The day I brought an end to my world, which had become nothing more than a den of zombies, by raining down every nuclear warhead on Earth.
More than two thousand nuclear warheads were launched.
That was enough not merely to wipe out all life across the world, but to destroy the planet Earth itself.
Even I, who had survived for decades among zombies, could never withstand that.
I thought everything was finally over.
But when I opened my eyes, what greeted me was nothing like the hell I had imagined.
Pitch-black darkness.
A space of absolute nothingness where I could see nothing at all.
-Welcome.
A voice came from within the darkness.
-Impressive. Not even the greatest villain of any world has ever accomplished a feat like yours.
“Who…? Are you a survivor?”
At my question, the voice let out an ominous laugh.
-I am a part of the ‘Void,’ the possessor of the word ‘Death.’
Part of the Void?
Death?
None of it meant anything to me.
-The deaths you offered me number no fewer than 7,282,998,103. And as if that were not enough, you brought the planet itself to death. For a primitive human such as yourself, it is truly an impossible feat.
7,282,998,103.
It was a staggering number just to hear aloud.
Was that the number of zombies across Earth that had died because I pressed that button?
‘Dr. Richard was right.’
Dr. Richard had said that the zombies were not dead, but still alive.
If they had truly been corpses, they would not have been included in that count.
-But what pleases me most is that all those deaths should originally have been offered not to me, but to Plague.
“…Plague?”
-You stole Plague’s sacrifices and offered them to me. You deserve a reward. Therefore, become my Apostle.
I could barely make sense of any of this.
Death. Plague.
It was all as unreal as watching the planet disappear in a nuclear explosion.
-There is nothing to consider. It was Plague that reduced your world to that state, and I know how much you suffered because of it. If you become my Apostle, you may even bring death to Plague.
“Wait.”
Once I finally collected myself, I asked ‘Death.’
“So… there are more beings like you? And one of them, this Plague, is the one who did that to my world?”
-That is correct.
I had wondered before why my world had become a zombie apocalypse.
A virus.
Chemical experiments.
Environmental destruction.
War.
I had naturally assumed humanity itself had been responsible.
But apparently, it had all been caused by some incomprehensible being called ‘Plague.’
I did not need long to decide.
“I’ll do it. Apostle or whatever else. As long as I can take revenge on Plague.”
The zombie outbreak had begun on the day of my university entrance ceremony, at a university attended by some of the brightest minds in South Korea.
When I returned home, I found my father with half his abdomen torn open and my mother tearing into his flesh.
When I went searching for my younger sibling, unable to accept what was happening, I found that they had hanged themself because they could not overcome their fear.
That was how my apocalypse began.
If all of it had happened because of Plague...
Then Plague would have to pay the price as well.
-You are my one and only Holy Knight, my Apostle, and my Incarnation.
The darkness receded.
-The death you harvested belongs to you.
And when I opened my eyes again, I was standing on a strange land dyed red.
There were grotesque monsters completely unlike the zombies I had fought until then.
But nothing had truly changed.
My entire life had revolved around one thing.
Survival.
Monsters were no harder to deal with than zombies.
If anything, they were easier.
I thought I would have to survive alone again this time.
-W-Who are you?
But I found a person.
A precious living human being who was not a zombie.
And now.
CLICK, CLICK.
Kim Si-hyeon incessantly clicked a ballpoint pen.
It was certainly enough to get on anyone’s nerves, but Choi Ji-woong could not bring himself to say a word.
CLICK, CLICK.
Because at that very moment, Choi Ji-woong could vividly imagine Kim Si-hyeon driving that pen straight through his skull.
“This is a ballpoint pen, right?”
Kim Si-hyeon spoke as though the pen fascinated him.
‘What else would it be?’
Then, the very next moment, Kim Si-hyeon stabbed the pen into the dining table.
“It goes in easily.”
Choi Ji-woong’s gaze slowly went blank as he stared at him.
‘Wait… was it not a ballpoint pen?’
Once Kim Si-hyeon apparently finished playing with the pen, he casually picked up the sheet of paper Choi Ji-woong had handed him.
“So… you want me to sign here?”
“…Yes! That is correct!”
Choi Ji-woong had spent twelve years in the military and another eight in the Association’s Special Division, for a total of twenty years.
He had thought he was as seasoned as they came.
Yet at this moment, he was no different from a brand-new recruit who had just been assigned to his first unit.
“The moment you sign! You will acquire South Korean citizenship and, at the same time, receive treatment befitting an S-rank Hunter!”
“…An S-rank Hunter.”
“Furthermore! We will make every effort to accommodate any request you may have, Mr. Kim Si-hyeon!”
“You’ll… make every effort….”
Choi Ji-woong glanced nervously at Kim Si-hyeon and swallowed.
That insane killing intent.
Was he perhaps displeased?
“No! We will accommodate them!”
Fortunately, the Association President had given him broad authority before he came here.
Normally, the Association President should have come personally.
The ‘Slaughterer,’ Kim Si-hyeon, was at least an SS-rank Hunter.
He was an exceptionally important strategic asset, one of fewer than ten such individuals in the entire world.
But...
-I’m scared.
-Pardon?
-I can’t go, so you go!
The Association President, Vice President, and even the Special Division Director had all refused.
“Accommodate me….”
“……! No! Before you even have to ask, Mr. Kim Si-hyeon, the Association will immediately see to your comfort and make proposals first!”
“Are you hot? You’re sweating quite a lot.”
“N-No! I am not!”
Was this what people meant when they said their hearts hurt just from making eye contact?
-Make sure you write your will before you go.
The Association’s upper leadership, who had already met Kim Si-hyeon several times, had gone so far as to declare that they would rather resign than meet him again.
So there was nothing Choi Ji-woong could do.
When his superiors ordered him to go, he had no choice but to go.
“Sign here….”
“……! Thank you! Thank you!”
“Can I keep this?”
Choi Ji-woong had no idea why Kim Si-hyeon wanted a mere ballpoint pen, but he nodded without hesitation.
He probably would have nodded even if Kim Si-hyeon had asked for the entire safe house instead.
It was finally over.
This was a historic moment.
South Korea had successfully secured a disaster-class Hunter.
Choi Ji-woong shot to his feet.
“Th-Then I will see you again next time!”
“…You’re leaving already?”
Having completely forgotten every rule of etiquette for treating an honored guest, Choi Ji-woong hurriedly fled the house.
“Haaah, haaah.”
Only after putting considerable distance between himself and the safe house did he collapse to the ground and catch his breath.
Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.
“Ji-woong, did you succeed?”
Before he knew it, dozens of fully armed Hunters had appeared in front of him and were calling out.
The entire Special Division had assembled in preparation for any possible emergency, along with five Hero-Class Hunters who had been present that day.
“…Here.”
He held out a small sheet of paper.
“You did it!”
Park Min-ho, the Special Division Director who was usually known as the Ghost of the Special Division, threw his arms around Choi Ji-woong and shouted.
“You did it! You really did it!”
None of them knew.
They had no idea just how worthless that scrap of paper Kim Si-hyeon had signed was to someone like him.
Thirty years.
That was how long I had survived in a world filled with zombies with survival as my only goal.
“…….”
The figure reflected in the mirror was nothing like the person I had been at the end.
By then, I had been over fifty, with a face covered in scars and hardened by decades of ruthlessness.
But the person in the mirror was a youthful man who looked to be somewhere in his mid-twenties.
“Was this… what I used to look like?”
It was a face from so long ago that I barely remembered it.
“…….”
Several days had already passed since I arrived in this world, yet I still could not get used to it.
“Haaah.”
I could not get used to my younger reflection in the mirror.
“…Cold water.”
Or the ice that came out at the press of a button and the water that poured out with it.
FSSST, FSSST.
Or the flame that lit without fail and let me cook instant cup noodles.
All of these were things I could never have imagined in the world where I had lived.
The comfort was so overwhelming that the past thirty years almost felt like nothing more than a dream.
Of course, that did not mean I actually believed any of it had been a dream.
“Huff, huff.”
I did push-ups.
The routines I had needed in order to survive were carved deeply into my mind.
Push-ups, pull-ups, and...
SCRAPE, SCRAPE.
Making weapons that could pierce zombie skulls at any moment.
“Ah. They said this was expensive, didn’t they?”
I stopped midway through laying the table on its side, cutting off one of its legs, and whittling it down.
The habit of turning furniture from abandoned houses into weapons had surfaced without me even realizing it.
SWISH.
I drew every curtain shut and quietly observed the outside.
All of these were habits I had learned over thirty years of surviving among zombies.
-This place is safe.
Choi Ji-woong, was it?
I remembered the man who had said things I did not understand, about the Hunter Association and being an A-rank Hunter.
I had been stunned when he told me that there were no zombies in this world.
That was right.
“…Another world.”
I had fallen into another world.
“Hel…lo.”
I practiced speaking while looking into the mirror.
“Hello.”
Before meeting Dr. Richard, I had gone a full ten years without speaking to another person.
And after crossing over to the American continent in the hope of finding a vaccine or other survivors, I had used nothing but English.
The only Korean I had spoken was the occasional word muttered to myself.
The last time I had actually spoken Korean was...
-Please, kill me!
It had been when I dealt with a group of Party officials deep in the mountains of North Korea who had been eating the people.
So my native language still felt unfamiliar after so long without using it.
“A, E, I, O, U. Ga, na, da, ra….”
This was a new world.
But even here, my iron rule would not change.
‘Survive.’
If there had been even the slightest hope in my previous world, I would have fought to survive until the very end.
But in this world, survival was no longer my only goal.
Separate from survival, my absolute first principle, I now had another objective.
“Plague.”
On the grandest scale, Plague was the culprit that had destroyed my entire world.
On a personal scale, it was the enemy that had ruined my family and my life.
If I could take revenge on Plague...
GRIP.
I clenched the wooden skewer I had carved.
I felt it begin to crumble in my hand, and only barely stopped myself from throwing it.
“You’re here?”
“Haaah, haaah.”
At the door stood Choi Ji-woong, the man I had seen before, breathing heavily.
That was fortunate.
‘I almost killed him.’
Even now, whenever I saw a human-shaped figure moving, my instincts mistook it for a zombie.
I had encountered other survivors a few times in my previous world, but there had also been occasions when I mistook them for zombies and killed them.
Finding survivors was important, but my own safety came first.
If I had not heard the doorbell and his pounding footsteps, I would have pierced his head the instant I detected movement.
“Y-You said you had something you wanted to discuss!”
Choi Ji-woong shouted.
“Ah, right. I did….”
I still was not used to talking to people.
“Hoo.”
I took a deep breath and looked Choi Ji-woong directly in the eyes.
The most important thing in any conversation was looking the other person in the eye.
THUD.
At that moment, Choi Ji-woong collapsed to the floor.
“…Are you sick?”
His face had gone deathly pale, and he rapidly shook his head.
‘He looks sick.’
Was he hiding it because he did not want me to worry?
Such weak and kind people.
Death had told me to hunt Plague.
Other than that, Death had said I could do whatever I wanted.
It was something I had thought about for a very long time.
If my world ever returned to normal, what would I do?
“Hic! Hic!”
“Do you need some water?”
“Hic! I-I am fine!”
It seemed this man was not accustomed to dealing with people either.
I had heard he used to be a soldier, and apparently he was still something like a special agent.
‘A soldier… I served in the military too. I still remember some of how difficult it was. There were always a few people who could not handle it and suffered badly. What did they call them? Soldiers under special watch?’
He must be having a hard time.
Poor guy.
“Um….”
“Go ahead.”
“I apologize, but could you perhaps not look at me?”
Choi Ji-woong spoke cautiously.
“Why……? Is there something strange about me?”
“No! That is not it… I am just having a little trouble breathing.”
“All right, then…….”
He definitely seemed to have some kind of social anxiety.
“Um, you said you had something to discuss…?”
I recognized the look in Choi Ji-woong’s eyes.
It was the desperate look of someone trapped in a zombie den, wanting nothing more than to escape as quickly as possible.
Considering how difficult he found it to deal with people, that made sense.
‘I should let him leave quickly.’
There was no point keeping a sick man here any longer.
I brought up what I wanted.
“I want to learn about this place.”
“This place…?”
“This world.”
“Ah. That’s right, you’re a Returnee.”
Returnee.
That was what these people called me.
People who were suddenly transported to another world and then returned after many years.
Apparently each and every one of them was an extraordinary combat asset, and I had heard there were fewer than ten of them in this world.
Had they said I was the seventh?
‘Though I’m not actually a Returnee.’
I already knew that this world was different from mine.
At first, I wondered whether I had somehow gone back in time, but this world seemed to have nothing to do with zombies, and none of the historical figures I knew seemed to exist here.
Still, standing out too much was always dangerous.
If a special zombie was mixed among ordinary zombies, the special zombie naturally became the first target to be hunted.
So for the time being, I would have to pretend to be a Returnee.
“Yes. A Returnee.”
“I can certainly understand why you would not be familiar with things here. There is a dedicated program for Returnees, so I will submit a request for you!”
“Thank you. And….”
I needed to learn about this world.
Then I needed to survive and hunt Plague.
The fastest way to learn about a world was...
To experience it firsthand.
“Is there any work I can do?”
“…Work?”
“A job where I can meet as many people as possible.”
I missed people terribly, too.
“A-a job where you can kill as many people as possible?!”
“I said meet them.”
Was he so ill that he was hearing things now?
Anyway.
“So, for example…….”
I thought back.
Before the zombie outbreak, thirty years ago, what kind of occupation had been trusted most by people?
‘Ah.’
“Something like… a civil servant.”
“A-a civil servant?!”