Beta: Jeannette

 

Jun had read and reread the plot several times to check if he had missed something. There was no other description other than a brief sentence: Dahlye was betrayed by her best friend and love rival, Oriana, and was led to her death, leading to her rebirth.

 

It was vague and never explained properly that you had to question the creator’s integrity. But from both encounters with Oriana, he was certain of her character—she wasn’t the type to betray someone nor be interested in someone already taken. If that was a fact, and Oriana hadn’t betrayed Dahlye, and the rebirth was based on a misunderstanding, wouldn’t the plot collapse? 

 

Would that essentially ensure his survival? But how to prove something like that? Especially to someone as stubborn as a transmigrator who “knew” the entire plot and was fixated on it?

 

“Argh.” Jun grabbed his hair in frustration. “Damn plot holes.”

 

“Babe, are you ok?” Azel patted Jun’s head and held him in his arms. “Did that woman do something to you?”

 

‘Babe? What? Who?’

 

Jun shoved Azel’s face away with his hand. “I’m fine.”

 

Azel was about to say something more but an announcement interrupted him: “Attention, this is a Code 00 alert. All ability users and able persons must head to the West Wall immediately to assist… Attention…”

 

“What’s a Code 00?” Eli asked.

 

“It’s a large-scale zombie attack,” Azel answered with a frown.

 

“Hmm.” Jun was thoughtful. To die or not to die. To not die, it was perhaps best to prevent death, so helping with the zombie tide was presumably a good idea. With that in mind, he headed towards the direction of the West Wall. Eli and Azel shortly followed after him.

 

“Baby, where are you going?”

 

“The West Wall.”

 

“Why?” Eli grabbed Jun’s arm, deterring him.

 

“… Why not?”

 

“You could die,” Eli argued.

 

“Everybody dies at some point.” 

 

They didn’t understand why, but when they heard Jun say that, both Eli and Azel felt a wave of indescribable anger, one that made them grate their teeth and fists clench that they even drew blood.

 

Azel frowned and tugged Jun’s other arm. “That may be true but it doesn’t mean you should go and court death.”

 

“Court death? Excuse me?” Jun said with great indignation. If he had a tail, it would be standing up straight, the fur ruffled. “I am not the one courting Death. Death is the one courting me, ok? And I don’t want that, so I am going to go and slap its face.”

 

“Hahahaha…”

 

“Pfft…”

 

Looking at Azel and Eli laughing their asses off made Jun want to slap their faces too. He was serious about the face slapping. Eli wiped away some laugh tears and grinned. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll help you slap Death's face.” 

 

Azel nodded in agreement. “Me too.”

 

That was what Jun was hoping for. With two shields, he should be relatively safe. Not to mention his archery skills had been improving even more over the past month through constant practice. Eli had even been helping him train with throwing knives. The guy was surprisingly good at using classic weapons like swords and spears—anything sharp.

 

When the trio reached the West Wall, the fight was already at full blast. Thousands of regular zombies could be seen on the ground below the wall, all amassed and trying to climb the wall. Behind them were the variant zombies, some with fire abilities, others with wind, and so on.

 

Seeing such a gathering of death and decay, rotten body parts, missing body parts, the nauseating smells, and the sounds the zombies made, Jun couldn’t help but feel like throwing up. “Ugh…”

 

“Still not used to it, baby?”

 

Unlike most people who had become desensitized to zombies even before the apocalypse happened from watching movies or shows or reading novels and manga, it was impossible for Jun.

 

Quite literally, he couldn’t stomach zombies. Like most, he watched the films and tv shows out of a morbid fascination but he only ever lasted five minutes before stopping. There was something good about having to deal with zombies though, a reward.

 

“I deserve some milk tea after this.”

 

Azel smiled when he heard this and rubbed Jun’s hair affectionately. How could he have mistaken Dahlye for Jun. She abhorred milk tea and he had even believed it was a change of tastes that resulted from growing up. Had he been deluding himself after making such a stupid mistake? Or was this another plot hole the creator didn’t want to address?

 

“I’ll make this quick, baby, so you can get your milk tea asap.”

 

After saying so, Eli jumped down into the mass of zombies with his dual swords and started a massacre. Azel wouldn’t be outdone and held a hand up before clenching his fist into a crushing motion. Jun watched him with admiration as several zombies down below had their brains crushed without being touched. 

 

Being a zombie emperor was pretty nice, not having to worry about turning into a zombie, much less one going on the attack. Wasn’t Eli afraid that others would notice how the zombies backed away in fear? A psychic ability was nice too, relatively rare. Depending on the level of the ability user, one could kill zombies from a distance and within a wide range. Ability users also had thicker skin, reinforced by their various abilities, so they could form a layer of a shield to prevent zombie infection.

 

As for him, alas, he was but a normal person. Jun smiled self-deprecatingly and shot down a zombie with his crossbow. He could only hit one zombie at a time, his range was limited and he was definitely susceptible to being infected.

 

|System, if I turn into a zombie, does that count as dying?|

 

|… Uh, that’s a very good question, dearest Host! Why didn’t you ask before, uwu? Now I have to go check…| 

 

System 00 went on standby to go read his manual. Jun didn’t ask before, because he assumed it would count as dying, but with the recent development of the plot hole, he had to be sure. After all, there was a zombie emperor who wasn’t a zombie but couldn’t die. With all the harems popping up, he was also beginning to question whether he was in a zombie apocalypse world or just a smutty world, having completely forgotten this was an R-18 novel where 65% of it was smut.

 

|Ahem, dearest Host, I have checked. Turning into a zombie doesn’t equate to death, but you will no longer be in control of your actions.|

 

In Jun’s opinion, that was better than nothing. Worst, he could maybe last a few more seconds or minutes before real death.

 

Within expectations, as the battle raged on, more and more people began to notice the strangeness of Eli and the way he fought. He didn’t use any abilities and he seemed to have endless stamina. Even Azel had to absorb some nuclei to replenish his strength.

 

“What kind of ability does Eli have?” Azel asked. Jun could only laugh awkwardly and pretend to aim. “You don’t know?”

 

“Is it important to know?”

 

“…”

 

A distance away from where Azel and Jun stood, Dahlye and her harem had also taken notice of Eli. They were all stunned as they watched the man walk casually through all the zombies and cut them down as if he was slicing butter, a bored expression on his face. Dahlye’s face was especially livid, as she seemed to be ascertaining the man’s identity.

 

Where had the plot gone wrong? If the man was who she believed him to be, he shouldn’t be here at this time, killing the zombies with them. Just where had the plot gone wrong? From the beginning…

 

Was it from the beginning? Then it had to be because of him—Jun Taylor. Dahlye bit down on her bottom lip, drawing blood. Gerard saw this and gently raised her chin to lick at her lips. “Darling, don’t bite too hard. You’re bleeding.”

 

Dahlye pouted and clung onto Gerard's arm. “I’ve been wronged, Gerard.”

 

“Who has wronged you?”

 

“Yeah, who has wronged you!?” The male yandere repeated.

 

“Tell us, baby doll, we’ll make sure they pay.” Harem member #7 interjected.

 

“It’s…” Dahlye paused and frowned, looking even more pretty and pitiful with her teary eyes.

 

“Say it, baby.” Another harem member insisted, unable to resist that face. If they weren’t in the middle of a zombie tide, he would have already tried to jump her bones.

 

“It’s my twin brother…” 

 

“Where is he? I’ll kill him!” It was hard to tell amongst the men surrounding Dahlye just who said that, but it was more than likely the male yandere.

 

“No, he’s my brother…” Dahlye shook her head slowly, eyes downcast, showing a defeated look.

 

“Brother or not, I can’t forgive him for wronging you!” A bunch of heads nodded in synchrony. None of them had bothered asking how Dahlye had been wronged.

 

The people subjected to such a display of flowers, hearts, pink bubbles, and a glittering background felt blinded. Oriana, who had also witnessed the entire thing, shook her head. Though she had her harem of men, there were only three men and she didn’t behave this way with them. When she had the chance she would find Jun and give him a warning. Whatever may have caused the change, be it the apocalypse or otherwise, she knew that this Dahlye was no longer her kind-hearted best friend.

 

Despite the zombie tide arriving 3 days earlier than the original plot, it passed over Silver Base like a breeze and not a tornado with the aid of zombie emperor Eli. Base management was so impressed, they wanted to reward him with some benefits, which included a “home base” that he gladly accepted. His only requirement was that there be only one bedroom with a king-sized bed.

 

They moved into the house that night and Azel somehow managed to sneak his way in, too. You could say Eli was tolerant, but he just wanted to watch Azel suffer from Jun’s indifference, having forgotten that he was only a little better off than Azel.

 

Jun was just thinking these two shields were very useful. As thanks, he would allow them to take advantage of him a little. But why did it feel like he was selling himself?

 

|That's because you are, dearest Host.|

 

|…|

 

He had a bottom line, though. Some kissing and light touching was fine, but anything more would have to wait until he sorted through his feelings, if he had any. Jun was still an innocent virgin.

 

|… For now.|

 

|System, was that evil intent I heard? Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?|

 

|What are you talking about, dearest Host? This system is always on your side!|

 

— 

 

A/N: I quite like Oriana, the misunderstood “love rival.”

 

[HTSCF can also be found on Wattpad or my website www.morinorin.com. If you want to support my sanity, please consider my ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/morinorin.]