Chapter 01
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00. Prologue
[Emergency Disaster Alert]
[(Ministry of Public Safety and Security) Abnormal creatures appeared in various areas of Seoul on 4/1.]
“Abnormal…creatures? What is this?”
After receiving a text message that seemed like an April Fool’s joke, I fled and arrived at an air-raid shelter prepared for a nuclear war.
There, I found the protagonist of the post-apocalyptic novel I had read.
The first human awakened, who made a contract with God and gained transcendental abilities.
The savior and hope of humanity, which was rapidly heading toward destruction.
‘Has the novel become reality?’
…And then.
[The Supreme God Indra calls you ‘The One Who Cracks Destiny and the Universe.’]
[The God of Gods, the King of Gods, the Ruler of the Heavenly Way, Indra solemnly orders you to become his avatar and save this world.]
[(Messenger) <Indra’s Contract Proposal>
Condition: Salvation of Humanity.
Reward: The power to manifest Indra’s authority on earth.]
‘The savior of humanity? Me?’
In a world where towers rise and half of humanity has perished.
Miserable lives where only survival remains without life.
In this chaotic world.
…Somehow, it seems I’ve become the protagonist.
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01. Gate Outbreak
It was a peaceful Friday morning.
The date happened to be April 1st.
[Emergency Disaster Alert]
[(Ministry of Public Safety and Security) Abnormal creatures appeared in various areas of Seoul on 4/1. Please refrain from going outside and outdoor activities, and wait indoors until further guidance from the government.]
“Abnormal…creatures? What is this?”
After receiving an unknown disaster alert, I looked out the window and saw some kind of giant tentacle monster.
“What is that?”
The 30-story-high apartment had something like a giant octopus suddenly protruding above it.
Its reddish eyes were embedded like gems, and long tentacles dangled beneath its body.
The moment I saw the monster, a strange sense of familiarity washed over me along with the surprise.
‘Why…do I feel like I’ve seen this scene somewhere before?’
Well, I have watched quite a lot of survival and apocalyptic shows.
I quickly gathered my thoughts. There was no time to ponder deeply now.
I shoved the survival kit I had made as a hobby while enjoying apocalypse shows into my backpack and dashed out of the house.
“What is that? Some kind of tentacle monster? Are they filming a movie somewhere?”
“Ah, right! It’s April Fool’s Day. Wow, what a huge prank.”
The monster was still a bit far away.
People who couldn’t accept the reality yet were standing in the street, marveling at the monster.
I rushed past them, running towards the mountain behind the neighborhood.
I knew there was an air-raid shelter there, prepared for a nuclear war.
Being a survival genre maniac, I had checked it out beforehand during my neighborhood walks.
“Oh, oh…? But, that monster… It’s coming this way…”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Belated screams erupted from the people on the street.
While running with all my might, I glanced back.
The slippery tentacles wrapped around the people standing dazed and lifted them up like weeds. And then…
“Aaaaaaah!”
“Mom! Mooom!!”
People’s screams rang out.
The street instantly fell into chaos.
The horrific sight made my running steps falter, and my heart started pounding like crazy.
I was about to panic for a moment.
“No. I’m a psychopath, aren’t I? It’s okay, I won’t be shocked by this… It’s okay…”
As I kept muttering to myself, surprisingly, a sense of calm did return.
It seems I really am a psychopath, just as my mother had repeatedly told me since childhood.
Having regained my composure, I started running again, not caring about the commotion around me.
My appearance, running with a determined expression towards somewhere amidst the chaos, must have seemed special.
“Where is that woman going?”
“I don’t know, but let’s follow her!”
People naturally started running after me.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue loudly at the people following me.
Queeeeeck!
Because the monster was tagging along behind them too.
I put more force into my legs and ran even faster.
After winding through the neighborhood alleys, I finally reached the foot of the mountain behind the village.
“There, there it is! The air-raid shelter!”
The people who had diligently followed me shouted.
In a secluded part of the mountain behind the village, there was an air-raid shelter made of thick concrete and steel doors.
I had noticed it during my regular neighborhood walks.
Since no one ever went there, I cleaned it occasionally and even stocked emergency canned foods.
I know I’d be labeled as crazy for saying this, but for some reason, I had always imagined the Earth would be destroyed one day.
Without hesitation, I slid through the open steel door and rushed inside.
Then I paused for a moment, unsure of what to do next.
‘Should I close it?’
Since I’m a psychopath, shouldn’t I act selfishly thinking only of myself?
However, taking advantage of my momentary hesitation, people rushed in after me one by one.
“We’re saved!”
“Oh God! Thank you!”
The relieved people cried out thanks to God amid ragged breaths.
But it was not yet time to relax.
Without dropping my guard, I quickly scanned outside the air-raid shelter with sharp eyes.
The slower people were still running from afar, panting heavily.
The monster was trailing behind them, waving its repulsive tentacles.
If we left the door open, it was clear those octopus-like tentacles would drag everyone inside the shelter away.
“What, what should we do?”
“We, we have to, to close the door!”
“But there are still people out there…”
Yet everyone just shuffled their feet and called out, with no one stepping forward to actually close the steel door.
They probably felt guilty about closing the door while there were still people running towards this place.
Among the people just exchanging glances, a middle-aged woman holding a young boy bravely stepped up and grabbed the door handle.
“Hurry! If we don’t close the door, we’ll all die!”
At her words, the people who had just been awkwardly exchanging looks slowly reached for the door.
“Well, I feel bad for those people, but…”
“Those who can be saved should be saved…”
“No way!”
Then, a scruffy middle-aged man quickly emerged from among the people and shouted.
“Don’t close it! My wife is still running over there!”
As he said, there was indeed a middle-aged woman among those rushing towards the shelter.
‘…Huh?’
But the woman’s expression seemed strange somehow.
Even as she ran, she was yelling and cursing at the middle-aged man.
“If we leave it open, that monster will come in too! We’ll all die!”
It seemed highly unlikely that the lagging people could shake off the monster and reach this shelter first.
The middle-aged woman shouted again, but no one stepped forward, just watching the man’s reaction.
So the brave woman reached her hand towards the steel door.
However.
Thud—!
The man suddenly shoved the woman away.
The petite woman’s body flew and crashed to the ground far from the door.
Seeing this, the others who had been slowly approaching the door recoiled in fright.
Only one person hurried over to the fallen woman.
Though the face was obscured, the silhouette in the dim light revealed a very tall man.
The middle-aged man rolled up his sleeve, exposing his forearm covered in black tattoos, and shouted loudly.
“Don’t even think about touching that door! Anyone trying to kill my wife dies by my hand first! If I die, we all die together!”
Queeeeeeeck!
The monster’s cry grew closer and closer.
At this rate, everyone inside this intact shelter was doomed to be massacred.
‘That’s just wrong.’
I had fled all the way to this shelter.
And from the survival stories I’ve read, when a group hides in a bunker, there’s always a villain among them.
Using force to hog all the food, or suddenly going insane and opening the door to put everyone in danger.
Villains must be weeded out when they’re seedlings, as they say.
“‘Anyone trying to kill my wife’?”
Calmly observing the situation, I muttered softly.
“What? You… Aakh!”
Inside the shelter was a long iron rod.
Having tended to this place myself, I knew it was there.
As the man ranted and waved his fists, I surreptitiously grabbed the rod and forcefully struck his abdomen.
The man who had been posturing in front of the door let out a groan and collapsed outside the shelter, clutching his stomach from the sudden blow.
“Ugh…”
“Then you’ll have to die first.”
I glared at the man on the ground with a cold expression.
His wife, who had been cursing at him as she ran—
She had shouted so loudly that I could read her lips.
“You ditch me and run away alone! You bastard!”
Behind the man, the monster had somehow crept up right outside, stretching its tentacles toward the shelter as if refusing to let its prey escape.
“You, you… don’t get cocky…”
“The one bragging big after abandoning even his own wife to save himself?”
With a ‘Bang!‘, I swiftly closed and locked the steel door.
Almost immediately, the sound of thick tentacles pounding on the door echoed through the shelter.
✦
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