episode_0017

017

The Guy’s Whereabouts

The well disappeared on its own as time passed.

We took a short break.

There would be no additional tracking.

The remaining stores use weapons that cannot travel long distances.

For instance, the pizza place uses a giant iron spatula as a weapon.

Weight aside, that spatula only functions properly when heated in the oven.

The other stores are all like this.

Either the weapon is attached to the store, or it noticeably weakens when it moves away.

Because of this characteristic, there were occasionally some Stage 3 users who chose to leave things be.

But it’s not a particularly good choice.

Because the concept of Stage 3 itself is ‘buffs through food,’ even dwarves can make and eat food.

‘Let’s just do the minimum amount of maintenance and depart.’

I did not summon additional zombies.

The essential problem is the lack of weapons.

If you had to choose between feeding them or turning them into zombies, turning them into zombies is generally better.

Because if a zombie dies, it ultimately becomes a corpse again.

But if weapons are mixed in, the calculation is flipped.

This is because a single enhanced zombie holding a weapon can sometimes perform better than 10 or more regular zombies.

‘If only I could secure weapons stably…’

I would command a mighty army.

To be precise, all users are essentially a one-person army.

But I can bind them all together with the snare of death and resurrection and possess them.

I took on the task of going around the battlefield and picking out the weapons that were still usable.

This is because zombies have low intelligence and aren’t good at distinguishing what a ‘usable weapon’ is.

After seeing a guy who, when told to pick up a weapon, picked up a rock from nearby instead, I’m just doing it myself.

Accordingly, the right to distribute corpses was handed over to Bangnae.

Bangnae is riding on the shoulders of the newly arrived large guy and checking on the injured.

It seems that zombie has become Bangnae’s new boots.

She classified them into minor and serious injuries and distributed meat.

Of course, all the brains are neatly piling up in Bangnae’s spot.

After finishing the distribution, Bangnae called the dogs.

And she gave them one brain each.

‘My goodness…!’

It was the first time I had seen Bangnae distributing brains.

The large guy who joined as a newcomer also watches Bangnae, seemingly wanting to eat a brain.

But Bangnae is firm.

Her logic is that since the newcomer didn’t eat health juice or pufferfish, he can’t eat brains.

The dogs next to them bark loudly.

Bangnae echoes the dogs’ barking.

“That’s right. You didn’t exercise either.”

The large zombie with 6 arms lets them droop.

“Woo…”

The newcomer looks at me.

He looks like he’s hoping for something.

‘As expected, it’s probably right for me to say something.’

I approached them and delivered a sharp remark.

“The youngest is being greedy? Without any manners.”

At my words, Bangnae hits the large guy repeatedly.

The dogs also bark loudly.

The newcomer is simply sad.

***

Linzel’s Research Lab.

As a mid-level manager of the system, she was wearing a satisfied smile.

This was because the central system had isolated the little punk in another dimension.

This was a natural course of action.

It doesn’t make sense for there to be no sanctions after invading the central system so carelessly.

It was a punishment for increasing Linzel’s workload.

“Hehe, serves that damn kid right.”

Of course, even with dimensional isolation, he won’t be kept away for long.

But it’s enough.

That amount of time will allow large corporations to approach the zombie summoner and proceed with sponsorship.

In fact, there was a record that the large corporation ‘Death’ had sponsored that summoner.

No matter who he is, he cannot face ‘Death’ alone.

But the joy was short-lived; this time, an unwelcome message arrived.

It also came from the central system.

The content was that the [System Error Compensation] that the kid should receive was being prolonged due to the isolation.

‘Why tell me that…’

It was an instruction for her to pay additional compensation due to the delay in compensation payment.

‘So why should I pay it!’

But she soon had no choice but to comply.

This was because the data she had sent to ‘Death’ and ‘Heavenly Realm’ were attached at the very bottom of the message.

The central system, instead of turning a blind eye to Linzel’s small deviation, had dumped a bothersome task on her.

But this is more bothersome than expected.

If Linzel directly pays compensation to the zombie summoner, it will leave a record.

Then the large corporations will identify the summoner, which will lead to a violation of information regulations, not just a deviation.

‘In the end, it means I have to give the compensation indirectly…’

After a moment of thought, Linzel sent a message to someone among her sponsored targets who had the same origin as the zombie summoner.

[Find the summoner who returned to reality. And support him.]

Was I dumped with a chore?

Then I just need to dump the task on someone else again.

The summoner to whom the message was sent is currently operating a high-level guild in Stage 7.

This much, even the central system will approve.

What the zombie summoner gains from this compensation is entirely up to him.

She hummed a tune and headed towards the bedroom.

Having heard good news after a long time, she would spend some time dreaming.

Thump –

The light in Linzel’s research lab went out.

***

[Find the summoner who returned to reality. And support him.]

Kim Seol-hwa, who was operating the Looters Guild in Stage 7, had exactly one thought the moment she saw the message.

‘I’m screwed.’

Seol-hwa, too, had initially put in all sorts of effort to find the user after seeing the post about returning to reality.

After much trouble, she confirmed there was a connection to a user named ‘Expert,’ and even swallowed her pride to send a humble recruitment offer to a mere Stage 3 newbie.

But she was rejected.

From there, a crack formed in Seol-hwa’s pride.

‘How dare he. How dare he. How dare he. A mere Stage 3.’

So, from then on, she became a malicious commenter targeting the ‘Returnee’.

Her guild members also joined in.

Since they were guys who were doing the Looters Guild from the start, the trend of tearing someone down gained full momentum.

This trend flowed very favorably for Seol-hwa.

This was because, in addition to the ‘Returnee’s’ brazen behavior, numerous high-level guilds who were utterly enraged by ‘Expert’s’ refusal to recruit transformed into anti-fans.

And finally, 10 high-level guilds were integrated, and the ‘Returnee Anti-Club’ was established.

As the first president of the Anti-Club, she had even given a venomous speech in front of numerous users.

Just 2 hours ago!

But then, such a message arrived from the sponsor.

‘I’m really… screwed.’

Behind her, pulling at her hair, the vice president entered.

A tall man with a handsome face worried about Seol-hwa.

“President. Is something the matter?”

Seol-hwa instantly cleared away the message from the sponsor.

And she stiffened her face and spoke.

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s unreasonable. Through this mobilization, we integrated all servers and built a large-scale human network, but we still haven’t found a clue about that guy.”

“That’s because he’s a fake.”

“Of course he’s a fake! But I’m talking about the culprit. Shouldn’t we make him pay the price for daring to mock top-tier users with trashy, disruptive posts?”

“Those are wise words.”

“Let’s create a specialized search team. Let’s make searching the top priority to find the fake returnee, and the resources the search team needs will be compensated by the club… Yes. That would be good.”

“In that case, the existing agenda items…”

“They are temporarily discarded. Make identifying the trash’s identity the top priority. This club was created because of that guy; if we do other tasks first, the club’s meaning might fade.”

The vice president, who had been considering, soon agreed and nodded his head.

“It will be done as commanded.”

The vice president left.

Seol-hwa pulled at her hair again.

How on earth should this situation be resolved?

The club is not simply at the level of a large guild.

There are a total of 5 servers in Stage 7, and 2 guilds from each server participated to form a giant alliance.

It is larger than any organization created until now.

“Ugh! Damn it!”

Kim Seol-hwa tried sending a message to the sponsor, but there was no reply.

The sponsor, who always replied within 10 seconds, had disappeared after leaving just that one message.

‘I’m really utterly screwed…’

Kim Seol-hwa found herself in a situation where, as the president of the Returnee Anti-Fan Club, she had to support him.

***

The zombie horde is approaching the food street.

A resonant sound is heard.

“Advance!”

I found a very good use for the newcomer.

This guy has a voice that sounds like 10 people singing in chorus.

“Everyone halt!”

That’s right. The newcomer is playing a very excellent role as a megaphone.

“Hmm. Good.”

“Hmm! Good!”

‘…Except for the fact that his intelligence is a bit lacking…’

Bangnae hits him repeatedly on the large guy’s shoulder.

The newcomer also realizes he made a mistake and makes a dejected expression.

I glared at Bangnae.

That guy was also nothing short of a fool when I first met her, but now that she’s grown a bit, she’s bullying the newcomer.

“Bangnae, don’t eat all the brains yourself. Give some away so the kids can at least gain minimum intelligence.”

Bangnae makes a thinking face.

Then she replies.

“Okay.”

Somehow, I expect she’ll give about 1 out of 100 she gets, like she did with the dogs.

For now, I turned off my concern and scanned the front.

I see the small business owners coming out to greet us at the sound of customers arriving.

It is the start of the final battle of 3-2.