Chapter 83
The apocalypse that began one day without warning took many things away.
The very first thing the apocalypse took was the ordinary everyday life that no one had ever considered precious.
“Assistant Manager Baek, sort through the merchandise drafts we're sending to our partners by three and pass them along.”
“Yes, Team Leader. I've finished organizing them into folders by client and uploaded them to your email ten minutes ago with the 3D-rendered drafts attached. I'll send them out as soon as you approve them.”
“...Already? Wow, you're fast.”
“And I adjusted the rabbit key-ring design that was rejected last time to fit the unit cost, then made two additional proposals and left them on your desk.”
Without even taking her eyes off the monitor, Eunwol tapped away at the keyboard and answered matter-of-factly, making her team leader click his tongue in admiration.
“Damn, our Assistant Manager Baek is really sharp when it comes to work. There's nothing she can't do.”
The team leader smiled in satisfaction, then turned his head and looked at the man beyond the partition.
“Hey, Staffer Ha Do-jin.”
“Yes... Yes, sir...”
“You should learn from Assistant Manager Baek, you punk. You joined on the same day, but look at the difference. Huh? Are you still clinging to the unit-price table I gave you yesterday?”
“I'll, I'll do better.”
Ha Do-jin answered while awkwardly scratching his head.
The instant the team leader disappeared, he rolled his chair over to Eunwol.
“Baek Eunwol... No, Assistant Manager Baek. This keeps showing an error...”
“...A large iced Americano. Add a shot.”
“Deal.”
Contrary to her expressionless exterior, the monitor before her was neatly surrounded by cute animal key rings and plush dolls she had planned and designed herself.
Eunwol loved that kind of everyday life.
She got along well with her coworkers, and more than anything else—
“...It's fun.”
The simple routine of managing the online community she enjoyed after work and bringing her day to a close was precious to her.
But.
Her everyday life collapsed three days after something was said to have begun in Seoul.
[Emergency Disaster Alert]
Numerous reports have been received of unidentified aberrant entities and people exhibiting abnormal behavior in areas where the ground has collapsed.
There is a risk of infection, so citizens must never make contact if they encounter them...
Even then, K-workers in other regions were still going to work as usual.
They had not completely lost contact yet, and regarded it merely as a major accident that had occurred in another region.
“Hey, did you see the news? They say all of Seoul has completely lost contact.”
“There must have been some kind of riot. But why are we still coming to work as usual?”
“Exactly. But why hasn't the team leader come in? Were they stopped on the way here?”
Ha Do-jin and his coworkers were gathered near the break room, whispering among themselves, when—
Clunk-
“...Huh? Team Leader...?”
The team leader staggered through the open office door.
But he was not normal.
His shirt was soaked red, and blood was pouring from the back of his neck, where something had bitten him.
“T-Team Leader! Blood... There's blood!”
“Are you all right?!”
The startled coworkers hurried toward him, and at that moment—
- Kieeeeeeeee
The team leader bit into the neck of the coworker who approached him first.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!!”
“T-Team Leader's gone crazy!!!”
“Help me!! Aaaaaagh!!”
The office turned into chaos in an instant.
“...What the hell is that?!”
It was no different outside the window.
Things that were not human ran across the asphalt road, tearing people apart and eating them alive.
In that brief moment when everyone froze in a daze.
The first person to assess the situation and move was Eunwol.
Crash!!
Eunwol brought an office computer down mercilessly on the team leader's head.
Gurgle.
As the team leader, his neck twisted, went rolling across the floor, she shouted.
“Hey! Block the office door!!!”
“Huh, uh...?”
Ha Do-jin had collapsed behind the partition, paralyzed with fear.
Wiping the blood from her face, Eunwol shouted once more.
“Get a grip! Ha Do-jin! Block the door right now!!!”
****
The following day.
They did not simply hide in the office.
“Assistant Manager Baek!! Are you crazy? There are monsters swarming outside!!”
“Are you planning to leave everyone to die? Don't lock the door when I come back.”
Under Eunwol's leadership, they rescued everyone in danger indiscriminately and brought them into the office.
As a result, the office became even more crowded than it had been before the apocalypse began, filled with the people Eunwol had saved.
Five days passed like that.
The people, including Eunwol, began awakening one after another.
Ding-!
[You have fulfilled the conditions for awakening]
[Condition: Survive for a total of five days inside the Red Zone]
[Difficulty: Hard]
[A legendary-grade trait will be granted in proportion to the difficulty!]
[You have awakened as one chosen by the System > Administrator (JUDDAK)]
[Name: Baek Eunwol]
[Administrator: You manage the Gallery and everything]
“Administrator...”
Along with the awakening notification, a name tag naturally appeared in her hand.
[Administrator: Seoul]
“...What is this.”
As Eunwol examined the name tag given to her by the System.
Her fellow new hire, Ha Do-jin, had also awakened and spoke to her in an excited voice.
“Hey! Eunwol! Beams are shooting from my eyes!!”
“What?”
“I think I can even fly...? Isn't this awesome?”
“It is pretty awesome.”
Of course, at first they did nothing but make silly jokes.
But after their awakenings, gathering people and rescuing them became vastly easier.
In just ten days, they had created a fairly large group of survivors.
They learned later that they were the only ones to create a survivor group of that size in the Red Zone.
And the person who naturally became the leader of that group was—
“Boss, what are we doing today?”
“Today, let's check out the supermarket three blocks away. Squad One, control the zombies at the entrance. Squad Two, sweep up drinking water and canned food. Ha Do-jin, keep track of the zombies' movements from above and report them to me immediately.”
“Got it.”
Administrator Baek Eunwol.
On the thirteenth day since they had begun surviving like that.
Crackle-!
- The provisional government...
They were listening to a radio, one of the supplies they had scavenged.
“They say there's a provisional government!!”
- Hunter recruitment is ongoing. Anyone who is an Awakener may...
“H-Hunter...?”
“Can't we do this too? We awakened!”
Everyone was looking at Eunwol.
“...We can't stay here forever, so let's pick a day and head down.”
“Sounds good, Boss.”
“I hear Yongin is safe.”
As the group members chattered excitedly, filled with hope.
“...”
Eunwol was quietly staring at an unknown System window floating in the air.
[Time remaining until the Red Zone's regular update: 15 days 13 hours]
She was deep in thought, wondering what that ominous countdown meant, when—
Kwoooom-!
A thunderous boom suddenly rang out from outside the company.
“...What was that!”
“Huh?”
The survivors, including Eunwol, rushed to the windows and looked outside, and exclamations escaped the mouths of those who witnessed the sight.
“W-What is that...?”
A group of mutants on the street was being slaughtered wholesale, clearing a path.
A group of people in suits walked out through that path at a leisurely pace.
Before long, they arrived at the office where Eunwol and the others were.
“...You said your name was Baek Eunwol? Are you the leader of this group?”
“Why do you ask?”
The middle-aged man at the head of the group in suits spoke to Eunwol.
“It seems you are the administrator of the Capital Area. Good. Why don't you join us?”
The man introduced himself as Director Jeong Myeong-hak and explained that in other dangerous regions, the Gallery function had been activated and was being used by survivors.
He said that in their region, only Eunwol could manage it.
“Why don't you and the entire group you're leading become Hunters?”
He proposed that they rebuild the world together.
In the name of the Control Bureau, an organization established by the provisional government to respond to the nationwide crisis.
Eunwol's answer to the proposal was simple.
“Give me team leader status. I'll personally take responsibility for my people.”
“Agreed.”
****
Thus, Eunwol and Do-jin joined the Control Bureau.
And so did the survivors she had led.
“Wow! Look at this name tag! Your name tag, Eunwol!!”
“...It is pretty cool.”
“There's even a ranking! They say they'll update it later!!”
At first, everyone was encouraged.
Communication between regions had not yet been cut off, and the Control Bureau branches in other regions were still functioning normally.
“Is this that SSS-rank Hunter thing you only see in web novels?”
“...Be quiet.”
“We're going to get paid a billion won a year too. That's the cliché.”
“Huh? A billion won a year?”
“I couldn't even dream of that when I was a salaried worker...”
So they began their lives as Hunters with hope in their hearts.
*
*
*
The top priority established by the Capital Area Control Bureau was recovery.
They wanted to reclaim Seoul, the source of the apocalypse, before the situation spiraled completely out of control.
They thought it would be more than possible at the time if they combined the firepower of the Awakeners with the remaining military forces.
Thus, Hunters were deployed to the Red Zone, the dangerous region closest to Seoul.
But reality was cruel.
“...”
“...What is that mutant...? It's not one we've seen before.”
“...I don't know either... Be careful.”
New mutants appeared in the Red Zone every day, evolving as they did so.
“Aaaaaagh! S-Save me!! Please!!!”
“...Retreat for now!”
Even Hunters, the strongest Awakeners, were ground down like expendable tools before those mutants.
“...How many died today?”
“Ten went in, and five died.”
“...Will it be my turn tomorrow?”
“...”
When there was no sign of the situation improving, the Control Bureau revised its top priority.
Dangerous regions throughout the country, not just Seoul where the apocalypse had first begun, contained sinkholes from which mutants crawled up.
They discovered that if they physically destroyed or filled them in, they could turn the area into a White Zone where mutants did not appear.
But even for the Capital Area Control Bureau, which had concentrated the strongest Awakeners there, the task was by no means easy.
“...Fuck.”
“It never ends. Seriously.”
Dozens of Hunters had to risk their lives to seal a single sinkhole.
And clearing the entire dangerous region required repeating that process countless times.
Manpower dwindled further and further. The number of infected rose uncontrollably.
The boundaries of the safe zones began to collapse.
And what drove the Hunters craziest in this situation was—
“You said you were Hunters!! Why aren't you saving my family!!!”
“What the hell are you doing besides putting on airs!!!”
The accusations hurled at them by people who saw no results from their efforts.
“...Fuck, this isn't how it's supposed to be.”
“We're just expendable tools too. We're no different from the soldiers.”
“What the fuck have those bastards done!!!”
“Why the hell should we save those bastards!!!”
The Hunters who had dreamed of becoming heroes gradually changed.
Their sense of duty wore away, and sacrifice curdled into resentment.
By the time they fully understood their helplessness—that they could not even completely clear a single Yellow Zone with their own strength.
“...Fuck, what is this?”
“Why... can't we contact them at all?”
A blank zone appeared.
“We can't contact the other regions...?”
“What do you mean, we can't even move physically when it's not just the radio that's down...!!!”
The regions became isolated from one another.
Even then, more than half of the members of Eunwol's team were still alive.
In a Control Bureau where reports of total annihilation came in almost every day, theirs was practically the only team with such a survival rate.
That was all thanks to Eunwol.
She was the one who rescued her teammates at the most dangerous moments, and the one who fought at the very front of every battle.
But.
“We can't go on any longer.”
The leadership saw things differently.
“The people out there have no chance.”
Director Jeong Myeong-hak, seated in the place of honor, spoke with a stiff expression.
He looked much older than when Eunwol had first met him.
“My final conclusion is that our current forces cannot resolve this crisis in its entirety.”
The direction of the meeting was clear.
They would gather only the strongest people with potential, clear the parts of the Green Zone where the infrastructure was still mostly intact, and abandon the rest.
It might have been less disgusting if they had simply been honest and said they were running away.
“My ability has entered its next stage.”
The director said this as he poured mana stones onto the table.
“I can now turn back the time of a designated space.”
Everyone knew where those mana stones had come from.
They had been forcibly collected from other survivors.
“If I push my quests further, I may eventually be able to completely turn back the crisis itself.”
“...”
“So for now, we should make sure we survive first. Once time is turned back, the mana stones can be used again. I'll invest in each of you in turn.”
At that moment, someone cautiously spoke up.
“Then... what will happen to the people living in the spaces we clear?”
Jeong Myeong-hak answered the question without changing his expression.
“I'll absorb them.”
“...!”
“Wouldn't it be rational to use people who are going to die anyway as fuel for my ability?”
“...”
The meeting room fell silent at those words.
And it was Eunwol who broke that silence.
“That's absurd.”
Eunwol stepped forward and opposed him.
“What about everyone else? The moment we give up, the people holding out outside will lose their last real hope.”
“...”
“My team members would surely think the same—”
Eunwol turned to speak to the teammates standing behind her, but they were avoiding her gaze and anxiously watching the situation.
“...Team Leader, I'm sorry. I want to live too.”
“I regret becoming a Hunter...”
“I'm done. I agree.”
“...Are you serious?”
As the team members turned their backs on her one by one, it was Ha Do-jin who delivered the final blow.
“I agree too.”
He continued in a blunt tone.
“Those bug-like bastards aren't even worth saving.”
Eunwol let out a hollow laugh at those words.
“Ha. This is interesting.”
“What's so funny?”
“Where did the guy who whined because he couldn't even use Excel on his first day go?”
“What?”
“I taught you enough to function like a person, and now you think you don't have to answer to anyone?”
“Baek Eunwol...!!”
Ha Do-jin's face flushed.
Zzeeeung-!
His eyes flashed bright red, and a status window appeared in Eunwol's vision at the same time.
“...You've looked down on me all this time...!!!!”
Ding-!
[Ha Do-jin has designated you and activated the unique skill Duelist]
“I'm not the same person I was back then!!! I'll kill you!”
Ha Do-jin charged at her, radiating killing intent.
Eunwol calmly extended a hand.
“Eject.”
One second.
That was how long it took the fight to end.
"...Ugh."
“You cowardly bastards. Aren't you ashamed?”
Eunwol looked back and forth between Ha Do-jin sprawled on the floor and the silent meeting room, then spoke.
“Baek Eunwol... Do you truly have no regrets?”
“I can't take on all of you. But I have to say this.”
“...”
“This choice is wrong. And you people are the kind who would never step forward, even if you were ready.”
Then she roughly tore the name tag from her chest and continued.
“Do well among yourselves.”
Clink-
[Hunter Baek Eunwol]
[Ranking – 3rd]
As Eunwol left the meeting room, Ha Do-jin called after her with one last sentence.
“...They won't recognize your devotion, Baek Eunwol... They'll take it for granted.”
“...”
“You're making a meaningless sacrifice... You'll die alone and lonely, without even the comrades who follow you...!!!”
Eunwol answered him as though it were only natural.
“...It's fine.”
“...What?”
As she left the meeting room, Eunwol left behind only one sentence.
“Because that's my job.”
*
*
*
And so, back at the penthouse.
“...It's over, it's over.”
“The System helped us...!”
It was while everyone was sighing in relief.
Eunwol stood before Ha Do-jin's cold corpse and Jeong Myeong-hak, whose body had turned to ash and scattered.
“...You'll die alone and lonely, without even comrades...”
She opened her Gallery.
- [Shop Wiki]: Apparently, the old man is dead...
- [Jobless Troublemaker]: “Good dino.”
- [Healer Union]: “Good dino.”
- [Shop Wiki]: I agree with that statement...
The first things to catch her eye were, as always, the assistant moderators all talking over one another.
“Pfft.”
And the woman who had helped and respected her.
“Thank you, Speedrun... Huh, where did she go?”
“She disappeared immediately...”
“...”
Though they made a cacophony worthy of a perfect score of one hundred, Eunwol's heart felt much lighter.
All of them had done a splendid job in her place.
Yes, they could be called her comrades. The day she could tell them that directly would never come.
“...That no one would recognize me and I would die alone and lonely.”
She spoke to every Hunter who had turned to ash.
“...You were wrong.”
****
At the same time. Near the penthouse.
“I-Is it all right now...?”
“It stopped!”
The hundreds of Stalkers who had joined the battle alongside the guild members were catching their breath and taking stock of the situation inside the expanded System structures.
The moment the area Jeong Myeong-hak had chosen was covered by the System's structures, his curse disappeared.
“T-The System protected us...!!”
“W-Was it really watching over us from somewhere?!”
Just as they breathed sighs of relief at the realization that the System had kept them safe.
Fwoosh-!
The System structures surrounding them soon dispersed and vanished like a mirage.
“Ah...”
“...”
And what unfolded before the eyes of the Stalkers who emerged outside once more was an unbelievable sight.
The entire city.
The entire small city was literally collapsing.
Fsssss-!
Some buildings became a handful of ash and scattered in the wind, as though they had never existed in the first place.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-!
Other apartment buildings began to crumble, as though they were only now accepting the sudden passage of time.
The asphalt roads that had seemed well maintained cracked, while cars parked to one side rusted in an instant.
At last, the city settled into its final form after all those changes had passed.
“...Nothing special.”
“Yeah... It's just the same.”
It was not much different from the safe zones outside the small city where the Stalkers had risked their lives to survive until now.
“...”
“...Damn.”
A sense of futility washed over the hundreds of Stalkers gathered in small groups and watching the scene unfold in real time.
Before long, they had fallen into deep thought.
“For something like this...”
“Seriously... Good grief.”
“Was this really worth fighting among ourselves over...?”
“Exactly. What was so special about that?”
Had they really needed to fight among themselves over something like this?
They had clearly once been on the same side. Surely they could have been on the same side this time too.
If they had made slightly different choices, perhaps they could have cleared up their deep misunderstandings and joined hands.
“...”
“...”
They had trusted them once.
There had been a time when they believed the Hunters would restore the ruined world.
There had been a time when they placed their hopes in them, believing they would rebuild the world.
But the result the survivors had to face was deeply ironic.
“...”
“It is a shame.”
The Stalkers had lowered the weapons they were holding for a moment and were wearing hollow smiles when—
Rumble-rumble...!
Even the penthouse where the people representing the Capital Area had gathered began to collapse.
“I-Is it all right...!”
“The guild masters are still in there!”
“The Head Mod is in there too!!!!”
The people gathered there were staring at the sight and crying out in concern when—
“!!”
“T-The System!!”
The System structure remained floating in the air where the penthouse had collapsed and everyone was watching.
Pat-pat-pat-!
The structure soon extended to the ground together with the grid patterns that appeared.
“...Is everyone all right?”
“Oh, Head Mod!”
“Everyone is safe!!!”
Eunwol emerged safely outside.
The Stalkers began cheering at the sight of her and the other high-ranking officers and guild masters.
Pop-!
Everyone returned safely, and the System structure vanished as though its work were done.
All that remained in its place was the rubble of the collapsed buildings.
But there was no longer any sense of futility in the eyes of the Stalkers watching the afterimage left behind as the System structure dispersed.
“...”
“...Yeah.”
Someone muttered quietly.
And everyone gathered there understood the meaning contained in that brief word.
Restoring and rebuilding the world was not something some other person they had placed their hopes in would do for them.
It was something entirely in the hands of the people who had survived.
The System had merely given them the minimum help necessary to keep them from collapsing.
It would not do everything they had to do for them.
“...We have to do it ourselves.”
“...We can.”
Everyone watching the scene realized it.
“...Hmm, I'm tired. Can we start tomorrow?”
“Hey, rookie, read the room.”
Of course, not all of them had realized it.
****
I Became an Apocalypse Building Master. -The End-
“You thought I was going to say that?”
Nope, not even close.
I was watching the Capital Area Survivors' Gallery, which was burning hot with excitement.
The old man is fucking dead!!!
ㄴ ? You mean he died...?
ㄴ Kyaa, this is it
The guild masters are returning now
ㄴ I'm heading back too
ㄴ Today was fucking exhausting ㅅㅂ
Those Hunter bastards were seriously strong;;
ㄴ No wonder they're called Hunters...
ㄴ For real
Who am I...?
ㄴ Hunter Killer Kim S-bung
ㄴ Isn't that just because of the System...?
ㄴ If the System hadn't helped, wouldn't this have been a massacre...?
ㄴ But using the System structures as walls...;;
ㄴ For real, that was some big-brain shit...
As though answering their cheers, a post from the Head Mod went up.
Title: [Head Mod] The Capital Area's restoration starts now
Good work, everyone. And I, the Head Mod...! I'm moved by all of you ㅇㅇ
That's all for now
?!
ㄴ No fucking way, that's it??
ㄴ Shouldn't there be something a little longer?
ㄴ Exactlyㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Damn, they said the Head Mod had been kidnapped, but she seems kind of friendly now
ㄴ For real, Head Mod, start moderating right away
ㄴ [Head Mod] Don't order me around
ㄴ Yes, ma'am
ㄴ Sorry
Hey, but this was fucking exhausting;;
ㄴ Good work, bros
ㄴ Let's rest for a while ㅇㅇ
ㄴ For real, let's rest and start scavenging againㅠ
The Head Mod returned immediately and put up a post as well.
“Wow! It worked out!!!”
But why is this Jobless Troublemaker bastard so smart...?
ㄴ For real, that tactic was insane;;
ㄴ If even the troll can do that, why can't Myeongbo...
ㄴ ?
ㄴ What are you talking about?
ㄴ Dunno?
ㄴ Hmm
Thus, the comment section heated up with me as the topic.
[Head Mod]: Good work, Jobless Troublemaker. You were extremely impressive this time ㅇㅇ
[Jobless Troublemaker]: Then send me a collab offer ㅇㅇ
[Head Mod]: ? That... isn't possible;;
[Jobless Troublemaker]: Tsk, it's the unwritten rule for the Head Mod to send me a collab offer;;
[Jobless Troublemaker]: What is our Head Mod doing?
[Head Mod]: I want to do that too ㅅㅂ
[Shop Wiki]: Head Mod, what are we going to do with that place where the Hunters disappeared?
[Head Mod]: Of course we have to think about it... But for now, resting comes first
[Head Mod]: Everyone... you've worked hard... ㅇㅇ
[Healer Union]: “Then give us cola.”
[Shop Wiki]: “Then give us cola.”
[Speedrun]: “Then give us cola.”
[Head Mod]: ;;
For now, I had to think about what to do with that Green Zone where the Hunters had disappeared.
“But before that!”
I looked at the Gallery, then turned my gaze to the status window.
[Building Master Main Quest 11: Copy a total of 200 tiles]
[Current: 200 / 200]
[Reward: ???]
This time, I had completed the quest while playing the role of a combat Building Master!
So!!
“Give me my reward!!!”
I had already completed the quest, after all.
[Reward will now be distributed]
[Building Master's privilege will be granted]
[Reward: The authority to designate and own an entire floor of your choice within the blueprint]
[Uses 0/2]
The second floor? Fuck, are you giving me the chance to own an entire second floor, System-yogurt?
And with the maintenance fees waived?
“...This is it.”
Yeah. It was about time I took a shot.
“Keh-ge-ge-ge-ge-geok!!!! Yeeeeeeeees!!!!”
I immediately shouted at Jomssaem outside the window.
“Camera director! Grab the camera!!!!!”
This time, let's go with a long take!
Grrrrrrr-! Grrk-!
“Wait for me!! New floors!!!!!!!!!!”
Let the apocalypse be fun and exciting!