Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 79 - A New Variable

“Hmph. I can’t trust you just because you answer well. If you don’t prove it with your actions, you’re disposable at any time.”

The man, who constantly hurled abuse at the woman, spoke coldly.

“Status window.”

Yellow letters appeared over a blood-red screen.

〔Corrupted Code: Granting access to ¿Unknown_virus?〕
〔What would you like to search?〕

“Show me the number of zombies remaining in Agatha, the capital of the Caladia Empire.”

〔Searching……〕
〔Search results uploaded.〕

A map of the capital’s administrative districts spread across the red screen. Red dots rapidly filled it, clearly showing zombies swarming everywhere.

“They still haven’t crossed the castle walls. Tch. I suppose unless I give them at least a fingernail’s worth of intelligence, they can’t even imagine climbing a wall.”

The man sighed at the stupidity of the zombies he had created.

“And this is the final version after all the improvements.”

“……Father. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“That’s enough. I don’t want to talk to you. Just looking at you makes me sick, so get out. Don’t come out until I call you. That’s an order.”

The man waved his hand irritably, telling her to disappear.

The woman felt a tightness around where her heart should have been, but she didn’t understand why. Her heart no longer beat. Perhaps it was because she was nothing more than a fake life built upon a corpse.

Now almost indistinguishable from a real human, she bowed politely to her master.

“……Then, Father, I will take my leave.”

“Yeah. Get lost. And stop with that fake politeness. It’s disgusting.”

As the man acted like a brute, something strange caught his eye.

“……What is this? Why aren’t there any red dots in this area?”

He had clearly succeeded in infecting nearly everyone in the capital with zombies, starting from that woman.

The cost had been enormous, but the results were satisfying.

Explosive infection power. Even though it was a curse created through dark magic, it could spread through biting, just like a real disease.

At first glance, it could easily be mistaken for a bacterial outbreak. And unless someone investigated deeply—no, even if they did—they wouldn’t be certain it was caused by magic.

The man had once mocked the remaining blue dots.

‘How long can they last? When they run out of food, they’ll go out in hunger and turn red. Or they’ll starve and turn black.’

He felt no guilt watching humans die.

His twisted mind was only pleased by the rising number of the dead and busy planning how to spread the plague to other regions.

“This is strange. The blue dots have taken over the areas where the red dots were.”

As Kieran Warrey’s brother, he knew the capital’s administrative districts well, even if others looked down on their noble status.

And among them, he knew Duo-1 District—a place that had once been filled with red dots.

‘Just yesterday, it was occupied by red dots…….’

Today, every red dot in Duo-1 District had vanished.

In their place were blue dots.

The blue dots he had laughed at—those who barely survived the chaos—had not disappeared. Instead, they expanded their territory.

“How annoying…….”

The man cursed. The plan he thought was progressing perfectly was going wrong again.

‘I thought I prepared perfectly this time!’

If the red dots were gone, it meant survivors had killed the zombies.

‘What variable has appeared this time?’

His sharp eyes scanned the place where the nearly human woman had stood moments ago.

“I eliminated the previous variable……. So what went wrong now?”

He glared at the ceiling—at the sky beyond it.

“……Don’t interfere.”

This time, he intended to destroy humanity and this world for good.

If the gods in the sky had ever pitied his brother or the family treated like dogs on leashes, they should not stand in his way.

He studied Duo-1 District carefully, where the irritating blue dots had gathered.

‘That’s the residential area for the most powerful central nobles.’

Like before, the lucky survivors must have activated magical barriers in their mansions and waited for rescue.

But rescue would never come. He was waiting for everyone in the capital to die.

Yet strangely, the blue dots held firm.

‘Why?’

He located the exact building where the blue dots were concentrated.

“Search window. Tell me the location where the blue dots are gathered.”

〔Accepting corrupted code search request.〕
〔Searching……〕
〔Search results found.〕
〔The location you seek is the Keaton Ducal Estate.〕

“……The Keaton Ducal Estate?”

The man’s face turned pale.

“That’s impossible. There was no such variable before. The House of Keaton was wiped out by the curse at the wedding. They all died.”

He knew the duke’s only daughter had been a notorious troublemaker. A foolish girl.

She had barged into the Crown Prince’s wedding in mourning clothes, screaming that she would not allow the marriage. She had been subdued by imperial guards.

When people began turning into zombies, she failed to escape and returned to the Keaton estate as a zombie, infecting others.

‘It should have happened the same way this time……?’

And come to think of it, the last time survivors appeared, it had also been at a Keaton-owned building.

Realizing something was wrong, the man hurriedly gave another command.

“Search window!”

〔What would you like to search?〕

“Investigate whether there is any ‘code’ other than mine at the Keaton Ducal Estate in Duo-1 District of Agatha.”

〔Receiving command from corrupted code: ¿Unknown_virus?〕
〔Searching for code presence in Duo-1 District.〕
〔Searching……〕

‘Please.’

He did not want to see another variable. He had already experienced failure once.

But as always, the sky was not on his side.

〔1 search result found.〕
〔1 signal of normal code detected.〕
〔Would you like to make contact?〕

“…….”

He grabbed his hair and let out a beast-like scream.

“Aaaah!”

A new variable had appeared.

Whether intentionally or not, the gods had inserted another unpredictable factor when they reset the world.

To stop his twisted desire to destroy it.

“Aaaah! Aaaah!”

He had already taken the life of his only twin brother.

He had torn out the souls of everyone in the Warrey family—with their consent—and used them as fuel for the curse.

There was only one wish left.

“I want this world to collapse.”

To become as miserable as he was.

He remembered his previous life. No matter how hard he struggled, this world—unfair and filled with suffering—never changed for him.

If the world would not change for him, then he would change the world.

And the only way to change a world that had not changed even as the Warrey family died…

Was to destroy it.

For that, he studied poison, curses, and forbidden black magic, creating the horrific zombie virus himself.

Watching countless people turn into zombies or die filled his heart with satisfaction.

〈Brother, look at this.〉

I’m finally breaking the world that turned its back on you.

I’m destroying it so completely that there won’t even be a “protagonist” left.

〈As a gift for your journey to the afterlife, I’ll give you a ruined world.〉

Surely, if his brother who cherished him so dearly saw this, he would smile—even in hell.

He had succeeded, even at the cost of his own life force…….

But then everything reset, like clock hands turning backward.

〈……What?〉

In the blink of an eye, he awoke again in his dark workshop.

The mark on his wrist proved he had completed the forbidden magic—but that was all.

As he raged, hoping it had not been a dream, a thought struck him.

〈……Then I’ll just do it again.〉

This time, he would include even the woman who had become the variable.

If everyone were swept up by the zombie virus, the capital would fall. And once the gates opened and it spread to other regions, the world’s destruction would be inevitable.

He did it.

He still vividly remembered the cost and ritual required to turn humans into monsters.

“Aaaah……!”

Crash. Unable to contain his rage, he threw the office furniture aside.

‘The god-protected variable is at the Keaton Ducal Estate.’

He had to kill it.