Waking Up to the Apocalypse

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

I woke up from a deep sleep to a violent pounding on my door. I had passed out after drinking myself into oblivion to celebrate finishing my college midterms.

Judging by how the blackout curtains on my window couldn't even block half of the dusty yellow sunlight, the sun had already crossed the meridian and was well on its way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down. Honestly, though, my head was pounding so hard from the hangover that I could barely tell left from right.

"Ugh... Just how long did I sleep...?"

But something was off. The voice that slipped out of my mouth was incredibly thin and delicate—not my voice at all. My hand, which had reflexively reached for my phone plugged into the charger, was awkwardly pale and tiny.

And above all, my phone screen was flashing with dozens of emergency disaster alerts, practically screaming for attention.

"What... what is all this? Is this for real?"

The message at the very top was bizarre. Despite my hangover-induced headache, blurry vision, and the sheer lack of reality that comes from oversleeping, those two words stood out with crystal clarity. Zombie.Zombie apocalypse. Fine, let's assume these messages were describing a scenario straight out of a movie or webtoon.

I didn't even watch zombie movies often because I have a weak stomach. But usually, in movies, the government stubbornly avoids using the word 'zombie' until the very end, opting for terms like 'unidentified lifeforms' or 'the infected.' Yet, this message explicitly and bluntly declared a 'zombie apocalypse' and laid out highly rational, textbook disaster response protocols.

Is this a fucking dream?

That bizarre message naturally made the thought pop into my head. However, it took less than three ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seconds for me to realize this was absolutely not a dream.

"Aaaaaaaack!"

At that exact moment, a blood-curdling shriek echoed from the floor right above me. True to its nature as a college studio apartment built over twenty years ago, the soundproofing was utterly garbage. What followed was a deeply unsettling symphony of frantic screams, bizarre, non-human growls, and the sound of things being violently smashed and shattered.

I wanted to pretend I hadn't heard a thing. Come to think of it, I felt like I'd heard some weird noises in my sleep earlier. Ah. I shouldn't have just dismissed it, thinking the crazy couple ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠next door was having a loud morning session, and actually gotten up to check.

I quickly scrolled down through the emergency alerts. But in the messages right below, the tone shifted drastically, as if they had been hastily revised. The initial instructions—evacuate quickly, head to a safe shelter and wait for rescue, relief supplies and rescue personnel will be dispatched soon—had changed.

"What...?"

The tone was stiff, but the content felt utterly paralyzed with fear. Goosebumps broke out over my skin. It sounded less like they were dealing with zombies and more like they had encountered some ultimate bioweapon that humanity stood absolutely no chance against.

And just as those chilling words finally registered in my blurry vision—

Thud, thud, thud, thud! BAM!

Something slammed violently against my door again. Surely, even if it was cheap, a front door was still made of steel. There was no way it would actually break... right? Oh, wait.

"Fuc— gasp."

The moment I saw the hinges warping slightly and the steel plate denting with every single strike, I reflexively swallowed the curse that was about to fly out of my mouth. The warning to silence all presence and minimize movement flashed through my mind.

Whatever was beyond that door, zombie or not, if it kept pounding... if the steel door gave way, I would be torn to shreds just like whoever was upstairs.

I had to do something.

Ah, this is driving me crazy...

First, I had to stop it from breaking in. The emergency alert told me to stay quiet and still, but judging by how aggressively the thing was trying to demolish my door, it seemed I had already been spotted.

The shoe rack. The cabinet. The microwave. Yes, I had to grab whatever I could and build a barricade at the entryway. I couldn't just die without doing a damn thing.

Quietly tossing the blanket aside, I stood up and stumbled toward the entryway. As I moved, the reality of my current state hit me with full force. Long hair, a tiny frame, and pajamas that didn't fit at all.

"What the hell..."

Looking down, the body of a tiny girl entered my field of vision. They said the world had gone to ruin, and it seemed my life had gone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to ruin right along with it.

But fuck, that wasn't the priority right now. Waking up to find myself suddenly turned into a girl was a disaster, sure, but waking up to a literal zombie apocalypse was a much bigger catastrophe. And the fact that my front door was on the verge of being breached was the ultimate, immediate crisis.

But there was a problem. With this shrunken body, even building a barricade was an uphill battle.

W-was this shoe rack always this huge?

If I had my original body, I could have moved this without a second thought... but both its size and weight felt completely different now. The small cabinet felt like a massive boulder.

"Ngh..."

My frail arms felt like they were about to spasm, forcing me to set the cabinet down. Right then, the thing pounded on the door once more.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Hearing that sound from mere inches away made my mind go completely blank. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs. Before I knew it, my legs gave out, and I slumped to the floor.

Yeah, right. How could a pathetic, cowardly loser who slept in until the afternoon on day one of a zombie outbreak ever hope to survive against these super zombies? Especially with a body like...

As I massaged my still-aching arms, I felt nothing but soft, squishy flesh without a single trace of muscle. At this point, it was just absurd. Honestly, dying in my sleep would have been a peaceful way to go.

Just as I had those thoughts and gave up on everything, I felt something.

It was the presence of the creature beyond the warping door. A rotten, motionless heart, and flowing within it, something white and transparent. A terrifying yet immense power radiating from that very substance.

Quite naturally, I realized that it was the power of magic.

Of all things, even the zombies have magic. If you're going to give it to those rotten bastards, you could've at least given me a single spell. Seriously, turning me into a girl overnight without giving me any abilities is just unfair. In novels, everyone easily gets SSS-rank or EX-rank cheat skills.

I don't know... Are my parents still alive? What about my little sibling...?

I'm about to die, and I'm thinking about the most random things.

The moment that thought crossed my mind—

Suddenly, bright white letters materialized in front of my eyes. No matter how out of it I was, and even if I had given up on my life, there was no way I wouldn't recognize this phenomenon.

A status window?

Even now, the zombie was lingering outside, determined to smash my door down. There was no time to weigh my options. I immediately pressed 'YES'.

Whoosh!

In that instant, an intangible energy swept over the room. Visually, nothing had changed, but I knew with absolute certainty. The same pure white power I had sensed from the zombie now filled my entire tiny eight-pyeong studio apartment. And that power was now intimately bound to the blood flowing through my veins.

Meanwhile, semi-transparent windows kept popping up in front of me. Honestly, terms like 'alternate dimensions' or 'archives' barely registered. The only thing filling my head was the fact that I had acquired magic.

I swiped the other windows aside and reached out to touch the glowing text that read 'Mana Absorption: Level 1' on the magic acquisition message. It felt just like clicking a hyperlinked word on Wikipedia to jump to another page.

Another small window popped up, displaying the spell's description. The realization suddenly dawned on me that this was one of the functions of the 'Archive.' A mystical database containing information on the countless spells existing across the universe, designed to efficiently convey that knowledge to the masters of the Magic Towers.

After reading the description, I looked toward the door. The zombie waiting on the other side. I felt a sudden surge of confidence that I could use this spell to drain the mana flowing through its rotting body.

This would work. I could defeat that thing with this. There was no reason to hesitate.

"Mana Absorption."

As I softly muttered the incantation, mana began to drain from the creature's body. A brilliant, semi-transparent white fluid of light. That bizarre power surged toward my gently outstretched hand.

"Grrr..." *Thud.*

I heard the sound of the zombie collapsing on the other side of the door.

"I-I survived...?"

The mana absorbed from the zombie condensed into a transparent sphere in my hand. A small orb brimming with mana and a faint trace of life force. Only then did I finally let out a deep breath.

Only then did the distant sounds of things breaking, shattering, and collapsing register in my mind. I immediately rushed to the window, pulled back the blackout curtains, and looked down.

The college town, the residential villa district. This place, with its low-rise buildings lined up along narrow alleys, had transformed into a complete living hell. Just how strong were these zombies? Some buildings had completely collapsed, and the streets were littered with bloodstains, trash, and all kinds of filth. One building had already blown up, likely due to a gas explosion.

It was terrifying to realize that a place perfectly normal just yesterday could turn into this in less than twenty-four hours. And now, I had to survive in the middle of this absolute shitshow. To do that, I needed to figure out this mysterious power I'd been given.

Sigh. I let out a heavy breath and pulled back the message windows I had swiped to the corner of my vision.