‘... Night?’

The fact that it was nighttime posed a significant problem. Surviving during the day was already hard enough, but now it was night?

‘There’s no guarantee that those monsters that attacked earlier were the only ones. There could be more outside... Damn it!’

At night, there was little to no light, making it nearly impossible to navigate. From the moment I fled the building, it was clear I needed to find another safe spot, but doing so at night was doubly difficult.

‘Have the others already escaped to different locations?’

The sounds of people dying inside the building were beginning to fade. Soon, those monsters would come out looking for new prey. I had to leave and find another place before that happened.

‘First, I’ll head uphill. Higher ground should be safer than lower areas.’

I quickly moved to higher ground, following the path upward.

By the time I thought I had fled far enough, I could no longer suppress the need to catch my breath.

“Huff… huff… ugh...”

The hellish situation had come so suddenly, and my lack of consistent exercise meant my stamina was quickly drained. Images of people dying inside the building and the face of the injured woman I had abandoned flashed through my mind.

“Urghhh... ugh... ughhh…”

It wasn’t like I hadn’t witnessed horrible things back on Earth, but what I experienced this time was on an entirely different scale.

It was a situation befitting the label of hell. As the blood-soaked scenes replayed in my mind, I felt like vomiting.

‘These thoughts aren’t helping… Right now, I need to focus on survival. I can’t afford to waste time on useless thoughts like this.’

Rustle—

“......!”

At the sound of movement, cold sweat began trickling down my back. If it was a monster... I didn’t even want to imagine it.

“Hey….”

‘Whew…’

Thankfully, it was a person. He looked slightly older than me and was wearing glasses.

“Did you escape as well? There’s a group of people who fled together, and we’ve been gathering. If you’re okay with it, would you like to join us?”

I had escaped alone, but it seemed there were others who had fled together.

‘It’s probably better to join others, right?’

Wandering around alone in a crisis like this was incredibly dangerous.

Honestly, more than anything, I just didn’t want to be alone in this sudden, terrifying situation.

“Ah… Yes, I’d be grateful. How many people are with you?”

“Including me, there are four of us. It’d be great to have more people, but… the situation has been so bad. We fled the building in a hurry, and the others are people I met outside...”

Even if it was just four people, it was better than being alone. I decided to follow him.

“Just follow me. We have a small hidden clearing where the others are waiting. Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet because of all the chaos. I’m Chough Pyung-ok.”

“I’m Lee Yoon-sung. Feel free to speak casually. You seem older than me.”

“Haha... I’m just used to speaking formally. Back on Earth, I worked in sales, so it’s more comfortable for me.”

Talking to someone eased my nerves slightly.

“Are the others doing okay? The situation has been so terrible; I imagine everyone must be in shock.”

“At first, none of us were in our right minds, including me. Honestly, even now, we’re all still trembling. But… while I wouldn’t say we’re completely fine, we’ve calmed down a bit, so it should be okay.”

As we walked, conversing in hushed tones, we reached the clearing.

Just as Pyung-ok had said, three people were waiting there: a middle-aged woman, a man who appeared to be in his early 20s, and a young woman.

“You’re here? But, who’s this…?”

The young woman spoke to Pyung-ok. She looked to be in her early 20s and gave off a vibe that she might be a college student.

“I found him nearby while scouting. Yoon-sung, this is…”

“... Hello. I’m Kim So-young. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello. I’m Lee Yoon-sung. Nice to meet you.”

I opened the status window for the woman.

‘... Her status is average. Come to think of it, I should check Pyung-ok’s status as well.’

Because I don’t yet feel accustomed to the system of “status windows,” and because I was so overwhelmed, it didn’t even occur to me to check when we first met.

“Damn it.”

At my sudden outburst, Kim So-young looked at me, startled.

“Pardon?”

“Oh… It’s nothing. Just some leg pain... I must have walked too much, haha.”

Damn it. What the hell? He’s not Pyung-ok; he’s Cho Chan-ho? Why did he use a fake name…?

Sweat trickled down my back. Not only had he lied about his name, but his stats were far above average, and the fact that he already had a profession and unique traits stood out.

“Silent Footsteps” is one thing, but having two unique traits? And one of them is called “Festival of Slaughter”?

The name of that trait alone was enough to reveal this guy wasn’t normal.

I should’ve checked his status window when we first met. Damn it, you idiot!

No, wait. If I had refused his offer to join the group, who knows what would’ve happened?

He carried a sword, and his stats were leagues above mine. If I’d turned him down, he might have gotten annoyed and drawn his blade right then and there.

This might actually be fine. There are five of us, so he won’t try anything reckless… I just need to wait for the right moment to slip away from the group.

Calming my racing heart, I turned my attention to the status windows of the other two group members.

No need to pay attention to the older woman... but this kid’s stats aren’t bad.

Compared to Cho Chan-ho’s monstrous stats, Cha Hyun-jin was ordinary, but he was above average for a regular adult male. My poor stats were the real outlier.

“Nice to meet you, young man. I’m Moon Kyung-sil.”

“I’m Cha Hyun-jin. You seem older, so feel free to speak casually. There’s a spot here, so have a seat.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that.”

Suddenly, the sound of a small clap caught everyone’s attention.

“Alright, now that we’ve introduced ourselves, we should set up a watch rotation. Even though we’re far from the building, monsters might come, so we can’t all sleep at once.”

“I’m fine with that, hyung.”

“Hmm… Pyung-ok, is a watch rotation really necessary?”

Was she crazy? Did this woman even understand the gravity of the situation?

“Haha… I know you’re tired, ma’am, but we need to do this. Everyone’s exhausted, but if monsters come here, it could end badly for all of us.”

“Well, if you insist, Pyung-ok…”

“... In that case, who should go first, Pyung-ok oppa?”

It was clear that Cho Chan-ho, or rather Chough Pyung-ok, was leading the group. His commanding presence and conversational dominance made others naturally rely on him.

I could see through his facade, but the others had no idea. If not for my status-checking ability, I wouldn’t have known his name was fake either.

“I’ll take the third watch since I brought it up. The middle shift is the hardest, after all.”

“Hyung, there’s no need for you to do that. I’ll take the third watch instead!”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s do it this way: So-young and the older lady can take the first and fifth shifts. Hyun-jin and Yoon-sung can handle the second and fourth. Is that okay?”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Sounds good to me, Pyung-ok.”

Not that the watch schedule mattered to me. There was no way I could sleep soundly knowing this psycho wasn’t Chough Pyung-ok, but Cho Chan-ho.

“I don’t know what this tutorial is trying to make us do, but we’ll definitely need to move tomorrow. Rest is important for maintaining our condition. Let’s rotate every hour. So-young, wake up Hyun-jin after an hour.”

“Okay, Pyung-ok oppa. But I have a question.”

“What is it, So-young?”

“How will we tell time? We don’t have our phones…”

“Well, since we don’t have phones, just go by feel. When you think an hour has passed, wake the next person. We can tell it’s morning when the sun rises.”

“Got it.”

With that, everyone except the person on watch began settling down to sleep.

****

The hours dragged on. The horrors of the day made it hard for anyone to truly rest.

Occasionally, I heard someone shifting uncomfortably in their sleep. Given the circumstances, it was impossible to sleep peacefully.

From a short distance away, the sound of muffled sobbing reached me. It was coming from Hyun-jin’s direction.

“Sniff… sob…”

Everyone heard it, but we all pretended not to. He was the youngest among us, after all.

As for me, I didn’t have the luxury of crying. All my nerves were on edge because of Cho Chan-ho.

After what felt like an eternity, I felt someone lightly tapping my shoulder.

“Yoon-sung, it’s your turn.”

My drowsy mind snapped awake. Had I been so exhausted that I didn’t even notice this guy approaching me?

“Yes, yes… Pyung-ok, get some rest. You’ve worked hard.”

“Haha, not at all. I’ll leave it to you, Yoon-sung.”

As Cho Chan-ho lay down to sleep, I wrestled with a decision.

‘Should I run now?’

No matter how dangerous the monsters might be, they seemed less threatening than a human pretending to be an ally who might stab me in the back.

Of course, this could all just be baseless paranoia. Maybe Cho Chan-ho was actually a decent guy with no intention of killing anyone. But a normal person wouldn’t hide their real name.

‘No matter how I think about it, staying with him is too dangerous. But what about the others?’

Taking the others and running away from Cho Chan-ho was out of the question. It wasn’t just a matter of success or failure; they were leaning heavily on Cho Chan-ho for support and would never follow me instead of him. Unlike me, they couldn’t see his status, and they seemed to trust him entirely.

‘Besides, there’s no guarantee he’s even asleep. He could just be pretending.’

The mental strain of fearing both monsters and my own kind was overwhelming.

‘And how did Cho Chan-ho even get a profession? No one else has one yet, except him.’

Thanks to my unique trait, I could recall any status window I had previously viewed. I pulled up Cho Chan-ho’s status window again to confirm my suspicions.

‘When he approached me earlier, I didn’t notice because of his Silent Footsteps trait… But that means he deliberately made a noise when we first met. Why?’

I couldn’t figure him out. He could’ve stayed silent, so why did he purposely make noise? How did he acquire his profession? Why was he gathering people?

‘Damn it… Even his smiling face is irritating. I can’t read his expressions at all.’

Before I knew it, about an hour had passed. I wasn’t sure of the exact time, but I stood up from where I had been sitting and went to wake up Kyung-sil.

Tap, tap.

“Ma’am, it’s your turn for the watch.”

Kyung-sil rubbed her eyes and groggily woke up.

“Hmm… Is it time already?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Yoon-sung, we only have about an hour until we move again anyway. Can’t you stay up just a little longer for me?”

“...Excuse me?”

‘What the hell is this woman saying?’

“Oh, I’m just so tired… I know you’re probably exhausted too, but you’re young.”

‘Lady, I haven’t slept a single minute! Sure, I can’t sleep because of Cho Chan-ho, but at least I wanted to lie down and rest!’

“Haha… Ma’am, I need to sleep too. Sorry, I’m just too tired…”

“Oh, maybe you’re mistaken because we don’t have a clock. I don’t think it’s my turn yet…”

‘What the hell is this woman even talking about?’

I clenched my teeth, trying to suppress my frustration.

‘No, calm down… Arguing won’t solve anything.’

There’s no point arguing with someone who doesn’t listen. Arguments are only effective with reasonable people. Besides, if I raised my voice, it would wake Cho Chan-ho.

“...Ma’am, I’ll come back in 30 minutes. But you’ll need to take over then.”

“Oh, thank you, Yoon-sung.”

I ended the pointless conversation as quickly as I could and returned to my spot.

“Goddamn it…”

‘If it weren’t for Cho Chan-ho, I’d have dealt with you, you old hag.’

It had truly been a hellish day.