The room was silent.
Joon-seok sat hunched forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together so tightly his knuckles had turned white. His face was partially hidden in the dim glow of the emergency lights, but the weight in his posture said enough.
No one spoke.
Not because they didn't care—but because they were too exhausted to respond.
Jin scanned the room.
Most of them were slumped against the walls, heads tilted back, eyes hollow. Some stared at the floor, their breathing slow and shallow, their minds somewhere else. Even those who were still alert—like **Echo, now sitting up, his glitching breath the only real sound in the room—**weren't looking at each other.
It wasn't just fatigue. It was mental collapse.
They were breaking.
Jin exhaled slowly.
They couldn't afford this.
He adjusted his grip on the pipe and took a step forward.
His voice was calm but firm.
"We don't have time to sit here and wait. We need a plan."
Some people didn't react at all. Others barely flicked their eyes toward him before looking away.
Jin's fingers tightened slightly around the pipe.
He wasn't expecting them to suddenly snap to attention—but if they stayed in this state much longer, they'd be dead before they even realized it.
He took another step forward.
"Listen. We don't know what the system wants from us, but we do know one thing—it's not just letting us live. The ranking screen proved that. The countdown proved that. Whatever's coming next, it won't be good."
A few people stiffened at that.
Jin continued.
"We need to make a choice. Are we staying here, or are we moving?"
That finally got a reaction.
Someone near the back—a woman, arms wrapped tightly around herself—exhaled sharply.
"We should stay."
Jin's gaze shifted to her.
"Why?"
She swallowed. "…We're safer here."
Jin stayed silent, letting her talk.
She hesitated, then continued. "The doors are barricaded. The monsters outside aren't attacking us. Running through the building is just asking to get killed."
Someone else nodded.
"Yeah," another man muttered, his voice rough from dehydration. "As long as we don't make noise, we can stay low until the system—" he paused, jaw tightening. "—I don't know. Ends? Gives us more information?"
Jin stayed quiet, watching.
He wasn't going to shoot them down immediately.
Because they weren't completely wrong.
The building hadn't collapsed. The monsters weren't smashing through the walls. And if the system was truly running on rules, then laying low should work.
But Jin had already seen the pattern.
The system wasn't random.
It was waiting.
And waiting for something to happen was just as dangerous as stepping outside.
Then—someone else spoke.
A man sitting near Echo, half-shadowed under the dim red glow of the emergency exit sign. His tone was flat, distant.
"And then what?"
The woman flinched slightly. "What?"
The man shifted. His voice was flat. Unemotional.
"You want to wait? For how long? A day? A week? Until we run out of food? Until the system throws something worse at us?"
The silence that followed was thick.
Jin watched the tension settle.
He wasn't the only one thinking it.
They weren't just afraid of the monsters outside anymore.
They were afraid of the system.
And they should be.
Jin exhaled slowly, then stepped forward.
"We're running out of time."
His gaze flickered over the group, measuring their reactions.
"Hiding might work now, but that won't last forever. The system's watching us. If we don't act, it will make us act."
Some people visibly tensed. Others stayed silent, but their eyes were sharper now—they were listening.
Jin continued.
"We need to move soon. But before that, I need to know what we're working with." He paused, then nodded toward them. "Your name. Your ability. What you know about it."
Silence.
Then—Ji-hye, the healer, spoke first.
She looked exhausted, but her voice was steady. "I already told you earlier… but I can heal."
Jin nodded. "We saw that. Can you control it?"
Ji-hye hesitated, flexing her fingers slightly, as if testing her own strength. "I think so. But it drains me. A lot."
Her gaze flickered toward Echo, who was still sitting upright, his expression unreadable.
"I don't know if I can do what I did for him again. Not yet."
Jin filed that information away. A healer was rare. She was useful. But if using her ability put her out of commission after one use, then she was just as fragile as the rest of them.
She couldn't be relied on in a fight.
And a fight was coming.
The next person hesitated.
"…Joon-seok." His voice was quiet but clear. "[Arc Discharge]."
Jin looked at him. "You already told me you can fire energy. But do you control it?"
Joon-seok let out a short, bitter laugh. "No. Not even a little."
He held out his hand, palm up, as if trying to summon something. A **weak flicker of violet energy sparked at his fingertips—**then disappeared just as fast.
"It only happens when I'm scared."
Jin frowned. That was a problem.
An ability that only worked under panic? That wasn't something they could rely on.
He moved on. Next.
The woman he had saved earlier—Seul-ki.
She met his gaze, exhaled, then nodded slightly. "[Density Shift]."
Jin returned the nod. "Explain."
Seul-ki hesitated for a moment, as if searching for the right words.
"…I can change the weight of things," she finally said. "My body, objects. I think I can make things heavier or lighter, but… I don't have much control."
Jin thought back to when he had saved her.
She had been trapped.
"Your ability activated by accident," he said.
Seul-ki looked away. "…Yeah."
Jin didn't say anything.
Like Joon-seok, she had potential. But no control meant nothing in a real fight.
He turned to the next person.
A man in his late twenties, glasses cracked, his hands still shaking.
"…Kang Dae-hyun." His voice was quiet. "I can… feel emotions."
Jin frowned. "What?"
Dae-hyun swallowed. "I can feel what people are feeling. Fear. Anger. Pain." His voice shook. "And there's so much of it. Everywhere."
Jin studied him. A passive ability. Almost useless in combat.
The silence stretched.
Jin sighed through his nose.
This wasn't good.
Half the people here had non-combat abilities. Some were completely useless in a fight.
And before anyone could start realizing what that meant—
The system interrupted.
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]
A soft chime echoed through the air, followed by a familiar blue glow as the system screens appeared before them.
[Survivors Detected: ??]
[Time Remaining: 22:00:00]
Survival requires adaptation.
Introducing: [The First Cull]
Objective: Learn how to kill.
Kill a monster. Kill a person. Kill something.
To survive, you must grow. To grow, you must act.
Failure to participate will result in an appropriate consequence.
Rewards will be granted based on performance.
The event starts now.
The room went deathly silent.
Then—
Someone let out a shuddering breath.
"…Cull?"
Jin clenched his jaw.
The system wasn't playing games.
This was the push.
This was the first real test.
Kill… or be killed.
Jin's pulse was steady. His fingers flexed around the pipe.
They needed to move.
Now.