NoveLight ™
“Unless you’re going to interfere, stay back.”
Seongho shot a sharp remark at Choi Seungjo, his voice tinged with irritation.
He intended to use his abilities, and the presence of an untrusted stranger nearby wasn’t particularly welcome.
Fortunately, Choi Seungjo stepped back without any further objection.
Meanwhile, Seongho moved closer to the evolved zombie.
“Ugh.”
Each step Seongho took brought a rising wave of nausea.
It was no wonder, considering the chunks of flesh and internal organs floating on the water.
His legs kept freezing up, to the point where he had to bite his own cheek to keep moving.
Pushing through his discomfort, Seongho eventually reached the squirming, mutated creature on the ground.
It couldn’t get up properly due to its unbalanced weight and was tumbling helplessly on the floor.
Seongho stepped on it forcefully with his foot, glancing at his status window.
‘It’s a good thing I leveled up before coming here.’
The number of uses available for his ability was plentiful, so using it didn’t feel too burdensome.
The problem, however, was the unchanged corruption score.
‘Damn it, I can’t just leave an evolved zombie alive because I’m worried about that score.’
Leaving a ticking time bomb like that was foolish.
Tutting in his mind, Seongho extended his left hand toward the mutated zombie.
*Flash.*
As soon as he activated his ability, a bright white light emanated, much more intense and longer than usual.
“Ugh…”
It felt as if he was holding his breath underwater, forcing himself to suppress the overwhelming pressure.
Perhaps it was more like his strength being sucked away, draining him.
For a moment, Seongho’s instinct told him to stop and pull his hand away, but he gritted his teeth and endured the disorienting sensation.
How much time had passed?
“Ugh!”
It felt as though he was finally emerging from a narrow tunnel as the pressure on his chest lifted.
Breathing sharply, Seongho gasped for air as the light faded.
At the same time, his energy drained.
Though it wasn’t as overwhelming as when his abilities had depleted entirely, the feeling was still tough to bear.
Exhausted, Seongho collapsed to his knees, trying to catch his breath.
As he sighed deeply and gathered himself, his eyes caught the message still lingering in his peripheral vision.
**“10 Points of Contribution earned.”**
**“100 Points of Corruption Score earned.”**
**“Minimum requirements met.”**
**“The Pioneer’s Cradle is now accessible.”**
Among these messages, one word stood out as unfamiliar.
‘What’s the Pioneer’s Cradle?’
After the message appeared, a button with the same word appeared at the bottom of his screen.
It seemed that by pressing it, he could access the so-called Pioneer’s Cradle, but…
‘I’ll check that later.’
For now, his focus was on the 100-point increase in his Corruption Score.
‘This must be because I touched an evolved zombie, not a regular one.’
No matter the reason, seeing the score spike into triple digits created a pressure that weighed heavily on him.
Though he had set out knowing it was inevitable, he hadn’t expected the number to climb this high.
Anxious, Seongho bit his lip.
‘I can’t even begin to figure out how to reduce this…’
**“The members of the world have witnessed the actions of the Fate Pioneer.”**
**“The members of the world are influenced by the Fate Pioneer.”**
**“The influence of the Fate Pioneer slightly increases.”**
**“Corruption Score drops by 3P.”**
**“Corruption Score drops by 1P.”**
**“Corruption Score drops by 2P.”**
**“Corruption Score drops by 3P.”**
…
Before Seongho could finish his thoughts, a flood of new messages poured in.
At the same time, the Corruption Score, which seemed like it would never drop, began to decrease.
Seongho, who had unknowingly clenched his teeth, suppressed his unease.
Instead, he focused on the unfamiliar words in his mind, trying to understand what was happening.
‘The Corruption Score increases when I use my abilities on zombies.’
And as the beings of this world began to perceive Seongho and were affected by him, the score dropped.
Recalling this, he remembered the influence section of his status window.
It seemed that this was closely related to the Corruption Score.
Curious about the potential changes, Seongho opened his status window.
His eyes widened in surprise.
**[Character Status Window]**
- **Character Information**
Name: Han Seongho
Role: Fate Pioneer
Level: 2 (0/25)
Physical Strength: 4
Abilities: 1/11
- **Activity Information**
Contribution: 15 Points
Corruption Score: 85P
Influence: Only a very small number of world members are aware of you, and your influence is minimal.
Title: None
Not only did the influence section show a change, but the usage of his abilities had also dropped significantly.
For a moment, Seongho was taken aback by the sudden shift.
‘It takes 10 Ability Points to kill one evolved zombie?’
No wonder his contribution and Corruption Score had piled up by 10 times.
Despite the complexities, Seongho found a silver lining.
‘At least I confirmed there’s a way to reduce the Corruption Score.’
That alone was a pretty valuable discovery.
Sighing in a mixture of relief and satisfaction, Seongho heard the sound of footsteps behind him.
He quickly shoved the virus orb into his pocket, grabbed a nearby wooden spear, and turned around.
Seongho found Choi Seungjo approaching, but he stopped immediately when their eyes met.
The two exchanged a brief look, scanning each other.
‘He looks to be in his early to mid-50s.’
The fact that he was the first to act made Seongho wonder if this man was the leader of the group.
Or maybe it was just the expression of confidence that he could protect himself if needed.
‘Maybe both.’
Once Seongho had made this minimal judgment, Choi Seungjo spoke first.
“Thank you for your help.”
Though his words were thankful, there was still a noticeable wariness in his tone.
To prevent that wariness from escalating, Seongho needed to tread carefully.
It was better to deal with someone who showed at least some openness than an entirely inscrutable stranger.
“I’ll need a little help too.”
“Pardon?”
Seongho pulled up the sleeve of his newly found jacket, loosening the cloth wrapped around his wound.
“Could I get some treatment? I’ve been looking for a hospital, but if no one can treat me, I’d settle for some medicine—something like blood coagulants or antibiotics.”
Knowing what Seongho did about the evolved zombies, Choi Seungjo couldn’t afford to turn him away easily.
Curious about whether there was more information to uncover, Seongho tested the waters with the conversation.
Choi Seungjo’s initial wariness seemed to ease a bit.
He scrutinized Seongho with a thoughtful expression, then asked,
“...Are you an awakened individual?”
“As you can see.”
Seongho demonstrated by summoning a white light from the palm of his hand, and Choi Seungjo's gaze shifted, recognition dawning on him.
“What exactly is your ability?”
“Earlier, it looked like blood clumps were flying around... Was that you?”
Instead of answering, Seongho questioned Choi Seungjo back, which caused his brow to furrow slightly.
“How many other awakened individuals are there in your camp? And what abilities do they have? Will you answer if I ask?”
That was his warning—don’t ask about his abilities unless he was willing to share.
Rather than press for more answers, Choi Seungjo took a step back.
“I’ll return the favor for your help.”
“Good. That’s all I needed.”
Choi Seungjo turned around and motioned for Seongho to follow.
Seongho let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
‘That was lucky.’
Though it would upset the others who had died or been injured in the attack, for Seongho, this camp being assaulted worked in his favor.
It allowed him to enter without revealing his abilities.
Although it was bitter that someone else’s misfortune had become his luck.
‘Don’t think too much about it.’
For now, he needed to focus on staying alive.
With that in mind, Seongho followed behind Choi Seungjo, his hand still in his pocket.
The round orb nestled there felt strange, almost too large.
‘Is it… bigger?’
It seemed larger than the orbs he had seen before.
As he took it out and slipped it into his mouth, his suspicion proved true.
**Level: 2 (10/25)**
His experience had increased by a full 10 points.
‘Does using my ability grant me virus experience too?’
The ratio of ability points and virus experience might be the same.
As he continued walking, navigating around the scattered zombie remains, he reflected on his progress.
The smell of decayed bodies, blood, and waste was nauseating.
The sight of torn flesh, bones, and internal organs was even more unbearable.
Despite his usual tolerance for gore and brutal films, Seongho found the reality of it all far more difficult to handle.
‘Video is just video,’ he thought. ‘This is something else entirely.’
It was so horrific that he couldn’t even bring himself to say it was “okay.”
His stomach churned, but for some reason, he couldn’t vomit, and only bile rose up.
Shaking off the repulsive images, Seongho entered the hospital.
Choi Seungjo led Seongho to the hospital’s emergency room.
However, Seongho didn’t receive treatment until two hours had passed after entering the room.
There were many injured among the camp members.
During that time, Seongho patiently waited without a word of complaint.
He knew that complaining would only make him seem ungrateful and could affect his chances of getting treated.
Fortunately, the wait proved to be worthwhile.
“The blood vessel sutures went well…” said Nurse Im Chan, who had worked at another hospital before the virus outbreak. His eyes were red and swollen from exhaustion as he spoke with a grim voice.
“Now, you just need to take care of the wound while it heals. I’ll give you something so you can use your left arm as much as possible….”
Even in the dire circumstances, he made sure to give the proper warnings.
After listening carefully, Seongho thanked him briefly.
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank us,” Nurse Im replied, a solemn tone in his voice. “We should be the ones thanking you.”
As he gathered up the bloody bandages, gauze, and various medical tools, he continued, “If you hadn’t come, we’d all be dead… We’re really grateful.”
The gratitude in his voice was heavy, almost like a burden.
Seongho, trying to disregard the grim mood, responded with a flat tone.
“That's what we’re here for.”
He turned his head, pretending to look around the room, and continued, “By the way, there are a lot of people here. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many people in one place… It’s a bit surprising. How long has this place been around?”
“I didn’t join from the very beginning,” Nurse Im said. “I came here last summer.”
Seongho, trying to gauge when the virus outbreak had begun, realized he didn’t need to ask more questions.
“We’ve been safer this year than last summer. Back then, as the virus spread, people turned on each other—suspecting, killing, locking others away... It was a tough time.”
The answer came before he could ask anything more.
The virus started spreading last summer.
This meant that the apocalypse had begun roughly a year and a half ago.
‘That’s not later than I expected,’ Seongho thought, letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
Almost immediately, Nurse Im stood up and said, “You should rest now. I need to finish up here.”
“Alright, thanks.”
After Seongho thanked him, Nurse Im finished tidying up.
During that time, his round-neck shirt, which had stretched, slipped a little.
As Im turned away, Seongho’s eyes caught a glimpse of his neck.
‘Butterflies…?’
Five butterfly tattoos of different sizes were etched from his shoulder to his neck.
For a moment, Seongho stared at them in disbelief.
As he looked at the tattoos, vivid memories began to surface in his mind.