Chapter 1 – The Last Normal Day

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Seoul, South Korea – 10:42 PM

The city pulsed with life.

Neon lights flickered, their sickly glow painting distorted reflections on the rain-slicked streets. Traffic hummed like an unending heartbeat, and the occasional blaring horn cut through the monotonous white noise of urban existence. Pedestrians wove between one another with mindless efficiency, each lost in their own distractions—phones in hand, music blasting through earbuds, conversations buzzing without weight or consequence.

Seoul, in all its chaotic beauty, was alive.

And yet, at this very moment, Han Kyung-min sat in a quiet corner of a convenience store, completely unaware that this would be the last time he experienced this world as it was.

He stared down at the swirling surface of his instant ramen, watching as the steam curled into the air, dissipating into nothingness. The artificial scent of MSG-filled broth filled his nostrils, but he barely registered it. His mind was elsewhere.

Something felt off.

An unshakable unease coiled at the base of his skull, a tension he couldn't quite name. It wasn't fear. It wasn't anxiety. It was just… a feeling. Like standing on the edge of a precipice and knowing that something waited at the bottom, unseen and inevitable.

His fingers tapped idly against the disposable chopsticks. His phone buzzed, pulling his attention away from his thoughts.

> Seok-hoon: Yo, Kye. Still up?

Min-jun: PC café. Let's go.

Seok-hoon: Bring snacks, loser.

He exhaled through his nose, shaking his head. Same old, same old.

He was about to reply when—

CRACK.

It was a sound unlike anything he had ever heard before. A deep, visceral rupture, as if the very fabric of reality had been torn apart.

And then—

The sky shattered.

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10:44 PM – The Fall of Seoul

It wasn't a gradual collapse. It wasn't slow or dramatic.

One second, the world was whole. And the next—

Everything broke.

A jagged rift split the heavens, stretching across the sky like a wound in creation itself. A swirling, violet glow pulsed from within, casting eerie shadows over the city below. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, distorting the very air, as if reality were a pane of glass about to collapse under its own weight.

Then came the screams.

They started faint—muffled cries from the street, confusion, panic. Then they multiplied, rising into a crescendo of absolute terror.

Kyung-min barely had time to breathe before the convenience store windows exploded inward.

Shards of glass tore through the air, razor-sharp projectiles slicing through everything in their path. The shockwave hit him like a freight train, sending him sprawling onto the floor. His ears rang, his vision blurred, and the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth.

Somewhere near the counter, the store clerk—just moments ago scrolling lazily through his phone—was gone.

Not killed. Not injured. Gone.

And standing in his place, silhouetted by the flickering neon outside, was something else.

Something wrong.

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10:45 PM – First Contact

It had once been human.

Kyung-min knew that much.

The remnants of clothing clung to its skeletal frame, shredded and stained with something black and viscous. Its skin was stretched too tight over its bones, cracked in places where raw muscle peeked through. Its eyes—or what used to be its eyes—were nothing but hollow sockets, leaking thick, oily liquid that hissed as it dripped onto the ground.

And it was grinning.

Not in joy. Not in madness. But in something far worse—something that had forgotten how to be human.

Kyung-min's breath hitched in his throat. His body refused to move.

The thing twitched.

Then—

It lunged.

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10:46 PM – System Activation

A notification flickered at the edge of his vision, bright against the dark.

> [System Notice: Dungeon Break – Initiated.]

"A merging event has begun. Earth is no longer stable."

"Survive, adapt, and overcome. Failure means extinction."

But he wasn't given time to process it.

Because the creature was already upon him.

It moved with inhuman speed, a blur of jagged limbs and rotten flesh. Its grin widened—too wide—as if its jaw had unhinged, ready to snap shut around his throat.

Instinct screamed at him to run, to fight, to do something.

But his body wouldn't obey.

He was frozen.

The creature's clawed fingers stretched toward him—

BANG.

A gunshot split the air.

The creature's head snapped sideways, black liquid spraying from the fresh wound. It staggered, limbs convulsing as if confused by the damage.

And then—

A hand grabbed his collar, yanking him backward with brutal efficiency.

"Get up, idiot."

She stood before him, silver hair streaked with blood and dirt. A jagged cut ran down the side of her face, dripping red onto her pale skin.

In her other hand, she held a sleek black pistol, still smoking from the shot.

Her expression was calm.

Too calm.

The creature twitched violently, its wound already closing.

"Move," she ordered. "Unless you want to die."

And this time—

Kyung-min ran.

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11:10 PM – The Reality of Destruction

Seoul was unrecognizable.

Skyscrapers had collapsed, their remains swallowed by massive fissures that tore through the ground. The streets were cracked and warped, overtaken by something ancient, something that did not belong in this world.

Monsters roamed freely.

Some were small—twisted mockeries of the humans they had once been. Others were colossal, their bodies stitched together from things that should have never existed.

The air was thick with the scent of smoke, blood, and rot.

Explosions rumbled in the distance. But the screams had faded—either because those who had screamed were dead, or because they had accepted the futility of their cries.

Inside an abandoned storefront, they crouched behind overturned shelves, the cold seeping into Kyung-min's bones.

She had been silent since they escaped. Watching him. Studying him.

Finally, she spoke.

"What's your name?"

"…Han Kyung-min."

She tilted her head. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"No kidding."

Another notification flickered.

> [You have awakened.]

[Starting Class Assigned: Soul Archivist (E-Rank, Support-Type)]

He stared at the words.

He blinked.

Then he stared some more.

"…You have got to be kidding me."

The girl leaned in, reading the text over his shoulder.

Then—

She smirked.

"Unfortunate."

Kyung-min's eye twitched. "Unfortunate?! I'm supposed to survive the end of the world with a support-class?!"

Her smirk widened.

"I guess," she mused, "you'll just have to adapt."

And from the way she said it—

She already knew the answer.

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