And so the 'game' began. My first thought was to run to the balcony, checking the outside. The power came back, could everything I experienced was cause by my lack of sleep?
But if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that Chin-hae and I are having the same thoughts? I took out my phone, glancing at Chin-hae then back at the lit up screen.
-Aliens came to invade earth…
-Power outage throughout Korea and other places…
-End of humanity…
All these stupid articles…they're not lending me any informations, except for the fact that there was more than one of those dokkaebi things that appeared. I tucked the phone away deep inside my pocket. At this time, Chin-hae was struggling to stand, still recovering from the shock.
Time wasn't waiting. We can't just stay here. I have to leave with Chin-hae and figure out some kind of plan.
This time, when I tried unlocking the door, it worked. What kind of nightmare have I gotten myself into… on top of that, I had no idea what's going on or when this all happened.
"Gyungho-ssi…"
"I know. Let's go."
As I ran, I looked around the building to check for things that could look out of place, trying to piece the puzzles together.
Then I saw it. A red border circling a certain area of this place. I took a deep breath and went there with Chin-hae. I need more information about this place. everything looked normal as if nothing happened after the global blackout.
The closer I came, the more surprised I was. It's not too extraordinary to see people here… I was living in an apartment after all. But to see them all gathered was pretty amusing. I've never seen this much people in a while, not like I like big crowds anyways.
As I stepped into the circle with Chin-hae, a message popped up.
Ding!
[SYSTEM: you've arrived at the first game arena.]
Game… didn't the dokkaebi mentioned this before? I looked around to see other people. I'll assume they've recieved the notification as well. On a bench nearby, there was a scared highschooler sitting next to an old man.
He seemed to have sat there for a while, sweat was visible dripping from his face. Like anyone else here, he probably saw the dokkaebi too. Considering his age, that was definitely twice the shock.
The man stood up, shaking. He walked quickly to the border of the game arena where the red lights were shining. From afar, I could see a blue box popping up infront of him, I'm guessing it's the system notification.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
"Are you nuts, old man?"
"W-where are you trying to go?!"
Some people were looking and shouting at the old man, some remained silent and watched, I was one of the spectators. The man seemed to ignore all the warning and attention, running outside the border.
Everyone was staring and watching patiently to see what would happen next. The old man turned around after a few seconds of seeing nothing happening to him.
"W-We don't have to play! The system was only scaring us with the penalty!"
As soon as he finished his sentence, his body exploded. Pieces of the old man was everywhere, blood began spewing from there.
Everyone looked in horror, people screamed and cries could be heard.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Hey! Does anyone knows what's going on here?!"
Voices of people panic were overlapping each other's, people running around but not dare exit the border, one after another, they stepped on other people and chaos erupted. In the middle of all this, all I could do was drag Chin-hae to the side where it wasn't too crowded.
I couldn't help them, I wasn't a dokkaebi nor some powerful being. All I was doing was sitting back and watch like a sore loser. I watches as they push each others, shout and scream. They were doing what they think would help them in this situation.
"Useless. Utterly useless."
A woman voice was heard among the crowd. The figure was sitting on the bench near us. I couldn't see her that well since people started to circle the girl. I was pretty curious. Thanks to her, the crowd was silent for a bit. She wasn't wrong either, they won't fix anything with all this arguing, all of them would probably end up dead.
After a second of peace and quiet, they started arguing again, protecting themself from being corrected like morons..
"What did you say?"
"How would you know? Are you the person that set this whole nightmare up?!"
"Y-yeah! You psychopath!"
Questions were flooding in, people started to run over and surround us, adding to the crowd that was already there before. In just a few seconds, I could feel the air getting heavier and tighter. The man smirked, looking at all these hopeless people.
"Do you think wasting your breath and panicking will help the situation?"
The crowd that were around us stopped with their questions and arguments once again. It's nice to see people use their brains for once in serious situations instead of fighting and putting the blame on the people that's around them.
"Oh.. we were…"
"Now you're trying to deny it too."
"Y-you…"
I sighed, shaking my head. Chin-hae was looking over at where all the noises were coming from, trying to get up and see. I held him down, it's not the smartest idea to part from each other at the moment. He looked really curious, still trying to see what's up.
Before they got to discuss more, the faint light flickered in the air again. The one that caused all of these troubles.
"Seems like you all had a nice talk."
The voice caught everyone's attention. The people turned around and looked up at the dokkaebi, now it was finally silent again, though this time I think I prefer them fighting over this awkward and creepy silence.
Looking closer, this dokkaebi… it was the one I saw back at my apartment. It looked like it was preparing something. I can't quite see…
[SYSTEM: you've recieved the skill [404 not found] skill!
Tip: to use a skill, you need to focus on thinking about it, until an attribute window appears.]
How cheap are the creators of these games… can't even fix minor bugs. I sighed, I had no idea how to think about a skill that I don't even know the name of.
[SYSTEM: auto-activation mode turned on!]
How great, this system reads my mind doesn't it? I can't think of a time when I was ever this lucky in the past.
In front of me was now a blue loading screen. I looked at it in shock then looked over to Chin-hae. His expression remained the same, still scared and confused. Seems like it's only me.
Once the loading screen completed, I looked around to figure out how to use this skill, then something caught my eye.
I looked up at the dokkaebi, I can now see what it's doing… floating in the air, the space that was once blank was now a coding screen. Seems like this skill allows me to see items that are hidden from us players. This is interesting…
Zoom in.
I was able to get a closer view of what he's doing on that coding screen. Seems like it was the first game…
"You've got to be kidding me…"
"Huh? Is something wrong, Gyungho-ssi?"
I shook my head, I must've said that out loud after reading the rules and what the game was about.
"You all had your meet and greet time. It's time for our game to start."
Ding!
A screen popped up, it's the rules for the first game. I looked around, there were about 30 people here… That should be enough.
"Gyungho, what are you thinking of now?"
I looked over, a bit surprised but also thankful. He looks better now, the confident Chin-hae is back, at such a random time…
[SYSTEM: Welcome message.
Players who are registered are now ready to start the game!
Rules:
1. Refrain from using violence against other players, you are all on the same team.
2. Finish the game before the timer ends.
Tip: none.
Time limit: 60 minutes.
Compensation: 2300R, access to purchasable stats.
Penalty: death]
"Let the show begin."
The dokkaebi laughed and disappeared as the people panicked. I looked over at the red border that had just turned green. I'd guess the game zone is expanded now…
[SYSTEM: You have been granted access to the 「Universal store」 and 「stats」]
Just in luck now, aren't I?
"E-everyone…"
A lady shaking with fear pointed her hand to the left side of the building behind us. She was whispering so not many people heard her.
"U-uh…"
Seems like someone heard her. The man turned around and looked in the direction she was pointing, naturally, I did too.
A giant rabbit-like monster was striking the building down, eating pieces of it. If I don't get out of here soon, the building will crush me to death.
Ding!
[SYSTEM: The game has started.]
「Footage is now being recorded.
Turn off? (Y/N)」
Is all of this getting recorded? Why am I the one that's recieving this information… Is it another attribute of mine?
"C-crap! It'll fall down!"
"Run! Everyone!"
I took Chin-hae's hand and began running, still trying to think of a solution. He looked and me and held on tighter. He seems to understand.
Ah wait.. the footage. Could it be a clue? I looked at the screen, still in front of me. It's just a footage… could be the last video of me if I die here. It's proof that I existed.
I gulped, clicking no. Hopefully I wasn't wrong about my decisions of letting someone or something film this whole cruel game.
Not like there was a turn back button anyways. I'll get through this nightmare and figure out who's behind all of this.