I'm a Young God, so Please Raise Me - Chapter 25

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 25
A sharp chime rang out as the system window materialized. A Quest notification.
◆Main!! Quest?!
: Repair the emergency generator within 15 minutes….
I dismissed it without reading the first line.
There was no time to waste reading unhelpful system messages.
‘The emergency power couldn’t have depleted already.’
Something felt wrong. I was worried about Lee Ga-on, but I couldn’t go back up to check.
If I failed to repair the emergency generator within the next 15 minutes, it would be game over immediately.
I had to trust that Lee Ga-on would be safe and focus on the repairs.
“This is basically screwed, right?”
“We should be able to manage somehow.”
And then I bolted forward, shouting.
“Let’s move!”
I sprinted through the Cafeteria, weaving between overturned tables and chairs.
Our footsteps echoed loudly, but the zombies merely glanced at us before returning their attention elsewhere.
They all reached upward toward the ceiling speakers, from which the broadcast continued to blare, wailing in unison.
It was fortunate that they had all become zombies.
Otherwise, completing the repairs in 15 minutes would have been nearly impossible.
I sprinted at full speed, calculating the timeline in my head.
‘Minimum five minutes for repairs.’
Six minutes to descend to Basement Level 2 and reach the emergency generator facility. If there was a boss encounter event scene, add one more minute to that. In total, that left me with about two minutes of buffer time.
But that was only if everything aligned perfectly, like clockwork, without a single hitch.
Gwak Han-muk’s role in confronting the boss was absolutely critical.
I glanced back at Gwak Han-muk following behind me.
With his long legs, he vaulted over an overturned chair, and when our eyes met, he raised his eyebrows.
I pushed open the Cafeteria door and burst into the Corridor, shouting.
“Captain Gwak! How’s your condition right now!”
“Better than usual! Maybe it’s because I’m in the middle of turning into a zombie?”
“Confirmed.”
As I raced down the long Corridor, I checked the directional signs. Since they matched the layout from the game, I wouldn’t need to waste time searching.
When the sign for Sleeping Quarters came into view, my chest tightened slightly.
The Sleeping Quarters was a temporary space used by researchers conducting 24-hour research when they couldn’t return home.
Hidden in that location was an old diary containing mentions related to the cure.
I remembered every detail of its contents.
Delusional Researcher’s Journal #1
Finding a cure for the virus requires a long and painful process of searching for candidate substances.
Yet humanity has always fought against viruses that threaten survival, discovering cures.
But what if the virus came from beyond Earth…? What would happen then?
Delusional Researcher’s Journal #2
The standard antiviral development process is merely a record confined within the narrow aquarium of Earth’s ecosystem.
If a virus from outside invades, humanity will never find a cure.
Adapt or be annihilated.
No one understands my thoughts, but I live in constant fear.
Paranoid Researcher’s Journal #3
At last, I have met those who empathize with my dread.
Paranoid Researcher’s Journal #4
Countless voices whisper inside my mind.
Why did I ever fear a mere virus?
It means nothing before this overwhelming terror and dread.
Yes!
I have awakened!
Paranoid Researcher’s Journal #5
The writhing pulse of dimensions!
The audacious void of wondrous disorder!
Formless chaos!
All things are but trivial amusement for that being!
Though the paranoid researcher’s journal contained much nonsense, it did mention a cure.
So I wanted to check if I could find any items near the diary—ones like a portable cassette player that hadn’t appeared in the game—but….
After the emergency power facility repairs, portions of the Basement Area will be sealed off.
This is my last chance, but I had no choice but to turn away.
We sprinted down the long Corridor in an instant, turned left, and arrived before the Cargo Elevator.
The silver stainless steel doors gleamed ominously.
The Elevator powered by emergency electricity can only be boarded once.
After that, it only moves once the emergency power facility is repaired.
Not long after pressing the descent button, a soft chime sounded, and the heavy doors split open to the sides.
“Ugh….”
“Damn it.”
At the sight revealed, Mo Hae-in let out a low groan, and Gwak Han-muk immediately pinched his nose and cursed.
The Elevator was already saturated.
Researchers and office workers wearing tattered, blood-stained gowns stood motionless in grotesquely contorted postures.
Their vacant eyes all turned toward the open doors in unison.
“Can’t we take these outside? Make some loud noise or something?”
Gwak Han-muk asked through his pinched nose.
“They probably won’t react.”
In the game, these zombies were set up to prevent the player from using the Cargo Elevator.
No matter what was done, they wouldn’t be lured outside, and one had to board with the zombies no matter what.
‘Unless the player becomes a zombie, the Cargo Elevator can’t be used.’
Sure enough, even when Gwak Han-muk picked up a large stone and threw it to make noise, the zombies only writhed and didn’t come out.
Watching Gwak Han-muk’s efforts, Mo Hae-in asked a question.
“What other route is there?”
“If we don’t use the Elevator, we’d have to go through the ventilation duct, but we don’t have enough time, and Captain Gwak Han-muk won’t be able to fit inside the duct.”
Given Gwak Han-muk’s massive frame, he’d get wedged at the shoulders immediately.
Gwak Han-muk squeezed his eyes shut and accepted the reality.
“Let’s go….”
I stepped into the Cargo Elevator first.
Squelch.
Instead of the crisp sound of my foot striking cold metal, a sickening, wet noise of trampled flesh and blood echoed beneath me.
As I squeezed my body through the narrow gaps between the zombies, the putrid flesh of a zombie standing beside me pressed wetly against my shoulder.
The stench emanating from the rotting corpses was suffocating.
After wedging myself as far back as possible, I signaled to Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in with my eyes.
They followed me into the Cargo Elevator.
Mo Hae-in was just about to press the button for Basement Level 2.
A siren wailed.
At the ear-splitting sound of the siren, the zombies that had been standing motionless until moments ago began to glow with a faint luminescence.
“Attention. All research personnel must immediately proceed to the shelter.”
The siren continued as an automated announcement played, and the zombies, stimulated by the noise, began to glow in earnest.
“Graaaagh!”
Mo Hae-in, being shorter, was instantly swept away among the zombies.
The door closed without the button being pressed.
“…Isolation shutters are activating throughout all sectors, and the building is being sealed. I repeat. All research personnel must….”
The cramped space became absolute chaos.
The interior of the Cargo Elevator was pitch black, the lights extinguished.
Only the faint glow of the floor buttons dimly illuminated the surroundings.
I was crushed against the wall by the excited, glowing corpses.
“Ugh….”
A groan escaped me involuntarily as a blunt pressure bore down on me.
The zombie pressing against me from the front let out a wet gurgle and shoved its face closer.
Its teeth, stained red with the remnants of something I didn’t want to imagine, gleamed in the darkness.
I wanted nothing more than to shove it away immediately, but I couldn’t.
Becoming a zombie didn’t make me invincible. It only meant I wouldn’t be attacked first.
The moment I was deemed to have attacked the zombies, they would begin attacking me in return.
If combat broke out in this confined space, it would be a massacre.
Cold arms extended from all directions, pressing heavily against my chest.
My vision spun for a moment.
“Krraaagh!”
Fortunately, the zombies shoved each other, and the one pressing down on me was knocked away.
Just as I was about to lose consciousness, I barely came to my senses and felt a warm body heat.
“Captain Mo Hae-in…!”
I grabbed Mo Hae-in, who was seconds away from being crushed to death by a zombie.
While I held Mo Hae-in close, Gwak Han-muk gritted his teeth and stretched his hand through the mass of zombies.
His fingertips barely grazed the button, missing it by a hair’s breadth.
Two failed attempts.
On the final gesture, his finger brushed against the button and pressed it.
The “B2” indicator illuminated.
With a metallic clunk and a shudder, the Cargo Elevator began its descent.
I did everything I could to carve out space while suppressing my breathing to the absolute minimum.
With each breath I drew, the stench of corpses seemed to compress my lungs.
Trapped in this sealed metal box with no way out, we fought desperately not to let even a fingertip touch the zombies.
The descent of a single floor felt like an eternity.
In reality, the Cargo Elevator moved slower than a standard one.
Ding!
At last, the arrival chime sounded.
The elevator doors opened with agonizing slowness.
The shrieking zombies poured out in a chaotic flood.
“Gasp!”
Mo Hae-in and I gasped for the breath we’d been holding back.
Gwak Han-muk, who had somehow managed not to be swept away by the collapsing mass of undead, frantically searched for us.
Once he confirmed we were safe, he ushered Mo Hae-in out first.
The three of us then collapsed in front of the elevator, gasping for air.
I genuinely thought we were going to die.
The crushing pressure had been horrific, but the clinging rotting flesh and the stench of decay were especially unbearable.
I found myself thinking that someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder would have an especially hard time if they became a zombie.
Mo Hae-in held her head with her hand, looking slightly dizzy.
I wanted nothing more than to lie there a bit longer, but with every second counting in this situation, I couldn’t afford any more rest.
The zombification progression…
I closed the system window that had appeared and pushed myself up.
“Let’s move out again.”
Basement Level 2 was an area packed with mechanical equipment, housing both the Power Distribution Room and the Generator Room.
The constant hum of engines provided a baseline of noise, so the zombies here were never dormant—they remained perpetually active.
Since we could enter the Generator Room through the Power Distribution Room, we had to find the Power Distribution Room first.
The narrow Corridor bore the grim traces of those who had attempted escape.
With overturned equipment scattered everywhere and zombies lurking in the gaps, we had to navigate like we were running an obstacle course.
A zombie with its lower body severed crawled across the floor with a wet gurgle, reaching out its hand.
It wasn’t trying to attack—merely reacting to the sound—but we had to be careful not to trip over its outstretched arm, which was annoying.
Zombies suddenly appeared from blind spots or burst through doors from the sides, blocking our path.
Here, I just needed to perform well.
With Mo Hae-in and Gwak Han-muk’s physical abilities beyond concern, I stayed sharp and focused, weaving through the zombies with precision.
Fortunately, because I knew where and when things would appear, I could avoid them without difficulty.
System windows kept popping up throughout to notify me of zombification progress, causing unexpected visual interference, but I closed them immediately each time.
“Hold on a moment!”
Mo Hae-in and Gwak Han-muk stopped dead in their tracks the instant they heard me.
A television that had been perched atop a pile of failed barricade materials came crashing down with a heavy thud right in front of us.
The screen crackled to life with static.
“Waaaaaah!”
Cheers and applause erupted from the speakers, and we bolted again to evade the zombies drawn by the noise. After running for what felt like an eternity, a sign finally came into view.
Power Distribution Room
I slammed the door shut the moment we crossed the threshold.
It was to prevent the zombies outside from pouring in.
Mere seconds after closing the door, a heavy thud echoed against it.
Then came a series of dull, rhythmic thuds.
The zombies that had followed us were relentlessly hurling themselves against the barrier.
Beyond the door, I imagined a grotesque mound of undead bodies was forming.
Gwak Han-muk offered a brief assessment.
“Man, getting out of here is going to be rough.”
“Tell me about it….”
I kicked at a removable panel beneath the massive control board that dominated the wall—a passage for cables to run through.
It popped open with a click, revealing a small key resting atop a thick bundle of dust-covered cables.
I retrieved the key and positioned myself before a soundproof door leading to the right.
Generator Room
The engine roar that had been assaulting my ears ever since we entered Basement Level 2 came through the door with overwhelming force.
Interspersed with the engine noise were irregular, violent clanging sounds—something being struck repeatedly.
“Seven minutes left. The moment I open this door, the boss fight begins. As we briefed earlier, Captain Gwak will engage the boss while Captain Mo and I handle the repairs.”
We had conducted a detailed briefing on the boss encounter and repair procedures before entering the Basement Area.
“Roger that. Take these.”
Gwak Han-muk pulled three pairs of work gloves and a rust-removal spray from his sling bag.
These were among the items I had asked him to bring from the Green Zone.
Work Gloves: Caution—rubber odor! Single-use item.
Rust-Removal Spray: Wipe clean one minute after application.
Mo Hae-in took the spray, and we each distributed and donned a pair of gloves.
I inserted the key into the locked door.
“Opening it now.”
As I opened the thick soundproof door of the Power Distribution Room, an overwhelming cacophony assaulted every fiber of my being.
Deep within Basement Level 2 stood a colossal diesel generator, towering like a monolith.
Countless hydraulic hoses and fuel lines twisted chaotically beside the engine block—an oddly incongruous sight within a cutting-edge research facility.
That same peculiar sensation I had felt examining the vintage jeep and portable player washed over me again.
I fixed my gaze upon the lurching figure positioned before the engine.
The boss of the Basement Area—Chef Zombie.
The zombie dressed in a chef’s uniform wore an apron and a sanitary cap.
Chef Zombie swayed unsteadily before striking the generator with a resounding clang.
And then, convulsing wildly, the Chef Zombie tore through the Generator Room’s interior, thrashing about before slamming the generator down with a deafening crash—a pattern he repeated over and over.
With each punch the zombie landed, the generator emitted an ominous, unsettling noise.
Ding—a system window materialized before me.
It seemed to be information about the Chef Zombie, so I tried reading it this time, but something felt off.
Zombification is disappearing. (Current zombification progress: 1%)
Another system window appeared in succession.
Zombification is disappearing. (Current zombification progress: 0%)
Complete recovery achieved! Returning to human form.
“Grrrrgh….”
My eyes met the Chef Zombie’s gaze.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————