The goblins had gathered the people in one spot.
Blood pooled on the ground, and a foul stench assaulted my nose.
'I thought they were all dead.'
Surprisingly, besides the man in the hat, two more were still alive.
They all looked like they could drop dead at any moment.
It dawned on me that the goblins had deliberately left their airways open.
These people here had either died while being eaten alive or passed out from the pain.
"Guh..."
The man in the hat retched intermittently, vomiting blood.
Yet he was still breathing.
Was it the effect of awakening?
What incredible vitality.
I gripped my steel pipe tightly as I watched the man.
'It said everyone is an enemy.'
Earlier, when I'd thrown that woman into the Han River, my level had shot up out of nowhere.
From what I could guess, that level-up was tied to my fundamental skill.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[Exclusive Survivalism] Everyone is now your enemy. You can gain experience for level-ups from all enemies.
To make sense of this message, I ran through a few assumptions.
First off, I assumed that all awakened people could level up.
And to level up, you need experience.
Experience comes from killing monsters that didn't exist on Earth before.
Just like in a game.
'But I can get experience even from non-monsters.'
That was my takeaway.
If everyone could gain experience from killing any living thing, there'd be no need for a skill like this.
I could figure out the finer details as I went along.
'What I can test right now...'
I raised the steel pipe I'd been gripping tightly.
Shiiiik
I brought it down without hesitation.
Kwachik
I snapped the hat-wearing man's neck in one blow.
I immediately felt my level rise.
⚔ STATUS ⚔You have awakened a General Skill.
I'd hit level 10, and Mother's voice rang out.
I knew now it wasn't actually my real mother's voice, but I accepted it as such anyway.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[Target Detection] Detects the energy and emotions of targets within a certain range.
That confirmed it.
I could gain experience through murder.
#
Hitting level 10 brought a stark change.
Vitality returned to my weary body, making everything feel much lighter.
'Like my stamina, which had been improving bit by bit, just surged?'
It felt like my total stamina had increased.
My strength had noticeably grown too.
My physical abilities had improved dramatically overall.
Bwoong. Puck.
I finished off the remaining two, who were barely clinging to life.
My level rose again.
But it wasn't as dramatic as reaching level 10.
'Two kills and a level-up...?'
There seemed to be some hidden advantage to my fundamental skill.
'Is killing humans more efficient than monsters?'
My fundamental skill declared everyone an enemy.
So I'd expected to gain experience from animals, insects, even plants.
That might not be wrong, but humans probably gave the best efficiency.
'It said it remembers my life and soul...'
If a person's life and values influenced their fundamental skill, that explained the difference in efficiency.
I'd faced the most stress from people in my life.
I'd avoided them, interacting only with a few who gave me a sense of security.
It was my way of blending into society.
Maybe that shaped my Exclusive Survivalism.
In simple terms, I could gain more experience through diverse means than others.
Especially murder.
'Anyway...'
I sorted my thoughts and got moving.
I laid the corpses side by side.
I tidied up their mangled guts and limbs as best I could.
I closed the eyelids of some and gently pressed their lips together.
'This'll do.'
After that, I offered a brief moment of silence.
It was a learned courtesy.
Even though I'd ended their lives and gained experience from it.
They weren't truly my enemies.
"Thank you."
I'd survived by sacrificing these people lying here.
By cleaning up their bodies, I repaid that grace.
Step. Step.
Time to get off this bridge.
I needed to check the situation elsewhere.
As I headed toward Gangnam...
Something felt off.
'Something's there.'
It was the effect of my new skill.
Near the bridge railing, something like smoke wavered.
'Fear...?'
It wasn't visible to the eye.
I just sensed it.
A basketball-sized energy flickered, conveying several emotions.
Chak.
I stared fixedly at the source, aiming my steel pipe.
It looked like I was glaring at empty air, but someone was definitely there.
Grip.
Even with my pipe aimed, the energy didn't budge.
As I debated fleeing or stabbing the air...
"Surrender! I surrender! Don't attack!"
A voice came from exactly the direction I was facing.
"Um... hello?"
Then a man appeared.
He slipped out of thin air like a magician.
"Uh... I'm Jang Ho-seop. Twenty-five years old, and, uh... a college student. On leave right now..."
I wasn't the only survivor on the bridge.
I silently sized up the man called Jang Ho-seop.
Pale skin, skinny build.
'Around 170 cm tall, right-handed, weapon...'
Jang Ho-seop held a tiny hammer.
Like an emergency car hammer, stained with green blood.
"But how did you know? I'm invisible... Talk about a hard counter."
I instinctively imagined fighting him.
Not enough info for a clear picture.
But my reach was definitely longer.
"Uh... you okay? You look pretty beat up."
Jang Ho-seop was the chatty type.
He kept talking even though I didn't respond.
"Man, you're amazing. How'd you take down those monstrous things..."
A bus lay overturned nearby.
A goblin corpse sprawled on top.
He'd probably watched me fight from there.
"Whoa... when that dragon flew by earlier, I thought everyone was done for. I couldn't move until just now..."
He'd seen me commit murder too.
That explained the fear I sensed.
Should I eliminate the witness?
'Invisibility like magic... Would attacks land?'
I'm no pleasure killer.
Nor did I plan to slaughter people indiscriminately for experience.
I knew that led to ruin.
"S-Sorry... for not helping."
Still, I'd killed because circumstances aligned.
Unreal events hit, and I fought for my life.
To survive the worst scenarios I imagined, I needed to level up.
In that moment, the bridge was my whole world.
All the CCTV on it was smashed, and those people would've died soon anyway, even without me.
"Handling the bodies alone... You must've had it rough."
I could kill Jang Ho-seop if needed.
Feasibility aside.
But I hesitated because it felt weird.
The strongest emotion from him was fear, but the next one baffled me.
'What emotion is this... Awe?'
No sense it was a skill glitch.
His expression matched.
Unless he was an incredible actor.
Or fooling even himself.
"I couldn't even dream of it. But you fought fiercely... and won. And you even took care of the dead..."
Jang Ho-seop looked at me with respect, not like some trash murderer.
"So please spare me. I get it. I make you nervous."
I still had my pipe trained on him.
Full of unresolved questions.
Could the skill's emotions be faked?
Could they see us from the road outside the bridge?
My doubts became hesitation, which he picked up on.
"Just spare me, and I can be useful!"
Jang Ho-seop took a step closer.
Then tossed his hammer aside.
"Can you at least hear me out?"
I nodded.
#
Jang Ho-seop spilled his story fast, like he'd rehearsed it.
The situation as he saw it.
Why I had no reason to see him as an enemy.
Even his fundamental skill.
After hearing him out, I agreed to travel with him temporarily.
"So, what should I call you? Bro fits, right?"
His tension must've eased.
Jang Ho-seop asked with an awkward smile.
"Sai-hyun. Twenty-seven."
"Ah~ I'm the little bro then! Speak casually! But Sai? First time hearing that surname."
We were getting off the bridge.
But first, we climbed the overturned bus.
From up there, you could see the road beyond the bridge, he said.
Thud.
I jumped up in one leap.
Tried it thinking I could, and it was easier than expected.
Jang Ho-seop gawked at me.
"Whoa, what jumping power..."
I ignored his outstretched hand from below and looked into the distance.
No moving cars, just as he said.
"Ugh. Haah... See? Total hell out there. You know? Chaos, destruction, ruin... Ah, maybe not."
Jang Ho-seop clambered up, panting, and looked the same way.
The road was cracked and flipped, street trees uprooted entirely.
Most buildings collapsed; counting intact ones would be faster.
Goblins gnawed corpses here and there amid the mess.
"Communications down, massive quake, the system's penalty. This is the apocalypse."
He'd said something to convince me.
With all this chaos, no helicopters in the sky.
Not even sirens.
Government functions paralyzed, he figured.
And humanity's trials weren't just monsters and quakes.
"This isn't just local. Probably the whole world."
"How do you know?"
"The system specified Earth."
He called Mother's voice the system.
He spoke of my worst-case scenarios like they were obvious.
So no one to report my murders to.
He even praised me for mercifully ending hopeless cases.
"That's why I wanna stick with someone strong and decisive like you, bro."
Awe was now his dominant emotion toward me.
Fear had shrunk, replaced by goodwill.
"If you're like... the protagonist type, I'm your right-hand man?"
His eyes shone with conviction.
Ridiculous.
"Ah, only if you allow it. If not right-hand, left-hand? Please?"
Jang Ho-seop fascinated me.
First time meeting this type.
At least his voice wasn't grating.
His light attitude even softened my guard.
"You know what that is?"
I ignored his nonsense and pointed at what had caught my eye.
Something holographic, stylistically distinct from surroundings.
Green, oval, human-sized.
"Looks like a gate. Bro, seriously, speak casually. Please."
The gate sat at the bridge entrance.
We had to pass it to leave.
"No, but what'd you do before, bro? Fighter? Or... special forces?"
After scouting from the bus, we climbed down.
Needed prep before heading out.
"Pharmacy first, right?"
"Yes."
One intact commercial building nearby.
Pharmacy on the first floor.
"Whew... Yeah. Gotta. Hoo."
Jang Ho-seop breathed deeply, tense.
The pharmacy wasn't far.
But that short distance looked anything but easy.
#
I'd ransacked all the cars on the bridge.
Found a backpack, bottled water, blanket, multi-tool, and more.
One dead driver must've been a tennis player.
Thanks to that, I ditched my suit for tracksuit pants.
Grip.
I wrapped the steel pipe—my weapon—with a tennis racket grip.
A few swings, and it felt much better.
"Bro. This one's dead too."
Jang Ho-seop shook his head as he got out of a car.
Looked fine on the outside.
"Not certain yet, but probably all like this? Accidents don't seem quake-only."
He slung a small pack over his shoulder and joined me.
Weapon still that emergency hammer.
"Yeah. We'll check more. But shouldn't you switch weapons?"
Weapons from the dead: bent pipes, baseball bats, golf clubs.
All had one thing in common—long reach.
His emergency hammer was too short.
"Thing is... big weapons mess with my invisibility."
"I see."
His fundamental skill: Veiled Administrator.
He'd told me himself.
If mine related to "growth," his was "information."
"Invisibility's a side effect with lots of limits."
"Still a good ability."
Can't move fast while invisible, he said.
Limited duration too.
Still, impressive and useful.
"Yeah. Cloaking my clothes too is a huge plus."
I suddenly wondered about his life.
What he usually thought about.
Fundamental skills reflected the person.
'Just seems like an average college kid.'
He smiled awkwardly under my stare.
"Can I ask something?"
"Sure."
"I really want you to speak casually to me. But if I keep bringing it up, it'll annoy you, right?"
I didn't know his life story, but this much was clear.
His grain didn't match mine, skill or no skill.
"Yes."
"Got it. I'll watch it."
Prepped, we exited south onto the road.
Hiding behind a flipped SUV, we scouted.
A gate loomed ahead.
[Inactive]
The message hit as I neared the gate.
Like etched on my retina.
First thought it was a hallucination.
Like psych ward patients.
But Jang Ho-seop saw it too, so no.
"Bro. What now? More than I thought."
Goblins littered the road.
More than from the bridge.
Obstacles had hidden some.
At least no orcs—small mercy.
'Road's like a maze.'
Substructures jutted from below the asphalt.
Overturned vehicles and debris complicated paths.
I recalled the view from the bus, mapping it 3D in my head.
"No stealth route. We'll have to fight."
Goblins shrieked obnoxiously in combat.
Threat display or habit, it was loud.
So we'd face every visible one nearby.
"Gulp... Got it."
"You can hide, Jang Ho-seop."
Fighting alongside him would be riskier for him.
Moving together, he'd likely bait them.
"Huh? I can hel—... Got it."
Something clicked; he stopped and agreed.
"Right."
I left him behind the SUV and moved alone.
Crouching low, I approached the nearest goblin.
Thud.
Ridiculously, it lay with hands clasped behind its head.
Eyes closed.
Crack.
I snapped its neck instantly.
Next, one rummaging a man's corpse.
"Kirik."
Using blind spots, I flanked it.
As I closed in, it lifted its head and sniffed.
But didn't spot me right away.
'Sense of smell's not great.'
Another quick neck snap.
Stealth kills ended there.
"Kieeeek!"
A distant goblin spotted me and screeched.
Tadak. Puk.
I charged and pierced its chest with the pipe.
Goblins swarmed from all sides.