Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Appearance of the Total Administrator
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"Haa..."
Na Youngho let out a deep sigh and tried spraying a little into the air.
At that moment, the Bunny Girl warned him.
"Tch. Can't even test it out?"
Na Youngho grumbled before stowing the mini-item in his inventory window.
Clack, clack.
The sound of expensive dress shoes approached.
"Phew, so busy, so busy."
A man wearing a question mark mask and a suit appeared, fanning himself with a hand fan.
"Oh, you all must be the surviving players. Congratulations."
He offered half-hearted congratulations before heading straight for the Bunny Girl.
"I'm busy, so let's get right to it. Ah, so busy."
"Greetings, Total Administrator."
The Bunny Girl bowed gracefully.
"W-What?!"
"The Total Administrator...!"
"That's the guy from the TV at the very beginning!"
The players flinched and took a step back.
The Total Administrator ignored the players and kept fanning himself.
"Skip the greetings, Bunny Girl. Ah, but your hair's styled differently. Haha."
"Thank you for noticing, Total Administrator."
"Right, how are the players' performances?"
"Excellent."
"Really?"
Only then did the Total Administrator turn back to the players.
"Huh? But why are there so few?"
He counted heads.
There were only nine players in sight.
Far too few in the Total Administrator's eyes.
"No way. Only nine survivors from a school with hundreds of students? Isn't that a bit much?"
"That's because you ordered the final tutorial participants to be narrowed down to ten or fewer."
"Huh? I did?"
"Yes."
"Why? Couldn't we have picked a few more...?"
"The reason you ordered it narrowed to ten or fewer is..."
"The reason?"
"I don't know. Only you do, Total Administrator."
"Hey, I'm the Total Administrator, and even I don't know the reason?"
"......"
"You gonna clam up now? You tease me with that and then shut your mouth?"
"I'm sorry, Total Administrator."
"Sheesh. Ah, you've ruined my mood."
Flap, flap, flap...
The Total Administrator irritably fanned harder.
Watching him, everyone was dumbfounded.
'This arbitrary jerk is really the Total Administrator...!'
He exuded something like overwhelming pressure.
Like a quirky mid-sized company president—frivolous yet brimming with confidence.
But he didn't feel like the monster who'd plunged the entire school into a mad tutorial.
"Looks like I'll have to test you all with an impromptu mission. Ah, so busy."
Then a mission window appeared.
Rabbit Human Hunt
📍 Goal: Survive from the Bunny Girl within the time limit, or kill the Bunny Girl.
📍 Mission Area: Entire Hanshin High School grounds.
📍 Team Kills: Prohibited between mission participants.
🎁 Success Bonus: ???
💀 Failure Penalty: Death
⏰ Time Limit: 30 minutes
💡 Hint: Make good use of your new mini-items!
The nine participants flinched at the unexpected mission.
"Alright, players? Loosen up. When I say 'preparation start,' the mission begins immediately."
At the Total Administrator's words, everyone jolted.
Even the Bunny Girl paled.
"Total Administrator. This...!"
"What?"
"Are you sure? Even if I participate directly in the mission?"
"Either you die or they do. One or the other."
The Total Administrator's voice was ice-cold.
The Bunny Girl resigned herself.
"...Understood. I'll prepare."
That was when it happened.
"Fuck this shit!!"
A male student muttering curses alone in the corner exploded in anger.
"Hm? Why the sudden yelling?"
The Total Administrator snapped irritably.
Then he straightened up and spoke sternly.
"If you have something to say, state your name first."
The Total Administrator hadn't revealed his own real name, yet he demanded it from others.
The cursing student had something to say too.
He declared his name was Lee Kyungsoo, then shouted loudly.
"What the fuck is all this?! The Total Administrator shows up, and everyone's just sitting quiet?! Why isn't anyone calling him out?!"
Lee Kyungsoo looked like he had a lot pent up.
"Why the hell did school suddenly turn into this shit?! Why do we have to keep doing this insane crap?!"
Lee Kyungsoo's rage-filled questions were entirely justified.
Anyone dragged into this would want to vent like him.
"......"
But the Total Administrator just watched Lee Kyungsoo's outburst silently, offering no answer.
Meanwhile, a grotesque sound echoed.
Crunch, crrrunch...!!
The beautiful Bunny Girl transformed into a hairy rabbit human.
Body mutation skill: [Rabbit Human Transformation].
A skill that births tiny rabbits or turns oneself into a 3-meter grotesque rabbit human.
"H-Hiiik...?"
The shouting male student shrank back.
Rabbits were usually cute, but this rabbit human was muscular, with red eyes and front teeth the size of a human head.
Crack!!
In the blink of an eye, the rabbit human bit the male student with its front teeth, killing him in one strike.
Squirt, squirt...!
Blood gushed from the torn flesh.
Thud.
The corpse hit the floor.
Only then did the others cry out in shock.
"Gasp!"
"W-What?!"
"K-Killing him out of nowhere...!"
The now eight survivors backed away hesitantly.
"I apologize."
The grotesque rabbit human spoke in the same beautiful voice as before.
She bowed her head to both the Total Administrator and the players.
"No matter what anyone says, the overarching rules of the Apocalypse Game are absolute."
Then Dokgo Hyun stepped forward and asked.
"What are those overarching rules?"
At Dokgo Hyun's question, the Bunny Girl smeared blood from her finger on the wall and wrote simply.
"That's all."
"......!!"
Dokgo Hyun instinctively realized this Apocalypse Game was even more of a shitshow than imagined.
'This really is a total shitshow death game.'
In typical death games, rules were everything.
Lives hung on judgments, so rules had to be clear.
But...
'In this shitshow death game, rules mean nothing—it's all up to the Total Administrator's whim.'
Even supervisors' promises on mission details and life-or-death power were at the mercy of the masked Total Administrator.
There might be absolute rules even he couldn't break, but nothing visible suggested it.
"Hey."
The Total Administrator addressed the 3-meter rabbit human Bunny Girl.
"Mission hasn't started, so why'd you kill a player on your own?"
"Ah, that player kept yelling noisily at you, Total Administrator..."
The rabbit human lowered its head and waist.
The sight of a 3-meter monster meekly ducking below the Total Administrator's eye level was bizarre.
Grip.
The Total Administrator seized both the rabbit human's ears with one hand.
"Don't make me laugh. You killed him and blame it on me? Ah, annoying."
Crack!!
The Total Administrator effortlessly yanked off the rabbit human's head with one hand.
Squirt! Squirt!
Blood sprayed, splattering the Total Administrator's white shirt sleeve.
Thud.
The Bunny Girl collapsed dead.
"...No way."
Na Youngho muttered.
Dokgo Hyun inwardly agreed.
'Ripping off a head that casually? With one hand?'
Without tools, just grabbing and tearing with one hand—that was beyond strength.
Only some grotesque, unimaginable force could make it possible.
"Eh."
The Total Administrator squatted in front of the dead male student, Lee Kyungsoo.
He glanced at the hesitant eight survivors, scratching his head.
"Staring's making me shy. Could you all look away for a bit?"
Not knowing what refusal might bring, they all turned away.
"W-What are you going to do?"
Baek Seonghui mustered courage to ask.
"Curious? Then just watch. Doesn't matter."
The Total Administrator placed the rabbit human's severed head on Lee Kyungsoo's corpse.
Then he clasped his hands in prayer.
"Ooh, resurrect, resurrect. No idea what that means, but whatever."
Vrrrrm...!
A mystical power flowed into the male student with the rabbit human head.
Bubble, bubble...!
The rabbit human head and Lee Kyungsoo's body fused into one.
"Keeee...!"
He revived.
Not true resurrection, perhaps, but two dead beings merged and resumed life—close enough.
"Is that Total Administrator a god or something...!"
Na Youngho muttered in shock.
'Could see it that way.'
Dokgo Hyun thought.
'If he can make or alter rules at will, knows all info on any situation, and freely kills or revives lifeforms. Calling that a god isn't entirely wrong.'
But.
"Don't make me laugh."
Dokgo Hyun muttered unconsciously.
"Hm? Talking to me?"
The Total Administrator asked back.
"No... Talking to myself."
Dokgo Hyun glared at the Total Administrator's mask and said.
The Total Administrator stared back through his mask.
But soon lost interest and clapped.
"Alright, bit of a disruption midway, but I've prepared a rabbit monster in the Bunny Girl's place."
Snap!
At the Total Administrator's finger snap.
Clank!
Iron chains wrapped around the rabbit monster.
"Grrr...!"
The rabbit monster—human body with rabbit head—drooled and trembled.
"Set the chains to release in 50 seconds. Mission starts then. Gotta go, busy!"
Snap!
The Total Administrator vanished somewhere.
Time ticked down rapidly.
In that moment, Dokgo Hyun shouted.
"Kill it all at once before the chains release!!"
Whoosh!
Dokgo Hyun charged the rabbit monster without waiting for others.
Bound and trembling now, he might kill it solo with the Venom Knife.
But.
Thud!
Dokgo Hyun's attack was blocked by an invisible barrier.
"Tch! No tricks, huh."
"Grrr...!"
The rabbit monster glared at Dokgo Hyun angrily.
Dokgo Hyun clicked his tongue regretfully and retreated.
The other players, seeing that, were terrified.
"Hiiik."
"The rabbit monster's mad now."
"W-What do we do?"
Na Youngho stepped up to lead the frightened players.
"Everyone, stay calm! Let's fall back somewhere else first."
Most players gathered around Na Youngho.
But Dokgo Hyun frowned and stopped them.
"Why are you all planning to run first?"
"You crazy? Stay and fight that monster?"
"We've got eight people. Surround the rabbit monster in a circle now."
"Then hit it all at once the moment the chains release? Kill it in one go?"
"Exactly."
"No guarantee one strike will kill it?"
The rabbit monster was made by the Total Administrator himself.
Stronger than it looked, for sure.
"No guarantee, obviously. But I think it's a manageable risk."
"Sounds decent..."
Na Youngho seriously considered Dokgo Hyun's plan.
But the others all showed resistance.
Without full cooperation, the plan was useless from the start.
"Hm, too bad."
Dokgo Hyun didn't push further.
Instead, he tore a piece from the cafeteria napkin roll and scribbled on it with a ballpoint pen.
"Here, take this."
"What's this?"