DeZonDeal’s Laboratory had two bosses.

The first was the Security Guard Zombie you ran into the moment you entered the first-floor lobby.

The Security Guard Zombie — its body grotesquely swollen — had injected itself with illegal steroid-based drugs to build muscle while still human.

As zombification progressed, the residual drug compounds accelerated, leaving it looking no different from a monster.

The Security Guard Zombie boasted the highest attack power in DeZonDeal, but Je Hyun-oh had taken it out early on, so I never even saw its face.

The second was the Chef Zombie in the underground area.

The backstory was that a chef who’d fled to the Generator Room when the zombie outbreak hit had turned. Trapped in a space filled with 24-hour noise, it was more vicious and had sharper hearing than any other zombie.

The Chef Zombie was a time-attack boss — it kept slamming into the emergency generator, lowering its operational rate.

If you focused too much on delivery and delayed the strategy, it would completely destroy the generator, sending you straight to a bad ending.

Also, once the boss fight started, it attacked indiscriminately, so keeping its attention on you to stop it from wrecking the generator was crucial.

If repairs weren’t completed within a set time after the fight began, the generator exploded, taking the entire underground area with it — game over.

And if you cut the boss’s HP below half before repairs finished, that was also game over.

Because the Chef Zombie would self-destruct, and the impact would blow up the generator along with it.

Without information on the boss, you were guaranteed a game over.

I’d caught this damn Chef Zombie so many times I was sick of it.

So I was a little arrogant — thinking I could handle pretty much any variable that came up.

But the zombification recovering... that was a variable I’d never expected.

The moment I let out the breath I’d been holding, the Chef Zombie lunged.

"KYAAAAAH—!"

"Goyo!"

"Trainee!"

Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein moved to react to the sudden outbreak, but I stopped them.

"I’m fine!"

I bit down and ran as I shouted.

"I’ll... handle the boss! Throw me the bag!"

Kwak Hanmuk immediately yanked off the sling bag and hurled it.

The bag arced through the air and landed right in my arms.

I snatched it, and Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein ran for the spare parts box.

Kwak Hanmuk slammed his body into the steel cabinet. He forced the door open and swept all the parts inside into his arms.

◆Mai!!n Ques!t?!!: Defeat the Frenzied Chef Zombie.

You?are?out?of?your?mind? You believe you are not in your right mind.

■ ■ is still weak. Their abilities are also utterly insignificant.

You resolve never to miss a System window again.

But a terrible situation has already unfolded.

The chef, always angry at the picky researchers complaining about their meals, became even more ferocious after turning into a zombie.

It may slay!slay!slay!slaslaslaslash! you in one blow.

Defeating the Frenzied Chef Zombie will by no means be easy.

’If only you’d said useful things from the start.’

Then I would’ve read the System windows properly on my own, wouldn’t I?

This time was no different.

Nothing helpful — just a bunch of nagging and nonsense about how I hadn’t been reading.

I checked the Chef Zombie chasing me.

’Is it just me whose zombification recovered?’

Judging by how the Chef Zombie was targeting only me, it was certain.

I had no idea why it recovered. I hadn’t done anything special after Mo Haein bit me.

The difference from Kwak Hanmuk was...

That I was the System.

That was the only thing I could think of.

Either way, now that I was recognized as a target, going back to being a zombie at this point wouldn’t mean anything.

I had to face the Chef Zombie as a human.

You believe this is truly a life-or-death crisis.

But fortunately, there IS a way to overcome it.

You wish to register ’Mo Haein’ and ’Kwak Hanmuk’ to fill all ’3 slots’ and elevate the System’s ability by one level.

Would you like to register ’Mo Haein’ and ’Kwak Hanmuk’?

Ah, seriously.

’This is exactly why I don’t read them.’

The strange sensation I’d felt when registering Je Hyun-oh was still vivid.

No more registrations. Absolutely not.

I ignored the System window and ran, scanning the Generator Room.

The Generator Room was a wide space with a massive engine, but not spacious enough to play cat-and-mouse with the Chef Zombie for six minutes.

Not that I was that agile either.

If I’d still been a zombie, my physical abilities would’ve been better than now — a shame.

I yanked open the zipper of the sling bag and reached inside.

Then I pulled out the item Kwak Hanmuk had dutifully retrieved for me, even while asking why the hell I needed something like that.

A plastic jackstone.

Jackstone: Only use for playing jacks.

Rattle rattle.

The tiny beads inside the jackstone made a constant noise.

I threw one jackstone in the opposite direction from where I was running.

"KREEEEEK!"

The Chef Zombie let out a blood-curdling cry and immediately lunged toward the jackstone.

’Got it.’

Kwak Hanmuk had brought the right item.

The jackstone was a toy a kid at the Green Zone elementary school had been playing with.

The Chef Zombie always reacted to the small noise coming from the jackstone.

Also, when it picked up and swallowed the jackstone, it got stunned for three seconds.

Throwing the jackstone and running was the hidden strategy for the Chef Zombie.

But there were only five of them, so I couldn’t waste them recklessly.

I had to use them efficiently while the emergency generator was being repaired.

"Krrrk... krrrr..."

The Chef Zombie picked up the jackstone with its decay-rotted hand.

It picked it up by instinct, but seemed to have no idea what to do with it.

The Chef Zombie stood there blankly for a moment, then shoved the jackstone into its mouth and swallowed.

While the Chef Zombie was briefly stunned, I climbed up a steel shelf where the pipes were organized.

I climbed onto the two-meter-high shelf and checked on the emergency generator.

Just then, the System window rose with a ding sound.

Emergency generator repair has begun!

Repairers: Blue Thunder, Mo Haein. (Repairers cannot be changed mid-process.)

Current repair progress: 1%

Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein were sitting on opposite sides of the generator, peeling off metal panels.

After Mo Haein sprayed the Rust Remover Spray, she hurled the can with all her strength.

CLANG!

The spray can hit the chain-link fence on the opposite side.

Just then, the Chef Zombie — its stun wearing off and searching for me — immediately headed that way.

"..."

Mo Haein checked that I was safe with trembling eyes.

Then she immediately turned her head back.

She ran to Kwak Hanmuk’s side and started loosening bolts with a wrench alongside him, swapping out the damaged wires by color.

Both of them moved calmly, following the repair method I’d explained in the briefing.

It looked like they could finish the repair within the six minutes I’d estimated.

Thanks to Mo Haein buying me a little time, I’d made it safely onto the steel shelf.

"KIYAAAAH!"

The Chef Zombie let out a horrible scream and slammed into the shelf with a THUD.

The impact was strong enough to send vibrations through the steel shelf, which was firmly bolted to the floor.

Keeping the Chef Zombie’s attention on me was the most important thing.

I kept the repair progress System window open in the corner of my vision and waited for the Chef Zombie to climb up the shelf.

Then, when it was one step away, I started running.

As I ran along the steel shelves that stretched across the Generator Room like a track, the Chef Zombie chased after me.

Its apron — full of holes — flapped loudly as it ran.

Right before the shelf ended, I threw the second jackstone to the opposite side.

The Chef Zombie predictably turned its head toward the jackstone.

CRASH!

The Chef Zombie, chasing the jackstone, fell off the shelf.

It lay still for a few seconds from the shock of the unprepared fall, then — crack, crack — twisted its body upright.

Then it ran toward where the jackstone had rolled.

I checked its path, then glanced at the repair progress.

Mo Haein had circled back to the right side, wiping off rust water and loosening the inner bolts.

On the left, Kwak Hanmuk had finished connecting wires and was tightening the bolts one by one.

The heat blasting from the emergency generator’s engine sent sweat streaming down Kwak Hanmuk’s temples.

When the Chef Zombie returned to the steel shelf, I ran toward the generator’s cooling fan this time.

The hot blast from the cooling fan was suffocating, but since it was the noisiest spot, being here could briefly confuse the Chef Zombie.

Sure enough, the Chef Zombie chasing me stumbled, losing its target for a moment.

For the next minute, the Chef Zombie would wander around searching for a target.

But after that, its aggro would reset and it’d start attacking the generator.

I had to act before the minute was up.

Having secured a brief safe zone, I counted silently and checked the chain-link fence on the opposite side.

Beyond the fence was another generator that had stopped working.

I kept my eyes on the Chef Zombie, and the moment its aggro reset, I threw the third jackstone.

Not too hard, not too soft — the jackstone slipped through the chain-link fence and landed in the perfect spot.

Just out of the Chef Zombie’s reach.

The moment it heard the sound, the Chef Zombie lunged at the fence.

Its hands couldn’t reach through the gaps, so it started tearing at the fence with brute force.

Snap. Snap. The chain-link fence broke, its sharp ends piercing the back of the zombie’s hand.

Rotten fluid dripped from the pierced hand.

But zombies don’t feel pain.

The Chef Zombie mangled its own hands tearing at the fence, finally grabbed the jackstone, and shoved it into its mouth.

I hadn’t expected that.

In the game, the zombie only showed the behavior of tearing at the fence — it never told me it would get injured that badly.

Besides, it was dot graphics, so the information was limited.

’Being a chef, you’d think it’d need its hands.’

I had to change my plan slightly. I pulled out the pistol from the sling bag.

The Glock 19, a compact model, held fifteen rounds in the magazine.

But I only planned to use one.

The Chef Zombie didn’t have high HP, so if I misused the gun and its HP dropped below half, it’d self-destruct.

A convenient but dangerous gamble.

I’d wanted to avoid using the gun if possible, but I had no choice if I wanted to subdue it.

I racked the slide and aimed at the Chef Zombie.

I’d been a crack shot in FPS games, but in reality, it’d be different.

I’d even been exempt from basic military training, so this was the first time in my life I’d actually held a gun.

The checkering on the grip felt rough against my palm.

Bitingly tense, I hooked my finger over the trigger.

The Chef Zombie growled and turned to look at me. It caught the sound of my breath and immediately lunged.

I waited calmly.

’When it’s as close as possible.’

It was the best way to minimize aiming error.

The approaching zombie felt like slow motion.

Even though there was no way it was actually slow.

The moment I focused, I felt a hot heat behind my eyes.

The same heat I’d felt several times recently.

Even though it was a bizarre phenomenon, it didn’t scare me.

If anything, it felt natural.

I pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The muzzle jerked up from the sudden recoil, and the shell casing flew to the side.

The first shot grazed the zombie’s flesh, leaving only a long gash.

But I grinned.

I pulled the trigger again immediately.

This time, it didn’t miss. The bullet pierced the kneecap.

"KIYAAAAK!"

The Chef Zombie lost its balance and collapsed. The sound of the shell casing hitting the floor rang out sharply.

I lowered the muzzle immediately. Any more attacks and it’d be in self-destruct range.

I let out a light breath and checked on the emergency generator.

But Kwak Hanmuk and Mo Haein weren’t repairing.

They’d stopped, staring at me with tense expressions.

What?

I looked around, wondering if there was something near me.

But there was nothing.

Instead, I saw my own face reflected in the glass of the fire extinguisher cabinet.

A light carved clearly even through the dirty glass.

My pupils were glowing gold.