WEEEEEEEOOOO!
An ear-splitting siren wailed as red light bathed the entire world.
‘Human life is precious.’
That was a fact no one could deny.
Especially...
“GRAAAAGH….”
In a world where 99.999 percent of the entire population had become zombies because of a virus, that was truer than ever.
Even so, I hadn't given up.
I killed everything that came at me, survived for dozens of days on a single can of food, and crossed the continent.
All to find another living person besides myself.
And at long last, I encountered the final survivor.
Dr. Richard, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
He had been hiding here, in a place with relief supplies piled as high as mountains and fortifications sturdy enough to last a thousand years.
But today, even Dr. Richard had been infected by the virus.
“There are no antibodies. In the end, everything will be over. And perhaps that is what true peace is.”
Dr. Richard was a somewhat unusual man.
Convinced that the world would inevitably be destroyed by the zombie virus, he had linked the nuclear missiles scattered throughout the ruined world into a single system so humanity could finally be granted peace.
“There is no hope. Only despair. This is God's punishment upon mankind.”
“Punishment?”
“Undergoing zombification is like being dragged into hell while still alive. We confirmed that consciousness remains as long as they are alive.”
According to Dr. Richard, the zombies were conscious.
They were simply incapable of expressing it.
They felt every moment of chewing through the living flesh of their own families and every sensation of their bodies being hacked apart.
“That is why I made that button, but……”
A button that would launch every nuclear missile in the world simultaneously.
The disaster-red button glowed right in front of us.
As his zombification progressed and his speech began to slow, Dr. Richard spoke with regret.
“But in the end, I could not press it. Not after learning that the zombies are not dead, but still alive.”
“Zombies are just zombies.”
At that, Dr. Richard grinned.
“Then allow me to pay you my respects one last time. You survived thirty years in this insane world, and you did it alone.”
Thirty years of living alone.
Once Dr. Richard died, I might have to live alone forever.
“Your expression still has not changed in the slightest. I know you have no manners, but you could at least look a little sad for a man on his deathbed.”
“So I just press this button?”
“…Right. That is the kind of person you are.”
Dr. Richard gave a weak laugh and muttered softly.
“You might actually be able to press it…….”
Dr. Richard never finished his sentence.
Instead, only an animal-like growl escaped his mouth.
Before his zombification progressed too far, Dr. Richard had bound his own body tightly. Now, a zombie in a white coat writhed helplessly at my feet.
I took one step forward and, without hesitation, pressed the button Dr. Richard had been unable to press.
-Nuclear missiles have been launched.
-Nuclear missiles have been launched.
-Nuclear missiles have been…
….
It was over now.
-10 seconds until impact. 10… 9…
The computer, bathed in red light, delivered its notification.
-3… 2…
Humanity could no longer continue to exist.
This blue Earth would soon become a sea of fire.
And it would be because of none other than me.
That was fortunate.
Humanity would be completely annihilated, meaning there would be no one left to record history.
BEEEEEEEEEP.
Because if there were...
KABOOOOOOOM!
I would go down in history as the greatest mass murderer mankind had ever known.
The man who killed seven billion people.
Human life was precious.
Thirty years had passed since the Gate Break.
Countless people had died to the monsters that suddenly appeared, and humanity had begun awakening as ‘Hunters’ in order to save itself.
It was a world where no one knew when, or who, might awaken as a Hunter capable of saving humanity.
That was why ‘people’ were precious.
‘Especially the person I have to meet now.’
Choi Ji-woong, a team leader in the Special Division of the Korea Hunter Association, had come to meet a man who had recently been discovered inside a special Gate.
Returnee Code No. 007, also known as the ‘Slaughterer.’
This was only the second time Choi Ji-woong had encountered him.
The Gate from which he had emerged was beyond S-rank.
Its rank could not even be measured.
He had been discovered inside a disaster-class Gate that could potentially determine the survival of not just South Korea, but all of humanity.
He had stood atop the corpses of countless monsters, looking quite literally like a wild beast.
-STEP, STEP.
Choi Ji-woong could still remember the sound of those footsteps approaching the dozens of Hunters who had entered the Gate with grim resolve for the sake of humanity.
His memory ended there.
Because in the next instant, every Hunter hailed as a hero had lost consciousness and collapsed.
The cause of their unconsciousness, discovered later, was almost absurd.
Killing intent.
S-rank Hunters had collapsed unconscious from the killing intent emitted by a single man.
When Choi Ji-woong regained consciousness, he was outside the Gate. It appeared the man had carried everyone who had fainted out himself.
‘A new S-rank Hunter. No, he might be at least SS-rank.’
The fact that the Returnee was Korean was therefore an extremely promising development for the Korea Hunter Association.
With those expectations in mind, Choi Ji-woong arrived at the entrance to the safe house where the Slaughterer was staying.
And the moment he opened the door, he nearly died.
WHOOSH! CRACK!
A stake came flying from somewhere, grazed Choi Ji-woong's cheek, and buried itself in the door.
“…Hic.”
Choi Ji-woong, team leader of the Special Division of the Korea Hunter Association, hiccupped involuntarily.
The Special Division handled the Association's secretive and dangerous affairs, and every one of its members was a veteran Hunter of at least A-rank.
And yet...
‘I-I didn't even see it.’
Even he hadn't seen the incoming stake.
No, he hadn't even managed to react.
More importantly, the stake was not even an item imbued with mana.
‘What the hell is this…?’
It looked as though someone had simply whittled down the leg of a chair.
And yet that worthless-looking piece of wood had pierced the door of the safe house, one of the Association's highest-level protected facilities.
Choi Ji-woong knew that if the angle had been even slightly different, it would have pierced him instead of the door.
A chill ran down his spine.
“I-I am Choi Ji-woong!”
Announcing his identity was almost entirely an instinctive attempt to stay alive.
Then, from one corner of the room, within pitch-black darkness, came a quiet voice.
“…Sorry.”
It was unmistakably Korean.
“…So you're human.”
At last, the man who had thrown the stake revealed himself.
Only his head peeked out from behind one of the kitchen pillars.
‘What kind of stealth technique is this?’
The sight left Choi Ji-woong stunned yet again.
After the weapon came flying at him, he had drawn out as much of his mana as possible and sharpened every one of his senses to its limit.
He was in a state where he could detect the slightest movement of air, a single speck of dust, or even the faintest twitch of a muscle.
And yet Choi Ji-woong still found it difficult to properly perceive the other man's face.
His presence was extraordinarily faint.
Terrifying killing intent had been stabbing into Choi Ji-woong's skin from outside the safe house, but its range was so vast that he had been unable to locate its actual center.
Was this what it would feel like to enter a disaster-class Gate alone?
‘So you're human, he says. As though he's some kind of monster himself… No, maybe he is a monster?’
While Choi Ji-woong was wasting his time on that pointless thought, the man spoke.
“…Are you hurt?”
Even with half of his upper body now exposed, Choi Ji-woong still found it difficult to get a read on him.
But there was something else that was even more shocking.
SHUDDER.
Every muscle in Choi Ji-woong's body was trembling beyond his control.
Despite being an A-rank Hunter, there was only one thing he could do.
Struggle with everything he had just to remain conscious.
Even then...
“…Are you all right?”
He could never grow accustomed to the killing intent digging into his skin.
“You don't seem injured.”
“Haaah, haaah. I-I am fine!”
Choi Ji-woong shouted while staring at the Slaughterer, who had come right up to him, his entire body rigid like a newly enlisted recruit.
“Good.”
As the Slaughterer sighed in relief and examined him, Choi Ji-woong felt like a small child standing before a lion.
“Be careful next time.”
“What?”
“I almost killed you…….”
Normally, if someone claimed they had almost killed an A-rank Hunter with nothing more than a whittled piece of wood, Choi Ji-woong would have laughed it off as a ridiculous joke.
But coming from this man, it did not sound like a joke in the slightest.
“I deliberately aimed to miss just in case. Turns out you were human.”
The moment the Slaughterer fully stepped into view and looked Choi Ji-woong directly in the eyes—
URK.
Choi Ji-woong could no longer endure it and fainted.
“…Why is everyone so weak?”
Kim Si-hyeon, a man who had survived a zombie apocalypse only to fall into a new world, clicked his tongue as he looked down at the collapsed Choi Ji-woong.