Chapter 1: The Beginning of Hell

I am the homeroom teacher for the third-year high school students who just finished the CSAT exams.

After the CSAT, classes are canceled and it feels like everyone is just loafing around. But I still have to prepare career counseling sessions for the students, so my workload is heavier than a mountain of work.

I quickly changed into my work clothes and headed to the bus stop, arriving a bit late.

Without a car to repay the loan, I took the bus to school, dozing off along the way.

"I haven't eaten breakfast yet, so I'm starving."

After getting off the bus near the school, I went straight to the nearby convenience store.

I picked up a loaf of bread to quickly fill my stomach, then set it down and gazed at the tempting lunchbox from Baek Joongwon next to it.

'Tomorrow is payday.'

Although I'm a miser who saves every penny, since tomorrow is payday, I can afford to eat a hearty breakfast, right?

With that thought, I took out my wallet and pulled out the one lottery ticket I had bought last week.

'If this wins!'

I don't usually buy lottery tickets, but after drinking with Hyuk-hyung last Friday, I bought one on a whim. It was because we said that as salarymen, the only way to escape poverty is through the lottery.

I had forgotten to check it until today, Monday.

'Should I check it now?'

I pulled out my phone and slowly matched the numbers one by one.

4. 16. 22. 33. 41. 45.

'Huh?'

I thought I might have misread it.

The numbers on the lottery ticket I was holding matched exactly.

So, with trembling hands, I checked the numbers again.

4. 16. 22. 33. 41. 45.

'Insane! It's first prize!'

First prize.

Lottery first prize.

To me, who had never once won in my life, this kind of luck was like a dream.

'This can't be a dream, right?'

I pinched my cheek hard.

Seeing my burning cheek, it was clear it wasn't a dream.

'Haha. I'm going crazy. Should I go straight to the bank?' But before going to the bank, I had to go to school first, so I carefully put the first prize lottery paper in my wallet and headed to school.

'Ugh... First, I need to quit early...'

While walking, thinking about what to do with this money from the first prize, I suddenly heard a strange voice in my ear.

'What the hell was that?'

I looked around, but no one else was there.

'Do these kids get too stressed about college entrance exams and start hallucinating?'

Arriving at school after sending the whole class to college, I headed to the staff room.

Dring.

Weong. Weong.

As soon as I entered the staff room, everyone stood in place as if something was happening, engaged in lively conversation.

'What now?'

Curious, I moved toward the teachers gathered together, and Kim Kang-soo teacher approached me and spoke.

"Kim teacher, you heard that voice too, right?"

"A voice?"

"Yeah. Something about the Earth being reset."

"Huh? Was I the only one who heard that?"

I thought it was just my imagination.

But it seemed others had heard it too.

"No. We all heard it."

"What the heck is this?"

"Maybe the government leaked some weird experiment using strange voices to control people?"

"No way."

While everyone was wondering where the voice came from, I had no interest in it at all.

'Well, they'll announce it on the news anyway.'

More important was my first prize lottery.

The only thought in my head was how to find it.

'First, finish checking on the kids, then go to the hospital.'

After submitting my early departure request, I quickly organized the kids' college data and slowly walked to the classroom where the students were.

Kwurrrwooo!

As soon as I entered the classroom, an eerie sound echoed inside. The movie they were watching seemed to be a zombie film.

Those kids turned the school into a movie theater after the CSAT.

"Hey. What was that voice earlier?"

"Yeah. Maybe aliens arrived?"

"No. Not aliens. I think something's happening in North Korea."

But everyone was ignoring the movie and busy talking about the voice from earlier.

"You kids can hear the explanation on the news, so sit down."

"What? Ssaem. Is this going to be a war?"

"War? No. Sending you kids to college is the real war. Sit down quickly. We're doing roll call, so keep your voices down."

After quietly calming the students, I was about to give a brief announcement when—

Szzzzzt!

The TV suddenly glitched, and instead of the zombie movie, it showed a man wearing a strange mask talking about something.

It didn't seem like anyone was pranking us.

"Hello. This is Planetary Administrator 999. The Earth's Reset Plan will be executed in a moment."

A low, deep voice from the TV.

'That voice again?'

It was exactly the same as the one I had heard earlier.

"Before execution, there is one benefit given to a select few lucky individuals."

The man on the TV slowly raised his right hand and lightly snapped his fingers.

And at that moment—

Flash!

The entire world suddenly went pitch black as if all light had been extinguished.

'What the—?'

Complete silence.

And pitch darkness.

Strange sounds began appearing before my eyes.

While I was wondering how they knew I had eaten triangular kimbap for meals, another message appeared.

According to your traits, job selection will begin.

'Predator?'

An unfamiliar term.

Normally jobs are doctor, judge, prosecutor, teacher, or in games, warrior, mage, archer, right?

But this Predator job I've never heard of before.

While I was wondering ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what it meant—

Flash!

The dark space instantly turned back into the classroom, and bright sunlight hit my eyes.

At the same time, the man on the TV started speaking again.

"Now, everyone. Those who were selected have been given a job along with abilities and basic weapons."

'Weapons?'

While I was showing confusion at the man's words—

Something grabbed in my pocket.

While I was wondering what it was—

The man on the TV began speaking again.

"From now on, monster raids will begin. Please survive safely."

Flash!

The TV completely turned off with those words.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Who was that person?"

"Hey. The person who got a job just now?"

After the man on the TV disappeared, the students started talking noisily about what had happened earlier.

"Whoa. What is this...?"

Kang-hoon jumped in shock at the bow in his hand and dropped it.

Other students did the same.

Weapons in the hands of some students.

"What the hell is that?"

"I don't know. After trait analysis, the job was Archer. Is that why?"

"What?"

As I said, each student received a weapon according to their chosen job, and things existed in the classroom that couldn't be seen normally.

'What the hell is all this?'

Clearly, from what Kang-hoon said earlier, weapons were given according to the job.

'What was I? Predator?'

The word Predator that appeared on the roulette.

While thinking what kind of weapon was related to it, I took out what I had grabbed from my pocket earlier.

'...Fork?'

Not a sword, not a gun, and not even a club— just a fork that I barely used when eating food these days was in my pocket.

"Ssaem! I got a job?"

"Yeah. It was definitely Predator, right? A job like that came out."

"I got Healer. What is this? It feels like a game."

At the moment Jin-hwan and I were talking about the situation earlier—

"Aaaah! Save me! Please, someone save me!"

A scream came from somewhere.

The direction of the sound was right in front of our classroom door.

And after a moment—

Crunch...

Squish!

Red liquid began spraying from the windows.

No matter how you looked at it, it was blood.

Whatever it was, something had clearly happened in the hallway.

"Hey! Door! Close the open door!"

With someone's shout, Sang-cheol in front of the door moved to close it.

And at that moment—

Something jumped onto Sang-cheol's body in an instant.

"W-what is that?!"

"Aaaah!"

On Sang-cheol's body was a gray giant rat.

It was at least one meter long.

And on the monster's head was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something that looked like its name.

'A rat?'

A rat that looked like a monster ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that would appear in a game, unlike a normal rat.

At the sight of it, all the students screamed and ran to the back of the classroom.

"H-help! Save me!"

Sang-cheol, who had fallen from the attack, shouted desperately.

But before anyone could intervene, the giant rat aimed its huge fangs at Sang-cheol's neck and bit down, tearing it apart.

Squish!

Blood spurted endlessly from Sang-cheol's neck.

The blood soaked the classroom floor, and Sang-cheol slumped over and stopped moving as if dead.

"Uwaaaah! Is he dead now?"

"Sang-cheol!"

"Insane! What the hell is that?!"

The classroom turned into chaos in an instant.

No one approached the front of the classroom soaked in blood.

Just students trembling in fear while looking at the giant rat in front of them.

Tap. Tap.

The giant rat stopped biting after confirming Sang-cheol was dead.

Then, as if searching for another prey, it quickly rolled its huge eyes around.

"Hey! There! Gun! Gun!"

"Who dropped that gun!"

A gun lying on the floor in front of the classroom, perhaps dropped by someone who had received a gun after job selection.

But everyone just shouted without picking it up.

Since they were afraid of being targeted as prey by the giant rat, they naturally held back.

"Ssaem! Do something!"

"You said you learned martial arts, right, Ssaem!"

Probably because of fear, the students clung to me and handed everything over.

Of course, I had learned martial arts, but I had never learned how to deal with such a monster.

"...First, calm down and pick up anything that could be a weapon."

Since I was anxious in this situation, the students would be more confused, so I calmly instructed them with my usual voice despite the trembling.

And I carefully picked up the chair next to me.

No matter how you looked at it, that wasn't a normal rat but a monster.

It was impossible to deal with it with the fork given to me.

Squeak.

At the sound of the chair, the giant rat that had been rolling its eyes while looking at us as if searching for prey turned toward a student and began running quickly.

And that giant rat jumped into the air in an instant!

"Disappear, you monster!"

I threw the chair I had picked up earlier strongly toward the giant rat.

Thud! Hit!

Keeek!

The flying chair hit the giant rat's body as it was, and the thing flew toward the window direction.

"Uwaaah!"

"Aaaah!"

Students ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quickly dodged as the giant rat flew toward them.

I didn't miss the moment the giant rat flew and ran to the place where the gun had been earlier, quickly picking it up and aiming the barrel at the giant rat.

"Hey, you rat! Headshot!"

When the giant rat that had fallen on the floor slowly tried to stand up, I pulled the trigger of the gun.

At that moment, a system message appeared.

[You cannot use this if you do not have the corresponding class]