye-won scratched her head and spoke.

“To summarize… after checking this neighborhood, we’ll move to Gumi, then Pohang, and finally to Seoul, right?”

Everyone nodded, and Lee Jung-woo spoke up.

“Then let’s build stamina until we run out of food.”

“We also need to start modifying the vehicles during this time. We need to keep gathering necessary supplies.”

With Jeon Wan-soo’s additional explanation, everyone seemed to agree.

Using Rose’s ability, it could be done quickly, but without Rose, modifying the vehicles would take a lot of time.

I looked at Jeon Wan-soo and asked, “Where is the automotive engineering practice room?”

“Of course, it’s in the engineering department.”

“Is the building for automotive engineering the one at the far end of the engineering department?”

“Yeah, it’s almost 1 km away from here.”

“Then let’s postpone vehicle modification for a week and focus on resting and building stamina for now. Everyone is exhausted from pushing too hard yesterday and today.”

No one opposed this.

For someone who has exercised consistently, a week wouldn’t have a significant impact, but for people like us, who had only been surviving, a week of exercise would show noticeable results.

For someone who once prepared for physical education, building a body would be a piece of cake as long as there was enough food.

A period for rest and preparation.

We should start by organizing the exercise equipment we used to deal with the zombies.

I had rolled them down the stairs haphazardly, so some of the equipment might have broke.

One by one, we needed to take our time and not rush through preparations.

After setting a goal, everyone regained their vitality.

Confidence from reclaiming the second floor, a sense of relief from abundant food, a sense of purpose from having a direction to move toward, and the desire not to be a burden to each other.

Everyone worked together with a united effort to achieve our goal.

To increase efficiency, we divided into teams.

Lee Jung-woo, Choi Hyun, and Yoon Hye-ri formed Team A.

Jeong Jin-young, me, Seol Ye-won, and Jeon Wan-soo became Team B.

After we all had breakfast, Team A would start exercising while Team B stood watch, then after lunch, Team B would exercise while Team A stood watch.

After dinner, we discussed the best route to the engineering department or took time to rest.

Through consistent exercise, my stats began to change.

Stats: Strength 6 (+2)

Stamina 6 (+5)

Reflex 5

Dynamic Vision 5

Mental Power 10

My strength and stamina had each increased by one level.

A week had passed since we made this agreement, and Lee Jung-woo unfolded a large map on the desk and gathered the group.

The map created by Seol Ye-won.

Thanks to the map, it was easy to outline the optimal route.

Lee Jung-woo glanced over the group gathered at the desk and said, “Everyone seems to have gained some weight.”

“Weight? It’s muscle.”

At Jeon Wan-soo’s playful remark, everyone laughed lightly.

Our bodies and minds were being trained, and as we slowly adapted to the collapsed world, we even had the leisure to joke.

Lee Jung-woo smiled faintly as he pointed to the map.

“We’re going to move here tomorrow morning.”

“Are we really going to the practice room?”

“Everyone has had a week of rest, so it should be fine, right?”

No one opposed this.

I quietly crossed my arms and asked, “Are we all moving together?”

“I called you all to discuss that. Personally, I think it’s better for either Team A or Team B to move alone. There’s a chance there are other survivors on campus besides us.”

“It’s been a month since the fog spread; is there really anyone alive?”

“It’s possible. Also, the leader zombie you mentioned is still on my mind.”

The men Seol Ye-won and I saw at the dormitory convenience store.

According to Seol Ye-won, there was a possibility that they had contact with the leader zombie.

The men in the convenience store didn’t take Seol Ye-won to their hideout; they led her to where the leader zombie was.

While it might sound ridiculous, it wasn’t impossible since the leader zombie had some degree of reasoning.

Lee Jung-woo grasped a pen and began drawing lines on the map.

The route into the engineering department through a side path at the back door of the student union.

On the left were the back door of the library, the tennis courts, and the foot volleyball courts, while on the right was a steep forest.

Lee Jung-woo tapped the open space beyond the foot volleyball court with his pen and spoke.

“Beyond the foot volleyball court, there will be an open space used as a parking lot. It was originally where the cafeteria was located, but they demolished the building earlier this year, and it’s been left abandoned. From here, it will be safe.”

“What’s behind the open space?”

“Nothing. It’s the back road leading to the engineering department. It’s best described as a wind passage.”

“So, behind the open space, it’s all trees?”

“It’s a tree-lined path about 300m long. Beyond that is the engineering department parking lot.”

Lee Jung-woo examined the map closely, stroking his chin thoughtfully before speaking.

“The problem is the path to the open space… Is there a safe way to move?”

“Is it because of the library’s back door?”

“Yeah, there are likely to be zombies lingering around the back of the library.”

“They won’t be gathered together, though. Zombies tend to wander aimlessly in the fog.”

While we were deep in planning, Yoon Hye-ri, who had been sitting by the window, called out to Lee Jung-woo.

“Oppa, Jung-woo oppa!”

“What?”

As Lee Jung-woo approached, Yoon Hye-ri looked anxious and pointed outside.

“I think you should look at that.”

Yoon Hye-ri seemed to be in a hurry for some reason.

Turning my gaze in the direction Yoon Hye-ri was pointing, I noticed smoke rising from the rooftop of a building approximately 700m away on the rooftop.