The system window, which had been glitching out like it was broken, finally displayed a normal message.

It felt like smacking a busted TV and having it suddenly work again.

But this wasn’t the time to sit back and relax just because the system window was functioning properly.

’Why is Je Hyun-oh here?’

The Je Hyun-oh I knew should have been slaughtering zombies somewhere between the Yellow Zone at minimum and the Dead Zone at maximum.

He had absolutely no business setting foot in a peaceful Green Zone like this.

I stared at Je Hyun-oh, every nerve on edge.

He was dressed head to toe in pitch black.

Form-fitting combat gear and a hoodie pulled low.

His face was covered by goggles and a gas mask.

Standing beneath the star-filled night sky, Je Hyun-oh was looking up at the heavens.

His getup covered him so completely I couldn’t read his eyes, let alone his expression, but looking at his profile, a strange thought crossed my mind.

He seemed like he was waiting for something.

For a very long time....

’Waiting for a meteor shower or something?’

The thought that popped into my head was so absurd I almost laughed at myself.

Here I was, right in front of Je Hyun-oh, and I was having these pointless thoughts. Clearly, I still wasn’t tense enough.

A system window abruptly appeared, blocking my vision.

We believe that if you were to register ’Je Hyun-oh’, your capabilities as a System would greatly improve.

We also believe you might acquire a new ability.

I tried to ignore it, as I usually did. In response, the system window generated itself with slightly larger text.

’Je Hyun-oh’ is a ■■■ character to you, who are ■■. He is ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■.

There were too many colored blocks. I couldn’t understand a word of it.

’If it’s going to be like that, there doesn’t seem to be much point in sending the message.’

And no matter how much of a fuss it made, I had absolutely no intention of obediently registering him.

If anything, it just made me more resistant to the idea.

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

As I dismissed the system windows that kept popping up and blocking my view, a sudden chill ran down my spine.

Our eyes met.

Actually, I couldn’t say for sure if ’met’ was the right word.

His goggles covered his eyes, so I couldn’t even be certain he was looking at me.

To put it more precisely, it was more like ’I had the distinct feeling our eyes had met.’

An LED lit up on the sleek black goggles.

^ ^

A smiling expression was drawn where his eyes would be.

Screech.

An ominous sound came from the radio tower beneath his boots. A creepy sensation crawled down my spine.

And I....

Ran.

Like a madman, with every ounce of strength I had.

I practically stomped my way down the emergency stairs. I nearly fell several times, but I didn’t slow down.

If I tumbled down the stairs, I might at least have a chance of surviving, but if Je Hyun-oh caught me, I was dead on the spot.

But before long, there was no more need to run down the emergency stairs.

A black line was drawn from the wall to the floor.

Seeing the line that split the floor number sign exactly in half, I barely managed to swallow the curse that rose to my throat.

The black line slowly widened.

The building was being torn in two.

The internal steel frame ripped apart, letting out a horrific, screaming-like rupture.

Along with shards of glass windows pouring down like a waterfall, I was mixed in with all sorts of debris and fell.

DeZonDeal didn’t have extra lives like HapFactory. Death by anything other than zombification was final.

But I absolutely did not want to die like this.

Dozens of thoughts flashed through my head and then faded away.

Just as I thought my eyes felt hot, something wrapped around my waist. A thunderous shout fell upon me.

"HAN GOYO!!"

The Zelkova wood Bead Rosary yanked me toward it. I barely managed to escape from the debris.

My view cleared, and I took in the surrounding situation at a glance.

The broadcasting station building, split vertically and collapsing to either side.

Je Hyun-oh, with a sharp crescent moon slung across his back.

When I lowered my gaze, I saw Kwak Hanmuk riding a spherical motorcycle.

I could tell all too well from his expression just how fucked this situation was.

Of course, I could have told that even without seeing Kwak Hanmuk’s face.

CRUMBLE!

The building completely collapsed. The ground rumbled as thick dust and concrete particles shot up, obscuring everything.

In the meantime, the Bead Rosary was recalled to its owner, and I was able to land safely in front of Kwak Hanmuk.

"Shit! Goyo hyung-nim, I thought you were a goner."

He welcomed me with a fierce curse.

I was exactly that happy to see him too, so I didn’t bother to correct him for calling me ’hyung-nim’.

The mood was almost one of a tearful embrace, but Kwak Hanmuk’s face suddenly hardened.

"Goyo, your eyes are...."

"Huh?"

"...Never mind. Let’s get the hell out of here first."

I quickly hopped onto the back seat of his motorcycle.

But Kwak Hanmuk didn’t take off right away. He narrowed his eyes and glared into the gradually settling dust.

A unique idling exhaust note, similar to the sound of horse hooves, rumbled from the motorcycle.

Step. Step. Step.

Slow footsteps echoed from within the dust and the exhaust noise.

"Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyun-oh."

Kwak Hanmuk called out to him, his voice full of wariness, like he was dealing with a wild beast.

There was no reply. Instead, a series of sounds like clashing metal rang out.

Then, Je Hyun-oh emerged from the dust cloud.

His black arm was fully exposed in the moonlight.

It was an arm mutated by the BT-Z Virus infection, composed of a metal that didn’t exist on Earth.

Where his fingers should have been, there were metal claws like those of a beast.

With both arms hanging loosely at his sides, Je Hyun-oh stopped walking and silently stared our way.

Kwak Hanmuk spoke, ready to bolt at any moment.

"Lieutenant Colonel, what the hell is all this about? You’ve wrecked the building, so I’d say it’s about time you came back to your senses."

When he politely cussed him out, a light flickered on Je Hyun-oh’s goggles.

ㅠ ㅠ

Displaying a crying emoticon, Je Hyun-oh raised his hand. His fingertip pointed unwaveringly at something.

It was me.

Kwak Hanmuk let out a hollow laugh.

"For a newbie initiation, Goyo is...."

The exhaust roared as the motorcycle shot forward.

"Still a Sweet Chestnut!"

What did Sweet Chestnut have to do with a newbie initiation?

I couldn’t see the connection, but either way, Kwak Hanmuk and I were instantly far away from the building’s wreckage.

But no one felt relieved.

"Goyo, did you mess with the Lieutenant Colonel or something?"

"There’s no way...."

I told him everything I had done since encountering Je Hyun-oh.

Actually, there wasn’t much to tell.

’Because I ran the moment I saw him.’

Knowing full well how dangerous he was, I had run faster than anyone. And yet, Je Hyun-oh had designated me as his target.

"Could the infection have spread to his brain?"

"He’s in his right mind."

"What?"

"The Lieutenant Colonel’s goggles lit up, didn’t they? He’s not crazy. He’s just doing this because he feels like wrecking shit right now."

He’s a goddamn lunatic who’s perfectly sane, Kwak Hanmuk cursed.

’So the lights on the goggles mean he’s still rational.’

I filed away that useful bit of info in my head.

"It’s not like it’s the first time he’s attacked Adaptees, but this is the first time he’s caused this much of a scene."

Kwak Hanmuk muttered that Je Hyun-oh had been acting strange ever since he was stuck alone in DeZonDeal for ten days.

"Shit."

Kwak Hanmuk suddenly spat out a curse.

Every zombie in the Green Zone was gathering and chasing after the roaring motorcycle.

The tremendous sound of the building’s collapse had blanketed the entire Green Zone.

The zombies of DeZonDeal, whose sight and smell had atrophied, reacting only to sound, were all swarming toward it.

It was night, so the zombies’ physical abilities were enhanced, but they weren’t Dead Zombies. It was enough to outrun them on a motorcycle.

The problem was the bridge.

If we crossed the river via the main bridge, we’d be in the Yellow Zone, but the area up to the bridge was considered a neutral zone, so Yellow Zone zombies could wander in and out.

The Yellow Zone zombies that had swarmed in after hearing the collapse were now teeming on the bridge we had to cross.

Zombies ahead of us. Zombies and Je Hyun-oh behind us.

Both were shitty options, but if I had to choose, it was the former, no question.

Even so, the sight right in front of me was so overwhelming that cold sweat soaked my back.

The moonlight, unusually bright tonight, illuminated the bridge. Hundreds of rotting bodies scraped against the asphalt, panting and gasping.

The zombies covering the bridge rushed toward the only source of sound, their bodies grotesquely twisted.

Toward Kwak Hanmuk and me.

Clink. The sound of small beads rang out. Dozens of strands of the Bead Rosary extending from Kwak Hanmuk lashed out in all directions.

The rosary whipped out like a lash, crushing the zombies on impact.

Even the ones that seemed a bit tougher were sent flying by the force of the rosary and splashed down into the river.

It seemed like we could handle the zombies without much trouble.

...The zombies, at least.

My vision suddenly darkened, and I looked up at the sky. It wasn’t because a cloud had covered the moon.

Six wings made of black metal feathers were blotting out the moonlight.

Je Hyun-oh flew leisurely, his wings spread wide. As if he were simply spectating the chaos on the bridge.

Our eyes met again.

I couldn’t see him clearly, but I was sure of it. My skin stung from the intensity of his gaze.

Je Hyun-oh drew one arm back, then swung it wide.

Several pitch-black crescent moons shot out, tearing through the asphalt. Black lines were scrawled across the bridge like graffiti.

"Lieutenant Colonel, you son of a—!"

Kwak Hanmuk twisted the throttle to its limit. The speedometer needle edged into the red zone.

I held onto Kwak Hanmuk with all my strength. A vibration rose from below, accompanied by a crunching sound.

Cracks starting from the black lines spread rapidly, and the asphalt split apart with loud snaps.

The fractured sections began to collapse in layers.

"Kreeeeeh—!"

The zombies let out incomprehensible shrieks as they fell. Right after, a massive chunk of the bridge plummeted into the river.

KABOOM!

A gigantic pillar of water shot up, drenching everything around us.

Soaking wet, Kwak Hanmuk and I raced across the bridge.

The spreading cracks chased after us.

The motorcycle sped along, narrowly outpacing the rapidly approaching collapse.

But there was no way Je Hyun-oh would just sit back and watch us escape. He folded his metal wings in unison and dove sharply.

BOOM!

Je Hyun-oh landed at the end of the bridge.

Slowly straightening up, he let his arms hang loose and waited for us.

^ ^

There was no way to slow the motorcycle down now. It was already accelerating as fast as it could go.

We had no choice but to ram him.

But the moment we did, Je Hyun-oh would tear us in half.

The veins bulging on the back of Kwak Hanmuk’s hand throbbed.

The Bead Rosary, which had been scattered everywhere, gathered together at its master’s call.

He was preparing to fight Je Hyun-oh.

Only a few seconds remained until the collision.

One of them — Kwak Hanmuk or Je Hyun-oh — was going to be seriously injured.

Badly enough that it would be difficult to carry out the Special Task Force’s missions for the next month, not to mention reaching the True Ending of DeZonDeal.

Maybe both of them would be wrecked.

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

A throbbing pain pulsed in my eyeball, which had been aching for a while now.

The system window blocked my vision.

You do not like this situation.

It is because you find it displeasing to see those who should become your ■■ pointing their blades at each other.

But fortunately, you know of a good solution.

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

A moment that was barely an instant stretched out slowly. My eyes, which had been hot, now felt like they were burning up.

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

For once, I thought it might be okay to do what that thing was asking.

No, wait.

I wasn’t doing what it asked.

This was ■■ ■■ ■■■.

Would you like to register ’Je Hyun-oh’?

’Register Je Hyun-oh.’