"Mister, would you like to buy a house?"
"…What?"
"Would you like to buy a house?"
The words struck me like static—out of place, oddly persistent. I blinked, struggling to piece together my thoughts.
"…Who are you?" I asked, but the real question clawing at the back of my mind was—where the hell am I?
Towering buildings surrounded me. Crowds moved around like waves. I knew this skyline. Seoul?
No. Just minutes ago, I had been at my desk, finishing a design revision, the warm glow of my monitor burning into my eyes. I remember leaning back, opening my favorite web novel—
"Mom! Look up! The sky is cracking!"
A child's shout jolted me. I turned my gaze upward.
And froze.
A massive fracture spread across the sky like a broken mirror, glowing faintly with violet light. Jagged, shifting… impossibly unnatural.
What… the hell?
Was this a dream? No—it felt too vivid. The heat of the sun, the noise of the crowd, the dull ache in my legs—everything screamed real.
'Is this some elaborate VFX stunt?'
'An alien invasion, maybe?'
'Is the world ending?'
'It's like… the heavens have split apart.'
That last line. It cut deeper than the rest.
I knew it. I'd read it before.
"…The heavens… split apart…"
No.
No way.
Last night—I was reading Apocalypse Survival Guide. A dystopian, game-like world. Monsters, gods, systems… chaos.
Am I inside it?
A sudden ding rang inside my head—sharp, mechanical.
[System Initialization…]
[Welcome to the Apocalypse Survival Guide.]
[Seolhwa Hyun has been registered.]
[Objective: Survive]
I felt the blood drain from my face.
This wasn't just some twisted dream or elaborate prank. The story had begun—and I was inside it.
A low hum echoed across the sky. Dark clouds swirled, and from the crack above, a rift tore wider—distorting reality like rippling glass.
The first dimensional breach.
And from it… something stepped out.
A creature—not quite human, not quite beast. Muscles twisted unnaturally beneath blackened flesh, fangs that could tear through flesh like butter and it's eyes raging with primal hunger.
There were too many questions. But the answer to all was..
I'm fucked..