The sixth night came with rain.
Cold, sharp, relentless.
It soaked through the forest, turning the ground into mud and the trees into skeletal silhouettes that creaked in the wind.
Inside his cave, Lee Haneul sat by a flickering fire, chewing on the last strip of dried meat.
He needed to hunt again tomorrow.
Food was running out. So was patience.
The rain had kept the beasts quiet but the forest was never silent. Every few minutes, he heard distant rustling, faint cracks, soft movements that didn't sound like animals.
Too deliberate. Too careful.
He wasn't alone anymore.
The next morning, the rain stopped, leaving the world draped in mist.
He stepped out of his cave, cautious as always, mana quietly pulsing in his fingertips. Ten orbs hovered behind him like ghostly lanterns, dim enough to stay hidden under the fog.
He checked the snares he'd set near the stream two were broken, one had blood, but no carcass.
Someone had taken it.
He crouched, touching the ground where the snare had been.
Boot prints. Human.
His expression didn't change.
He simply whispered, "So… it begins."
He tracked them for half an hour three people, judging by the spacing of the prints. Their steps were uneven, desperate. Survivors, like him.
They moved north, deeper into the forest, maybe toward a larger camp.
When he finally saw them, he stayed hidden behind a fallen log.
Two men and one woman, all wearing tattered school uniforms. Their faces were thin, eyes hollow exhaustion written all over them.
They were laughing faintly around a small campfire.
And in the center of it, roasting on a stick, was his catch.
A Lesser Forest Hare.
His hare.
He watched in silence for a long moment.
Then one of them the taller man suddenly turned his head, eyes narrowing.
"...You hear that?"
Haneul didn't move. The mist was on his side, his mana dampened.
But the man stood, holding a jagged stone blade, scanning the trees.
The woman frowned. "Relax, Jin. You're just paranoid."
"No. Someone's been following us since morning."
Haneul considered leaving. Food wasn't worth a fight.
Then the memory of hunger clawed at him the hollow pain in his stomach, the weakness in his limbs, the hours of trembling as he tried to make fire.
No. He wouldn't starve again.
He stepped out of the fog.
They saw him instantly a lone boy, soaked in rain, eyes calm.
His school blazer was torn, sleeves rolled up, and faint blue light shimmered around his hands.
"Who the hell are you?" the shorter man barked, clutching his spear.
Haneul's tone was flat. "You took something that was mine."
"What?"
"The rabbit."
The three of them exchanged looks half confused, half amused.
Then the tall one, Jin, laughed. "Oh, that? Sorry, kid. Finder's keepers. You can try to take it if you want."
The others laughed with him, loud and cruel, like laughter that comes from fear pretending to be confidence.
Haneul didn't laugh.
He raised his hand slightly, and ten small lights emerged behind him silent, precise, circling in slow orbit.
The laughter stopped.
"What… what the hell is that?" the woman stammered.
"Magic," Haneul said softly. "I'd suggest you leave."
Jin spat on the ground. "You bluffing little!"
He lunged forward with his spear.
The first orb flared.
A burst of white light exploded between them not enough to blind permanently, but enough to make their instincts scream.
The three cried out, clutching their eyes.
Haneul moved.
He wasn't strong. Not fast.
But he was clever.
He flung another orb forward, shaping mana into a thin burst a flash of compressed air that knocked Jin off balance.
The man stumbled, crashing into the mud.
The others panicked. The woman screamed, "He's a mage! Kill him!"
They rushed together, blind but furious.
Haneul stepped backward, counting in his head.
Three seconds of blindness. Two seconds to charge.
He whispered, "Now."
The orbs pulsed in sync.
A low hum filled the clearing then a crackle of raw energy surged between them.
He pointed.
Blue light arced through the air like a whip, slamming into the shorter man's chest.
The impact threw him backward, his body twitching violently before collapsing in the mud.
The other two froze. Their bravado shattered.
Haneul's chest rose and fell, but his voice stayed calm. "Leave. Now."
The woman dragged the stunned Jin backward, trembling. "Y-you monster!"
"Monster?" He tilted his head slightly. "Maybe. But I'm alive."
They fled into the mist, leaving their camp and everything they'd stolen.
The silence that followed was heavy.
Rain dripped from the leaves above, hissing softly as it touched the dying embers of their fire.
Haneul stared at the unconscious body of the man he'd struck. He wasn't dead not yet.
His breathing was shallow, ragged.
For a moment, Haneul hesitated.
Then he knelt down, took back his half-roasted hare, and whispered, "I warned you."
He turned and walked away, leaving the man behind.
Back in his cave, he ate in silence again the taste of meat bitterer than before.
He didn't like killing.
But in this world, mercy was a luxury he couldn't afford.
He leaned against the wall, watching his mana orbs float gently around him, their light reflecting in his eyes. They looked peaceful, almost innocent.
Tools. Weapons. Companions.
He whispered to them quietly, as if speaking to himself.
"Magic isn't just power… it's control."
That night, as he drifted to sleep, the world outside the cave stirred once more.
A faint glow shimmered in the sky a giant sigil, faintly visible between clouds. It pulsed once, and a voice, familiar and cold, echoed in his mind.
[Zone 23: Day 7 Complete.]
[Survivors Remaining: 672.]
[You have gained 150 EXP for surviving the first week.]
[You have defeated: 1 Human (Lesser Threat). +60 EXP.]
[You have completed: First Week Survival Bonus. +200 EXP.]
[Total EXP: 460 / 500 → Level Up!]
[Level: 2 → 3 → 4]
[You have gained +10 Unallocated Stat Points.]
[EXP: 60 / 700]
Haneul's eyes snapped open.
Level 4.
He sat up, staring at the glowing numbers on his system screen. Blue light reflected off his eyes calm, sharp, unreadable.
He didn't smile this time. He just whispered, "Only the strong survive… huh?"
Then he poured all ten points into Magic.
The orbs around him glowed brighter, spinning faster, their hum like quiet thunder.
The cave filled with blue light a soft, radiant promise of what was coming.
By dawn, Haneul was gone.
The forest was silent again except for the faint sound of humming mana, moving steadily deeper into the unknown.
And far above, in the invisible realm of the gods, laughter echoed.
"The boy learns quickly," one of them murmured.
"Good," another replied. "He'll make an interesting piece on the board."