An Unholy Blessing for the Last Place

Kim Saebyeok couldn't bring himself to utter the words "Status Window" until the sun began to rise. Even in this dire, bleak situation—where, in a way, he had absolutely nothing left to lose—he hesitated. It felt like he would be handing himself a death sentence of utter incompetence. He lacked the courage to face his own predictably powerless self the moment those words left ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his mouth.

Instead, he watched TubeTube, observing the brave souls who had already chanted that sacred phrase. From those videos, Saebyeok learned two things. First, everyone who summoned their Status Window received a single random box. Second, these boxes could yield items, magic books, or even direct stat increases.

After watching countless videos, a fierce conflict raged in Saebyeok's mind. Just open it. You have nothing to lose anyway, and if you stay like this, you're going to die. Just open it and get it over with! one side of his brain screamed. But then he would succumb to irrational fear: No, not yet... Who knows what will happen when I open it? What if it kills me?

TubeTube was flooded with stories of people who had opened theirs without a hitch. But now that the world had ended, wasn't it entirely possible that he would be the unluckiest bastard of them all? Anxiety held him back from opening the "friendly invader's" gift, but in the end, Saebyeok's curiosity won out.

"Fuck it..." Saebyeok muttered, finally summoning his Status Window after hours of hesitation.

As expected, there was absolutely nothing special. In fact, his stats were so pathetic they bordered on precarious.

"I'm screwed..." Saebyeok muttered. As he stared blankly at his status window, a three-dimensional, holographic cube materialized right before his eyes.

"Is this... the gift?" Saebyeok lightly tapped the cube floating above his palm. Vrrr.

"Last? Of course... Koreans are always so damn fast. I'm the only weirdo who waited... Sigh." Seeing the notification that he was the absolute last to open it, coupled with the spinning loading icon, Saebyeok frowned. It felt like he was the only one using a dial-up connection while everyone else had fiber-optic internet.

And they claimed they did a thorough investigation... Saebyeok thought, watching the loading circle spin and the dots repeat. He recalled the message sent yesterday by the entity calling itself TF-54.

"Huh? R'lyeh? Great dream? Fragment? What the hell does that even—" Throb! It started with a headache. It felt as if someone had politely pried open Saebyeok's skull, dropped a white-hot stone inside, and started vigorously stirring his brains.

"Ugh... *cough*... *vomit*... AAAARGH!!!" The agony of his brain burning alive forced the half-digested chicken in his stomach back up. Saebyeok clutched his head and thrashed wildly on the floor, rolling right through his own vomit.

Just as the seemingly endless headache began to subside, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠new wave of pain surged down his spine, spreading to every corner of his body. It felt as if someone were flaying his skin and stabbing him repeatedly with hundreds of needles. It felt as if red-hot iron skewers were being driven into his joints and twisted, while a heavy iron club beat his flesh into minced meat. Violent spasms racked his entire body, and he shivered uncontrollably as if stripped naked in the middle of a Siberian wasteland.

Only after his consciousness repeatedly blacked out and snapped back in a torturous cycle did Saebyeok finally manage to lie still, sprawled flat on the floor.

"Haa... haa..." Covered in spit, vomit, and other bodily fluids, Saebyeok was too delirious with pain to even comprehend what he had done. The sanctuary his neat-freak friend had painstakingly kept clean was now a disgusting, ruined ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mess.

"Uuuugh..." With one final, incoherent groan, he succumbed to sheer exhaustion and fell asleep.

In Saebyeok's dream, the world was even more brutal. There, humans fought like superheroes, wielding cold weapons that looked straight out of a video game. Beside him, a dark-haired woman wearing an outfit that looked like a cross between cyberpunk gear and medieval armor walked toward him, holding a mace.

"I'll be back..." Smooch. She leaned her scar-covered face close, kissed Saebyeok on the cheek, and then marched off toward the thick of the battle.

His senses slowly returned to reality. Gasp! He bolted upright. "Ma Ji-an!!! Pant, pant... A-A dream? Ma Ji-an? Who the hell is Ma Ji-an?"

Saebyeok went to press his hand—which had been resting on the damp floor—against his throbbing forehead, but froze. Only then did the stench hit him. The sour, nauseating smell of vomit mixed with a mysterious black liquid he had somehow discharged, making its presence overwhelmingly known.

"What the fuck is this?! Ugh!" Saebyeok dry-heaved, but his stomach was completely empty.

"Sigh... Fuck, water..." Dragging his sticky, filthy body up, he trudged over to the refrigerator. He ripped open a fresh two-liter bottle of mineral water and chugged the entire thing. The cool, refreshing water tasted incredibly sweet as it rushed down his throat. Gulp, gulp, gulp.

"Huh? I just chugged that whole thing? Wait, what's going on? Why does the fridge look so small?" Feeling a strange sense of dissonance, Saebyeok began patting down his body. He hadn't just gotten taller. His entire physique had been rebuilt with dense, hard muscle.

As his vision sharpened, the destruction around him became clear. His friend's prized gaming console, the desk, the bed, the blankets—everything near where Saebyeok had been thrashing was completely smashed to pieces and coated in that foul black liquid.

"Why did I... Ah!!!" Trying to piece together what had happened, Saebyeok remembered opening the cube from his Status Window. Immediately, several notification windows popped up before him.

"Madness?" Now that he had drank some water and his headache was gone, Saebyeok tilted his head, bewildered by the bizarre warning.

"What the fuck is all this... How do 'apocalypse' and 'beginning' even go together?" Saebyeok closed the Status Window, deeply regretting his lifelong lack of interest in subculture web novels and games.

"If only Woongtae were alive... Sigh." Thinking of his deceased friend, Saebyeok let ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out a heavy sigh of grief and regret.

Sniff, sniff. "Ugh, goddammit..." Saebyeok realized he had to do something about the putrid stench filling the room.

Rummaging through the apartment, Saebyeok found a small basin and a dustpan. He scooped up the thick, sticky black liquid in large clumps, dumped it down the toilet, and used every single rag his friend had neatly organized to scrub the floor clean. Once the room was somewhat presentable, he finally stepped into the bathroom and stripped off his clothes.

"Whoa..." A completely different person stood in the mirror. He had grown significantly taller, and the "layer of virtue" (fat) he had accumulated from years of late-night delivery food had completely vanished. His face was still average, but he now carried a much more attractive, rugged aura.

When he took off his underwear, he was even more shocked. He didn't know when or how it had happened, but Saebyeok's junior had bulked up to a heavyweight class.

"With this size... I could probably go toe-to-toe with Western porn stars, eh?"

As he turned on the shower and let the warm water wash over him, an eerie sense of peace washed over Saebyeok. It felt as if everything that had happened so far was no big deal.

While washing himself, he wondered: Did the shock drive me crazy? Or is my brain blocking out my emotions as a defense mechanism? But without any medical expertise, he couldn't reach a meaningful conclusion.

Swoooosh— He stood under the stream for a long time, but suddenly, the water sputtered and cut off completely. Drip.

"??" Saebyeok twisted the faucet handle back and forth several times, but not a single drop came out.

"Ah... right. In the movies, the water always cuts out... Fuck, I didn't think of that." The only saving grace was that he had already lathered up with shampoo and body wash and was just rinsing off when the supply died.

After drying himself off, Saebyeok rummaged through the closet to find some clothes belonging to Woongtae, who had always been big-boned. It felt a bit weird, but he even pulled on a pair of his friend's freshly laundered boxers.

Unsure of what to do next in this bizarre crisis, Saebyeok decided to rely on his military training. He cracked the window slightly to let the room air out and switched off the fluorescent lights.

"Sigh... It's terrifying outside, and I barely have any food... Ah!!" Saebyeok suddenly remembered his phone and turned it on. He searched the word "zombie" and clicked on the related search term: "How to survive an apocalypse." He grabbed a stray ballpoint pen and began scribbling down anything that seemed useful onto a piece of paper.

After jotted down the essentials, he opened TubeTube again. Fortunately, the network was still up. He plugged his phone into the charger and began browsing through the sensational videos that were popping up.

A Video for Dumbasses Who Missed the Golden Time

Seriously? You Still Haven't Secured Supplies from the Convenience Store?

Water Is the Most Important Thing, Everyone!!

Why TubeTube Is Bound to Go Down Soon

Day 2 Survival Log

Understanding the Status Window: Day 2

It seemed that while Saebyeok had been passed out, the rest of the world had been incredibly busy.

"Am I totally screwed?" The two videos that caught his eye the most were Why TubeTube Is Bound to Go Down Soon and Understanding the Status Window.

In Why TubeTube Is Bound to Go Down Soon, the creator had somehow gathered footage showing power plants, infrastructure facilities, and data centers around the globe being overrun by bizarre, unidentified vegetation. According to the uploader, at this rate, the internet, electricity, and water would all be completely cut off by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in Understanding the Status Window, a blood-drenched man was panting heavily as he explained the system mechanics, combining TF-54's explanation with his own theories. He claimed that SP (Stat Points) could be obtained through class advancement, leveling up, or special items. He then announced he would test his theory, started a live stream, and ran outside.

"Everyone!! Did you see that?! I just smashed a zombie's head in, and I got CP! Holy shit, this Status Window thing is a masterpiece! Ah, I haven't found the shop yet. If anyone knows the unlock conditions, please leave a comment!"

The takeaway was that CP (Contribution Points) could be earned by killing zombies. However, even the uploader didn't know how to access the shop. He merely insisted that once certain conditions were met or if one visited a specific location, the shop would undoubtedly appear.

The most shocking revelation was that the zombies weren't just made of modern humans. While those who were bitten did turn, people were constantly spotting zombies wearing strange, archaic clothing. There were even reports of zombies resembling elves and orcs, looking like they had walked straight out of the movie The Great Adventure of the Ring.

Pushing his shock aside, Saebyeok realized his first priority was to thoroughly study his own Status Window.