looked down at my watch again as the minute hand crawled forward.
6:30 PM.
Beside me, Minsoo let out a soft sigh, her eyes tracking my wrist. "Senior, why are you looking at your watch every single minute? Are you perhaps... bored hanging out with me?"
"No, it's not that," I replied quickly, offering a reassuring smile. "Just a habit."
Internally, I exhaled. I desperately hoped she didn't think I was acting completely unhinged. I had to keep my composure; panic wouldn't do either of us any favors right now.
"So, Senior, what's next?" she asked, tilting her head.
"We need to change locations. There is a specific place we need to go," I said, my tone turning deliberate.
Where to?"
"Gwangbuku."
Minsoo pulled out her phone to check the transit routes, humming thoughtfully. "Gwangbuku? Traveling there from here is going to take at least 15 minutes by vehicle."
"Then we don't have time to waste. Let's wave down a cab."
We walked out to the main curb and hailed a taxi. As the vehicle navigated through the evening traffic, the city felt tenser than usual, as if the calm before the storm was spreading over the concrete streets. When the taxi finally pulled up to our destination in Gwangbuku, we stepped out onto the pavement.
Minsoo looked around the unfamiliar streets, shielding her eyes from the glare of the oncoming headlights. "What are we doing here, Senior?"
Before I could formulate a vague answer to placate her, the clock struck 7:00 PM.
The world ground to a sudden, horrific halt. Above us, the evening sky began to fracture, ripping apart as a massive, obsidian portal spiraled into existence. Pedestrians froze in their tracks. Drivers slammed on their brakes, stepping out of their cars to look upward. The everyday hum of Seoul was instantly replaced by a breathless, terrified awe.
"What the fuck is that?" a man shouted from the sidewalk, pointing a trembling finger toward the rift.
Then, things grew infinitely stranger—and deadlier.
Out of the vortex, a massive entity emerged. Its dark body was entirely covered in slick, midnight-black feathers, presenting an eerie, crow-like appearance. It hovered effortlessly above the crowded street, looking down at the gathered humans like a scientist observing ants under a glass pane. Everyone stared in absolute amazement and creeping horror as the creature began descending toward us.
When it spoke, its voice carried a raw, overwhelming power that physically shocked the ears of everyone present, making several people stumble backward.
My name is Kale," the creature announced, its tone laced with an immense, suffocating arrogance. "Your world is now participating in the Constellations' game. Consider yourselves honored, lowlife beings, to be included in such an event."
The crowd remained frozen, paralyzed by the sheer presence of the entity.
"I do not know how many of you will manage to survive," Kale continued, his feathered wings shifting smoothly as he scanned the crowd. "But I would certainly like to see at least a few useful variables among you livestock."
"What the fuck?!" someone suddenly interrupted, a middle-aged man screaming angrily from the front of the crowd. "Is this some kind of stunt? A movie shoot? Do you expect us to believe this garbage? I'm going to be late for work! Stop bullshitting and let me go!"
Kale's gaze slowly shifted toward the the shouting man.
The creature's eyes instantly burned a terrifying, blood-red color.
"You insect," Kale hissed, his voice dropping into a dangerous register. "How dare you talk back to me? For that insolence, I am taking your eyeball."
A sharp, agonizing shriek pierced the air as the man collapsed to the pavement, clutching the side of his face as blood pooled through his fingers.
"It hurts, doesn't it, insect?" Kale sneered, completely unmoved by the screams. "This is not a film shoot. This is not a dream. This is your new reality. If you choose not to believe it, then you will simply die. With that, I conclude my introduction. Now then, for the main event."
The crow-like administrator spread his wings wide, casting a massive shadow over Gwangbuku.
"Before the true trials begin, you will enter the initial Tutorial. It will last for exactly 40 days. May whatever luck you possess be with you."
With those final words, the system interface officially locked into place. I watched Kale closely as the messages rolled across my vision. He was exactly the same as I remembered from the past life. Even though he possessed the power to slaughter everyone here, he only took that man's eye. As an administrator, his primary job was to observe the sector and feed real-time information to the Constellations—essentially acting as their cosmic eyes. Each regional area had their own designated overseer.
But the precise reason I had dragged Minsoo to Gwangbuku wasn't to watch Kale. It was because that bastard—the fake Hero who would eventually betray me—started his journey in this exact grid. In this specific area, a highly unique, legendary-grade item was scheduled to spawn early on. In my past life, the Hero claimed it and used it to rocket to the top of the rankings.
This time, I am taking it instead of him, I resolved, my fists clenching.
However, I needed to be exceptionally cautious. Kale's eyes could perceive almost everything within this sector. If I performed an action that deviated too drastically from a typical unawakened human, he would notice me immediately.
"Oppa... I'm really scared," Minsoo whispered violently, her hands trembling as she tightly gripped my arm.
Don't be afraid," I replied smoothly, my voice acting as a sudden anchor of calm amid the rising noise. "Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise."
Right on cue, the secondary rifts tore open along the street asphalt. Pale, skeletal figures with rotting flesh and hollow eyes began crawling out of the dark tears. Ghouls.
The crowd immediately dissolved into a panicked frenzy, people trampling over one another to escape the spawning monsters.
"Oppa, we have to run!" Minsoo cried out, trying to pull my arm toward the nearest alleyway.
Instead of retreating, I completely ignored her pull. I reached into the heavy hardware store bag, my fingers locking around the cold grip of the steel crowbar. With a fluid, practiced motion, I stepped directly into the path of the nearest oncoming ghoul and swung.
CRACK!
The heavy iron bar shattered the creature's skull instantly, dropping it to the pavement in a heap of dark fluid.
"Take the other crowbar from the bag!" I shouted back at Minsoo over the din of the screaming crowd. "Aim straight for their foreheads! Hit them with everything you have!"
Minsoo looked completely confused, her mind struggling to process how her quiet, academic senior had just casually executed a monster. But her survival instincts took over. She reached into the bag, pulled out the secondary iron bar, and stepped up beside me. Standing back-to-back, we held our ground against the advancing wave.
"Oppa, I have a million questions to ask you!" Minsoo yelled as she swung her bar, successfully cracking the jaw of an approaching ghoul. "And I already know you're probably not going to answer them right now!"
"Later!" I called back, burying my crowbar deep into the chest of another monster.
Minutes felt like hours, but with my twenty years of combat muscle-memory intact, the low-level ghouls didn't stand a chance. Within a short window, the chaotic street grew quiet again as the remaining creatures dissolved into black ash.
The First Wave has been successfully cleared.]
I exhaled slowly, checking the perimeter. 10 ghouls killed by my hand alone. This was an astronomical improvement compared to my past life. Back then, I was so paralyzed by sheer terror that I barely managed to survive by hiding, only killing 2 ghouls by absolute accident.
"Minsoo, are you alright?" I breathed, wiping a splash of dark grime off my sleeve.
"Yes... I'm fine," she panted, leaning heavily against her iron bar. Suddenly, she pointed a finger toward the space right in front of my face. "Oppa, what is that? A glowing screen just appeared right in front of me..."
That must be your Status Window," I explained calmly.
"A status window? What does that mean?"
"It displays your personal attributes and growth. Think of it exactly like an MMORPG video game interface."
While she stared at her own data in fascination, I silently willed my own interface to manifest. A crisp, translucent blue screen flickered to life in my line of sight
STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Ryo Kim
Race: Human
Class: Not Received
Passive Skill: [Hyper Focus]
Strength: 6
Attack: 4 (+)
Aura: 3 (+)
Mana: 2 (+)
Number of Ghouls Killed: 10
Unused Stat Points: 20
A cold smile touched my lips. 20 unused stat points right out of the gate. This baseline structure was vastly superior compared to the garbage stats I started with in my previous life.
A cold smile touched my lips. 20 unused stat points right out of the gate. This baseline structure was vastly superior compared to the garbage stats I started with in my previous life.
But as I looked at the numbers, reality settled back in. It still wasn't anywhere near enough to fight him. If I allowed the fake Hero to pass through the Tutorial naturally, the gap between us would widen, and he would become entirely too powerful to assassinate.
I have to hunt him down and kill him right here, inside this Tutorial, I thought, my eyes narrowing as I looked toward the dark horizon of Gwangbuku. I will find him before these 40 days end. No matter what it takes.