The Zombie Apocalypse Begins

Park Ji-hoo.

Even as a short-lived horror had turned his fists into a bloody mess, the boy snapped out of his daze in the strange new space that greeted him.

The city had been reduced to rubble. In the heart of what had once been a bustling metropolis, skyscrapers stood half-collapsed, flames still licking at their broken frames as if the world itself had been caught in some apocalyptic war.

“Ji-hoo-ya!”

Seong Yujin’s voice cut through the silence.

Memories long hidden by some unknown power surged back, and for a moment he simply stood there, stunned. Then a familiar voice drifted from behind.

“Nuna!”

Lee Sia.

She looked like she had been through hell. Her entire body was smeared with blood, and every inch of her was covered in filth and bruises.

After only a day inside the Tower, she had come out this wrecked?

Even Yujin had taken a beating, but Sia had clearly endured something far worse.

“Are you okay? Any injuries?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Ji-hoo shrugged as if nothing had happened.

It wasn’t an empty promise.

That mountain bear monster had been terrifying, but it had been nowhere near strong. How could it be? It was only the sixth floor. The main theme here was designed to terrify players, not to reward brute force. If even this weak a monster could survive the wave, imagine what real threats looked like.

Still, Ji-hoo had no choice but to smile when he remembered the creature’s grotesque form. It had looked nothing like the usual boss monsters, and it was barely on the level of a third-floor creature. For a thirty-level Ji-hoo, it had been child’s play.

A few punches and the beast’s body had exploded, blood pouring out in thick ropes until it was dead.

“What about you, Nuna?”

Ji-hoo’s gaze slid to the blood soaking Sia’s clothes.

“I’m fine too. I just suffered a little.”

Sia offered a wry smile.

“It’s just because there were too many crazy people. I didn’t get scratched once.”

She wasn’t lying.

At Napoli Italian, the punishment for breaking the rules had been merciless.

Dozens of customers had gone berserk and charged at her with everything they could find—knives, broken teacups, chairs, tables, even flower pots. Every weapon at hand had become a weapon of their own madness.

“A lot of blood was shed because of those monsters.”

It hadn’t been hard at all.

Compared to the endless red goblins they had slaughtered on the first floor, this had been nothing. Sia had been far stronger now. One swing of her sword and the crazies had dropped like flies.

“I could have taken them down more cleanly if it weren’t for that fear from the sixth floor tightening my movements.”

The fight itself had been easy, but the perfect recall of her memories had betrayed her.

“Haa…”

Sia sighed heavily.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

Why had she even asked?

If only she hadn’t panicked, it would have been nothing.

“...Probably.”

Ji-hoo couldn’t comfort her. He had seen exactly how Yujin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would react to this pathetic sight, and it was burned into his mind.

That strange uncle would no doubt deal with the monsters like catching rats.

How had they even come to this after only facing such weaklings?

Ji-hoo let out a silent sigh of relief. At least he hadn’t ended up looking like Sia.

“Anyway, that’s for later. Did you level up?”

“Level up?”

After crushing the mountain bear, the Akasha System notification had popped up, but the flood of memories had left no time to check it.

Later, Ji-hoo summoned the status window.

NAME: 『Park Ji-hoo』

LEVEL: 『32』

TRAITS: 『Unbreakable [E]』, 『Fighting Spirit [D]』

ALIGNMENT: 『Neutral』

TITLES: 『None』

SKILLS: 『One-Shot [E]』, 『Chaining Strikes [E]』, 『Heavy Impact [E]』

“Huh?”

There had been a change.

Level had jumped two points, and he had gained one new skill.

“I reached level thirty-two and got 『Heavy Impact [E]』.”

“Really?”

Sia nodded, having received the same notification.

She hadn’t gotten 『Heavy Impact』, but she had leveled up and earned a skill too.

“Then the sixth floor has been cleared.”

That meant this place was the seventh floor.

“Congratulations!”

“Huh? What are you congratulating me for?”

Sia blinked in confusion.

“Master Yujin said that the first person to clear a floor gets a reward. Nuna was the first to reach the seventh floor, right?”

Ji-hoo had received no notification.

If that was true, the probability that Sia had gained something was high...

“You think that monster was slower than me?”

Sia smirked.

“That psycho probably cleared it long before us.”

“The first reward? Whatever.”

Ji-hoo hadn’t received the same notification either.

It was the same story as when Yujin had devoured everything alone.

“Really?”

Ji-hoo nodded slowly, then remembered how easily he had cleared the sixth floor.

If it was Yujin, he would have finished it even faster.

Whether it was a ghost, a monster, or a horror, the man would have drawn his sword without hesitation.

And that thought was proven correct.

“Here we are. Finally.”

On the rooftop of a collapsed building, a voice full of irritation echoed down from the sixth-floor level.

Yujin stood there, eyebrows furrowed in deep displeasure.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped straight down.

Brandishing his long crimson tail, he landed on the ground as lightly as a feather.

It was clear that beyond thirty levels, human limits no longer applied.

“Why so late?”

Yujin asked.

“...Not that late. We climbed much faster than usual.”

From the first to the fifth floor had taken a full month.

Clearing the sixth floor had only taken a single day.

That was insanely fast, right?

“I only needed thirty minutes.”

Yujin laughed dryly.

“...Thirty minutes?”

Ji-hoo asked, eyes wide with shock.

Even he had taken several hours, dodging the mountain bears the whole way.

Compared to that, thirty minutes was almost instantaneous.

“Did you go to Napoli Italian too?”

“Ah, so that’s where you were.”

Sia looked surprised.

Yujin nodded as if he already knew.

“What did you get?”

“I-I got the mountain bear.”

“Oh? You survived and came out.”

Ji-hoo tilted his head at Yujin’s reaction.

How does he know everything?

Yujin had surely climbed from the tutorial floor step by step, just like them. Yet the way he spoke made it sound as if he had already been there before.

“Both of you faced some pretty creepy places. That’s not so late, is it?”

Yujin said with a bright smile.

Napoli Italian and the mountain bear had been notoriously high-difficulty themes on the sixth floor.

Clearance rate below ten percent.

Crushing both in under a day proved how outstanding the pair truly were.

“Good. The tardiness is canceled. Not bad at all. The effort you put in paid off.”

Who suffered the effort? We did.

Sia grumbled.

Of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠course Yujin ignored every word.

“Well, everyone’s here. Time to move.”

“What is this place? The seventh floor, right?”

“Yes.”

“And it has a horror theme too?”

Sia shuddered, and a few pieces of dried blood fell away.

“Of course it does. Keep your mind strong. This isn’t a floor where you can just fight your way up.”

Yujin’s tone grew heavier.

Since neither Sia nor Ji-hoo had ever felt this atmosphere before, they both tilted their heads in confusion.

“By the way, what is this place? You said up to the tenth floor is horror, but this doesn’t feel scary at all.”

The ruined city was indeed eerie.

But that was all.

No ghosts, no strange rules, no sunlight to make it dark.

There was nothing here to evoke fear...

“Zombies.”

There it was.

“From the seventh to the ninth floor, it’s one single world. Zombie apocalypse.”

“Oh no.”

Zombies.

Rotting flesh.

Spilling intestines.

That corpse stench that would numb your nose.

And above all, an endless tide of monstrous numbers.

Just imagining it sent chills down his spine.

“One quest per floor. Clearing three main quests here will count as clearing the climb.”

Yujin continued with a satisfied smile, watching Sia’s expression shift from worry to grim determination.

“Now you understand why I said combat ability is important.”

With Yujin around, a thousand zombies wouldn’t even slow him down.

But two thousand, three thousand, ten thousand?

Even he couldn’t handle that many.

Unless they were around one hundred levels.

Both Sia and Ji-hoo’s faces turned serious.

Zombies were already a nightmare, but now they realized just how hard it would be to clear this floor.

“Let’s move. The real quest starts farther ahead.”

Yujin pointed with his finger.

A towering blue pillar rose into the sky.

It wasn’t far, so the three of them reached it in no time.

At the same time, the Akasha System notification floated in front of them.

“You see?”

“Yes.”

“...There are survivors here?”

Both of them read the quest carefully and blinked.

“Listen carefully. The clear time depends on what you do here. If you’re lucky, you might reach the ninth floor by today. If not...”

The end of the sentence hung there, unfinished.

A month? Two months? A year? Ten years?

No time limit meant exactly that.

“So focus. Don’t hold me back. I have zero desire to waste time on the seventh floor.”

Yujin spoke coldly.

The two of them could only nod in silence.

“Good.”

Yujin smiled as if satisfied.

At the same moment:

AAAARRRRGGHHH—!

A deafening roar shook the city.

“W-what is that?”

Sia’s eyes widened.

“How many are there?”

The roar wasn’t the issue.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!

The ground trembled violently.

How many zombies were there to cause an earthquake?

“Lots.”

Yujin answered shortly.

Far in the distance, silhouettes of the horde began to appear, flickering between the ruined buildings.

It was only glimpses, but Sia understood instantly.

“Zombie wave.”

Nothing could describe it better.