Chapter 16

Ignoring Alex’s desperate wails, he turned on his heel and walked away.

Moments later, the sound of footsteps echoed from the staircase.

Followed by a voice laced with pure hatred.

— “You son of a bitch! What? You were gonna kill me? Why don’t you die instead?!”

— “W-Wait! Hold o—URK!”

THUD. THUD. THUD.

— “DIE! DIE, YOU MONSTER!”

— “SPARE ME! PLEAAAAASE!”

CRACK. CRUNCH.

The sound of bones snapping. Flesh tearing. A skull being crushed.

Alex’s screams grew weaker and weaker.

Until, finally, there was silence.

He idly scratched his ear, his gaze drifting toward the convenience store where he had once worked part-time.

Maybe if you’d been a decent person, you wouldn’t have ended up like this, Alex.

Almost there.

The unexpected detour had cost him some time, but he was finally closing in on his destination.

The safe zone was now less than 100 meters away.

He moved quickly down the hiking trail, but the moment he crossed the final ridge—

His steps came to an abrupt halt.

“…What the hell am I looking at?”

The area beneath the hiking trail was a place he had visited often for casual strolls.

Even the location his quest had pointed to was somewhat familiar.

But now?

It was completely unrecognizable.

“Looks like something straight out of a medieval film.“

Haphazardly built wooden houses.

Uneven roads paved with loosely scattered stones.

Overgrown weeds stretching across the entire settlement.

It was like something pulled straight from a documentary about impoverished villages in the Middle Ages.

The sudden appearance of a town was strange enough, but there was something even more unsettling.

This wasn’t just built here.

It was cut out and placed here.

Like a chunk of jungle pasted onto the middle of a desert in a game, the town felt completely disconnected from its surroundings.

Just by looking at the buildings, he could tell they had been constructed in a climate far more humid than Korea’s.

The air itself felt foreign, making every part of him scream at him to turn back.

…But who cares if the place feels a little off?

The reward is an inventory.

Ignoring the unsettling atmosphere, he stepped into the town.

The moment his foot touched the ground, a system message appeared.

《Main Quest: “Find a Sanctuary” has been completed.》
《Quest reward: Small Inventory acquired.》
《Inventory can be accessed via command, similar to the status window.》

Finally.

Without hesitation, he issued the command.

“Inventory.”

A flash of light flickered before his eyes

And a new window appeared.

A grid-like window with ten squares across and ten squares down appeared before his eyes.

He tested it by placing a baseball bat and a can of food into the inventory. His hand slipped through the interface like it was passing through liquid.

The moment he pulled his hand back, both the bat and the can had disappeared.

A can takes up one slot, while a baseball bat takes up six.

He took note of the space required for each item and nodded to himself.

This should be enough to store everything he was currently carrying.

Satisfied, he tossed his entire backpack into the inventory and dismissed the window.

As soon as he finished verifying his reward, a new system message popped up.

《Home Sweet Home》

• Quest Type: Main Quest
• Details: Even in a safe zone, humans cannot sleep out in the open. Choose one of the unclaimed buildings and make it your home.
• Reward: Ownership of the selected building and control over its access restrictions.

“…You expect me to live in one of those?”

He turned his gaze to the so-called ‘houses’ around him—run-down, medieval-style huts.

Sleeping in one of these would be worse than a thirty-year-old semi-basement apartment in the city.

His expression twisted in distaste, but before he could complain further, something else caught his eye.

Among the countless shabby wooden huts, a few buildings stood out with noticeably better construction.

These look decent, at least.

If the rest of the town was made of medieval peasant hovels, then these buildings were closer to Roman-style houses.

He had just picked one and was about to step inside when

“Hold it right there!”

“…?”

A voice, completely out of nowhere, halted his movements.

Another beta tester?

He turned to face the man who had called out.

Shorts, a short-sleeved t-shirt, flabby belly, and tattoos covering his arms.

No doubt about it. This guy was no NPC—he was another beta tester.

“Are you talking to me?”

“Who the hell else would I be talking to?”

What’s with this guy’s attitude?

Annoying, but whatever. More important things to deal with.

“Why are you stopping me? This is a quest location.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I’m stopping you.”

“…Excuse me?”

“This house is taken, buddy. And I’ll be in deep shit if you snatch it up first.”

The tattooed man casually shrugged, gesturing toward the rundown huts with his chin.

“Go pick one of those instead. Stay the hell away from this area.”

“…Taken? You mean someone already claimed this place?”

“Jeez, you ask too many damn questions. Why? Are you curious or something?”

The smirk on his face twisted into something more threatening as he narrowed his eyes.

“My boys are coming to settle here. So back the hell off.”

That one sentence told him everything.

The ‘friends’ this guy mentioned weren’t actually friends.

Just more thugs like him.

A gang of lowlifes, securing the best spots for themselves.

A “Safe Zone Syndicate.”

“Heh.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle.

So this was their brilliant plan? Claim the good spots, then call in their gang to dominate the safe zone?

And the sheer confidence with which this idiot was spouting his greed was almost admirable.

The tattooed man’s face twisted at the sound of his laughter.

“You think this is funny, asshole—?”

“Black Missile.”

Before he could finish, the spell was already flying straight for his head.

A sharp spark crackled from his fingertip as the projectile shot forward.

At minimum, the guy would suffer a concussion.

At worst? Instant death.

And honestly?

Either way was fine.