"This is the most selfish thing one can do— Protecting... the lives of those they treasure the most at all costs... Even at the cost of the life of oneself."
That time, I was just at work when all of a sudden, the world turned into something different. In this new dangerous world, even the wisest people became the most naive ones. All of us, didn't know anything about this other than the fact that this world is far from similar in the old world.
Three hours before the tragedy, The Death Of The Previous Era[1], I was just a normal man, working asa graphic designer for a living and playing games as a hobby. I live a lonely yet healthy life in a studio apartment in Busan, South Korea. I've been a alone ever since I was young. I needed to struggle on my own to live in this world and I wouldn't accept myself to be killed after everything I went through.
In my last few hours before the Death Of The Previous Era, I could vaguely remember waking up to the sounds of the birds chirping, early in the morning. After I prepared myself, I head to the train station where I would spend my time playing videogames on my phone until I arrive at the train station.
Once the train I was riding had arrived had arrived, I walked out and heard a lot of people having conversations while finally feeling some wind on my face. But seeing less sunshine outside, I could already tell it was going to rain.
"I still need to walk for a few kilometers. Talk about bad timing..." I sighed and walked out of the train station with my umbrella and just as I had speculated, it was going to rain. Before it could start raining, I started walking faster to the building of the office I work at while hoping I wouldn't get caught in the rain.
But, talk about my bad luck in situations like this, I got caught in the rain. It rained harder than usual that I had to take shelter inside a coffee shop. Despite using an umbrella, I still got wet because of the strong winds. Luckily, my boss was a kind person and she would most likely allow my excuse.
"Hm? You didn't notice me here, Minhyuk-ssi[2]?" Hearing the gentle voice that I hear on a daily basis, I immediately turned my head and saw someone very unexpected. My boss, Lee Jiyoon-nim[3] was late and took shelter under the coffee shop as well.
"Ah, Good morning, Jiyoon-nim... Sorry, I didn't notice you." I nervously laughed in front of my boss and she just laughs it off.
"Don't mention it. You were probably worried about the rain. I almost didn't notice you either." She replied. Why am I not surprised? Ah, that's right. It's rare for me to get noticed by people due to my weak presence.
"Don't worry about being late. We shift schedules on rainy days by a few minutes, right? We'll get there just in time." Hearing Jiyoon-nim say that somehow made me feel relieved. After all, she's always been like this... Or I'm just trying to keep doing a great job at work just for the money I need.
When it was my first day at work, she introduced me to our colleagues and whenever I worked late at night, she would usually accompany me whenever she's going somewhere. The way she also treats me and our colleagues is awkward, yet relieving because she wants us to see her on the same level as her. Jiyoon-nim is really like "her." Someone close to my past and acted as my moral compass for a few years.
We waited there silently, waiting for one of us to break the moment of silence and start a conversation until the rain had finally died down.
"Haha, the rain was truly quick. It was strong, but only lasted for a while." Jiyoon-nim giggled while she took her umbrella again and opened it.
"Let's head to work together, Minhyuk-ssi. We're here together now, anyways." She invited and I replied with a simple nod.
We head out of the coffee shop and before we could take a step across the street, a violent shaking was felt from the ground. Some people lost balance, and cars crashed into poles or buildings, maybe worse, people.
As they always discussed at work, they always said to remain outside and far from dangerous structures such as electrical poles during an earthquake, so both me and Jiyoon-nim just stood far from the power lines that might fall. It took a while before the earthquake stopped.
"Are you alright, Minhyuk-ssi?" Jiyoon-nim asked after she had grabbed onto my arm out of instinct.
"Yes." I replied while we looked around for clues on what happened.
"What was that—" Before Jiyoon-nim could finish her sentence, every single one of us around the block were transported to an unknown place.
"Huh? What—" I paused my sentence and looked around to see a lot more people around us.
We all stood on a surface of clear water where we could see our reflection underneath a sunny sky.
Everything seemed quiet and there was a mixture of emotions in the air that no one could comprehend when all of a sudden, a deep voice was heard and everyone who heard it seemed shocked.
"Greetings, humans of planet Earth. I'm the God of this Living World. I can tell by the looks on your faces that you are all confused. However, allow me to explain the current situation." A deep mysterious voice spoke to our heads, creating a lot more confusion and fear in the expressions in our faces.
[1] End Of The Previous Era - The event that occured during the start of the story in which the world as they knew of turned into an apocalyptic world where monsters roam every corner in the world.
[2] (-ssi) - An honorific used to address someone respectfully.
[3] (-nim) - Highest form of honorifics and above (-ssi)