Chapter 29: The System

As Ji-hoon stirred from unconsciousness, he found himself lying on a soft bed, the smell of antiseptic lingering in the air. His head felt clear, and there was a surprising absence of pain coursing through his body. In fact, he felt better than he had in a long time, a strange sense of vitality coursing through his veins.

Blinking against the brightness of the room, Ji-hoon gradually pieced together the events that had led him here. He remembered the explosion, the monster's rampage, and his desperate attempt to escape.

He remembered the voice he had heard just before darkness enveloped him—a voice speaking of system integration. It was a cryptic message, one that had puzzled him in his dazed state. And now, as he pondered over those words, a strange sensation washed over him.

Suddenly, as if in response to his thoughts, a translucent screen materialized in front of his eyes, hovering in the air with an otherworldly glow. Ji-hoon's eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at the display, his mind racing with a whirlwind of questions and possibilities.

The screen displayed four glowing options. The first was labeled "Basic Profile," followed by "Skills," "Archive," and "Notifications." Each option seemed to offer a different aspect of information or functionality within the system.

Ji-hoon stared in shock, trying to process what he was looking at. He had read quite a few web novels before losing his parents, so he recognized the interface as some kind of system. However, he couldn't shake off the disbelief. First, the world had turned into some kind of apocalyptic novel, and now there was a system? He couldn't help but wonder if he was hallucinating, but there was no way to confirm it.

Deciding to play along, Ji-hoon attempted to select the "Basic Profile" option, but his hand just went through it. Remembering what he had read in novels, he tried to click it with his mind, and to his amazement, it worked. Just by thinking about the option, he was able to activate it.

A new screen appeared before him, displaying updated values:

**USER PROFILE**

- Name: Ji-hoon

- Race: Human (Earth)

- Level: 1

- Tier: 1

**Stats**

- Strength: 1

- Agility: 1

- Endurance: 1

- Wisdom: 1

- Perception: 1

- Stat Points: 20

Ji-hoon's eyes widened as he examined the screen, trying to comprehend the significance of the information displayed before him. It felt surreal to see his own name listed as if he were a character in a video game. Everything on the page was easy to understand though, the interface said that he was tier 1, he wondered if there was a tier 0 as well, there probably were higher tiers as well.

The page also indicated that his race was human which was easy to understand but there was Earth in bracket, did that mean that there were other humans not from earth? Wait, did that mean that aliens were real? It seemed that the world was gaining more genres by the second.

Looking at his stats, he saw that they were all 1 and couldn't help but get confused, it didn't seem right, after all it didn't make sense for them to all be the same value but there wasn't anyone for him to explain to him, he remembered hearing a voice before passing out but the system seemed completely unresponsive now. He had already tried asking it some questions but the voice he heard earlier was completely gone it seemed.

Deciding to just ignore that and check the other options, he used his mind to navigate to the previous screen and selected the second option, "Skills". This time, the screen transitioned seamlessly, revealing an empty screen with no abilities.

** SKILLS **

Ji-hoon stared at the empty screen before trying to refresh it with his mind, he thought maybe the screen hadn't loaded up or something, but nothing changed, he didn't understand why the screen was empty afterall, he wouldn't say he was especially good or talented at anything but shouldn't basic skills like maybe cooking or cleaning be on the screen. This made him realize he probably couldn't apply all the knowledge from the webnovels he read to the system.

Going to the previous page once again, he decided to select the "notification" option this time. It had a red dot on top indicating that he had notifications, he had ignored it to explore the other options before but he didn't seem to have gained any understanding from the previous options so he might as well check the notifications he had.

Opening the notification screen, Ji-hoon saw that he had a lot of notifications.

** NOTIFICATIONS **

'Requirements met for integration, system activation in process.'

'Integration process begins.'

'User physique does not meet requirements.'

'Changing physique to meet requirements for transformation into tier 1.'

'Physique enchantment process completed.'

'Testing user's mental capabilities.'

'Mental capabilities meets requirements, beginning test of soul power.'

'Requirements met, Tier enhancement beginning.'

'All stats set to minimum for Tier 1, Enhancement process complete.'

'User meets requirements for a title, System looking through records for title requirement met.'

'User is one of the first ten on his planet to meet requirements for integration, Title "Pioneer" acquired.'

'User is one of the first three to kill a special infected on their own to meets integration requirement, Title "Paragon" acquired.'

'Title distribution complete, Integration complete. User is advised to check the archives to gain an understanding of the system and titles.'

That was the end of the notifications and as Ji-hoon finished reading through them, he finally understood somethings. It seemed that both his physique and mental capabilities were enhanced to become a tier 1 and that was probably why he felt so good and wasn't riddled with injuries at the moment.

Apart from that, he finally understood why all his stats were 1, it seemed that was the minimum for his tier and the system had increased his stats to meet the minimum requirements. He couldn't help but wonder how low it was before and how much stronger he was now since he had gotten enhanced.

There was also the mention of soul power, he wondered what that meant and how it was tested. Finally there was the titles he had gained. The first was Pioneer which he got for being one to the first ten to meet requirements for integration. He couldn't but wonder what the requirements were. The system had appeared after he killed that monster but the second title's requirement was to kill a special infected alone to meet integration requirement so did that mean, if he hadn't killed the monster alone, he wouldn't have gotten the "Paragon" title at all or he wouldn't even have been met the requirements for integration? The other people that met the requirements for integration then, were the people that killed special infected with others or they met another requirement?

Ji-hoon couldn't confirm any of this at the moment so he decided to just leave that for now and check out the archive for more Information but he was interrupted by someone suddenly opening the door to the room he was in. Soo Won walked in and noticed that he was awake.

"Hey, you're awake!" Soo Won exclaimed, relief evident in her voice as she approached Ji-hoon's bedside. "How are you feeling?"

Ji-hoon managed a faint smile. "Better, I think. What about the others?? " he asked.

"They're all safe," Soo Won reassured him, her voice tinged with relief. "We managed to escape the camp before the explosion. Everyone's accounted for."

Ji-hoon let out a sigh of relief, grateful that his friends were unharmed. "That's good to hear. What happened after I... blacked out?"

Soo Won's expression grew somber as she recounted the events that transpired after Ji-hoon lost consciousness. She described how they found him amidst the wreckage, with bruises all over his body, and brought him to safety.

'The System must have not healed me at that time then. It would be easier to explain the system to the others then when they see that I'm completely healed' Ji-hoon thought.

"Can you see anything in front of me?" Ji-hoon asked Soo Won after calling out the system screen. He wanted to test if others could see his screen. He already planned to tell the others, it seemed that the system was something that was available for everyone as long as they met the requirements so he planned to help the others meet the requirements as well.

"What do you mean? There's nothing in front of you," Soo Won replied, her tone puzzled.

"You can't see it then," Ji-hoon said with a sigh. "I guess I'll have to explain without it."

"See what?" Soo Won asked, confusion evident on her face. "There's nothing there."