novelnext Season 2: Chapter 246: Group Project (2)
Season 2: Chapter 246: Group Project (2)
Season 2: Chapter 246: Group Project (2)
Only a desk stood between Almond and the zombie with bubbling acidic fluid.
Rumble...
As he watched the acidic fluid bubbling, it seemed like the desk would melt like ice cream. Almond had no means to block the attack. That wasn’t all.
[Panic]
[Physical movement will be slowed by more than 90%]
His body, damned as it was, experienced a panic state in this crucial moment. Almond had struggled considerably during the early access period of Zombie School since his character had a frail body.
Was this a similar concept? Wasn't his character ostracized and bullied back then?
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
Eventually, the zombie spewed out the acidic fluid.
— So cool
— Failing right from the start? Lol
— Ah, panic!!
— ??? I'm a fan!
Ssssss...
His flesh disappeared in an instant like bubbles, revealing white bones, and his vision quickly dimmed. His body collapsed.
Then, it went completely dark.
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling di~ng ding-a-ling ding-a-ling di~ng♪♩
The school bell rang again.
‘Huh?’
***
"Yawn. What's next? Language class?"
"Ah. Nap time again."
"It's Korean, right? Not math? I haven't borrowed the book for math yet..."
Almond opened his eyes to the sound of students chatting.
'It's a classroom... a normal one.'
This time, it was a classroom he knew well and not something from a horror movie. After class, the students were laughing and chatting.
"Ah~ I'm sleepy~~~"
"When do we go home~?"
"What's at home?"
"He pretends to go home. This guy. He's going to the PC cafe."
Morning sunlight bathed the classroom. It felt warm and peaceful, for now at least.
— ???
— Eh?
— Regression...
— Yu Sang-Hyeon creating elites!?
— Ah, it's the prologue lol
The chat speculated that he had returned to the past. Then, was what he saw earlier the future?
"Hey. How long are you going to sleep? Get up. Let’s go to the snack bar."
Someone grabbed Almond's shoulder and shook him.
[Oh Ji-Hoon]
He checked the name tag that read Oh Ji-Hoon.
Ji-Hoon made eye contact with him and asked again, "Aren't you going to the snack bar? Where's your name tag? If the teacher catches you, it’ll be a headache~"
Ji-Hoon's tone sounded a bit cheeky, but he seemed genuinely friendly and wasn’t a bully.
Ding.
[Find your name tag.]
The game seemed more friendly than before. Almond thought so as he searched his pockets. He quickly found it in his right pocket, but the name tag was blank without a name.
Ding.
[Set your name.]
This was where he named himself.
[Almond]
"What's this? Almond, why do you keep your name tag in your pocket? Anyway, let's go to the snack bar."
"Ah, right."
Almond stood up to memorize the school's layout and wanted to look for the other players.
Then, this message appeared.
[Find other teammates who had the same dream.]
— Why does the message sound like that? lol
— Isn't it like textbook language? Because it's a school? lol
— Oh. It must be referring to Tako and Gum.
Finding his teammates was the first task.
Almond followed Ji-Hoon to the snack bar. Perhaps they would all meet at the snack bar.He went downstairs and headed to the snack bar while following Ji-Hoon.
It was a familiar place.
'These are the stairs where we transported bread with the snack bar girl.'
The scale felt a bit larger, but the school’s structure remained almost identical to the previous version.
However—
"What's this?" Almond muttered to himself unknowingly.
He encountered one of the large mirrors usually found on the school stairways.
— Eh?
— Oh what? Almond's face is in the game
— Different concept from before
— But is that Almond? Looks a bit different
"Just go."
— lol Just go lol
— Fact: If it was a real school, he'd have gone without a word.
— Just go lol
Ji-Hoon only yelled out even more out of frustration despite Almond's persistent urging, "Ah! I'm going to eat bread and then go! If anyone's going, you go!!"
Surprisingly, it was Bubblegum who calmed the almost-possessed Ji-Hoon.
"Hey, hey! Calm down! That's why I bought several!"
Bubblegum distributed bread to Ji-Hoon and the other students near them.
Ji-Hoon's face, which had turned red, quickly calmed down.
"Uh... what!? You're really just giving it away? This is the loyalty of Class 3!"
It sounded like his likability was increasing.
Swish.
"Wow, thanks."
"I'll enjoy it."
Once they received their bread, all the students returned to the classroom first. It was that simple.
"Alright."
Clap!
Takoyaki clapped once to gather their attention.
"Now that they’re gone, let’s talk quickly. Both of you..." Takoyaki nodded at the two faces and started speaking, "Did you see any running zombies?"
Running zombies? Was there such a thing? No matter how much he tried to remember, Almond had never seen such a thing. It wasn't even the right setting. All he had seen in the classroom was a zombie waking up like a corpse and spitting acid.
Could he have unknowingly pressed the skip button? Almond, who had experienced unique progressions in this game, even considered this possibility.
"Uh? Run... Did they run? Hmm..."
Bubblegum also seemed unsure.
"Huh? Didn't you see them? Some zombies were running around. Like... trying to block the main entrance of a building with bars and failing. Then they ran away..."
"What are you talking about, Tako? It was the playground."
"... What?"
Almond interjected, "Uh, I was in the classroom."
— Are the dreams different??
— What, different dreams?
— Couldn't even dream properly NG
“What...?”
Takoyaki awkwardly stroked his hair and tilted his head.
"Ah."
Clap.
He clapped as if realizing something.
"We each received different hints."
"!"
"That's right. It's only natural that our dreams are different. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any reason to ask us to share them."
"Ah. So you mean we compare our dreams and prepare for what might happen in the future?"
"That’s right!"
— Oh...
— Game experience is intense
— As expected from the prophetic octopus
Takoyaki suggested a plausible hypothesis.
The only dream Almond had was dying in panic due to a zombie spitting acid. This information was hardly enough to save students during a zombie outbreak, but if each of their dreams was different?
That changed things. By combining the information from each dream, they could find some direction.
"Bubblegum said he was at the playground and I was at the main entrance. Almond?"
"I was in the classroom, but everyone was dead. I'm not sure if I was knocked out or sleeping. When I woke up, I ran into a zombie spitting something and died."
"Spitting what?"
"That... like hydrochloric acid."
"Ah..."
“Oof,” Bubblegum seemed to have a weak stomach and almost gagged. However, he continued chewing on his bread despite that.
"To put these dreams together... we need to know the sequence of events. The order in which things happened."
"Right. Otherwise, it's all separate."
"Almond said the students were already dead at his scene. What about you, bro? Were they mostly zombies?"
"No. No, it wasn't. There were more students. Just as the zombies were starting to enter the school."
"Ah."
Takoyaki nodded as if he roughly understood.
"So the order would be your dream, then mine, and then Almond's."
"Ooh..."
Bubblegum pretended to be impressed and scratched his head.
"But... why is it like that?"
At Bubblegum’s question, Almond quietly perked up his ears. He didn't know either.
— Why is he asking? lol
— lol
— That’s classic Gum~
— Almond looking around quietly waiting for an answer lol
— Almond~ I can see your eyeballs rolling~
— It doesn’t seem like this team project will be easy.