The sun hadn't risen the way it used to.
There were no birds chirping, no warmth that crept over rooftops with lazy gold. Just that pale, cold light crawling between cracked buildings like something lost. Inside the convenience store, still cloaked under the divine veil of Haven, it felt like waking in the eye of a storm that hadn't quite passed—only paused.
Ji-Hoon sat near the door, knees pulled up, watching his breath mist in the faint morning chill. He hadn't slept much. The rest of the group stirred behind him, stretching on flattened cardboard or scavenged bedding, quietly greeting another day in a world that no longer felt like their own.
Then the chime sounded.
A crisp, melodic tone—somewhere between a notification and a heartbeat.
"Whoa," Tae-Gyu mumbled from the far wall. "What the…"
Screens appeared in the air—soft and silver-blue, shimmering gently in front of every person inside the store.
Ji-Hoon turned sharply. The screens weren't his.
Each survivor now had their own floating panel, hovering at eye level, outlined like a heads-up display. Sleek. Simplified. Minimalist.
"Is this… a status screen...like that in games?" Woo-Jin asked, blinking in disbelief.
"Looks like it," Ji-Ah said, already reaching out to interact with hers. "It's just like a game window. I can even move it with my hand."
Ji-Hoon stood up and moved closer. From the side, he could see the others' panels:
Name: Han Ji-Ah
Title: Player
Class: Locked
Level: 1
HP: 92 / 100
MP: 18 / 18
Strength: 6
Agility: 7
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 4
Intelligence: 6
Sponsor Status: Locked
System Visibility: [Visible]
Tidy. Measured. Game-like.
Everyone had one thing similar, the title—Player—and as Ji-Hoon glanced around, he saw them react to their own stats with a mix of surprise and awkward delight. Even So-Ra had a screen, though hers was much dimmer, and more passive.
Curious, Ji-Hoon tried to bring up his own system in a similar way, like the others had done. He reached up, made the same swiping gesture… nothing. His interface, still visible only to him, remained locked within his mind's eye—complex, radiant, filled with elements the others didn't even have.
He couldn't project it. Couldn't hide it either.
That wasn't just strange. That was deliberate.
"Mine won't budge," Ji-Hoon muttered, mostly to himself.
And then a shared prompt blinked to life before everyone—one that Ji-Hoon didn't get.
—
[QUEST – SURVIVAL PHASE I]
Details: Survive. Grow. Adapt.
Condition: Reach Level 10
Reward: -Unlock Sponsor Access.
-Unlock Class.
-Entery permission to StellarNet communication systems.
Time limit: None
Penalty: None
—
"Level 10?" Eun-Ha murmured, frowning. "So this is… a game? Or is this real?"
Tae-Gyu swallowed. "It's both now, I think."
Ji-Hoon watched silently, his hands tucked in his hoodie pocket. The quest hadn't appeared for him. No reward, no objective.
So I really am different.
Maybe it's a bug… or maybe… a unique class like that of manhwa? Maybe I require different conditions?
He didn't know. Not yet.
"Alright," Ji-Hoon said, voice clear now. "Eat up. Get your things together. We move out in twenty."
Everyone turned toward him. The calm in his voice was a compass in the chaos.
"We're splitting into two groups. I'll lead one. Min-Seok leads the other."
---
They stood around the scuffed linoleum floor, now covered with scribbled maps and notes taped together from scavenged pamphlets.
"There's a small GS Mart two blocks east," Ji-Hoon said, pointing. "Maybe it's looted, but it's the closest place we can get supplies."
"We'll take the west side," Min-Seok added. "There's a small police box down that road and a sports store past it. Maybe we can get something useful there. Or someone."
Ji-Hoon summoned metal bats from the system shop and handed them out, the items materializing midair with a flash of light and soft metallic hum.
"This should give you a fighting chance."
Min-Seok gripped the bat like a soldier taking a rifle. "We'll bring back whoever we can."
"And anything useful," Ji-Hoon said, his tone final. "Move quietly. And out top priority is to come back alive."
"Of-course" everyone nodded in agreement.
---
The city was not the same in daylight.
Glass crunched underfoot. Parked cars sat abandoned at odd angles—some with their doors hanging open, some with blood trailing from them like broken veins. A dog lay by a bus stop, unmoving, ribs showing, jaw torn open by something that had fed and moved on.
Ji-Hoon raised a hand and gestured for his group to crouch.
Three goblins were ahead, clustered around a fallen bike and what used to be a body.
It was disgusting a very awful sight but nobody had the luxury to express their feelings, yet their eyes tremble with various mixed feeling of horror and agony, but they knew they had to move forward, both for the sake of living and the dead.
"Tae-Gyu, Ji-Ah. You two flank. Make noise. I'll strike from center." Ji-hoon said, a quick decision to ambush them.
They nodded.
Ji-Ah picked up a crushed can and hurled it across the street.
Clatter-clatter—clang!
The goblins snapped toward the sound, hissing.
Ji-Hoon surged forward.
His bat—lit with Creation Spark—glowed hot and gold, the runes on its handle igniting as he swung.
THWACK.
One goblin's skull exploded inward. The second leapt toward him—but Ji-Hoon ducked low and slammed its knee, then its jaw. The third was already running when Ji-Ah caught it across the back with her bat, knocking it clean off its feet.
They panted over the fading remains of the monsters, which disintegrated into golden dust.
[+150 Coins Earned]
Next to the scene was the mart and inside the mart, six survivors huddled behind overturned shelves looking at them.
Two looked like shop staff—bloody, eyes hollow. The other four wore suits—office workers. One of the women had a bandage wrapped tight around her thigh.
Ji-Hoon raised his hands, to ease the tension of the situation. The people already looked scared he didn't want to escalate the situation.
"We're not thieves. We came to rescue people to a safer place."
There was hesitation. Then one of the men stepped forward. "You have… shelter?"
He had a disbelief look on his face as if a safe place is but a dream in this reality.
Ji-Hoon nodded once. "A safe zone. It's real. And it's safe."
They didn't need more convincing and neither do they had any option, after watching the man defeating the goblin who cry havoc and killed many, with ease they saw a glimpse of hope.
"But, before leaving let's take food from here. Guys use inventory to store it"
The survivors look dumbfounded as they saw the food disappear from the hand of Ji-hoon and others and questioned them various things.
[Kang Soo-Bin Trust +40 ]
[Shin Hyeon-Il Trust +40 ]
.....
---
On the other side of the city, the group stopped in front of the small, squat building that used to be the local police station. Its faded blue sign hung crooked above the door, the once-proud Korean letters flaking off like dried paint. The front entrance was slightly ajar, swaying with each gust of wind that swept dust across the cracked sidewalk.
Min-Seok hesitated for only a second, then stepped forward.
"Stay behind me," he said without looking back.
Woo-Jin nodded, gripping the metal bat tighter, while Eun-Ha pulled So-Ra a little closer to her side.
The door creaked as Min-Seok pushed it open.
Inside, the air was stale—like it had been sealed for days. The waiting area was mostly intact, save for the upturned chairs and scuffed tile. A vending machine stood shattered in the corner, snack wrappers scattered like leaves. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered dimly, casting long shadows.
Then the smell hit them.
Not just decay. Rot. Thick and clinging, like something soaked into the walls.
Min-Seok stepped past the counter slowly, eyes scanning every corner.
Near the hallway, a body lay slumped against the wall. His uniform was torn—police issue. The man's throat was torn out, eyes wide open, dried blood crusted along his collar.
Another body—a goblin—was half-crushed beneath a toppled shelf, its limbs twisted at the wrong angles. Its claws were still outstretched, as if it had been reaching for something when it died.
Farther back, they found a third corpse.
A civilian. A woman, barely out of her twenties, probably came here seeking help.
Woo-Jin crouched near the weapons locker. The door was wide open, the shelves inside stripped bare.
"Nothing," he muttered. "Not a knife, not even a single bullet."
Min-Seok scanned the room. "Someone came through. Survivors, maybe. Took what they could and ran."
"Or maybe the officers themselves," Eun-Ha said quietly. "There weren't many stationed here to begin with. Maybe they tried to hold out… then left."
Min-Seok nodded grimly.
"There's nothing left here," he said after a moment. "Let's check the sports store. We might have better luck there."
As they stepped outside, So-Ra looked up at her father.
"The police were supposed to protect us…"
Min-Seok paused, then crouched down in front of her.
"They tried, So-Ra," he said gently. "But this… this wasn't something they were ready for."
She looked away, nodding faintly, clutching her mother's hand tighter.
They turned west, toward the broken silhouette of the sporting goods store down the block—hoping it still held something useful.
The sports store stood tall but weary, its glass doors covered in a web of dried handprints and half-faded posters advertising last season's cleats. The signage—once bright yellow and bold—hung cracked across the facade, a few letters missing from its brand name like a broken tooth.
Min-Seok moved first, pushing open the unlocked door with his shoulder, bat raised. The inside was quiet, dust motes dancing in narrow beams of morning light that trickled through the shattered upper windows. The usual scent of rubber, sweat, and plastic was now soured by mildew and something faintly metallic.
"Stay alert," he said, and the group fanned out behind him.
The front racks had already been looted. Most of the branded sneakers were gone, and along with anything that looked remotely like a knife. But the back aisles still held protective gear—hockey pads, chest guards, knee braces—and a few wooden baseball bats stacked in bins near the floor.
Min-Seok tossed a chest guard toward Woo-Jin and handed a wooden bat to Tae-Gyu.
"Better than nothing," he muttered.
"Feels like a bad movie," Tae-Gyu said, testing the bat's weight. "Zombies and we're using baseball gear."
Then Woo-Jin called out.
"Over here."
He pointed toward the back—toward the indoor shooting range section, mostly used for airsoft and pellet rifles. Behind the locked cage of a rental desk, a rifle hung on the wall. Not military-grade, but heavy-duty enough—an airsoft replica of an M4, with a scope and magazine. And an axe hung on the wall.
"The rifles are chained," Woo-Jin said.
The rifle was fixed to the rack with a thick steel loop.
Min-Seok stepped up beside him. "Let's fix that."
He swung the axe hard.
CHANG—CHANG—CRACK.
The chain snapped with a sharp metallic echo that rang through the store like a gunshot.
And for a moment, everything went still.
Then—groaning. Outside.
Shuffling. Dragging footsteps. Not many—maybe two, maybe three—but loud enough.
"Company," Eun-Ha said quickly.
Min-Seok raised the shield again without thinking. A blue shimmer pulsed from his chest, the Aura of Conviction surrounding the entrance just as a zombie slammed into the front window.
It bounced off with a crack but didn't fall.
Another followed. Then another.
Three of them.
Min-Seok tightened his grip.
"Stay behind me."
He waited for the first one to lurch fully into view—then stepped forward through the shield and struck hard, bat cracking against skull.
THWACK.
The body crumpled.
The next lunged, jaws wide. Woo-Jin caught it in the ribs, but it kept moving—until Min-Seok swung again, clean into the side of its head.
The third grabbed Eun-Ha's arm—until Tae-Gyu shoved it back and brought the wooden bat down on its collarbone.
CRACK. DROP.
They all stood still afterward, panting lightly. The zombies were down. And then they began to dissolve—those same golden particles that had become familiar by now.
[+120 Coins Earned]
And across the city, Ji-Hoon paused as the same message appeared on his interface. Looking at it he thought maybe he really have a monarch class.
[+120 Coins Received – Linked Reward]
Min-Seok lowered the bat slowly.
"I think we've taken enough chances," he muttered. "Let's head back."
---
As they made their way through a narrow residential alley,Min-Seok instinctively looked up toward the second-floor window of an apartment. A pair of eyes peeked from behind torn curtains—watching them silently.
Min-Seok looked up. A teenage girl.
He raised a hand.
"Hey—are you okay?" he called.
The curtain moved slightly.
"We're not here to hurt anyone. We're part of a group—trying to bring people somewhere safe."
No response.
He tried again.
"There's food. Water. A barrier. You'll be safe I promise."
The curtain closed.
A long moment passed.
Then the door creaked open below.
A young girl, maybe fourteen, stepped out cautiously. Her black hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, her clothes oversized and rumpled, a worn plush rabbit clutched in both hands. Her eyes were hollow—like someone who'd seen too much too fast.
"Oh my... what's your name" Ji-Ah asked politely. "Are their your parents inside?" she added.
"My name is Baek Ha-Eun," she said quietly. "My parents… they're gone. They didn't turn zombies. They died trying to save me."
Min-Seok walked forward slowly and knelt to her level.
"I'm Min-Seok. You're not alone now, Ha-Eun."
She blinked at him.
Then nodded.
And just like that, the group turned toward Haven—with one more soul to protect.
---