"Hey idiot, wake up. How long are you going to sleep?"
"To think that someone would waste a slot on this guy who is sleeping even in this condition."
"Hey kid, if you don't want to die, you should really wake up."
"Is he really thinking that this is his bedroom?"
"What an idiot!"
Kim Seojin's eyes fluttered open, his vision still being a little blurry as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
He couldn't understand how he was still alive. He was certain that he had been hit by a meteor. Then what was happening now?
His head was throbbing with pain as he struggled to sit up. This was clearly not a dream. No, it was too real to be a dream.
As his vision cleared, he realized he was surrounded by lush greenery. The sky also appeared clear, a far cry from the night of the apocalypse where the sky had turned blood red.
He still remembered the horrifying scenes of the entire city being devoured by the flames. Compared to that, this place looked like heaven.
He could see many people around him, and all of them were looking at him like he was an idiot.
Their clothes also appeared strange. He had never seen these kinds of clothes on earth.
"Where... am I?"
He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through his body.
"Finally awake, huh?" a gruff voice called out, followed by a sarcastic laugh. "Did your sponsor not teach you anything?"
Kim Seojin turned his head towards the source and saw a man, who was looking at him with amusement.
"My Sponsor?"
"Hey Lee Junho, why are you wasting time on that idiot? If the ones who sent him didn't tell him anything, why bother?"
"He would only be dead weight."
"It's better if he is eliminated at the start. As you know, the more people pick a class, the harder this will become."
The man called Lee Junho sighed and crossed his arms, leaning against a tree. "Are you still thinking about those small things?"
"What do you mean by small things? Isn't it better if the Tutorial was easier? It's his fault for not knowing anything."
"You are right that the tutorial will get harder with more people. But isn't it also true that if he gets a rare class, he will be able to help us?"
"Rare class? Haha, you think a rare class falls from a tree? I didn't expect you to be so delusional," the man replied, barely controlling his laughter.
"In the last three hundred years, only around a thousand people have managed to get a rare class or higher."
Lee Junho rolled his eyes in response. "You should worry about yourself."
He turned back to Kim Seojin.
"And you... You are truly a fool to come here without knowing anything."
[Welcome Sacrifices...]
A voice appeared in everyone's ears at the same time.
"Looks like it's already beginning. Hey kid, remember. Pick the best class card that you can. And try to survive the tutorial."
As soon as Lee Junho finished speaking, he disappeared into thin air, leaving Kim Seojin looking at blank space in disbelief. How was this real? He didn't understand.
One after another, the others in the place also started disappearing. And finally, it was Kim Seojin's number.
[Error]
[Sacrifice Selected: 1000]
[Sacrifice Present: 1001]
[Error Detected. Erasing one sacrifice]
"Arghhh!"
In an unknown room, a young man was about to select a card when he suddenly felt a sharp pain like never before.
He could only let out an agonizing scream before his body disintegrated completely.
[Correction made]
[Number of Sacrifices present: 1000]
Finally, a light appeared on Kim Seojin as he felt his surroundings change. He also disappeared, just like everyone else.
He appeared in a small room, surrounded by unfamiliar symbols glowing on the walls.
[You have been selected by the humans as their representative for the next Awakening Batch]
The mysterious voice appeared again.
[Awakening Batch Year: 2375]
[Please select a class card available to you]
[Time Remaining: Sixty Second]
[Once time passes, those who haven't selected a class will be erased]
[Please remember, your class can either make you, or destroy you]
In the blink of an eye, thousands of cards appeared before him, creating a tower around him with him in the center.
All the cards looked completely identical. None of them had a symbol, marking, or any differentiating factor.
As Kim Seojin stared at the tower of identical cards surrounding him, feeling even more taken aback. The cards looked semi transparent, like they were created with some holographic technology.
That strange voice that appeared in his head had told him that he was going to be erased if he failed to select a card.
The others also told him to select a good card. But how could he choose a good one when he couldn't even differentiate between them?
That system voice had also told him that this was the year 2375? He remembered that the current year was supposed to be 2075. So did he somehow end up in the future? Was this place even Earth?
Although he didn't understand what was happening, he felt like it was wise to listen to the voice and select a card.
He still had to find out what happened after the apocalypse began. He still had to find out about the fate of people precious to him, but survival was most important right now.
If it wasn't for the humans he saw previously, he would have thought that he had come to another world.
With time ticking away, he had to make a decision quickly. He had to select a card.
He knew he could not allow himself to die here. If this was truly his second chance, then wasting it was a privilege he could not afford.
Taking a deep breath, Kim Seojin closed his eyes and reached out his hand towards the cards.