Chapter 2
Survivors were being chased by a horde of zombies.
The area in that direction was approximately two hundred meters away from where Hanseong was.
He hurriedly looked out the window.
However, the construction site blocked his view, making it impossible to see what was happening with the naked eye.
‘Three survivors. Seven zombies.’
Those were the numbers he'd determined by counting the dots.
He wanted nothing more than to help them immediately, but he couldn't. His only offensive skill, Call Lightning, took five seconds to activate.
The only way to hit the zombies was to predict their movements and use the skill accordingly.
‘But if I get it wrong...’
The lightning might strike the survivors instead of the zombies. After all, the survivors weren't running in a straight line. They were taking detours to avoid obstacles at the construction site.
‘What should I do?’
Hanseong bit his lip.
Just as he clenched his fists in frustration, something unexpected happened. One of the blue dots suddenly broke away from the group and began moving toward the zombies.
Then, in response to this unexpected action, the blue dot collided with the red dots.
BOOM! CRASH!
The sound of the collision reached him from beyond the window.
Was someone actually trying to fight the zombies?
As he wondered about that possibility, the blue dot that had collided with the red ones returned to the group.
Conversely, the red dots, now clustered together in one place, struggled to move. Watching this unfold, Hanseong belatedly realized something, his eyes widening.
“...No way!”
Had they immobilized the zombies?
Or had they pushed them into one of the pits commonly found at construction sites?
He didn't know which explanation was correct.
However, one thing was certain: this was his chance. The red dots were writhing sluggishly.
Hanseong tapped the red dots on the map.
[Coordinates identified.]
[Select a skill to use.]
▷ Call Lightning (Lv. 1)
He had only one available skill.
Without hesitation, Hanseong approved the activation of Call Lightning. Immediately afterward, dark clouds rapidly gathered beyond the window, accompanied by an ominous rumbling.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Flashes of light flickered between the dark clouds.
Exactly five seconds later, a blinding bolt of lightning struck the center of the construction site.
KABOOOOOM!
Perhaps because it had struck so close to him, the tremendous thunderclap assaulted his eardrums, and Hanseong instinctively covered his ears.
A moment later, a brief message appeared before his eyes.
[You have defeated a Hungry Zombie.]
[Entities: 7]
After successfully completing his objective, Hanseong felt the strength drain from his entire body. He leaned back against his chair.
“Hah, hahaha...”
A hollow laugh soon escaped him.
When he'd merely seen the messages, the situation hadn't quite felt real. But after witnessing the lightning strike with his own eyes, it finally sank in.
His current circumstances were real.
Hanseong realized that his hands were trembling without him even noticing. He stared at the place where the lightning had struck for a long time.
***
Air Force Staff Sergeant Yu Min-cheol.
At thirty-one years old, he was on leave and had arranged to meet an old friend for drinks.
He had arrived early at the café where they'd agreed to meet and was passing the time when a piercing scream suddenly echoed throughout the establishment.
“KYAAAAAA!”
He reflexively turned toward the sound and witnessed an unbelievable sight.
A man in a suit was biting into a woman's neck.
His mind froze for a moment at the utterly unreal sight, but Min-cheol quickly sprang to his feet to stop the man.
However, he couldn't.
“W-What the hell?! Aaaah!”
“Help! Somebody, please help me!”
There wasn't just one person attacking others.
Outside the window, even more people were attacking one another. Min-cheol's body stiffened, and he stared blankly at the scene.
‘Is this a movie shoot? Or...’
Were they filming some kind of hidden-camera prank?
No, that couldn't be right. He couldn't see a single camera.
What on earth was happening?
Just as confusion clouded his mind, something happened.
“...!”
His instincts screamed that he was in danger.
At some point, the monsters inside the café had outnumbered the people.
Without even taking his belongings, Min-cheol rushed out of the café.
He had to escape. But where?
‘Somewhere without people!’
With people attacking other people, staying in the same place as strangers wasn't a wise decision.
Then he happened to spot a place nearby.
A construction site close to the café.
Construction appeared to have ended for the day, and there didn't seem to be any workers around. Ignoring the warning signs barring entry, Min-cheol headed inside.
Fortunately, his guess had been correct.
‘I need to hide first.’
The building itself looked dangerous, as it was still nothing more than a bare skeleton. A place where the heavy machinery was gathered would be safer.
He could conceal himself there while observing what was happening outside the construction site.
Min-cheol quickly hid himself and watched the area beyond the site.
The streets were absolute pandemonium.
There were now far more monsters than people, and the few survivors remaining were screaming as they fled in every direction.
‘What on earth is happening?’
An unidentified virus? Or had some kind of epidemic spread, turning people into those things?
As countless possibilities raced through his mind, someone entered the construction site.
‘Students?’
A boy and a girl who appeared to be high school students.
They looked around before running toward the place where Min-cheol was hiding. When they spotted him, who had arrived first, their eyes widened.
“Y-You...”
“Mister.”
The girl looked startled, but the boy seemed unusually calm. He examined Min-cheol's body before asking another question.
“You haven't been bitten by a zombie, have you?”
“Pardon? Ah, no. I haven't been attacked.”
“Phew, that's a relief.”
The boy sighed in relief.
Min-cheol looked puzzled as he asked,
“Um, more importantly, what do you mean by zombies...?”
“The monsters attacking people. They move around, and if they bite you, you turn into one of them. That's basically what zombies are, isn't it?”
“W-Well, I suppose so, but...”
Zombies were creatures of the imagination.
They were things that appeared only in movies and novels. And now, such monsters had suddenly appeared in the real world?
As Min-cheol stood there with a bewildered expression, the boy spoke to him again.
“I understand how shocking this is. I'm still not entirely convinced myself. But one thing is certain: if we don't keep our heads straight, we'll die.”
Min-cheol couldn't disagree with that.
There was a saying that even if a tiger carried you off, you'd survive as long as you kept your wits about you. In a situation like this, keeping a clear head would greatly improve their chances of survival.
“Let's introduce ourselves first.”
“Introduce ourselves...?”
“I'm Kim Tae-min, a third-year student at Jingwang High School.”
“I-I'm Kang Eun-ji, a second-year student at Kangil Girls' High School.”
“Yu Min-cheol. I'm thirty-one, and I serve at Suwon Air Base.”
“Huh? Then you're a soldier?”
Eun-ji's expression brightened slightly.
It was probably because she saw his profession as something reassuring.
Min-cheol nodded and looked outside the construction site again.
Then something unexpected happened.
[Congratulations.]
[You have been chosen.]
A message appeared before his eyes.
Min-cheol tilted his head in confusion.
“Chosen...?”
When he saw the additional message that appeared, he murmured the word 'Status.'
Another window appeared.
─────
[Name]: Yu Min-cheol
[Level]: 1
[Class]: Assault Warrior
[Health]: 100/100
[Rank]: 1-Star
─────
What was happening now?
Min-cheol looked bewildered. And he wasn't the only one.
“W-What is this...?”
“Class? Level?”
Eun-ji and Tae-min were also staring at the empty space before them with astonished expressions.
Then another message appeared.
[Assault Warrior: Basic Skill Unlocked]
[Active Skill: Shockwave]
─────
[Melee: Shockwave (Lv. 1)]
- Generates a shockwave upon impact.
▷ Effective Range: Within 2 m
▷ Health Cost: 25
▷ Activation Time: Instant
▷ Cooldown: 5 minutes
─────
“What is all this...?”
“It feels like we've entered a game.”
“ A game?”
“Yes, though it'd be more accurate to say the world has turned into a game.”
Tae-min's eyes sparkled.
“But what class did you get, Mister?”
“I just told you I serve at an Air Force base...”
“No, I mean the class you were just assigned.”
“Oh, it says Assault Warrior.”
“I-I'm a Healer.”
Eun-ji raised her hand as she answered.
After hearing their answers, Tae-min nodded and revealed his own class.
“I'm a Necromancer.”
“A N-Necromancer...?”
“You can think of it as a mage who controls corpses. The skill I received is similar, too.”
“Then does that mean you can control zombies?”
“No, I don't think so. I just learned a skill called Raise the Dead, but the description says it can only revive and control corpses that haven't turned into zombies.”
Tae-min looked disappointed.
Just then—
“W-Whoa?!”
As the survivors fled, part of the temporary wall surrounding the construction site collapsed inward.
Building materials came tumbling down, and the zombies immediately turned toward the construction site.
Tae-min's expression darkened at the sight.
“...I think we need to run.”
“What? Why all of a sudden...?”
“Zombies have sensitive hearing.”
As luck would have it, the materials had collapsed close to where Min-cheol was hiding.
The moment he realized this, the zombies began charging toward them like mad.
“...!?”
“Run!”
At Tae-min's shout, Min-cheol and Eun-ji took off running simultaneously, neither waiting for the other.
They were trying to escape through the rear entrance of the construction site.
However, Eun-ji was slower than expected, and the zombies were much faster than her. At this rate, they would undoubtedly catch up before long.
‘I need to put some distance between us!’
Min-cheol quickly surveyed his surroundings.
Then something caught his eye.
A large pit beside their escape route.
If he could make the zombies fall into it, they would be able to escape for certain.
Having made his decision, Min-cheol changed direction.
“M-Mister? What are you...?”
“Don't stop running!”
Min-cheol deliberately shouted as loudly as he could.
The zombies had sensitive hearing, after all. He was intentionally drawing their attention toward himself.
“Over here! Come this way!”
“GRAAAAAH!”
Min-cheol's plan worked perfectly.
The zombies chasing the girl abandoned their route and charged toward him.
As they approached, Min-cheol took off his jacket and wrapped it around his right arm.
‘As long as they don't bite me!’
His goal was to shove the zombies aside and send them tumbling into the pit.
Steeling himself for what was to come, Min-cheol kept his eyes fixed on the approaching zombies.
‘Now!’
Min-cheol pushed off the ground.
Gritting his teeth, he shoved the leading zombie with all his strength.
The moment their bodies collided, a powerful shockwave erupted alongside a new message.
[Hit successful.]
[Shockwave is activating.]
An explosive sound followed, and the zombies were hurled sideways.
Their bodies flew through the air before dropping into the pit.
However, Min-cheol didn't let his guard down.
Anticipating that the zombies might climb back out, he grabbed a nearby bag of cement and threw it into the pit.
Only then did he finally relax.
‘This should keep them occupied for a while...!’
They wouldn't be able to chase them anymore.
Just as he thought this and began turning around, the world before his eyes suddenly filled with blinding white light.
RUMBLE! KABOOOOOM!
A tremendous roar pounded against his eardrums.
What was that? What had just happened?
Min-cheol widened his eyes, but it didn't take long for him to understand.
“L-Lightning...?”
A bolt of lightning had suddenly fallen from the sky.
By sheer coincidence, it had struck the zombies in the pit.
Its power was immense. Every zombie had been charred so thoroughly that their forms were no longer recognizable.
At any rate, he no longer had to worry about being chased.
Thinking himself lucky, Min-cheol turned around and headed toward the students waiting for him.
***
Meanwhile, at that very moment—
Hanseong, who had been sitting motionless, finally managed to regain his composure.
He had accepted that the situation he was in was real.
He then confirmed that the survivors at the construction site were safe and was just letting out a relieved sigh when—
[You have acquired (7) coins.]
A new message appeared.
Coins? What was this now?
As he wondered about it, the number '7' appeared on his right palm.
Another message followed.
[New Achievement Unlocked.]
[Achievement]: First to Acquire Coins
[Reward]: Coins (10)
The number on his palm soon changed to '17.'
From this, Hanseong realized that the number engraved on his palm represented the coins he possessed.
[General Store Unlocked.]
[Would you like to browse the store?]
[YES / NO]
“The store?”
So there was something like that, too?
In any case, there was no reason not to take a look.
Hanseong tapped the YES button, revealing the items available for purchase.
“This is...”
Food, water, clothing, medicine, and more.
The store sold a wide variety of necessities required for survival.
The problem was that the prices were rather steep.
“A two-liter bottle of water costs ten coins?”
Since each zombie yielded one coin, he'd have to kill ten zombies just to buy a single bottle of water.
Food was no different.
As for medicine, prices started at several dozen coins.
While browsing, he spotted something that caught his attention.
Skill books.
“Don't tell me they sell skills in the store, too?”
So skills weren't automatically acquired upon leveling up.
Looking somewhat surprised, Hanseong examined the skill books available in the store.
“They're incredibly expensive...”
The cheapest skill book cost a whopping one hundred coins.
It was the skill called 'Strength,' which had appeared among the options available to him after he became a Remote Support Mage.
Other skill books, including those containing offensive magic, cost several hundred coins.
After browsing the store for quite some time, Hanseong sighed.
“Doesn't look like there's anything I can afford right now.”
Besides, he barely had any coins to begin with.
Having finished browsing, he closed the store window and leaned back against his wheelchair.
A sudden throbbing headache and dizziness had come over him.
Just then—
[Current Mana: 50/100]
- When your mana decreases, you become more likely to experience headaches and dizziness.
- Recover mana through meditation.
The cause of his dizziness had been revealed.
Oh, right. He'd also acquired a Meditation skill, hadn't he?
Realizing this belatedly, Hanseong closed his eyes and focused his mind.
He cleared away his distracting thoughts and tried to concentrate on meditation.
[Meditation initiated.]
[Mana recovers by 5 per minute.]
After concentrating on meditation for a little over ten minutes, the dizziness quickly disappeared.
[Mana is full.]
[Would you like to end meditation?]
Of course he would. There was no particular reason to continue.
Coming out of meditation, Hanseong adjusted his posture and looked out the window.
The sky stained a dark crimson. Countless hordes of zombies wandering the streets. And so on.
It was a scene difficult to believe was real.
But it was undeniably reality. He had experienced that firsthand when he used Call Lightning earlier.
‘Which means I have to make a decision.’
He couldn't keep himself cooped up in a place like this forever, as he had until now.
So Hanseong decided to set himself a goal.
His primary objective was survival.
Fortunately, survival wasn't an especially difficult goal for him to achieve.
After all, he had become a mage capable of using skills remotely.
‘My next goal after survival is...’
To make sure his family was safe.
Hanseong's family home was about three kilometers away.
Meanwhile, the effective range of his open map was only about five hundred meters, barely a sixth of that distance.
In the end, he'd have to travel there himself. But if he encountered zombies along the way, he had no way to ensure his survival.
And so Hanseong made his decision.
‘I'll eliminate every red dot on the map.’
He would use Call Lightning every two hours.
Then, he would collect coins, purchase skill books, and acquire new offensive magic.
Once he had eliminated every zombie on the map, he would finally be able to venture outside.
“All right. Let's do this.”
Having set his goal, Hanseong clenched his fist tightly, his eyes filled with unwavering determination.