episode_0001

001

The Summoner’s Room

“Silence. Everyone, please be silent.”

Department Manager Park Ki-bum silences the people.

He smoothly sweeps back his head where most hair is gone and little remains.

And then he stares at me and scolds me.

“Mr. Baek Soo-han, you know what you did wrong, don’t you?”

‘Know what? Baldy.’

But I couldn’t bring myself to say that.

I’m just angry about this whole situation.

It’s unfair enough that I’m being disciplined for something I didn’t even do, but the bastards who actually caused it are snickering and grinning behind us.

And what is this ridiculous play?

If it’s a disciplinary action, just make it a disciplinary action, that bastard Manager Park has been watching so many legal dramas during work hours lately that he ended up planning this ridiculous soap opera farce.

Bang bang bang –

Manager Park, playing the role of judge, hits the wooden gavel.

“Answer, Mr. Baek Soo-han.”

“Haa… Yes.”

“Tsk tsk. Your attitude towards this court is quite disrespectful. Are you daring to defy me?”

“Ah… No.”

I want to punch him in the face.

Honestly, I want to just spill everything and say I didn’t do it, but it would be useless.

Everyone here is in on it.

Assistant Manager Oh, Manager Kim, Employee Ryu.

These are the people here who testified that I embezzled company property.

If I meet them in a back alley, I will definitely wring their necks.

Regardless of my feelings, Manager Park proceeds with the judgment.

“Although Assistant Manager Baek Soo-han’s crime is very serious. This court wishes to give Assistant Manager Baek, who is like family to us, a chance. If you sincerely apologize here, and sign a pledge to pay the original cost of the embezzled items! We will allow you to remain with our company and support you until you can repay that amount. Assistant Manager Baek, will you accept the mercy of this company?”

‘Heh heh…’

My hands are trembling.

I’m not an idiot either. The moment I sign that pledge, the crime Manager Park arbitrarily pinned on me becomes a real crime.

When I stand in a real court in the future, the existence of the pledge will tie me down.

But there is no option to refuse either.

If I overturn this dog-like situation here, the company will proceed with a lawsuit against me personally.

Of course, there is no evidence.

But aren’t there so many people who will testify falsely?

This ridiculous farce happening right now might even be submitted as evidence, which is bullshit.

My stomach is churning.

Anger wells up, but I hate myself so much for not being able to do anything.

I gritted my teeth and raised my head.

Manager Park’s face is visible. A smile of satisfaction is on his lips.

‘That good-for-nothing who doesn’t work but just leeches off his subordinates…! Even though all he does is watch dramas every single day!’

Bang!

I slammed my fist on the desk.

Bang bang bang!

“Ho ho. Mr. Baek Soo-han, have you gone mad?”

People jeer.

As if they had expected this situation, the real culprits who embezzled the items take out their cell phones and start filming.

‘Ughhhh!’

I got up from the desk.

Whether I get sued or whatever happens, I will give these dog-like bastards a punch each in the face.

Sway.

The moment I kicked the desk and was about to lunge at Manager Park, the world swayed once.

I’m dizzy.

‘What… the? Did these bastards perhaps drug me…?’

My body’s center of gravity collapses.

My vision turns upside down. And the world became completely black.

It seems I am probably losing consciousness.

How much time had passed?

When I opened my eyes, I was bound to a chair.

The surroundings are a dark, square room.

‘Was there a place like this in the company…?’

Whatever it is, I feel rather relieved.

If I had signed that pledge, my life would truly have shattered into pieces.

I might suffer from all sorts of harassment starting today, but isn’t living life righteously more important?

“Haa…”

Even so, to restrain someone like this.

‘This… Can’t I sue too?’

I’m just depressed.

While managing stress, a voice that seemed to resonate directly in my head was heard.

[Welcome to the Summoner’s Room.]

‘…Is this another one of Manager Park’s dog-like concept games?’

Whatever it is, I’m fed up with it.

That bastard pulled off all sorts of role-playing scenarios with his department members throughout his time at the company, like a malicious senior officer in the military.

He’s completely crazy.

‘Even if I grow old, I will never grow old like you.’

I shouted in an annoyed voice.

“Stop it. It’s not fun, and I will absolutely not sign that pledge. If you want to sue me, sue me. But you will also definitely have to explain why you forcefully tied a person up like this?”

I tried moving my body this way and that.

Perhaps because I was tied up very tightly, my backside doesn’t come off the chair.

[A summon is assigned.]

“Ah! I said it’s not fun!”

Working as this psycho’s subordinate, I’ve truly experienced all sorts of role-playing scenarios.

One day he was a doctor, and another day he was a soldier.

There was even a day when he pretended to be an alien.

But I just can’t get a grasp of this concept this time.

‘What genre has he been consuming lately?!’

“Haa… Manager Park Ki-bum. This is a crime. Please untie me.”

I said it sternly, but all I kept hearing was the sound of dice rolling from somewhere.

A sound in the silence.

Clack roll roll – Clack roll roll roll –

‘Truly gone mad… Huh?’

Suddenly I get a chilling feeling.

Thinking about it calmly, I don’t know how this sound is reaching me.

It just seems to be coming from inside my head, without any direction.

“It’s not… fun, I said…”

Roll roll –

I bent down and examined the space between my backside and the chair.

There is nothing.

It doesn’t come off, as if my backside is glued to the chair.

‘…Strange…’

[Assigned. You are a Zombie Summoner.]

Wooong –

The vibration of the cell phone in my pocket rang.

I instinctively took out my cell phone.

Seeing the cell phone, I couldn’t help but freeze right there.

Its appearance is clearly mine.

Even the fine scratches and the case I received as a birthday present are perfectly identical.

But when I turned on the screen, all the many apps were gone, and only one button was floating there.

[Summon Zombie.]

Owned

[Zombie: 1]

No other functions work at all.

Volume and brightness are all unresponsive.

‘This must be my cell phone, right…?’

This has gone beyond the level of a concept game.

Am I dreaming?

Let’s think logically.

‘If it’s a dream, then I just had one strange dream… If it’s not a dream…’

I sighed deeply once.

Thinking about it again, any dog-like situation seems better than being falsely accused in a fake courtroom that’s no different from a farce.

I pressed the [Summon Zombie] button.

There was no other option in the first place.

What was I supposed to do when my backside wouldn’t come off the chair?

Rumble –

From beyond the door of the room I was in, there was the sound of a large object being moved.

Thud.

Looking at the cell phone screen, two squares were attached.

As I quietly looked at the cell phone, a thought suddenly crossed my mind, ‘Surely not…’

‘It says summon a zombie… But squares?’

I quickly touched one of the squares.

The box zoomed in, and the inside was visible.

The image quality is poor, like a low-cost CCTV.

Someone’s back is visible beyond the screen. He is sitting in a chair.

I tilted my head.

The man in the screen tilts his head.

“…”

I raised my right hand.

The man in the screen raises his right hand.

“Crazy… That’s me, isn’t it? Wait a minute… Then?”

After pressing ‘Back’, I touched the other box.

Inside the box, something human-shaped is wandering around the room aimlessly.

“…Zombie?”

I can’t tell well because the CCTV image quality is poor.

But since it appeared after I pressed the [Summon Zombie] button, I think it might be a zombie.

I raised my head and looked at the door in front of me.

‘Then… is the zombie beyond that room?’

As if it had been waiting, a sound was heard again.

[Complete the tutorial.]

And the freedom of my body returned.

I was able to lift my backside from the chair.

I stared blankly at the door in front of me.

‘Do I have to fight a zombie?’

That thought quickly disappeared.

Logically speaking, since I am a ‘Zombie Summoner’, fighting a zombie has many problems in terms of nuance.

And when I looked at my cell phone again, I roughly understood the situation that was unfolding.

A button labeled [Start Battle] had appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen.

In other words, the conclusion is this.

Whether it’s kidnapping or a dream, I don’t know, but I’ve been brought to a strange space.

Looking at how things are going, this is absolutely not something that could be operated at the level of Manager Park’s prank.

If this is a dream, it’s a crappy dream.

If this is real.

If it’s real, then what? If I’m a real ‘Zombie Summoner’, there’s at least a truckload of bastards I’d like to customize into zombies.

I swung my arms in circles to loosen up.

My honest impression of what I saw on the CCTV, whether it was a zombie or whatever, is that it’s trash.

Muscles are scrawny.

It looks like it’s a little over 1m tall.

On the other hand, me?

185cm tall and 90kg.

I am a health enthusiast who deliciously works out my upper body, lower body, and core with a suitable curriculum after work every single day.

I shouted towards the sky.

“Whoever’s prank this is, I don’t know. But if I dance a sword dance for you and play along, will you completely wreck all the dog-like humans in this world? Yes?”

I’ve had enough of plays and bullshit.

But one thing is for sure, I like the person who planned this situation much more than Manager Park who was acting like a judge.

I pressed the [Start Battle] button.