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Season 2: Chapter 12. True Survival (3)

He concluded that it was just a terrible game concept.

— Denial of reality LOL

— If the NPC is talking like that, it feels legit though LOL

— OMG, are we going to see our Almond do his business!? Eeek! (Thud)

— If it\'s true, this is such a hard game LOL

Almond didn\'t want to believe that this type of setting could be real. If it were, wouldn\'t it be terribly embarrassing for streamers?

More importantly, the game\'s difficulty level would skyrocket.

"... Hey, are you listening? How do we handle the bathroom situation? We need to go down the hallway."

The convenience store worker pointed beyond a metal door.

Bang! Bang...!

Even now, someone was banging on that door.

"Well... maybe we\'ll think about it when the time comes."

"What? It\'ll be too late by then! Are you suggesting we use paper bags and toss them outside? And showers? Are we going to wear the same clothes? You really stink, you know?"

"It\'s not my clothes..."

"Anyway!"

— Convenience store lady is on fire LOL

— ??? Oh... Found a new challenge.

— An NPC doing the thinking for Almond.

— And clothes too? That AI is no joke.

"Hygiene is directly linked to survival. My major is food hygiene, you know?"

Wow, she was really putting her degree to work. Almond couldn\'t help but admire that amid everything.

"People don\'t just die from being stabbed, you know. If your hygiene deteriorates, you\'ll slowly die. Modern people don\'t realize it because they have antibiotics and easy hospital access."

She went on and on about the importance of hygiene.

Almond carefully listened and finally retorted, "So, who\'s going?"

He pointed at the door that still pounded.

Bang! Bong! Boom!

"Who\'s going to go out there? The bathroom is outside, after all."

It was like fitting a bell to a cat\'s collar. Who would lead the charge instead of merely talking? The current situation was similar. All these hygiene and waste management considerations were good, but who would step up to handle them? That was the real issue.

"Am I a candidate?" the shaggy-haired boy finally spoke.

"Even if you aren’t, are you going to volunteer?”

— Why is Almond angry? LOL

— He\'s flustered after being told off.

— Oh, he\'s so cranky~ I kind of like it~

— He does have a point though LOL

— The shaggy-haired boy is probably just saying that to gain some leverage LOL.

The shaggy-haired boy stared at Almond for a long time and nodded.

"No, I can\'t leave. I\'m staying here. So, the three of us are a team then."

‘Team?’ Almond tilted his head in confusion. He hadn\'t thought of it that way... but the boy was right. After all, they were now a team.

— Almond doesn\'t seem to think they’re a team, lol.

— ??? Team? Who?

— Hellish Group Work ON!

— Why do we have such a socially destructive system like group assignments in high school...?

"Yes, for now. That seems to be the case."

Ding.

At that moment, a notification sounded.

[The boy with the big head distrusts you.]

[The convenience store clerk is skeptical of you.]

It was a message regarding what the NPCs thought.

[Sense of Belonging has been activated.]

Not only that, Almond received a new status.

— A sense of belonging? Lol.

— It\'s a status that community users have, huh? Lol.

— When we talk about a sense of belonging, isn\'t our troublemaker LilPro the best at that? >~<?

Belonging was a vague term. Almond tried to figure out what this status meant.

[Hunger]

Your stamina will slightly decrease.

[Belonging]

Stamina, patience, determination, and positivity will slightly increase. Sadness and negativity will increase if a team member dies.

It was a double-edged status.

Almond spoke into the stream microphone, "It seems we need teammates after all."

—Yeah, there might be a loneliness metric if you\'re alone.

— Wow, such specific game details.

— Wow.

— People can\'t live alone.

Almond looked back at the two inside the store. The silent boy only spoke when necessary and the energetic store clerk talked a lot, but didn\'t do much. Whether he liked it or not, they were now a team.

Almond wasn’t stressed about it. Hadn\'t he learned from Ahsung?

“Here\'s your team. I\'m your boss. Whether you like it or not, we\'re going together. Just like how that pillar stays in the company, whether you like it or not.”

He remembered the day he met his team leader for the first time. Whether he liked it or not wasn\'t important. The only important thing was that they had to move forward together. It was a pretty good lesson.

"Anyone need to use the bathroom right now?" Almond asked the other two.

The boy with the big head blinked and the store clerk cautiously raised her hand. Her face turned red.

\'I thought so.\'

She seemed quite desperate and apparently needed to use the restroom.

"It\'s not... It\'s not number two. It\'s just..."

"I get it."

Almond guessed what she was trying to say.

\'Thankfully, they sell basic necessities in the store.\'

It didn\'t seem like they would run out of supplies. As long as they had a bathroom, the basics of life should be manageable.

"If it\'s not number two, you can wait until dinner."

"... Okay."

"I\'ll think about it for a bit and go."

The clerk\'s eyes widened.

"... Go? You\'re leaving?"

"Yes," Almond said and picked up a few more breads from the store.

\'I need to go out in my best condition.\'

He planned to get rid of the hunger status for now.

Almond took another bite of the bread and asked, "Do you have anything here that can be used as a weapon?"

Obviously, he was asking the clerk. She would know this place best.

***

Squeak.

The clerk directed him to a storage room.

“There might be something here...?”

It was the kind of storage one might find in a convenience store or a small shop where extra bread and snacks were kept.

“Not bad," the boy with a heavy set of hair muttered from behind.

He had followed them and wanted to see the storage too. It seemed they were indeed a team now.

"There are some tools here. Like this...?"

The clerk pointed to a stack of items on one shelf.

Almond spotted some work gloves, a screwdriver for simple repairs, a wrench, and a slightly large industrial cutter for opening boxes.

\'There\'s a knife.\'

The knife seemed like a makeshift weapon, but Almond quickly grabbed it. When he pulled out the blade, it looked rusty and had lost its edge. It was meant to cut box tape, so a sharp blade would have been inconvenient.

"Do you have any spare blades?"

"Blades? Hmm... Where did I put them? The ladyboss knows..."

The clerk scratched her head and hesitated.

"I\'ll look for it. It should be somewhere in the storage..."

She searched high and low, but couldn’t find any blades.

Almond went outside the storage and searched.

The clerk continued looking inside, but couldn’t find anything.

"Darn it! Why can\'t I find it when I need it most?"

Then, the boy with the big head mumbled, "We could make one..."

"Make one? A blade?"

"No, a weapon."

He tapped the shelves in the storage with a screwdriver.

"With this... and..."

He pointed at one of the remaining cutters.

"This... and the last thing is box tape."

"To create something like a spear."

"Wow!"

The clerk seemed pleased with the idea and clapped in delight.

"Hey! Are you smart or what?"

"Not really... Both of us seem not too bright."

Before she could figure out what was said, the heavyset boy already started disassembling the metal shelf. He removed a few items from the shelf and unscrewed the joints.

Squeak. Squeak.

"We could modify this shelf board into a shield..." the boy muttered to himself as he detached a long metal rod from the end of the shelf.

"But even if we make a spear, the blade will still be blunt. Is that okay?"

"It\'s still better than nothing. Putting force into it is easier if you can thrust from a distance. Not every spear needs to be razor sharp."

"Ah!"

Regardless, it would be convenient in battle. In theory, delivering force with that small industrial cutter against zombies would take a miracle. Only skilled assassins could pull it off.

On the other hand, what if one could exert force from a distance with it despite the blade being dull? They could still deliver a strong blow. That was the greatness of a spear.

"In fact... it would be perfect if we could sharpen this metal rod to form a blade."

This weapon’s durability didn’t depend on the metal’s sturdiness or the cutter, but on the box tape’s adhesive strength. If the box tape came off, the weapon would become useless.

However, if they could sharpen the metal into a blade, its durability would be determined by the metal’s strength. This would be much more reliable than using box tape.

Of course, it made no sense and was just theoretical talk. Whittling down metal like it was bamboo sounded ludicrous.

Thud!

The boy unscrewed a few more screws and removed a column. Suddenly, the shelf collapsed. He collected about eighteen metal rods. Then he propped them up against one wall.

"You only have two knives... Why collect so many?"

"You never know."

"Oh, right."

The clerk seemed taken aback and hopped.

However, at that moment—

An unsettling noise came from outside.

Boom!

"...?"

If she wasn\'t mistaken, that sounded like the metal door opening.

"Could it be...?"

Did the zombies forcefully break through?

The girl, Hyun-Ah, ran outside with such a thought. After all, Almond was still out there. She needed to call him in.

However, the situation turned out to be the opposite of what she thought.

"What, what are you doing? Right now!"

Almond was the one opening the door.

Creak!

By the time she arrived, he already opened the door. For the first time, she saw what a zombie looked like.

"Raaah!"

It clearly looked like a human at first glance, but it had bloodshot eyes and let out a beastly roar. The zombie swung its fists.

"Raaah! Aaah!"

"Raaah!"

It wasn\'t just one or two of them. At least ten zombies dressed in school uniforms appeared.

The zombies walked slowly. They moved with difficulty as if their muscles were stiff.

The clerk felt like she would still survive if she closed the metal door right now, but she couldn\'t take another step. Her instincts wouldn\'t allow her to move closer to those monsters. She couldn\'t even make a sound and the next thing she saw made her scream.

"Ah...!"

Reflected in the clerk’s wide eyes was...

Slide.

Almond charged at the zombies with a box cutter.

"No, stop! Why are you doing that!?" she finally managed to scream out.

Such a reckless charge was unimaginable. However, Almond had a very good reason to suddenly act.

[Warning! Bladder level is at its maximum.]

[If not relieved, health issues will arise.]

\'Should\'ve drunk that beverage moderately...\'

He consumed too much of the energy drink because it tasted good. That wasn\'t all. He also ate too much bread.

[Warning! Bowel level is above 80%.]

[If not relieved, this will lead to fainting.]

— The desperate look in his eyes for nuts lol

— Why can\'t he just say he needs to poop? lol

— A sudden change because of poop lol

— Lol

— Literally a crappy decision

He was extremely desperate and resolved himself while looking at the zombies.

\'I\'ll break through in two minutes.\'