Episode 3

Chapter 1

I needed to get a grip on the situation.

Why is this face in front of me?

Obviously, the man in front of me had the same face as Choi Ji-hyuk on the screen.

Even though he had become a little slimmer.

‘Am I dead?’

But it didn’t hurt at all.

Rather than dead…

It felt like I was dragged into something just before I got hit by a car.

I’m sure someone pulled me in.

Clearly.

“…Look, I think I’ve asked you a dozen times. Where am I and who are you?”

I was confused.

Unlike the screen, Choi Ji-hyuk, who is presumed to be Choi Ji-hyuk, looked very tall and much dirtier in person.

So I was discouraged. He looked dirty and scary.

Whether I was intimidated by his appearance or not, Choi Ji-hyuk’s presumptive figure was looking down at me with a look on his face.

“The place you watched.”

“What?”

I stared blankly at his fierce face.

Then I pinched my cheek thinking this was a dream, but it hurted.

I even got sick because I couldn’t control my strength.

No, but does he know who I am…?

What is this, where am I? You’re saying this is where I’ve been watching?

“For God’s sake…”

He watched me still and frowned at my pretty-looking forehead as if it was giving him a headache.

I glanced at the dark city spread out behind his back.

The heavy atmosphere was a little scary.

I really didn’t think so.

“Get up.”

“What?”

Choi Ji-hyuk’s presumptive character did not seem to be too indifferent whether I was out of it or not.

And soon, he grabbed my wrist and started dragging me somewhere.

I still thought blankly, looking at the face of Choi Ji-hyuk’s presumed character.

Is this really Choi Ji-hyuk?

My heart thumped with anxiety, but I decided not to hesitate to ask.

“Is your name Choi Ji-hyuk?”

“…”

Choi Ji-hyuk, the presumptive figure, stopped walking for a moment and glared at me with a puzzled face.

“Don’t you understand the situation?”

“Not really, but are you Choi Ji-hyuk? Do you know me?”

I swallowed my saliva.

He raised his head and glanced at the place where smoke rose in the distance as if it were annoying, and then he sighed briefly and pulled me close to him.

“How old are you?”

“…What? Why are you asking me about my age all of a sudden?”

His eyes almost seemed to be burning with force. I hesitated a little and replied to him.

“I’m 23 years old. Why?”

“…”

He turned his head to the opposite side of me and recited a small curse.

Then he grabbed me again and started dragging me somewhere.

I was very confused right now. No, I thought I was going to die from being hit by a car, but when I opened my eyes, I didn’t die.

The problem is…

I think I came to a strange place instead of the underworld.

It’s like the world where Choi Ji-hyuk works.

“Crazy! What’s that?!”

“Ughhhhhh!

I couldn’t help but stiffen when I saw a strange slimy monster growing from the ground, screaming in the distance.

“For god’s sake, everything you see is real, so don’t give up and follow me!”

He pulled me towards him but my legs didn’t move as if I had been enchanted.

I looked at him with a confused expression.

He also looked at me with a bewildered face, then moved his gaze to my stiff legs and hardened his expression.

He bit his lip.

Then, in an instant, he lifted me up and started running, carrying me on his back.

“Damn it, you’re crazy.”

The howling of monsters could be heard from all directions.

Black slime like melted tar from the bare asphalt ground gathered and rose upwards, creating the shape of monsters.

My whole body trembled with a complex sense of fear.

Obviously, this man said that everything I saw was real.

So is this really the world he lives in?

“Uh, where are you going?”

“I do not know. I can’t deal with them now.”

He carried me and ran for a while. The place we arrived at was an elementary school playground.

Then he put me down on the floor and immediately started to rummage through the boxes piled up in front of the school gate.

“Ha…”

But there was nothing in the box.

The man frowned as if frustrated and stared at the front door of the school quietly.

I trembled and looked at his back.

His face was definitely the same as Choi Ji-hyuk, whom I had seen on the screen for 4 years.

Even his voice was the same

But obviously, until a while ago, Choi Ji-hyuk was …

“Weren’t you holding on to the hidden boss…?”

“…!”

At my words, Jihyuk Choi turned his head and looked at me.

It was a look of dismay.

His expression twitched strangely. He was ready to grab my neck right away.

Then I cringed a little and took a step back.

“What are you…”

But as soon as that happened, he approached me one step closer and narrowed the gap in no time.

My heart started beating fast at his fierce eyes.

“Uh… so…”

“…Didn’t it disappear?”

What kind of bullshit is that?

I blinked, forgetting what kind of situation I was in, and looked at Choi Ji-hyuk up and down.

What’s up with him?

First of all, I didn’t know if I should be happy because I didn’t die right away, or if I should be sad that Choi Ji-hyuk is in front of me.

“Really, Choi Ji-hyuk?”

Choi Ji-hyuk opened his mouth as if annoyed at my question.

“Can’t you see?”

And I opened my mouth wide.

So, the person in front of me right now is Choi Ji-hyeok, and I didn’t immediately recognize that the person was Choi Ji-hyuk, but that person knows my existence.

And I….

“Aha, I see…”

Let’s wrap this up.

I mean, I was just worried about this human being on the streaming screen and almost got hit by a car, but I was dragged in here just before I got hit by a car for some reason.

It wasn’t realistic, but anyways…

Should I thank him for recognizing me and saving me in this chaotic situation, or should I tell him to take responsibility for the cause because he made it this way?

“I mean, I almost got hit by a car while looking at my cell phone to look for you, and then you accidentally summoned me to your place at the perfect timing, right?”

“…What?”

We couldn’t communicate well with each other.

Well, that’s possible. I understand because I don’t usually communicate badly.

“You got hit by a car?”

Choi Ji-hyuk had a fierce look on his face and asked. I nodded indignantly.

“I just told you. You didn’t listen to me and caught an elite boss, so I almost died while buying items.”

It was then.

At that moment, the asphalt under my feet began to bubble and melt, and Choi Ji-hyuk snatched me so hard that my wrist hurt.

And he said,

“This area has already been turned into a dungeon. It is beyond my ability.”

Choi Ji-hyuk’s forehead was wrinkled with irritation.

“I’m going inside the school. There’s a good chance of dying anyway, but it’s better than here.”

“Die? Why die?!”

“Don’t talk. Come with me!”

Choi Ji-hyuk opened the school door with one hand.

Then the dreary air surrounding me felt very, very lightened.

I almost instinctively relieved myself.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥
[SYSTEM]
-Field: [Bloody Classroom (F)] is activated.
◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢

Large, red letters appeared in the air.

I tried to ask what the hell was going on with this, but Choi Ji-hyuk’s hand blocked my mouth.

He put his index finger to my lips as if telling me to be quiet and looked at me, then I nodded.

I had to depend on him to get out of here alive.

The Choi Ji-hyuk I know is still much stronger than the average person I am, many times stronger.

He was a bit hateful, but it wasn’t that he was unwilling.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥
[SYSTEM]
– The poor corpses swept away by the
devastating disaster are losing their
senses and coming to life.
– Time limit 15:30:00
– Clear condition: Survive until the
evil energy evaporates.
◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢

It was a familiar notification.

A sight I was accustomed to seeing on the screen.

I looked into the dark hallway, even in broad daylight.

At the same time, Choi Ji-hyuk picked up a pipe that was rolling on the floor.

I don’t know why it was rolling on the floor, but the faint growl coming from the end of the hallway made my nerves stand still.

Choi Ji-hyuk looked at me frozen and made a complicated expression on his face, and then pulled me behind his back as if he was telling me to stick with him.

And I started moving very slowly.

He then pointed a finger at the health room, and I nodded at him.

If it was him, it was clear that he could get out of here safely.

The Choi Ji-hyuk I know is the king of solo play!

However…

Where did he put the weapons I bought him and instead carry around such frivolous things?

Suddenly, a bad feeling hit the back of my head, and at the same time,

“Kueeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

“Shit!”

Weird corpses that could hardly be considered as humans rushed towards us.