I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 272: Episode 53_Epilogue (2)

2.

There’s one main reason people fear zombies in movies. Is it because they’re strong or grotesquely brutal?

All zombies really do is shamble around and lunge at any human they see, biting into their flesh. They seem brutal because they tear into living people without a second thought, but that alone isn’t a reason to fear them. If you’re just talking about brutality, you can find far worse things.

The reason people are repulsed by zombies, the reason they never want to encounter them in a dungeon, is because they don’t die.

They’re already dead. They have no weak points. Stab them in the heart, and they keep moving. Cut off their heads, and they still move.

In movies, there’s usually a rule like "destroy the brain" so the humans can win. But in a real dungeon, if you try that and carelessly walk past, you’ll get bitten by a headless zombie and share its fate.

Because they are corpses that do not die, they are incredibly troublesome.

To kill a zombie, you have to make it disappear. With fire. You have to burn it to a handful of ash so it can never move again.

And on top of that, zombies carry a virus that infects other beings.

Of course, it’s not like the movies, where one bite instantly turns you into a zombie, makes you lose your mind, and sends you staggering around groaning.

However, if you suffer a critical wound, the virus will invade and turn you into a zombie, no matter your level.

A few of them don’t matter. They aren’t particularly strong creatures.

It’s well known that in exchange for their undying bodies, most zombies lose their intelligence.

But their numbers swell. The idea that today’s ally could become tomorrow’s enemy, pointing a weapon at your own throat, is what makes people so averse to them.

In that sense, to the other players—to the world—Kim Buja had returned as a kind of zombie.

—In a way, he’s the Zombie King of this era.

—He really cleared a 9-star Legendary in three days? Is that for real?

He was a mutated zombie, unlike the ones people were used to. If movie zombies threatened the protagonist, this real-world zombie—Kim Buja—threatened the monsters.

—How is a boss monster supposed to do its job with that guy around?

—If I were a 10-star dungeon boss, I’d be debating whether to run away.

—A soul harvested after death and used as a weapon to attack its former allies... Just thinking about it is horrifying.

—If you don’t get why the community forums are freaking out right now: 1. Watch the last episode of Buja’s Continent storyline. 2. Then watch his 9-star Legendary speedrun. You’ll get it. LOL.

For Buja, who had returned wielding the Demon King’s authority, the 9-star Legendary dungeon was meaningless, no matter how much harder it had become.

It wasn’t a three-minute limited skill, nor did it have a long cooldown.

He simply drew the Devil’s Hand, activated the Devil King’s Finger effect, and unleashed the Demon King’s authority however he pleased.

He swept through the 9-star Legendary dungeon and even perfectly absorbed the authority of its final boss, the “Giant Triple-Headed Ogre.”

The name alone made it sound like a boss from a 1- to 3-star dungeon. But with the added modifiers, seeing the three-headed ogre in person was enough to wipe the smirks off the viewers’ faces. Its entrance alone was overwhelming.

Its health and defense were absurd. Its hide was impenetrable, and its life force regenerated in the blink of an eye.

The raw power in its casual punches tore up the ground, and the different powers spewing from each of its three heads split into three separate authorities, making it a pain in the ass to fight.

In practice, his clear time was so insanely fast it looked like he was just farming. But when it came to the boss, even Buja struggled a fair bit.

No, he could say it plainly.

“Honestly, if I didn’t have the Demon King’s authority, I couldn’t have killed it. A 9-star Legendary boss wrapped in penalties just wouldn’t die.”

It wasn’t that the boss was particularly strong. No matter how powerful its attacks are, you could just dodge them.

Even though it was huge, with a speed that defied its size, his Agility was high enough to avoid its attacks.

What he lacked was the offensive power to punch through its defenses.

Its regeneration outpaced his damage, dragging the fight into a war of attrition. If he made a single mistake—if he slipped up once and let an attack land—the result would be fatal.

What saved him from that was the Demon King’s authority.

“Curse.”

That broad, all-encompassing authority weakened the ogre’s life force and perfectly countered its overwhelming regeneration.

In a way, it was poison. A power that severed the arteries of an enemy with infinite vitality.

An ogre that could no longer heal. The change instantly diminished the threat the word “ogre” carried.

That was how he killed it, and he successfully harvested the ogre’s soul as well.

And that same man now confessed:

“Will you marry me?”

Pfft.

Jeong Seora burst out laughing at the proposal that came barreling in at such an unexpected moment. She wasn’t flustered, though.

“You can’t answer with mockery.”

They had been together for a long time, even if they hadn’t actually spent much of it side by side.

They had met by chance, started seeing each other for mutual benefit, and begun their relationship with a light heart.

It had never burned wildly, but it had never cooled either.

They were two players who might not be able to spend their whole lives together, but now, he wanted to try.

“I just have one question.”

“I’m not doing this as some kind of insurance policy because I might die. I’m going to clear the 10-star dungeon no matter what.”

“I know. That’s not it.”

A playful warmth wrapped around her serious question as Jeong Seora smiled and asked, “Am I the second one?”

“...What?”

He hadn’t seen that question coming. A moment later, realizing what she meant, Buja laughed as well.

“No. What do you take me for? Do I really look like the kind of guy who’d marry the imperial princess on the continent and then come here and make a serious proposal on top of that?”

“You never know.”

She shot him a sidelong glance. He turned his head away, not entirely unaffected.

She was a woman, after all.

As someone who had binge-watched the entire storyline of his relationship with the princess, just like everyone else, how could she not be conscious of it?

So he made it clear to her.

“They asked if I’d be interested in the throne, if I’d become emperor and continue the imperial line, but I turned them down. Back in the day, I used to tell myself that the continent and Earth were different worlds, and I’ll admit I considered two-timing.

“But as my level went up, my thinking changed. I realized I might not be the only one who could travel to the continent someday. So I decided I had to pick just one person.”

“And that’s me?”

“Yeah. Congratulations.”

He said it half-jokingly, but the meaning underneath—that she was the one he wanted to spend his life with—came through perfectly.

Jeong Seora stepped into his arms.

* * *

The wedding was held on a grand scale. By now, Kim Buja was the most famous player in the world.

The guest list for his wedding was so exclusive that traffic around the venue had to be controlled and security personnel deployed a full week in advance.

The attendees included not only the world’s wealthiest tycoons but also presidents, members of Fly, and the highest-ranked players.

Countless others had wanted to come, but only those who personally knew him could attend. Even among that small, invited group, every single person possessed a staggering, awe-inspiring presence.

By comparison, the bride’s parents, heads of the Jeong Cheol Guild, which had long since surpassed its number-one rank in Korea to become a world-class power, almost looked humble.

Of course, even in such a gathering, it was the groom’s family who drew the most attention.

“It’s been a while, Father.”

The secret of Kim Buja’s birth had only come to light when they tried to set a date for the formal meeting between the families.

“I never even dreamed you had parents.”

Even Jeong Seora, the bride-to-be, was so shocked that her words could have easily been misunderstood by anyone listening.

No one had ever asked about Kim Buja’s parents, nor had anyone ever tried to bring them up.

It was only natural. There had never been any mention of them, and he had always been alone.

Since he had never broached the subject himself, everyone had simply assumed it would be rude to pry.

If he did have parents, surely there would have been some hint over the years.

Yet they were only finding out now.

The moment Kim Buja finally spoke of them.

“We never had a great relationship. When I said I wanted to go do my own thing, they just coldly kicked me out and told me to make it on my own. I was planning to Awaken, make some money, and then show up again like, See? Look at me now...”

There had been no special reason for their estrangement.

It wasn’t as if they had cut ties over some murderous grudge.

It was just... ordinary.

So ordinary, in fact, that it was too cliché and lightweight to ever make it into a novel or a drama.

“I got too busy leveling up and forgot.”

“I saw you on the internet and figured you’d come find us on your own, so I waited.”

“Oh, my son. I was so hurt, you know. Not a single call. Still, your mom watched your stream now and then to send you donations.”

They couldn’t even remember how many years it had been since they last saw each other.

Even so, there was an easy, natural familiarity between them, as if they had only been apart for a few days.

One way or another, the wedding turned into a heartwarming event in more ways than one.

The guests came up to offer their congratulations.

“When are you planning to tackle the 10-star dungeon?”

“Would it be all right if I came along?”

“Congratulations, Buja. By any chance, do you have any rare items you brought back from the 9-star Legendary dungeon?”

Every one of them had a distinct personality.

He chatted with them, accepting each person’s unique style of congratulations.

Still, there was one thing everyone was curious about.

“What are your plans from here on out?”

It wasn’t strange for him to suddenly announce a wedding right before the final dungeon.

It was abrupt, sure, but still understandable.

In fact, even if he had made a choice that people couldn’t comprehend, they would have accepted it.

Whatever path he chose to walk now would be the first of its kind—the very first trail ever blazed.

What path would he take?

The final dungeon.

How would he approach this event, and how would he handle it?

“This feels more like a hearing than a wedding. Haha.”

’Plans, huh.’

In truth, even Kim Buja didn’t have anything particularly concrete laid out.

There weren’t many plans left to make.

He had achieved almost everything he had aimed for. All that remained was to follow the last few major events and clear whatever new Gold Maker content appeared along the way.

Reaching the end was only a matter of time.

So, if he had to explain it to others, it was simple.

“I’ll just keep leveling up at a reasonable pace. When the time feels right, I’ll clear the 10-star dungeon and either see the dungeon world come to an end or get ready for the start of a new Chapter.”

No one could know the future.

Whether the final dungeon would truly be the end or a springboard for a new beginning was something he would only find out by clearing it.

If this were a game, maybe some employee at the game company would leak the patch notes, but this was reality; no one knew anything.

Which made it fun.

Even though the result was simple and more or less predetermined, it still became one big, meaningful choice that he could dress up in less-than-simple words.

“For now, I think that’s about it.”

More than anything, even he didn’t know.

That what fate had in store for him was far from over.

* * *