MCAG Chapter 62

Episode 62

I slowly opened my mouth, which had been shut, and uttered one word with great difficulty.

“…Okay.”

Finally, the thought that had been swirling in my mind since earlier left my lips.

“Let’s go back to the entrance.”

“It is the best decision.”

“Jun-woo, come this way!”

Once the decision was made, the task was simple. We needed to get back to the entrance. To do that, I called him back from where he had gone ahead alone. He hesitated for a moment after hearing me, then ran towards us.

“We’re going back now. So, follow us closely.”

“Huh? Going back? What about Ga-eun noona then…”

“This is not the time to worry about someone else. Look at your feet. The water is rising. It might reach our heads at any moment. We need to get out.”

These words were said to him, but also to myself.

That was right. It was impossible to keep searching. We needed to head towards the door—We couldn’t die here hopelessly without ever making it home.

“But…”

He seemed to have a lot to say, hesitating before looking at Do-yoon and me, but he then eventually closed his mouth. I took his silence to be in agreement with my words and turned my body to head back the way we came.

“Let’s go.”

It wasn’t difficult to find the way back because I had been memorizing the paths we had taken to get here. However, my heart didn’t feel any lighter.

…Right now, this was the best choice. It was a shame to lose a helpful tank like her, but we still had a dealer. It wasn’t the absolute worst scenario.

She was just a support character. Not a protagonist like Do-yoon. She would have been a great help if she were here, but her absence wasn’t a major problem.

So, it would be foolish for the three of us to risk our lives to save her.

Well, it felt a bit uncomfortable to weigh a person’s life like this, but… it could not be helped.

“…”

Yes, it could not be helped.

No matter how many times I repeated that to myself, the guilt that started from a corner of my chest and slowly spread out weighed me down more and more.

Game character? Tank? All that was true, but before all that, she was a person. A living, breathing person like me. Someone I had conversations with, ate meals with, and slept alongside… a comrade who was with us until just before we entered this place.

The guilt from the fact that I had to leave her behind only grew stronger with each passing moment.

A bitter taste spread in my mouth. I had been biting the inside of my cheeks to hold back the sighs that were about to escape, and the flesh ended up tearing, even bleeding. My face, grimacing at the fishy taste of blood, soon filled with shock as a terrible sound came from behind.

It wasn’t the sound of water struggling to flow through the cracked glass, but a loud “Pung” followed by a violent jet of water breaking through what had been blocking it.

Praying that my ominous premonition was wrong, I turned around. What then greeted me was the sight of water pouring out from the now broken tank. In addition, even a mermaid was coming out of the broken glass.

“Eek! It’s getting out…!”

But his words died mid-sentence—a series of loud noises coming from all directions drowned them out.

‘Damn it…! It’s completely shattered now!’

My body stiffened at the terrible scene before me, my voice caught in my throat. But this didn’t last long. The tension in my body loosened when I saw Do-yoon even more startled than I was, looking restless. Right, I had no choice but to regain my composure.

Torrents of water burst from all directions. As the water level surged and the current quickened, my body staggered, unable to regain its balance in time.

‘Ugh… Not only is the water rising too fast, but the rushing current makes it impossible to stand…’

Then I saw them—mermaids emerging from the shattered tank, submerging in the rising water and swiftly approaching us through the flood.

“Do-yoon, can you handle those mermaid-like creatures?”

“I think I can manage for now.”

“For now?”

“If the water keeps rising like this, I’m not sure. I’ve never controlled shadows underwater before…”

“Is creating aquatic creatures still difficult for you?”

“Yes… Even if I could create them, I can’t imagine how to control them properly.”

“Then just create whatever you can for now.”

Come to think of it–tigers can swim, right? Dogs too… No. Now that I think about it, these are just shadows anyway. They’re not real living creatures. What does their ability to swim or not matter? I just need them to fend off those things. …Right. This is just a game world after all. I forcefully suppressed the emotions threatening to surface.

I asked Do-yoon to deal with the mermaids escaping the tank while I went to check on Jun-woo.

“Agh! Gasp! Splash! H-help… Ugh—!”

“…Haah.”

How terrified he must have been to be floundering desperately when the water had only reached his waist. I couldn’t fathom how someone this timid had survived the movie theater until now. Clicking my tongue, I moved toward him.

If the water was up to my waist, for someone taller like him, it should only reach his thighs… Huh?

As I reached out to grab Jun-woo who was “drowning” and pull him out, something coiled around my ankle. It yanked hard, and I lost balance, crashing into the water. Then, as if it had been waiting for this moment, the creature pinned me down, climbing atop me.

“Hrk—!”

Submerged instantly in the water, I locked eyes with the thing pressing my shoulders to the floor. Its eyes glowed unnervingly, its mouth slit to the ears. A grotesque black tongue slithered out, licking my cheek. I reflexively opened my mouth to scream, but only bubbles escaped. Instead, water flooded my throat, surging into my lungs. With water entering my lungs, my body thrashed to find oxygen, but each gasp only drew in more water, and the situation only got worse.

‘Save me…! Can’t breathe…’

Thinking I would really die here if this continued, I stopped trying to shove the mermaid off and fumbled for the utility knife I’d stashed in my pocket at the movie theater.

It’s here somewhere—!

Oxygen-starved, my hands flailed uselessly until I finally grasped the knife. I slashed wildly at the creature. Red blood billowed murkily around it, and the thing recoiled. Seizing the chance, I broke free and breached the surface, gulping air like a madwoman.

“Cough, cough…! Ugh. Hah…”

I was going to die. I really thought I was going to die. Barely… barely made it.

Shaking my head to fling water from my face, I looked down. The water had already risen past my waist, it now came up to my chest.

“Hah…! Damn it.”

The water was rising like crazy.

I wanted to scream curses at the absurdity of it all with my despairing heart, but I was too busy gasping for air to even form words.

Wait—what about Jun-woo?

At first, I’d thought he’d just panicked and slipped underwater on his own. But after my own ordeal, I realized he must’ve been dragged under by a mermaid too.

He doesn’t have a weapon. Could he have fought it off like I did?

No. Which meant he was still down there…

“Ugh…! This damn water!”

As I frantically scanned the churning surface for him, the water suddenly surged violently. I struggled against the current briefly before being swept away, battered by the force until the turbulence subsided. Coughing up water, I looked around again.

Shit…! I was too far from Do-yoon now, and Jun-woo was nowhere in sight.

Do-yoon at least had his ability so he could survive somehow. But Jun-woo? He was just an ordinary person—no abilities, no defenses. Moreover, the last I’d seen him, he’d been flailing helplessly in the water. The odds of his survival seemed even more slim.

Don’t tell me he’s drowning already

“Gasp! Cough…! Hah…!”

“Agh—!”

At that moment, I felt a presence and a splashing noise came which made me jerk away from the source in panic.

“Finally… cough… can breathe…! Ugh!”

“Pwah! Gasp! Cough… Hrk…!”

“Jun-woo, snap out of it. Can you breathe?”

“Wheeze… Hah… Cough…”

My racing heart barely settled when I realized I recognized that voice. Eyes widening, I whirled around—and there was Jun-woo, half-conscious, propped up against Ga-eun, who was holding from the side to keep him from slipping back into the water.

They’re both alive…! No, wait—when the hell did Seo Ga-eun get here?!

“Unnie!.”

“Huh? Ji-ah! You came in here too.”

“No, more importantly—where did you come from?”

I was speechless when she smiled at me so casually. She opened her mouth as if to explain, but her words did not reach me—my attention snapped to the system prompt blazing across my vision:

 

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「1 hour has passed.」

「Main Zombie has spawned.」

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The Main Zombie…!

I swallowed hard. The inevitable had arrived.

This Stage’s Main Zombie broke the pattern—it wasn’t a human. Unlike prior stages—where bosses were at least humanoid. The variant zombies of Stage 1? Bizarre, but human form anyway. The grotesquely large zombie of Stage 2 was most definitely a bipedal horror in the end. There were the mutated nurses in Stage 3’s hospital, and even if Stage 4’s eyeball-riddled abomination was closer to a monster than a zombie, it was still human in a way except for its face. This one, however, was completely different from all of them.

Because here, in Stage 5, the Main Zombie wasn’t a human. It was an animal.

More specifically, it was a goddamn whale.

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Sorry for being irregular with the updates, I just feel a bit helpless these days.