Hell Level

Jin-Woo felt the cool night breeze while standing on the balcony. The noisy party on the first floor could barely be heard from here.

As he sighed weakly, looking down at the bottle of alcohol in his hand, he wondered if some strange hallucinogen had crept in and tried to drug him.

After all, what he was seeing in front of him now was absolutely crazy.

[ Choose difficulty level: ]

[Easy]

[Normal]

[Difficult]

[Hell]

'What is this shiny shit?' he thought lazily, rubbing his eyes and waving his hands around hoping it would go away. 'Why don't you go away?' he wondered with an irritated sigh. 'My life is already hellish enough...'

Suddenly, his hand slammed against [Hell].

[Are you sure you want to choose this option?]

His vision was too blurred to read such a long sentence, so he just waved his hand again and the shiny thing that was hurting his retinas disappeared.

"Did I drink too much? Why the hell was I seeing floating texts...", after this brief reflection, he decided to go inside again in fear of his own insanity.

But when he turned around, he felt like he was falling.

"Huh?", her body didn't feel gravity or the touch of the ground.

"AAAAAHHHH!", he shouted, turning his body and swinging his arms and legs, his vision darkened as his body fell into an endless abyss.

'Wasn't I heading towards the house? Am I so drunk I didn't see the balcony? I jumped? It's night, but I should still see the city lights, why is everything so dark? Am I having a lucid dream? Holy shit, am I going to die?!'

Until he hit the floor hard, making him moan and squirm, stroking his own back. As he sat down, he rubbed his face, realizing that all the alcohol was gone.

'Am I officially crazy? I fell? Why don't I feel drunk anymore? Where am I?', observing his surroundings, he realized that he was in a wooden cabin. The fireplace was lit, and he had collapsed in a bed, which was surprisingly hard.

"H-Hu?", when realization dawned on him, Jin-Woo stood up and looked strangely into the cabin's interior.

A hard bed, and beside it was a table and chair. In the wall a fireplace burned diligently, warming the room. A built-in, doorless wardrobe hung off to the side, with several warm fur garments on hangers.

'I was kidnapped? But why am I not tied up? And how cold is that?!' he rubbed his own arms, teeth chattering.

As he was only wearing black sweatpants and a black tank top, he felt like he was going to freeze.

"W-Someone? T-Is there anyone here?", Jin-Woo shivered, walking carefully through the icy hut.

Opening a door, he found a bathroom, in it there was a hole in the floor. In this small space, a mirror fit. Jin-Woo went in front of the mirror.

"Am I dreaming?" he rubbed his face in confusion. When he turned on the faucet to try to pour some water, it was so cold that Jin-Woo took several steps back until he hit the wall. "AAHH! So cold!", he dried her hands on her own clothes, in shock.

"Fuck! Shit!", startled, Jin-Woo decided to see where he was right away. Upon opening the door outside the hut, he was faced with an unbelievable sight. "...", he was speechless.

His hut was housed on a huge, steep mountain. If he took a careless step outside, he could fall a couple hundred kilometers without rest. On the horizon, a plain of tall, snow-covered pines stretched, with no sign of civilization in sight.

"No, no, no, you must be kidding...", he chuckled to himself, slapping his own face. The tingling and redness proved to him that he wasn't dreaming. "What...what...", Jin-Woo held onto the doorframe and looked down, seeing that he was practically facing a cliff. For someone who was terribly afraid of heights, the sight made him dizzy. Jin-Woo backed up several steps, feeling his legs go limp.

"..." speechless, Jin-Woo walked around the house as if hypnotized, looking for a phone.

There is not. There was no phone, nothing to help him get in touch with other people. As he threw clothes out of the closet in despair, there was a shotgun propped up in the corner, along with some other climbing equipment.

"What the... what the fuck...", he sighed in shock, putting his hands on his hips and looking around. "Where... where am I?"

Jin-Woo sat down on the floor in shock.

Suddenly, notifications appeared in his view, just like when he had to select the difficulty.

[You have selected the Hell Level. You are now in the lobby.]

[At Easy Level, this is a safe and habitable place, where it is impossible to get injured, die, or get tired and hungry.]

[At Normal Level, this is a safe and habitable place, where it's impossible to get hurt or killed, but you get tired and hungry.]

[On Difficult Level, this is a habitable place, you can get injured, feel tired and hungry, and you can die]

[In the Hell Level, this is a local uninhabitable and not at all safe place where you can get injured, die, get tired and hungry.]

"...", Jin-Woo stared at that information dumbfounded.

'So those floating texts I saw earlier were real!?'

'This is a game? Did I choose a difficulty level for a game? But I didn't sign up for it...'

'Wait, that's not even possible! Floating texts? I got teleported?! It's like those isekai stories and stuff?!'

"W-Wait, no, no, no, that was a mistake, I want to s-leave…go away…."

[This is impossible.]

"I-I want to go back to my home, my city..."

[This is impossible.]

"T-Then send me to Easy Level! I can do it, right?!"

[This is impossible.]

"T-Could it be Normal Level... p-please... p-please, I'm begging you... or even Difficult Level...", Jin-Woo's vision blurred as desperate tears wet her eyes.

[This is impossible. Your difficulty has already been chosen, there is no way to change it.]

"Fuck! I-I was drunk! This is i-unfair! Unfair! I-I have to be given the opportunity to choose again! P-Please!", Jin-Woo begged desperately.

[This is impossible.]

"No...no...", Jin-Woo's mind went blank.

He's just a normal 22-year-old Korean man, his body isn't strong, and he's not particularly smart. How was he going to survive in this place?

[1.789/1.789 people in the Hell lobby.]

His bleary eyes saw this and widened. Jin-Woo quickly wiped away the tears.

"Wh-where are they?!"

[Somewhere in the lobby.]

"Fuck...", Jin-Woo would laugh, if the situation wasn't so tragic.

After almost four hours of sitting, crying and reflecting, Jin-Woo decided to explore the cabin further. As he threw several questions at this thing he dubbed the System, he realized that there was no way out of this situation.

More shocking than not having a communication device is the fact that there was no food for more than a week. If Jin-Woo saved as much as possible, he could almost last two weeks. There are gallons of drinking water by the fireplace. They would probably freeze if they didn't rest next to the fire.

"I was just relaxing at a party, why the fuck is this happening to me?!"

[Everyone from South Korea was called up, you weren't the only one.]

"How many people are there in the other lobby...?" asked Jin-Woo, in a slightly hopeful manner. 'Maybe I can get in touch with them, and they can help me...'

[10.899.000/10.899.000 people in the Easy lobby.]

[40.994.000/40.994.000 people in the Normal lobby.]

[4.421/4.421 people in the Difficult lobby.]

[1.789/1.789 people in the Hell lobby.]

Upon noticing how the amount of people at his level plummeted, Jin-Woo felt even more depressed and anxious.

"Is there any way I can contact them...?"

[No.]

"Fuck! I don't… what am I supposed to do?! Rot and die?!"

[The user can stay in the lobby for as long as they want. The only way out is by completing quests.]

"What are these quests?! What do I get for completing them?! Can I go back to Earth?!"

[There are diversified missions to be completed. Naturally, the environment and monsters housed within them are more difficult to face than staying in the lobby.]

[There are diversified rewards for completed quests. They are only visible after finishing the quest.]

[You will be able to return to Earth if you complete all of them.]

"... w-how many... how many are there?"

[The user has no right to know.]

'Completing... quests... but they'll be harder than just living in the lobby... and I don't know how many I'll have to do... there will be monsters... what if... I get stuck here forever? Maybe I'll die in a week? Or if I take a chance on the mission, I might just get killed instantly...'

Nervousness made Jin-Woo's stomach turn. Bile rose in her throat and her vision blurred. Bending over, he ran towards the bathroom and vomited into the hole in the floor.

This was simply too absurd to be true. Jin-Woo refused to accept this reality.

"W-Why…? How…?"

He could only ask himself that question incessantly.

And, for the remainder of that day, Jin-Woo rubbed his face as he tried to digest it all. Her hands were shaking.

He dressed in the clothes from the closet and sat by the fireplace to get rid of the unbearable cold.

The next day he did the same.

And after that too.

He had no plans, didn't want to leave. Sleeping was like hopelessly hoping that all this nonsense was just a dream, and he would wake up in his warm, safe bed the next morning.

But that didn't happen. Waking up with his fingers numb from the cold and his back aching, he was once again forced to swallow the cruel truth.

That would be your reality now. And if he didn't do anything, he was going to die soon.

He lit a fireplace all day and night, trying to eat as little as possible. Still, supplies were not endless.

If he was unlucky, the wood would run out before the food and he might stay here for a few more days.

If he was really unlucky, the food would run out first, so he'd have to force himself out.

And if he was terribly unlucky, he would die from the shock of having to face all of this.

But in the end, the food ran out first. Jin-Woo looked at the drawer where dried meats and canned goods were kept for hours, as if they magically appeared if he desired too much.

But no food arrived and the drawer remained empty.

Even though he still hadn't ventured out of the apparently 'safe' hut, he was sure that the psychological pressure was one of the worst he had faced in his entire life.

Vaguely remembering how he had cursed the window of difficulty saying that his life was already hell, he wanted to slap himself.

'Was that hell?! Seriously, Jin-Woo?! Tell that to your fucking soft bed, warm blanket and air conditioning, you motherfucker!'

Jin-Woo rubbed his own face trying to calm down. His hair was a mess, and he still hadn't tried to shower. It was very cold, and besides, the fear throbbing in his head and making him lethargic didn't allow him to pay attention to something so seemingly futile.

But he could say with absolute certainty...

If hell really existed, the psychological torture caused by regret would be completely the same.

If in hell they said, 'Damn it, I just had to be a better person!' in agony...

Jin-Woo says, 'Damn, I just had to put my fucking hand on the easy level! Jin-Woo, you asshole!'

Jin-Woo didn't have great self-esteem, so it wasn't too hard for him to start hating himself for doing something so stupid.

But was there really time to wallow like this?

Not. There is no time.

His food ran out two days ago, and his head aches from lack of nutrients. Suddenly, a flash of rationality rushes through his chaotic mind.

'I should leave before I get too weak to hunt any food'

Imagine, trying to run from a bear and simply passing out from exhaustion halfway through?

Or maybe having to spend days hunting, then just die because he'd already wasted too much time in the cabin?

Just the possibility sent shivers down Jin-Woo's spine.

And again, he ended up hating himself even more. He's so dumb! If he didn't have that brief moment of reflection, wouldn't he end up dying because of his idiocy?!

"Okay, I need to calm down"

Jin-Woo looked at his reflection in the small, dirty mirror. He spent almost three weeks without speaking or seeing his own face. For a moment, he thought he was going to go crazy.

"It's okay. I'm going to open the door, dig the snow with the climbing gear and see where it's safe to step. After I'm around the cabin, I'm going to safely descend the mountain. I'm going to shoot any animal with edible meat to see, drag and eat."

He spoke to himself. Her pale face, dark circles and chapped lips reflected in the mirror. He looked so weak and exhausted, even though he hadn't done anything these last few weeks but eat and try to sleep.

"Get the equipment. Open the door. Drill the snow. Go around. Down the mountain. Shoot an animal. Drag back."

He repeated this simple plan over and over in his mind.

"Haha. How wrong can that go?" he smiled grimly to himself, thinking that if there was a counter indicating how many hours a person would live, yours might indicate three minutes.

What if he was preparing so hard, but he was going to die in three minutes?

While being torn apart by a bear or falling off a mountain, would he regret creating such a flawed plan?

Probably.

"I will die?"

He asked himself, his breathing becoming labored and heart racing as he gripped the sink tightly.

"I will die."

As he looked to the side, he faced the locked door of the cabin that did not open for almost three long weeks.

"If I pass from there, I will die."

He will die.

So much time wasted in fear of death as he curl up inside this little cabin to die after just three minutes of walking out the door.

Your legs will go soft. He will stumble. The wind will make it stagger. An animal will rip your arm off and chew off each of your limbs in front of your eyes before he loses consciousness.

Jin-Woo is not ready.

He it's not physically ready. He could have spent those two weeks training his physique. It's too late. If he push your body too hard now, he pass out.

It's too late. He was very short-sighted.

Because of this, he will die.

Is there any ability to rewind time? Could someone please help him turn back time?!

There is not.

Because of this, he will die.

He didn't train his body, he didn't solidify his mindset, he didn't calm his psyche, he took too long to leave the house and he used up all the food.

He was an idiot.

There is no dried meat or canned goods that he can take on the trip to eat on the way if it takes more than a day.

He will die.

If not from a fall, it will be from an animal, and if not from that, it will be from hunger, and if not from that, it will be from the cold.

There is no escape. There's no way he'll make it out alive.

All of this is his own fault. This whole situation is his fault.

This wouldn't have happened if he wasn't such an idiot.

People generally like to have things under control, and that situations depend on themselves rather than someone else.

Jin-Woo no. Jin-Woo is hating himself so much right now that he would like to beg that this situation wasn't under his control, and that this wasn't all his fault.

He wishes he could blame someone else, but in the end, the only one to blame here is himself.

If he had pressed the easy level.

Or trained.

Or left before the food runs out.

Or stopped crying and vomiting day and night in despair.

Now it's too late.

Too late.

'Hah. I haven't even left here and I'm already sabotaging myself.'

Even if the solutions to problems seem obvious, solving them is not so easy. It's simple to give dating advice to your confused friend, and it's okay to scold when a movie character doesn't realize who the cheater is.

Jin-Woo couldn't count how many times he skipped watching a series because the protagonist was too crybaby. In society, emotions are synonymous with weakness, so we like to see an all-powerful protagonist who has an unreadable poker face.

But honestly? Jin-Woo doesn't care if he looks miserable right now.

If he looks like a fearful who does nothing to save himself but cry.

No one is seeing him now.

He doesn't have to pretend to be strong to impress anyone.

He is afraid.

Damn, Jin-Woo is so scared of dying.

And that's a little hypocritical, after all four weeks ago he joked with his friends that he could die at any moment and he didn't care.

He was so sure that unless he killed himself, nothing would take his life.

But now it's different.

Even if he desperately tries to survive, he will still die.

How ironic.

There is a saying that we only value things if we lose them. It is absolutely true.

For Jin-Woo, it was taken for granted that he would eat something sweet during the week, that he would watch something interesting on the internet, that he would lie down in his soft and comfortable bed at night, that when he felt hungry he just opened the fridge, that when he felt hot he just turn on the fan.

Fuck, he thought he didn't like interacting much, but he really missed talking to someone these two weeks.

He missed a different sound besides the whistling of the wind outside and the crackling fireplace.

He missed a different taste besides dried meat and canned goods.

He missed water that wasn't absurdly cold and had a subtle earthy taste.

Someone please wake him up from this nightmare?

No one is going to come save you, Jin-Woo.

This is not a movie, a series or a fantasy internet story.

You need to fight to survive.

Jin-Woo, with trembling hands, picked up the shotgun and secured the handle around his body. Trying to control her breathing, he grabbed the climbing gear and strapped it around her wrists.

'I can do this'

'I need to do this'

Face to face with the wooden door, he touched the cold metal handle that felt extremely deadly at that moment.

Her pupils fluttered, her knees went soft, her head felt too light for her body.

Tak.

He turned the handle.

Or rather, he tried.

Tak.

Tak.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

It was stuck. Probably froze because of the cold.

Jin-Woo let out a long relieved sigh.

His departure was delayed for a few more hours as his peak of courage passed after this brief impediment.

He won't die, at least he won't die in a few hours.

But who knows, he will die tomorrow?