âUGHHâ I let out a long and heavy groan as soon as my body touched the soft mattress inside the cave. There was a huge amount of supply scattered around the vacant lot in front of the cave, but I was too goddamn tired to care about it at this point. I believed the barbed wire fence would do its job to fend off any creature who wanted to get their hands on it perfectly.
âLetâs rest a littleâŠâ I surrendered my body to the mattress. But, when I was about to lose my consciousness and fall asleep, I quickly jolted up to my feet. The tutorial was about to begin, and it would be a disaster if I missed it because I fell asleep.
By the way, itâs cold here inside the cave. I felt like it was more like a refrigerator rather than a cave. My stomach is also growling loudly, demanding remuneration from all the hard work my body just did.
I took off my armor and put on another layer of clothes before walking towards one side of the cave and lit a fire in the brazier. I had worked hard for several hours until now, and I would work for some more soon. so I think it would be okay for me to eat something delicious to celebrate this short moment of rest.
As I contemplated about what to eat, Dingo suddenly barked a little.
âWhatâs wrong? Whoâs outside?â I looked at him. If Dingo indeed has sensed something outside, the alarm shouldâve been triggered⊠But it stayed silent. I carefully opened the door, and was taken aback as soon as I saw what was in front of the door. It was two pieces of root plants which resemble the roots of deodeok from Earth. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the two roots were being carried by a group of scarabs. (T/N: Deodeok is Codonopsis lanceolata or lance asiabell. Its roots were mainly used in Korean cuisine. Do correct me if Iâm wrong by leaving a comment.)
âWhat kind of deodeok is that big?â Moreover, why did these guys come here when they knew that I had discovered them stealing my jelly?
The scarabs took a step in unison and walked towards me. Then, they held out the deodeok towards me.
âCan I take this as a sign of apology from you guys?â Even though I said that, thereâs no way they would be able to understand me. I mean, theyâre scarabs, theyâre insects. How could they know a humanâs language?
The scarabs put the deodeok on the ground and retreated to the left and right. From the back, a particularly big scarab who looked like a captain took a branch and drew a picture on the groundâŠ
âHooooâŠâ I couldnât find any words to explain the bizarre scene in front of me. The big scarab was drawing a picture! On top of it, the drawing was vivid enough for me to understand! What is happening?
The thing the big scarab drew was a package of jelly. Then, after he finished, he pointed towards the picture with his small uh⊠front legs?
âThatâs right, you guys stole that thing from me, so what?â
The big scarab drew a grape next before backing off. It seems like he was saying: âIsnât it okay since I already left this thing behind as an exchange?â
This guy was really unreasonableâŠ
âHey, if you want to take the jelly, you have to bring a bunch of grapes, not just a single grape.â
With the branch I found near me, I drew a bunch of grapes before tapping it several times. The big guy looked at the picture of grapes and me alternately, and then he pointed to the deodeok with his front legs. It seems like he was saying âHow about that?â
âI donât think that thing will be delicious if it was that big.â However, contrary to my expectation, when I took the deodeok and put it in front of my nose, it was extremely fragrant. If I could get a constant supply of wild deodeok at this quality, I wouldnât have to look for wild ginsengs anymore.
âIf the quality is like this⊠I guess it will be okay.â I drew a deodeok and a bunch of grapes next to the jelly drawn by the big scarab. Looking at the drawings, the big guy nodded for a moment before looking at me once again. It seems like he was asking âIs this really okay?â.
âIt is. Are you in or not?â After saying that, I entered the cave and returned with 4 packs of sweet potato flavoured jelly not long after. I laid it all in front of the scarabs before continuing. âIf you want this, you need to bring something to me. It doesnât have to be food. It could also be something strange and unusual, like this.â
I carefully brought the emeras ore and showed it to the big scarab. Hmm, letâs call him the scarab leader for now. He moved closer towards the emeras and circled it several times. Can they really find something like this? If thatâs the case, it would be a good idea to give them a favour here. Afterall, currently I have a lot of jellies after sweeping the grocery store. Giving a few away wouldnât even make a dent of the amount I possessed.
âThis is just a gift. Iâm giving it to you hoping that you will bring me something good in the future.â I handed the 4 packs of sweet potato flavored jelly to the scarab leader.
The scarab leaderâs eyes gleamed. He then turned back and walked away as he stroked his chin with his front legs, seemingly lost in thoughts.
A sapient scarab inside a mysterious forestâŠ
âItâs really something straight out of a horror movieâŠâ
By the way, I decided to forgive their past transgression and trust the scarabs because they were courageous enough to come to me when they could just run away or even continue to steal from me. On top of it, making connections with a sapient being in this forest is not a bad thing.
âBy the way, these roots⊠Does it also taste like deodeok?â I murmured. If I had to exaggerate for a bit, the size of this deodeok-like thing was about the same as a babyâs forearm. From the smell emanating from it, I would be furious if it didnât taste good at all. I cleaned the deodeok, peeled the skin, and pounded it with a hammer to flatten it out.
âThe best way to enjoy deodeok is of course with red pepper paste sauce.â I said as I spread the sauce all around the deodeok. After making sure it was coated perfectly, I put it on top of the grill I placed on the brazier.
âWith this much deodeok⊠I think I will need 2 bowls of rice.â I dumped two packs of instant rice in hot water before preparing for Dingoâs meal. The guy didnât look at me at all, though. All his attention was fully locked at the grilled deodeok. But when I put a little red pepper paste on his nose, he flinched and quickly ran away.
âItâs bad for you, so donât eat it.â I laughed. As soon as the deodeok was ready, I took it into my bowl before shoving it into my mouth together with a lot of rice. After savouring the taste for several bites, I switched my attention towards the items I looted from the tattooed guy.
âCrossbow⊠and itâs well-made.â It was a good weapon in my opinion. Even though it took more time to reload than a normal bow, it is compensated by having a higher penetration power. On top of it, because of its small size, it could be used to shoot while in hiding.
âI will use it too.â On top of the crossbow, I also looted about 30 rounds of arrows from the tattooed guy. So, I wouldnât have to worry about the ammo for the time being. By the way, what was in the backpack? As I chewed on the grilled deodeok, I poured everything in the backpack to the ground.
âLook at this guy⊠Heâs completely prepared.â What came out were essential things for survival, such as food, water, ceramic knives, pottery, matches, and toilet paper. The items themselves were not in a good condition, but nevertheless, itâs still a valuable item in an apocalyptic world.
âBut he didnât have the most important thing of all⊠a strong enough mental fortitude so one wonât be swallowed by their wild side.â In the chaotic apocalypse, it was easy for anyone to lose their civilized nature and went crazy because of their own arrogance, thinking theyâre some sort of chosen ones who were destined to survive in the apocalypse, aiming for the supplies of other survivors, turning them into something akin to a predator for other survivors who just wanted to survive. However, if you think about it, looting other people was a very ineffective and inefficient method because they would have to fight the other people first. Unless theyâre an OP character from novels, they wouldnât be able to win every fight. Every small wound and damage they suffered in a fight will drain their stamina. The feeling of death coming closer and closer would exhaust them mentally. When those two factors come together, they would be prone to make mistakes. And in an apocalyptic world, a single mistake could easily lead them to their grave. Thereâs also a chance that they could choose the wrong person to mess with, for example, me.
âJust wait for it⊠I will kill you all after the tutorial is over.â I clenched my fist. My heart would only become relieved once all of the predators around my area of operation were dead.
When I checked the clock, it was currently 7 oâclock. It was unknown when the tutorial would start, but what was certain is that it would happen on a pitch-black night.
I can rest for another hour before returning to Earth.
I put the slightly burnt grilled deodeok in my mouth and chewed it.
This is hella tasty!
.
.
.
Now that I had reached over level 10, the Store was available for me.
âStore window.â I whispered. In front of me, a blue translucent window appeared, showing a long list of items. At first glance, I could easily tell that itâs different from what I had been seeing in the game. The items had become more expensive. To be precise, the initial items like the ebony sticks or healing bandages have become cheaper. However, the expensive items had become even more expensive.
âA mithril knife costs 150 points? Are you kidding me?â Is this the work of the balancing patch? I quickly rummaged through my saved videos and played one particular video. In the middle of it, I paused the video as it showed the thing I was looking for.
ăWeapons made from magic metal are quite unbalanced because they are too powerful. However, rather than nerfing them or buffing other weapons, we had balance them out in a whole new wayâŠă
And that so-called ânew wayâ was to increase the already expensive price even more?
âThose crazy bastardsâ I couldnât help but curse. However, I knew that thereâs no use in complaining. I closed the videos and looked at each of the patch notes closely. After reading the last one, I smiled. They havenât fixed the tutorial bug until the very end of the service.
In the very beginning of the tutorial, because of the difficulty reduction patch, a random weapon would be given to the user. Thatâs where the bug is. When it appears surrounded by light, if someone sntached it immediately before it managed to spawn completely, another one would be spawned. It was the only bug in the tutorial that survived all patch notes.
Only a few people, including myself, know about this bug. It could be said that the bug was akin to a god-sent miracle in the early part of the tutorial because they would be able to get another durable weapon. And this very bug was one of the things I wrote on the note I gave to Hyung-jun Hyung and Sooyeon, saying that itâs a tip from I Love Gimbap.
âEven if they fail to get it, they would still be okay since the difficulty level is lowered⊠hopefully.â Though, I was certain that there would be no big problems.
The difficulty of the tutorial was indeed difficult. That difficulty comes from the pressure of dozens of zombies attacking you. Even people who were aware of the fact were still managed to be surrounded by those zombies. However, since the zombieâs ability to track organic matter had been nerfed, the chance of every survivor to run away had become higher than ever.
âI still donât know about another way to earn points, though.â Well, I guess it canât be helped. I just need to figure it out while doing the tutorial.
I took my survival backpack and packed a few more essential items inside of it. Since I had to run away from the zombies in the dark of the night, there were quite a few things I needed. I couldnât just hide in the portal while doing the tutorial, as the tutorialâs goal isnât for one to get to a specific place, but the tutorial judges the completion by the distance someone has traveled. The tutorial might reset if I were to go to the forest, which isnât considered a part of Earth.
âAnd the boss monster in the tutorial is a reinforced zombie.â It was something a little different from the normal reinforced zombies though, as it had a special ability. Though, I wouldnât be able to know what their ability was until I faced it. Afterall, each time I repeat the tutorial, their ability always changes.
âNumber 6 and number 11.â I bought a glowstone and a potion from the shop. After waiting for a while, an item appeared on the floor from the thin air. Back in the game, I took the phenomenon for granted. But because it is now happening in reality, something about it is bugging me.
âWhere the heck do these things come from?â However, it was an unanswerable question because no one other than the developer team knew about it.
By the way, items with prices more than 100 points were useless at this point of time. It would only attract more trouble to me rather than helping me. And even without it, the ebony sticks would be enough to get me through the tutorial.
âUp to this point, all good.â
Then, I proceed to try the newly-acquired effect of my unique ability,
ăDimensional Slotă
How do I use this?
âDimension, slotâŠâ However, even after saying a lot of different combinations, nothing really happened.
âŠ
Wait a minute⊠If I remembered correctly, In Survival Life, the inventory of each user was numbered. If I combined the slot and the numbers of the inventoryâŠ
âSlot #1.â At that moment, something like a translucent box appeared in the front of me. âAh⊠is this a quick slot?â
Once I put the potion I just bought from the Store into it, the box disappeared. When I recited âSlot #1â again, the box appeared once again.
âThis is good.â I nodded as I kept summoning and unsummoning the box. Itâs not as good as the ăInvisibilityă or the ăProjectionăability of the portal that I got previously, but itâs still pretty useful because I could easily store and take out items without going back and forth to the shelter. Seeing that it only opened up to number 5, I think more slots would be unlocked as I level up.
âLetâs put the bow in number oneâŠâ I proceed to fill the slots with various items. Unfortunately, the slot couldnât store two items at the same time. So, in the case of potions, I would have to restock once I used up everything that I brought in the bag.
After I checked the time once again, thereâs still some time left before I had to go out. Therefore, I decided to take a look at the PC I had looted.
âTo have a NAS attached⊠you must have gathered a lot of good things, huh?â
When I removed the case with a screwdriver, 6 hard disks could be seen inside. 3 on the main unit, 3 on the NAS. âSix three terabytes worth of hard disks. Did this friend perhaps run a server?â
When I connected them to the external hard drive and checked them one by one, my fists instantly clenched. âThis is it.â
It was filled with the contents that I wanted, such as movies, dramas, songs, novels and most importantly videos that all men need. The fancams of girl groups as well as the dance teams were also great. On top of that, every single one of them were in high definition.
My hand hovered the mouse towards one particular video with âwhite skinâ as its title. And by mistake, I clicked it. As soon as I saw what appeared on the screen, my jaw dropped. The person the camera was focusing on was none other than Mikyung.
âOh my godâŠâ Her face was a bit different from the Mikyung I knew, but judging from her small stature and white skin, it was indeed the same Mikyung I knew. The Mikyung on the camera had long hair, but the current Mikyung had short hair. She then proceeds to dance, occasionally smiling towards the cameras.
âThe tutorial will start soon, what am I doing?â In this case, when a particular place was standing straight, doing push-ups would certainly help it to calm down. Ah, letâs slap my cheeks tooâŠ
Slap!
Okay, now that I have woken up, letâs go.
I stroked Dingo at the back before walking through the portal. This place, which I didnât even know whose house it was, was immersed in darkness. The surroundings were also quiet. It was as if this place was drowned into the swamp of silence. It was such a contrast to the situation of this morning where people were quite chaotic.
âItâs too dark.â However, I didnât have to worry since I have the shadow grape. After munching it a few times, a message appeared before me.
ăActive Buff: Night vision increaseă
And after waiting for a while, I could vaguely feel the things around me.
Growl-!!
I heard the cries of the zombies. Although it was obvious that they were far away, it was as vivid as if they were right in front of my nose.