[Time Left Until Apocalypse: 00:59:01]
The countdown on the massive holographic screen continued to tick away. The blue screen, which hovered in the sky, was so large that almost everyone could see it regardless of where they were.
Sami turned away from the screen in the sky and shut the window, then clicked his tongue.
’How can one prepare for the apocalypse?’
That question had been on his mind ever since the damn thing appeared in this world three days ago.
He had woken up to the commotion outside his apartment. When he looked out the window to find out what the fuss was all about, he saw the notification hanging there in the sky like an announcement banner for everyone to see.
Where it had come from, no one knew. But ever since then, the timer had been steadily ticking down, and now, less than one hour remained.
Of course, there were people who went about saying that it was just some stunt by a tech company, while others even claimed it was a religious sign of judgment day.
However, there were also many people who fell into panic and believed there might be a chance that the end of the world was actually here.
As for Sami, well, he didn’t quite know what was going on either, but he certainly knew better than to take this situation lightly.
Nothing about it looked ordinary. But then, how does one prepare for the apocalypse?
He sighed, walked over to the table, and picked up a cigarette pack. Pulling out a cigarette, he put it in his mouth, picked up a flip-top lighter and flicked the wheel. After lighting the tip, he took a long drag and exhaled, filling the space around him with gray smoke.
At that moment, a lilting female voice sounded from the bed.
"Do you want to go for another round? We still have time."
Hearing that, Sami turned to the woman lying on the bed. She was naked, and the only thing covering her was the thin bedsheet which she used to wrap around her waist.
Sami smirked slightly.
After seeing that message in the sky, he had decided to use the remaining time to do some of the things he never got the chance to do.
Without replying, he walked over to where his trousers were draped over a chair and picked them up. After rummaging through the pockets, he took out his wallet and counted out a hundred dollars. Then he walked over to her and extended his hand. "Three rounds was more than enough."
The young, beautiful woman with short dark hair cut in a bob and brown eyes stared at him blankly for a beat before reaching up to take the cigarette from his mouth. She snatched the money, fell back onto the bed, took a drag, exhaled, and began to count the cash.
Sami, on the other hand, went to dress up. He was naked, and the feeling of his junk dangling in front of a woman he just met yesternight was beginning to get uncomfortable.
As he pulled on his trousers, the woman turned to him and rested her elbow on her knee. She looked at his lean body, then at his chest where she could see a tattoo near his heart. It was a small black-and-white tattoo, showing 1% battery life.
With a faint smirk, she asked, "You were really good. Will I see you again?"
Sami picked up his shirt. "I hope not."
The woman pouted. After a brief moment, she muttered absentmindedly, "Don’t tell me you are one of those who believe in this apocalypse crap."
"Believing in it doesn’t matter. In fifty-eight minutes, we’ll both find out if I just wasted a hundred bucks or spent it very wisely," Sami replied bluntly as he finished pulling on his shirt.
He cast the woman a quick glance. She had a lot of beautiful tattoos which made her look even more stunning.
’Maybe it wasn’t a waste of money.’
I mean... he did have a really good time.
After picking up the last of his things, he headed to the door and pushed it open. Without looking back, he added, "Have a good day, Yuna."
Then, he shut the door and was gone.
***
The morning sun caused Sami to squint as he exited the motel lobby.
After pulling the hood of his hoodie over his head, he pocketed his hands and began making his way to his apartment. If the apocalypse was really coming, he would prefer it met him at home.
Despite having no idea what was going to happen, over the past few days, he had gone around buying food stuff and had already stashed his house with enough food to last him a very long while.
...He was just that paranoid.
Looking around, he could see that the streets were unusually lively today, which surprised him honestly.
’Are there people who are still going to work even though we have less than one hour to the apocalypse?’
Well, upon thinking about it, it shouldn’t have been too surprising considering companies these days loved exploiting their staff, and unless the sky was actively falling, corporate slave drivers would never ask staff to stay back from work.
Looking away from the traffic to the sidewalk, he could see a couple holding hands and smiling like everything in the world was completely fine.
’Look at them. All happy and shit. Must be nice.’
That caused him to subconsciously scowl. Sami was single, so for the sake of just being petty, he didn’t exactly wish good things for people in relationships.
Anyway...
Since Sami’s house was nearby, it didn’t take him long to get there, after which he took the stairs up to his third-floor apartment.
Over the next half an hour, he did nothing but sit at the kitchen table smoking and snacking on canned beef, while also keeping an eye on the timer.
Eventually, only one minute was left. At this point, Sami began to count down mentally along with the massive blue timer in tense anticipation.
He could feel a bad premonition, and he couldn’t help but wonder just what would happen when the timer hit zero.
[Time Left Until Apocalypse: 00:00:01]
[Time Left Until Apocalypse: 00:00:00]
For a moment after that, the screen appeared to have frozen, which made Sami tense even more.
"...?"
And then, the wordings on the screen suddenly changed.
[Welcome, Players. The Game will commence in a moment.]
’Game? What’s this about a game?’ Sami arched a brow.
Wasn’t it the apocalypse?
While he was still confused and in thought, the massive screen in the sky suddenly disappeared.
"...?"
Before Sami could even fully process that, a small, transparent blue screen appeared in front of him, startling him.
[’Fate’ has dealt the Cards.]
[The first game shall be: Game of Cards]
[Completion Reward: Talent Awakening]
’Huh?’ At first, Sami was bewildered by the screen that had appeared in front of him. It reminded him of those status screens that usually appeared to characters in the novels that he read.
’Heh. I knew this apocalypse stuff wasn’t something normal.’
He even reached out his hand to see if he could touch the screen, but his hand only went through it.
However, the next words that appeared on the screen forced him to immediately set aside his curiosity about the strange screen and instead pay attention to the text.
[Failure to participate in the game will result in the player’s death.]
[Upon successful completion, the player will awaken a Talent.]
’What is this?’ That question was not so much for all the strange things that were happening, but more for the fact that he had no choice, and that death was somehow involved.
A cold dread began to pool in his stomach.
Just then, what looked like normal playing cards began to appear in front of him, floating in the air like spectral illusions.
It was a standard deck of cards which included black spades, red hearts, black clubs, and red diamonds. However, the cards were not arranged based on their rank order, nor were they arranged according to suits, but were instead shuffled around.
Even more strangely, some of the cards were turned to the back, making it so that their faces were hidden from direct view.
The only cards that were arranged based on their rank order were the face cards, which were the Jack, the Queen, and the King, before the Ace.
Then, at the very end of the line were two cards, which were the Jokers.
At this point, the environment outside the apartment had grown noisy. Honks from cars were sounding all over and people were shouting in panic. That was an obvious tell to Sami that he was not the only one going through this strange phenomenon.
He swallowed hard.
Just then, a different screen appeared with the rules of the game.
[The rules for the game are simple]
[To complete the game, the player needs to pick a card. The card chosen will be tailored to the Player, yet will define everything about them, including their Talent and Path.]
[Warning: Some of the numbered suits do not require any cost or sacrifice from the Player and are safe to pick.]
[From the Face Cards onward, the Player must pay a sacrifice. The higher the rank of the card, the more severe the cost.]
[Rule No 1: Once a card has been chosen, the player cannot change their card. Doing so will result in the death penalty.]
[Rule No 2: Greed Kills. If the player chooses a high-ranked card and does not pay their cost, no matter what is asked, they shall receive the death penalty.]
[Rule No 3: The time limit to pick a card is 1 Minute.]
[Your time starts now.]
[00:00:59]
Sami blinked.
"What the fuck?"