First Wave: How To Survive.

Turns out, it's not only In-Su and Si-Woo who accepted the roles; there are other students and teachers who also accepted them and received powers to survive the attack. In-Su leaned against the wall as he looked over the group gathered around a male he recognized as the history teacher, Seok. He never really liked the teacher—not because he was young or more handsome than In-Su, but because he gave In-Su a weird feeling.

Seok was given the role of a Knight by the system, and he used this to save as many students as possible before leading them here. This raised a question for In-Su: why hide here and not get out of this building? Either Seok was cautious of the world outside, or he had something to hide.

"In-Su..." Si-Woo peeked inside the classroom, calling for his friend to come outside.

In-Su cast the group one last look before he followed Si-Woo outside. The male led him to the building exit and pointed at it. "Look at that."

[Imposter Detected. Find The Imposter Who Has The Exit Key]

[Time Remaining: 2 hours, 30 minutes and 29 seconds]

"Imposter?"

In-Su's eyes widened at this. There was an imposter amongst them who had the key to their freedom. He reached out toward the door handle but flinched when he felt a small shock of electricity. "Ouch." He clenched his fist and let it drop to his side.

"That's not all." Si-Woo pointed at the small text at the bottom. In-Su's green eyes followed his friend's finger, and his expression changed.

[Penalty: LvL 50 Monsters Will Spawn For Ten Minutes.]

"...LvL 50 monsters... Shit, we just started and I'm sure half of them are still level one." In-Su ruffled his hair in frustration. "Even with you, there's no way you can fight a group of LvL 50 monsters."

"But imposter? Does this mean there's a monster disguised as a human?"

Si-Woo's expression darkened. "Probably. But it can refer to humans too."

In-Su looked at Si-Woo. "...You mean... Someone purposely locked us in?"

"I don't know if it's because of my role as Paladin but..." Si-Woo's blue eyes flickered toward the classroom. "I sense darkness amongst us."

"...That's corny and unoriginal."

"Oh, shut up."

In-Su brought out his status window, trying to get used to all this. "Hmm... I don't see anything about skill points..."

"Oh, that? You unlock it at LvL 3." Si-Woo leaned closer to In-Su, peering over the male's status window. "You also unlock Wheels of Luck at that level."

In-Su looked at his friend confusedly. "Wheels of what?"

"Wheels of Luck. It gives you random skills and permanent buffs. I used it twice and it raised my speed and strength."

In-Su nodded his head at Si-Woo's explanation, arms crossed over his chest. "So, I guess like video games, when we level up, we unlock some features."

In-Su looked at the sword Si-Woo was holding. "Say, don't you have a scabbard?"

Si-Woo's eyes followed In-Su's. He raised his sword slightly. "I do. It's just I've been farming EXP so I don't bother using it."

"Well, not now. Use it, dumbass. I don't want you to accidentally stab people."

Si-Woo smirked. "Not the worst thing that can happen."

In-Su uses slap. It's super effective. Si-Woo lost -5 HP.

"Argh! Okay, okay!!"

Returning back inside the classroom, In-Su and Si-Woo decided to rest at the back of the classroom, giving them a clear view of what was happening at the front. Seok was still talking to the students. They could hear some of it, mostly him trying to calm down the panicking students.

"Don't worry, I can protect you guys."

"Why can't we go outside, teacher?" one of the students asked.

"It's dangerous. There's a flying monster out there. We can't blindly rush out." Seok smiled gently at them.

"B-but what about the monsters inside?"

"Well, I and those who chose the roles will protect you guys. The monsters here aren't too strong."

In-Su narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at the teacher. His words felt wrong to In-Su. Something inside him screamed not to trust the teacher. He didn't know why. Is he the imposter?

"You're going to gain wrinkles if you keep frowning." In-Su blinked when he felt a thumb pressing between his eyebrows. Looking at Si-Woo, he felt the male rubbing his skin to relax his expression.

"Chill. We'll figure this out together." Si-Woo grinned as he pulled his hand back. "Like we always do."

In-Su stared at Si-Woo before a soft smile appeared on his face. "Yeah... like we always do." Rising to his feet, In-Su walked toward the group before he suddenly asked.

"Teacher, what should we do about the Boss monster?"

Seok looked at In-Su with a confused expression. "Boss monster? What are you talking about?"

In-Su smiled politely at the teacher. "You know, the one who has The Exit Key? I thought you knew about that since you checked the door."

Seok started sweating slightly. "What? O-Oh yeah! I was about to explain that!" He laughed nervously. "Everyone, there's a boss monster who has the key that unlocks the door. We can go defeat it, but we're not strong enough to fight it."

In-Su's left eye started twitching as he stepped closer to him. "Say, teach. What level are you?" In-Su brought out his status window. Seok looked at the status window, and that made In-Su narrow his eyes slightly. The teacher leaned closer while holding his chin.

"Me? I'm around level 4," Seok answered.

"Heeh, so you must have used Wheels of Buffs a few times."

Seok rubbed the back of his neck. "Er... yeah?"

"We totally should do some EXP farming! After all, we can't stay here forever. We need food and water," In-Su suggested.

"Right. I think we should scout the cafeteria and nurse's office. We need something to treat wounds," Si-Woo added.

"So, what do you say, teacher?"

Seok watched the other students who stared at him expectantly. After a moment, he sighed and nodded his head. "Alright. Since you two suggest it, you come with me. You three too. And the rest stay here and protect the others."

Seok headed toward the door, followed by the others. "Don't leave the room until we return."

The six of them headed back to the second floor, intending to stop by the infirmary first before heading to the cafeteria. All of them walked in silence before In-Su stopped, making the others look at him confusedly. "Alright, you can drop your act."

"What?"

Seok and the other three looked at In-Su with confused expressions, but the male just smiled. "You hold the Exit Key and are an Imposter. You blend in with everyone because that's the last thing people expect. You act like you know about roles and the system while actually you just wear the face of the victim you killed."

Seok sweated at In-Su's words as he took a step back. He grabbed his sword before unsheathing it and pointing it at one of the students he brought with him. In-Su's smile widened as he pointed at the student. "Bo-Bae, you are the imposter."

Bo-Bae, a short chubby male, looked at In-Su before a wicked smile appeared on his face. "How did you know?" His eyes turned pitch black as he looked at In-Su and Seok. "I thought you would be suspicious of the teacher."

"You cursed him," In-Su said casually, making the imposter narrow his eyes. "....You're a smart human, huh? I should wear your face instead."

Si-Woo looked a bit confused at first. "Wait, it's not the teacher?"

Seok gripped his sword tightly. "It's not me... That bastard cursed me and demanded I gather all the students inside that classroom. I can't say no because of the curse!" Seok pulled down his shirt to show a claw mark on his chest. "B-but how did you know that, In-Su?"

"Easy, because I already saw Bo-Bae's corpse on the third floor." In-Su raised one finger as he explained. "Also, I noticed that monsters can't see the hologram we see. When I opened the status window, Bo-Bae's eyes followed my finger instead of looking at my status window like everyone else." In-Su lowered his finger and made a circle in the air. "When I said Wheels of Buffs, you looked confused because you knew it wasn't Buffs but something else."

Bo-Bae's fingers twitched before he lunged at In-Su, raising his dagger. Si-Woo quickly appeared in front of the male and deflected the attack. "Not so fast." Bo-Bae clicked his tongue and created distance between the two.

"Tch! You're too smart for a lowly human!"

"No. You just suck." In-Su smirked.

This seemed to agitate Bo-Bae. He dropped the dagger and hunched forward. "Grrrr! I'll just kill all of you and everyone in that classroom!!" Bo-Bae's back started to grow lumps as if something was trying to claw out of his back. His skin tore apart as a monster crawled out of the body.

[Warning: The Imposter found. Now enter Boss battle.]

Green blood covered the monster towering over all of them, head almost reaching the ceiling. The monster resembled a human with gray skin but without proper human anatomy. Bald, no mouth or nose, its eyes were pure white. Its arms were long, reaching the floor, with sharp claws.

"Doppelganger."

Si-Woo's face turned to disappointment. "Man, you're so lame."

The Doppelganger let out an ear-splitting shriek despite not having a mouth. It swung its arm at Si-Woo, who easily dodged it. He jumped high in the air before slashing the monster's long arm a few times, green blood spurting out of the wound.

"I-I'll help too!" Seok stepped forward, but Si-Woo stopped him. "Nah, don't worry. I can do this." Raising his sword, Si-Woo seemed to concentrate. The sword started to glow brightly as the male slowly walked toward the Doppelganger.

"Cocky human!!" The monster shrieked as it raised its hand, intending to squish Si-Woo.

"Radiant Strikes." Si-Woo appeared behind the monster and swung his sword to get rid of the blood. Behind him, the Doppelganger fell to its knees before its body sliced in two and collapsed to the floor.

[You Have Defeated The Doppelganger (LvL 5)]

[You Received 1000 Gold And The Exit Key]

Si-Woo sheathed his sword before turning around and walking toward In-Su. "I leveled up~ now I'm level 6," Si-Woo told In-Su happily.

"Great job. Let's leave." In-Su turned around and started walking back to the first floor.

"W-wait! H-how about us?" Seok asked.

In-Su and Si-Woo looked at each other before the brown-haired male answered. "Survive on your own. We can't always protect you guys. We're leaving because we're not going to just stay around and be some kind of guardians."

Seok watched, dumbfounded, as the two left, heading toward the exit. "W-what...?"

Si-Woo grinned as the two approached the door. "Man, you're ruthless. I thought a Healer was supposed to be a saint."

"You're a Paladin. You're supposed to be a holy knight." In-Su glanced at his best friend, who just laughed. Si-Woo reached toward the door handle and pushed the door open.

In-Su and Si-Woo looked at the world outside. Now that they were out of the building, what they saw was much worse. The air seemed heavy, filled with the stench of corpses, but when they walked in certain directions, they smelled a sweet scent that made them uneasy.

The ground was covered with blood, and small red and white flowers bloomed from the puddles.

Vines grew from the walls, with purple flowers growing on the vines. Black moss covered the ground and walls.

The two males could hear screaming and monsters growling from all around them.

Everything around them was weird and dangerous.

"Where should we go?" Si-Woo asked.

In-Su looked around the area, debating which direction they should take and which place was safe.

"We need to avoid places with many people. I have a feeling if we move in a large group, we'll be a walking target for monsters." In-Su held his chin as he considered the dangers in the new world. He didn't need to worry about protection because of Si-Woo. If he focused on leveling Si-Woo up, he would be unstoppable. And if he managed to find another person who could synergize with Si-Woo, In-Su wouldn't have to worry about monsters.

"I need to level up too.... I can't just stay at level 2. If I can raise my mana, I can heal and buff you."

"Ooh, good idea! If I can raise my level to LvL 10, I can unlock my passive skill. I can only start using magic at LvL 30, so I really need to rely on your healing and buffs." Si-Woo opened his status window before showing it to In-Su. "By the way, check this out."

[Would you like to team up with So In-Su (Healer) and activate Synergy: Two Holy Powers (Raise Lee Si-Woo's Holy Magic and So In-Su's Healing Skill)?]

[If You Team Up With Any Dark Attributes, You Will Activate Synergy: Not So Holy (Increase Holy & Dark Attributes greatly and Activate Team Attack).]

"Heeh... This really feels like a video game... So, basically, we just need someone who is either a dark magician or necromancer." In-Su then got a notification asking if he accepted Si-Woo's invitation to team up. Without any hesitation, he pressed yes.

[You Are Now Teamed Up With Lee Si-Woo. Turn On Sharing EXP system?]

"Sharing EXP?"

Si-Woo smirked at this as he wrapped his arm around In-Su. "Wait, isn't this great? I do all the killing and you still get the EXP!"

"I feel like I'm leeching off you..." In-Su sweatdropped.

"Naah! We're best friends, that's normal. You heal and buff me, I protect you and kill every monster!" Si-Woo patted the male on the back. "Also, you are like the leader. If someone wants to talk, you do it because you're good at talking."

"Right. Because when you try to talk, it ends up with your fist in someone's face." In-Su chuckled as he remembered that one time Si-Woo punched someone just because they didn't agree with him.

"Okay, okay. Let's just find a safe place to rest. And maybe find a new team."

The two started walking out of the campus grounds, with Si-Woo in the front, heading toward the now-ruined city.

[Exiting First Phase Of Tutorial.]