episode_0004

Episode 4. Time Stood Still.

I trailed behind the delinquent, hunting rabbits.

All the aggro was focused on the delinquent, so I could kill them easily. Seeing me like that, the delinquent shouted.

“Wow, this guy is really crazy? Hey, you cowardly bastard!”

The delinquent spat out profanity. But his expression wasn’t fierce at all. Rather, he was grinning as if it was fun.

‘Crazy bastard.’

Suddenly, I looked up at the sky.

[Elimination Ranking]

[1st~50th: Survival]

[51st~99th: Death]

1st: Cha Seung-in (20 rabbits) 2nd: Shin Yo-han (5 rabbits)

I thought I had caught quite a few, but it was only 5. And that guy caught a whopping 20.

It made sense. I had to throw a rock, follow it, and then kill it to get one rabbit, whereas the delinquent just swung his knife once and it was over.

I desperately wished.

‘I have to kill more! Now is my chance!’

I need to widen the gap while the people behind me haven’t grasped the situation yet. And I think, before long…

“Death? From 51st place, you die? Does that make sense?”

“Could it be…? But this hologram hasn’t lied so far…”

“I, I have to kill those rabbits first. I can’t just stand still!”

“Uh, uh? Wait, where are you going!”

“Uwaaaaaaa!”

I glanced back and saw several people start running towards the rabbit herd. They had finally figured out the situation.

‘Tsk, is this the limit.’

Thwack!

I clicked my tongue, sticking a rock into the rabbit’s neck. Unfortunately, it seems like it won’t be easy to catch any more rabbits. But it was okay.

‘The number of rabbits is roughly around 200, enough to be in the rankings.’

I don’t have any superhuman abilities, so I won’t be in the top tier, but I should be able to survive.

Whoosh─

‘Fire coming out of his hands, that’s too OP.’

The glasses-wearing, acne-covered pig grabbed a rabbit with his hand, flames flickering. Sizzle, and the rabbit let out a painful groan.

“Got, got it! Haha!”

1st: Cha Seung-in (24 rabbits) 2nd: Shin Yo-han (7 rabbits) 3rd: Acne-Pig (1 rabbit)

Immediately, the man’s name was added to the scoreboard in the sky. Starting with this, the overwhelming slaughter of humans began.

***

“Haa, haa…”

I breathed roughly, looking around. The field was already stained with rabbit fur and blood.

There are now about 100 rabbits left. Suddenly, I heard a voice full of resentment from somewhere.

“Hey, you! Stop! You can stop killing now!”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Why should I?”

“Think about other people too! You’ve killed 40 by yourself so far! That’s enough! Be considerate of the people who haven’t caught any rabbits!”

At those words, I looked up at the sky.

1st: Cha Seung-in (40 rabbits) 2nd: Shin Yo-han (12 rabbits) 3rd: Kang Cheol (5 rabbits) 4th: Acne-Pig (4 rabbits) 5th: Shin Ye-hwa (4 rabbits) 6th: Kim Shin-woo (4 rabbits) 7th: Park Hyun-woo (3 rabbits) . . . 30th: None 31st: None 32nd: None

I quickly calculated the sum of the elimination counts in my head. The number that came out was 102.

‘From 8th to 29th place, they succeeded in killing one or two rabbits. But from 30th place, it’s not. They didn’t kill a single one. Not a single one.’

Probably 100 people were summoned to the field at first. So the hologram probably went up to 99th place.

A total of 50 survival tickets are given to us. But now there are 21 of those tickets left.

‘That delinquent. He’s cleverly stealing people’s targets. It’s definitely not a coincidence.’

Just as other people were using their superpowers to subdue and kill the rabbits, the delinquent would appear from somewhere and snatch away the prey.

‘Crazy bastard. He’s properly crazy.’

The angry voice continued.

“This isn’t a fantasy or a dream! It’s reality! Put down the knife right now…”

“Are you an idiot?”

“What?”

The delinquent strode towards the owner of the voice. In the delinquent’s hand was a rabbit dripping with blood.

“Hey, mister. Haven’t you played games like Lineage?”

“What are you talking about…”

“Don’t you know that these ‘quests’ give better rewards the higher your ranking? A~ seriously. That’s why old farts are no good?”

“……”

“Who knows? Maybe there’s a hidden reward if you catch more than a certain number? Are you going to take responsibility if I don’t get a reward? Huh?”

“……”

The middle-aged man was overwhelmed by the delinquent’s energy and ended up saying nothing.

He also knows. That if he carelessly runs his mouth, the delinquent might harm him.

The delinquent spat on the ground and turned away.

“If you give me trouble one more time, you’re really going to die. Got it?”

“……”

“Ah, seriously, what a waste of time. I need to catch rabbits.”

Tap!

The delinquent starts hunting again. I watched him killing rabbits.

‘Thank you, mister.’

Thanks to him drawing attention, hunting was easier for a moment. What a shame, if only you had resisted a little more.

1st: Cha Seung-in (40 rabbits) 2nd: Shin Yo-han (15 rabbits)

Really, it was such a shame.

***

How many rabbits have I killed, now there was only one rabbit left in the field.

“……”

I looked at the rabbit struggling in my left grip. Now, if I kill this guy, it’s over. Without hesitation, I swung the stone in my right hand.

Thwack!

Immediately, a message popped up in front of me.

[All monsters on the field have disappeared.]

[Shin Yo-han’s ranking: 2nd (20 rabbits)]

I immediately looked up at the sky.

1st: Cha Seung-in (60 rabbits) 2nd: Shin Yo-han (20 rabbits) 3rd: Kang Cheol (16 rabbits) 4th: Acne-Pig (15 rabbits) 5th: Shin Ye-hwa (15 rabbits) 6th: Kim Shin-woo (13 rabbits) 7th: Jin Seung-hyun (10 rabbits) . . . 48th: None 49th: None 50th: None 51st: None . . 99th: None

‘In the end, did everyone fail to kill a rabbit?’

Clearly, the number of rabbits was more than double the number of humans. But a whopping 53 humans failed to kill a rabbit.

It was a moment that blatantly revealed the selfish side of humans.

[Aggregation complete. Starting the selection.]

[Selection criteria: 1st~50th (Survival) 51st~99th (Death)]

[1st: Cha Seung-in, 2nd: Shin Yo-han, 3rd: Kang Cheol… 48th: None]

I flinched, my body trembling without me realizing it. It was said that survival was guaranteed up to 50th place. But from 48th place onwards, there were no humans who killed a rabbit at all. Am I really going to die like this?

The message continued mercilessly.

[…97th: None, 98th: None, 99th: None]

[Beep]

[48th, 49th, and 50th place do not exist.]

[According to the rules of the tower, 48th, 49th, and 50th place will also be judged as dead.]

[Executing judgment.]

Thwack─

Immediately after, the head of the man next to me flew off with the sound of a watermelon bursting. I wiped the blood that splattered on my face with the back of my hand and muttered.

“Crazy…”

Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack─

Starting with the man, the heads of dozens of people in the field began to explode like dominoes. I stared at the scene with a dumbfounded face.

I’ve never been to a tomato festival, but I think the festival would look something like this.

Covered in red tomato juice all over my body, soaked and dripping. I felt nauseous. But at the same time, I also felt a sense of relief.

‘I really, really almost died.’

If my judgment had been slower than others, and my physical abilities were below average, my head would have exploded along with them.

I don’t know how I ended up in this situation, but I have to go back to reality.

Until then, I absolutely cannot die. Even if it means using, betraying, and destroying others. I will definitely survive.

Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack─

Judging by the amount of corpses lying around, the domino run was coming to an end.

Maybe this ‘selection’ will end if a few more people die.

Suddenly, I looked at a woman. That woman was the one who tried to commit suicide as soon as she was summoned to the field.

The woman had a strangely indifferent expression, which made me pay attention to her.

‘Did she catch a rabbit? She looks so calm.’

Otherwise, there’s no way she could maintain such a calm face…

Splatter!

‘Huh?’

I couldn’t help but panic as I saw the head with long, straight hair suddenly explode. Did she not catch a single one? Could it be?

‘……I guess she thought it was a dream.’

It was possible enough. Since she was a woman who tried to commit suicide from the beginning. Well, it’s nothing to do with me.

I quickly lost interest and turned my head…

Dooooooong─

Immediately after, a quiet yet heavy bell rang from somewhere. At the same time, the world stopped.