The world returned to normal.The gloomy grassland where they had cleared the dungeon now lay silent, disturbed only by the whisper of the wind.
But for Kyle Sundara, the world had just ended.
[Race: Giant Rabbit – EXTINCT]
The words burned before his eyes.
"Nice! Five hundred gold split evenly!" shouted the man in heavy armor, breaking the silence.
"And I got the rare Silver Horn! Not bad!"
Rakai, his best friend, ran toward him with a bright grin.
He had just sheathed his sword."Hey, Kyle! You okay? You look pale."
Kyle stared at his friend. The same man who, just hours ago, had invited him to see "unique creatures".The same hand that had patted his shoulder moments earlier was now, figuratively, drenched in the blood of an entire race.
"What did you do?" Kyle's voice came out hoarse and low.
"Huh?" Rakai stopped laughing, confused.
Kyle slapped away the hand reaching for his shoulder. His eyes were red, trembling with suppressed horror."WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
he shouted. "You killed them! She begged me for mercy! You wiped them all out!"
The entire party fell silent. The armored man stopped polishing his trophy horn.
Rakai stepped back, shocked by the sudden outburst. He raised both hands to calm him."Kyle, relax! It's just a game! That was a dungeon boss, that's how it works. What's wrong with you?"
"A game?" Kyle laughed, but the sound cracked. "She said 'Please, save us.'
That was a living being, Kai! It was..."
His heart sank. He looked at Rakai's face. A face not of guilt, but confusion.As if Rakai was staring at a madman.
In that split second, Kyle understood.
He did not understand.And he never would.
To Rakai, this was a screen, numbers, and loot.To Kyle, it was life itself.Explaining it to Rakai would be as pointless as trying to describe the idea of a forest to a deer in his grandfather's zoo.
He could not tell him the truth. He had to lie.
Kyle suddenly stopped. He turned away, rubbing his face as if trying to shake off dizziness, forcing out a weak, awkward laugh.
"Hah... Sorry, man. You're right."
Rakai still looked confused. "Huh?"
"You're right," Kyle repeated, his voice quieter now. "It's just a game. I guess I'm being too sensitive today."
He tapped his own head. "Maybe I was just shocked by the first boss fight. I... got carried away."
Rakai's expression softened. The tension faded. He laughed in relief.
"Man, I thought you were possessed!" he said, patting Kyle's back. This time Kyle did not dodge.
"It's normal. First boss fights can mess with your head. You should log out for a bit and rest. Clear your mind."
The armored man nudged Rakai. "Come on, Kai. We need to go to town and sell this Silver Horn while the price is high."
Rakai nodded to his party, then turned back to Kyle.
"That's the plan. We'll sell the loot. You just rest, okay? Message me tonight in the real world."
Kyle nodded stiffly, his throat tight. "Yeah. Sure. See you later, Kai."
"See you!" Rakai and the others waved, then walked off toward the distant city.
Their chatter about item prices and the next dungeon slowly faded away.
Kyle stood there until their figures disappeared over the hill.
When he was finally alone, his calm mask shattered.He leaned against a nearby tree, gasping for breath as if he had just finished a marathon.
「This is bad... I need to get out. Now.」
He opened his system window. He searched for the "Log Out" button.
It was gone.
His heartbeat quickened. 「No, no...」
He opened the Settings menu. Empty. The Help menu. Empty. The System menu. Empty.The "LogOut" button wasn't greyed out.
It had vanished completely from the interface.
「This is a bug,」 he whispered, his voice trembling. "It has to be a system error."
He tried voice commands. "Log out! Exit! End game! Disconnect!"
Only the wind answered.
Cold sweat ran down his temples. His mind flashed back to the job notification.
[Risk: DEATH]
He remembered his own mocking words. 「Why be scared? It's just a game.」
A terrible thought crossed his mind. He had to know.
He raised his hand and slapped his own face. Hard.
Smack!
A sharp sting spread across his cheek. But... was this real? Or just advanced haptic feedback? He could not tell.
「I have to know... I have to know...」
He opened his inventory. As a Summoner, he didn't have much, but there was one standard item: Starter Dagger.
His hand trembled as he drew the small blade. He looked at his other palm. 「This is insane...」
He took a deep breath... and slashed his palm.
Kyle screamed.
It wasn't a notification saying [-10 HP].
It was pain.
A sharp, burning, searing pain. He stumbled backward, not from force but from shock.He looked down.
From the shallow cut on his palm, thick dark-red liquid began to drip.
Blood. His own blood.
「This... this is real,」 he whispered, paralyzed by terror.
He fell to the ground, shaking violently, clutching his bleeding hand.
This was not a bug. This was real.He couldn't log out because he wasn't logged in.
He was here.
Trapped in this world forever.If he died here, he would truly die.
His thoughts turned to his new job title. "Genesis Keeper." Protector...
He remembered the word Extinct.
「With this new job, I have to guard the gates,」 he murmured.
"That means... I'm the enemy of the players... even..."
The image of Rakai smiling as he charged with his sword flashed in his mind.
"...even Rakai."
As he resigned himself to his grim fate, three new notifications appeared before him.
They did not feel like ordinary game alerts. Their golden glow carried a divine weight.
[Job "GENESIS KEEPER" fully activated.]
[Physical body and soul successfully transferred to Hexa.]
[Welcome, final Keeper. Do not fail again.]
「Final Keeper...」 Kyle laughed weakly. He had already failed his first task.
Then a series of new skill icons began to glow on his window.
[Passive Skill: Universal Language (All Races) unlocked.]
[Unique Skill: GENESIS ARK unlocked.]
[Skill: ??? (Locked)]
[Skill: ??? (Locked)]
[Skill: ??? (Locked)]
The skill Genesis Ark shone the brightest.
[This is your world. This is your refuge. Would you like to enter?] [YES / NO]
He had nowhere else to go. Wounded and alone in a hostile world, he pressed YES without hesitation.
Before him, the air rippled.A tear in space opened, forming an oval gate that glowed softly with all the colors of the rainbow.
Unlike the white dungeon portal from before, this one radiated warmth.
Kyle stood up, limping, clutching his injured hand, and stepped through.
The scenery shifted.
The pain in his hand disappeared. The bleak grassland was gone.He now stood in an endless meadow, greener than anything he had ever seen.
The sky above was not blue but a constant aurora of soothing rainbow light. The air was warm.
The wound on his hand had closed, leaving only a faint, fading scar.
He was safe.
But as he gazed across the vast, empty horizon, realization struck him.
He was alone.
He stood within his new world, his personal ark.And the burden of saving the remaining races now rested entirely on his shoulders.