Chapter 2

Chapter 2. A New World (1)

The day I ended my world, which had completely become a den of zombies, by launching every nuclear weapon on Earth...

More than two thousand nuclear warheads had been fired.

It was enough not only to wipe out civilization, but to destroy the planet itself.

Even I, someone who had survived for decades among zombies, couldn't possibly survive that.

I thought everything had ended.

But when I opened my eyes, what I saw wasn't the hell I had imagined.

Only darkness.

A void where nothing could be seen.

Then a voice echoed through it.

[Welcome.]

The voice continued.

[Impressive. No great villain from any world has ever accomplished what you have.]

“Who... are you? A survivor?”

At my question, the voice gave an eerie laugh.

[I am part of the Void. The one who possesses the word ‘Death.’]

Part of the Void?

Death?

None of it made sense.

[The deaths you offered me number exactly 7,282,998,103. Not only that, you even brought about the death of an entire planet. For a primitive human, it is an achievement that should have been impossible.]

7,282,998,103.

Just hearing the number made my head spin.

Was that the number of zombies on Earth killed because of the button I pressed?

Dr. Richard was right.

Dr. Richard had said the zombies weren't actually dead.

They were still alive.

If they had truly been corpses, they probably wouldn't have been counted.

[But what pleases me most is that all those deaths should originally have been offered not to me, but to Plague.]

“...Plague?”

[You stole Plague's sacrifices and offered them to me. Such an act deserves a reward. Become my Apostle.]

I could barely process what I was hearing.

Death.

Plague.

It sounded as unreal as watching a planet disappear beneath nuclear fire.

[There is no need to hesitate. Plague is also the one who turned your world into what it became. I know how much suffering you endured because of it. Become my Apostle, and you may someday bring death to Plague itself.]

“Wait.”

Once I finally gathered my thoughts, I asked Death.

“So... there are more beings like you? And one of them, something called Plague, is the one who destroyed my world?”

[Correct.]

I had thought about why my world became a zombie apocalypse before.

A virus.

Chemical experiments.

Environmental destruction.

War.

I had always assumed humans were responsible.

But apparently, it had all happened because of some mysterious being called Plague.

I didn't hesitate for long.

“I'll do it. Apostle or whatever you want. If it means I can take revenge on Plague.”

The zombie outbreak had begun on the day of the entrance ceremony at one of the finest universities in South Korea.

When I returned home, my father was lying there with half his stomach torn open.

My mother was eating him.

When I ran to find my younger sibling, unable to believe what was happening, I discovered they had hanged themselves after being unable to endure the fear.

That was how my apocalypse began.

If all of that happened because of Plague...

Then Plague would pay for it.

[You are my sole Holy Knight, my Apostle, and my Incarnation.]

The darkness faded.

[The deaths you harvested are yours.]

And when I opened my eyes again, I was standing on a strange red land.

There were hideous monsters all around me.

They were completely different from the zombies I had fought until now.

But nothing really changed.

My entire life had been about survival.

Monsters weren't any harder to deal with.

If anything, they were easier.

I thought I would once again have to survive alone.

But then...

“W-Who are you?”

I met people.

Precious, living people.

Not zombies.

And now...

Click. Click.

Kim Si-hyeon repeatedly clicked a ballpoint pen.

The sound would normally irritate anyone nearby, but Choi Ji-woong couldn't say a word.

Click. Click.

At that very moment, Choi Ji-woong's mind was imagining Kim Si-hyeon using that ballpoint pen to pierce straight through his skull.

“This is a ballpoint pen, right?”

Kim Si-hyeon stared at it curiously.

What else would it be?

But then Kim Si-hyeon stabbed the pen into the dining table.

Thunk.

“It goes in pretty well.”

Choi Ji-woong's eyes became unfocused.

Wait... was that not a ballpoint pen?

Apparently finished playing with it, Kim Si-hyeon picked up the sheet of paper Choi Ji-woong had given him.

“So... I just sign here?”

“Y-Yes! That's correct!”

Choi Ji-woong had spent twelve years in the military and another eight in the Association's Special Division.

Twenty years total.

He had thought he was a veteran who had already experienced everything.

At this moment, however, he was no different from a new recruit on his first day.

“The moment you sign, Mr. Kim Si-hyeon, you will officially receive South Korean citizenship and be treated as an S-Rank Hunter!”

“...S-Rank Hunter.”

“Additionally! We will make every effort to accommodate any request you may have!”

“Make an effort...”

Choi Ji-woong glanced nervously at Kim Si-hyeon and swallowed.

That insane killing intent.

Was he displeased?

“No! We will accommodate them!”

Thankfully, the Association President had given Choi Ji-woong broad authority before he came here.

Normally, the Association President himself should have come.

After all, the Massacre, Kim Si-hyeon, was estimated to be at least SS-Rank.

He was one of fewer than ten strategic assets of that level in the entire world.

But...

“I'm scared.”

“What?”

“I'm not going, so you go!”

The Association President, Vice President, and even the Director of the Special Division had all refused.

“Accommodate...”

“...! No! Before you even have to ask for anything, the Association will immediately check your needs and make proposals first!”

“Are you hot? You're sweating a lot.”

“N-No! I'm fine!”

Had someone once said that simply making eye contact could make your heart ache?

“Write your will before you go.”

The Association's upper leadership, who had already met Kim Si-hyeon several times, had even said they would rather retire than meet him again.

There was nothing Choi Ji-woong could do.

Orders were orders.

“Sign here...”

“...! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Can I keep this?”

Choi Ji-woong had no idea why Kim Si-hyeon wanted a ballpoint pen, but he nodded immediately.

Honestly, if Kim Si-hyeon had asked for the entire safe house instead, he probably would have nodded just as quickly.

At last, it was over.

This was a historic moment.

South Korea had successfully acquired a calamity-class Hunter.

Choi Ji-woong shot to his feet.

“T-Then I'll see you again next time!”

“...You're leaving already?”

Completely forgetting every rule of etiquette for treating an honored guest, Choi Ji-woong hurried out of the house.

“Haah... haah...”

Only after getting far away from the safe house did he collapse to the ground and catch his breath.

Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

“Ji-woong, did you succeed?”

Suddenly, dozens of fully armed Hunters appeared in front of him.

The entire Special Division had gathered just in case something went wrong.

Five heroic-class Hunters who had been present that day were with them as well.

“...Here.”

A single small sheet of paper.

“You bastard! You did it!”

Park Min-ho, Director of the Special Division, normally known as the Demon of the Special Division, grabbed Choi Ji-woong in a hug and shouted.

“You did it! You actually did it!”

None of them knew.

They had no idea how meaningless that little signed piece of paper was to someone like Kim Si-hyeon.

Thirty years.

That was how long I had lived in a world filled with zombies, focused on nothing but survival.

“...”

The person reflected in the mirror looked nothing like the version of me from the end.

Back then, I had been over fifty years old.

My face had been covered in scars and filled with a poisonous intensity.

But the person in the mirror now looked like a young man in his mid-twenties.

“Did I... really look like this?”

It was a face from so long ago that I'd nearly forgotten it.

Several days had already passed since I came to this world, but I still couldn't get used to it.

The younger face in the mirror.

“Whew.”

The conveniences around me.

“...Cold water.”

Ice and water poured out just by pressing a button.

Crackle. Hiss.

Cup noodles cooked instantly over a stove that lit without trouble.

These were things I couldn't even imagine back in my old world.

The comfort was so overwhelming that those thirty years almost felt like a dream.

Not that I truly believed any of it had been a dream.

“Huff. Huff.”

I did push-ups.

The routines necessary for survival had been carved into my mind.

Push-ups.

Pull-ups.

And...

Scrape. Scrape.

Making weapons capable of piercing a zombie's skull.

“Ah. They said this was expensive, didn't they?”

I had laid the table down and started cutting and sharpening one of its legs before stopping myself.

The habit of turning furniture from abandoned homes into weapons had come out without thinking.

I quietly closed every curtain and observed the outside.

These were habits I'd developed to survive thirty years among zombies.

“This place is safe.”

Was his name Choi Ji-woong?

I remembered the man who had talked about strange things like the Hunter Association and A-Rank Hunters.

I had been shocked when he told me there were no zombies in this world.

That was right.

“...Another world.”

I had fallen into another world.

I looked into the mirror and practiced speaking.

“Hel... lo.”

Then again.

“Hello.”

Before meeting Dr. Richard, I hadn't spoken with another person for ten whole years.

After I crossed to the American continent hoping to find a vaccine or other survivors, I had only used English.

The only Korean I'd spoken had been the occasional words I muttered to myself.

The last time I had properly spoken Korean was...

“Please! Just kill me!”

That had been when I dealt with a group of Party officials eating civilians in a remote mountain region of North Korea.

So it still felt awkward using my native language again after so long.

“A, e, i, o, u. Ga, na, da, ra...”

This was a new world.

But my most important rule hadn't changed.

Survive.

If there had still been hope in my previous world, I would have survived there until the very end.

But survival wasn't my only goal anymore.

Apart from that absolute rule, I now had another objective.

“Plague.”

On a grand scale, it was the being that had destroyed my entire world.

On a personal scale, it was the enemy that ruined my family and my life.

If I could take revenge on that Plague...

Clench.

I gripped the wooden stake I'd carved.

It felt like it might crumble beneath my fingers.

I was about to throw it when I barely managed to stop.

“You're here?”

“Haah... haah...”

The man called Choi Ji-woong stood outside the door, breathing heavily.

That was fortunate.

I almost killed him.

Even now, whenever I saw a moving human-shaped figure, my first instinct was to see a zombie.

I had encountered other survivors a few times in my previous world, too.

Some of them had died because I mistook them for zombies.

Finding survivors was important.

But my own safety came first.

If I hadn't heard the doorbell and his heavy footsteps, I would have pierced his head the moment I sensed movement.

“Y-You said! You had something to ask!”

Choi Ji-woong shouted.

“Ah. Right...”

Talking to people still wasn't easy.

“Whew.”

I took a deep breath and looked straight at Choi Ji-woong.

Eye contact was important in conversation.

Thud.

Choi Ji-woong suddenly dropped to the ground.

“...Are you sick?”

His face had turned pale as he rapidly shook his head.

He looks sick.

Was he hiding it because he didn't want me to worry?

Such weak but kind people.

Death had told me to hunt Plague.

Other than that, it didn't care what I did.

This was something I had thought about for a long time.

If my world ever returned to normal, what would I do?

“Hic! Hic!”

“Do you need water?”

“Hic! I-I'm fine!”

This man didn't seem good at dealing with people either.

I had heard he used to be a soldier and was now something like a special agent.

Soldier... I was in the army once too. I vaguely remember it being difficult. There were guys who couldn't handle it and suffered a lot. What did they call them? Soldiers requiring special attention?

Maybe that was why he was having such a hard time.

Poor man.

“Um...”

“Speak.”

“I'm sorry, but could you possibly... not look directly at me?”

Choi Ji-woong spoke carefully.

“Why...? Is something wrong with me?”

“No! It's not that... I'm just having a little trouble breathing.”

“Well... okay.”

Apparently, he had social anxiety too.

“So, what was it you wanted...?”

I recognized the look in Choi Ji-woong's eyes.

The desperate look of someone trapped inside a nest of zombies, wanting nothing more than to escape as soon as possible.

Considering how difficult it seemed for him to deal with people, it made sense.

I should let him leave quickly.

It would be cruel to keep a sick person here.

So I brought up why I'd called him.

“I want to learn about this place.”

“This place...?”

“This world.”

“Ah. Right. You're a Returnee.”

Returnee.

That was what they called me.

People who had suddenly been sent to another world and returned after many years.

Apparently, each of them was incredibly powerful.

I'd heard there were fewer than ten in this world.

Had they said I was the seventh?

Though I'm not actually a Returnee.

I already knew this world was different from mine.

At first, I'd wondered if I had somehow regressed into the past.

But this world seemed unrelated to zombies, and none of the historical figures I knew had ever existed here.

Still, drawing too much attention was always dangerous.

If a special zombie appeared among ordinary zombies, it naturally became the first target everyone tried to kill.

So for now, pretending to be a Returnee was probably safer.

“Right. A Returnee.”

“I can imagine how unfamiliar everything must be. There is a separate adjustment program for Returnees. I'll request it for you!”

“Thanks. And...”

I needed to learn about this world.

Then survive long enough to hunt Plague.

The fastest way to learn about a world was...

“Is there any work I can do?”

To experience it directly.

“Work?”

“Something where I can meet as many people as possible.”

I missed people, too.

“A-A job where you can kill as many people as possible?!”

“I said meet.”

How sick did someone have to be to start hearing things?

Anyway...

“So, for example...”

I thought back.

Before the zombie outbreak, thirty years ago, what kind of profession had people trusted the most?

Ah.

“Something like a civil servant.”

“A-A civil servant?!”