Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 002
Chapter Title: The Day of the End (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Like all things, the earthquake that had seemed eternal gradually subsided after some time had passed.
It had felt like quite a long while subjectively, but the watch on his left wrist told him that the catastrophe had unfolded in a mere 30 seconds.
“Waaah! Mommy!”
“Huff… huff! Help over here, please! There’s someone pinned under the rubble. Please!!”
As the rumbling from the shaking ground faded, groans of pain and wails filled the air from all directions.
‘30 seconds.’
In such a short span of time.
This place had become hell, and damn it all...
The anomalies didn’t stop at the earthquake.
“Over there…. Over there…”
Min-jun looked up at the sky following the words of a man lying on the ground staring at it.
Through the gray dust, countless shooting stars filled Seoul’s sky with a crimson glow.
“My God…”
The disaster beyond the realm of thought paralyzed his brain.
Soon, one of the numerous shooting stars grew larger, filling his field of vision.
But despite his mind screaming to run, his feet rooted to the ground refused to budge.
“Run… run!”
His mouth finally opened, too late.
He no longer cared what happened to the injured person on the ground. Shouting at some stranger, Min-jun simply bolted away from the intersection’s center, toward anywhere that might be less affected.
Shuuu—
A roar tearing through the air behind him made time feel frozen.
His legs felt heavy, like running in a dream.
Faster. Farther. He had to escape this place.
KABOOM!
The explosion like a bomb and the ensuing shockwave hurled Min-jun and the dust from collapsed buildings far away.
The only thing worsening his dizziness was the ringing in his ears.
“Ugh…”
He crashed to the ground, scraping his arms and legs in several places.
‘But…’
In his disoriented state, he glanced sideways to see a woman who had fallen headfirst, her neck twisted grotesquely.
Yeah, scrapes like these could definitely be considered good luck.
After instinctively scrambling backward on his butt, Min-jun’s eyes naturally fell on the intersection where the shooting star had landed.
‘They said my brain was messed up, but now I’m seeing hallucinations too?’
Chills ran down his spine. He could barely breathe.
He’d gone from a tragic protagonist with a terminal illness to a character in a disaster movie in an instant.
At the center of the intersection, a massive rock the size of a four-story building was embedded.
It held the blackness of the universe as if advertising its origin, covered in barnacle-like growths.
Wooong— Wooong— Tzzzt!
The black stone pulsed like a heartbeat, then shot darkness toward the sky.
The blue sky was dyed pitch black by the tens of thousands of black pillars fired upward.
Finally, when the once-clear sky turned darker than night.
Wooong— Wooong—
Cracks formed in the utter darkness, and a massive single eye opened.
[#&*%$^&!&\*@$]
“That thing” began proclaiming to the world not with sound, but something else.
[You who received the infinite love of the Universe.]
[You who enjoyed the privilege of infinite time.]
[Having wasted it on hatred, envy, jealousy, and loathing.]
[You have been abandoned by She who embraces all forms.]
Min-jun muttered that his brain must be damaged and smacked his head repeatedly.
But the eye floating in the sky didn’t vanish, continuing its words.
[She has revoked the privilege that protected you.]
[To be subject to the natural order is inevitable.]
[Thus, I send my Apostles to you.]
[You must offer your ‘time’ in tribute.]
As the eye closed after speaking.
A message appeared not just to Min-jun, but to every survivor’s eyes.
[The System activates.]
[Restrictions are placed on Survival Time.]
[100 : 00 : 00]
Tick.
[99 : 59 : 59]
Tick.
[99 : 59 : 58]
‘Fuck…’
It seemed even God wouldn’t grant him a full year.
* * *
‘…System? Survival Time? What the hell kind of bolt from the blue is this?’
Tick.
[99 : 59 : 57]
Zzzt.
[■■ : ■■ : ■■]
‘What? What’s this now…’
The suddenly appeared message window glitched like a broken monitor before displaying new numbers.
[8759 : 59 : 56]
Tick.
[99 : 59 : 55]
Zzzt.
[8759 : 59 : 54]
This continued for a moment.
[The System detects an error.]
[The user is confirmed to originally be a ‘Time Restricted’ individual.]
.
.
.
[Balance patch applied.]
[Survival Time readjusted.]
[User grade adjusted.]
.
.
.
[99 : 59 : 42]
Along with the message that the error was fixed, the black number ‘99’ was tattooed onto his left wrist.
“Ugh, what the…”
He couldn’t get his bearings amid the onslaught of bizarre events.
The earthquake, the black meteor from the sky, the numbers on his wrist—all bewildering, of course.
But what truly plagued his mind right now wasn’t that.
Crunch.
Crunch crunch.
Grk grk grk.
Even as the System messages rang out, the irritating noise that grated on his nerves blocked any coherent thought about this absurd situation.
From the black rock in front of him. Or more precisely, from the countless barnacles clinging to it, the displeasing sounds poured endlessly.
Then.
“…?”
‘The noise stopped?’
Crack.
At some point, the barnacles ceased their unpleasant noises.
Like sturdy clams prying open their shells, they suddenly gaped wide with a loud craaack…
And from within, brown somethings burst out simultaneously.
‘What the hell is that?’
The things emerging from the barnacles resembled cicada larvae before molting.
The size of small dogs, with plump bodies, six chitinous legs extending from them, and short wings on their backs.
As he watched them polish their black eyes and straw-like mouthparts with their saw-toothed forelegs, the sight shattered common sense once more and evoked a subtle disgust, instantly blanketing the surroundings in silence.
“…”
The eerie quiet held until a man’s voice broke it.
“What the fuck?! Scared the shit outta me. Just bug larvae, huh?”
A man nearby, tattoos visible on his arms and legs, swaggered closer to them.
“Damn bugs. Embarrassing to even show your face. Just! Fucking! Bugs! Scaring people like this?!”
Even as he approached and the larvae didn’t flinch, he spat curses like he’d seen something repulsive and stomped on one with his foot.
‘Krik?’
The man was brave, choosing to confront the unknown phenomenon head-on rather than cower in fear.
However… what differed from his expectations.
Was that their chitin was surprisingly tough, unmoved by his kicks, and that his actions drew the attention of hundreds of larvae onto himself.
He had no idea that this rash moment would seal his fate… That was all.
“What…! What the fuck, these things…”
The startled man hurriedly backed away.
But.
Flap flap flap—
Hundreds of larvae swarmed him without giving him a chance to flee, their short wings buzzing as they latched onto his body, soon stabbing their straws into him and sucking something out.
“Aaagh! Help me!!”
As the man withered away, the bugs gradually grew larger.
“Hel…”
“Kyaaah!!”
“Run!”
His pleas for help went unanswered, lost amid the panicked citizens fleeing the sight.
The man collapsed like a mummy, his wrist timer at ‘00’, but no one paid it any mind.
Pabababam—
Zzzzt—
Zrik—
The larvae that had been on him scattered in all directions, now larger, and survivors focused solely on escaping the bugs.
“I… I need to get back to the car.”
Snapping to his senses late, despite being dangerously close to the man, Min-jun tried to run to his car.
He moved far quicker than the others still failing to grasp the situation, so he might have escaped.
Unfortunately, the larvae were faster than expected, and he was too close to the dead man.
As Min-jun fled toward the car, one larva flew at him.
“Argh!!”
He tumbled to the ground entangled with it, barely stopping as he luckily grabbed its straw mouth.
However… the strength pouring from its small body was immense.
When it pressed down with its straw mouth from above, all he could do was barely hold it off with trembling hands.
“Ugh… hngh… Over here! Please, someone help!”
But pleas yielded nothing—people glanced once, relieved the bug wasn’t after them, and fled.
“Fuck… How many times… am I gonna curse… today…”
In their tense tug-of-war, Min-jun barely twisted its direction and clamped it tight under his armpit to prevent the long straw from stabbing.
And as it slammed its mouth into the ground.
[A Quest has arrived!]
A new message appeared before his eyes.
「[Tutorial]
Difficulty: F
Clear Condition: Acquire time by selecting one method.
① Kill a ‘human’ to steal their time (0/1)
② Kill a ‘Larva (Apostle)’ to harvest their time (0/1)
Time Limit: 100 hours
Reward: 100 hours
Failure: Death
Tip) Use the Space Market to purchase a weapon.」
“Damn it… All you do is spout your own crap. Explain something. I’m about to die here.”
Struggling with the larva clutched to him, he muttered through gritted teeth.
“Market? Is this a game…? No, fuck it. Whatever, just give me a weapon already!”
[User grade rises one level due to grade adjustment.]
[You have reached ‘Silver’ grade.]
[Search window available at user’s grade.]
[Searching for item ‘Weapon’.]
[3 ‘Weapons’ available for purchase with user’s current time.]
*[Common] Monkey Spanner (60 hours)
*[Common] Tomahawk Axe (90 hours)
*[Common] Steel Marble Slingshot (50 hours)
“Goddamn it! Hurry up and give me something, anything!!”
[Congratulations! As the first Silver grade in the district, special option added to item.]
[Acquired ‘Loyal Tomahawk’.]
Shrrk.
A cluster of light gathered in his hand, forming a hand axe about 60cm long.
The wooden handle was polished shiny from use, but the blade was razor-sharp, reflecting his contorted face.
“Yeah… I got this. I’ll handle it!”
The moment the axe formed in his grip, he jammed the sharp hook on the back of the blade into the larva’s carapace.
With force concentrated at one point, the tough chitin crumpled with a sound…
“Raaargh!!”
Roaring, the larva’s chitin armor shattered, spraying green fluid.
The larva thrashed wildly.
The green liquid splattering over him was no longer a concern.
Seizing the moment, he swung the axe to churn its innards, focusing every nerve on the task.
Krik—
It flailed desperately, but even a monster from space couldn’t survive eviscerated.
Finally, its limbs went limp. Pushing the dead larva aside, Min-jun rose, heaving himself up.
[Eliminated Larva and harvested 5 hours of Survival Time.]
[Completed Quest!]
[Acquired 100 hours of Survival Time as reward!]
.
.
.
[First in district to kill an Apostle (Larva).]
[Acquired Title ‘First Apostle Slayer’!]
Staring blankly at the rising System windows, Min-jun surveyed the intersection turned into a bloodbath.
‘It’s hell.’
That short phrase alone fully captured the scene before his eyes.