"... Huh? She’s de-dead?"


    "Wow..."


    Jessie''s death bewildered the NPCs. Her logout seemed like a real death to them.


    "Hey, so why did you all rush her!" the snack bardy scolded them.


    Dae-Hyeok scratched his head and made excuses, "Ah... no... anyone could see that the two were having a thing..."


    Meanwhile, the ss president pointed down the corridor.


    "By the way..."


    He swallowed his saliva in surprise.


    "I thought that thing was just a wall. Are those zombie corpses?""...!"


    The other kids also felt shocked.


    "Is that real?"


    "Crazy...... WTF... what is that?"


    It wasn''t just the kids. Tako and Bubblegum wore simrly stunned expressions. The only difference was that they realized it sooner.


    <em>''Did Almond stop all of them?''</em>


    <em>''Did he do that alone…?''</em>


    Knowing Almond''s skills, they realized he was the only one capable of such an act.


    "... S-Seriously, did you do this Almond?"


    The students took a while to examine and finally understood the sequence of events. The blood-stained path led to Almond. Dark blood stained his sword and his shirt had never seemed white.


    "Yeah." Almond nodded. "I had to stop them froming."


    Shocked exmations echoed everywhere.


    "Crazy..."


    "Wow."


    "Damn."


    "Oh my god..."


    <em>— This is a real legendary scene.</em>


    <em>— I watched it live and I''m still stunned.</em>


    <em>— Just oh my god LOL.</em>


    "Let''s go to the fifth floor. We might be running out of time."


    Almond carefully put down Jessie''s body and set off.


    ***


    Almond asked on their way to the fifth floor, "By the way Tako, how did we win? We won without hardly any losses."


    ss 3 hadn’t suffered much damage. They annihted the enemies and still had more than twenty members.


    "It''s all about formation and trickery. They already knew they were done for, so the enemymander didn''t fight in the front and went to call for reinforcements instead."


    Jessie''s separate escape also affected the morale of their troops. It certainly seemed usible, but Jessie wasn''t the only one.


    "They must’ve had skilled individuals left."


    The ones who came with Jessie were probably the other national team members from Denmark for <em>Civil Empire</em>.


    "Ah. Oh. Almond."


    Tako pointed to himself.


    "I was a pro too, you know?"


    "Oh..."


    As if he had forgotten, Almond nodded and Takomented.


    "Ugh~ That''s why talent freaks are no good. If it were someone else, they would have been amazed by my y and done a windmill."


    "Hey. Who would be amazed by a guy who piles up corpses into a mountain?"


    <em>— Why would you do a windmill? LOL</em>


    <em>— Bubblegum spins anyway.</em>


    <em>— Fact: Tako was a legend in one team during his pro days.</em>


    <em>— Tako is the best!</em>


    "Ah, um… and…"


    <em>Thud.</em>


    Tako tapped Almond''s shoulder and moved ahead, intending to talk privately.


    "... It might not be good news, but we only have twenty-five people left."


    Almond looked around again, counting their numbers. Including the snack bardy and Soo-Hyun, they had exactly twenty-five members.


    He didn''t see a few familiar faces. Among them was someone he had been worried about.


    "Yeon-Ji is..."


    "She''s dead."


    "Oh..."


    "She didn''t seem to want to live much. Her depression score was high."


    She had already lost hope in life when Ki-Tae sacrificed himself to protect her.


    "That’s what happened."


    In terms of the game, the situation yed out well. As if arranged, twenty-five members had survived. Now, they just needed to break through to the rooftop.


    "Let''s go up."


    The remaining members went up.


    ***


    The essence of multiyer battles was actually a fight among humans.


    "Oh... here theye!"


    "Shield wall!"


    Although a significant number of zombies blocked the rooftop door on the fifth floor, ss 3 quickly broke through with their trained systematicbat.


    <em>Thump!</em>


    Students wielding spears pushed through the zombie crowd.


    <em>Whoosh!</em>


    <em>Thuck!</em>


    <em>"Aaaahhhhh!"</em>


    <em>"Grghhhhhh......!"</em>


    Through repeated battles against various sses, they grew better at fighting and acquired better weapons. They took the best weapons from their enemies as spoils of war. Those who survived, using their fallenrades as fertilizer, grew stronger than any other weeds.


    "Get in! Break through to the door!"


    They pushed back the onught of zombies as if it was truly thest time.


    <em>Boom!</em>


    The rooftop door opened and the noon sunlight pierced through.


    "Run!!"


    The sunlight felt startlingly harsh after fighting all day in the dark stairwell, but the students ran toward it without hesitation.


    "Fuck, that was really thest time!"


    "<em>Ahahahahaa!</em> Let’s goooo!"


    Dae-Hyeok, holding two shields, pushed the others up with his back and everyone entered the rooftop.


    <em>Boom!</em>


    The door closed.


    "Lock it!!!"


    They securely locked the door with a steel pipe and a padlock they had prepared.


    <em>Click! Click!</em>


    Afterward, the sounds of banging from the other side continued.


    <em>Boom... Boom...</em>


    The zombies gradually subsided after no longer seeing or hearing any humans.


    The students gathered the few benches on the rooftop to block the door. Even though it was already well-blocked, they kept adding more as if they never wanted to see zombies again.


    After that, they moved far away from the door.


    <em>Boom...</em>


    <em>Boom...</em>


    Only the sound of a few zombies rubbing against the door could be heard.


    Everyone’s heavy breathing sounded louder than that.


    <em>"Haah... Haah..."</em>


    Catching their breath, they looked up.


    <em>"Haah..."</em>


    The cold air, the warm sunlight, and the clear sky…


    "Fuck... how long has it been since we''ve breathed outside air!"


    Everything that had happened seemed far away as if it was all sleeping behind that closed rooftop door.


    "Are we all here?" Tako looked around and counted, "Twenty-four... twenty-five. Yeah, all here."


    After the bloodbath with ss 2, they managed to survive.


    <em>"Hahaha..."</em>


    <em>"Hahaha!"</em>


    Laughter echoed out from here and there. They had survived. This sense of relief spread like the fragrance of flowers on the cool rooftop air.


    <em>''Good.''</em>


    Had Almond also been immersed in the game? He leaned back against the wall and smiled for no reason. Then, he took off his blood-stained vest and unwrapped his textbook-bound arms and legs.


    He checked the time and finally spoke to his viewers, "It seems to have ended."


    <em>— Thank you for the hard work!</em>


    <em>— It was fun! hehe~</em>


    <em>— Too bad we couldn''t save Yeon-Ji…</em>


    <em>— WE WON~~~!</em>


    <em>— Are we going to eat chicken again?? LOL.</em>


    <em>— Almond''s chatroom is super lucky.</em>


    <em>— Is this Almond''s chatroom or did they hand out more coupons than chicken deliveries?</em>


    The chat continued incessantly.


    <em>[Current Viewers: 59,000]</em>


    Even if the viewership of nearly 60,000 didn’t all stick around, Almond would likely be the biggest beneficiary of this G-Star. He had attracted nearly twice the average viewership.


    "Wow~ Nice."


    Almondy down on the rooftop floor with a refreshed mind.


    <em>— Haha! Like a main character in youth manga.</em>


    <em>— Even covered in blood, he’s still handsome</em>


    <em>— If Iy down like that, they''d probably scoop me up with a shovel thinking I''m just a corpse LOL.</em>


    "I thought I was really going to lose at the end."


    Nothing could be morefortable than lying down and watching the chat.


    <em>— LOL.</em>


    <em>— ss 2''s resistance was stronger than expected.</em>


    <em>— Jessie was really thest viin.</em>


    <em>— I was really nervous when they were fighting while hanging on the wall.</em>


    With the blue sky as a backdrop, a translucent chat window floated in the air. It was just a game, but seeing characters floating in the sky somehow reminded him of his grandmother. Just looking at the sky in the past would make him cry, so he deliberately avoided it.


    <em>''I''m doing good,'' </em>he muttered inwardly to reassure her.


    Suddenly, something his grandmother once said came to mind.


    <em>“You bastard! You gotta pull hard while you can! What do you mean that''s enough!?”</em>


    His grandmother had said this during a particrly good spell while running a business. Sang-Hyeon had suggested she quit after seeing her too tired. He mentioned that he would be selected for the national team and money wouldn''t be an issue anymore.


    <em>“First, you have to have a full pocket to keep your family happily fed. How will you marry So-Yeon with that national team money if you share that with me?”</em>


    So-Yeon was just a friend. No matter how often he said it, his grandmother knew it was a lie. Indeed, her words were right.


    "Right," Almond murmured.


    <em>— ??</em>


    <em>— What''s right?</em>


    <em>— Is it about time?</em>


    <em>— What''s he up to now?</em>


    "Right. We have some time until the rescue helicopter arrives."


    ss 3 thought they would be here for half a day and timed it generously. They had about four hours left until the helicopter was scheduled to arrive.


    In real time, it was only about ten minutes. That was enough time for Almond to do what he wanted.


    "I''ve unlocked donations."


    <em>— LOL</em>


    <em>— "Give me money.”</em>


    <em>— LOL</em>


    <em>— Can''t you just wait?!</em>


    He usually closed donations during a challenge to focus, especially in such a cooperative scenario. Now that the challenge was over, he didn’t need to keep them closed.


    <em>Pa-pa-pam!</em>


    <em>[RubySword has donated 100,000 won!]</em>


    <em>[Choo-choo, donation train departing! (Not Train to Busan)]</em>


    "Ah. Thank you, RubySword. d it''s not going to Busan."


    As always, RubySword started it off.


    <em>— HAHAHAHA, it’s not going to Busan. Haha the princess''s sense of humor!</em>


    <em>— Fact: Train to Busan is a popr Korean zombie movie set inside a train.</em>


    <em>— Isn''t this a macro? LOL.</em>


    <em>— Not going to Busan LOL funny, right?</em>


    <em>— Ruby doesn''t need to be funny. Just be cute. Bastards.</em>


    <em>[DonationZombie has donated 10,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[Door opened. Ughhhhh... let''s go...]</em>


    <em>— LOL A real zombie.</em>


    <em>— It''s really no different from a zombie entering when the door opens. </em>


    <em>— ZombieSword LOL.</em>


    "Thank you, DonZom."


    <em>— DonZom LOL</em>


    <em>— LOL.</em>


    <em>[Eggnt has donated 3,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[The wall-climbing battle was awesome. Just take my money! Almon~ deu!]</em>


    <em>— Almondeu LOL.</em>


    <em>— That voice is really annoying LOL.</em>


    <em>— It''s not your money, StirFried...</em>


    <em>[ShyNapoleon has donated 10,000 won!]</em>


    <em>[I''m sad I couldn''t set a mission...]</em>


    "You can still set one now."


    <em>— LOL LOL LOL, let’s go!</em>


    <em>— Mission?! (Urgent)</em>


    <em>— Just like JeonJaPa.</em>


    <em>— He’s just~~ thinking of eating up other people''s money, our nut is too cute~~~^^</em>


    Many more donations followed.


    <em>[CokeDrenched has donated 50,000 won!]</em>


    <em>[Wow. I''m new here today. It was really fun!]</em>


    <em>[YesYes has donated 5,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[Lying down while streaming, super sweet~]</em>


    <em>[EvilNutGroup has donated 10,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[We shed through the Denmark national team this time. Just consider it as a final win for the Civil Empire National Competition, okay?]</em>


    <em>Du-du-du-du-du-du...</em>


    Then, they could hear a helicopter approaching.


    "Wow. Here ites!"


    "Over here! Over heeeereee!"


    <em>"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!"</em>


    The students, having kept a fire burning, excitedly waved their clothes.


    <em>Du-du-du-du-du-du-du!</em>


    The propellers roared as the transport helicopternded. It looked big enough to carry twenty-five people.


    From inside, individuals wearing gas masks walked out.


    "Twenty-five survivors. Confirmed. All appear to be students," a soldier reported over the radio.


    The yers saw this message.


    <em>[You Have Survived! Sess]</em>


    The challenge was over.


    "Oh. Now we really won the challenge~!"


    <em>— Congrats!</em>


    <em>— Wow!</em>


    <em>— Let''s shoot off celebratory fireworks!</em>


    <em>Ding! Ding!</em>


    Congrattions for winning the challenge poured in and the day''s earnings fluctuated significantly.


    ***


    <em>[Beginner''s tip: If you survived, that''s all that matters.]</em>