episode_0001

Thud thud!

“Hmm……”

Thud thud!

“Who’s there….”

Swoosh-

I woke up from a restless sleep, feeling uncomfortable due to someone banging on the door of someone else’s house since dawn. In a daze, I got out of bed, escaping the covers of the blanket that had been covering me, and walked to the front door.

Thud thud!

“Who is it?”

Feeling even more uncomfortable with the continued banging on the door without any response to my question, I opened the door to see who the source of the discomfort was. At that moment, as I was about to confirm the culprit of the discomfort, I felt someone staring at me. It felt as if a ghost was staring at me from the side, causing me to momentarily freeze and my nerves, which had been relaxed, to suddenly tense up.

“Well, just to be safe, I should check through the intercom…”

The tense nerves made me cautious in my actions, and although I didn’t know it at the time, that small action ended up saving my life.

Thud thud!

“Blood…?”

A person covered in blood, with torn and tattered clothes and wounds that looked like they had been gnawed and eaten through the tears in the clothes, was banging on my door.

“What is this…”

In a scene straight out of a movie, I took a step back and quickly dialed 112.

“112…!”

[Yes, this is the 00 Police Station.]

“Um, I live in Apartment 301, Room 901 in 00-dong. There’s a person covered in blood banging on my door. Could you please come quickly?”

“Covered in blood? Ah, for now, do not open the door. Lock all the locks you can and stay inside with your cell phone. We will be there soon.”

“Yes, please hurry.”

After ending the call, I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and locked all the remaining unlocked locks.

“A person covered in blood at 5 in the morning…”

I leaned against the wall, looking out at the front door, waiting for the police to arrive. After about 10 minutes, the repetitive banging on the door stopped, and I heard voices.

“Have the police arrived?”

I got up to look through the intercom, but the person covered in blood had disappeared. Instead, I heard voices arguing loudly downstairs.

“Let’s see who it is.”

Clack!

Ignoring the uneasy feeling that was hindering my movements, I opened the door to see the person covered in blood holding onto a person who appeared to be a police officer, while another officer was trying to restrain the bloodied person.

“Officer Jang!”

“Killing the police…?”

The injured officer, with blood dripping from his head, had a faint bite mark on his shoulder where the bloodied person had tried to bite him. The police officer was now handcuffing the bloodied person, who had broken their arm, and there was a slight tooth mark near the officer’s shoulder.

“Hey, are you the one who called? Please call 119 quickly.”

“Oh, okay.”

I put down the knife I was holding and made the call, as the injured officer slowly got up and looked at me.

“Officer Jang…? Are you okay?”

Clang!

As the injured officer, who had been bitten, rushed towards me, memories of zombies from movies flooded my mind. Drawing on my experience from learning martial arts, I swiftly struck his pressure point with my right arm without hesitation.

Thud-

“Teacher! What are you doing!”

“Uh…?”

I was about to deliver a follow-up strike, but as the pressure point caved in and the officer rolled down the stairs, I looked at the officer, or rather the zombie, in disbelief.

– You have earned 2 points.

1st awakening is being prepared.

As the notification that resembled something from a novel appeared, I calmly assessed the current reality and, seeing the police officer bitten by the zombie, I grabbed the knife I had set down and quickly descended the stairs.

“Arrested as a suspect… Ugh!”

The police officer, who had been attacked unexpectedly and received a deep wound on his shoulder instead of his neck, twisted his waist and reached out with a fist towards my ribs.

Thud!

“Argh…!”

I leaned forward to avoid that fist, hitting my shoulder and then thrusting a knife into the neck of the police officer, who hit the wall with a thud.

Squelch-

“Huff….”

I gained 120 points.

Not yet fully transformed into a zombie, I turned my gaze away from the dead police officer who had given me many points and approached the zombie tied in handcuffs, looking at me.

“By any chance, do you die if your neck is cut?”

Crunch!

I gained 7 points.

Watching the zombie spewing blood unexpectedly, I gathered valuable information about zombies and headed towards a safe house, locking the door behind me. I strongly thought about checking my information as seen in novels.

[Stats]

Strength (D): 32 Agility (D): 33 Stamina (D): 37

Intelligence (D): 32 Spirit (D): 40 Magic (F): 0

Charm (D): 22

Points: 129

[Traits (1)]

[Unknown Gaze]

– Receives the gaze of unknown beings.

– Can faintly mimic the gaze of unknown beings.

[Skills (0)]

Looking at the window that objectively displayed my abilities, I recalled the notification from earlier.

‘How do I awaken?’

Then, a tip came to mind.

[Tip: The more detailed and strongly you think about awakening in the direction you want, the stronger the awakening will be.]

‘In a world where zombies appear, the awakening that is advantageous and suitable for me…’

After reading the tip and contemplating for a long time, I concluded my thoughts and shouted the desired awakening strongly in my mind.

‘A perfect and flawless existence’

‘Absolute and omnipotent existence’

‘Contradictory and malicious existence’

‘Selfish and arrogant existence’

‘An existence that commands respect and fear from everyone in a world teeming with zombies’

‘An existence where one’s words become law and one’s thoughts become the standard’

‘An existence that takes a step towards a new world with faith’

First awakening completed.

[Stats]

Strength (D): 32 Agility (D): 33 Stamina (D): 37

Intelligence (D): 32 Spirit (D): 40 Magic (F): 0

Charm (D): 22 Divinity (F): 0

Points: 129 Faith: 0 (0/24h)

[Traits (2)]

[Corrupted Deity]

– Generates faith in proportion to the square of individual faith level.

– Every multiple of 10 in total faith level, such as 10, 100, etc., reduces the time to acquire faith by 50%.

– Becomes faintly closer to the gods with each faith acquired.

Corrupts the surroundings with oneself.

[Unknown Gaze]

– Receives the gaze of unknown beings.

– Can faintly mimic the gaze of unknown beings.

[Skills (2)]

[Lv_9 Corruption Resistance]

– Develops strong resistance to all forms of corruption.

[Lv_7 Divine Corruption]

– Interferes with the target using the power of the gods.

Having learned how to use the newly acquired powers instinctively, I organized the information in my mind.

‘Corruption resistance enhances resistance to infection, both mentally and physically, including zombies, while Divine Corruption allows me to use the power of the gods to bestow blessings or curses on the target. By slightly modifying it, I can gradually corrupt their minds and make them submit to me…’

Realizing the ways to use my abilities and adapt them to various situations, I firmly set the direction for my survival.

‘Savior in a world on the brink of destruction’

Curious about where to use the points I had gained, a tip appeared and resolved my curiosity.

[Tip: Use points for various things such as shop purchases, leveling up skills, and increasing stats.]

Following the tip, I thought strongly about the shop and opened the shop window.

[Shop]

Lighter: 100

Bread: 15

Water: 20

Milk: 12

Rice ball: 15

Nutrient-packed rice ball: 30

…

Infection suppressant: 500

Infection prevention: 2,000

Infection treatment: 5,000

Zombie cure: 20,000

…

Random skill dice: 50,000

Random Attribute Dice: 1,000,000

Skill Increase Candy: 1,000,000

Skill Deletion Candy: 100,000

…

Wooden Spear Created by the God of Freedom: 123,456,678,910

“Unbelievable amounts of items exist.”

Starting from the essentials for survival to the crucial remedies in a world overrun by zombies, I diverted my gaze from the shop filled with numerous items where one can obtain skills and attributes through dice, to check the points consumed when leveling up skills and increasing stats.

“Skills require the square of the level multiplied by 1000. Stats range from 0 to 10 for F grade, using 55 points, and from 40 to 50 for D grade, using 45,500 points.”

Roughly deducing the formula for point consumption, I checked the current state of society on my phone.

A 40-year-old woman extorting money from students…

‘Margin-type’ student missing, search halted after 238 days…

“No mention of zombies in the news…”

Confirming the absence of any mention of zombies in the news, I absentmindedly refreshed the page, only to be drawn to new articles.

[Breaking News] People infected with the Digitia virus showing abnormal symptoms…

[Breaking News] Zombies, as seen in movies, now appearing in reality…

[Breaking News] ‘Military’ and ‘government agencies’ already paralyzed by zombies…

…

Reading through the news articles popping up like water bursting through a dam, I pieced together information.

“First, people infected with the Digitia virus turned into zombies. Second, zombies were first discovered 8 days ago, but the U.S. government concealed the truth, leading to the accidental release of zombies due to a management error. Third, in Korea, zombies also escaped due to a management error, but according to an official, it was not a management error but the emergence of a new variant.”

Though still mostly speculative without concrete evidence, combining the information I had,

“Hearing news about hunting zombies for points, mass-producing zombies to secure points, leading to the escape of mass-produced zombies due to the emergence of a variant, and the current situation.”

Continuing to read the news updates and gather information to organize my thoughts, a particular comment caught my eye.

Survivors, let’s join the [Survive the Apocalypse] room to share information.

I entered the room and skimmed through the shared information.

Spicy Red Pepper: 26 years old, 180/74, decent appearance. Anyone want to meet up?

Black Flame Dragon: But I haven’t seen any zombies yet. Are they really out there?

Legendary Black Flame Dragon: It’s ‘ryong,’ not ‘yong,’ please…

Gangnam Handsome Guy: Seems like there are thousands of zombies in Gangnam right now.

Toilet King: Right now, not a single ant can be seen in the countryside. Lololololololol

“Sigh…”

Despite the world on the brink of destruction, the lunatics were spouting nonsense, but amidst it all, there was surely some necessary information for me.

Kim Deokcheol: The Digitia virus is spreading at an abnormally fast rate, with over ten million infected within a month.

Survival Expert: There are videos showing zombies appearing naturally like game monsters.

Couch Potato Zombie: It seems that the more infected with zombies, the more naturally occurring zombies appear.

“Naturally occurring zombies?”

With the military and government paralyzed, and now naturally occurring zombies, there truly was no end in sight.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Setting down my phone, I entered the room, changed clothes, and packed my belongings.

“I might need a lot of bags, so I’ll fold them all and take them.”

Rustle-

“Let’s pack instant noodles, canned food, and water.”

Crunch-

“A knife would be useful, so I’ll take several…”

Gathering the necessary items, I inadvertently ended up with a luggage that looked like I was going on an overseas trip.

“I might have overpacked…”

After minimizing my luggage as much as possible, I still ended up with a full load and stepped outside the house.

Screams!

Startled by the terrifying screams coming from downstairs as I left the house, I briefly set down the heavy bags, grabbed the knife at my waist, and quickly ran down the stairs.