Chapter 1
That was the na of a new ga scheduled for release this year.
It used the familiar zombie apocalypse genre, yet it had the unusual twist of not using the modern world as its setting.
‘This ga is not easy.’
The background of THE Survival was an academy.
It was the common setup of a world where people learned swords and magic, blending dieval and fantasy elents.
But once a character is created, it can never attend a single proper lecture.
The fresh everyday life of school days was also nothing more than an illusion.
For unknown reasons, the world had transford into a place swarming with zombies, and the academy was no longer safe.
It was a paranormal phenonon that could not be explained by magic or alchemy.
The academy had changed from a place of education into a hideout for survival.
There was no information about the zombies.
Although they were familiar monsters in the modern world, inside the ga they were naless creatures without an official designation.
No one knew their weaknesses or what variants existed.
No one knew what must be done in order to survive.
Discovering those answers and conquering them was both the role and the skill of the player.
On the first run, I survived fifteen days.
On the second run, one month.
On the third run, two months.
With each playthrough, the survival ti increased, and I achieved the highest record among the participating users.
Yet in the end, he still failed to clear it.
“Hm?”
One day, I managed to get in touch with the person known only through rumors, the administrator.
-Next ti is the final test. How long do you think you can last?
Instead of asking what I thought about the ga, he sent a strange question.
-I am not sure, I plan to do my best though.
-That kind of mindset will not do. Next ti, aim to survive until the end.
-Are you talking about clearing it? Is that really necessary?
-It is.
His firm answer made tilt my head.
-With a half hearted attitude, you will have a hard ti surviving your next attempt.
-Do you an the ga is going to get harder? The balance is already a ss.
-Not really in the way you think, but it’ll be harder for sure.
-Then at least give the player so favorable conditions. That way it feels worth attempting.
-For example?
-Give us a patch where we can choose our own personality traits.
I did not have much hope.
It was a demand thrown out in irritation.
A character’s personality was a crucial elent when playing the ga.
If the character’s personality had too many issues, it constantly triggered debuffs.
With enough debuffs, the character self hard, went insane, or fell into depression.
-State the personality traits you want.
I was startled.
Contrary to my expectations, he did not refuse.
-[Steady Nerves] [Cool] [Clever] [Patience] I think even just those would be enough.
I had wanted more, but anything beyond that would be excessive.
No, it already felt too generous.
There was nothing more broken in a horror ga than a personality that did not feel fear.
-I will see what I can find.
It was an ominous answer.
He had not said he would create or add them, but that he would look for them.
Did that an he would search among characters that already existed?
-Is that all you need?
-If possible, I would also like a character who can use healing magic. According to in ga research, there is a holy attribute among magic types, although none of the playable characters have it.
In THE Survival, you began as either a trainee knight or a trainee mage.
I had played both sides to the point of exhaustion.
But among mages, there was still one attribute I had never experienced.
The holy attribute.
An attribute focused on protection and healing.
-All right. I will grant both conditions.
Surprisingly, he did not refuse.
My heart began to race.
-Then this ti, I hope you see you survive all the way to the end.
Naively, I thought that “survive” referred only to the ga.
That was all the conversation I had with the person in charge.
Later that day, I returned ho from work and fell asleep.
Only then did I realize what the administrator had truly ant.
* * *
‘How many hours have passed?’
Kang Minhyeok watched the second hand sweep across the clock on the wall.
An hour had passed since he woke up.
For so, that might have been enough ti. For him, it was nowhere near enough to accept the situation.
Where had it gone wrong?
He rembered finishing the ga, lying down on his bed, and passing out imdiately.
That was all he had done the previous night.
When he opened his eyes, he was not on his sofa, but slumped against a wall.
And in a body that did not belong to Kang Minhyeok, but soone else’s.
‘This is possession, right?’
Everyone imagines it at least once.
Being possessed into a ga or novel and enjoying a fantasy life.
Learning swords and magic.
Forming relationships with dragons and fairies.
Later being called a Sword Saint or a Sage and living proudly.
Kang Minhyeok.
He had also thought that possession was one shortcut to happiness.
‘... But of all the gas in the world, why did it have to be this one.’
This was the worst kind of possession.
Despite countless attempts, he had failed to clear this ga.
THE Survival.
A predetermined death awaited him in the future.
To make things worse, the character he possessed was one he had never played before.
He pinched his cheek hard.
The more he did, the more vivid the reality beca.
‘Guess I’ll move.’
He could not sit still forever.
If this really was the ga he knew, then acting quickly would be best.
The starting point in this ga was random.
Landing in an area rich in supplies or densely populated was rare.
There was no tutorial, so players had to adapt to the environnt on their own.
He stood up and stepped in front of the mirror on the wall.
The appearance of the character was great.
The build was also reasonably solid.
‘If this were a dating simulator, this face would be useful, although here it does not matter at all.’
THE Survival was a horror survival adventure.
A simple change in genre reshuffled what mattered most.
He closed his eyes.
Blue light gathered in the darkness of his vision and reshaped itself into words.
They displayed the character’s background and abilities.
Joshua Pallarion.
He was the eldest son of a fallen family.
Neither noble nor commoner, he occupied an ambiguous status.
In the social battlefield of the academy, he did not belong to any group.
If he at least had a good reputation, he might have made a friend or two.
During his ti at the academy, he had only displayed laziness.
‘A natural slacker huh.’
He skipped classes easily and treated school rules as a joke.
His grades were terrible too.
He may have been in fifth grade, but in terms of class level, he was at the very bottom, a Novice.
He had never wanted to enroll in the first place, so his neglect of studies was a result of his rebellion.
‘His background is a ss.’
Even in this world, a strong background was helpful.
Unfortunately, Joshua’s background was not.
Next, he needed to examine the abilities needed for survival.
‘His status is worse than I expected.’
[Na: Joshua Pallarion]
[Fifth Year Student (18) - Novice]
[Latent Ability - Undiscovered]
[Personality Traits - Steady Nerves, Cool, Clever, Patience, Loner, Nocturnal]
[Acquired Traits - Undiscovered]
[Coins - 0]
[Originality LV1 - Holy Magic]
[Stamina: 10]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 10]
[Mana: 150]
[Holy Power: 1,000]
It was clear how lazy he had been judging from the status screen.
All three stats except mana were below average.
‘Even for a mage, the academy entrance exam should have included physical tests, so how did he pass?’
The status screen raised questions.
At least the high mana was a relief.
And there was the bloodline.
The holy attribute.
Joshua possessed the very attribute Minhyeok had asked the administrator for.
[Originality LV1 - Holy Magic]
[Holy Power - 1,000]
Every character had a unique Originality.
Holy power was a kind of mana used for miracles, passed only through blood.
His Originality level was currently one.
If this character functioned like the others, the range of what he could do would grow as the level increased.
[Steady Nerves] [Cool] [Clever] [Patience] [Loner] [Nocturnal]
Six traits in total.
This placed him among the top tier of characters.
Four were first tier traits and two were second tier.
So of these were traits Minhyeok had requested directly.
‘...So this is really the administrator’s doing?’
It felt as though a ghost had taken hold of him.
Had the administrator forcefully inserted traits that Joshua never originally had.
Or had these traits been latent all along.
The situation was confusing, yet thanks to [Cool], his thoughts cooled quickly.
‘First, I need to assess my surroundings.’
I stood up.
Then I walked to the window and looked outside.
It was so quiet it felt eerie.
There were no students or professors in sight. Instead, I saw other beings.
Clouded eyes and decaying flesh.
They wandered the streets in tattered clothing while letting out grotesque moans.
“I never thought I would see those things with my own eyes.”
Zombies.
According to the setting, they did not yet have a na.
People often called them monsters or demons, and so called them death itself.
In just a month, they had devastated the kingdom.
Their numbers continued to grow relentlessly.
That dark tide had reached even the Royal Academy, and the students had been isolated for a month.
‘Most of the military forces are probably defending the capital.’
Expecting a rescue party would be unrealistic.
Even during gaplay, outside assistance was extrely rare.
‘Since it is dayti, things are quieter.’
I turned and decided to search the room.
Starting with the desk and bed, I rummaged through everything within sight.
Among the findings, only three items were useful.
A map of the building interior.
A cross used for channeling holy power.
A book about the god worshiped by the Pallarion family.
“Is there anything more?”
There was no water or food.
I now had a clear reason to leave and search elsewhere.
I unfolded the map.
Dormitory Building Four.
If mory served, this building housed the fifth year students.
‘By the book, staying here for a while is best.’
The Royal Academy grounds were enormous.
An entire estate that once belonged to a high noble had been converted into school facilities.
Even the dormitories alone numbered fifteen, with great distances between each.
“…Whew.”
I took a slow breath.
I felt out of place within myself.
The modern Kang Minhyeok would never have done these things so readily, yet here I was, doing it all without fear.
“Let’s think later, and move for now.”
I looked toward the window again.
The sunlit area had fallen under shadow at so point.
I went towards the door.
Before stepping out, I pressed my ear to it and listened carefully.
Wind slipped inside and swirled through the narrow space.
There were no zombie groans mixed in.
Creak.
I opened the door.
As expected, no zombies were in sight.
The scene before , however, made it clear what kind of world I stood in.
Floors stained with blood.
Broken windows.
A foul stench that stung my nose.
So room doors hung wide open.
“This really is the ga I played… Anyway.”
I felt that sothing was off.
In a place where anyone would shudder, my own heart remained calm.
This was the effect of my traits.
[Steady Nerves] [Cool] [Patience]
Each was powerful on its own, and together they amplified each other.
‘The real would have been on the floor trembling.’
I was playing a horror ga, yet I had beco soone who did not feel fear.
“This ability will be convenient in many ways.”
Every ti I had played THE Survival, I had suffered debuffs from fear.
Regardless of my will, my character froze.
“That will not happen anymore.”
Now I was able to control my emotions.
I stepped forward slowly.
My movents held no hesitation.
Even when the wind rattled the windows, my eyes remained steady.
“Huff, huff, help us!”
I heard soone crying out for help.
I moved to the window.
Through the glass, I saw a male student and a female student running toward the dormitory.
Zombies were chasing them from behind.
“…Please, anyone.”
The two looked exhausted.
Their pace slowed, and the girl collapsed in the end.
The boy refused to leave her.
He probably intended to carry her on his back, but that was a mistake.
Predators.
Zombies did not tire.
Driven solely by hunger, the creatures closed in on the fallen prey.
“Get lost! Co any closer and I will kill you.”
The male student drew his sword.
He was a cadet hoping to beco a knight.
He tried to threaten them, but it had no effect.
Zombies had no intellect.
All they cared about was devouring living humans.
Only then did the boy swing his sword in an attempt to at least save himself.
Several zombies fell to his attacks.
But more zombies ca and sward him in an instant.
It was over.
I gripped the window fra.
I had failed to save them.
The scene reminded that it could happen to as well.
My chest tightened.
Disgust surged, then quickly cald under the influence of my traits.
“…”
The zombies dispersed.
There were no students left on the blood soaked ground.
I frowned.
There was no doubt.
This academy was hell.
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