The next morning, I left the department store and headed towards a warehouse on the outskirts of the city.
The journey there felt like unwrapping a Christmas present.
Not that I've ever received anything like a Christmas present.
'How are they doing, I wonder.'
No way they're dead, right?
It's possible, though.
Maybe they gave up on life and offered themselves to the zombies right after I got them.
If that's the case, I'll just have to be content with tossing their corpses to the folks back at the dorm later.
Screech.
The van came to a halt with a groan on the sandy ground near the construction site.
Honestly, I wanted to send a pigeon to check on the situation inside, but there's no fun in that, so I decided to visit in person.
Of course, there are no survivors around here.
I had the pigeons do some reconnaissance earlier, confirming that only those bastards are inside.
'Oh, that reminds me of that gaming addict girl...'
Come to think of it, she's not entirely absent.
That rich girl lived a bit further away, but not too far.
But she's not close enough to worry about.
Grind, grind.
The long-closed iron door of the warehouse creaked as it opened.
Seeing both the door and the garage on the other side were still locked, it's clear that only those bastards are still inside.
"Hello~. Have you two been well?"
I approached the two with a cheerful wave, feeling genuinely happy.
They were crouched in the corner of the container, illuminated by my flashlight.
They seemed to have been asleep, slowly lifting their heads at the sound of my voice and the light.
"I, Ishoho...!!"
Private Kim Seok-ho called out to me with a hoarse voice, rushing over and kneeling.
"As expected, you didn't abandon us...! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
'He's half out of his mind.'
His eyes were mad.
Well, I'd be the same.
Surrounded by zombies trying to eat you, without light, water, or food, waiting for an end that might never come.
They must have given up hope until they saw me, feeling like I was their only savior.
Corporal Seong Ho-su was no different, crawling towards me, tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong... Please, forgive me just this once. Please, have mercy..."
Seong Ho-su, drained of energy, barely made it to me and pleaded, bowing deeply.
Maybe after I left, he had some epiphany during an argument with his junior.
Or perhaps, being locked up here for two days made him even more desperate.
"Hmm... What should I do?"
I crouched in front of these groveling ones, pretending to ponder with my chin in hand.
At this, both men, covered in tears, started speaking urgently.
"Please! Please spare us! We'll do whatever you say!"
"We'll do anything! Even if you tell us to bring back the platoon leader's head, no, that bastard Kang Hae-seok's head, we'll do it right away!"
Their eyes were sincere.
They really wanted to live.
I knew that look well.
Because I had it once.
"But you guys didn't spare me when I begged, did you?"
My cold gaze swept over them, and their desperate faces hardened with despair.
"And if you want to make a deal, do it properly. ...Do I really need to ask you to cut off Kang Hae-seok's head?"
Although right now, I only have the ability to control pigeons, I am an invincible necromancer in this zombie world.
Given time, there are plenty of ways to deal with him in his current state.
But more importantly, my grudge isn't only against Kang Hae-seok.
These two also did quite a bit to me when I was starving.
"So, ...so we're just going to die here?"
Kim Seok-ho, trembling, asked the question he had been avoiding.
They must've wanted to believe otherwise, but now they had to face the truth.
To his pitiful, tearful question, I smiled kindly.
"No way."
At my smile, their eyes wavered.
I knew that look too.
It's the look of someone who's found a sliver of hope when they were told they'd be spared if they brought back food from the department store.
I smirked and tossed an envelope in front of them.
"T, this is!"
They opened it with trembling hands and wide eyes.
Inside was food.
Enough to survive for a few more days if eaten sparingly, including drinks.
"I only need to kill one of you."
Seeing the food before their starving eyes, I dangled an enticing proposal.
They looked at me with a will to live.
...
And a day passed.
"You bastard!!"
Thud, thud.
Kim Seok-ho's fists sharply struck Seong Ho-su's face, splattering blood and saliva across the container.
"Oh, Seok-ho's doing well."
After giving them the food, I set one condition:
"Eat all of this today. If there's anything left when I come back tomorrow, I'll kill you both."
The food was meant to replenish their strength for one day.
It wouldn't be fun to fight if they were too weak from hunger.
Of course, how much they could recover after starving for days was questionable.
"Wow, you've regained a lot of energy in just one day?"
When I returned the next day, they were looking at me with tense, determined faces.
They still didn't know what I would make them do, but they had some guesses.
I told them I only needed to kill one.
"From now on, fight each other until one of you can't fight anymore. The winner gets to leave."
That was my condition.
And immediately, the swift Kim Seok-ho kicked Seong Ho-su in the head.
'He really has a strong will to live.'
Normally, comrades who've lived together would hesitate to beat each other to unconsciousness for survival.
But if they didn't, they'd die.
Kim Seok-ho, realizing this first, started the brawl with his kicks.
"Ho-su, don't you want to live? If you want to die, just take the beating~!"
I watched their fight while enjoying chips and cola from the department store.
"You fucking bastard!!"
Finally, Seong Ho-su, regaining his senses, charged at Kim Seok-ho with beastly eyes, beating him like he wanted to kill him.
"Ah, don't kill him! If you do, I'll kill the one who did!"
Of course, they couldn't.
If one died in the fight, I didn't know if the quest would count as completed.
That's why the condition was to fight until one couldn't continue.
"It seems they can't hear me."
They seemed to have lost their rationality in their struggle to survive.
If one passes out, I'll have to shoot the ceiling to stop them.
'Watching a fight is so damn fun.'
I enjoyed their struggle for life with my chips, having thought about various ways to torment them.
Like tying up male and female zombies with their teeth removed and having the two play rock-paper-scissors for the right to use the female zombie.
'...But there's a risk of infection, so pass.'
Moreover, watching a man with a zombie would be too gross for me.
So, I opted for this straightforward, muddy fight for survival.
"Die! Die! Die!"
"I said not to kill him."
Before I knew it, Kim Seok-ho had reversed the mount and was now pummeling Seong Ho-su.
In terms of physique, Seong Ho-su should have had the advantage.
Kim Seok-ho was just over 170 cm, slightly muscular.
Seong Ho-su, however, was in the 180 cm range with significant weight.
'But it's fucking fun when the underdog wins.'
I expected Seong Ho-su to crush Kim Seok-ho, but Kim's will to live was stronger.
He overcame the size difference with sheer determination.
If things got too dangerous, he'd even bite to win.
Crunch!
"Arrrgh!!!"
Seong Ho-su screamed as Kim Seok-ho bit into his shoulder, much like a zombie would.
He clutched his arm, looking terrified at his junior, who was now glaring at him like an animal.
'He's lost.'
Seong Ho-su had already lost in spirit.
Kim Seok-ho showed he was ready to kill to win.
That's how strong his will to live was.
"Die, you fucking bastard!!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Kim Seok-ho mercilessly stomped on Seong Ho-su's face, who was trembling against the container wall.
His full weight came down with each strike.
Crack, crack.
Teeth flew out with each hit.
"Hey, hey! Stop!"
Bang!
Kim Seok-ho's savage beating only stopped when I fired a shot.
He looked at me, breathing heavily, his eyes shaking.
Then, realizing what he had done, he glanced at Seong Ho-su.
His nose was broken, his eyes were swollen shut, most of his teeth were shattered.
But he was still breathing.
Relieved, Kim Seok-ho quickly prostrated himself before me, trembling.
"Please...! Please spare me...!"
The guy who just beat his comrade to a pulp was now pleading before me like a scared child.
It was laughable.
"Did you want to live that badly?"
"Please spare my life...!! Please! Please, just my life!!"
He seemed to realize his fate was in my hands.
He just kept begging, trembling like he was praying to God.
"Hey, but you scared me. If I let you out, you won't do that to me, right?"
"Never! I swear! I'll even break my own bones if I have to! I won't ever show my teeth to Ishoho, so please, just let me live!"
He was sincere, rubbing his hands together.
His eyes, full of madness, streamed tears and snot as he looked at me.
"Well, alright."
I stood up, stretching my legs, and pointed my K2 rifle into the container.
"Eek!"
Kim Seok-ho's face went pale as he watched the muzzle, then...
Bang!
At the gunshot, he covered his face with both hands, trembling.
Of course, I didn't shoot him.
"...Ugh."
Seong Ho-su, who had been mortally wounded by Kim Seok-ho, let out a short breath and died from the shot to his chest.
He was nearly dead anyway, but I took the final blow for the quest.
I handed two items to Kim Seok-ho, who was staring at me with trembling eyes.
"T, this is..."
"Use that to tie your feet, and put the blindfold on yourself. Then I'll let you out."
"Oh...! Th, thank you...!! Thank you...!!"
Kim Seok-ho, with tears streaming down, looked at me like a saved believer.
He eagerly started tying his feet with the tape I gave him, ensuring it wouldn't come loose, then put the blindfold over his eyes.
"Give me your hands."
Rip, rip.
After securing his hands through the bars, Kim Seok-ho was fully bound.
"Wait a bit. It'll take some time."
"Yes! I'll wait as long as you need!"
Now he could live. Now he could leave this place.
With that thought, he didn't lose the smile on his face despite being bound and blindfolded.
I then dealt with the nearby zombies, cleaning up the warehouse enough for Kim Seok-ho to be safe once released.
"Damn, this bastard's heavy."
"I'm sorry!"
I was just joking; he was lighter than I expected.
Maybe because he hadn't eaten properly and lost weight.
This guy, with his starved body, managed to nearly kill Seong Ho-su.
I realized again that if you really want to live, there's nothing you can't do.
I took Kim Seok-ho to the department store.
"W, where are we going...?"
"There's a nice place."
"Is it the dorm...?"
"Do you want to die?"
"Sorry! I'll keep quiet."
I wasn't taking him to the dorm to befriend him or anything.
I parked at the first-floor parking lot of the department store and let him out.
Still heavy but lighter than an average adult male.
I cut the tape around his feet with scissors.
"Walk from here."
I put a large dog collar around his neck, and he nodded silently, looking tense.
The first floor and parking lot of the department store were zombie-free, thanks to my diligent cleanup when I brought O Na-yeon here.
It took some work, but I got the hang of it and moved the zombies outside.
With that many zombies outside, no one would dare approach.
"Ishoho, can you tell me where we're going...?"
Unable to contain his curiosity, Kim Seok-ho asked while we were heading to the basement.
In the basement, I silently removed his blindfold.
"Here... Eek!"
"Shut up. No sound. Unless you want to die."
Kim Seok-ho inhaled sharply at the sight before him but nodded at my command.
The basement, like the first floor, was organized by me.
Full of zombies, but now with a path made of shelves and barricades leading to a crystal floating in the air.
"Move forward."
With my gun pointed at his back, he had no choice but to move.
He must have sensed something was wrong by now.
"Ishoho...!"
When he reached the crystal, Kim Seok-ho, seeing the mysterious object, called out to me in fear.
"Please...! Please spare me!"
Like a child, he cried, looking at me with desperate eyes.
I gave him a gentle smile and said:
"I said I'd kill one of you, not that I'd save you."
"...What?"
I then pressed the [Yes] button on the status window.
The message read:
[Would you like to enhance the crystal?]
"...Ah, ...ahh."
Kim Seok-ho, feeling something unusual happening, showed eyes of despair, then turned into glowing particles absorbed by the crystal.
I checked the quest window immediately after:
Ding.
[Survival Quest - 3
Base Expansion
To strengthen your base, grow the crystal.
The current material needed for the crystal's growth is a living human.
Living human 1/1]
"With this, I've cleared the survival quest, growth quest, and even the main quest."
One transaction, and I got to eat a virgin, take revenge, and enhance the crystal.
What a fucking win.
Thinking about this, I smiled happily.
'Now, shall I go work on Na-yeon's womb?'
With anticipation about what ability I would gain next, I headed upstairs.