Chapter 1
"Survivor! I have been waiting for y—"
—Thwack.
The dazzling smile of the man wearing a pure white Lab Coat exploded along with his bright yellow Head.
I have no idea why he's trying to recreate a cutscene even in reality.
It was so boring that I just pulled the Trigger, didn't I?
—Whir-clatter-slam!!!
The preheated 6-barrel Gun Barrel spun rapidly and powerfully spewed fire forward.
The main game begins after a light jab thrown as a greeting.
A chain of mob violence taking place while armed with steel chairs as Equipment one by one.
The target is the Last Boss of the apocalyptic World who changed jobs from a Mad Scientist to a Dullahan.
Alias: Doctor
Fan name: Hakase!
Watching the Doctor get drenched in a rain of metal and dyed red like the evening glow, peace suddenly found its way into my heart.
This is what you call zoning out at a fire.
Or should I call it zoning out at the Doctor?
Well, both are hot anyway, so it doesn't really matter what you call it.
—Whir-clatter-slam!!!
Right around the time when the violent gun recoil was gently relaxing my Shoulder muscles, which were completely knotted up from the grind of farming Equipment.
-Click.
—Clatter.
Suddenly, the falling of the casings that had been delighting my cochlea ceased.
"...."
I didn't run out of ammo.
It's just a malfunction caused by overheating.
As expected, there was no romance in reality.
Only waste and failure existed.
However, this World is the ambiguous intersection of reality and game. The boundary of unreality.
That's why a half-baked romance that you couldn't even dream of in 'true' reality is realized.
"Swap."
With a single word, the Minigun torn from a crashed attack helicopter exits into the virtual space called the Inventory, and two Rotary Grenade Launchers are naturally grasped in my empty hands.
And re-aim.
Through the gap in the crossed trapezoidal rear sight, the Doctor, who had somehow finished his Regeneration, breathed heavily and glared upward.
"Gasp! W-wait! Stop, Survivor. If you kill me now, you will never be saved! So..."
"Salvation?"
You're going to give it to me?
The Doctor suddenly started spouting nonsense, as if the Lead Bullet contained Alcohol.
In that moment, a dense pain struck my mind, on par with listening attentively to a boss lamenting about their life for over two hours.
This won't do. I have no choice but to personally cure the Doctor's hangover since he's clearly still drunk.
Swap.
Swap.
Swap.
Swap.
Swap.
—Slam!!! Clatter-slam!!!!
The RPG-7, Panzerfaust, M72 LAW, and a chorus of other piping-hot heavy firearms perfectly suited to evaporate a hangover.
Half-cooked chunks of flesh soared alongside bone fragments, and solid shrapnel scattered everywhere, erupting into a momentary Flame.
But wait. Was the hospitality too loud?
—Gurgle!
—Ugh....
—Screech!
The fireworks and blood painting the sky, and the agonizing screams of the Doctor must have reached outside the lab. Uninvited guests, mistaking the funeral for a festival, began invading from all sides while screaming.
Damn, I only prepared one serving of spicy beef soup.
It can't be helped. I guess I'll just have to reduce the number of guests.
"Swap."
Holding a compact Flamethrower in one hand and a custom-made Automatic Pistol with a 50-round magazine in the other, I mercilessly tore through the Doctor and the Mutants like a Wolf meeting a flock of sheep.
A red trajectory followed the black lines cutting through the acrid smoke.
It burns oxygen, and it burns flesh. Then, it finely minces them with a Lead Bullet and burns them again.
To my Mutant friends with excellent Regeneration abilities, the Flame is quite fatal.
A shot Pig has a chance of living, but a cooked Pig disappears into a stomach—it's the same logic.
—Meeeat!!!
—Gurgle!
—Screech!
—Survivor! Aaaargh!!!
The screams and shrieks ran rampant, and the smell of burning fat mixed with scorched blood signaled the end of the waltz of death.
"Sickening bastards."
Trapped in this lovely, doomed game, I've spent decades playing a thrilling game of tag with hordes of bipedal Meatballs that follow me around because they like me.
The reason I ended up playing not just a doomed game, but an apocalyptic one, was nothing special.
I was just a bit bored.
That was the beginning of all the problems.
***
"I'm so bored I could die."
So I thought.
'Should I pick up a hobby?'
I hate sports.
When I come home from work, I don't even want to lift a Finger.
So much for sports.
I also hate sitting down to play computer games.
Sitting all day clicking a mouse is my actual job. Doing that even after work is a bit much, isn't it?
"Isn't there anything else?"
While I was looking for a miraculous hobby that guaranteed both physical comfort and fun at the same time.
-I love you!
Minseok: what u up to?
"Huh?"
I got a text from my pillow-loving friend.
"Minseok? It's been a while."
Me: I'm just lying down and on my phone. Why? Wanna get a drink?
Minseok: nah, it's too hot so I don't want to go out. If you have nothing to do, want to play VR?
Me: Can you play that lying down?
Minseok: The ones coming out these days read your brainwaves, so you don't even have to move, you sloth-like bastard.
Me: But that Equipment is insanely expensive. Your hyung is broke.
Minseok: I figured as much, so I prepared two sets for my beggar of a little brother.
Me: I guess I'm not the older brother here after all?
Minseok: Send me your address. Your hyung will send you something good.
Me: Yes, hyung.
I shouldn't have listened to that pillow-humper.
I should have just played idle mobile games while watching a documentary.
But back then, I craved the contradictory pleasure of my body being comfortable while my mind ran to the extreme.
"It looks unusual."
I lay in bed in a tank top and underwear, wearing a VR device around my neck that looked like a state-of-the-art neck pillow.
Pressing a small button on the right, a transparent film wrapped around my vision, and a cyberpunk-style interface UI unfolded.
"What is this."
Is it already fun?
The main game hadn't even started yet. My heart beat fast for the first time in a while.
"Hey. Link? It says it's done. What do I do now? The interface is so complicated that it's making me dizzy."
-Oh, are you in? Then you need to pick a game now.
"Recommend me something. Please."
-Got it.
The ones my friend recommended were fantasy games where you run a monster farm or become an Adventurer and explore Dungeons.
They all looked fun, but what I wanted right now wasn't virtual labor.
I needed Tsar Bomba-level stimulation to put an end to my boring daily life and bring fresh dopamine to a lazy office worker.
For example.
"Do you have anything like a zombie apocalypse?"
-There is one that's trending lately. It might be a bit tough for a Newbie, though?
"Don't you know me?"
-You only play mobile gomoku anyway.
"I rank 7th in the region."
-So the pride of Cheongju was right here?
[Connecting to server....]
I thought it would be hard to adapt since it was my first time playing a virtual reality game, but fortunately, I had a talent for it.
The talent called hyper-immersion.
[Q. Lose the Runners and head to the fire station.]
"Drop dead, you half-baked Meat Pie bastards!!!"
"Hey, hey! We need to run!"
"Minseok! I'm counting on you for cover!"
"Where are you going, you crazy bastard! Covering fire my ass when I don't even have a Weapon!"
While the other Players screamed and ran away, I jumped into the monsters and swung the Chinese Cleaver and Frying Pan I had farmed from the Kitchen.
"Kyaaaargh!!!"
"Screeech!!!"
Every time I swing my arms, bones shatter and chunks of flesh fall off.
The disgusting yet thrilling sensation transmitted from the handles I'm gripping.
The primal pleasure that comes from tearing, smashing, and mincing something!
A flood of dopamine I've never felt before in my smooth and uneventful life....
'I feel like my brain is melting.'
Thinking about how I had lived without doing such fun things until now, tears streamed down my face out of frustration.
"I'm sorry. Your hyung is too scared to do this anymore."
"Don't worry. I will work hard at Survival for your sake too, Minseok."
"Keuhuk! Emergency escape!"
Even when my friend, sick of the bizarre difficulty and the incredibly disgusting visuals, made an emergency escape to Moe Nongbbang World full of pretty girls, I didn't stop.
No, I was burning up even more!
I returned the Equipment I borrowed from my friend, used my saved-up salary to buy better Equipment, and started enjoying the game in earnest.
Even the time to eat after work felt like a waste, so I quickly chewed and swallowed bulk-bought frozen chicken breasts with plain water before diving into virtual reality.
I steadily roamed the ruined World, sometimes dying with my limbs torn apart by monsters, and other times getting stripped naked by Madmen and Marauders.
Kill enemies and survive. Kill stronger enemies, die, and kill again, die, and kill....
This is fun! So this is life?
Every moment, every day, every minute, and every second in this false reality was so unbearably thrilling and addictive that I couldn't stop.
To the point of keeping up that routine for eight long years.
And then, on a normal day no different from any other.
"Log out, log out! Admin! Please let me out! Please! I have a business trip tomorrow...."
I was possessed by the in-game character I had raised like my own child.
There was no warning.
My ordinary daily life met its end in a single moment.
"It hurts...? Why does it actually hurt? Is this really reality? It's not a dream, a fucking bug, or a stealth patch?"
My childish denial of reality didn't even last a day in this ruined World.
The city teeming with Mutants and Madmen was no longer a virtual playground.
"Meat... meat...."
"Don't come near me. Stop following me, you bastard! Go look for meat at a butcher shop!"
Every single day was terrifying and painful.
"Grrr...."
"...Why is a Raid Boss wandering around the normal zone!?"
Day after day was a continuous string of hardships.
"Slam! Slam slam!"
"Please... please. Let me get some sleep, you crazy bastards...."
Every minute and every second was like torture.
As time passed, my emotions wore down, and my will lost its spark, growing as cold as a corpse abandoned on the side of the road.
"I want to die."
It would have been better if I had just starved to death.
The character, which I had carefully set up for years to the point of being almost immortal rather than just specialized in Survival, ultimately refused to grant the Player's death.
Even if I tried to hide quietly somewhere like a dead mouse, once my Bio-Energy dropped, I would lose my mind and run outside, wandering around looking for prey to satiate my Predation.
It wasn't a simple act of chewing and swallowing. I forcefully tore open the skin, muscles, and Organs of monsters that were once Humans, stuffing them inside me.
The half-rotted chunks of meat slowly broke down inside me, eventually becoming a part of me.
"Ugh, blegh. Uuu... Haa. The smell, fuck."
Even though I wanted to throw up all these disgusting things, I couldn't even vomit freely because of the Plague Doctor Mask I had paid to have grafted onto my Head.
"Goodbye! You beggar-like world! Argh!!! Huh? Ugh!? Fuck! My arm! My arm!!! Aaaaagh!!!"
Whenever I didn't want to live and tried to pull the pin on a Grenade, my arm would fall off on its own like a Lizard cutting its tail.
Then, it would quietly whisper an apology into my mind and make me a new arm again.
The character I had raised with all my heart loved the Player far too much.
"Just let me die.... you overly affectionate Magpie bastard."
As if trying to repay me for raising it for eight years, it desperately struggled to keep me alive.
While steadily rotting away day by day in such a ruined World.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
If my destiny was to be trapped in this game and not even be able to die peacefully.
Then I should just see the ending.
My resolve was damnably late, but.
There was no hesitation in my actions.
Even though I was a total coward.
I was a Veteran of this goddamn game.
"This... world is.... a lie—"
"I know."
"...What?"
—Thwack.
Chunks of flesh and bone fragments scattered across the wall like gory graffiti.
Seeing that the bright yellow Head was no longer undergoing Regeneration, it seemed he had finally exhausted all his Bio-Energy.
It took long enough. Damn bastard.
"Is it over."
The Doctor, who had transformed from Emmental cheese into a protein monster, and then into a massive hunk of meat resembling a cross between a centipede and a dragon, had now become a colony of tubifex worms crawling at my feet.
He was ridiculously weak. For a so-called final boss.
Except for having slightly higher durability and a larger size than the hunks of meat I'd encounter on a usual stroll, his patterns were incredibly simple.
Then again, how well could a nerd who only knew how to push pens in a lab fight anyway? It's impressive enough if he even knows how to swing his arms like a windmill.
Even the old friends who used to cling to my pants pockets all went back (to dust) once the fire at the Muzzle went out.
Kkyu!
As I blankly stared at the charred ashes and the minced meat prospect that was once called the Doctor, a sound like a small animal's cry came from a corner of my Head.
It wasn't an auditory hallucination caused by stress. It was the Magpie cohabiting in the same body as me.
To be precise, it would be more accurate to call it an aggregate of Traits named Magpie. I don't know what I'm saying either.
"You can eat it."
"Kkyu!"
Once permission was granted, the black chunks of flesh mimicking a Trench Coat squirmed unpleasantly.
Soon, they slid underneath the hunk of meat that was once a Human and slowly began to swallow the Doctor, like a python swallowing an egg.
Eat up. Because that will be your last meal.
The hardcore apocalypse survival game.
The ending of
It ended with killing the Madman Doctor who claimed humanity must be saved from a false world, and obtaining a Vaccine called [Regression] from the safe on the top floor of the lab.
That's right. It's all over now.
If I take the Vaccine, all my Traits will disappear, and my body will return to how it was when I first started the game.
This means the character will be reset.
It was an idiotic reward that blatantly encouraged a second playthrough even when I think about it now, but to a Transmigrator desperate for suicide while being obsessed over by Traits, it was a rather attractive reward.
Kkyurrrrk.
After the Magpie's final meal ended.
I tore my eyes away from the bloodstains stretched out like a Shadow and directed my steps toward the Elevator.
—Squish.
"Tsk."
The squelching sound of the flesh stuck to my shoes with every step was annoying.
After getting in the Elevator, I pressed the button for the top floor, and the doors closed smoothly.
-Ding-didi-ding-ding.
Did the aftermath of the battle reach all the way here?
The briefly flickering lights went out, and Darkness fell.
The red floor indicator lights turned off, but judging from the faint sensation of floating, it seemed the Elevator was fortunately still operating normally without stopping.
"Finally. Is it the ending."
For the first time in a while, a pure laugh burst out.
The anticipation of bidding farewell to a painful life and the faint hope that seeing the ending might return me to my original World clashed, making my blood run hot.
Unlike my body submerged in heat, the Elevator submerged in Darkness was strangely comfortable, making me feel as if I had become a fetus in the womb.
"My parents. I miss them."
Though I can't even remember their faces anymore.
The Michael Tyson of unfilial sons. A spinal reflex-like longing, ending in powerless self-deprecation and regret.
-Ding.
The cheerful bell sound sharply cut off my rambling monologue, which had now become a habit.
"Is it over."
I'm here.
An ending had finally arrived for this sickening life.
No, it should have arrived.
—Bzzzt.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, a noise that was beyond annoying and downright irritating leaked from the ceiling.
The unintelligible noise gradually became clearer, beginning to spew out a woman's voice that sounded like it was playing from an old video Tape.
[Nice to meet you. The last Survivor of the ruined World.]
"Did the Doctor prepare this?"
There was no response to my meaningless monologue.
Just a brief pause, followed by the rest of the voice as if playback had resumed.
[I sincerely hope you can regain your lost happiness.]
Click.
"...Happiness."
'I really hope so.'
After the incomprehensible remark that tepidly moistened my dry emotions ended.
A moment later, a pure white line was drawn in the air.
And.
[The door is opening.]
.
.
.
"I pledge my true blood and name on the Scale of the Dead and swear on my Heart to speak only the truth. Primordial original sin blooming from the abyss, slave to pleasure craving amusement! I, Yuri Alcast, desire a fair Contract with you!"
"...?"
A Little Kid (expected) Patient of eighth-grader syndrome wearing a black Robe appeared in front of me.
Excuse me, but who are you?
[The door is closing. (Laughs)]