The Ghost Apocalypse
A dark, empty waiting area.
Han Yujin felt a slight tension as he stared at the familiar rusted fire door with the words Post-Apocalyptic Earth floating above it.
Back then, right after awakening his ability, he had opened it in a daze and stepped through. Seeing it again now, however, he sensed an indefinable sense of dread.
Well… it’s not like I can die more than once.
Fortunately, the death he had experienced here hadn’t been particularly gruesome. Of course, that was mostly because he had been so weak at the time that he died before he could even register the pain. Still, it was what it was.
In the future, he would need to actively explore many more unknown worlds. He couldn’t afford to hesitate every time, weighed down by needless worries.
I’ll show you how much I’ve changed.
Having steeled his mind once more, he opened the door and stepped inside.
A rush of cold, dry air hit him. He glanced back to see the door he had just passed through vanish, then scanned his surroundings.
No matter where he looked, the city appeared abandoned for at least several decades. Abandoned cars littered the streets, buildings were cracked or collapsed in places, every window was shattered, and rust covered every metal surface.
Not even a single weed could be seen. In this landscape that looked as if every living thing had gone extinct, Han Yujin shuddered at the strangely distorted feeling of spiritual energy.
Eerie.
That was the only word for it. With every breath, it felt like cold ice was filling his lungs. His spine tingled, goosebumps rose involuntarily, and his body trembled.
“Ugh…”
This was far harsher than he had expected.
It seemed he had underestimated the difficulty of this ruined world. After all, there had to be a reason a whole world had reached the point of apocalypse.
First, I need to find out the year.
A calendar would do. And calendars were easy enough to find in most apartment households.
But before that…
He wanted to confirm the identity of whatever had attacked and killed him in that jewelry store.
Since it was close by, he quickly made his way there while casting stealth techniques and spiritual sight.
It took him barely a minute to reach the jewelry store. He didn’t enter right away, instead peering inside. As expected, there were no signs of his previous visit. The place looked exactly as it had back then.
It seemed he would have to go in after all.
He carefully slipped his body through the half-broken glass door and gave a bitter smile at the sight of the gold and silver ornaments neatly arranged inside the glass display cases. It reminded him of how, despite the situation, he had been blinded by greed for money.
Even now, thinking back, his actions at the time had felt perfectly natural. He had only been delayed for a few minutes, and there was no way he could have known such a fatal threat was lurking.
As he looked around with those thoughts in mind, even with his spiritual sight active, he still couldn’t detect any danger.
Does something only trigger once I touch the items…?
Han Yujin glanced at the sky outside, which was beginning to darken just like before, then cast his jade skin technique, drew his Five Elements Sword, and opened the glass case. He reached in and grabbed a handful of the gold ornaments at random.
In that instant—
“Fuck…!”
Startled, he threw the ornaments away and stepped back.
Like a ghost, a dark figure had appeared out of nowhere in the corner of the store. It stood there motionless, staring at him with bloodshot eyes that looked ready to burst.
With the restrictive formations on his Five Elements Sword fully activated, Han Yujin examined the opponent closely and felt another wave of goosebumps. His hair stood on end.
It really is a ghost!
Looking closely, its form flickered faintly, and the blood flowing from its bloodshot eyes had no substance. Its slowly opening mouth was filled with nothing but chilling darkness.
It was a shape designed entirely to trigger human fear, and the atmosphere it gave off was the same.
In that brief moment, countless thoughts raced through his mind. In the end, Han Yujin chose to attack.
The Five Elements Sword, glowing with light and growling, flashed and fired a golden energy. In response, the ghost opened its mouth abnormally wide and charged at terrifying speed.
Splat—!
Horribly, it felt as if he had sliced through a real physical body. The creature’s form was severed, and blood sprayed everywhere. Even with its head split open all the way down to its chest, it didn’t die. It continued reaching toward Han Yujin with its claws.
Those were definitely the same hands that had crushed his skull back then.
Boom—!!
Reflexively manipulating the sword again, the restrictive formation on the Five Elements Sword flashed blue-white as lightning shot forth. The ghost struck by the lightning crumbled into ash with no scream at all and vanished.
Among the Five Elements, lightning originally held an advantage in breaking techniques. It made sense that it would be effective against a spiritual phenomenon like a ghost.
…Is it dead? Or did it run away?
Still on high alert, he scanned his surroundings. There had definitely been blood splattered everywhere from the Five Elements Sword’s attack, yet it had all disappeared completely, as if it had been an illusion.
And as he slowly exhaled in tension, his breath had begun to fog at some point.
Though he was only at the Initiation Stage, the cold was intense enough to be difficult even for a cultivator like Han Yujin to endure. When he looked outside again, the sky was darkening at a visible rate.
It didn’t feel like he had much time.
Let’s just say I got my revenge.
He wasn’t sure if the thing had died or survived, but since he hadn’t died completely either, they were even.
With that thought, he stepped outside—only to freeze and suck in a sharp breath.
Shit…
The moment he emerged, the countless dark figures that had been watching him from the windows of every surrounding building vanished in a blur. They had moved so fast he almost thought he had imagined it, but on second thought, that was impossible.
This world seemed to have been destroyed by a ghost apocalypse.
Not a pandemic, not a nuclear war, not the rift overload that some scholars had feared. No, it had been wiped out by a ghost apocalypse that didn’t even sound like a joke.
An asteroid impact would’ve been more believable.
As that thought crossed his mind, he suddenly recalled a passage from one of the books he had seen in the Ohaeng Sect ruins.
It had been a miscellaneous text mentioning various catastrophes that had actually occurred in the cultivation world or were believed possible. The worst among them—the apocalypse of the End of Dharma—had truly destroyed the Ohaeng Sect’s world, so Han Yujin had read it with great interest.
According to that book, besides the End of Dharma, there were many others: the Catastrophe of Primordial Reversal, the Descent of the Outer Heavenly Demons, and so on. Among those ranked around the top ten was the Catastrophe of the Reversed Heavenly Ghost Path.
It was a disaster in which, for various reasons, the laws of life and death in the heavenly order became twisted, causing the entire world to be overrun by ghosts and destroyed.
Did that kind of catastrophe really unfold here?
He was lost in thought for a moment, but the cold quickly brought him back to his senses.
Worrying about how much worse it would become once night fully fell, he cast his wind movement technique and hurried onward. He needed to find a calendar somewhere and confirm the year before he died, or this exploration would be pointless.
After moving for about two minutes like that—
Aaaaaaaaah…!!!
A sudden, impossible-to-ignore echoing wail came from behind him.
It sounded like someone suffering unbearable agony, yet also like a desperate, pitiful plea for salvation. It was faint yet enormous, swallowing every other sound around it.
He reflexively turned around to see a man in a suit chasing after him with bizarre, unnatural movements.
With every twisted, zombie-like step, the surrounding scenery distorted wildly, rapidly closing the distance. He could faintly hear the ghosts inside the nearby buildings screaming and fleeing from the man.
Boom—!!
The restrictive formation on the Five Elements Sword flashed, and lightning shot out. But even after being struck and screaming, the man continued to close the gap.
“Get lost!”
Rumble—! Crack—!!
Of course, Han Yujin fled with all his strength while continuously firing lightning. Yet the man kept shrieking in agony without any sign of stopping.
It was as if the lightning itself wasn’t particularly painful, but rather that it triggered some memory within him that caused even greater torment.
I can’t win.
Every time the distance narrowed, his instincts rang alarm bells like crazy. His spine tingled as if electricity were running through it. Even after using his clear mind technique, his limbs had begun to tremble uncontrollably. It felt alien.
Where…! Where do I go?!
His original plan had been to find an apartment complex and search the homes, but if he entered a building now, that thing would catch up and kill him immediately.
He also had to consider what other ghosts might be lurking inside the buildings.
As he ran frantically, his eyes suddenly landed on an unnamed school building.
It looked wider and less complicated than an apartment complex, so he might be able to buy more time there. If he was lucky, he might even find a calendar in the teachers’ office. He immediately changed direction.
Aaaaah…! Aaaaaaaaah…!!
By then, the suited man’s scream—whether in pain, pleading, or both—had drawn terrifyingly close.
Even though dying here would only wake him up in reality, Han Yujin felt an incomprehensible, uncontrollable terror. He ran more desperately than ever before.
The moment he leaped over the school fence and entered the building—
Strangely, all sound cut off at once. The overwhelming pressure that had been crushing him vanished in an instant, causing his legs to give out. He tumbled to the floor.
“Haa… haa… huff…”
Gasping harshly, he tried to stand but fell several more times. Cold sweat—far more than he realized he had shed—dripped onto the dusty floor, leaving clear traces.
Did I… survive for now?
He continued watching the situation outside, but only heavy silence remained. There was no sense of any other threat. It was strange that the thing that had chased him so relentlessly had suddenly stopped.
Wait…
Why had it stopped its pursuit so abruptly?
Was this place some kind of sanctuary?
No way.
A chilling possibility occurred to him. Maybe something even more terrifying lived here, forcing it to give up.
Tense, Han Yujin looked around. He meticulously activated his stealth, spiritual sight, and jade skin techniques to their fullest, then gripped the hilt of his Five Elements Sword like a lifeline and began moving slowly.
Anyway, he was already inside and couldn’t go back out. Just as he had planned while fleeing, he needed to find the teachers’ office and check a calendar.
Please, just let me know what year the world ended. I’m not asking for anything else…!
He had no desire to stay alive any longer in a place like this. The moment he confirmed the year, he intended to escape immediately.
After walking through about half of the first floor—
Tap.
At the faint sound from behind him, Han Yujin nearly jumped out of his skin. When he turned around, a single paper card lay on the floor.
It looked like a note card. The words written on it began to bleed, making it impossible to ignore.
…I really don’t want to meet you, though? And what do you mean by “good”?
As he thought that unconsciously—
A sudden commotion from above made him look up, and he recoiled in horror.
Countless student ghosts were clinging to the ceiling like cockroaches before scattering madly in every direction.
Aaaaah…!
Wonhee… Wonhee…!
Wonhee is coming…!
Only then could he hear the echoing voices they were making. The immense fear contained in those voices instantly filled Han Yujin with terror as well.
Just from their reaction, it was obvious what was about to happen.
He immediately abandoned stealth and moved at full speed. A few seconds later, after turning a corner in the hallway, he spotted a rusted door with a teachers’ office sign. He practically smashed it open and rushed inside.
A calendar!
One glance across the room revealed a calendar hanging on the wall, nearly torn to shreds. He hurried over, flipped through the pages, and checked the year.
2032…?!
It probably meant the world had remained intact until 2032, when this calendar was hung. But on Earth in reality, it was currently 2022.
If this really was the future of his Earth, that left only ten years.
What on earth has to happen in that time to cause this…?
As he reflexively pondered that, he suddenly sensed something and spun around.
A female student stood blocking the teachers’ office door he had just entered through.
Even though she was drenched in pitch-black darkness, the color of the blood soaking and dripping from her entire body was vivid.
The scent of blood had spread so thickly that his nose felt paralyzed. It was as if he were breathing the blood directly. The cold that rapidly rose was so intense he wondered if being doused in liquid nitrogen would feel like this.
It felt far more overwhelming than when he had faced the suited ghost. It transcended simple fear and felt almost like reverence—an overwhelming, transcendent pressure.
It was faintly similar to the gaze he had felt when receiving the baptism from those demon worshipers in Icapa Pangea.
The female student simply stood there, staring at Han Yujin with pitch-black, bleeding eyes. Her attitude seemed to be waiting for something, or perhaps anticipating a small struggle from her prey.
“……What are you?”
His voice came out trembling pathetically, contrary to his intentions. Naturally, there was no answer.
Only after circulating his clear mind technique with full power did he barely regain control of his body. Though his senses were still completely numb from the terrifying cold, he somehow moved and reached toward one of the glass windows in the teachers’ office.
He was about to cast his fire bullet technique to break through the window and escape when—
A sharp tearing sound came from all directions. Countless strands of hair surged in from nowhere, slicing him madly into dozens of pieces.
If you were going to do this, why the hell did you drag it out so dramatically, you bastard.
In the moment of his death, Han Yujin thought of a curse like a sigh.
You died in the Post-Apocalyptic Earth.
In the darkened vision, silver letters appeared mystically and greatly reassured him.
All the terrifying sensations disappeared. The surrounding darkness had never felt so comforting.
* * *
Anyway, he had confirmed the year in that terrifying apocalyptic world.
Whether it was truly the future of his Earth, he couldn’t be sure. And it seemed it would be difficult to confirm anytime soon.
But even if it was, ten years was enough time to come up with something.
If I grow quickly and explore again to find the exact cause… No, I don’t know if it’s possible, but if I can open a gate to the same world right before its apocalypse…
As he was thinking, Han Yujin suddenly jolted in surprise.
There was one loot option he hadn’t expected to see.
It was a paper card with the sentence See you soon, good senior. written in vivid blood.
“……”
The endless blood flowing from the letters was fortunately suppressed by the special nature of this space and cleanly disappeared. Still, the fact that it had appeared as a loot option at all sent chills down his spine.
Even more strangely, selecting it required no karma at all.
“Ugh…”
He turned his head and considered it from various angles, but no matter how positively he tried to view it, choosing that now seemed like pure insanity.
Shaking his head repeatedly, he left the waiting area.