Chapter 2

Survival Life.

It was a survival VR game with a post-apocalyptic setting which ended their service a few months ago. The story inside the game goes like this: people turned into zombies because of the spore carried by Silver Dragon meteorite, and all kinds of monsters appeared on Earth to threaten the well-being of the handful of survivors. In the meantime, ‘corrosive diseases’ spread all across the world and destroyed any kinds of metals.

The objective of the survivors would be to preserve their food and water and travel through the dangerous zones to find safe areas while fighting against monster threats. But safe zones were never truly safe. It was because monsters and zombies had the ability to find a place where survivors were gathered.

Anyway, there were all kinds of bizarre settings in Survival Life that drew a lot of anger from the users. Those settings’ difficulty was so high to the point we stagnant waters only able to find the way to beat it once we had died for countless times.

But what if it becomes reality?

I denied the information laid in front of me for a while. My eyes darted from the monitor to the scenery beyond the window. I could see children jumped down from the yellow van and swiftly held their mother’s hand who were waiting for them. On the other side, I could see students leaving the school while having a happy chat with their friends.

It was peaceful day just like usual. I couldn’t come to terms that this peaceful world would soon come to an end.

“Let’s check it once again… I mumbled the words ‘status window’ and ‘Dimensional Portal Open’ to make sure it was real, not just some weird hallucination. And turns out, it was really real. Then, I watched the re-run of the news from earlier on MeTube.

After the re-run ended, my speculation that the end was approaching had solidified into a conviction.

“Then when exactly is the End coming?” I wrinkled my forehead as I checked the video.

“July 20th…” Oh my god! It’s a month from today.

Currently it’s June 18th. In just one month and two days, I would never be able to see the peaceful street in front of my store again. Monsters which only exist in books and games will pop out on Earth, and there will be countless lunatics attacking people.

A part of the meteorite will also pour into Earth’s orbit, creating various phenomena. Gas pipes will burst and the power grid will be cut off. Then, there’s also ‘corrosive disease’. Under its terror, civilization of humanity which had stood strong for many years would collapse.

Very few people would survive the catastrophe. In fact, I’m not entirely sure that I wouldn’t turn into a zombie either.

“Well, what can I do? It will be the end once I turn into a zombie.”

Should I turn my live broadcast on to look for other stagnant waters? No, no, no, no, no. The most dangerous thing in an apocalypse was to reveal myself and all the information I have. Without an overwhelming power, exposing my existence was tantamount to suicide. In fact, that was exactly what happened in the early days of Survival Life.

Users who had barely passed the tutorial attacked users who had unique items without mercy. They didn’t care about their death since they could just start over from the tutorial. It would be amazing if I could get my hand onto an item, though. But for now, I should scrap the idea of other stagnant waters being nice to me in real life just like how they were in the game.

“They should also have a rough idea about what’s going on by now…”

Once I thought till here, I realized an interesting fact. I was the last person to keep playing Survival Life! Moreover, when I quickly moved my hand to scour through many sites and MeTube looking for information about Survival Life, I found absolutely nothing. It means, only a handful of people had information about Survival Life!

“There’s really nothing!” I shouted out loud.

Aside from rough information about the game and early game walkthrough, there was practically nothing. Even the backstory of the game couldn’t be found anywhere.

Joy slowly crept up into my heart. No one else knows. Only I know the information of Survival Life. It was all condensed into three terabytes worth of videos where I dissected the information from the game and played it for the viewers. The information included data on expansion pack updates, balance patches, and many other patches. At that time, I was extremely invested in Survival Life, so I enjoyed making such videos a lot.

“I didn’t expect it to be helpful now.”

Come to think of it, the developers of Survival Life should know better than I do. I was curious about their identities, but even if I tried to find out about it, I would not find any answers. What’s important right now is…

“Preparing for the future.”

Only those who prepare for the end will survive.

It should be like that.

.

.

.

“Let’s stay calm, calm.” I let out a long breath. Let’s calm down and think about what I need to do.

Weapons, food, tools, medicine, and so on came to mind. I have to collect all those things before the end comes. How? Of course with money.

“The store won’t be available just yet.” As far as I remember, the store doesn’t open until players reach level 10. There’s also a chance that it won’t open at all.

“How much money do I currently have…” I checked my account as I asked myself those questions. It was 73 million won. This was the result of having a frugal life for three whole years after opening the snack bar.

Can I store all the things I will buy here in my house? It might be possible, since It would be hard for looters to break in.

Is there any safer place? A place where no one knows and only I could enter.

I opened the status window and blankly stared at it. The forest on the other side of the portal was certainly suitable as a warehouse. Moreover, as the forest was certainly a different world from Earth, it was safe to assume that the corrosive disease wouldn’t reach there.

“There are monsters there, but…” I could just fight and kill them all, turning this into my own territory. There’s no reason to be afraid of the forest when the peaceful world outside would soon turn into a hellhole. On the contrary, the forest will become a safe haven which should be pioneered.

There were also animals there, so if i could hunt well, I won’t face any food problems. Moreover, I won’t have to be worried about the supply of water there since I remember hearing the sound of flowing water when I was there.

“All right.” I pulled myself together and opened the portal. As I stepped in and breathed the fresh cold air, I thought about what I needed to live in the forest.

Tent…Weapons…Food… Water…. And…Many other things. In particular, it was important to bought a lot of metal equipment since the metals on earth would be destroyed by the corrosive disease.

“I need weapons, too…” Should I order it from foreign workshop? If the corrosive disease spreads in this forest too, I’ll be damned though. I will be forced to live a real primitive life. But well… Let’s just prepare as much as I can.

“I need to take out a loan with the building as collateral…” 73 million won was not enough to buy all the necessary supplies. Especially the power supply. I need to keep checking through the 3-terabytes worth of videos, but where will I draw the electricity from of I don’t have a source of power?

“Solar generator sounds good…” aside from that, there’s also an option of buying a generator and stock up on a lot of diesel fuel. I also heard that these days many people in foreign country use a hydropower generators for electricity. How can I learn that? My thoughts started to run rampant because of all the thoughts I had. That’s why, I returned back to my house and took out a notepad before pouring all my thoughts on it.

From time to time, I searched through the forum while writing. People were still busy fighting about the authenticity of the status window.

ㄴLMFAO, these bastards are really funny. Why are you still working hard at school? In two months, the world will be gone, you crazy bastard.

ㄴHere comes the next zombie.

Unfortunately for him, there’s one thing he is wrong about. The zombie crisis would take place in a month and two days, not in two months.

ㄴI think I’m the only one who can survive amongst all the people here LOL. Just be a zombie you idiot LOL. Do you think you’re the only one who knows the game? LOL.

The game they were talking about was of course Survival Live. Even though it was such a minor game, more than thousands of people had experienced the tutorials. They simply quit as soon as they finished the tutorial because of the hellish difficulty of the game.

The guy who’s pulling the aggro right now must be one of them. Those who had sincerely played Survival Life wouldn’t do something meaningless like that. Instead they would prepare for the end quietly like me.

One person complained after finally being annoyed by the user’s aggressive attitude.

ㄴYou funny little thing. Do you think you’re not going to get fucked if you just go on your own? Don’t you think the developers would also know about all this? Sooner or later, guys in black suits will come to your house LOL.

ㄴWill you still be able to look at the status window when they catch you alive and pull your eyes out? LOL

ㄴWhy aren’t you replying anymore? Cat got your finger? LOL.

“Wait a minute…” If what that guy said was true, wouldn’t it become dangerous for me, too? If Survival Life developers knew about all this, they would naturally know about my information. Guys in black suits would knock on my door soon!

“Let’s stay calm, calm…” If push come to shove, I still have my last line of defence; the dimension door. They might also have the same ability as me, but they wouldn’t be able to catch me.

“I need to at least have some equipment ready.”

In case I suddenly enter the forest, I need equipment and food that would last for several days. I once again opened the door and was about to put a pack of bottled water inside, but I stopped.

“Those stinky goblins…” I groaned.

I could be in danger if they found the bottled water and food. Who knows what they would do afterwards? If they decide to camp there while I run away from the black suit guys, it wouldn’t be pretty. I should store all the food and equipment once I secure a safe zone.

“Let’s pack a basic survival kit first.” I took out my backpack and put some ramyun and canned spam into it. It’s a good which was not good for health, but who would care about such things in an apocalyptic world? Then, I put knives, flashlights, lighters, wipes, locks, gloves, bandages and some candies. After taking out the tent I used to use for fishing from the storage room, the size of my luggage was quite a sight.

“If they really come, I just have to throw this bag in before I enter.” I would run away as soon as the black suit guys knocked on my door. For now, there was no choice but to act cautiously.

Watching the forum and making lists, I was only able to fall asleep once the dawn come. By the way, there seems to be quite a few people who got the status window.

When I looked at the comments in the community related to the current situation, the reaction was rather cold. Some people even cursed at the poster and accused their post as nothing but to promote the survivalist community. Well, it’s only natural since when we dig up those who incite us with strange information, the root was always money.

For the general public, the poster’s words would look like a deliberate attempt to spread anxiety.

“That’s none of my business.” I could prepare for the end quietly just by myself. Fortunately… or is it unfortunate? I have no blood relatives. To be exact, I have relatives, but it has been a long time since I cut off my connection with them. I don’t know if it’s okay to be so cold-hearted like this. But for me, my own survival is the top-most priority.

Then, when the sun finally came out, I ran to the main branch of the bank I used and took out a loan. The collateral was of course my old two-story building.

The official hinted that approval would be dropped within a week, perhaps due to the fact I had no other debt and my credit had good ratings.

Then he asked me.

“What is the purpose for this loan?”

“I’m going to remodel the store. It’s quite old you see.”

“Oh, then you won’t be able to do business for a while. That’s too bad.”

It turned out that the person in charge also ate tteokbokki and gimbap that I made for the students.

It’s true that I wouldn’t do business for a while. Though, it wasn’t because of remodeling.

When I came back to my store with several survival necessities I had bought, the shutter of the store was down even during the business hours. It was because I thought it was pointless to work on the snack bar since the end is approaching.

I stood in front of the store and looked around. It was peaceful just like usual. Maybe I’m just making a fuss by myself. What if nothing happens in a month?

“Well, I’ll just suffer for two or three years.” If I dispose of all the things I had bought secondhand, how much will I get?

After thinking like that, I started to clean my house before going out to buy a compound bow with 60 pounds draw weight which has been placed in the local flea market. According to the seller, he had bought it because he thought he would use it instead of an air gun during the hunting season. However, it was more difficult to handle than he had thought.

With the bow, I could attack the goblins without any problem.

As I was on my way to the second floor, someone walked out from the hair salon next door. It was the owner of the hair salon as well as my regular customer. She was wrapped in white shorts and white shirt.

“Fyuuuh.” She sighed as she stretched out her legs and arms. Her shirt went up slightly, exposing her white belly to my eyes. I turned my head pretending not to see it and tried to climb up, but unfortunately, she had found me.

“Oh. You aren’t doing business today?”

“Ah yes, well, I’m going to remodel the store.”

“Wow, you must have made a lot of money.”

“Not really…” I smiled awkwardly and went up the stairs, then I heard her voice behind my back.

“By any chance…”

Oh, no, I’m already on the second floor. Nevermind, she was probably just wondering when she could eat tteokbokki again anyway.

Let’s just do what I need to do.