KWON SUNG-HO POV

I was in a white space yet again. I sat up, cracking my neck a bit and groaning. I believe I just died.

‘Well, that was lame. Getting killed by zombies because of a girl? Bon-Bon was right.’

“So, is this heaven?”

DING!

<Time till Geno Tree activation. 15:07>

‘Eh? Even now I still get system messages? Weird.’

“What’s a geno tree?”

DING!

<A geno tree is a special gift that was given to 10 individuals and has been passed on through their descendants>

“What? I thought the apocalypse was now coming to earth.”

DING!

<This information is restricted. You do not have permission to view this information>

‘Ah… so the admins have already visited earth once before? And my ancestor was given some kind of gift from them?’

“So… what gift was mine given?”

A simple question that I should have been allowed access to.

DING!

<The Vampire Geno Tree>

“Huh? E-Elaborate.”

<The Vampire Geno Tree will morph your body into one of the strongest parasitic demonic species, the Vampire>

“Eh?! Wait! What do you mean morph? Wasn’t the geno tree a simple physical gift?”

<The Geno Tree is a special and unique function that activates in the systems of the descendants of the original wielders. You have inherited this gift>

“What? What if I don’t want this gift?”

DING!

DING!

DING!

<YOU DARE?! YOU DARE!? A PUNY MORTAL LIKE YOU DARES TO GO AGAINST THE PROGENITORS WISH?! I SHOULD CARVE OUT YOUR THOAT AND HAVE YOU FED TO WILD BEASTS YOU FOOLISH CHILD>

The voice boomed and whole space shook violently. In an instant, the white space was a blood red and the screen before me melted away. That was when I realized I wasn’t talking to a simple A.I. This was an actual living being I had somehow triggered.

“R-Relax.”

<YOU IGNORAMOUS! HOW CAN I RELAX WHEN YOU WERE ONE OF THOSE TO INHERIT THE MASTER’S WILL?! HOW!?>

She was starting to get me annoyed.

“Did I ever say I want to become a vampire?”

The whole area reversed to its original form so quickly it gave me the creeps.

DING!

<Too late. The geno tree is inserted. Hehe, bad luck for you, I guess.>

“What do you mean by that?”

I simply zoned out after that, descending into pitch black.

***

It was a cold and dark night.

The school’s halls were silent as they should have been during a normal school night. However, the halls were painted in blood. Locker dolls had been scratched or punched open and the floors were broken. Electrical appliances laid bare on the ground and light bulbs shattered.

There was absolutely nothing in the halls except for a person lying on the ground. No, it was more like a creature or beast. This creature had its neck bitten through and it had lost an uncanny amount of blood. It should be dead, but its chest started moving rhythmically. Its fingers twitched like an electric current just passed through it.

In a fast movement it sat up. Its skin was deathly pale, and its body skinny. Its wet shaggy hair covered its face, giving it an even more haggard look.

The beast’s eyes snapped open and the hair flew up, revealing raging red eyes.

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Quest: First Meal

Quest Type: Special

Grade: F

Rewards: -

Failure: Death

Summary: You are a newborn Blood born. Newborns can’t survive without food. Get some blood before you die. You have 24 hours till you die.

Time Limit: 24 hours

Overseer: *****

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BONG-CHA POV

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Quest: First Meal

Quest Type: Special

Grade: F

Rewards: -

Failure: Death

Summary: You are a newborn Blood born. Newborns can’t survive without food. Get some blood before you die. You have 24 hours till you die.

Time Limit: 24 hours

Overseer: *****

--------------

The being sat up and looked at the corpse before it. Her eyes glinted a hungry red as she ripped the body apart and began to partake of the bloody mess it was. She didn’t really need the chewable parts. Only the blood was important.

She sat, for about two minutes, eating like a wild beast before her ears picked up on a conversation coming from the inside.

“H-Hey. I think we should go upstairs into one of the rooms. That would be safer, no?”

“Y-Yeah. We should p-probably enter the Dark King’s room and hide out for a bit.”

“Hehe… it’s not like anyone can stop us now.”

The being left its meal and roared angrily. Sure, it was currently a wild beast, but there would always be a trigger for beasts. This conversation was her trigger. It walked towards the door and kicked it down like it was made of clay.

She tried running, but fell on the floor. The whole in her stomach was still open and she was losing blood through there. She was healing, albeit slowly. Desperately and furiously, the creature crawled at an absurd pace towards the stair case.

There it saw the girls running up.

“KIEEEK!”

Through red vision, she saw the girls looking back at her, terrified from up the stairs. They screamed and ran away. The beast also jumped and ran towards them. In no time, she was the up the stair case and the girls were close one of the rooms.

The beast moved quickly avoiding a lamp one of the girls threw at it without so much as a thought. A hair fell wildly has she hang upside down from the ceiling, her claws keeping her in.

One of the girls was still looking at her, horrified.

“Close the door!”

The other forced the door shut and locked it. This enraged the beast even more. She dropped from the ceiling in an almost superficial way then charged full force ahead, slamming into the door and breaking it easily.

One of the girls brought down a metal bat, but she was faster. The monster caught it with her hand, which was now in an abnormal position, almost as if her joints were free enough to let her perform three-sixty rotations easily.

The girl, Jin-Ha, was shaking violently and her eyes were tearing up. The beast swung her away with the bat into a wall and jumped on her, about to rip open her heart, but then Yoon-Ha ran in and swung a laptop into the beast.

This was ineffective, seeing as the only thing that received damage was the now broken laptop.

“I-I… I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-“

The beast spared her no time, kicking her to the door. The girl’s head hit the wall and she fell face flat on the ground, receiving a concussion.

The beast then looked at the girl before her. She was crying, her dark eyes begging for mercy. Sadly, this was a rampaging beast with no emotions other than rage. The beast crushed her heart in a simple punch and swiftly moved on to its next target, who was still unconscious.

The beast dragged her by the hair and left out through one of the windows and onto the roof. The sky was an eerie red and so was the moon. This night was the beginning of one of many horrible experiences humanity would ever face.

The beast ripped the girl’s head from her body and basked in the fountain of blood that spilled from the headless figure. She threw the head away and simply enjoyed her meal.

 

****

Another screen appeared, alerting every single person in the room. I didn’t want to, but I looked at it. There was no need however, since I already knew what it was. Looking at it was even more chilling and horrifying. Memories I didn’t want were starting to flood my head.

People would die. That much was obvious. And I wanted to change that. I didn’t want it to repeat itself. My chances of changing their fates decreased as soon as the Dark King got trapped outside.

Yes, I mean trapped and not dead. There was no way someone like him was dead. Still, now that meant I had to protect everyone here by myself. I looked at Kim Young-Soon’s direction and froze. She was giving off a weird vibe and I didn’t like it. It were almost as if she were different from the girl before.

Between her and the screen in front of me, I didn’t know which was scarier now. Fearing eye contact, I looked at the screen.

 

[Survive the Tutorial 2]

[Hey again! Good! You found somewhere safe to hide. Oh no! The monsters can breach your location? What? The first safe zone was actually the safest place in the school? Oh darn! Ah well, fret not! You won’t die! Welcome to the Combat Tutorial.]

[HINT: Pick up the random weapons around you and fight the monsters that begin to swarm you! The best lessons come from real-life experience! Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it… hopefully.]