The Tutorial Ends

The skull shattered with a sickening crunch, and the monster let out its final death rattle. Its body twitched once, then it stared blankly into the empty air before slowly toppling sideways.

Thud!

The three of us watched the massive skeleton collapse, tension rippling across our faces. The fear that it might somehow rise again lingered in the air. But thankfully, our worst worry never came to pass. Instead, a new notification window appeared before our eyes.

It was concrete proof that we had overcome this crisis. The fallen monster began to dissolve into the air, its form scattering like desert sand caught in the wind. At the same moment, the countless shadows that had been racing through the darkness beyond the door vanished. As the monsters disappeared, the noise that had been rattling the building died away as if it had never existed.

Everything fell silent. As if nothing had ever happened.

Yet even in that quiet, the system continued to blast out its noisy alerts.

The system congratulated us. Relief at still being alive welled up inside me, but it didn’t feel like joy.

A survival rate of less than ten percent. It seemed that when the difficulty had suddenly spiked and the monsters evolved, quite a few people had lost their lives. But whether we mourned the dead or not, the system simply kept spitting out its loud notifications.

The number in the coin column at the bottom of my status window began to climb. Then came the achievement settlement.

In total, I now had 4,000 coins. Considering that 1,000 coins had granted me unimaginable power, it felt like a considerable amount. But the coins were secondary. What truly caught my eye among all the notifications was the very last sentence.

Magic… power?

The kind of energy used to wield supernatural abilities, the sort you’d see in fantasy novels, comics, or games. I clenched and unclenched my fist a few times, trying to sense any change in my body. Nothing in particular stood out. But I didn’t have the luxury of investigating further.

The familiar static buzzed in my ears. Then, just as I feared, that voice I never wanted to hear again poured out of the speaker.

“Aaaah, one two, mic test, one two!”

Unlike his first appearance, the rabbit was now skillfully operating the sound equipment. His voice sounded slightly more excited than usual.

“This is insane! Absolutely insane! I really thought everyone was going to die here, but what a highlight reel that was!”

The rabbit, brimming with excitement, began chattering away to the constellations who were presumably listening.

He complained that this batch of challengers had been too weak, that he had only planned to collect some coin sponsorships and call it a day… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but since some entertaining scenes had appeared, he asked them to understand. Then he burst into laughter. In the middle of it all, he thanked the One Who Knows Nothing But War and Battle. Hearing him fawn so shamelessly sent a chill down my spine.

The One Who Knows Nothing But War and Battle… The constellation who had personally sponsored me 1,000 coins.

“Anyway, let’s give a round of applause to the player who made this tutorial so incredibly entertaining!”

Clap clap!

“Aww, fine. Then let’s move on to the next st— huh? Something feels off?”

The rabbit had been dodging the constellations’ demands with slick excuses, but he suddenly paused and made a thoughtful smacking sound with his lips.

“Oh, right. Our mission parameters changed, didn’t they? No wonder the timing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt a bit early.”

At his words, I recalled the mission we had just cleared. The original twenty-four-hour survival objective had been changed to just one hour.

“Ah, normally we don’t give out perks like this, but since you all did so well, I’ll let it slide just this once.”

The rabbit spoke in a boastful tone. A moment later, the sound of snapping fingers echoed, and a new mission appeared before us.

A new timer had appeared. It looked like the remaining time from our original mission had simply been converted into rest time.

“Kyaah! There’s no helper quite like me, right? Giving you this much free time in the middle of everything!”

“I’ve given you quite a lot of time, so prepare well and show us plenty of fun moments in the next scenario too! That’s all from me!”

Crackle.

The rabbit vanished without further explanation. Once the speaker fell silent, we all sank to the floor without a word, savoring the brief reprieve we had been given. The overwhelming tension finally began to ease. It had been twelve hours and ten minutes since this hell had begun.

“Ugh… that hurts!”

We had found a small first-aid kit in the break room and were carefully disinfecting our minor wounds.

“It might sting, but bear with it. If you don’t disinfect now, it could get infected.”

I must have swung my sword too violently while fighting the monster. The palm of my hand had a deep gash, the skin torn open quite badly. Even Seo Seyeong, who was wrapping a bandage around it, frowned slightly at how ugly the wound looked.

“I could have done it myself…”

“How are you supposed to wrap your own hand with a bandage? This is much faster, so just stay still.”

I quietly watched Seo Seyeong as she treated me. We had never been particularly close. For the past year, we had only ever exchanged polite nods. To go from complete strangers to this level of closeness felt strangely surreal.

“Still, I guess we should count ourselves lucky.”

I spoke carefully, trying to suppress the awkward feeling creeping up on me.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Seo Seyeong looked up at me. I avoided her direct gaze and glanced instead at Park Jocheol and Namgung Cheonho, who were performing first aid a short distance away. Their method looked… different.

“Aaaagh! Wait, waaaaait!!!”

“Tsk! I told you to hold still!”

The tone was similar to what Seo Seyeong had said to me, but carried a slightly different weight. There was a loud crack.

“Grrrrraaaaagh!”

Namgung Cheonho was twisting Park Jocheol’s dislocated arm back into place. Honestly, it looked a little grotesque. What was funny, though, was that Namgung Cheonho’s treatment actually seemed to work. As Park Jocheol began cautiously moving the newly set arm, Namgung Cheonho’s face lit up with satisfaction.

“Huff… huff… Th-thank you. Where did you learn how to do that?”

Park Jocheol asked through teary eyes. We had heard from the man himself that Namgung Cheonho was a game developer. It was only natural to wonder how someone who was neither a doctor nor a nurse possessed such a skill.

“Oh? You mean popping a dislocated arm back in?”

The answer that came out of his mouth was rather shocking.

“I saw it on YouTube. I wasn’t sure it would actually work. I got scared when it went in backwards, haha.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

It was the kind of answer I would have been better off not hearing. I saw Park Jocheol’s fist clench tightly. Still, he knew that getting angry right now would be incredibly ungrateful. After all, Namgung Cheonho’s role in defeating the monster had been enormous. If anything, he deserved thanks.

To think he fed him a potion in the middle of all that chaos…

My eyes landed on a small, empty glass bottle rolling across the floor. It was one of the small health potions from the Tutorial #1 shop. While I had been smashing the monster’s head in, Namgung Cheonho had immediately spent his 100 coins to buy a potion for Park Jocheol.

That guy has better judgment than he looks.

If Park Jocheol hadn’t recovered his strength at that moment, who knows what would have happened to us? We might have lacked the power to hold the monster down and could have lost our lives.

Potions, huh…

I thought about the fantasy-style potions being sold in the shop and looked down at my own wound. Seeing how quickly Park Jocheol had recovered, the effects seemed genuine. The stinging pain I felt now would probably disappear soon. But I shook my head and set the thought aside.

According to the rabbit, this was officially sanctioned rest time by the system. Since we had some breathing room, I didn’t want to spend coins unnecessarily. If I had bought a potion the moment I first received coins instead of purchasing the item box from the Tutorial #2 shop, I might have been smashing chairs into the monster’s head alongside Seo Seyeong and chugging potions right about now.

There’s nothing wrong with being cautious.

I saw that the bandage on my hand had been wrapped neatly and thanked Seo Seyeong. What hadn’t happened was in the past. What mattered to us now was the present and the future, and that future was less than ten hours away.

I called the three of them over to discuss what would come next.

Crackle.

“……!”

But at that moment, the familiar static noise signaling a broadcast came from the ceiling once again. This time, however, it wasn’t the rabbit’s unpleasant voice. It was the ordinary voice of a young woman. A sound produced by human vocal cords flowed through the speaker.

“Hoo. Hoo. Is this thing even broadcasting? Um, on air… I guess it is.”

After listening to the rabbit’s bizarre voice through the audio equipment for so long, hearing a normal human voice felt incredibly comforting.

“Ahem! Hello. My name is Han Gamin. Is everyone safe?”

Her voice was somewhat awkward but thin and sharp. The woman who introduced herself as Han Gamin said she didn’t have much time and would get straight to the point.

“If everyone listening to this broadcast is seeing the same screen I am, then I assume you all already know how many survivors are left.”

There had been nearly a hundred people when twelve hours remained. Yet in the mere ten minutes we spent fighting the monster, countless casualties had occurred.

“As some of you may have already noticed, a significant number of people died during those ten minutes when the difficulty increased.”

The woman spoke with clear, precise pronunciation, carefully avoiding the word “death” as much as possible during her short explanation. The human heart was simpler than people thought. A single word could spark courage, or the overuse of another could completely shatter someone’s spirit.

“We need your help. Scattered like this, we can’t accomplish anything. Let’s gather together. If you have useful information, please share it. If you have strength, please lend it. You can go your own way later. For now, let’s show each other that we are not threats by coming together in one place.”

I had no way of knowing what Han Gamin was truly thinking. But it was clear that many people would head down to the lobby because of her words. Everything she said made perfect sense, and I agreed with her.

“I will head down as soon as this broadcast ends. So, fellow survivors… I’ll see you on the first floor.”

Click.

The short broadcast ended there.

“Are we heading to the lobby too?” Seo Seyeong asked. Everyone’s eyes turned toward me.

Her suggestion sounded reasonable, but anxiety still lingered. If thirty people could be controlled without issue, it would be fine. But that seemed nearly impossible. In that case, moving as a trustworthy group of four would be far safer.

However—

“I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think it would be best if we go. We don’t know what the next scenario will be like. Staying isolated might be dangerous.”

We couldn’t see even an inch ahead. There was a chance that among the people gathered on the first floor, someone might possess information we didn’t have.

Clack.

I carefully picked up my sword. First impressions were important. No matter who the opponent was or how many people gathered, I had no intention of looking weak.