It was the first day of highschool.

  I was staring at the wall, seated in class while waiting for the entrance ceremony. Suddenly, I heard a sound effect accompanied by a message that popped up in front of me.

『Welcome to Nakseong High School, a school filled with mysteries and secrets.

  Uncover the dark secrets hidden within the school, and fight against urban legends and myths to earn points and unlock special abilities.

  Then, gather your companions and stop the resurrection of the demon king before you graduate.

The world’s fate is in your hands.』

→ If you click you can move on to the next page.

“·····?”

  It was like a message pop up from a video game.

  I was momentarily taken aback and looked around my surroundings, but none of the other students were paying attention to me. They were all either on their phones or were chatting amongst themselves.

“······.”

  I was wondering what the message meant when the speakers announced to the students that the entrance ceremony was soon to begin.

[Hello students. This is the broadcasting room. Currently there is a power outage within the school and thus we can’t broadcast the ceremony through the monitors in-class. For this reason the entrance ceremony will be held at the field at the front of the school, so all first years should gather at the field. Once again, this is the broadcasting room…]

  The other students in the class all stood up whilst complaining. I also absentmindedly stood up and followed them to the corridor. On the way I still wasn’t able to take my eyes off the message in front of me.

  I tried putting my hand forward but it passed through the letters as if they didn’t exist.

  ‘So it’s a hologram····?’

  I think I’ve seen something similar in movies.

『Welcome to Nakseong High School, a school filled with mysteries and secrets.

  Uncover the dark secrets hidden within the school, and fight against urban legends and myths to earn points and unlock special abilities.

  Then, gather your companions and stop the resurrection of the demon king before you graduate.

The world’s fate is in your hands.』

  Once again I checked to see if anyone else could see the messages, to no avail. I concluded that apparently this message could only be seen by me, and went out into the field.

• • •

  On the field the teachers were going around and checking to see if everyone was in line. I blended into the line of students from my new class.

  These days most ceremonies were done through TV broadcasts instead of in person, so I could understand why students were complaining here and there.

  The fussing quieted down when a man who looked to be the principal stood up to the podium.

  “Ah ah, can you hear me? Okay good. New students of Nakseong High School, I welcome you with open arms. Well, first thing’s first, I sincerely congratulate you on your entrance to this prestigious school. I am the principal ······.”

  With that word, as the principal put on a serious face as he tried move on to the main part of his speech , his head suddenly exploded.

A fountain of blood burst from where his head used to be, and some pieces fell here and there.

“······.”

  The audience grew quiet, while only squishing sounds could be heard.

  The headless, still standing corpse of the principal began wobbling and coated the podium with blood. In the end the corpse tilted and fell over.

“Kyaaaaaaaaa-aa!”

“Wh.. What?”

After the short delay the students finally started screaming.

  Some grew pale and lost strength in their legs, while others pointed at the podium with their fingers.

  The teachers were facing the students while being next to the podium, and so couldn’t catch what happened to the principal until they heard the commotion from the field.

“P··· principal······?”

“Mr. Kim! Call 119 right away!”

“Are you alright? What in the world is happening!”

Some of the teachers who approached the podium had a weak stomach, and turned their heads while almost throwing up.

Many first year girls cried, lost strength and flopped down on the floor, or helped each other up despite not knowing each other, while the boys stared at the podium in disbelief or were checking their surroundings with wide eyes.

At that moment, something even more horrendous occurred.

Splat-

A strict looking middle-aged female teacher who was giving out orders to the other teachers near the podium suddenly had her head blow up. In a consecutive domino-like blast, starting from the people nearest to the podium, more heads started exploding. It didn’t take long for a red mist to form around the front.

“Aaaaaaaaaaagh!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!!”

At this point everyone ran away screaming. Even those who didn’t realize what was going on with the principal and were just looking around in naive curiosity were making terrified faces and were being swept away by the crowd of running students.

Splat- Splaat- Splat-

I was also running like crazy, bumping into other students along the way. The target was the school entrance. Even whilst running, I continue to hear sounds of things blowing up and rolling along the field. It was the sound of the headless bodies rolling from being unable to counter the lasting inertia that lurched the former students forward.

Huff, huff, huff·····.

I was out of breath.

“What the fuck······.”

I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew I had to run away.

As the early students approached the gates, I heard shouting coming from the janitor who was on security duty.

“Hey! What’s going on there! Where are you all running off to when the entrance ceremony hasn’t ended!”

The man apparently didn’t understand what was going on, as his face turned red while he bellowed at us.

“Hey, stop right there! You think I’m joking?? Hey you little bastards, didn’t you hear me? Go back!!”

The distance from the gates to the podium was about the length of the whole field. The dirt cloud produced by 300 students running at once obscured the janitor’s view on the whole situation.

‘Fucking hell, though you should at least realize that dozens of students running at once usually means something is off······.”

A bunch of students who seemed to be from the sports clubs got ahead of me, running at a breakneck speed. The first row of athletes body-slammed the janitor and reached the entrance.

“Yeowch···!”

The janitor tumbled on the ground and got covered in dust.

The few athletes who made it to the entrance realized that the gates were locked, and after shaking them a few times, climbed over the gates and escaped.

“Hey! Fucking hold it!”

The janitor stood up again and barked.

Soon the area become a mess, as the janitor angrily pulled at the students who were trying to escape over the gates. Meanwhile, some girls who lacked the athletic finesse to climb over the gates cried out to the janitor.

“We’re all about to die! Heads were exploding in front of us! You have to let us out please!”

“What is this nonsense you’re saying! Go bring your teachers! Where are the damn teachers!”

The janitor had a pretty solid work ethic, as he refused to let the students out until the teachers arrived. He continued to grab the bottoms of the students trying to go over the gates and pulled them down.

Splat-

While all of this was happening. At about the middle of the field.

The students who were running too late were being decapitated rapidly.

Those that were left soon turned hysterical.

“Janitor you piece of shit! Open the fucking gates!”

“What? Did you just say a piece of shit? Hey you! Come here!”

The janitor pulls out the student who was swearing by the collar , and starts slapping his cheek.

Slap- Slaap-

The janitor’s only pitiful leftover identity in life seemed to be on the noble task of guarding the school gates. Thus he continued to grow hot headed.

“Aaaaack! I can’t stand it! Open the gates you ****!”

Even the students who weren’t able to go over the gates turned back and began assaulting the janitor.

“Open the damn door! Give us the key!!”

The stalwart attitude of the janitor finally began to waver as he noticed the wave of students running in his direction, and he starts to back away.

“Euk, what is this? What’s going on huh? You fucking youngsters······!”

“O. Pen. the door you absolute turd! Open it now!”

“Give us the key! The keey!!”

The mist of blood was creeping closer and closer.

As one of the students tries to reach for his pocket to find the key, the janitor twists his body rapidly to hide it.

The girls started to grab the janitor’s head and scratched it like crazy, while the boys slammed his shoulders with their fists or kicked him with their feet.

Slam- Slam- Slam-

“Kuuuuuk! Aaaaaaaack!”

The janitor screams in pain.

The students use violence to find the key.

The front gates were pandemonium.

“Gaaaaah! Guuuuh······.”

“The key! Come on already!!”

Despite his skin getting all scratched up by the female students, the janitor STILL manages to retain his pocket.

It was a terrible, frustrating situation, but was a good thing for me instead. Thanks to the commotion, the edge of the front gates had a spot left to climb.

“Huff, huff······.”

I quickly arrive at the front gates, latch on to the edge, and start to climb over. The iron bars composing the gates were slippery, but my survival instincts kicked in and I used every ounce of strength I had left.

I somehow managed to finally get over the gates. Now all that was left was to land on the sidewalk outside.

“Hup!”

The moment I turned my body to jump off. I realized the range at which the heads exploded arrived just in front of me.

I could still see the janitor, who was being beaten to a pulp by the angry mob of students. The students weren’t focused on getting the key from the janitor anymore, and were instead obsessed with eliminating the janitor instead.

In a life or death situation like this, the desperation that the students felt had become twisted into a wild streak of violence directed at the singular obstacle stopping them from survival. The students were slamming the janitor’s head while their faces grew more and more terrified.

“Diee! Dieee! Why did you interfere huh! Die goddammit······!”

“Uuk, cough, kuuuh···.”

Soon even the heads of the janitor and the students surrounding him blew up.

And just under me.

It also finally happened to the students who were still climbing the gates.

‘Fuck!’

I reflexively jumped in the opposite direction and landed.

‘I finally escaped!’

And just as I was about to sprint again.

I felt my head bloat up.

‘I···I thought you were able to survive if you stepped out the school..’

I was caught up in all of the running that gave the illusion that the area outside of school was a safe zone, but all of it was just based on instinct.

It wasn’t the way to survival.

I felt the strange and painful sensation of my head continuously inflating like a balloon. Then, after a large boom I lost consciousness.

[You have died.]

[Restarting at the checkpoint.]

[Loading······.]

Flick-

When I woke again I was back in the class.

The other students were all either on their phones or were chatting amongst themselves.

“······.”

  What just happened.

  Just a moment ago I was caught up in a grotesque situation, and had my head blown off while trying to escape out of the school.

  How am I still alive?

  I still clearly recall the 300 students running across the field, and the smell of sweat and all of the insanity and the fountains of blood.

  Was it all a dream, or did I go back in time······.

“What··· What is happening······.”

  I was blankly looking around me, and noticed the last sentence of the hologram message that I wasn’t able to before.

··Though I still couldn’t comprehend what was going on. I felt that everything was related to this message.

‘You’re telling me to click huh? How?’

  I tapped the blinking sentence with my finger as if I was using a touchscreen.

Flick-!

  It seemed to be the answer. The screen changed, and new sentences popped up.

 [Beginning the Tutorial]

『You are a normal, rather reserved student, who isn’t particularly good at anything nor has much charisma. Thus you have had a pretty boring school life until now. Today is the first day of your three years at high school.

For others today may be very exciting, but for you it’s business as usual. But after experiencing the entrance ceremony, you have a creeping feeling that ‘this school is far from normal’. This ominous feeling may foreshadow that the events that you’ll experience here are not those of simple criminal nature.

And instead are something more insane, and of the paranormal kind.

Anyway, today is just the first day of your long and treacherous 3 year journey. You don’t pay much attention to hunch you have, and let it pass.』

[You have received a quest.]

Make three friends in order to create a club. (Currently 0/3)

Rewards: 10 Ghost Points, and the unlocking of the status window.

“······.”

  I reflexively let out a silent ‘whoa’ from my mouth.

  How am I supposed to take in this information.

  Quests, tutorials. It all seemed like ··· video game jargon?

  While I was gathering my thoughts while reading the messages over and over again. The speaker turned on once more.

[Hello students. This is the broadcasting room. Currently there is a power outage within the school and thus we can’t broadcast the ceremony through the monitors in-class. For this reason the entrance ceremony will be held at the field at the front of the school, so all first years should gather at the field. Once again, this is the broadcasting room…]

[Once again, this is the broadcasting room. Currently there is a power outage within the school and thus we can’t broadcast the ceremony through the monitors in-class. For this reason the entrance ceremony will be held at the field at the front of the school, so all first years should gather at the field.]

  This time I didn’t get up immediately from my seat. I was simply too wrapped up in my thoughts.

  If I go out the corridor to attend the ceremony again, will the same events unfold?

  Everything seemed to be going the same way. The announcement calling the students to the field due to the shortage, the annoyed look on the students·····.

If I head out to the field, will my body say bye bye to my head again?

‘What is this even·····.’

  I sat down in my seat and sighed. At this point most of the students were out and the classroom was quiet.

  Only a few students were left. One girl, one boy, and another girl who was lying face down on the desk. The four of us were still staying in class.

  I was wondering what to do when a young female teacher who was walking down the corridor stopped to look at us.

“Why aren’t you all going outside?”

“······.”

  I had no choice but to bring my shoebag and head out, and the other three students did the same.

•  •  •

“Ah ah, can you hear me? Okay good. New students of Nakseong High School, I welcome you with open arms. Well, first thing’s first, I sincerely congratulate you on your entrance to this prestigious school. I am the principal ······.”

And with that the principal’s head exploded. Again.

‘Fuck.’

  I continued to swear under my breath as I ran for my life to the front gate. Most of the students were still confused or screaming at the wobbling principal, but none were running like I was.

‘I’m first!’

This time I was the first one to take action.

  Soon enough the heads of the people near the principal began exploding as well. The track field had to be practically seeping in with the screams of the students before anyone else bolted like I did.

‘Huff, huff···“

  Though I was the first to run I wasn’t in great shape, and soon I felt the sports club athletes gaining on me.

No matter how quickly I ran, there was no guarantee I’d make it this time either. I could still die despite making it out of the school again.

But first things first, I still had to get far away from this place.

Far away, I could see the janitor shouting at us and blocking the gates.

‘Huff, uff ··· wait ··· fuck···‘

  I swore internally. Last time the area around the gates was chaotic due to all the wrestling, which gave me an opportunity to grab on to edge of the gates and escape.

But this time I’m running in the forefront.

  With my lackluster strength I’d instead be an easy target for the janitor and get caught right away. Things could go worse.

‘What do I do, ****.. huff, pant ·····.”

What should I do. What should I do.

  In the face of impending doom I tried squeezing out all of my brain power, and thought up of a solution.

‘I’ll just instigate the other students!’

I slowed down my pace and shouted so that everyone could hear.

“The front gates are closed!”

Again I shouted until my voice nearly went hoarse.

“The front gates are closed!! The janitor has the key!!”

“Uaaaaaaaah!”

“Ahjeussi! Open the gates! Please!”

  *TN: Ahjeussi is a term used to describe middle aged men in Korea.

“Open the gates now-! Aaaaarugh!”

  The students were losing their heads while heads exploded around them. I continued to rile them up until their minds were filled with only raw survival instinct.

“The janitor has the key! We have to get the janitor first!!”

  Normally the students would just have ignored or pushed the janitor aside while they tried to climb over the gates. But due to me giving them awareness that ‘The gates are closed’, the students now viewed the front gate not as an escape route, but as a dead end that could be opened.

“Janitor ahjeussi! Open the door please! Quickly!”

The students who were running in the forefront with me all ran over to the janitor.

  The janitor seemed to have quite a bit of strength left considering his age. He went full piledriver on one student while hollering, but he still couldn’t beat the whole mob.

“What are you crazy delinquents up to huh? You think ganging up on an older person like this makes you feel better? Bring the teachers here now!”

“Janitor you son of a bitch open the gate!”

“Fuck! Just open the gate already!”

  Once again, through the commotion I found a chance to climb out the gate just after the sports club. Turning my head, I saw that the explosions only reached about half of the field.

‘I escaped much faster than before!’

  I sprinted out of the school without looking back. Far away I saw the sports club members reach the main street and wheeze while holding onto passersby. I used up all my strength to run even farther away than them. I finally stopped after nearly making it to a subway station a few blocks away. I grabbed a passerby and asked.

“Police, call the police please ······.”

“What’s going on young man? Are you okay? Stay with me!”

“Police···· Po··· lice······.”

  The last thing I saw was an ahjeussi who was hastily holding up his phone to call the cops, as well as a crowd of people who were looking at me, confused as to what was going on.

‘Ah, maybe I should have asked him to call 911 instead of the police huh···· I mean, what can 911 even do for situations when people’s heads explode though······.’

  Maybe people get caught up in the smallest things when they get shocked like this. That was the last thought I had before I became unconscious.

•  •  •

  When I awoke I saw a white ceiling and people going around in patient’s clothing. I was at a hospital.

  Next to me I saw my mom and dad sitting down, their faces smothered with exhaustion. When mom saw that I woke up she hugged me and started bawling.

“Oh Jun··· Oh thank goodness······.”

“We were worried you might not wake up again son··· How’s your body feeling?”

“Mom, dad··· you should be at work at this time, so why·····.”

“That’s the least of our worries right now! We heard you were in an accident and came as fast as we could···.”

  Soon the doctor arrived, and explained that the condition of my body was normal, and that the reason I lost consciousness was just because of mental trauma.

‘···So I survived?’

  Soon the terrible memories came flashing back. I started panicking and told my parents “Everyone at school, their heads started exploding and ······”. But apparently they already knew, and said that news related to the incident was already being broadcast nationwide. Apparently government agents would soon also arrive at the hospital to ask some questions. I looked at the TV in my room and the whole situation became clear.

[Nakseong High School 300 people mass head explosion incident!]

‘···300 people.’

  The number of freshmen at the ceremony would have just been slightly over 300. So everyone died apart from a few others like me?

“······.”

  All of the other major channels were reporting on the same topic. Apparently the whole nation was  completely shocked by the massacre while I was unconscious. The newscasters on the screen were reporting with solemn voices.

[At about 9:30 AM on the fourth, a disaster occurred at Nakseong High School in Seoul City, Gwan-Ak ward. Over 300 casualties were reported in a freak accident that still is yet to be properly uncovered. Every one of the corpses had an extreme degree of mutilation on their heads.]

[According to police investigations, the lives of principal Mr. Shin (59) as well as 14 school faculty members and 293 freshmen were lost as a result. Fortunately, about 10 students are reported to have survived······.]

  It was the same for the other channels. The news was showing the police at the site taking away corpses covered with a white sheet, and in other channels experts were having a heated debate on the matter.

[We didn’t find any trace of explosives, firearms, or gunpowder on the scene. This is why I believe the whole thing orchestrated by a terrorist using a bioweapon.]

[Then what do you think was the difference between the ones who died and the ones who survived? It was revealed that the survivors were also attending the ceremony during the incident.]

[Yes, that part is still a mystery. The strongest hypothesis seems to be that how fast one escaped the scene was what determined life or death, but it turns out some individuals who escaped the scene first were killed as well.]

[So you’re saying there are other variables apart from just how fast one escaped from the scene first, right?]

[Yes, that’s what I believe.]

  After that I stayed in the hospital for a few more months in quarantine. I had to go through blood, urine, feces tests, endoscopy, MRIs, even parasite tests. After that I had a few Q&A sessions with a scary bear-like detective before I was allowed to leave.

  The contents of the sessions were usually related to how the situation progressed or if anything seemed off, but to me it seemed like the government didn’t really have a clue about what happened that day either.

•  •  •

3 years later.

I lay down on my bed, before the day of my graduation.

  In the end the government couldn’t find out the reason the incident occurred. The whole area of Shinlim was completely locked down due to concerns that there may still be traces of the virus. Our family had to move without even getting to pack all of our possessions. Though, the government still gave us a lot of support, and provided us with a new home just above the Hangang river.

‘Huh, I thought the government would be pretty incompetent, just like in the movies.’

  I was even a bit moved by how effortless the whole process was. I almost had to take a gap year because I stayed in the hospital for so long, but the bureau of education already had a plan to quietly move me to a new school.

  Apart from having occasional nightmares about my family’s heads exploding, I had no trouble getting accepted into a pretty decent university after studying for 3 years.

  And today, the day before the graduation. I was reading the message that appeared in front of me that day again, for the first time in a while.

  [Beginning the Tutorial]

『You are a normal, rather reserved student, who isn’t particularly good at anything nor has much charisma. Thus you have had a pretty boring school life until now. Today is the first day of your three years at high school.

For others today may be very exciting, but for you it’s business as usual. But after experiencing the entrance ceremony, you have a creeping feeling that ‘this school is far from normal’. This ominous feeling may foreshadow that the events that you’ll experience here are not those of simple criminal nature.

And instead are something more insane, and of the paranormal kind.

Anyway, today is just the first day of your long and treacherous 3 year journey. You don’t pay much attention to hunch you have, and let it pass.』

[You have received a quest.]

Make three friends in order to create a club. (Currently 0/3)

Rewards: 10 Ghost Points, and the unlocking of the status window.

I lay there in my bed thinking about the floating message while waving my hand through it.

‘···So in the end what was this message all about.’

  The message could appear or disappear in front of me according to my will. I was putting off from opening it because it gave me flashbacks of that horrible day.

But opening it now, the day before graduation, I feel a bit restless.

  I was able to make some friends at my new school, though not too many. I went into a book club too, but the quota given by the quest objective didn’t fill up. What was this message, seriously.

I slowly fell asleep while having those thoughts.

[It is graduation day.]

[The demon king has been resurrected.]

Beeeeep—

Sometime in the night, not long after I fell asleep, I suddenly woke up because of a high pitched beeping sound coming from the emergency warning alert on my phone.

[Safety Alert Message: 02:30 am Parameter breach alarm for the Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi Area. Residents are advised to prepare for emergency and evacuate according to the authorities.]

A rather flat-toned message was blinking on my phone.

What?

What’s going on.

Was there an earthquake or something?

My heart started beating rapidly.

I’ve seen these kinds of messages from the government sometimes pop up during natural disasters, but none of them have been as serious as this one.

I quickly turned on an internet app. I clicked on the live search ranking, and the first results that come up were.

Seoul city massive creature

Seoul city kaiju appearance

Seoul city unidentified beast

.

.

  In the calm dark of the night. In contrast to the quietness of my house, the internet was currently overwhelming with emergency news and new reports on what was going on.

  I was taken aback, and tried to log on to my most frequented social media site.

[To any one of you living in Seoul. Stay in your homes and DON’T LEAVE.]

[It’s moving near the abandoned Shinlim area rn. It’s much taller than an apartment··· is this even real??]

[To those living near Seoul, I’ll be praying for you.]

The more I read, the harder my breaths became.

“Hah, haah ······.”

What is happening.

Should I wake up my parents? Shit, what do I do······.

I didn’t even have to wake my parents up, as I hear murmuring from all around our apartment as the other residents started panicking. Dad woke up from the noise and opened the door and walked out from his room.

“Jun, what’s going on······.”

“Not sure dad. I just woke up too.”

Our family headed out to the balcony to check where the loud noises were coming from.

  Despite it being late at night, I saw numerous households from the other buildings turning their lights on. People were poking their heads out from their windows and muttering amongst themselves.

  I also opened the balcony window to see outside, but it was pitch black. All I could make out was the Hangang river, flowing with black currents.

“Young man! L, l, look·· Look over there! Over the river!”

The ajumma from the balcony next to us urgently called out.

  *TN: Ajumma is a term used to describe middle aged women in Korea.

  It wasn’t just the house next to us. The upper floor, lower floor··· Most of the residents were looking in terror at something in the distance.

Some even let out a scream in fright.

“W, what in the world······.”

“What even is that······?”

  What were they looking at? I looked over at the direction the ajumma was pointing at, somewhere over the forest of skyscrapers that were built along the river. I saw a towering shadow moving somewhere beyond the neon lights of the city. It was difficult to make out its shape due to the backlight. All I could see was that it was a bipedal creature.

It was ··· colossal.

  That huge mass of something was slowly moving somewhere. I suddenly realized where the thing was standing. Since it was over the river I had some trouble measuring the distance, but the direction was certain. Plus intuition was telling me I was correct.

  The location the colossal creature was standing at was the school I almost attended 3 years ago.

Nakseong High School.

Then, my life ended in a way I couldn’t comprehend.

[BAD ENDING – The price of turning a blind eye]

Conditions

Run away without clearing the tutorial.

Don’t do anything until the Demon King is resurrected.

[Beginning regression.]

[Loading······.]

.

.

.

『Welcome to Nakseong High School, a school filled with mysteries and secrets.

Uncover the dark secrets hidden within the school, and fight against urban legends and myths to earn points and unlock special abilities.

Then, gather your companions and stop the resurrection of the demon king before you graduate.

The world’s fate is in your hands.』

→ If you click you can move on to the next page.

  I woke up from death, just after I witnessed the monster the day before my graduation.

  What I could see was a familiar message and a place that I never wanted to think of again.

That school.

  I was back on that day 3 years ago, when I was waiting for the entrance ceremony in the classroom.

bzzt-

[Hello students. This is the broadcasting room. Currently there is a power outage within the school and thus we can’t broadcast the ceremony through the monitors in-class. For this reason the entrance ceremony will be held at the field at the front of the school, so all first years should gather at the field. Once again, this is the broadcasting room…]