Episode 1 – Kim Jaehyuk (4)

The people watching Jaehyuk performance all opened their mouths agape. It was a sight that could only be described as amazing. 

"He's amazing, isn't he?" 

"Yes, he's slaying those zombies like they're nothing." 

Everyone was amazed by the performance of the main actor. But their gazes suddenly turned to the demonic people who was approaching them. 

Frightened, they all stepped back a few steps and then their reactions began to change one by one. 

"Hold up…" 

"Aren't those zombies pretty weak?"

"If he could slay hundreds of them alone, then they are not that tough." 

"In video games, aren't zombies usually mobs?" 

Maybe it was because Jaehyuk's onslaught gave the people newfound confidence, they were no longer afraid. In fact, a few brave actors approached the zombies with their weapons. 

There were two kinds of people. The nervous and weak people who couldn't adapt to the new world. Then there was those who adapted to the destruction quickly. 

Those on the latter category were the people who would be able to reach the upper floors of the Dark Tower. However, everything was not as easy as it seems. 

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

"Aaah!" 

"My arm! Somebody help!" 

"Wh-Why can't I cut them?" 

The people suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by the vast numbers of the demonic people. The screams of the people filled the battlefield. 

Despite how they looked, demonic people were beings filled and strengthened by dark ether. Simply put, their skin was very hard to penetrate with dull blades. 

The people that had grown overconfident and thought it was child's play, now got eaten alive by the zombies. Some were squirming on the floor after they got bitten. 

This was not a game. This was a painful and unfair reality. 

... People like them are very common in the beginning phase. People who grew overconfident in their abilities and get fucked in the end. And this are just simple mobs. 

Jaehyuk continued slashing and stabbing. Multiple foreheads of the demonic people got pierced one by one. 

Once the weakness of the demonic people was known, they were relatively easy to kill. Some players even used them as training dummies to further their skills. 

Weak points of the demonic people included their heads, ankles, elbows. Basically, the weak points of a normal human. But even if these people knew that, it wouldn't change anything.

Modern people who couldn't kill camp mosquitos and small animals, were in no position to hit those weak points accurately.

Thud— 

The unfortunate people caught by the demonic people were killed off quickly. Some became frightened and ran away but they were caught too while some people thought logically and fought the monsters together. 

Meanwhile, Jaehyuk continued his onslaught, spilling blood everywhere. However, he came across a slight hiccup in the process. 

[Your stamina has reached a low level!] 

[Caution is advised.] 

As expected of a feeble body of a college student, Jaehyuk's stamina was average at best. If he slashed and slashed repeatedly, he was bound to run out of energy. 

"Tck." 

Slash— 

Jaehyuk decapitated a demonic person next to him in an instant. 

... Since I can't continue using this strategy, I will have to switch to plan B. 

He never thought he would be able to kill all the demonic people. In the first place, it was impossible to kill all the demonic people. In the tutorial, the monsters will respawn infinitely until the time limit was reached. 

Survival. That was the theme of the Tutorial. The time limit was 10 minutes and seven minutes has already passed. 

'But where will be the perfect place?' 

The streets had devolved into absolute chaos from the battle between people and zombies. While killing zombies and clearing a path, Jaehyuk looked around until he found the perfect place. 

... Over there will do. 

"Grrrrr—" 

"Gruk— Gruk—" 

Jaehyuk jumped away from his position and many demonic people tried to catch with their hands. But he evaded them by jumping on top their heads and leaped in the air, landing on a building stairway. 

He headed to the top of the building using the stairway. When he reached the top of the building, he removed a grenade from his coat and pulled the pin. 

Click—! 

Before dropping it on top the zombies head. 

What happened next was simple. Once the grenade was dropped, it landed on a zombie head, lost its form and scattered in all directions. 

The result was a massive explosion. 

BOOM—! 

The explosion swept away the zombies like autumn leaves. It seems like hundreds of zombies was swept away by the explosion because Jaehyuk was bombarded with notifications. 

... Not bad. 

Jaehyuk leaped from building to building, dropping down grenades without hesitation. 

BOOM, BOOM, KABOOM—! 

A series of explosions shook the earth. 

"Gyaaah—!" 

"Kyah—!" 

The cries of the demonic people echoed below. Upon seeing the scene, Jaehyuk wore a satisfied expression. 

Why? He enjoyed seeing the zombies cry out in agony. He needed something to take out his anger on and these zombies turned to be the perfect punching bag. Although, 

'A few people got caught in the explosion.' 

Not only the zombies were swept away by the series of explosions, the innocent people that were trying to fight for their lives were also swept away. 

He didn't mean to kill those people but there was no sadness or guilt.

In his previous regressions, his hands were already strained with blood, both the good and the bad. 

The amount of people he killed on the battlefield greatly exceeds the amount of people he had saved. 

'It can't be helped.'

It was not his fault that those people happened to be near the grenades were being dropped. If he had to sacrifice a few people to accomplish his goals then he wouldn't mind at all.

His sense of morality has already been destoryed a long time ago. Besides, those people were going to die anyways. Death by explosion, death by zombies. What does it matter? You're still going to die. 

"Is that all of them?" 

Jaehyuk mumbled to himself upon noticing he had ran out of grenades. 

He looked down below at the destruction he had caused. Destroyed cars and structures. Large amount of dead bodies. Cinders of fire and smoke in the air. It was at a level of beautiful destruction. 

A pleasant expression was formed when a steam of notifications popped up. 

'This feels great.' 

Jaehyuk wondered how many demonic people he managed to kill. But looking at the amount of torn bodies on the ground level, he guessed it was probably around thousands. 

Suddenly, a system interface appeared along with a message. 

[Congratulations, you have successfully passed the Tutorial.] 

[You have proven yourself worthy to climb the Dark Tower. The 'Bloody Finger' will be given as a passing reward.] 

Something blurred and appeared in Jaehyuk's palm. 

He looked at the familiar object and made a digusted face. The item was a severed pale finger strained with blood. 

[Bloody Finger] 

Grade: F 

Description: The finger of a fallen god which serves as the key to the 'Dark Tower'. 

'The finger of a fallen god, huh? What an ominous item.'

Despite seeing the item throughout his regressions, he couldn't get used to its appearance. Indeed, it was a very disturbing item. 

He always wondered why the Tower will make a finger as its entrance key.

Jaehyuk sighed and kept the finger in his pocket. Even if it was a disturbing item, it was very important. 

[Calculating rewards for completing the Tutorial... ] 

[Kill Count: 1557] 

[Beings killed: 1507 Demonic People and 50 Humans] 

[You have obtained 77,850 coins.] 

[You have obtained the title: King of Murder] 

[You have obtained the skill: Piercing the Sky Swordsmanship] 

[Additional 1,000 coins will be provided as a bonus reward.] 

"1557... It's more than last time." 

1557... That was the total number of enemies Jaehyuk had killed. Well, it was wrong to say enemies since some of them were humans. 

He could not remember the exact details. His number of kills in the tutorial during his last regression was around 1050 or so. Was it because he completed the tutorial in Songpa-gu instead of Dongjak-gu? 

In any case, it was an unbelievable feat. Most players only managed to kill one or two monsters, 10 monsters at best. So most of them started with 100 to 1000 coins. 

'What amount of coins did I start with when I first entered the Tower? It seems I have already forgotten.'

It was difficult to recall what had happened during all his regressions. After all, It was the memories of 99 regressions. 

"Status Window." 

[Player Information] 

[Name: Kim Jaehyuk]

[Divine Status: *Sealed*]

[Age: 20]

[Attributes: Cold-Hearted, Perseverance]

[Skills: Infinite Returner, Sword Training, Piercing the Sky Swordsmanship.]

[Strength: 28]

[Agility: 25]

[Physique: 23]

[Magic Power: 10]

During his onslaught, he managed to gather a great number of stats. His overall stats were now 86. A huge leap from its original value. 

He even managed to get back the heavenly slaying swordsmanship even though it was incomplete. 

However, there was something that made Jaehyuk to frown. It was his magic power stats. 

"My mana is the problem. Why does it have to be this low?" 

Jaehyuk made an irritated sound. 

His mana was a measly 10 despite slaying all those undead. Honestly, it was not surprising. Since he was the physical-type, it will be rare for his magic power to increase. Maybe if he was a mage, he wouldn't be having this problem. 

'I just have to enter the Tower quickly. Maybe I can find that hidden piece on the first floor.'

From his previous regressions, he learnt there was a hidden piece on the first floor that allowed players to accumulate a large number of magic power. He never managed to find it though. 

... I will definitely find it this time and ascend to the 99th floor. 

Jaehyuk jumped from the building rooftop and gently landed on the ground level. He looked around and saw several men from the military giving aid to the survivors. 

What a convenient time for these guys to arrive. Jaehyuk resisted the urge to roll his eyes and strolled towards them. 

"Hmm?"

One of the soldiers noticed him and approached him with the firearm. 

"Hey, you there?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Any injuries?" 

"No. I'm fine." 

"Are you sure? Then I'm glad." 

The soldier realised a sigh of relief as if he was glad to see him. Jaehyuk raised an eyebrow, confused. 

... Wait, could it be...

"What are the number of survivors?" Jaehyuk quickly asked the soldier but the man just scratched his cheek. 

"How should I say this? Well, there are only about 500 survivors or more has been found in Songpa-gu." 

"What!?" 

"Not only Songpa-gu was attacked, but the entirety of Seoul. The entire military is on standby and we don't know if another wave of monsters will invade. Everything is a mess and there's no word from the governing board."

This was not news for Jaehyuk but he was a little taken aback by the number of survivors in Songpa-gu. 

'Out of 400,000 people, only 500 survived? Am I missing something here?' 

Even the situation in Dongjak in his previous regression was not this bad. Something was definitely at play here. Even if the difficulty of the Tutorial was higher in Songpa-gu, it didn't make sense for only 500 to survive. 

'Did the future change? Yes, the future must have definitely changed. But what caused it to change? An unknown variable or..." 

Jaehyuk suddenly realised what had happened. 

'I see... My regression changed the future. All of this was because of me. Was it because I changed my location or was it one of my irrelevant decisions.' 

Something similar occurred in the past. When he regressed back to the past and changed something, altering the flow of the story beyond comprehension. 

Sometimes it was a person he saved, a person he killed or some irrelevant action he performed. He had no way of knowing since the change has already occurred. 

Ignoring Jaehyuk's complicated expression, the soldier looked past him and saw the mountain of torn undead corpses along with the ruined road. 

"Holy shit! What happened here?" 

Jaehyuk regained his composure and noticed the soldier was still talking to him. He followed the soldier's line of sight and responded. 

"Ah! That will be me." 

He didn't even wait for the soldier to react and continuing speaking. 

"Also, you guys don't have to worry about a future attack. There will be no second wave.