Do You Know the Principle of the Flash of Life?
In neuroscience, the flash of life is explained like this: the moment death draws near, the brain races through every record of one’s life in search of a way to overcome the crisis. And if that was true, then right now my brain was performing its primary duty with perfect diligence.
Quick Understanding (C-)
I instantly opened the tutorial shop and purchased a potion.
Tutorial #1 Shop — Low-Grade Health Potion purchased.
-100 C
A bottle filled with red liquid floated into the air. Without hesitation I tilted it back and drank every drop.
Health restored by a small amount.
The return of even a little stamina brought no dramatic change to my body. My stats had risen, after all. But that was fine.
-100 C
-100 C
-100 C
-100 C
If there was no dramatic change, I simply had to keep drinking until my body transformed dramatically. It wasn’t intentional, but every time I sliced through a zombie I raised a potion like I was celebrating victory and chugged it.
Slash. Glug. Slash. Glug.
As a large quantity of potion slid down my throat, my mind grew clearer and the fatigue washed away as if it had never existed.
“Activating Wholehearted Devotion!”
I shouted the newly learned skill without hesitation.
Wholehearted Devotion (C+)
Select the stat to be enhanced by simplified Wholehearted Devotion (C+).
There was no need to think. The answer was obvious.
Agility Lv.10 selected.
Calculating combined experience value…
Agility Lv.10 → Agility Lv.22
Current state will last for 1 minute 30 seconds.
“Hoo…”
I took a deep breath, feeling my body begin to surge with power. A strange heat flooded my senses. My heart pounded wildly as adrenaline surged. I took one step forward.
Just one step, yet every muscle in my lower body stood out clearly and the sensation of reinforcement was vivid. It felt like I could fly. My feet touching the ground were as light as feathers. The zombies charging at me looked like they were moving in slow motion.
Time Remaining: 00:01:34
I stopped thinking. The only thing that mattered now was entering the Tower’s domain through Gwanghwamun. With this body, breaking through the zombie horde seemed entirely possible.
The people who had fled from Exit 2 and were running toward Gwanghwamun were also struggling against the zombies stationed in front of the gate.
“Kyaaaak!”
“Uwaaak!”
A man running with his eyes fixed forward screamed as a zombie suddenly flew in from the side. But the instant the creature tried to grab him—
Thud!
Park Jocheol appeared from behind the man and kicked the zombie with terrifying speed. The creature flew through the air and smashed into the concrete.
“Th-thank y—”
“Get up and run, now!”
When the man who had barely survived his brush with death hesitated, Park Jocheol grabbed him by the collar, yanked him to his feet, and roared. Kim Siin had asked him to ensure the survivors’ safety. Thanks to his efforts, no one had died yet.
Park Jocheol widened his eyes and scanned the area again. Several zombies that had been positioned between Gwanghwamun and Exit 2 entered his vision. Most had followed Kim Siin, so their numbers were low, but the terrified people still couldn’t handle even that many.
“Kiiiaaaak!”
Park Jocheol grabbed a zombie rushing at him from behind by the collar and hurled it away using its own momentum. Seo Seyeong, watching from a distance, pointed at their rear and shouted.
“Mr. Jocheol! More are coming from behind!”
Park Jocheol turned at her cry and let out a deep sigh. Twenty-nine people were moving together excluding Kim Siin. The zombies didn’t seem intelligent, yet they were slowly realizing that people were gathering at the Gwanghwamun entrance.
“There isn’t much left! Go on ahead!”
The silver lining was that the blue light marking the Tower’s domain was clearly visible to the naked eye. Moments later, the people at the front safely crossed the threshold of Gwanghwamun.
Congratulations. You have survived.
Achievement settlement will occur after the tutorial fully ends.
“We’re alive!”
“Hic… we made it… we really made it!”
The people who had entered Gwanghwamun shed tears and shouted with joy. One by one, most of the group crossed the boundary. The last person remaining at the entrance was Seo Seyeong, who had guided everyone until the end.
At that moment, Seo Seyeong looked at Han Gamin, who had already passed through, and asked.
“Gamin, can we go back out?”
“Haa, haa… just a second…”
At Seo Seyeong’s words, Han Gamin caught her breath roughly and stepped back outside the boundary. But the moment she did—
Thump!
“Ouch!”
Han Gamin’s forehead smacked into an invisible wall. Seo Seyeong’s expression hardened.
“Ms. Seo Seyeong?”
“……”
Park Jocheol, who had led the others inside first, carefully called her name as he watched her remain outside the gate. But Seo Seyeong stayed silent. She seemed worried about Kim Siin, who had not yet returned, and could not comfortably step into the safe zone.
“I…”
“The zombies are coming! Get inside first!”
Hearing her trembling voice, Park Jocheol looked up and saw the zombies clumsily sprinting toward Gwanghwamun. If she stood there any longer, she would clearly be attacked.
Time Remaining: 00:00:31
Having learned that once you entered you could not leave again, Park Jocheol felt his heart ache at the sight of Seo Seyeong. Life was precious. Having carried a dark past no one knew about, Park Jocheol understood that principle more deeply than anyone. That was why he knew how remarkable Kim Siin’s choice had been and how noble his sacrifice was.
“Ms. Seo Seyeong! There isn’t much time left!”
At the faint tremble in Park Jocheol’s voice, Seo Seyeong turned her head. Time really was almost gone. Yet all she could see were staggering corpses rushing toward them.
“I’m… sorry…”
With a heavy heart, Seo Seyeong slowly turned her head, offering a silent apology for the fact that Kim Siin had not appeared. There was nothing left but to give up. The moment she took that painful step—
……Aaaah.
“……?”
……Aaaaaah!
A strange cry burst through the zombies’ shrieks and struck Seo Seyeong’s ears. When she turned around, Namgung Cheonho, who had been catching his breath inside the safe zone, pointed in the direction the zombies were coming from and shouted.
“Th-there…!”
A wave of zombies surged from afar. When Seo Seyeong turned to look, joy bloomed across her face. Everyone’s attention shifted to the center of the zombie horde that Namgung Cheonho had pointed at.
And at that moment, a blurry shadow shot upward from within the mass of zombies as if it had been launched.
“Aaaaaaaaah!!!”
A blood-stained shirt. Flying hair. A man wearing a crude sword at his side was sprinting toward Gwanghwamun, stepping on the heads of zombies.
Time Remaining: 00:00:28
Bang!
I could see thousands of zombies flailing their arms madly, trying to grab my legs. The head of the zombie I had just used as a stepping stone caved in with a sickening crunch; the disgusting sensation traveled vividly through the soles of my feet.
“Get out of the way! No—wait! Don’t get out of the way! Come here!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
To be honest, I was a little curious about what was happening under my feet. But I deliberately avoided looking down. If I saw zombie heads getting crushed flat beneath my kicks, I’d probably have nightmares every time I stepped on anything later.
I simply stared at the next head I needed to step on and kept sprinting forward. Only about twenty seconds remained. By eye, there was still roughly three hundred meters between my current position and Gwanghwamun, so I had to move even faster.
I should have run like this from the beginning…!
When I first activated Wholehearted Devotion, I had simply cut down the zombies in my path and advanced toward Gwanghwamun. But there were far more zombies than I had expected, and there wasn’t nearly enough time to keep breaking through the ones blocking my way.
So the final gamble I came up with was zombie wave-riding. It let me run at full speed, but the slightest mistake would turn me into zombie food—a double-edged sword.
“Huk! Huk!”
I kept charging forward, breathing hard. At this rate it would be enough. My reinforced body was surprisingly stable, and I was recovering stamina by drinking potions at intervals.
Time Remaining: 00:00:16
After stepping on the last zombie’s head and landing on the ground, I kicked off hard and sprinted forward. I must have pushed off with tremendous force; cracks spiderwebbed across the hard concrete and small fragments flew into the air.
The Tower’s domain finally entered my vision. When I saw the blue membrane covering Gwanghwamun, a wave of relief that I had made it washed over me all at once. My speed was even faster than when I had been running across zombie heads. At this rate I would easily—
Thump.
“Huh?”
Wholehearted Devotion (C+) duration has ended.
Health is decreasing.
Magic is decreasing.
Thud!
I couldn’t control my speed and crashed to the ground. Only fifty meters remained. The Tower’s domain was right in front of me, yet I couldn’t hold my body up any longer.
“Huk… huk…”
I had been worried about the penalty of hitting rock-bottom stamina, but I never imagined pain this severe would come.
‘Status… window…!’
In the blink of an eye my health had dropped to 1, and my stats had plummeted noticeably.
“Sh—cough! Shop…!”
Tutorial #1 Shop — Low-Grade Health Potion purchased.
-100 C
I reached for the health potion. Thud. But instead of landing in my hand, the bottle simply rolled across the floor. It was heavy. So heavy that I dropped it. A fist-sized potion felt unbearably heavy.
“Ugh…!”
The health potion was right in front of me, yet I had no strength left to drink it. Lying face-down on the ground, all I could feel was the cold, rough texture of concrete and the hot, irregular pounding of my heart. The sound of zombies approaching grew louder, yet my vision was growing darker and darker.
Then—
“……?”
Swish!
An unexpected shadow appeared beside me in an instant. The shadow’s hand reached out, my body floated upward, and my field of vision rose.
“Mr. Siin, it’s me!”
A slender arm supporting me. Seo Seyeong, who had appeared from somewhere, pulled me close and began moving toward Gwanghwamun.
“Ugh!”
But there was one thing Seo Seyeong had overlooked. Right now I didn’t even have the strength to move, let alone support my own body.
“Uh… huh?”
There was also one thing I had overlooked about Seo Seyeong. She, too, was an awakened who had crossed the same line of death as me.
When I started to collapse again, I felt her hand grip my shoulder tightly. Then—
“S-Seyeong! Wait a—!”
Whoosh.
Have you ever been lifted up effortlessly in a woman’s arms? Of course I hadn’t. At least not until a moment ago…
“Whoa!”
“A-are you okay?”
Seo Seyeong, who had scooped me up, asked in concern at my scream. But asking if I was okay did not mean she had stopped moving.
“Ugh! Ack! Oof! Gah!”
Every step she took forced a ridiculous groan out of my mouth. The impact made every bone in my body ache and my organs feel like they were twisting. Yet once the relief of having my life saved set in, my mind gradually cleared. At that point, an emotion more pressing than the physical pain began to surface.
“How’s your body? Are you all right?”
I could see Seo Seyeong’s face as she spoke to me. Her long hair spilling over her shoulder brushed against me at an ambiguous angle.
“Th-that… cough!”
“Ah, sorry. Just bear with it a little longer…!”
“No… ugh! That’s not—ack! Not…!”
The closer we got to Gwanghwamun, the more my embarrassment multiplied. This was the pinnacle of embarrassment a man could feel. That’s right. The way Seo Seyeong was carrying me right now was unmistakably a princess carry.