D-Day 1000: Notification to the Player
D-Day 1000 ~ 998
Player, be advised.
In 1,000 days, zombies will overrun the world.
Until then, raise many 'slaves' and prepare.
When I opened my eyes, a strange window was floating in front of me. Is this thing not going away? The moment the thought formed, the window vanished instantly. I wondered if it was just an optical illusion. But the more I thought about it, the stranger it felt, so when I focused on wanting to see it again, the window reappeared normally. Disappear made it disappear. Appear made it appear. I lay in bed and repeated the process several times—on, off, on, off.
What the hell is a slave? The instant the question crossed my mind, cold, mechanical text scrolled downward in a long update.
You can capture women, condition them through training, and raise them as slaves. Their bodies, appearances, abilities, and more can be customized, modified, and enhanced to suit your exact preferences.
It felt like the system was simply repeating my own thoughts back at me, yet the response was clear and functional. Could the part about zombies overrunning the world actually be real?
In exactly 1,000 days.
“...What the hell is this?”
I stared blankly at the floating letters for a moment, then scratched my head roughly and got out of bed. I still had to go to work.
*
“...That comes to 13,400 won. Would you like a bag?”
“No.”
Beep.
“Have a good day.”
Night-shift convenience store work was simple labor that didn’t require much brainpower outside of certain busy hours. After the customer left, I tapped idly at my phone. But my mind kept circling back to the same thing.
D-Day 1000.
“......”
I kept toggling it on and off. It showed no sign of disappearing. Wondering whether other people could see it too, I activated it every time a customer walked in, but no one reacted. Not a single flinch. It seemed only I could see it.
A dream? …Doesn’t feel like it. Pinching my skin hurt, and whenever I glanced at the clock that refused to move at any decent speed, the crushing weight of reality settled in. Mental illness? Hallucination? Those were the first explanations that came to mind. With normal common sense, they were the most rational suspicions to reach. Of course, that didn’t mean I had any intention of actually going to a hospital. What would I even say to a doctor? That I was seeing weird windows? That I needed to turn women into slaves? That zombies were going to appear soon? Yeah. No. I’d just get labeled a crazy pervert and be done with it.
“...What the hell is this, seriously?”
I couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard I tried.
*
D-Day 998.
“......”
Two days had passed. It should have been obvious, I suppose. Actually, none of this was obvious, but the window refused to vanish. Instead, every time the number changed, an inexplicable anxiety tightened in my chest. I hadn’t exactly been sitting around doing nothing. I had done my own research. The results were zero. I ran searches, posted questions online. People called me a traumatized soldier or just plain insane. The most surprising response was the guy who said it sounded interesting and suggested we meet up. That one scared me enough that I stopped posting after that.
At this point, my doubts had naturally funneled toward a single conclusion.
“Give me a pack of ooo cigarettes. And this too.”
“...I’m sorry, but may I see your ID?”
“...Huh? Oh, sure.”
The woman pulled out her wallet. She wore simple casual clothes and light makeup. Her features leaned closer to beautiful than average. Far from looking annoyed at the ID check, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, as if she were quietly pleased.
Vaginal ejaculation required.
Her name is… Lee Yujin. Age… that matches too.
The ID photo inside the plastic card had some digital touch-up and looked slightly different from reality, but it was still clearly her. I thought it was odd that an ID would confirm anything, but it wasn’t strange enough to dismiss. I compared the text on the physical ID with the status window hovering in midair, then handed the card back without letting any reaction show on my face.
“That’ll be 5,500 won.”
After the transaction was complete, I said, “Have a good day.”
I watched calmly as the woman gathered her cigarettes and stepped out through the convenience store’s glass door.
I had already confirmed on the first day that I could see other people’s status windows. When I wondered whether it was only me, the ability activated for others as well. It didn’t work on men—only women. The system really was honest and blatantly straightforward about turning women into slaves.
I had suspected it might be fabricated, but after this there was no longer any room for doubt. I had never seen her before. I didn’t know her name. I had no way of knowing her age. Yet the ID card proved the status window was accurate. What I suspected had been confirmed. It wasn’t just this once; I had checked several other people since. At this point I probably had to accept it.
It wasn’t that the lingering suspicion—this could all still be part of a hallucination and I might actually be insane—had completely vanished. But if I kept doubting everything, there would be no end to it. For now, I would assume it was real.
“......”
The problem had only grown larger. This situation was completely fucked.