1:12 AM – Underground Safehouse, Seoul
The stench of burnt flesh filled the air.
The Shrike's corpse lay smoldering in the middle of the safehouse, its once-shadowy form now twisted and blackened from the Pyromancer's flames. Smoke curled upward, mixing with the scent of blood and sweat.
But Kyung-min didn't care about the monster.
His eyes were locked onto the floating blue text in front of him.
[System Notice: A being has perished near you.]
[Hidden Skill Activated: Deaths Echo]
Extracting Usable Skill…
Acquired: Shrike's Reflexes (One-Time Use Only).
The words burned into his vision.
It happened again.
Deaths Echo was real.
He had stolen a monster's ability—not from leveling up, not from training, but simply because it died near him.
And no one else knew.
A powerful weapon hidden beneath the label of a useless class.
He slowly curled his fingers into a fist. His body felt the same, but different. His muscles felt lighter, his nerves sharper. As if a part of the Shrike's predatory nature had latched onto him, waiting to be used.
A one-time use skill.
Which meant he couldn't waste it.
"…Hey."
Kyung-min snapped out of his thoughts.
Jung Tae-sik—the Berserker—wiped blood off his arm and grinned down at him. "You good? You look like you saw a ghost."
"Yeah. I just…" Kyung-min exhaled, masking his excitement with forced exhaustion. "I'm still processing everything."
Tae-sik let out a short laugh. "Yeah, no shit. The world turned into hell overnight. You better keep up, kid."
Kyung-min forced a weak smile. "Yeah."
He had no intention of keeping up.
He intended to surpass all of them.
1:15 AM – The Reality of Weakness
Kim Joon-hyuk kicked the Shrike's corpse with a scowl.
"Was that thing alone?" he muttered. "Or are there more of them out there?"
The silver-haired girl answered from her spot near the entrance. "There are always more."
The group fell silent.
She had barely spoken since they arrived. No one even knew her name. But the way she moved, fought, and spoke—she wasn't just another civilian who got lucky.
Min-jun adjusted his glasses. "We need a plan."
Park Do-yoon, the B-Rank Warden, crossed his arms. "The safehouse will hold for now. But if those things find a way inside, we're screwed."
Seok-hoon nodded. "We should take turns keeping watch. We can't afford to get ambushed in our sleep."
The discussion continued.
And no one asked Kyung-min for his opinion.
It was subtle—an unspoken decision. He wasn't excluded, exactly. But every time someone glanced at him, it was the same expression.
He's weak. He's useless. Keep him safe, but don't rely on him.
Kyung-min clenched his jaw.
He wasn't angry.
He had expected this.
But still… something about it stung.
He looked down at his hands. They weren't shaking anymore. The Shrike's Reflexes pulsed inside him, waiting to be used.
He wasn't useless.
He just had to prove it.
1:45 AM – The Hunt Begins
[System Notice: The First Night is Ending.]
"Hostile activity will increase as the cycle progresses. Survive accordingly."
The notification appeared as a cold warning.
More monsters were coming.
And this time, the safehouse wouldn't hold.
Seok-hoon, Min-jun, and the others had agreed—they couldn't just sit here and wait to be attacked. They needed to start hunting.
A team of five was selected to leave the safehouse:
✔ Jung Tae-sik – Berserker (C-Rank, Frontline)
✔ Kim Joon-hyuk – Pyromancer (B-Rank, Long-Range DPS)
✔ Park Do-yoon – Warden (B-Rank, Tank)
✔ Son Ji-hye – Windstalker (C-Rank, Scout & Assassin)
✔ Han Kyung-min – Soul Archivist (E-Rank, "Support")
Yes. They took him.
Not because they wanted to.
Because leaving him behind felt cruel.
Even Tae-sik—who had been friendly—had given him a pitying look before they left.
"You just stick close to me, alright?" the Berserker had said. "Don't do anything stupid."
Kyung-min just smiled.
I'll show you.
2:00 AM – First Kill
They moved slowly through the ruined streets of Seoul, weapons drawn, eyes scanning for movement.
The world was still morphing. Some buildings looked like they had been abandoned for centuries, while others pulsed with organic growths, as if something was infesting the structures themselves.
Then—
Ji-hye held up a hand. "Movement."
Everyone froze.
Something skittered across the pavement.
Then another.
And another.
Then the chittering began.
Joon-hyuk cursed. "Shit. We've got—"
The first Carrion Spider lunged from the shadows.
[System Notice: Enemy Identified – Carrion Spider (D-Rank, Mutated Predator)]
It was fast—a nightmare of chitin and bone, its multiple glowing eyes locking onto them as it scuttled forward on eight jagged limbs.
It wasn't alone.
Four more dropped from the rooftops.
Tae-sik roared, activating Berserker's Rage again. "We take them head-on!"
Joon-hyuk lifted his hand, fire swirling at his fingertips.
"Firebolt—"
A web shot through the air, hitting his arm. The sticky silk hardened instantly, locking his hand in place before he could cast.
"FUCK!"
Ji-hye vanished from sight, her rogue skills activating as she dodged behind cover.
Do-yoon raised his shield, blocking the charge of two spiders as their fangs clashed against his defenses.
And Kyung-min—
He saw one spider break from the pack, lunging straight at him.
No one was going to save him.
Not this time.
Kyung-min's breath steadied.
He activated [Shrike's Reflexes].
Time slowed.
The spider lunged.
Kyung-min's body moved.
One step. Two. Dodge. Pivot. Counter.
The spider's massive fangs missed him by a hair.
And for the first time in his life…
He didn't feel weak.
2:05 AM – The Turning Point
Jung Tae-sik crushed the last spider's head with a brutal downward strike. The chitin cracked, black blood splattering onto the pavement.
Joon-hyuk was still breathing heavily, his burned arm twitching from where he had finally melted through the webbing.
Do-yoon rolled his shoulder, looking at Kyung-min with thinly veiled surprise.
"…You dodged that," he muttered.
Kyung-min forced himself to look confused. "I—Yeah. I guess I got lucky."
Tae-sik clapped him on the back. "That was good, kid. Keep it up."
The moment passed.
The others moved on.
And no one questioned why an E-Rank support class had moved with the precision of a high-level assassin.
Kyung-min hid his smile.
This was only the beginning.