Awakening
—Kyaaah! A woman's scream pierced the air.
—Fuck! Fuuuuck! Yeji!
—Get lost, fuck! Hyungnim! Hyyyung!
—Give it up! It's too late—you know it!
—No! Let go! You bastard! Yeji! Yejiii!
Men's curses echoed too. A screech of tires—screeeech!—followed by a crash of something slamming into something else.
Rustle. "Ah, shit, what the hell."
I finally woke up. Was there an accident or something? Even in this well-insulated villa, this bullshit racket first thing in the morning—well, not morning—turned my stomach.
"Haa..." I cracked my eyes open from bed and glanced at the clock.
[17:27]
Not morning—it was heading into evening. Still, the noise pollution was a nuisance. With a sigh, I naturally checked my smartphone.
[Missed Calls: 42]
[Texts: 34]
Dozens of missed calls piled up. All from my parents. Why so many?
......
I lay there and dialed Mom first. Weirdly, no ringing tone. Tried again and again—no connection.
'Tch...'
I hurriedly tapped into texts. Various ones, but I checked Dad's most recent first.
'What the hell.'
Something was definitely up. They'd gone down to our hometown in Seochoen yesterday. Shelters? I checked Mom's texts too.
The rest were similar. Not grasping it, I skimmed the others.
'No way.'
Then it hit me. The texts described a zombie outbreak across Korea. They'd left messages since I wasn't picking up. Luckily, no one in the family was infected, couldn't head to Seoul, so staying at grandma's. Prayers for my safety.
'Zombies, though.'
Scientifically impossible. Walking corpses? Movie and novel stuff. Even if real in modern society, military would've crushed it quick. Tanks and guns aren't jokes, no matter how incompetent the army.
But I trusted my parents over anyone. Never cursed in 29 years, supported me when I lost my job. No way they'd prank-call with this.
Screeeeech! And those intermittent outside noises? No human could fake them.
Clatter. I opened the balcony window next to my room and peered out.
"....!!!!"
I froze. Right there on the asphalt—a spreading pool of blood.
'This fucking...'
Squelch-squelch. A twitching woman. Humans gnawing her whole body.
'......'
Looked closer—no way those were normal humans. Eyes glazed, ripping into flesh without a care. Better word: zombies.
Countless zombies shambling outside. Next to the blood, a car crashed into the villa parking lot wall—probably escape attempt blocked by zombies. Farther at the intersection, multi-car pileup of wrecked vehicles tangled together.
So the earlier noise was a botched escape by car?
'Goddamn it.'
More staggering zombies nearby, hunting food. Under our villa—no people, just zombies lurching in search of humans.
Click. I tore my eyes from the horror, crawled back onto the bed. Fired up my smartphone, hit the internet.
Ignored disaster texts or reserve force summons—132 of them. Scrolled news portals, slowly gathering info. Internet still up, unlike calls.
[Real-Time Trending]
Airborne virus. COVID-23 zombies. New rabies. Bioweapon. Brain lesions. Vaccine brain effects. Shelters. hot!
Local shelters. hot! Local military bases. hot!
Internet flooded with zombie crap. Looked like parents were right—zombie apocalypse confirmed.
'Airborne?'
Clicked top "airborne virus."
If airborne zombie shit, dire. Me or family could turn any second—grrrraaah.
Clicked top Tistory wiki entry.
First reported in China Nov 2, 2019. Zoonotic virus—excerpted.
As of Mar 3, 2023 00:00, 20% global population infected. Brain-dead show zombie-like movement, attack humans. Appearance identical to humans. Bitten: immediate or within 24h mutation—thankfully, later airborne doesn't mutate... no vaccine effect...
Not airborne infection itself. Virus spreads airborne, but turns prior COVID victims into zombies attacking people. Good news: ignores COVID vaccines. I'd gotten four for society; parents five.
"We're fucked."
Not worst-case, but bad. 20%? 1.6 billion initial infectees from 8 billion. Sudden mutations among officials, military sleepers, safe homers—attacking friends/family. Casualties uncontrollable.
Typical outbreaks start one patient zero. Here, 1.6B with no precursors—society's basics collapsed.
Tap-tap. Initial infectees look normal. No flipped eyes or groans like media—hard to spot. Silent attackers? Response delayed. Hit at midnight too.
'As expected.'
News portals matched: world fucked. Recent breaking news hours old. Reporters, site runners zombied or dead.
'......'
Outside now quiet—no more screams. That woman long zombified; no corpse left.
"No."
Dead end? Gov/military crumbled. If any left, too few for civilians. Sat on bed, legs shaking. Apocalypse in modern times? Suicide?
Country gone, civ amenities failing. Why bother living?
'No.'
Not yet. Parents might live. Death scared me anyway.
'Internet worked.'
Opened KakaoTalk. Net up, so chats should work despite calls.
Spot on. Parents flooded it too. And fresh ones at 17:35—both worrying my life. Still alive.
"Heh..." Mom's chat drew a dumb laugh. Typed back.
Made sense. Grandma's isolated by mountains and sea, but back door easy access. Block it, front fully barred—defensible.
"Ah."
Normally mindless, but tears welled up. Parents safe. Me safe. Fragile, but they fought to live—I couldn't off myself cluelessly.
"Damn..."
Aftermath the issue. Promised to meet alive, but no way through zombies.
Wait for rescue? Army intact? Cops? Reserves? No helos, tanks, jeeps outside. If rescue, I'd get drafted—male reserve fodder, exploited to death vs zombies.
What then?
'Fuck.'
Frustrated, back to net. Past news/breaking—
Biggest community. Same vibe: depressing posts like "Mom/Dad bitten?" "I got bit." Some idiots: "Why no status window?" "Gonna fuck hot zombie girls." Minority.
"Status window bullshit."
Clicked popular status window post.
Hollow laugh. Understood their desperation. Lose family overnight? I'd cling to status window nonsense too. Nice if life handed cheats.
But reality's no tutorial. Just worst zombie outbreak: airborne precursor, no warning.
"Haa..."
No answers for me either. Same as those forum clowns screaming status window. Lucky alone at home, safe for now—but how long? Step out? Zombie swarm death.
Like them, try calling status window?
'Pathetic.'
Never consider normally. But cornered mind pushed. Like lottery buyers knowing odds.
Self-loathing, muttered the dumb word.
"Status Window."
Ice Spear [E]: Summon and launch ~30cm ice spear. Mana cost: 1
Main Quest Ch. 1: City of the Dead
NO.1 Find the Savior. [0/1]
Sub Quest
NO.1 Collect Ruin Fragments. [0/10]
But it actually appeared. Semitransparent text like novel MC, floating in my vision.
"What the."
Momentarily thought hallucinating. Toggled it: 'Status Window, Status Window.' Blinked on/off in view.
No illusion. Real status window bobbing, like what're you waiting for?
Wasn't it airborne virus? 20% initials, midnight outbreak—total doom?
Stunned as it sank in, tossed phone on bed, eyes back to floating status window on my right.