The transition didn't feel like waking up; it felt like being compiled.
Han-ul slammed onto a hard, cold surface. The smell hit him first—not the ozone of the Tutorial, but the familiar, heavy scent of burnt rubber and cheap grease. He was back in Seoul. Or at least, what was left of it.
He pushed himself up from the asphalt. The 24-hour convenience store where this had all started was a skeleton of twisted rebar and shattered glass. The "frozen" delivery scooter was no longer suspended in mid-air; it lay crumpled against a fire hydrant, the rider's body nowhere to be seen.
Above, the sky was no longer blue. It was a dull, oscillating gray, filled with scrolling lines of translucent white code that moved like clouds.
[WELCOME TO EARTH v.1.0]
[Current Status: Integration Phase]
[Safety Zones Established: 0.04% of Landmass]
Han-ul checked his wrist. His skin felt tight, humming with the artificial aura of his [Liar's Truth] skill. He was still "Level 12" to the outside world, but his body felt like lead. The "Hell Mode" difficulty was already making its presence known; the gravity felt 10% heavier, and the air was thin, as if the planet were struggling to render its own atmosphere.
A scream echoed from down the street, followed by the sound of something heavy dragging against concrete.
Han-ul ducked behind a rusted car. Two blocks away, a creature that looked like a bipedal surveillance camera made of flesh and rusted iron was prowling.
[Monster: System Scout - Level 15]
[Behavior: Identifying Non-Patched Assets]
Level 15? Han-ul's jaw tightened. The Tutorial monsters were Level 5. The System hadn't just updated the world; it had skipped the "beginner" levels entirely.
He looked at his hands. He was still in his 7-Eleven apron, now scorched and bloodstained. He looked like a madman. He needed gear, and he needed it before that Scout found him.
He activated [Patch Notes].
[Note 9: Local Environment]
Note 9.1: In Seoul, the 'Central Bank' has been converted into a 'Data Dungeon.'
Note 9.2: Most 'Testers' have been deposited in the 'Seoul Safety Zone' (Gangnam District).
Note 9.3: CRITICAL GLITCH: A supply crate from the Tutorial's 'Trash Bin' was accidentally moved to the basement of the 'Guro-gu Logistics Center' during the reboot.
Han-ul looked toward Guro-gu. It was miles away, through territory crawling with Level 15 Scouts. But a "Trash Bin" crate was worth more than a thousand levels. It contained the things the System didn't want—and those were the only weapons that could actually kill it.
"Han-ul?"
A voice whispered from the shadows behind him.
He spun around, his hand instinctively reaching for the USB drive in his pocket. Emerging from a pile of rubble was the girl from the Tutorial—the Archer. Her bow was snapped in half, and her face was streaked with soot.
"It's you," she said, her voice trembling. "The one who... who broke the Altar."
"You're not in the Safety Zone," Han-ul noted, his eyes scanning the street for the Scout. "Why are you here?"
"I was dropped here. I think... I think the System flagged me as 'Associated' with you because I was near the tree when you triggered the error," she said. She looked at his status bar—the fake Level 12. "You're the only one who isn't a puppet. I saw Arthur's eyes. They were... empty."
"His eyes weren't empty," Han-ul said coldly. "They were filled with the System. There's no room for anything else."
The sound of dragging iron grew louder. The Scout was turning the corner.
"If you want to live, shut up and follow me," Han-ul whispered. "We're going to a warehouse. And we're going to steal something the world wasn't supposed to have."
"I'm Ji-yoon," she whispered back, gripping the remains of her bow.
"I don't care," Han-ul said, though he didn't leave her behind.
They moved through the shadows of the ruins, two glitches in a world that was rapidly being rewritten. The Archer with no arrows and the Paladin with no power, heading straight into the mouth of Hell Mode.