I blinked, my eyelids feeling heavy and sticky, like I had just woken up from a week-long coma.
The blur in my vision slowly sharpened into high-definition reality.
A wooden desk, a notebook filled with scribbles I didn't recognize, a hand holding a pen....a hand that was slightly calloused, unfamiliar, and definitely not mine.
"..…so, if we integrate the function regarding x, we find the area under the curve…..."
The voice was melodious, mature, and dangerously hypnotic.
I looked up.
Standing at the podium was a woman who could only be described as a walking sexy distraction. She wore a fitted pencil skirt that clung to her ass with desperate loyalty, and a white blouse that seemed one deep breath away from popping a button.
Her hair was tied back in a severe, hot professional bun, but a few loose strands framed a face that was flushed from the heat of the afternoon sun streaming through the windows.
Ms.Bae..... the ethics teacher.
Wait..... Ms. Bae?
My heart hammeeing, a sudden, violent rhythm. I knew that face, I knew that mole just under her left eye.
I frantically looked around the classroom.
To my left, sleeping with his head on the desk, was a guy with spiky hair and a drool stain on his textbook. The comedic relief, Park Seok.
To my right, sitting with perfect posture, staring at the teacher with eyes full of righteous determination and sickening purity. He had that distinct, sharp jawline that screamed 'Main Character.'
Kim Min-Jae
The protagonist of Dead High.
"Holy fucking shit," I whispered, the words getting lost in the voice of the lecture.
I wasn't in my messy apartment anymore. I wasn't scrolling through Webnovel on my phone, complaining about how the author of Dead High didn't add any smut at all.
I was inside the fucking manhwa.
Panic should have set in, I should have screamed, flipped a desk, or pinched myself until I bled, but I didn't.
Instead, a cold, calculating calm washed over me, it was the strange acceptance of a lucid dreamer who realizes the nightmare is actually a playground, especially for a pervert like me.
I looked down at the nametag pinned to my chest.
Lee Ren
I racked my brain. Lee Ren….. Lee Ren….Ah. That's right. I was Student C.
The background character who dies in Chapter 3 while trying to hold a door open for the Class President.
A noble sacrifice that earns exactly one panel of the Hero crying before he moves on to save the girl and romance her three chapters later.
"Screw that shit," I muttered, gripping the pen until my knuckles turned white.
I checked the analog clock hanging above the board.
1:52 PM
My breath hitched, I remembered this scene as I had read it three times.
The Outbreak Arc starts exactly at 2:00 PM.
That meant I had eight minutes.
Eight minutes before the janitor, who had been bitten by a rabid dog in the basement, stumbles into the hallway and bites the gym teacher.
Eight minutes before the screams start and before the school turns into a fucking slaughterhouse.
I looked back at Kim Min-Jae who was the kind, selfless Hero.
He was diligently taking notes, completely oblivious. Look at him, so noble and pure. He was probably thinking about how to study hard to support his sick mother.
In the original story, Min-Jae saves everyone, he saves the Class President, he saves the Childhood Friend.
He acts the hero, takes the beatings, risks his life, and what does he get?
Nothing.....
He holds hands, maybe a hug in Chapter 150, he respects their boundaries while they cling to him for survival.
It was the most frustrating read of my life. I always commented, "Bro, just take them already! You saved their lives! Fuck those beautiful pussies and enjoy their fat ass!" but the author insisted on a pure love slow burn that went nowhere.
A dark, twisted smirk Tugged at the corner of my lips, well then, everyone is in for a treat , I wasn't Kim Min-Jae nor I was a hero, I am just someone who enjoys beautiful women.
I looked at Ms. Bae again as she turned to write on the board, the movement fully showed the curve of her waist, her tight squishy ass.
In the original plot, she twists her ankle in the first ten minutes.
Wasteful, I thought.....Absolute waste.
If I saved her…....I wouldn't be asking for a thank you, this was an apocalypse and here the money was useless and the laws were gone.
The only currency left was survival, and I was about to be the richest man in the school because I held the most valuable asset of all: Information.
I needed to move....now.
I stood up abruptly, the chair scraped loudly against the floor, making a nasty sound.
The entire class turned to look at me.
"Mr. Lee?" Ms. Bae adjusted her glasses, frowning slightly. "Is something wrong? The class isn't over yet."
Kim Min-Jae looked at me too, his eyes filled with that annoying class monitor concern. "Ren, are you feeling sick? You look pale."
"I need to go to the infirmary," I said, my voice steady, betraying none of the adrenaline coursing through my veins. " Having a stomach ache"
"Can't it wait eight minutes?" Ms. Bae asked, tapping her chalk.
No, because in eight minutes, that chalk will be lodged in a zombie's eye, I thought.
"No," I said flatly. "It's an emergency."
I didn't wait for permission as I grabbed my bag, which, thank god, was heavy. I hoped Ren was the type to pack snacks. I swung it over my shoulder and walked toward the door.
"Ren! That's disrespectful!" Kim Min-Jae called out, half-rising from his seat. "Apologize to Ms. Bae."
I paused at the door, my hand on the cold metal handle and looked back at the annoying hero.
"Sit down, Min-Jae," I said, a strange mix of pity and mockery in my tone. "Study hard, you're going to need your strength."
I stepped out and slid the door shut behind me.
1:54 PM
Six minutes.
I didn't go to the infirmary, the infirmary was on the first floor...a death trap.
The windows there were large and fragile and when the horde swarmed from the playground, the infirmary was the first place to be overrun.
No.....I needed high ground and I needed a weapon.
I sprinted down the hall, heading toward the staircase at the far end. My destination was the Equipment Storage Room on the 4th floor, next to the rooftop access.
In the manhwa, Min-Jae finds a fire axe there in Chapter 10 and it becomes his signature weapon.
Sorry, buddy, I thought, taking the stairs two at a time, my thighs burning, finders keepers...
I reached the 4th floor, panting.
1:57 PM
Three minutes.
I found the storage room door which was locked.....Of course.
I didn't panic, I knew this too. In the manhwa, the janitor kept a spare key set hidden on top of the fire extinguisher box in the hallway because he was too lazy to carry them back to his office.
I reached up, my fingers brushing against dust and….....cold metal.
Gotcha.....
I grabbed the keys, unlocked the door, and slipped inside. It was dark and dusty.
I scanned the room. Baseball bats, nets, nails… and there, in the glass emergency case on the wall.
The Fire Axe.....
I smashed the glass with the butt of a baseball bat, ignoring the loud crash and pulled the axe out, feeling its weight, It was perfect....heavy, balanced, and lethal.
1:59 PM
I stood there in the dark, clutching the axe, listening.
From four floors down, a faint, high-pitched scream echoed which sounded like a girl. Then came the unmistakable sound of glass shattering and the distinct, guttural roaring.
It had begun.....
I walked to the door of the storage room and cracked it open just an inch, peering out into the hallway.
Down below, the school erupted into chaos. I could hear the stampede of footsteps, the terrified shrieks of students realizing that their maths and exam problems didn't matter anymore.
I smiled, my grip tightening on the axe handle.
Min-Jae, was probably down there right now, trying to organize an orderly evacuation, trying to be the leader.
He would save the Class President, sure but he would leave the Teacher behind because she would tell him to save the students first, what an idiot, I would've have taken the time to enjoy her.
Ms. Bae.......
She was currently on the 3rd floor, in that classroom, probably frozen in fear as students panicked around her.
I checked my reflection in the shattered glass of the fire axe case, my eyes looked hungry.
"Time to go to school," I whispered.
A translucent blue screen flickered into existence in front of my eyes, glowing softly in the dim room.
[System Initializing.....]
[Welcome, Host]
[Current Objective: Survive]
[Hidden Objective: Corrupt the Narrative]
I chuckled, even the universe agreed with me, I kicked the door open and stepped out into the end of the world.