Chapter 09…
Project Zombres.
A tragic game — already insanely popular in the English-speaking world, but domestically mostly seen as a “game for collab streams.”
Of course, the deeper you dig the more it opens up: the freedom goes infinitely deep, so there are streamers who actually make Project Zombres their main game.
For example, they farm parts and build a car themselves.
Gather building materials and make their own shelter.
Some eccentric streamers try building a bipedal robot, or put zombies on a hamster wheel to generate power.
Because the game offers so many pleasures, most viewers watch Zombres for the streamer’s weird antics.
And then there’s Lee Jihan.
“Damn it! What keeps chasing me!? Kim Suho, seriously! Kiim Suhoooo!”
He shouted for Kim Suho, but there was no answer from Kim Suho — who had turned off his mic.
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Jihan! Run! I said run!]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Kim Suho is seriously so evil lol]
[Jihan, run if you don’t want to become a zombie!]
[But how is he so fast at running?]
[It’s not an open field — so many obstacles, yet he’s that fast?]
Pfft! Paaat!
Whirrrrr!
Thud!
A kind of bizarre playstyle he’d never shown before.
A game built on creativity.
But Jihan was surviving the endless wave of zombies with pure physical skill.
Pah!
[Oh, so he said he played a parkour game]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He said he wanted to see parkour and now he’s showing parkour IN a zombie game lol]
[Ah! Our Jihan, such great physicals!]
[Maybe because it’s first-person? Feels sharp and satisfying to watch?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I feel like I’m running]
[I can’t run that well myself though;]
[Isn’t the point supposed to be being pressured? He’s escaping so well;;;]
Thump, thud!
[He’s even climbing buildings with his bare hands and sitting up there; what is this?]
[Is he a climbing athlete? How does he climb like that?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Jihan’s literally scaling the building lol]
[Manager switching views is giving us some great scenes;]
Pushed into darkness, Jihan’s hearing sharpened, and he heard something for the first time in his life — an animal-like rough breathing echoing.
Zombres — zombie + breath, the zombies’ breath.
One of the game’s features is that before a zombie pops out you hear its awful breathing and ambient sounds right up next to your ear — people praised how terrifying it was.
So the moment Jihan heard that sound, he jumped up in place, screamed, and started to run.
But the way he ran exceeded imagination.
He vaulted over obstacles; when he reached a dead end he grabbed the wall and began to climb.
He shoved his fingers into narrow gaps and, without using recoil, scaled the wall as if it were nothing.
[…Honestly, I’m more scared of him than the zombies]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ What do you mean climbing walls!]
[Our friendly neighbor Jihan-man lol]
[Is that even possible?]
[Cheonmasi! Please don’t run away! Cheonmasi!]
[Ah even Cheonma’s scared of zombies lol]
[Look at his pulling strength. See his triceps bulging lol]
[Feels like watching a fitness YouTuber lol]
Whatever it was, as long as the viewers were entertained, the streamer was doing his job.
This new sight of Jihan fleeing in a way no one had ever seen was enough to deliver fresh dopamine.
[‘JihanStreamWaitDay8’ donated ₩1,000.]
— Jihan, running alone won’t cut it. Same as with Jeg. Find a weapon first.
[‘BarksWhenFrustrated’ donated ₩1,000.]
— Woof woof! Rattle rattle! Damn, it’s not the same as Jeg, woof! As soon as you scream you draw aggro, rattle rattle!
[‘StopBeingACritic’ donated ₩1,000.]
— Don’t boss him around, we’re enjoying this too.
[‘That’sNotThePoint’ donated ₩1,000.]
— Hey hey Jihan, look under your feet, under your feet.
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[There’s no zombie movie like this lol]
[Wall-climbing streamer vs zombies stacking themselves into towers]
[He’s really being chased by those?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Look at the zombies’ teamwork lol]
[Is this a co-op (zombie) game or what?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Hundreds of zombies stacking to catch one Jihan?]
“Ugh, uuaaah!? Wh-why are they gathering like that!?”
[That’s because you screamed?]
[Seems like the sound-reactive zombies all got pulled in?]
When in his life had Jihan screamed that loud?
He’d endured until his body almost broke before — but seeing zombies stacking themselves like towers to devour him made a scream burst out.
Screech!
[He brushed past it!]
[Wow, lucky he didn’t get grabbed lol]
[But even brushing against one is risky — infection is instant game over]
[Wow Zombres is harder than I thought?]
[Nope — there are lots of cures, so if you take medicine before full infection you can survive]
His ankle burned.
It felt like it’d been scratched by a fingernail.
There are many full-dive games that simulate pain, but the heightened senses plus pain made it worse.
“Hah… hah…!”
Jihan’s spine prickled.
Smack!
He kicked a zombie’s head as it lunged.
If he could kick it off him he might be saved, but those things don’t feel pain.
Nor do they know how to give up.
They stretched out arms to grab Jihan’s ankle like maniacs.
‘I can’t stay like this.’
In the slow-motion stretch of time, Jihan had to find a way out.
He had to escape the grotesquely distorted faces of the zombies.
That was the start of the game.
Crrrunch!
Clenching his teeth, Jihan scrambled up the wall.
The rooftop of a four-story building.
As soon as he threw himself over the parapet, he paused to catch his breath.
“Hoo, hoo, hoo.”
“Grrrrrr!”
Could zombies make it up to the roof?
A normal zombie probably couldn’t, but the AI in Zombres had teamwork.
They could stack their bodies into towers so another could climb up — a bizarre phenomenon.
“Grrrrr!”
When the stack reached a certain height, one by one they began to reach the rooftop.
One, two, three, four….
The small rooftop started to fill with quite a few zombies.
“What do I do, what do I do…!”
Zombies started rushing him.
“Kraaah!”
“Ugh!”
Jihan had to make a choice.
Tatatatatak!
[???? Why there?]
[No way]
[Isn’t the building on the opposite side quite far?]
[Seriously? No, Jihan, don’t do that]
[Your ankle’s scratched; how do you think you’ll manage!]
He ran across the roof while the chat filled with screams.
And then Jihan—
Pah!
He stepped on the railing and jumped, leaving the zombies behind.
Whoossh!
A literal leap.
Was it an emergency move or a flight?
[Cheonmasi! Are you finally going to show us some air-walking!?]
Thud!
It wasn’t even a hair-raising jump; it was more than enough.
Thanks to the monstrous jump, Jihan landed easily on the opposite building’s roof.
He rolled lightly and broke his fall.
“Manager, look at that camera switch.”
[He immediately switches to third-person, what a highlight pick!]
[Wow; crisp physicals;]
[Hoo, that’s insane]
“Ugh, ugh, ugh…!”
Beads of sweat forming — how well implemented this was.
Jihan wiped imagined sweat from his brow and looked back.
“Kraaah!”
Thud thud thud!
Zombies that had been chasing him were now falling freely below between the roofs.
One, two, three.
Because the distance between roofs was quite wide, not a single zombie could clear it — they all began to plummet to the ground.
“Ugh, tsk.”
A sting and a burn.
Only then did his ankle bother him.
Just a scratch, but it was already starting to bruise bluish; Jihan’s face turned pale.
Sizzle, sizzle!
Szzzt, szzzt!
“Huh?”
[‘JihanStreamWaitDay8’ donated ₩5,000.]
— Take a deep breath, your expression is bad. That’s a radio sound. The distance seems long so you maybe can’t hear it — could be an NPC sending it.
“Ah, thank you for the ₩5,000 donation. Hoo. Hoo.”
At the first moment he was safe, heat and a noisy tone.
Plus donation TTS.
Jihan’s mind, which had been in the middle of a zombie field, was finally pulled back to reality.
[‘That’sNotThePoint’ donated ₩1,000.]
— It’s a radio. It’ll trigger when you get closer, so you gotta find medicine first.
“Thank you for the ₩1,000 donation. Medicine?”
The blacked-out vision slowly — very slowly — started to return.
In the complete dark with only moonlight and not even a streetlamp, the one thing he could depend on was the TTS.
More than the donations, the sense that he wasn’t alone made Jihan relax bit by bit.
[Right, you need to find medicine.]
[If you don’t find it you get game over. You’ll become a zombie.]
[I wonder if they’d keep data of Jihan-zombie? His physicals would be scary]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ If he becomes a zombie, is there a mission to kill Kim Suho?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No way!]
[Kim Suho ran away, he can’t be bitten to start with]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅎㅎㅎ;;;]
[He’s smiling, he’s enjoying it among us lol]
As he regained his composure he deliberately glanced at the chat window.
Fortunately, viewers seemed to be enjoying the nail-biting chase.
[How did he even think to jump between buildings like that?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I thought he’d get caught and die]
[I’ve got about 300 hours in Zombres — I’ve never seen that zombie type]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Me neither lol]
[Wow, did all the neighborhood zombies gather? What, zombies stacking to the height of a four-story building?]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Still lucky though — if it wasn’t Jihan he’d be dead already]
[Cheonmasi! Quickly find the antidote and preserve your body!]
[Usually you can find antidotes inside buildings, so go search inside one.]
“Th-thank you for the advice.”
[?]
[?????]
[What’s that? Why are you looking at the chat?]
[At last you’re looking at the chat, Jihan! I’m touched!]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why didn’t you check the chat back then during Jeg? Why only now?]
[It’s worth watching now. You were chased by so many zombies from the start. Also he’s scared of ghostly things lol]
[But his face looks a bit brighter, so that’s good.]
The chat sped up.
In the darkness he’d never known, chased by absurd monsters and feeling a little forlorn, he realized he wasn’t truly alone.
There were viewers watching him. The thought alone made his chest flutter.
—I actually want you to feel the real fun of streaming today, Jihan.
—The fun of streaming? What’s that?
—Playing with your viewers. That’s the real treat.
—…Can I do that? I’m not good at communicating.
—So consciously keep your ears open to the chat and donation TTS. Practice that one thing today; leave the rest to me.
Kim Suho’s words flashed through his head.
If this flutter of relief and excitement was “fun,” then the plan had clearly worked.
“I… when I focus my vision narrows a lot. …Still, since we’ve started streaming, I’ll try to read what you guys say as much as I can.”
[Hey, why are you smiling? Don’t smile, you’ll get attached]
[No, can men smile that prettily?]
[Oppa, my heart’s racing (clumsy)]
[Why are you smiling while being chased by zombies?]
[It feels wholesome, but that’s not the point right now.]
[‘BarksWhenFrustrated’ donated ₩1,000.]
— Woof woof! Rattle rattle! Damn! Two minutes already! If you don’t find medicine within three minutes it’s game over woof woof!
Come to think of it, his vision seemed oddly reddish.
The bluish bruise climbing his leg seemed to reach above the knee now.
His fingertips were blue and cold, and his senses felt numbed.
“So, in five minutes. I need to find the antidote, right?”
[Right?]
[Any way to do it? I don’t think so.]
[Even if you go down and search the whole building now it seems impossible?]
[Make Kim Suho revive you. What is this, dumping you in a zombie field out of nowhere]
[This stream’s ruined lol]
[Not ruined yet! Not until the stream ends! Making a comeback is Jihan’s job!]
Negative comments began to appear.
Seeing all of that, Jihan twisted his mouth into a grin.
“Let’s look. Within three minutes. The stream isn’t ruined yet. I’ll get it over with fast and go look for Kim Suho in real life.”
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Go, Jihan, go lol]
[Who wants to see Jihan bite Kim Suho? I do lol]
[‘KimPpongdda’ set a ₩50,000 mission.]
— Find and eat an antidote and survive within 3 minutes.
[Mission lol they set a mission lol]
[Already getting sucked in, I’ll add to the mission amount]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Think he can find it in 3 minutes? Not a safe bet?]
[Come on big spenders, I’ll add more.]
Starting with KimPpongdda, the mission amounts quickly rose.
“Oh, there’s this feature? Thanks for the mission. Then—”
Watching that, Jihan said, “To find the antidote I need to enter the building….”
[How do you get in?]
[That door’s probably not open? Dented objects don’t interact]
[Even a rocket launcher wouldn’t open it. Find another way.]
“Huh? No, you don’t go in through there.”
[?????]
“Windows are doors too, right?”
With that he stepped onto the railing and jumped down from the roof.
