Withered and desolate—the city that never slept had fallen silent. Seoul's skyscrapers loomed like tombstones against a gray sky, their shattered windows reflecting only ruin. Streets were strewn with overturned cars, burnt-out buses, and decomposing bodies. Weeds sprouted through cracks in the concrete, drinking the blood spilled by those who ran but never escaped.
Amid this silence, a low, guttural growl broke through—a deep, threatening sound echoing down a narrow alley.
The smell of rot was thick and rancid, carried by the breeze, with the wet sound of teeth grinding flesh. Kang Hyun pressed his back against a rusted guardrail, holding his breath, with his bow trembling in his hand. His knuckles turned white; his fingertips, normally calloused from string tension, felt strangely alien because the world itself had become unfamiliar.
Three hours earlier, he was walking home with groceries for his father. Then the System appeared: [System Initialization: Earth Server Online], [Tutorial Phase: Survival], and [Status Screen Unlocked]. Every human in Korea—indeed, the whole world—had seen the same glowing window. Some screamed, others laughed, and many thought it was a prank. Soon, the dead rose.
Hyun leaned over the guardrail. On the intersection's cracked asphalt, a young mother clutched her child, stumbling as a horde of gray-skinned corpses clawed toward her. The child screamed, a piercing sound that carried across the hollow cityscape.
A man in a business suit sprinted past her—maybe her husband. He didn't look back. His tie flapped as he disappeared into an alley, leaving her behind.
"No! Don't leave us—ahhhh!"
Rotting hands caught her shoulder, dragging her down. Teeth tore into her arm. Blood sprayed across the child's face. The boy shrieked, but the sound was smothered as another corpse sank its teeth into his throat.
Hyun's jaw clenched. He had seen death before—in competitions, in hospitals, in life—but never like this. Never so raw. Never so merciless.
He forced himself to turn away. If I shoot, they'll swarm me. If I reveal myself now, I won't even reach home. Father… Minji… I can't die here.
The wet tearing sounds of flesh echoed behind him as he pressed onward.
[ Target Acquired: Zombie (Lv. 1) ][ Weakness: Brainstem / Eye Socket ]
Another corpse stumbled into view, once a woman in her twenties. Her jaw hung loose, half torn away, revealing rows of broken teeth slick with blood. Her skin was gray, her stomach ripped open as though she had been eaten alive.
Behind her shuffled more—five… no, seven. Their cloudy eyes twitched at the faintest sound.
Hyun inhaled slowly, steadying his arm.
"…Monsters, status windows… this world really has gone mad."
But madness or not, survival meant adaptation. He was no soldier, no politician. He was an archer. Korea's former national champion. He had lived his life with the bow, and if this System wanted hunters, then he would hunt.
He drew. The string creaked. His breath stilled.
"Release."
The arrow whistled through the air, striking clean through the zombie's eye. The back of its skull burst in a spray of bone and rot.
The corpse collapsed instantly.
[ Kill Confirmed. +10 EXP ]
The other zombies froze at the sound. Their heads snapped toward him, jaws opening, shrieks bursting forth like broken sirens.
"Shit."
Hyun nocked another arrow, heart pounding. He had only ten left. Each one had to count.
Another release. Another skull split.
But for every kill, two more stumbled from the alley.
The groans grew louder. The stench thickened. The horde was gathering.
[ Warning: Fatigue Rising. Stamina -2/sec ]
Hyun's boots splashed through puddles of rain and blood. He vaulted over a wrecked scooter, narrowly ducking under a broken signpost, weaving through the debris with practiced agility. His years of training his body to stay steady under pressure now saved his life. But stamina was limited. His lungs burned. His arms ached.
He turned a corner—froze.
The street ahead was blocked. Cars piled into a chaotic wall of twisted steel, windows shattered, bodies hanging from the wreckage. Behind him, the horde was closing in. Rotten hands reached out. "Damn it—"
Hyun's eyes darted wildly. To the right: a fire escape ladder half-detached from the wall.
He sprinted, leapt, caught it with one hand, his bow nearly slipping from the other. The ladder screeched as he pulled himself up, metal groaning under his weight.
The zombies slammed against the wall below, arms outstretched, snapping teeth clicking furiously.
Hyun collapsed onto the rooftop, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his temple.
The city stretched before him—hell laid bare.
Dozens of plumes of smoke rose from fires. Sirens wailed in the distance, only to cut abruptly, swallowed by screams.
Elsewhere—
Police sirens howled as a barricade of patrol cars blocked the Han River bridge. Officers in black vests raised pistols and rifles, faces pale.
"Fire! Don't let them cross!"
Bullets tore through dozens of corpses, but they didn't stop. Heads snapped back, flesh shredded, yet the monsters stumbled forward, hunger undimmed.
"Shoot the head! The head, damn it!"
The officer in charge shouted, but it was too late. One of the beasts—once a dog—leapt over the barricade, its skin hairless, its jaws unhinged, twice too wide. It landed on a policeman, ripping his throat open. Arterial spray-painted the hood of a squad car.
Panic broke the line.
Gunfire turned to screams.
In a different district, a group of tattooed men in leather jackets looted a convenience store. The leader, a scarred brute named Jang Do-seok, grinned as he stepped over a dead clerk's body.
"Forget the cops, forget the army. The world is ours now, boys." He hefted a bloodstained bat. "The strong take what they want. The weak die."
His men cheered, bottles clinking, as outside, the screams of survivors filled the night. The first seeds of warlords had been sown.
Above it all, a cold, unyielding message hung in the air, glowing like the decree of a god:
[ Welcome, Survivors, to the Apocalypse Game. ]
[ Rule One: The weak perish. ]
[ Rule Two: The strong thrive. ]
[ Rule Three: Only one law exists—Kill to Survive. ]
Hyun's fists tightened around his bow. His father and younger sister were still at home, waiting, unaware of the nightmare consuming the city. He could almost hear his father's cough and his sister's voice calling him for dinner.
There was no choice.
No hesitation.
He rose, eyes sharp, jaw set.
"…Then I'll kill. And I'll survive. For them."
The growls rose again from below. Hyun nocked another arrow, standing against the dying light of Seoul. The first arrow had flown, and it would not be the last.