Chapter 17

The Apocalypse Game I Created Became Reality Chapter 17

News from the official website soon reached our guild group chat as well.

- VegetableCracker: The official site is going crazy.

It started with VegetableCracker.

No, Kang Woo-jin.

- VegetableCracker: People are going crazy trying to find us, you know?

- PeninsulaPrince: Should we release some information?

- VegetableCracker: Come to think of it, you used to make strategy videos for monsters and main chapters, right?

- PeninsulaPrince: Yeah. I wanted to leave them as reference material. Thought they might help the other guild members.

- VegetableCracker: Thinking about it now, I do wonder what the point of strategy materials was for a guild with only four people.

- PeninsulaPrince: I thought we’d recruit more members.

- DemonKingLucifer: We’re an elite few haha

I quietly stared at the chat window.

‘As expected, this isn’t good.’

In an apocalypse, humans are scarier than infected.

‘Infected and monsters are honest, at least.’

If they’re hungry, they charge.

They react to sound and move toward smells.

But humans are different.

They approach with smiles, ask for help, lie, and threaten.

And if necessary, they’ll probably take things by force too.

- VegetableCracker: Not even joking, some people are actually searching our usernames.

- DemonKingLucifer: If they come looking, just beat them up. What’s there to worry about?

- VegetableCracker: It’s not that simple.

- DemonKingLucifer: lol Ah, I hope someone tries me. I’ll beat the shit out of them properly.

After thinking for a moment, I typed a message.

- I think it’s best not to carelessly release information.

- VegetableCracker: Finally, someone says something sane.

- PeninsulaPrince: As expected of our guild brain.

- I’m not trying to be selfish, but early on when everyone is weak, the person with information becomes a target.

- VegetableCracker: Every word is right.

- DemonKingLucifer: So cool haha

- PeninsulaPrince: And in reality, you can’t even see karma.

Karma.

In the game, there was a morality value called Karma.

If you made a wrong choice, the system told you.

Who killed whom, who saved whom, what reputation someone had earned.

‘But reality isn’t like that.’

Reality has no stat called Karma, and no notification window either.

You might trust someone and die.

Or you might refuse to trust them and regret it.

In a situation like that.

‘What if someone comes looking for us?’

What if they ask for information?

What if they demand our strategy guides?

At first, it would be a request.

Then pleading.

Then threats.

Finally, violence.

‘No one can beat a mob.’

No matter how high your level is, no matter what skills you have.

If several people come at you at once, it’s dangerous.

Especially early on.

- VegetableCracker: For now, absolutely no exposing real names, workplaces, or where we live. Okay?

- PeninsulaPrince: Okay.

- DemonKingLucifer: But doesn’t this make it feel like the game really is becoming reality?

- DemonKingLucifer: Are people just overreacting, or is this ridiculous thing actually going to happen...

- DemonKingLucifer: Looking at how things have gone so far, it doesn’t seem impossible haha

Everyone was talking as if it were nothing, but I knew.

‘They’re all staying alert.’

That was a good sign.

The second event had already appeared.

‘Once the third prologue event appears too...’

Yeah.

Then it wouldn’t be a joke anymore.

____________

From that day onward, the direction of my preparations changed slightly.

Until now, I had prepared to deal with infected and the environment.

Repairing the ventilation system, reinforcing the entrance, securing the rear emergency exit, water purification, VR training, and so on.

But what I needed to add this time was obvious.

‘Preparing for other humans targeting my base.’

I stared at the workshop door for a long time.

From the outside, it looked like an old basement storage room.

When the door opened, scrap materials and bookshelves appeared first, and only after going around them could you see the actual work area.

‘Not bad.’

But if someone asked whether that was enough.

‘Probably not.’

If infected can’t get in, they may follow another sound or smell.

But humans are different.

If a door is locked, they get curious.

If there’s no sound, they become even more suspicious.

If they know someone is hiding something, they’ll find a way to check it no matter what.

And once humans find that way, they usually won’t give up just because you ask them to.

“...So.”

I opened the equipment section.

The gear I had prepared in my own way soon came into view.

‘It would be nice if I had a gun.’

Of course, this was South Korea, so I couldn’t exactly get something like a gun.

After the apocalypse, though, who knew how things would turn out?

That expectation was also one reason I had chosen a place near military bases.

‘But I can’t just wait around hoping for that.’

Something I could obtain and practice with right now.

‘Daggers.’

Not because I intended to swing them directly.

I planned to use them for throwing.

“They’re useless if I don’t practice.”

I immediately took several daggers and headed up a nearby mountain.

There, I chose a suitable tree as a target.

“...Shall I start?”

Then I stood at a reasonable distance.

I had already learned dagger-throwing techniques well enough through YouTube.

There was only one goal.

‘Make it second nature.’

I took my stance.

At first, from close range.

Slide.

I gripped a dagger and aimed at the target.

The dagger was heavier than I expected.

I could feel its weight on my wrist.

Whoosh!

I threw the dagger with what I thought was decent form.

Thunk.

The dagger flew toward the target well enough, but unlike what I expected, the handle hit the tree instead of the blade, and it fell.

“...Still, not bad for my first try.”

At least I hit the target.

“This is harder than it looks.”

In the game, throwing weapons were easy to stick into enemies.

But in reality, even hitting a single target was difficult.

Whoosh!

I threw the dagger again.

This time, it missed completely.

“Again.”

Whoosh!

“Again.”

Whoosh!

“Again.”

Whoosh!

Before long, my wrist ached and my shoulder tightened.

Still, I kept throwing.

And perhaps that effort was beginning to bear fruit.

Thud!

“...!”

After about an hour, the dagger finally stuck into the tree.

Granted, it wasn’t in the center of the target I had aimed for, but at the edge.

“...Good.”

Breathing heavily, I nodded.

I couldn’t become strong all at once.

But with repetition, I could improve little by little.

VR training, water purification, base concealment, weapon handling.

‘An apocalypse isn’t a world where only people with exceptional talent survive.’

Right.

It’s the people who make fewer mistakes who survive an apocalypse.

_____________

After our first real-life meetup, our guild group chat became much more active.

- VegetableCracker: The most dangerous thing early on was probably the rescue request event, right?

- PeninsulaPrince: The real problem was players pretending to be NPCs and approaching you.

- DemonKingLucifer: So whenever someone knocked on my base door, I cracked their skull first haha

- VegetableCracker: That’s why your Karma was destroyed.

- DemonKingLucifer: There’s no Karma in reality, right?

At this point, I was extremely curious what DemonKingLucifer looked like in real life.

- In reality, instead of Karma, you get a criminal record...

- DemonKingLucifer: Ah?

- VegetableCracker: Human, well said. So Lucifer, please try living like a normal person.

- DemonKingLucifer: I’ll try haha

I was shaking my head while looking at my phone when it happened.

Bzzzzzt!

“...Hm?”

My phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

“...”

Lately, I usually didn’t answer unknown numbers.

But strangely, I had a feeling.

I checked that call recording was on, then answered.

“Hello.”

- Baek Yi-hyeon.

I knew immediately the moment I heard it.

‘Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jeong.’

She had changed her number.

Or borrowed someone else’s phone.

Even though I knew, I asked casually.

“Who is this?”

- Are you asking because you really don’t know?

“It’s an unknown number.”

- It’s me, Lee Hye-jeong.

“Can I hang up?”

Her breathing grew rough on the other end of the line.

- Baek Yi-hyeon, are you kidding me right now?

“Me?”

- Do you know how much trouble I’ve been in because of the post you put on Blind×?

“That’s what I should be saying to you.”

- Delete it right now. And post a proper explanation too.

“Why should I?”

- Why? Are you seriously asking because you don’t know? This is defamation!

Her voice rose sharply.

- I warned you before. Do you really want to spend time behind bars!?

Prison time for mere defamation, my ass.

At worst, it would probably end with a fine.

Still,

‘I have no intention of letting even that happen.’

Sitting in my chair, I answered calmly.

“Specifically which part is defamation?”

- The way you talked about me and the CEO like that...!

“Like what?”

- An inappropriate relationship and all that... Are you seriously asking because you don’t know what I mean!?

“I only stated what I actually witnessed.”

- Do you have proof!? Do you!?

So this was how she wanted to play it?

- If you don’t post an explanation immediately, I’ll absolutely sue you for defamation. You’d better understand that!

“For what offense?”

- Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m suing you for defamation...!

Without listening any further, I spoke calmly.

“There are two types of defamation. Defamation by false information, and defamation by stating facts.”

- If you know that...!

“Go ahead.”

- What?

“Go ahead and sue me. For defamation by stating facts.”

-...

The breathing on the other end stopped.

I slowly continued.

“Then you’d personally be admitting that you had an inappropriate relationship with the CEO. ‘It’s true, but my reputation was damaged.’”

- Y-You, you...!

“And if you want to claim it was false, that’s even better.”

I glanced at my phone screen.

『 Call recording in progress. 』

“The truth is, I’ve been recording everything from the last call to this one.”

- R-Recording?

“You contacted me first last time too and brought up confidentiality and defamation.”

- Y-You, are you threatening me right now?

“You’re the one making threats right now.”

-...

Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jeong could no longer say anything.

I continued.

“I’ll say this again. I wasn’t the one who first posted a targeted message on Blind×. I wasn’t the one who first slandered someone in a way that made them identifiable either. I simply laid out the facts there.”

-...Who says that garbage counts as facts?

“So if you want, you can fight it legally.”

I calmly continued.

“Of course, in that process, everything that happened to me will become known in detail too. Unfair work orders inside the company, pressure to resign, even the calls afterward.”

- You... really are the worst.

“Me?”

I laughed briefly.

Who exactly was worse?

“Don’t contact me again.”

I hung up.

Then immediately blocked that number too.

“...”

If someone asked whether that made me feel better... honestly, I wasn’t sure.

But at least.

‘This time, I didn’t just sit there and take it.’

The old me might have worried about the company, kept quiet, and endured it because I was afraid of making the problem bigger.

But not anymore.

When the world itself might collapse, that company, that CEO.

‘They no longer have the right to shake up my life.’

I cleared away the distracting thoughts and looked toward the workshop door.

What I prepared for today was other humans.

“I have to block everything that needs blocking.”

Physical intrusion, information intrusion, relationship intrusion, attacks on my reputation, threats, legal intimidation... all of it.

“Yeah, this is right.”

Yeah.

Even now, before the apocalypse had arrived, humans were already dangerous enough.