Chapter 9: The Eye Descends

— Click.

A man dressed in a black suit pushed open the massive door and entered.

The dimly lit room.

The heavy air settled in place of light.

A sharp voice pierced through the silence like an arrow.

[Didn’t I clearly say not to disturb me during work?]

Before he could even set foot inside, the room’s owner’s stern rebuke came down, but the man stood firm.

It wasn’t because his superior was like a child sitting behind a desk and chair too high for his feet to touch the floor.

Nor was it fear of losing his head for treating him like a kid.

[This is urgent, Lady Harona.]

[Urgent?]

Only then did Harona, who had been hidden behind the densely floating screens in midair, reveal her sharp, irritable face.

[What is it? If it’s nothing serious, you’ll get hit.]

The man flinched briefly but then mustered his courage again.

This was definitely ‘serious.’

[Zone 107 mission has ended.]

[Zone 107?]

[It’s the Extermination Arena you opened. Filled with losers... no, candidates with no potential.]

[So?]

[Well…]

[Don’t you see I’m busy? Spit it out and get lost.]

Harona was annoyed.

If it was extermination, everyone should have been ‘deleted’ by now; what could have gone wrong?

[There are… thirteen survivors.]

[What?]

Harona could hardly believe her ears.

The Extermination Arena was meant to wipe everyone out.

If the battlefield tilted once, it was swept clean in no time, and the gathered people were consumed by the flames.

Even if there were only a few left, it was impossible for more than ten candidates to have huddled together so amicably to restore balance.

[That can’t be. Did the activation fail?]

He’d left without seeing the activation because of his backlog.

[The activation was perfect. We confirmed two candidates were consumed by the ‘Flame of Balance.’]

[Then how…]

[Didn’t you say there was a candidate in Zone 107 who’s pretty cunning?]

Now that he mentioned it, there was one.

The one who covered the safe zone with cloth, leaving more survivors than planned.

But…

[No matter how clever, how do they figure out the rules? And even if so, how did they restore balance in such a short time?]

[Maybe they persuaded the candidates well?]

[In such a short time?]

Candidates staring death in the face wouldn’t risk their lives following someone else’s orders.

Did this person have observation, judgment, action skills, and charisma?

Who was this guy?

[Their initial stats were all unimpressive.]

[Maybe the mission ‘unlocked’ them after it began.]

[Already?]

Sometimes it happened.

Candidates who yearned for something so much that they’d devote their whole soul and life to it.

But such people usually had narrow views and were twisted in some way.

[Interesting guy has entered.]

Harona muttered to herself after some thought.

Without realizing it, the corners of her lips curled upward.

[I have to see for myself. Send down the ‘Eye.’]

[Yes, understood.]

After bowing his head, the man turned around.

“Wait.”

The sniper’s voice followed.

[How many monsters are left after exterminating Zones 101 and 2?]

Those monsters had been sent to train the highly intelligent candidates.

The man stiffened, sensing the sniper’s ulterior motive.

[…You’re not seriously thinking of sending them over, are you?]

[How many are left?]

[Ten… all remain. We sent five each, but not a single one was caught.]

It was a place where the leadership gathered.

They expected the top 1% with both intelligence and charisma, but they were wiped out in an instant.

Without even a proper resistance, they just panicked.

Probably because they couldn’t overcome their physical limits.

[The difference in mobility is too great. They won’t land any effective hits and will all get taken down.]

If mission difficulty was too high, a proper evaluation was impossible.

Harona must have known this.

[If that’s the case, shall we send just one?]

[Send all ten.]

[Lady Harona!]

The man shouted uncharacteristically, but Harona, as if done speaking, vanished back into the many screens.

[I’m curious.]

[Curious about what?]

[Whether he’s just a schemer or someone who can actually fight.]

“100 repetitions of 10-meter back and forth. No breaks.”

“What?”

The people who had been eagerly waiting for my words snapped their mouths shut and frowned.

Was it not the answer they expected?

The silence that followed was like a deflated balloon.

“You’re joking, right?”

“Of course it’s a joke. It’s not like anyone here studied hard and aced the college entrance exam…”

Some waved their hands, thinking it was a bad joke.

“It’s true.”

“So, does that mean you can get that skill or whatever?”

“At least, that’s how it was for me.”

“Huh… that’s surprisingly unusual.”

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion but started stretching.

“Um, then… shall we try running?”

“I’ll go too!”

“But there’s no guarantee it applies to all of you… hey?”

— Tap!

Before I could finish, the people who had surrounded me dispersed like the tide.

Then they began running furiously throughout the exhibition hall.

“It won’t help…”

[Congratulations! Unique Adaptability, intense desire to run until your heart bursts, and ingrained memories of overtaking your limits have resulted in the creation of your personal skill!]

They called it a ‘personal skill.’

I guessed it meant everyone received a skill suited to themselves.

In other words, just because they run like that, they won’t get the same skill I did.

“Everyone runs well.”

“That’s true. They don’t usually exercise, do they?”

Everyone except Ji-eun and Jae-hyuk started panting while running.

The game company exhibition hall had turned into a gymnasium preparing for an athletic meet.

“…….”

Suddenly, a silence fell over the noisy crowd.

Like time was cut and awkwardly stitched back together, a strange dissonance settled.

“Did something just…”

Startled by the creeping sense of dread wrapping their skin, someone spoke.

— Creak!

Everyone’s gaze turned to where the sound came from.

“B-bro, the ceiling…!”

The empty air — or so they thought — cracked.

With a sharp shatter of glass, the space split open.

“T-the sky is falling!”

“Ahhhh! Help me!”

The security guard ran to a corner, the accounting woman trembled clutching her head, and the foul-mouthed man…

“Damn! Is this my skill?!”

He took off his hat in delight.

[‘Eye’ is now unlocked under Administrator privileges.]

Through the widening crack slowly appeared.

“The Eye…”

A gigantic eye almost covering the ceiling.

The eerie discord between its translucent white sclera and the pitch-black pupil was grotesque.

The moment I met its gaze…

“!!”

A chill ran over my entire body like my soul was being threshed.

Was this what a mystery circle left by aliens looked like?

[Mission start.]

The familiar system announced the mission’s start, but people remained fixated on the massive ‘Eye.’

Myself included.

But unfortunately, the unreality we faced did not end with just the huge eyeball.

— Kiiyaaaak!

“Don’t you hear that?”

“Ugh! Isn’t that the sound of nails on a chalkboard?”

A piercing scream came from afar.

And what appeared in the air was a shining blade reflecting light—no, a beak.

“…A bird?”

[‘Blade-Beak Bird’ — eliminate it.]

The bird measured about three meters from wingtip to wingtip.

With jet-black feathers, three or four horn-like crests, and a beak sharp enough to slice on contact.

Blade?

“Jae-hyuk! Hide!”

— Kiiyaaaaaak!

The bird’s beak grazed Jae-hyuk’s ear in an instant.

— Scratch!

It cleanly sliced the corner of a wooden shelf nearby.

“What the hell!”

Jae-hyuk dove beneath a display case faster than the scream that escaped his mouth.

— Clang!

The bird’s beak slammed into the stainless steel display case instead of Jae-hyuk’s head.

— Keeek?

At that speed, the beak should have broken, but the bird just flapped its wings and rolled its round eyes.

“Hey, you black guy! Are you okay?”

“T-this is over, right?”

Some naïve people asked, trying to calm their beating hearts.

“No way.”

— Screech! Creak! Keeek!

The trapped bird screeched unpleasantly.

Like a victim caught in the cruel trap of an evil human.

Usually in this situation…

“They’re calling for reinforcements! Everyone hide!”

— Kiiyaaaaaak!

One wall distorted as sharp beaks, heads, and bodies appeared.

They cried alternately as if signaling each other.

“Damn! Why aren’t you running already?!”

“N-no, it’s blocked here! We can’t get out!”

People tried to flee outside the exhibition hall but were stopped by an invisible wall.

Thuds rang out from people bumping their foreheads against it.

— Flap!

This was serious.

I scanned the surroundings but found no proper place to hide.

Too fast, too many.

“Hyung-nim! I’m fine, so run away quickly!”

Jae-hyuk said unlike a coward, but his feet seemed glued to the floor.

Where was there to run anyway?

We were trapped inside either way.

— Swaaak!

The birds swooped down, slicing the air.

They aimed at trembling Jae-hyuk near the bird stuck like an idiot with its beak.

“Eunho! Can’t you use your skill?”

He ducked quickly, dodging the incoming blades, shouting.

“Skills can only dodge. We have no weapons…”

Even if you slow down the birds with acceleration, you can’t take out all airborne enemies at once.

Can’t attack with two fingers either.

“Weapons…”

Ji-eun bit her lower lip anxiously.

Then she approached the woman hiding behind a display case.

“Ye-ji! Sword!”

“Yes? Wh-what?”

Accounting team member Lee Ye-ji, trembling as she sat clutching her knees, looked similar to Ji-eun, who had been frozen and panicked under the corpse of the planning team leader during the second mission.

“Can I borrow it for a moment?”

“Wh-what about me then?”

— Clang!

Ji-eun narrowly dodged a bird’s beak and spoke urgently.

“You saw Eunho use his skill, right? Only that person can save us if they properly use this sword. Hurry!”

‘Asking for a reward item is one thing…’

“You don’t even know how to use it, so what’s the point if Ye-ji has it?”

“Th-that's true but…”

“I’ll use it and return it. Promise! Really, thank you!”

‘It’s possible.’

Ji-eun forcibly borrowed — no, took — Ye-ji’s sword and ran to the security guard.

“Shield…”

“A-a shield! Here it is!”

Ji-eun had definitely grown stronger.

Whether it was due to mental strength or naturally resolute character, or both, I didn’t know.

“Eunho! Over here!”

— Swoosh!

I raised the shield Ji-eun pushed forward and gripped the sword.

The only sword I’d ever touched was from a couple of months of kendo lessons as a kid.

“Mission reward.”

[Select your mission reward.]

“Enhance acceleration skill.”

I had ‘time.’

Time to get used to the sword.

[Upgrade Acceleration (Lv.1) to Acceleration (Lv.2).]

[Duration extended from 1 second to (10) seconds.]

“Eunho! Be careful!”

“I doubt I can be.”

I gave Ji-eun an awkward smile and muttered.

How to fight nine winged monsters with only a 60-second cooldown skill?

The only way.

— Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Hyung! Why are you pulling aggro?!”

The only way was to gather them and strike together.

— Kee, Keeek?

I raised the blue steel sword.

The dumb bird desperately tried to pull out its beak.

It swung its sharp claws and attacked endlessly.

But it was defenseless against the attack stabbing its nape.

— Poke!

— Kiiyaaaaaak!

— Kiiiiiik!

The angry cries of the birds mourning their fallen comrade surrounded me.

One. Two. Three. Four… Eight.

— Taat!

I pushed off the ground and leaped toward the last bird.

Just as all nine birds plunged their gleaming beaks simultaneously—

“Accelerate!”