Shelter

KABOOM!

Fire rained down from the sky.

"Aaargh!"

On the ground, explosions boomed and screams rose in a clamor.

In the final battlefield of the trial, filled with acrid smoke and the smell of roasting flesh.

"Run, goddammit!"

"The moment you stop, you're dead!"

The thought that I wanted to start everything over surely meant I'd gone mad, or that the blazing flames had cooked my brain.

…Yeah, otherwise, why would I think about going through this horrifying moment again?

"Aah! It's hot! Please, someone help me…!"

I silently looked down at the people succumbing to the flames.

Suddenly, the prickling sensation spreading through my fingertips brought me to my senses.

'…….'

The sensations I'd lost were coming back one by one.

Conversely, the memories of what had passed began sinking back beneath the surface.

Like a film fading out at its climax to leave one final afterglow, the sounds and light were gradually growing faint.

'…….'

I took in the battlefield one last time.

The blazing earth, the people running across it, the shouts, the screams, and the thunderous explosions.

Though I would forget it for a while, I took in the sight I would soon face again, then quietly closed and reopened my eyes.

Soon, bright light enveloped my vision.

***

[You have successfully completed the tutorial.]

[A reward is being granted.]

[You have obtained 100 points.]

My vision brightened.

A familiar space. There was a bed, a mirror and a bathroom to the left, and a lone door leading outside on the other side.

The scene was unmistakably a motel.

The disposable amenities on one shelf and the coffeehouse advertisements added to the realism.

'It's a shelter.'

Shelter.

People called it by various names—rest area, lobby—but in the end, it meant a place prepared for rest.

'The tutorial was easy just now, but many of the trials ahead will require extended rest.'

Even severed arms and legs could be healed somehow, but the aftereffects remained in the body.

That required time.

So before moving on to the next trial, players were given a chance to rest and make preparations. That was what a shelter was for.

And the first shelter was important in many ways.

[Searching for the unique ability of player 'Kang Minjun'.]

Unique abilities.

In crude terms, they were innate talents that couldn't be learned with money or received from anyone else.

To cut to the chase, Shin Seoyeon and Song Hana became so successful for one simple reason: they received excellent [Unique Abilities].

'It was a troublesome system that judged potential engraved in the soul, meaning that once an ability was granted, it couldn't be changed no matter what happened.'

It was the very definition of absurdity and the pinnacle of unfairness.

Eighty percent of players were trapped by that framework of innate talent and couldn't overcome their limits.

And I was no different.

[You have acquired <Luck>.]

'Whew, just as I thought.'

I opened the skill window and once again looked at the ability I'd seen tens of thousands of times.

<Unique Ability>

Name : Luck

Grade : Epic

Description : Increases luck. Grants bonuses in various areas, such as enhancement rates, drop rates, critical hits, and evasion.

For the record, luck wasn't a stat shown in the status window.

I didn't know specifically how it worked.

'What a truly unintuitive ability.'

If it clearly showed how much of a benefit it gave—such as a 5% increase to drop rates or a 10% increase to evasion—then it would be easy to determine my worth.

But this damn Luck didn't even show up as a stat.

Was that why?

-Hey, buddy. Your ability might increase the drop rate by around 20%, but it could also increase it by just 1%. You can't exactly advertise yourself with that.

Thanks to that vague unique ability, I had to suffer all kinds of hardships whenever I put together a team to clear a trial.

It couldn't be helped. Among the survivors who made it through these damn trials, it was hard to find anyone overflowing with consideration for others.

Even children betrayed people and committed murder as easily as they ate, while mothers selling their own children was an everyday occurrence. It was a fucking world where a seventy-year-old geezer would charge at a girl younger than his granddaughter with his cock erect, saying he intended to rape her.

'No wonder Song Hana became the Saint.'

So what could I do? Since people were constantly lowballing my worth, I had no choice but to put up with it.

Even so, I rather liked my ability.

'Maybe it was thanks to this ability.'

After passing through countless battlefields and even surviving the final trial, the only one left alive was me.

Even those vaunted S-ranks were all dead, and more than four billion people had vanished into the vortex of the netherworld.

I alone had survived.

It was luck so unbelievably extreme that it could only be called insane.

'Yeah, otherwise, there was no explanation.'

Even if I'd raised my Agility until my evasion was absurdly high, I couldn't dodge every one of the tens of thousands of spells raining down from the sky like a torrential downpour.

Maybe I'd received help from that ability called Luck.

'Anyway, my unique ability hasn't changed.'

Relieved that the future hadn't changed but disappointed as well, I let out a snort.

[An additional perk has been updated.]

['Kang Minjun' has been granted 'Resident Privilege'.]

Huh?

[The <All-Seeing Eye> service will remain active until the trial ends.]

A section called 'Resident Privilege' was then added to my status window.

I opened a tab I'd never once seen in the past ten years, and related information appeared in full.

<Resident Privilege>

Name : All-Seeing Eye

Grade : Mythic

Description : Allows you to view information about other creatures.

'Huh?'

I stared blankly into the air, too dumbfounded to react.

'Other people's information cannot be viewed during the selection process.'

Of course, abilities that allowed people to peek did exist, but those too were unique abilities, so it was normally impossible.

That was why scams and crimes exploiting that fact were so rampant….

'This is insane. They're giving me something this good?'

But it was too soon to be surprised.

[The <Inventory> service has been activated.]

[You have been granted 1,000 points as an initial allowance.]

[The allowance can be received anew each time you arrive at a new shelter.]

The ten inventory slots that no other refugee had would have been a huge privilege by themselves, but they were also giving me an additional allowance every time I arrived at a shelter?

'Aren't they treating me way too much like a resident?'

But as if it still wasn't over, notifications began exploding one after another.

[Various services available in the shelter have been unlocked.]

[The hidden functions of the Weapon Shop have been unlocked.]

[The hidden functions of the Armor Shop have….]

.

.

.

Dozens of notifications cascaded down, and I could only stare blankly at them.

"Uh, uh?"

I'd never heard or seen anything like this. No, was this… really okay?

Even then, the notifications continued piling up.

[A gift has arrived.]

Then, at some point, everything abruptly stopped. A gift box suddenly appeared in the air with a pop, bounced off my hand, and rolled across the bed.

[Event Prize]

[When the box is opened, you can receive one additional <Unique Ability>.]

[Opening the box!]

Without even asking what I wanted, the gift box shook on its own and threw off its wrapping, causing a notification to pop up before my eyes.

[You have acquired <Bond>.]

I stared blankly at the countless updated notifications before me for a long while, then belatedly shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Hey, what the hell! What am I supposed to do when you dump all this on me out of nowhere?"

This seriously reminds me of some RPG game!

Don't they know that showering a newbie with this much from the very start creates a steep barrier to entry?

And reading all these explanations is such a pain!

'…Whew, still, I'll let it slide since they gave me so much.'

[From now on, you may move to the next region at any time. Build up your stamina and make thorough preparations before undertaking the trial. Best of luck.]

After that, no more notifications appeared.

I wanted to inspect everything I'd received one by one, but I couldn't leave our Saint, who couldn't refuse anyone, all alone, so I immediately left the lodging.

***

The shelter was a peculiar place.

The lodging had a modern interior, but the moment you stepped outside, the medieval era unfolded before you.

After leaving the lodging and standing in front of the building, I saw a cityscape as clean as if it had just been washed by rain.

The broad stone pavement was smooth and glossy, as if it had been polished for ages, and I felt a firm sensation beneath my feet with every step.

Medieval-style shops stood in rows on both sides, and whenever the wind blew, the smell of freshly baked bread tickled my nose.

Every now and then, I also caught the smell of boiled meat.

People were walking through the streets as well.

'There are remarkably few people.'

A vanishingly small number compared to the size of the city.

I wondered why for a moment, but soon understood.

'Come to think of it, I stayed put until the tutorial disappeared. In effect, I'm a latecomer now.'

By now, ten days had already passed, and many people must have moved on to undertake the next trial.

I looked around. It seemed the Saint hadn't come out yet. With no other choice, I sat in front of the inn and checked each person who appeared from thin air, gliding into existence like a ghost.

'Everything in the shelter exists outside the physical laws we know.'

The inside and outside of each building were entirely separate dimensions, and without permission, no one could enter a dimension someone else was using.

Perhaps it was the Creator's consideration for humanity, whose distrust of its own kind would reach its limit through the trials, allowing them to rest properly at least while they were resting.

'That modern-feeling motel must be an extension of the same principle.'

Just then, a familiar silhouette appeared in the air.

A ditzy-looking woman in office attire appeared, her enormous rack obvious at a glance, looking around in confusion.

"Uh, uh? Where is this?"

"What? You dropped straight into a motel, and now you're confused because you've landed in some European tourist destination?"

"Ah!"

Hearing my voice, Song Hana lowered her gaze, approached me, and pressed herself right up against me with a relieved expression.

It seemed that spending ten days together had made her comfortable at my side.

"You washed up."

"Yes. I was sweating a lot."

So that's why she smelled so nice.

"Did you wait long for me?"

"A little."

"Oh, sorry. Then go wash up now. I'll wait for you too."

The Saint snorted and put on an eager expression.

I laughed. What was there to get so excited about just because she had to wait?

"Let's move on."

"Huh? You don't need to wash up?"

It hadn't even been long since she appeared, yet people were already looking over from every direction. Most of their eyes were glued to her large breasts.

How could I leave her alone like that?

"I'll wash later. Let's eat first."

"Ah, yes, yes!"

I dug through a very distant memory as I walked ahead.

Even though this was my second time through, I'd only stopped here once before and passed through, so I didn't remember what was located where.

I was merely dredging up one submerged memory at a time as I walked, thinking, 'Oh, there was a shop here, wasn't there?'

Song Hana, sticking close to my side and looking around, spoke.

"But I guess only Koreans are here."

"It seems so."

There might have been a foreigner or two among them, but the odds were low.

When people registered for the selection process, those from the same region were grouped together first. For example, Gangnam residents were, in most cases, grouped with other Gangnam residents.

'They merge into larger groups one by one as the trials proceed.'

They merged once during one trial, then merged again during the next one….

Just as tiny streams join to form a mountain stream, which then becomes a river and flows into the sea, the participants in the trials gradually merged together as well.

'So I won't see foreigners much for a while.'

Conversely, it was common to run into people you knew.

'That aside.'

As I walked down the middle of the street with Song Hana, I narrowed my eyes.

'Maybe it's because we're near the end. The quality has really dropped.'

There were people leaning against walls along the street, watching passersby closely.

When those greedy eyes spotted us, they lit up like a hyena that had found its prey.

Swish.

People approached. But when I picked up the bloodstained axe strapped to my thigh, they leaned back against the building walls and avoided my eyes.

"Huh? What's wrong, Minjun?"

I smiled at the Saint, who asked brightly without knowing anything.

"Nothing. I thought I recognized someone, so I took a quick look."

"Hee. I see."

Taking my words at face value, Song Hana once again looked around with curious eyes.

'I really like how our Saint has her head in the clouds.'

Though I supposed that was both a weakness and a strength.

It could be frustrating, but having someone like this beside me paradoxically felt healing.

She had a purity I could no longer possess now that I had fallen.

'Hmm, still, she's way too excited, like we've come out for an outing.'

Seeing the Saint smiling brightly, I felt mischievous for no reason, raised a finger, and pressed down on her nipple.

"Huh?"

The Saint, whose nipple I'd poked in full view of everyone, immediately turned beet red and fell silent.

She stuck close to my side, head lowered, and followed along.

'She's really cute.'