Ranking 1st?
I stared out at the black rain pouring endlessly from the second floor of the commercial building. Swish, swish, swish... The Hunting Dogs were wiping down their bodies with towels. But even after the towels soaked up the water, their skin remained pitch black.
"This isn't like paint or something, is it...?"
"Feels weird."
Sniff, sniff...
"Smells kinda like the stench from those zombies..."
"Come to think of it, that mutation thing earlier..."
"No way, we're not turning into zombies too, right...?"
Twitch. Doksayeon and Jeong Da-jeong, who were wiping themselves down with towels just like the others, both flinched at the same time, their eyes trembling.
"...Now that you mention it, my skin's been itchy since earlier."
"...! W-what do we do? Master, is there some way..."
"Don't freak out. It'll all wear off in about an hour."
Unless they'd soaked in a bathtub for hours, a brief splash like this wasn't enough to do shit.
"...Really?"
Despite my words, seeing not just Doksayeon but everyone still unable to hide their anxiety, I sighed and stuck my knife out the window, letting a single black raindrop coat the blade before showing it to them.
Fwoosh... Sss...
The lighter's flame hit it, and black smoke immediately rose up. In no time, only a clear water droplet remained. I gulped it down demonstratively and said,
"Happy now?"
"Ah... Yes."
"Wait, how did Master know that?"
"You pick that shit up after binge-reading a few times."
"...?"
I decided to save the details for later—like how it didn't affect plants or animals, or how it was fine for farming. What they needed to know right now wasn't some distant trivia; it was the crisis right in front of us.
I turned my gaze back outside the window.
Thud, thud, splash. Splash. Splaaash...
"“““Grraaaaaahhh...””””
Zombies crawling out from the buildings one by one. It was like they'd gotten a group chat heads-up beforehand; they all started doing the exact same thing.
Splat.
Splaaat.
"Grrrrk..."
The zombies spread their arms toward the sky, mouths gaping impossibly wide to catch the rain. Doksayeon, piecing together the black rain's danger from their grotesque display, whispered softly as realization dawned.
"Master, could this rain be for the zombies...?"
"Yeah."
Just as she guessed, this wasn't rain meant to kill or infect us. It was periodic nutrition for the zombies to prevent starvation—and a catalyst to evolve ready normal zombies into Running Zombies.
Twitch, twitch.
"Graa? Graaah!?"
One zombie suddenly crumpled like a wooden puppet with snapped joints, and like an infection, the others followed suit.
"Gak, gak! Guk! Grrrk!"
Crack, craaack. Craaack!
"Gasp..."
The eerie bone-crunching sounds echoing from streets all around, combined with their bizarre contortions, made not just the girls but even the Hunting Dogs swallow hard. But it was too early to be shocked.
"......Graaah."
The mutated ones were already rising from the ground. Their movements were nothing like normal zombies.
Swish. Step, step.
"Grk, grk."
No more jerky, single-digit frame-rate stuttering. They moved with smooth, continuous fluidity—like humans. And several times faster than regular zombies, at that.
"..."
Gulp.
I could see the terror gripping them at the sight of these 1st mutation zombies—Running Zombies, or twi-jom for short. I felt a twinge of fear myself. But not because of the twi-jom...
"Pretty damn many, huh."
Squirm, squirm.
Even in this situation, my rotten body itched to just charge out and hack them apart. Yeah, I'd been getting bored of regular zombies anyway.
...But there was nothing to do right now. The black rain would pour all day. It'd stop tomorrow, and until then, the zombies would be too busy juiced on black steroids to bother with us. Like maintenance time in a game.
While we waited, I explained the twi-jom's traits and our moves for tomorrow. We'd left the motorcycles behind like idiots out for a stroll. The school was about 1 km away. Without someone pulling aggro, the only way back was kicking through that horde of zombies swarming out like they were lining up for free lunch.
When I laid it out straight, well...
"What!? They're sprinting at full speed!?"
"Huh...? Y-you mean piercing through that many...?"
Doksayeon was the only one to voice it, but the Hunting Dogs looked like they were thinking the same damn thing.
"No need to pussy out. Smash the head, and they drop just like normals."
I skipped the parts about their superhuman strength that could rip you apart if they grabbed you, or how they got smart enough to play it cautious. 'Not like 2nd mutations.'
Twi-jom or not, countermeasures were the same: don't get caught, crush the skull. How much easier could it get?
'If they wanna live, they'll figure it out.'
No time to baby them anyway. I focused on other shit, sitting the girls on either side of me and groping away.
Squeeze, squeeze.
"...!"
"M-Master...? Everyone's watching..."
"Huh?"
Zing.
"What, never seen a pussy grope before?"
Whoosh... Their faces flushed beet red. "Won't you fuck off?"
Spring, spring.
Pat-pat-patter...
The Hunting Dogs bolted up and scrambled to another shop. I went back to fondling the girls while tweaking our plans.
We didn't know what jobs they'd get, so plans had to flex. Plus, the black rain starting way earlier than in the novel had fucked all our prior schemes.
'Not just 10 days early.'
The black rain kicking off didn't just mean twi-jom showing up. It signaled the tutorial's end. Once it stopped, we'd get messages like in the novel.
Wave 1 incoming.
Shop system added.
Achievement system added.
Point system added.
Systems added to balance the twi-jom—shit that massively impacted survival in the novel. Which made this weird.
'Handing this out already?'
What the hell had changed from the novel to end the tutorial 10 days early? Jeong Da-jeong and Doksayeon's jobs were solid, sure, but enough to shift the whole world? Nah. Their survival even less so. Extras who didn't even appear in the novel—what big traits did they have? Keeping nobodies alive meant jack.
The police station, school, Hunting Dogs, Bonghyeon-dong, Seongjeong-dong, Myeongseo-dong... Had I unknowingly offed some key character? Doubt it. Might ripple a bit in Gucheon City at most. Hell, even killing the protagonist wouldn't cause this unless it was major. That guy's probably munching sweet potatoes in Seoul right now.
So the remaining change was...
Squeeze, squeeze... Pause.
"Huh?"
"Sorry. I thought you wanted me to keep going..."
"Nah, keep at it."
With a hunch, I recalled the novel and pieced together why the tutorial ended 10 days early.
'This it?'
Doubting but curious, I checked the job I hadn't inspected earlier: Fake Character, and its skills...
"Hah, hahaha."
From "maybe" to "probably."
"Master...?"
Jeong Da-jeong asked worriedly at my weird behavior.
"Is something wrong?"
Whether it was or wasn't, I stroked her head and said,
"Looks like I'm the strongest in the world right now."
"Huh? Suddenly?"
"Ah... Yes..."
Arrogant as fuck, they shot me looks like what bullshit is this? Whatever. I picked the job without hesitation.
◈ Durability: 1/1
◈ A excessive opportunity forged from the childish desires of a reader without discernment.
◈ Can duplicate any gear.
◈ Duplicated gear degrades.
◈ Repair with Conviction upon destruction.
◈ Gain EXP with Torn Pages.
◈ Equipped Effect: EXP 0 / 1 Page
Original Work Destruction system added.
Job Active Skill - Plagiarism added.
Job Active Skill - Remake added.
Job Active Skill - Character Collapse added.
Job Passive Skill - Fifth Wall added.
Job Passive Skill - Character Bible added.
Job Stat - Fear changed to Conviction.
Like that abyss bullshit where if you gaze into it, it gazes back. This world seemed to love me too.
Tap. A matte black quill pen dropped onto my hand.
...Snarky tone means it's a tsundere, huh. Even if not, no biggie.
"Let's see how long you can keep that up."
Like it or not, I was claiming this world.