Damned System

Chapter 1

Epilogue

『The Berserk trait is being activated.』
『The system is switching to support mode. Support target: Player Kang Hyunwoo.』

Every time I saw that sentence, I had something to say.

“Shit.”

As expected, I swore habitually today as well.

Seeing that message meant the system intended to put me through the wringer.

Whenever the trait was activated, I always went through hell. Today would probably be no different.

Annoyance already began to simmer inside me.

To make matters worse, the system’s nagging joined in.

《System Message》

Let’s use proper and kind words. The Precious Mirror for Enlightening the Mind states that the mouth and tongue are the gates to disaster and worry, and likens them to an axe that can kill the body. It warns about human language and behavior…

Without reading the entire message, I turned it off.

‘Nagging again.’

Just thinking back to the day this trait appeared made me grind my teeth.

No matter how much time passed, I could never forget.

The day that damnable system intervened in my once peaceful life.

* * *

In the summer of my 18th year, my parents died in a hit-and-run accident.

My only uncle took the insurance money and inheritance my parents left behind and disappeared.

At the age of 18, I and my 10-year-old twin siblings were left homeless overnight.

Despite having eyes wide open and still alive, I couldn’t stand my siblings being pointed at as orphans.

I finished high school through a GED and started making money.

I didn’t shy away from construction work and went out every day for loading and unloading packages.

Whenever a part-time job that I could do opened up, I took it, even if it meant losing sleep.

I dared to say I lived fiercely because I wanted to give my siblings the childhood our parents gave me.

I pitied those kids who lost our parents sooner than I did and tried to do everything I could for them.

It wasn’t easy, of course.

“Is this all you can do?!”

Shit.

I swallowed the swearing that reached my throat, and a slap flew at me.

There were countless times I wanted to quit, and incidents like that only exacerbated those feelings.

The one who checked my carefully stacked packages and broke them was him.

The one who meddled and caused the collapse was also him.

And the one who discovered a box marked with a fragile sticker among the collapsed packages was him.

‘Why is he making this my problem?’

As if a slap wasn’t enough, this time a kick followed.

With a thud, my body slightly pushed back.

The operations manager’s eyes widened.

It seemed he wanted me to fall flat on my back.

‘If you wanted that, you should’ve kicked harder.’

Enduring such a light kick wounded my pride too much.

Tilting my head, I raised one corner of my mouth.

He flinched, his body trembling.

‘Got scared.’

If my parents were alive, I would have immediately grabbed his collar and head-butted him.

‘I’ve really calmed down, Kang Hyunwoo.’

While I let out a slight chuckle, the worker’s face twisted further.

‘He seems ready to throw another punch.’

He probably thought I was mocking him.

“This bastard!”

“Mr. Cho! Kang!”

But before he could raise his hand, reinforcements arrived. It was Hwang Kyungsoo, the logistics center manager.

“Mr. Cho, what are you doing?! Do you want to get sued?!”

“This… this, you… Do it right from now on!”

The operations manager raised his voice needlessly as he left.

‘Oh, wow.’

Watching his retreating back, I let out a cynical laugh.

Meanwhile, manager Hwang began checking if I was hurt anywhere.

I waved my hand to indicate I was fine and started tidying up the scattered packages.

Others, who were monitoring the situation nervously from nearby, came over to help.

Probably, one of them had called Manager Hwang.

Luckily, since it wasn’t my fault, it seemed like I wouldn’t get entangled in any compensation issues.

With that out of the way, I focused on work for a few more hours until it was time to clock out.

But before boarding the bus, manager Hwang called me over.

“Are you really okay? You should probably go to the hospital after being kicked, don’t you think?”

Normally, someone else saying this would feel annoying, but Manager Hwang was an exception.

He was someone who had been looking out for me from behind the scenes for over two years, knowing my circumstances.

“He was weak. It didn’t even feel like I got hit.”

“You never know; it might bruise…”

“Ah, it’s fine. It’s a waste of time to go to the hospital.”

“You ungrateful brat, can’t you be thankful for my concern?”

“I’m always grateful.”

“At least if you say it, it doesn’t sound annoying. No arguments, just go to the hospital! Take tomorrow off. I’ll make sure you get paid.”

My eyes widened at that moment.

“This is the time to curb Mr. Cho’s bad habits. His smacking the kids has become excessive; this can’t continue.”

“Are you threatening him with assault charges? I don’t refuse opportunities like this.”

“Does anyone here not know that?”

“Seriously, I can take a day off?”

“Take a break, you might collapse, and that scares me, so please rest!”

“Deal.”

Getting a day off after taking a few hits was fortunate.

Humming a tune, I turned around.

By the time I got some shut-eye on the bus and returned home, it was 9 AM.

Moving through the busy commercial district that was just starting to wake up and reaching the familiar alley took no time at all.

The house I arrived at, after climbing some shabby stairs, was quiet.

Even though it was still summer break, my siblings had probably left for their academy.

After I washed up, I entered the room my siblings worked hard to ensure I had to myself.

Inside was nothing but an old bed and a clothes rack.

“Ahhh.”

Connecting my phone to the charger and lying down, a groan escaped my lips.

There might have been some rough moments, but I survived another day.

When I suddenly became the head of the household from an ordinary high school student, I thought the world was ending.

Yet, the world stayed unchanged.

Everything continued the same, except for me and my siblings.

Surviving one day at a time, it was nearly seven years now.

“Wow, seven years…”

Saying it out loud, I was flabbergasted.

Next month, a new term would start, and my siblings would become high school students.

The kids who crouched and sobbed at the corner of the funeral home at ten had already grown so much.

Time passing felt distant and nostalgic.

The thought was brief. High school was an important time for my siblings.

To send one to law school and the other to medical school, there was no time to rest.

In three hours, I had another part-time job waiting.

‘I refuse to see their lives spiral downward like mine.’

I tried to sleep.

* * *

Ding, ding, ding.

Even in my sleep, the loud noise was unmistakable, ringing continuously in my ears.

‘Already?’

Rolling my stiff body, I reached out. I intended to silence my phone alarm.

But no matter how I groped around, nothing met my hand.

“Ah, really …”

Muttering in annoyance was followed by a jolt through my body.

Neither the damp blanket nor the cheap mattress was there.

I was lying on a cold, hard floor.

Had I rolled off the bed in my sleep? Just as I was furrowing my brow and opening my eyes.

『Beta server stabilization 23%』
『Beta server stabilization 31%』

Something strange appeared in front of me. Words written over a white backdrop.

‘Beta server? Stabilization?’

What was that? In bewilderment, I blinked.

Wondering what on earth was happening, I looked around, but all I could see was white.

Everywhere I turned, it was nothing but pure white.

The words followed wherever my gaze went, stubbornly maintaining their position.

“A dream…?”

My mind told me that this situation was undoubtedly a dream.

There seemed to be no other explanation for this surreal scene.

However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

The sensations in my body were remarkably vivid.

‘This is a dream?’

Even though my brain struggled to comprehend, my body was sending alarming signals.

It was an intuition I couldn’t articulate.

An instinct that this wasn’t a dream.

『Beta server stabilization 56%』

Amidst my confusion, the sound kept pounding in my ears and the words continued before my eyes.

‘56%…?’

The number was increasing steadily. Quickly, I rose to my feet.

Looking down at the loose T-shirt and training pants I wore to bed, I felt the cold air rising through my bare soles.

It was then that I realized I was barefoot. Goosebumps covered my skin.

At that moment, the number hovering in front of me reached 100.

『”Beta server stabilization 100%』
『The player’s safe zone has been designated.』
『The Player Development Program (Absorption and Purification) is being executed.』
『The Player Management Program (Summoning and Recovery) is being executed.』
『The Player Support Program (Inventory and Shop) is being executed.』
『The Player Interaction Program (Community and Party) is being executed.』
『The selection of Beta players is underway. (100/100)』
『A basic weapon dagger has been provided.』

New lines of text appeared, and something fell from the air.

I quickly picked it up.

It was a knife coated in black. About 15 cm in length.

‘Why a knife? What am I supposed to do with this?’

The sight of the sharp blade sent a shiver down my spine.

A single word flashed through my mind.

‘Game?’

Server, player, weapon.

The most fitting term to explain the current situation was ‘game.’

Those words were coercing me into playing a game.

By the time I reached a very simple conclusion, a phenomenon beyond typical comprehension ensued.

The text that occupied the front of my vision vanished, replaced by a translucent grey window.

≪Important Notice≫

This system has been developed to prepare for ◇&ː$’s intrusion and ensure the survival and continuity of humanity by nurturing players. Players are tasked with stopping ◇&ː$’s intrusion and maintaining ### through &¡ and ∞¡& conditions. ### enhancements by !&∨∐ are included in this development.

Phrases intermittently disrupted, resembling a corrupted file, made me grip the dagger involuntarily.

That surreal event didn’t mark the end of the occurrences.

Ding, ding, ding! Loud notifications accompanied layers of grey windows stacking up.

More than dozens of windows overlapped.

‘What the hell?’

Was this a hack? Or an error? No, no.

It looked like something crucial had to be conveyed but was impeded.

‘Virus.’

As the brief word appeared in my thoughts, certainty followed.

This situation was akin to a game; the notice was displayed by the system, while the interruption came from a virus.

The system was trying to communicate something, and the virus was blocking it.

What on earth was in that message? Fixating on the bizarre scene, I contained myself.

Their engagement was fierce. Numerous windows appeared, and at some point, the content began to change.

But even those were filled with fragmented letters.

Without flinching, I observed their exchange intently.

Thanks to that, I didn’t miss a fleeting moment.

A sentence that seemed to dart across my retina as if it were an illusion.

‘For the preservation of humanity…?’

Those few words embedded themselves deep in my memory.

A slow-building terror of the unknown began to rise.

My mouth went dry, and my body trembled.

Amidst this, the skirmish between the system and the virus seemed to have ended, leaving an ominous silence.

No more loud alert tones were heard.

The unsettling tranquility surrounded me.

As the prolonged silence heightened anxiety and tension, a translucent grey window reappeared.

MISSION

『Tutorial (Beta Test 1/3)』

Eliminate the target.

Time Limit: 00:10:00

Start timer: 00:01:00

This time, everything was clear.

The timer quickly dropped to 59 seconds.

But there was no mental capacity to spare for that.

All my nerves were drawn to the scene visible beyond the translucent window.

“Ha!”

Out of disbelief, I let out a scoff.

“Grrr…”

Drooling and growling, it was unmistakably a dog.

But this dog was at least twice the size of a normal one.

Knife, mission, target, elimination.

Combining all those terms, I realized what I had to do.

Almost as if biding its time, the timer hit zero.

『Starting the Tutorial (Beta Test).』

Words appeared in place of the disappearing translucent window.

Simultaneously, the enormous dog revealed its menacing fangs and sprang at me.

“Shiiiit!”

Damned system.