[Congratulations on entering the Stage of Advent. I’m the guide who runs Act One, Stage One. You must be very confused, but could you please focus on me?]
The spirit appeared in the middle of the road with a message.
“Huh…?!”
“Something showed up!”
Although the spirit was as small as a fist, the beautiful blue light surrounding it grabbed people’s attention. When people began heading toward the spirit like moths chasing a light, Seon-Hu was checking people’s faces one by one. Unfortunately, the person he was looking for wasn’t there.
Seeing that the impressive one from the past is not here, it looks like I’m in a different group this time.
[This space might seem familiar to you, but it’s actually different from what you might expect. It was built for you, but this place operates on a different sense of time and laws from your real world. Do you understand?]
The smart ones were already aware that something was off, as there were no cars on the road, no signs attached to the commercial buildings, and no furniture beyond the windows in the empty apartments.
However, those who hadn’t grasped the situation yet were still looking around with eyes that lingered on everything. They must have been thinking that they knew where they were. However, the spirit’s explanation was true since this space had been created by the System, but it had been modeled based on a spot that everyone would know.
Seon-Hu believed that this was the same concept as having a ghost town being made for a nuclear test, so his face remained cold. The spirit flew between people, and some of them became distracted by its movement when they tried to read the notification message in front of them.
A teenager reached his hand out to the spirit that had flown in front of him. His impulsive decision had occurred so quickly that no one could stop him. Furthermore, at this point, no one knew that it was important to be cautious. The spirit swiftly escaped his grasp and landed on the back of his hand. Well, it would be more correct to say that the spirit pretended to sit as it had no actual shape.
The spirit’s friendly attitude loosened the group’s anxiety, and the boy with the spirit on his hand was especially fascinated and even smiled at it.
But you will never be able to smile at it again after you find out about the spirit’s other face.
The spirit freed itself from the boy and flew toward Seon-Hu. When the spirit stared at him, a notification message popped up on everyone’s window. The spirit was using this method to deliver his words instead of speaking verbally.
[We, the guides, are prepared to help with your growth. One of the methods for you to grow is by doing a quest. Those who faithfully fulfill the quest will be eligible to enter the next stage, but those who fall behind won’t be able to.]
A guy shouted, “If we fail, can we go home?”
Even then, the spirit didn’t take its eyes off from Seon-Hu and only answered with another message. That was when the spirit revealed its other side. The spirit’s glowing light changed from blue to red, and a malicious, evil smile began to spread on its tiny face.
[I will send you to a better place.]
Seon-Hu was the only one who was facing the spirit, and he shook his head at the man who was yelling at the spirit with a frown on his face. However, the man was in too much of a rush to notice. He had two young daughters who needed his care immediately.
“I don’t fucking care about the quest. Send me back home. I don’t need a better place! Please! I beg you!”
[Shall I send you now?]
It was too late for Seon-Hu to stop him as the spirit was already flying toward the man.
“Yes!” the man screamed.
Bam!
The man’s face suddenly exploded like a bomb, and the blood that spewed out covered the face of a woman who was right next to him. She could only blink in abject horror. Even when the others started screaming and running away from her, the woman stood there vacantly for a while before she finally shrieked, “Aaaaaaaaah!”
[If there is anyone else who wants to go back, please let me know. (๑╹ڡ╹๑) ]
Crazy motherfucker. Don’t use such an emoji after popping an innocent person’s face.
Seon-Hu glared at the spirit with disgust and anger, then turned his head away since it wasn’t the right time to pick a fight with the spirit. The majority of the people here wouldn’t have experienced seeing a person’s face exploding in front of them. The spirit began to fly between people like before, as if it was laughing at how frightened they were.
Everyone except Seon-Hu ran away from the spirit. The notification messages explaining the status window, parties and attackers were appearing in front of them, but no one was looking at them properly. Seon-Hu walked towards the direction where most people ran away with a stiff look on his face.
***
Similar to how the spirit had attracted people’s attention with its tiny and adorable appearance and colorful blue light, Kyu-Bum’s rifle drew people’s attention in an emergency. Almost everyone followed Kyu-Bum unintentionally. They arrived at a small building that would have been used as a convenience store in the real world, and the inside became packed with people who followed him.
A lady said, pointing at his rifle with her chin, “You are not carrying it just for decoration. Shoot it.”
Kyu-Bum shook his head with a perplexed look. He had tried to unlock the safety device and pull the trigger on his way to the building, but it somehow didn’t work. The magazine was filled with live ammunition.
Right before he was moved to this bizarre space, Kyu-Bum had been deployed at the southern end of Seoul. He was about to explain his problem with the rifle but soon stopped himself. He felt like he shouldn’t be feeling uncomfortable from being the center of attention. To be honest, even a broken gun could be the means to control the situation. Well, as long as the truth was kept hidden.
Meanwhile, the terrified people were spouting off and babbling. They asked Kyu-Bum to kill the monsters and send them home. He ignored them and looked out the window. There was still only the dead man, who had died a cruel death, on the road. The little devil had disappeared. Even then, there were people screaming nonsense behind him.
“Okay, okay. I get it, so shut up!”
Kyu-Bum threw a tantrum and ended up disclosing his identity. His combat uniform had his rank insignia, a name tag, and a corps mark.
“I’m Sergeant Lee Kyu-Bum in the reconnaissance battalion[1] of the third division of Baekgol Corps.”
Only then did he look over the group of people. Since civil defense wasn’t included in their mission to protect the public before coming here, most of the people who were wearing military uniforms were young men.
However, Kyu-Bum was the only one with a rifle. The others were all in the reserve forces, not soldiers on active duty. He checked the other young men who weren’t in military uniforms as there was a high possibility that they were deserters. He couldn’t trust those who didn’t respond to the country’s call for a national emergency, which had been more urgent and terrifying than actual wartime.
He continued, “Please follow my instructions from now on. It may be difficult, but we can find a way to go home together if you follow me without causing any trouble. Those who belong to the military, please gather in front of me.”
Kyu-Bum didn’t care about those who weren’t wearing military uniforms for now as there seemed to be enough people without them. Establishing a system that could control the situation was his main priority.
The young men lined up in front of Kyu-Bum, and there were a total of twenty people, which was enough to form a platoon. None of them showed any signs of resistance to following his commands. In fact, they looked like they rather appreciated having a reliable active-duty soldier at the moment. To be honest, Kyu-Bum had no intention to ask about each individual’s specialties and create a platoon right there. Looking back, there were quite a few people who didn’t follow him when they ran away from the devil. Therefore, he thought that forming a platoon would have to be done after gathering the reserve forces from those who weren’t in the same building with him.
“We will wait another ten minutes, then gather the people scattered outside. Please stay here until then.”
People became noisier when Kyu-Bum gave them some downtime. Electronic devices, including cell phones and Kyu-Bum’s watch, didn’t power on.
“Is anyone’s phone working?” he asked.
Then, a man named Seong-Il stepped up. “Why the heck are you asking that? Didn’t you hear what the guide said? Wait, no. Didn’t you read the message?”
“What is your name?”
“I’m Kwon Seong-Il. I’m only speaking up because you don’t seem to grasp the situation, so please don’t get offended by this. If you are going to do something with us, you should at least use all of the information we have right now. Repeat after me, ‘status window.”
“Be quiet, and don’t make a fuss,” Kyu-Bum replied coldly.
“Hey, just repeat after me. Say ‘Status window,’ ok?” Seong-Il frowned as if he was becoming frustrated.
Then, he pulled out a small dagger that he had hidden inside his pants. Kyu-Bum immediately reacted by pointing his gun at Seong-Il. “Don’t move. I warned you.”
The other man rolled his eyes. “You must feel safe that you have a gun, but don’t you see our conundrum? I was about to keep this to myself, but I’m letting you know because you can’t behave like this. Repeat after me. Then, it will give you things like this.”
Seong-Il gestured at the dagger in his hand and continued, “If you want to go out and kill those little bastards, you need weapons that can be actually used. I’m not trying to cause trouble. I’m actually trying to help you with what you are doing. You just have to say one phrase. Ah, you are such an unadaptable man.”
“Status window.”
Kyu-Bum didn’t end up saying that phrase. Instead, one of the reservists had spat out the term first and soon made an odd face as a window popped up in front of him. His name was embedded on the top and his stats were displayed like a game system. Kyu-Bum couldn’t see what the reservist was looking at.
The reservist stretched his arms in the air and shouted, “This is crazy. It’s a skill! That guy is right!”
The reservist had acquired an ice element skill, and he created a sharp icicle by using his new skill. As soon as it flew and hit the wall, the cold air quickly spread around the strike point, then disappeared. Everyone saw it clearly and reacted with astonishment. Following that example, everyone, regardless of how old they were or their gender, said the phrase.
“Status window.”
“Status window.”
“Status window.”
A box appeared in front of each person.
When Seong-Il had achieved his goal, he looked back and smiled. However, Seong-Il could no longer find the boy who had informed him about the reward for saying ‘status window.’ It had been a brief encounter at a chaotic moment, but Seong-Il had been greatly impressed by the boy. When everyone ran in after a soldier with a rifle, that boy walked in slowly at the end. Then, he leaned against the wall moodily and observed the situation closely.
In fact, the boy actually looked to be in a terrible mood. He neither gasped nor looked around in surprise. All he did was calmly watch Sergeant Lee Kyu-Bum control the group before calling Seong-Il over to let him know about the rewards.
Seong-Il debated whether he should go outside to find the boy or stay quiet under the control of the soldier. His worry didn’t last long as the soldier’s domination over the group didn’t look like it was going to last forever. Before he had entered this weird space called the ‘Stage of Advent,’ the news had broadcasted for two hours about how the military units sent against them had been destroyed by this new wave of monsters. If those monsters swarmed here, then what he needed wasn’t the soldiers. Instead, he needed people like the level-headed boy who was ready to fight and had accurately grasped the situation.
As soon as Seong-Il made his decision, he hurriedly opened the door and ran out. He didn’t know if there was still the devil out there who had exploded a human head, but fortunately, he spotted the back of the boy who was walking farther and farther away…
1. A squadron that acquires and delivers the information necessary for the main unit to create operations. These often include location, approximate size, and operations of the enemy forces. ☜