The roar did not fade.
It grew.
The air itself seemed to tremble as something massive forced its way through the fractured sky, pushing aside light that did not belong to this world. The classroom windows shattered outward in a violent burst, glass scattering across the floor as screams filled the room.
Students dropped. Some covered their heads. Others froze, unable to process what they were seeing.
Kang Seo-jun did neither.
He stepped forward.
Each movement was steady, controlled, as if his body remembered something his surroundings had yet to understand. His boots crunched against broken glass as he approached the ruined window.
Outside, chaos had already begun.
Cars crashed into one another as drivers lost control. People ran in every direction without purpose. Some stood still, staring upward in disbelief, their faces pale and empty.
They were all the same.
Unprepared.
Unaware.
Dead.
Seo-jun's eyes narrowed as he focused on the sky.
The tear in space pulsed like a wound. It spread wider, jagged edges glowing with unnatural light. Something enormous shifted behind it, its silhouette barely contained within the distortion.
He clenched his jaw.
Too early.
Everything was happening too early.
In his previous life, the Descent began with smaller changes. Monsters appeared first. Weak ones. Manageable threats that allowed humanity a brief window to adapt.
This.
This was not that.
The pressure alone was wrong.
It pressed down on his shoulders, heavy and suffocating, as if the world itself recognized the presence above and feared it.
A student grabbed his arm.
"What is that. What is happening."
Seo-jun glanced at him.
For a moment, recognition flickered.
He knew this face.
Second row. Always late. Died on the third day when goblins overran the campus.
Seo-jun pulled his arm free.
"Run."
The word came out flat. Without emotion.
The student hesitated.
That hesitation would kill him.
Seo-jun turned away before it happened.
He had no time to waste.
Another roar split the air.
Louder.
Closer.
The shadow moved.
And then it emerged.
Wings.
Massive. Scaled. Each beat displaced the air with enough force to shake the buildings below. The creature forced its way through the fractured sky, dragging itself into the world as if reality resisted its existence.
A wyvern.
But not the kind he remembered.
Its body was darker, scales reflecting a deep crimson beneath the light. Its eyes burned with something far more intelligent than the creatures that usually appeared in the early stages.
Seo-jun felt his heartbeat quicken.
Not from fear.
From realization.
This was wrong.
Completely wrong.
"Why here."
His voice was low.
Barely audible beneath the chaos.
Wyverns did not appear this early. Not in cities. Not alone.
They came later. When the world had already broken.
When players had grown strong enough to at least attempt resistance.
Right now.
No one stood a chance.
The creature opened its mouth.
Fire gathered.
Seo-jun's eyes widened slightly.
"Move."
He didn't shout.
He didn't need to.
His body reacted first.
He grabbed the nearest desk and kicked it toward the window just as the wyvern exhaled.
Flames poured from the sky.
They struck the building with explosive force.
Heat surged through the room, devouring everything in its path. The front rows vanished instantly, swallowed by fire so intense it left nothing behind.
Screams turned into silence.
Seo-jun moved.
Fast.
He dove backward, using the momentum to roll behind a thick support pillar as the flames swept across the classroom. The heat brushed past him, close enough to burn the air from his lungs, but he stayed low, protected by structure rather than chance.
The fire ended as quickly as it began.
Smoke filled the room.
Black. Thick. Suffocating.
Seo-jun coughed once, covering his mouth as he rose to his feet.
Half the classroom was gone.
Desks reduced to ash. Walls scorched beyond recognition. The professor. The students near the front. All erased.
The rest.
Broken.
Burned.
Or too shocked to move.
Seo-jun's gaze hardened.
This was how it started.
No.
This was worse.
He stepped through the debris, ignoring the bodies, ignoring the sounds of those still clinging to life. His focus remained fixed on one thing.
Survival.
Outside, the wyvern circled.
It was not attacking randomly.
It was watching.
Observing.
Seo-jun felt a chill run through him.
That behavior.
That level of awareness.
It didn't match.
"Something changed."
The words slipped out.
He reached into his pocket again, gripping his phone for a brief moment before stopping himself.
Useless.
The system would appear soon.
He remembered that part clearly.
After the first wave of destruction.
After humanity realized this was not an accident.
A message would come.
And those who acted first.
Survived longer.
Seo-jun moved toward the door.
The hallway beyond was chaos.
Students rushed in every direction. Some crying. Some shouting. Others frozen in place as the building continued to tremble around them.
He stepped into the flow.
Not with them.
Against them.
Someone slammed into his shoulder.
He didn't stop.
Another grabbed at him, panic in their eyes.
"Help me. Please. I don't know what to do."
Seo-jun pushed past.
Emotion would slow him down.
And slowing down meant death.
He needed a weapon.
Immediately.
His eyes scanned the hallway.
Fire alarms blared overhead, though no water came. Sprinklers had failed. Or maybe the system had already overridden them.
It didn't matter.
Nothing from the old world would help now.
He turned sharply and entered a nearby classroom.
Empty.
Desks overturned.
A bag lay on the floor.
Seo-jun ignored it.
Instead, he moved to the corner and grabbed a broken chair. He tested its weight, then snapped one of the legs free with a sharp motion.
Wood.
Rough.
Unbalanced.
But usable.
He swung it once.
Twice.
Good enough.
A roar echoed again.
Closer this time.
The wyvern was descending.
Seo-jun's grip tightened.
His mind raced through possibilities.
In his past life, the first creatures were weak. Manageable. Even untrained people could kill them with enough effort.
That was how the system activated.
Kill.
Level up.
Survive.
But this.
No one here could kill that.
Not yet.
Which meant.
If he wanted to become a player.
He needed something else.
A smaller target.
His eyes sharpened.
"There."
A sound.
Faint.
Different from the chaos.
Scratching.
Low.
Hungry.
Seo-jun turned toward the back of the room.
The door leading to the storage closet creaked slightly.
Something was inside.
His pulse steadied.
That.
That was more like it.
He approached slowly.
Each step measured.
Controlled.
The scratching grew louder.
Then stopped.
Silence filled the space.
Seo-jun raised the broken chair leg.
Ready.
The door burst open.
A small figure lunged forward.
Green skin. Sharp teeth. Wild eyes filled with hunger and confusion.
A goblin.
Seo-jun didn't hesitate.
He stepped to the side and brought the weapon down with all the force he could muster. The wood cracked against the creature's skull with a dull, heavy sound.
The goblin shrieked.
It didn't die.
It clawed at him, nails scraping against his arm, tearing fabric and drawing blood.
Seo-jun ignored the pain.
He struck again.
And again.
Each hit precise.
Brutal.
Until the creature finally collapsed.
Still.
Silent.
He stood over it, breathing steady.
Waiting.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then.
A sound.
Clear.
Mechanical.
Familiar.
A blue screen flickered into existence before his eyes.
[You have killed a low-grade creature.]
[Conditions met.]
[You have awakened as a Player.]
Seo-jun exhaled slowly.
"It's starting."
But as the screen shifted.
As new text began to form.
His eyes narrowed.
Because something.
Was different.
Very different.
The message continued.
[Special condition detected.]
[Unique path available.]
Seo-jun's grip tightened around the bloodstained weapon.
His heartbeat slowed.
Focused.
Because in his past life.
There was no such message.
The screen flickered again.
Then displayed a single line.
[Would you like to accept a hidden profession?]
Seo-jun stared at it.
And for the first time since returning.
He hesitated.
Because this.
This choice.
Did not exist before.