"Ah..." The rumble of noise reached Kim Min-Ho's ears from behind the kitchen wall.
"What's happening, Aunt?" His hurried steps led him to the source of the commotion. Upon arrival, he found Na-Yeon, trembling in fear, standing on a chair.
"Kim Min-Ho, look over there." Na-Yeon's finger pointed to a sight that sent a shiver down Kim Min-Ho's spine.
Kim Min-Ho's eyes landed on the spot indicated by Na-Yeon, and to his astonishment, he saw it. A brown shimmering cockroach, as big as an adult man's hand, appeared before him. "Magnificent," whispered Kim Min-Ho, his skin tingling at the sight of its immense size.
"These cockroaches, they're diving towards me!" Na-Yeon screamed in uncontrollable terror.
"Ah!" Unexpectedly, Kim Min-Ho let out a cry and instinctively ducked.
"What on earth is happening? Isn't this a sign of a changing era?" In panic, Kim Min-Ho was swept away by a tide of anxiety.
"If a cockroach can grow to the size of an adult's hand, what changes in the sizes of other animals might occur in nature?" Kim Min-Ho pondered in uncontainable distress.
"Kim Min-Ho, the cockroach is coming towards me!" Na-Yeon's panicked shout shattered the silence. Kim Min-Ho pressed his lips together, then gracefully reached for a broom and swung it towards the cockroach.
"Swish!" The cockroach collided with the hard wall.
"Kim Min-Ho, kill it quickly!" Na-Yeon pleaded in fear, urging Kim Min-Ho to eliminate the cockroach without compromise.
"I understand." Kim Min-Ho nodded, followed by a series of broom strikes raining down on the cockroach's body.
"Swish, swish. Curse it, it's still alive!" Anger welled up within Kim Min-Ho, prompting him to grab a knife and stab it into the cockroach's body. The creature trembled briefly, then collapsed lifeless.
"Kim Min-Ho, why could the cockroach become such a giant?" Na-Yeon, shaken by the sight of the cockroach's carcass, trembled as she asked.
"I've already warned you, the world is undergoing changes, and now the cockroach is proof of that," replied Kim Min-Ho, boldly stating the undeniable truth.
"Dear, don't pretend," whispered Na-Yeon, unsure of Kim Min-Ho's words.
"Stop, Eonni, believe it or not, start cooking right away. Sometimes I'm afraid that those cockroach-like monsters will reappear," Kim Min-Ho replied.
"For God's sake, you must stay by my side," Na-Yeon trembled as she watched the cockroach's corpse, then continued with her cooking.
"Ding." The sound of Kim Min-Ho's cellphone ringing diverted his attention. However, Na-Yeon was surprised when a message appeared on the screen.
[Congratulations, You Have Exterminated a Bettergenus Cockroach]
[Your Experience Increases +1, Your Coins Increase +10]
"Ohh, I gained experience points and coins from that death," Kim Min-Ho whispered, restraining his emotional vibrations.
"Be sure, there are still many secrets in this device that I haven't discovered," Kim Min-Ho began exploring the applications on his smartphone.
"Ehh, there are only four apps here." Kim Min-Ho observed the apps that displayed status, messages, books, and a shopping cart.
Kim Min-Ho was intrigued by the book app and was amazed to find a picture of a cockroach along with its description. "Periplaneta australasiae, a mutated cockroach that can grow up to 15-20 cm long. It has a brown body with pale yellow lines on its wings."
"Slurp." Kim Min-Ho swallowed his saliva, astonished by the information about the cockroach.
"Ordinary cockroaches shouldn't be this big."
Kim Min-Ho noticed that there was only one picture in the book app, so he decided to glance at the shopping cart app. He was surprised to see numerous pictures of food with their respective prices. Kim Min-Ho started scrolling down the screen, and he also found pictures of clothes, weapons, and various other items.
"This is like an online shopping system, except everything here is purchased with coins," he remarked while looking at a one-kilogram piece of beef priced at one coin. When Kim Min-Ho checked his coin balance, he found that he had ten coins left.
"Well, there's no harm in trying to make a purchase," Kim Min-Ho whispered as he tapped the picture of the beef, then pressed the 'Buy' button. Suddenly, a white light emanated from his smartphone, and the beef appeared in front of him.
"Ahhh." Kim Min-Ho screamed.
"What's happening, Kim Min-Ho?" Na-Yeon observed in amazement.
"Nothing, Eonni," Kim Min-Ho replied with a smile.
"Ah, as I suspected, there's another cockroach," sighed Na-Yeon as she continued her cooking. Kim Min-Ho looked at the piece of beef in front of him and slowly touched it.
."This is real beef," murmured Kim Min-Ho.
Kim Min-Ho remained silent for a while, then grinned. "With this smartphone, I'll never go hungry again. I'll name you my special smartphone." Kim Min-Ho lifted the smartphone and smiled.
"Why is he smiling to himself? Is he so happy because he managed to kill a cockroach?" Na-Yeon, who saw Kim Min-Ho grinning like a madman, shook her head.
"Boom!" Kim Min-Ho heard an explosion.
"What was that?" Na-Yeon said anxiously.
"Keep cooking, Auntie. I'll go check it out." Kim Min-Ho grabbed a broom and walked towards the living room. He lifted the curtain and started peeking.
"Damn!" Kim Min-Ho was startled to see two cars crashed in front of his house. "Should I help them?" Kim Min-Ho began to hesitate. But not long after, Kim Min-Ho saw a woman stepping out of one of the cars.
"She's badly injured, but she can still walk." Kim Min-Ho saw that the woman had lost one of her arms, and her body was covered in blood. Yet she continued walking towards the other car that had crashed into hers. "Is she going to bite the person inside that car?" Kim Min-Ho started to speculate.
Kim Min-Ho's guess was right. The woman bit the man's neck inside the car.
"Aahhh!" Kim Min-Ho heard a scream.
"Glek!" Kim Min-Ho swallowed hard, his hand gripping the broom trembling.
"Why can the world change like this, even though I enjoy watching zombie movies? I don't want the world to be like this." Kim Min-Ho began to feel scared.
"Oh, no." Kim Min-Ho saw the woman looking in his direction. He quickly closed the window with the curtain.
"I hope she didn't see me." Kim Min-Ho started to feel anxious. He peered through the gap in the window and was surprised to see the woman walking towards his house.
"What should I do?" Kim Min-Ho started to panic.
Kim Min-Ho rushed to his room and took an iron baseball bat.
"At least this bat is better than a broom." Kim Min-Ho threw away the broom. He put on his jacket and grabbed the baseball bat.
"I don't need to be afraid because I have my special smartphone." Kim Min-Ho began to reassure himself.
Nervously, Kim Min-Ho opened the door.
"Woar!" The woman screamed and ran towards Kim Min-Ho.
"Oh, damn."
"Thud!" Reflexively, Kim Min-Ho swung the baseball bat towards the woman's face. He saw her go silent and then start screaming.
"Wahh!"
"Don't come near!" Kim Min-Ho struck the woman's face hard with the baseball bat.
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!" Soon after, Kim Min-Ho saw that the woman's head was crushed.
"Uueek." Kim Min-Ho began to feel nauseous and entered his house, locking the door.
"Uueek." "Uueek." Kim Min-Ho kept vomiting inside his house.
"Kim Min-Ho, what's wrong with you?" Na-Yeon walked towards Kim Min-Ho with concern.
"Are you sick?" Na-Yeon worriedly held Kim Min-Ho's back.
"I'm not sick. It's the effect of killing zombies." Kim Min-Ho's face turned pale, then he entered his room.
Na-Yeon was puzzled by Kim Min-Ho's words and started looking through the window.
"Ahh!" Na-Yeon was startled to see a woman's corpse in front of the house.
"Why is there a human corpse?" Na-Yeon felt frightened. Then she saw two men covered in blood and wounds walking towards the house.
"Ahh!" Na-Yeon screamed and instinctively closed the window with the curtain.
"Kim Min-Ho, are they zombies?" Na-Yeon shouted in fear, standing in front of Kim Min-Ho's bedroom door.
"Didn't I tell you before that the zombie virus would spread?" Kim Min-Ho replied wearily to Na-Yeon.
"I want to regain my mental state first. Auntie, never open the door." Kim Min-Ho said.
"Okay." Na-Yeon nodded fearfully.
Kim Min-Ho, with a pale face, saw that his special smartphone had received a message. He opened the message and saw that he had gained 2 experience points and 20 coins. "I just need 7 more exp to level up," Kim Min-Ho said with a weary tone.
Kim Min-Ho looked at his personal smartphone and saw many stories on social media. "I just saw a crazy man biting a woman's neck. The woman's neck started bleeding, the crazy man must have sharp teeth."
"Fool, he's a zombie, not a crazy man." Kim Min-Ho shook his head at the story.
Then Kim Min-Ho looked at the news on the internet.
"Apparently, there aren't many news about zombies yet. The government is still unaware because it's only a few minutes after the zombie virus spread," Kim Min-Ho murmured softly.
Kim Min-Ho remained silent for a few seconds, then mumbled, "Why haven't Na-Yeon and I turned into zombies? Are we both lucky? In my case, I'm definitely lucky because I got the special smartphone."
Kim Min-Ho wanted to contact his parents but grimaced when he saw that their numbers were inactive.
"I hope Mom and Dad are okay." Kim Min-Ho sighed. He took a deep breath and then stepped out of his room. Kim Min-Ho picked up the blood-stained baseball bat and muttered to himself.
"I have to kill zombies."
A few seconds later, Kim Min-Ho remembered the woman's crushed head from his earlier strike and started vomiting again.
"Uueek."
"Uueek."
"Kim Min-Ho, are you okay?" Na-Yeon worriedly rubbed Kim Min-Ho's back.
"Relax, Auntie, I'm fine." Kim Min-Ho shook his head.
"If something happens to you, it'll be me who gets scolded by your parents." Na-Yeon smiled wryly.
"Relax, Auntie, I'm not a kid. I'm an adult." Kim Min-Ho smiled back.