NOVEL WEB Chapter 2 - The World of Apocalypse (2)
Chapter 2. The World of Apocalypse (2)
A large mart, basement level 2 parking lot.
Hoo-.
The cigarette smoke that escaped through her lips scattered in the wind.
Jin Jae-hee had been staring at only one place since she arrived here.
Then a man, who was on the phone, spotted her and frowned.
“What the…? What is this? Ugh, seriously. Hey, hold on a second.”
The man loosened his tie a bit and approached Jae-hee.
He shouted at her.
“Hey, miss! Look here! Why are you sitting on someone else’s car hood and smoking? Huh? Do you even know how much this car costs?”
Despite his words, Jin Jae-hee didn’t care and continued to stare at the same spot.
The man followed her gaze.
There was nothing in the direction Jae-hee was looking.
Only cars leaving the mart could be seen.
The man clicked his tongue.
“Tch! This woman must be crazy.”
He rolled up his sleeves.
When he did, tattoos extending down to his forearms were revealed.
He moved closer to get a better look at her face.
The moment he did, he flinched.
“Huh…? What? Is that… a real sword?”
The man was startled once by her weapon, and twice by her appearance.
A white hat and a white short-sleeved shirt.
Wide slacks.
A real sword strapped to her waist.
Her cold demeanor paired with an overwhelming beauty.
She was stunning enough to be mistaken for a celebrity.
‘…Whoa, she’s gorgeous. Is this a movie shoot? No… But even if it is, why would she be sitting on someone else’s car…?’
Flick.
At that moment, Jae-hee stubbed out her cigarette on the parking lot floor and looked at the man.
The instant their eyes met, the man’s heart began pounding wildly.
Cigarette smoke was still faintly escaping from Jae-hee’s lips.
And then, Jae-hee spoke to him.
“Go upstairs. If you want to live even a little longer.”
Her tone was cold and devoid of emotion.
After saying that, she rose from the car hood.
“Wha… what? Hey, what?”
Despite his questions, Jae-hee silently headed toward the entrance.
At that moment—
[Hello…… @#$]
[Greetings, Earthlings.]
[I am Administrator K. Pleased to meet you.]
A blue notification window appeared before the man’s eyes.
Simultaneously, black smoke began climbing up the outer walls of the parking lot.
The black smoke started enveloping the entire parking lot along the walls.
From the entrance to the parking lot, an unknown black fog began to seep in.
Notifications kept appearing in the air.
[With all due respect, to enhance your immersion, I’ve prepared a few games for you.]
[Don’t want to play?]
[Nope, that’s not an option. You absolutely have to.]
[In a moment, I’ll release a few of my adorable pets. These little guys are a bit hungry, so be careful! If you manage to tame them, they can become good kids, you know?]
[You’ve got exactly 20 minutes. In 20 minutes, your lives will be turned upside down.]
[Shall we begin?]
At that moment—
From within the black fog, creatures with green skin began pouring out in droves.
At first, the man thought they were children, but in truth, they were goblins straight out of a fantasy novel.
“Wha… what… what is that?”
The goblins, clutching small daggers, cackled grotesquely.
“Kikikikikikiki!”
“Kekekeke!”
“Kakakakakaka!”
One goblin charged forward.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Soon, a swarm of goblins began flooding the parking lot.
“Uh… uh?”
“Aren’t those things dangerous?”
“Call the police!”
The people in the parking lot hesitated and began stepping back.
While people faltered, the goblins kept rushing forward.
Those in their cars quickly locked their doors.
“Click!”
Crash!
But the goblins climbed onto the vehicles and smashed the windshields with wooden clubs.
The people inside were dragged out by their heads.
“Ah, ah! Let go—!”
“Screech—! Honey!!”
Soon, a horrifying scene unfolded.
“Kakakakakaka!”
“Kekekekekeke!”
Crunch! Squish! Snap!
The goblins clawed at the man’s skin, tearing it away to expose the bones as they ravenously devoured the flesh.
Their claws and nails were far sharper than a human’s, akin to a shark’s teeth in structure.
“Ah… ah! Help me!”
A woman, seeing her husband being eaten alive, struggled to undo her seatbelt to escape.
But she was trapped, and her living flesh was torn from her body.
Her piercing screams echoed through the parking lot.
“Aaaaahhhhh—!!!!!”
“Ugh… Ughhh!!!!”
With those bloodcurdling screams, everyone fled toward the store on the other side.
Even the man who had flaunted his tattoos turned pale and ran for his life.
But only one person.
Only one person walked in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd.
The regressor, Jin Jae-hee.
She unsheathed her sword.
Swoosh-.
‘The portal for the first round usually starts in the basement.’
She knew this from her regression.
Jin Jae-hee had followed Kang Sion into this shopping mall.
Her primary goal of being assigned to the same “area” as him had been achieved.
But this was a large shopping mall.
It wasn’t easy to find him in this vast space filled with hundreds of people.
So, she came to a single conclusion.
‘I’ll kill them all.’
After all, it was Kang Sion.
There was no way he’d die in the first round.
Her plan was to start from the basement, kill every monster in the building, and eventually reunite with Kang Sion.
Jae-hee first decapitated the goblin charging at her.
Swoosh! Slash!
The goblin’s head floated into the air before plummeting to the ground.
Jin Jae-hee didn’t stop.
She walked toward the next goblin.
* * *
Bang!!!
The moment I saw that, I immediately shut the door.
And I locked it right away.
Click!
The man next to me, dumbfounded, shouted at me.
“W-what are you doing?! All of a sudden?”
“It smells like rot.”
“What… what?”
When I slightly opened the door earlier, the scent of decay mixed with the black smoke had been overwhelming.
I didn’t know what the black smoke I had just seen was, but I knew enough to stay far away from it.
There was no time to explain to the man.
“Hey, did you just push me? You little punk.”
Thud!
The man grabbed my shoulder and slammed me against the wall.
He was a large man, frowning threateningly.
“Damn it. Kids these days are the worst, huh? Where’s your respect? Respect! Did you even serve in the army?”
His words went in one ear and out the other.
I thought back to the smoke I had seen beyond the door, in that fleeting moment.
It was black smoke.
It clung to the wall, moving upward or downward in sporadic patches.
Since there was no burnt smell, it wasn’t smoke from a fire.
Smoke is light, so if it originated from above, it would move downward, and if it originated below, it would rise upward.
But the smoke I had seen beyond the door was forming at the center of the wall.
It wasn’t a naturally occurring gas; it was artificially created.
Its shape was peculiar as well.
It wasn’t entirely gas nor entirely liquid but something in between.
‘…Damn it.’
Of all days, why did something like this have to happen today?
My heart pounded violently.
At the same time, the middle-aged man continued to shout at me.
“Are you even listening to me? Huh? This is all because of bad education. Education! Huh? No, seriously, what were your parents thinking when they raised you? Huh?!?”
“Be quiet.”
I clamped my hand over the mouth of the man who was babbling endlessly.
Just then, the shopping mall’s announcement system blared to life.
The man, startled, flinched and trembled.
[Dear customers, we deeply apologize. There seems to be a minor disturbance in the basement parking lot. We kindly ask everyone to…]
Hearing the announcement, the people around looked around in confusion.
‘Disturbance?’
They said there was a disturbance in the basement parking lot.
Even the staff at the back of the line seemed confused, indicating this had occurred without warning.
Thud!
At that moment, the lights in the large mart suddenly went out all at once.
“Huh… what?”
“What’s going on???”
“Can someone turn the lights back on?”
“Mom… I’m scared.”
“It’s okay. Just hold on to Mom’s hand tightly.”
Darkness descended.
From that moment, the crowd began to stir.
Humans instinctively feel fear in the dark.
Calmly, I turned on my phone’s flashlight.
Click!
As the light illuminated, I glanced at my phone.
My expression immediately stiffened.
“…?”
Out of service.
Out of service in 21st-century South Korea?
No matter how much I waved my phone around, the signal didn’t change.
And I realized something was wrong when I looked up again.
“My phone’s not working.”
“Yours too?”
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
“Hello? Hello? Mom, can’t you hear me?”
As if on cue, everyone started staring at their phone screens, illuminated by the flashlights.
Bzzzt-.
Then, my phone vibrated.
No, all the phones in the vicinity started vibrating.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Notification sounds erupted simultaneously.
From the phones, a bright light emanated.
A hologram appeared before my eyes.
[Ah, right. Right. I totally forgot. I didn’t send you the terms and conditions.]
The text looked like it was written by a child.
I scrolled down on my phone.
[You are currently connected to Area 2.]
[Based on the 87,439th Galactic Union Headquarters Summit, Earthlings have been designated as a “species disrupting the cosmic ecosystem.”]
[As per the summit, the human population on Earth must be reduced as mandated.]
[Therefore, through a policy of eradication, all humans except for the necessary population will be disposed of.]
[This is an inevitable legal action under the Galactic Peace Constitution, applicable to all lifeforms, and as a disrupting species, you have no right to refuse.]
[Now, we will proceed to select the players.]
[Each player will be chosen by the administrator of their respective area.]
Server? Player? Connection…?
There were no call windows or internet access.
Only this terms and conditions window.
And the word “disposal.”
Realizing that something was gravely wrong, only one thought came to my mind.
‘I need to get to my brother.’
When humans sense danger, they instinctively think of what they need to protect first.
At that moment, I thought of my younger brother.
My brother was alone in our semi-basement apartment.
If this was a city-wide blackout, Junho was probably trembling alone in the dimly lit semi-basement room.
Of course, even considering it as just a blackout was being overly optimistic.
This was clearly an act of “terrorism.”
‘First… I need to get out of the mall.’
But before I could take any action, a piercing scream from a middle-aged woman rang out.
“Aaaaaaaaahhh—!!! What is that!”
Everyone turned toward the direction of the scream.
It came from a window connected to the corridor.
The city outside was engulfed in black smoke.
Beyond the black fog, an enormous eye was visible, accompanied by a strange sound.
Guuuuuung-.
A grotesque wail.
It was like the cry of a whale deep under the ocean.
Amidst the black fog filling the surroundings, only that eye was visible.
Blink.
The eye blinked, staring at the people inside through the glass.
It lingered there, as if contemplating whether to enter, then disappeared.
The humans who had confronted that bizarre creature were instantly paralyzed with fear.
The middle-aged woman’s scream echoed sharply.
“Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
And with that scream, panic erupted.
“Ahhhhhh! It’s a monster! A-a monster!!”
“Run! Run away—!!!”
“Waaaah… Mom… Mom!”
“Ahhhhhhh!!!!”
The store quickly descended into chaos.
The sudden appearance of this horrifying entity was enough to throw everyone into a frenzy.
Everyone started fleeing in the opposite direction of the window.
The once-crowded area was now deserted, leaving only me behind.
I stood there, silently staring at the black fog.
I tried to analyze the reality I was facing as rationally as possible.
There was no need to run away like the others.
If that monster outside had intended to enter, it would have done so already.
The fact that it hadn’t meant something was blocking its way.
‘It moved….’
The important thing was that the eye had moved.
I focused my thoughts.
Closing my eyes, I pieced together all the information I had gathered so far.
I quickly assessed the situation.
The eye had moved.
From east to west.
Like a fish swimming in the sea, the massive creature had slowly disappeared.
The movement of the eye was briefly visible due to the smartphone lights reflecting in the corridor.
And then, the monster vanished into the black fog.
This was the seventh floor.
Was it a bird?
No, a bird couldn’t have eyes that large.
‘It’s either a creature the height of the seventh floor, or… a massive flying beast.’
In the worst-case scenario, the black fog acted as water.
And the monster swam through the fog.
If this black fog functioned like deep seawater, and unknown creatures were teeming within it…
We humans would become delicious prey for them.
Mandatory reduction of Earth’s human population?
Out of service areas meant external support was impossible.
This scale didn’t fit anything—movie filming, events, a North Korean provocation, hidden cameras, or natural disasters.
This was the work of a being beyond human comprehension.
Whatever it was, it was a disaster beyond the realm of human ability to resolve.
The notifications earlier were true.
Earth’s end had begun at the hands of some alien entity.
That was my conclusion.
“Sigh….”
I held my head.
It had been a long time since I focused so intensely that it made my head throb.
Two questions remained in my mind.
The first was about the players.
The second was about being designated as a species disrupting the cosmic ecosystem.
We humans were players and disruptors of the cosmic ecosystem at the same time.
What did that even mean?
I couldn’t understand it yet.
I needed more information, and to gather that information, I had to survive first.
“Hoo…”
My heart began pounding erratically.
I needed to find a way to overcome this ordeal.
I checked my phone again to note the time.
I memorized the scenes around me.
I took off my hat and hurriedly stuffed the gift I was holding for my brother into my bag.
I rolled up the loose legs of my sweatpants so they wouldn’t get in the way while running.
I retied my shoelaces tightly.
‘Big brother… will definitely come to you. Just hold on… just a little longer, Junho.’
And then, I sprinted with all my might to find another exit.
I would return to my brother.
Even if the end of all this was the apocalypse.