Chapter 3: Episode 1 – The Beginning of the End (3)
"What... is this?"
Angelica muttered besides me. Her shoulders were shaking. She was horrified by the scene unfolding. The monsters were one-sidedly slaughtering the citizens.
The police seems to have arrived and were resisting. It was no use though. Their guns were utterly useless against the monsters and they suffered the same fate as the citizens.
It was all senseless slaughter. Really.
'I wonder why I'm so calm right now.'
I expected I would react the same as Angelica. But I was strangely very calm which frightened me more than the monsters.
Did I view everything happening now as nothing but friction? That was right. Since reality has become one with friction, everything happening now was friction.
'I hope the viewers are enjoying this scene.'
I clicked my tongue once. If this world was a stage, then there will obviously be the actors and the audience. The audience watched from afar and wished for this world's destruction.
"Suwon, do you know what is going on?"
"Roughly. Have you played Dark Souls?"
"Yes. Once or twice but what does that have to do with anything."
"Everything. Because It seems we're now in such a game."
I closed my eyes and slowly remembered the events that transpired in the beginning of the End After the Fall.
[Nightmare.]
[The Fairy rampaging in Hongdae.]
[The Infection of monsters]
[The cold bodies scattered like trash.]
[And lastly, the military retracting in panic.]
One by one without fail, the event happened before my eyes just as described in the novel. There was no doubt anymore. This was the story I knew.
"Come, we are leaving."
"Ah! Wait, hold on!"
I pulled Angelica out of the room and entered the passage. Just like us, people were going down the stairs to the last floor with one goal in mind.
The entrance. They were roughly thinking about the same thing just me like I was.
'If the monsters get in..."
Then everyone here will die. In order to stop thag reality from occurring, everyone was either thinking of leaving the hospital or blocking the exit.
'It's not like they could go outside. There are monsters outside the hospital. So the safe option will be to block the entrance.'
But not everybody will be thinking the same. Some will still try to leave the hospital and try their luck. After all, the people won't be able to make rational thoughts during this crisis.
We are talking about the end of the world here. Surely, nobody will think straight in such a moment.
After pushing through the crowd and climbing down the stairs, we finally reached the down floor. However, the place was noisy.
"What's the matter with you? Do you want to die?!"
"I should be asking you the same."
"The city is being attacked by demons and you still want to go outside!"
"Like staying here will do us any good. What if the monsters get in here? How are we going to escape?!"
"Damnit, why is my phone not working!"
Just as I anticipated, a commotion has formed at the ground floor. Some wanted to leave the hospital while others wanted to stay inside.
Two choices. Each of them has their disadvantages.
I looked at the entrance. It was currently blocked. It has been sealed with numerous heavy items such as chairs and vending machines. It was a wonder how they could act so quickly.
'The barrage won't last though.'
The world is currently being filled with grade 9 monsters. They were the weakest among the bunch but that didn't mean they should be underestimated.
Grade 9 monsters were weak individually but they will become a problem if they moved in packs. A horde of grade 9 demonic people will easily push through the barrage and get the survivors inside the hospital.
'But it's not like going outside is a better choice either.'
Outside was filled with nothing but monsters. Simply walking outside the building could lead to death. So going outside was a no-go if you are not suicidal.
At least, for now. There will be a time where we will be able to go outside. But now was not the time.
'What should I do now?'
I was torn between two choices. Should I stay inside the hospital and hope for the best or should I try my luck by running outside? But if I run outside, where will I go? That was another problem.
The most favourable choice became more and more apparent as time slowly ticked by. As I thought, staying inside was the better choice.
"Everybody, listen here!"
Someone shouted. It was a man with shaggy hair and dressed in a white lab coat. I knew that person. It was doctor Kwangsun.
Once he noticed he had gotten everyone's attention, he began to speak again.
"As you already know, the country has entered a state of emergency. In such a situation, we should remain here and wait for the military to come."
He seems to have calmed the people a little bit. But that won't be for long. The military are already busy dealing with the situation outside. Nobody will be coming to save us.
The sooner they realised that cruel fact, their chances of survival will increase.
"Quick, someone turn on the television. The prime minister is giving a speech."
"The p-prime minister?!"
"Quick! Find the remote!"
"Let's hear what he wants to say."
After a while, the remote controller was found and the television located in the ground floor was played.
Soon, a familiar face filled the screen. The prime minister. He was also part of the novel so I already knew what he was about to happen.
But spoilers were no fun.
"Greetings, my fellow citizens. A great number of unidentified invaders are currently active in major areas including Seoul. But do not fear, the military has already been mobilized to combat this unidentified terrorists. So please, stay indoors until it is safe for evaluation."
Terrorists? Now that was a peculiar name to be calling monsters. It's not like the government would notice they were currently being attacked by monsters.
"Wait, why is the prime minister giving a speech? Where is the president?"
"Don't tell me he got caught by the monsters?"
"No way! It's the president we are talking about here."
Murmors naturally spread among the crowd. Most people don't want to realise it but the fact that the prime minister had to give a speech instead of the president could only mean once thing alone.
KABOOM!
A loud sound erupted from the TV and the screen suddenly turned blank. To be precise, it was the screen of the cameraman that tuned blank, not the TV.
Everyone was silent. The prime minister, he just died. There was no way he would have survived that explosion. As if that was not enough, everything was caught on Live television too.
I took a breath. Everything is really unfolding just as it is written in the novel.
"The prime minister is dead?!"
"That can't be, right?"
"Quick! Change the channel!"
Someone rapidly changed the channel. It was no way though. The same scene of monsters attacking humans repeated itself. Not only in Seoul but in the whole of South Korea.
Murmurs spread around the crowd as they were beginning to become restless and uneasy. Some tried to call her relatives, some tried to call the police while the others were talking about the recent events.
"Everyone calm down. Just because the connection, doesn't mean the prime minister is dead. I also don't think the president is dead. The army is handling the situation as we speak. So no one is allowed to go outside until the army handles the situation."
The doctor tried his best to calm down the restless crowd. But there was one thing that everyone was forgetting. It was that the scenario was currently ingoing.
'That bastard will act anytime soon.'
The objective of the first scenario was to kill. But the people will soon realise that the monsters are not the only enemy.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Suddenly, there was a scream.
"Murder! That person just..."
A woman pointed towards the scene and everyone glanced at that direction. Then they had to draw a breath.
At the scene, there was a man holding a Swiss knife and a woman was collapsed on the floor.
She had a huge wound on her throat and blood was gushing out of said injury like a fountain. With just a single glance, it was obvious she could not be saved.
The man, on the other hand, was wearing a cruel smile as he was looking down on the cold body infront of him. Blood was dripping from the swiss knife.
It was obvious he was the killer. And he seemed proud of it too.
The people became terrified and took a few steps back. While I, on the other hand, grimaced.
Just as I thought, a character from the novel have arrived. A person that will use all the people in the hospital as stepping stones.
In this ruined world, monsters were not the only things to look out for. Humans could also become the enemy depending on the circumstances. In fact, humans were the most dangerous enemies in the apocalypse.
'This is bad.'
If that bastard was here then it means that everyone here will die. If I stayed here, I will suffer the same fate. But going outside was out of the question.
Let's see here. How do I survive?
I opened my smartphone. The only way to survive in this situation was to re-read the novel again. But I came across a big problem.
The novel 'The End After the Fall' was nowhere to be found. I checked the original site but it was not there. I even checked illegal sites. But I always came across the same 'Book cannot be found' message each time I tried.
It was as if the novel was removed from existence. It was a peculiar situation indeed.
'Great, now what?'
I was stuck in a deadly situation and I didn't have an edge. Becoming the exact details of the novel from memory was impossible.
In the next moment, a transparent window flashed before my retina.
[You have received the blessing of the system.]
[You have awakened as a walker in the new world.]
[The status window can be activated.]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone