The Twenty-Year-Old College Student Was a Virgin

I was released from prison today. My name is Kim Jinwoo, and I used to be a gangster.

Ever since I was a kid, I lived without much thought, dabbling in one sport after another before quitting just as easily. Studying? What the hell was the point? I figured if I just kept breathing, life would somehow sort itself out.

After middle school I entered high school, but I caused so many incidents that they kicked me out. A hyung I was close with told me he’d make sure I never had to worry about food or rent, so I followed him and started working. Collecting debts, standing as muscle—nothing too complicated. It felt like my natural calling. All I had to do was follow orders.

The hard part was the guys who looked weaker than me but sat above me, staring with eyes full of displeasure. I must have been too good at the job. Too good at fighting. So I stood out.

Hyung said I had to bow my head to those bastards. I hated it, but I pretended to obey and dipped my head just enough. Even that seemed to piss them off. Whatever. If things went south I could just smash them all and flee the country.

Not that I could speak any foreign languages.

While I was reluctantly adjusting to thug life, I went out to collect money with Beomseok hyung. The bastard suddenly ignored the cash he was supposed to take and tried to put his hands on the girl in the house. Fuck that. No matter how wild I was, there were lines you didn’t cross. Minors were off-limits.

I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed the wooden plank beside me and cracked it across Beomseok hyung’s skull. That day I beat him half to death and stomped his third leg into pulp so he could never swing it again. Blood seeped out. For a second I thought maybe I’d gone too far.

Fuck it. I changed my mind. If I hadn’t stopped him, that girl would have carried a scar that could never be washed away. I was glad I’d stepped in when I did.

I prepared to run. There was nothing I could do right then, so I planned to hide and get ready to flee abroad. If they caught me, I was dead. That was certain.

The moment I made up my mind, the police stormed in. When his daughter was on the verge of being raped, the father—who usually beat the shit out of her—had apparently called the cops anyway.

Normally the local officers were all on the take, so they wouldn’t have rushed out… I checked my watch. Looked like I’d spent too long turning Beomseok hyung into a eunuch. With that much time gone, their arrival made sense.

So I was arrested red-handed and sent to prison. Honestly, I was more curious about what would happen after I got out than the year I spent inside.

—After serving a one-year sentence, I was released.

I’d caused plenty of trouble in there, but instead of adding time they’d actually shortened my sentence. Originally given three years, I walked free after one. It seemed the boss whose face I’d ruined had spent money to clean up the mess.

During the trial Beomseok hyung had tried to settle with the victim to pull me out, but because the victim refused consent or whatever legal bullshit, I still got real time.

They even planted a few guys in the same prison to kill me. I handled them nicely. Thinking they could take me one-on-one. They even smuggled in knives, but I left them in the same state as Beomseok hyung.

—The moment I stepped outside carrying the clothes and belongings I’d brought, I heard strange noises.

Kwaaaaak. Kyaao— Kyaaaaaaaak—

The prison was unusually loud today. Some kind of festival? Or had the inmates started a riot? It was definitely noisy. I couldn’t go back to check. I wanted to watch, but the guard blocked me and told me to get out quickly.

What the hell… I like watching fights too. This would be way more fun if we could bet cigarettes on it…

If I walked out now, I’d die. There was probably a black car waiting. Several guys inside. I’d have no choice but to get in, and that car would become my hearse.

It was almost funny. Take care, world.

A small crowd had gathered—people waiting to pick up today’s releases. Among them, several half-corpse-looking figures were frantically attacking everyone else.

Was this like Train to Busan? I’d seen it. Couldn’t remember the exact title, but I knew these were zombies.

I’d always enjoyed subculture stuff—movies, dramas, novels, comics. I used to avoid text-only novels, but with nothing to do in prison they became a hobby too. Over the year I’d picked up a lot of random ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knowledge from books.

At first I couldn’t read a single page without falling asleep and getting shaken awake by the guards. Later, when there was literally nothing else to do, I even read the word-heavy ones. Or I exercised. The catch was that official exercise time was strictly scheduled; anything else had to be done in secret.

As of today I was free. And it looked like the world had ended.

That’s right. People had turned into zombies, and I had survived. They must have been too busy to reach this far. No black car waited for me. Instead the world had become one that actually suited me.

Good. First, secure a weapon.

The prison wall stretched long and clean; I couldn’t find anything useful. This place was no good. I moved on. Better to find something I could pick up and swing.

No matter how good I was at fighting, the moment a zombie got in range it would try to chew my flesh, and I had no guarantee I could dodge them all. I’d seen it in that movie. Even Ma Dong-seok was helpless against them.

After running about ten minutes from the prison I saw abandoned burning cars. They might explode, so I left them. I entered a commercial building. It sold stir-fried tofu.

Fuck. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t even eaten tofu after getting out. If the organization guys had shown up they probably would have fed me at least one piece before sending me off. The boss was the sentimental type.

I grabbed a few knives from the shop and picked up a claw hammer I spotted in the storage area.

Kyaaaaaaaak! Kuaaaaaak—

I approached a lone zombie a short distance away and swung the hammer at its head, cutting through the air.

Whoosh. Thud—

It was a beautiful swing, but no one was around to admire it. After its head caved in the zombie twitched for a few seconds and finally died.

The moment I killed the first zombie, something appeared in front of me.

There was no time to examine the blue window. Killing the zombie must have stimulated the others; they were starting to swarm.

Whoosh. Thud. Whoosh. Thud.

Zombies only died when their heads were destroyed. After testing a few times I realized even fatal wounds on a living person were useless. When a zombie reduced to just a head kept screaming and twitching at me, I actually got a little creeped out. It still wouldn’t die.

Once the experiment was over I moved efficiently. Dodge the charging zombie, swing at the head. I felt no guilt. I’d never been the type to be tormented by it anyway. Even when I castrated Beomseok hyung, it was only a slight frown between men. The scene didn’t haunt me and I didn’t feel sorry.

I had lived my life putting myself first. After surviving a lethal situation, my resolve only hardened. Whether these things used to be human or not, they were zombies now. Monsters. And killing them seemed to give rewards.

Ding— Ding—

Notifications kept ringing, but I ignored them. The moment I thought the blue windows obstructed my view, they vanished. When I wished for the notification sounds to stop, they went silent from then on.

Huff— Huff—

My breathing was ragged and a sweet taste filled my mouth. I couldn’t even count how many zombies I’d killed. But it looked like none remained in my current line of sight.

It was exhausting. I had confidence in my stamina, but continuous high-tension combat drained me faster than I expected.

First I needed to hide and recover. Then I could hunt more zombies. Or go home… Is there any reason to go back?

There was nothing left at home. Besides, the organization guys would be running even wilder in this chaos, probably taking over the whole area. Unless they came by car they wouldn’t reach here. I’d check later ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whether vehicles still worked.

Whew… I went back into the tofu restaurant from earlier. After catching my breath I finally felt alive again. My whole body ached from the violent movements as if it might tear apart, but I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had no actual wounds.

I had survived. Adrenaline, dopamine, endorphins, histamine—every chemical I’d ever heard of surged up and then slowly settled.

Once my body calmed, my head started working again. That blue window had appeared in the middle of everything. I knew what this was. It was a cliché that showed up all the time in novels.

I spoke a word I would never have uttered under normal circumstances.

“Status window.”

Several more notification windows cluttered my vision.

Intelligence 4? Well… I was never good at studying, so that tracked. Stamina was average, strength a little high. Definitely a physical type. Looked like my exercise routine had been converted into stats. Six points total meant roughly two per level.

As expected, I should raise my strong points further and补 the weak ones. Trash character? I didn’t give a shit. I’d just do what I wanted.

I invested three points into strength, two into agility, and one into mana. I had no idea what mana did, so experiencing it once seemed like the only way to find out.

Updated status after spending the points:

I’d earned three first-clear rewards. Since I was still inside the prison when the outbreak started and only encountered zombies on the way out, it wasn’t strange that I’d gotten them. Looked like I’d adapted to this new world faster than most.

Raising mana by one let me feel some unknown energy inside my body, but I couldn’t identify it. Fucking uncomfortable. Was my brain too slow to figure it out? Seemed like I’d have to learn everything one by one. I’d practice later.

For now, let’s finish checking my current status. What exactly was this ability? I was curious what had been upgraded.

The inventory seemed to be the first-come-first-served passive. Since I succeeded in hunting a little while after the outbreak began, I didn’t get a first-clear reward for it but received the early-bird bonus instead.

I’d earned three first-clear rewards total. The minimap originally showed only one category, but two more conditions had been added. And because the slots were full, I’d received the locked skill.

When I tried to select the locked skill, nothing happened. If they were going to give it to me, they could have at least made it usable. The existence that created these abilities and released monsters on Earth didn’t seem particularly friendly toward us.

Or maybe it was such an absurdly overpowered ability that it still couldn’t be opened yet? Whatever. I’d find out with time.

Let’s check the main skill.

Women? I opened the women tab and a list appeared.

Kim Hee-jin, age 34. Yoo Bok-hee, age 70. Lee Min-ah, age 22. Yoo Si-young, age 20.

I tapped one at random.

My confidence that had stayed quiet for an entire year surged. My twenty-centimeter cock stood at full attention, threatening to rip straight through my pants.

So a twenty-year-old college girl addicted to masturbation was happily touching herself without even realizing the zombie apocalypse had started?

As a man, there was no way I could ignore that and just walk past.

I checked a few more entries afterward. Oh… It looked like I had gained an ability that would let me fuck a whole lot of women.