Chapter 15. Performance Pressure (5)

There were students whose bodies were obliterated in the attack, zombies burning alive, and friends screaming until they lost their minds. Even Team Three—facing the threat of deletion—momentarily froze at the sheer brutality of the slaughter.

Then, system messages appeared.

[All performance data has been tallied.]

[The restructuring targets for this round two is Team Three. Restructuring has begun.]

“No, there were no zombies left! They were all cleared already!”

“Wait, us? N-no way!”

“No! Please stop!”

Their protests were meaningless, washed over by a wave of flickering death.

“Y-you murderer!”

“I-I’m going to curse you!”

Even as they vanished into nothing, Team Three hurled severed curses toward the homeless man. Not that he cared in the slightest—and apparently, neither did the system.

[Attention, survivors of the Seoul Station area.]

[A special reward will be given to the highest-performing team.]

Emotionlessly, the system message discussed the highest-performing team. People shuddered at the horrifying meritocracy.

“They are insane...”

“What the hell is a special reward? They never mentioned that before!”

Some trembled in fear, while others—like Ye-Ji from the accounting team—muttered bitterly about the sudden bonus system.

[The special reward for round two is 2 points. The special reward for round three is 3 points.]

It was fair to complain, since giving extra points to outperforming teams would only widen the gap further.

The highest-performing team this round is...

Eun-Ho thought.

A strange heat bloomed in Eun-Ho’s chest. Perhaps nerves, or maybe the sight of flames raging in the distance. He wasn’t alone in feeling it. Every fearful gaze had turned to the same burning point.

[The highest-performing team in round two is Team Five.]

A laugh slipped out from a man.

[Eliminate enemies and prove your excellence!]

***

“I-I’m going to upgrade my skill!” said the man, and fire burst to life in his palm.

Amid the red and yellow flames, a streak of blue flickered at the center.

“That flame... It’s hotter now.”

“It’s definitely bigger, too.”

The flame, now the size of a human head, danced and swelled. Bigger flames meant it could ignite targets without even touching them.

“That’s a seriously powerful offensive ability,” Ji-Eun said.

“Don’t worry. As long as we follow the plan, we’ll be fine,” Eun-Ho replied.

Ji-Eun, who had been nervously fiddling with her fingers, finally looked up. “It’s

because

of your plan that I’m worried, Eun-Ho.”

Eun-Ho remained silent.

[Round three begins.]

Sorry, Ji-Eun,

Eun-Ho thought.

He felt a little guilty seeing her worry. Regardless, his plan was the most efficient path forward.

“Everyone, take your positions!” Eun-Ho shouted.

“H-Hyungnim! Are we really going through with this plan?” Jae-Hyuk asked.

“Yes. We have to. Please, trust me!”

The only way for everyone to survive and that bastard down was to follow his plan.

[Eliminate enemies and achieve your goal within the time limit!]

“

Urrrgh...

”

The moment the trial started, the zombies that had been aimlessly stumbling suddenly charged. There were two zombies at first, starting with a light warm-up.

Sorry about this,

Eun-Ho thought.

“

Gyaaah!

”

Instead of dodging, Eun-Ho yanked Jae-Hyuk forward, using him like a shield.

Clang!

The zombies slammed into Jae-Hyuk’s armor.

“

Ughhhh...

”

As they staggered, Eun-Ho swiftly extracted two silver bugs and tossed them to Ji-Eun. He pulled out three of them in no time. Rather than wasting time killing them outright, he focused on extracting them several times faster than the original speed.

“Ji-Eun! Here!”

“On it!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ji-Eun’s dagger moved in a blur. Every bug that came her way was chopped, halved, quartered, until barely recognizable. Then, she passed over the mangled pieces over to the foul-mouthed man.

“All chopped up!” Ji-Eun said.

“Alright, here I go!” said the foul-mouthed man.

Fwoooosh!

He held a can of spray insecticide and a lighter. With one fluid motion, he lit up the air in front of him.

“Die, you creepy little fucks!”

Each person stuck to their task with mechanical precision. It was a coldly efficient system—pure division of labor, cranked up to the max. If this were a real office task force, one could almost imagine some motivational slogan pinned to the wall: Division of Labor is the Only Way to Survive!

However, the heart of this strategy was not just killing the Needle Parasite, but also

cutting

them into pieces.

[You have defeated a quartered Needle Parasite!]

“Yes! It worked! The score went up!”

[Third Round Performance Status]

- Team 1: 2 / 100 points

Killing a whole Needle Parasite yielded five points, a halved one yielded three points, and a quartered one two points.

So that’s eight points per bug if we quarter them instead of just killing them outright. Cutting them up is way more efficient,

Eun-Ho thought.

“No more cuts! I think this is as small as they’ll go!” Ji-Eun shouted.

“Great. Let’s torch them all at once!”

Bang!

“Ji-Eun!”

“Here! Burn them all!”

Fwoooosh!

[You have defeated a quartered Needle Parasite!]

[You have defeated a quartered Needle Parasite!]

[You have defeated a quartered Needle Parasite!]

[You have defeated a quartered Needle Parasite!]

...

The non-stop barrage of alerts made their heads spin. As their performance score kept climbing, the system began to lag behind. Since there was still plenty of time left and their goals had been cleared, there was only one thing left to do.

“Hey kiddo! Grab your dad and come this way!”

Eun-Ho waved at them, and the father and child quickly came running toward him. He did not go to them for a reason.

“Jae-Hyuk! Ji-Eun! I need you to hang in there just a little longer.”

Eun-Ho wanted to stick with their division of labor. Jae-Hyuk would hold off the zombies, Eun-Ho would extract the bugs, and Ji-Eun would slice them up. The father would take over the role of burning them. In other words, they were just swapping out the burner.

“And you, over there—”

“What, you want me to babysit? Fine, whatever.”

“... Would you please watch your mouth?”

***

“Young man! You saved us!”

“Thank you so much, sir. Thank you...!”

“Thank you!”

Calling Eun-Ho “sir”, the father bowed so deeply that he seemed about to fold in half. Beside him, his child, Yul, offered a neat, polite bow. Her hands were clasped at the belly like a well-mannered student.

“We all did great. Everyone played their part,” Eun-Ho said.

As the emotional tension eased, the foul-mouthed man ran a hand down his face and said, “But seriously, what the hell! Are you some kind of genius? Maybe you’re secretly working with the system?”

“What are you talking about?” Eun-Ho asked calmly.

“Look, let’s say you just have bug spray ready. You’re clearly prepared. But how the hell did you know you’d get more points for chopping the bugs up?”

This time, Ji-Eun answered for him, “It’s not that complicated. Eun-Ho is a genius. You just don’t know him.”

“... What?”

It was a bit of a strange way to respond, but she sounded completely serious.

“But really, how did you figure it out, Hyungnim?” Jae-Hyuk asked.

“Oh, the numbers from the first round were weird.”

“The first round scores?”

Jae-Hyuk glanced at Ji-Eun, who just shrugged like she was just as clueless.

“We were the only ones who ended up with exactly 101 points, remember?”

“Oh, wait. Was that because you cut that one in half at the start?”

“Yeah. So I kept trying to slice them smaller, checking which point range was the most efficient.”

At Eun-Ho’s explanation, Jae-Hyuk slapped his knee in realization. The others looked around, nodding as the pieces finally clicked together.

[You have defeated the halved Needle Parasite.]

Eun-Ho recalled the familiar chime when he’d sliced the first bug in half. At that time, he didn't even know what he was doing. Had the bug been crushed in a single, clean blow; or if someone else had killed it first, then none of this would’ve been discovered.

“Guess I was lucky.”

“Lucky,

huh?

You really think that’s all it was?”

“That’s

exactly

what makes you a genius, Eun-Ho,” Ji-Eun said, and Jae-Hyuk nodded in agreement.

“Luck or genius, whatever it was...” Eun-Ho muttered.

They had taken first place and claimed the reward, so it was time to move on. Besides, he could feel the eyes on his back, watching.

“It can get dangerous out there. So you all stay here and wait.”

“Hyungnim, are you sure you’ll be alright?”

Eun-Ho wouldn’t be, but that didn’t matter anymore. The homeless man was already approaching, each step slow and deliberate, opening and closing his hand as if testing his grip.

Crackle!

“Ji-Eun, Jae-Hyuk. If I can take him down first—”

Eun-Ho barely finished the sentence when a small figure quickly lunged past him. Her long black hair swallowed most of her gray vest.

“You bastard! I’m gonna kill you myself!”

“Sol-Ah! No!!”

Thud!

It was the same high school girl who had dashed down the stairs to save her friend. She seemed to have returned after saying goodbye to that girl. Now, she was back with vengeance, her face twisted with raw fury.

However, a small hand grabbed her just in time.

“Don’t go!!”

The last friend she had left threw herself in front of her, arms spread wide. The vengeful girl trembled with rage, ready to throw her life away. The shorter girl desperately clung to her, trying to hold her back.

“You can’t do that! Please, don’t do this!”

“Why not?! Aren’t you angry?! That bastard burned So-Young alive!”

“I know! I know, but if you go, you’ll die too!”

She wanted revenge. However, it was hopeless, as the size difference alone was laughable.

“

Hehe

. Die, both of you!”

The man appeared behind them like a shadow, arms outstretched. He clamped both of their mouths shut, squeezing them.

“If we toast both of your faces at once,

hehehe...

”

“

Mmmph! Mmmph.”

Damn it,

Eun-Ho thought and sucked in a sharp breath.

“Acceleration.”

He had carefully crafted a scenario that’d give him the best chance of winning. However, seeing those kids kicking and thrashing in that monster’s grip, all that planning went out the window.

He moved without thinking.

I can make a new plan later.

Crack!

Like a sprinter at the sound of the starting gun, Eun-Ho closed in on the man in a flash. Then, he forced the man’s hands open, one finger at a time. First, the smaller girl slipped free and dropped safely, followed by the long-haired one.

Whoosh!

The instant Eun-Ho turned after rescuing them, flame burst out from the man’s palm, catching Eun-Ho’s elbow and spreading.

“

Guh...!

”

The searing heat hit like acid, as if his very cells were boiling and melting from the inside out. A scream caught in his throat, but he bit down hard. He pushed through the agony, barely managing to carry the students to safety.

Tick.

Time snapped back into focus.

“Eun-Ho!!”

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Ji-Eun took off her jacket quickly and smothered the fire clinging to his arm.

“Hyungnim! Your arm!”

“

Keugh!

”

More than skin burning, it felt like his bone was on fire.

“That son of a bitch hurt our Hyungnim!”

“Eun-Ho! Do you have any leftover trial rewards? Use them! You need to heal—!”

Ji-Eun's voice was urgent, panicked—but another voice cut through behind her.

“Move!”

It was the long-haired girl, the one who had just been rescued. She rubbed her jaw where she had been grabbed, wincing with every touch.

“What do you mean?” Ji-Eun asked.

However, the girl didn’t even glance at Ji-Eun. Her furious eyes were terrifyingly focused on Eun-Ho’s, unblinking.

“I’ll heal you. So please kill that bastard.”

“Heal me?”

Wait. When she’d run off earlier to save her friend, she’d gotten bitten by a zombie,

Eun-Ho thought.

However, when Eun-Ho looked down, her ankle was perfectly fine. In fact, when she charged at the homeless man, she wasn’t limping in the slightest.

“Your ankle is healed.”

“You can kill him, right?”

Her eyes betrayed a single, unshakable wish.

“Please heal me.”

Without another word, she knelt beside him. Gently placing her hand over his charred arm, she whispered, “heal.”

[You have been healed by Healer Yoon Sol-Ah.]

[Burn recovery: 90%.]

“Hyungnim! Your arm!”

The mangled, blackened skin began to regenerate from within. Moments later, it seemed nearly normal—reddened, slightly warm to the touch, but no longer ruined.

“It’s supposed to be hundred percent...” the girl muttered, biting her lip.

Perhaps, she was embarrassed that she couldn’t fully heal him after speaking with such confidence. Or maybe, she was afraid he would reject her because of it.

“My skill level is still too low. That’s why,” she added quietly.

“This is enough,” Eun-Ho said.

“But—”

“Heal the rest later. You can handle it, right?”

She nodded.

Everyone else looked stunned, but Eun-Ho pushed himself up. Across from him, the man was staring straight at him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

They walked toward each other, neither breaking eye contact.

The greasy-haired man’s chapped lips twisted slightly as he spoke, “You’ve got a skill—”

“You’re left-handed, right?” Eun-Ho demanded.

The man flinched. Sure, he used both hands to crush the throats of zombies and people alike. However, the fire only ever came from the left.

A guy with all ego and bravado like him wouldn’t hide such a thing, especially if it was the first time he got real power. Even under the mess of hair and patchy beard, Eun-Ho could see his eyebrows twitch in irritation.

“W-what did you just say?”

“You only ever use your left hand for the fire.”

“So what—?”

“Petrify.”

Crunch!

The plan was simple. He’d pour his remaining three points from the third round into strengthening his right hand. With that hand, now hardened like stone, he seized the man's flaming fist and crushed it.

No matter what came out, fire, water, whatever, it’s still just a human hand. Mine is a rock strong enough to punch through walls,

Eun-Ho thought.

Crack!

“Fla—”

“Acceleration.”

“—aaame!”

Crack.

The man’s face twisted in pain as he desperately tried to summon his flames, but he was too late.

Eun-Ho’s petrified fist had locked around the fiery hand, turning it into a burning, brittle cage.

“You shouldn’t be in pain just yet...”

Eun-Ho glanced past the man’s shoulder. There, standing just behind, was Yoon Sol-Ah—her eyes sharp as blades, practically glowing with fury.

“My client is watching.”