❖ Operation 1: "The Feast of Beasts"
Objective: Survive until sunrise.
Time Limit: 7 hours
Players: 2,184
Additional Notes:
– Mana Access: Restricted
– Forbidden Action: Do not consume the fruit
Estimated Survival Rate: 21.3%
Seo Juwon hit the ground hard.
Air left his lungs like he'd been punched by a god. Dirt filled his mouth, and something sharp grazed his palm.
He coughed, rolled over, and blinked through the pain.
The sky above him was unfamiliar.
A sickly violet canvas hung over the horizon, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. Stars—if they were stars—drifted unnaturally, rearranging themselves in perfect geometric patterns before shattering apart again.
The world was quiet. Too quiet.
Juwon sat up.
The ground beneath him was mossy and cold, soaked with dew. Tall, alien trees ringed the clearing, pale and spiraled like twisted bone. They gave off a faint, ghostly glow—barely visible unless you looked too long.
The air smelled like damp stone, old leaves, and copper.
Around him, other people stirred.
Some were crying. Others were screaming. Most were just stunned.
A few stood up, turning in slow circles like they were trying to wake from a dream.
Juwon counted roughly fifty within visible range, but he could see more shapes farther out—blurred in the violet fog.
A glowing screen hovered in the air above them all, slowly rotating:
❖ Survive until sunrise.
A boy stumbled past him, wide-eyed and shaking. "Where are we—what the hell is this—where are the buildings?!"
No one answered.
Another person—a woman in office attire, her heels caked with mud—clutched her head. "This isn't real. This is some VR prank. It has to be—someone call the police—!"
A soft ding interrupted her.
She blinked.
Then her body glitched—flickered like a broken image—and collapsed into a pile of ash.
No sound.
No struggle.
Just… gone.
The system chimed again.
❖ Player 0291: Deceased.
Cause of Death: Critical Sanity Failure.
Silence followed.
Then chaos.
Screams echoed through the clearing as people scattered, pushing each other, tripping over roots, falling into the mud.
One guy tried punching the hovering screen. His fist went straight through it like mist.
Another sprinted toward the trees.
Juwon didn't stop him.
But he watched.
The boy made it ten steps.
Then something dragged him into the woods so fast Juwon didn't even see what it was.
❖ Player 0388: Deceased.
Cause of Death: Devoured (Unknown Beast).
Juwon stood up.
His body was sore, but intact. No injuries. No internal damage. He checked his clothes—standard: jeans, jacket, damp from the moss. No bag. No phone. His mana core… he focused.
Nothing.
The system wasn't lying. His mana was sealed.
"This is a culling."
He hadn't meant to say it aloud.
But someone nearby heard him.
A girl—maybe seventeen, maybe twenty. Her clothes were scuffed but intact, school uniform torn at the sleeve. She turned toward him with wide, cautious eyes.
"What did you say?"
Juwon looked at the glowing screen again.
"'Survive until sunrise,'" he repeated. "That's not a task. It's a filter."
The girl stared at him. "So you think… what? They're just killing us off?"
He didn't answer.
Because that wasn't the right question.
The better question was:
Why is the system watching?
The violet sky shifted.
In the distance, the faintest howl echoed—low, wet, too many throats. It came from the forest, from beneath the ground, from the cracks in the sky.
People heard it and froze.
Juwon stepped forward slowly, scanning the tree line.
The girl stayed close.
"I'm Jiyeon," she whispered. "Yours?"
He hesitated.
"…Juwon."
"Seo Juwon?"
He blinked.
"You were on the dean's list last semester," she said quickly, nervously. "I remember seeing your name."
He didn't answer.
She didn't press.
Smart.
A new message appeared, glowing blood red:
❖ Warning: First wave of beasts will arrive in 10 minutes.
Please prepare.
There were no weapons.
No instructions.
No help.
Just a clearing full of people.
And the sky, still bleeding light.