Part II: The Gate of Fifty (Final)
Darkness.
Then air.
Then pain.
Then breath — mine, not borrowed.
I opened my eyes to a sky dripping red.
Not the red of dusk. Not the red of war.
The red of something ancient bleeding through reality.
Around me, bodies stirred.
Dozens — no, hundreds — of people. Some groaning. Some wide-eyed.
Some already clutching the dirt like it would answer them.
I stood, but no one looked.
Their eyes were elsewhere. Screaming. Vomiting. Praying.
None of them knew what I was.
None of them asked.
And then — it appeared.
A shimmer in the sky split open like torn cloth,
And from it floated a being — too small to be feared,
Too wrong to be ignored.
A Dokkaebi.
Its mouth stretched too far. Its eyes shimmered like data.
"Welcome, mortals."
Its voice rang with metallic cheer.
"Congratulations. You've been selected for an early-entry field trial of the Realm Games."
"Your first mission… is simple."
A chime echoed like a game notification.
⚠️ SURVIVAL TEST INITIALIZED
"Kill until only 50 remain."
Then silence.
No one screamed.
Not yet.
They were still processing.
Just blinking. Breathing.
Waiting for the rules to change.
But they wouldn't.
And I just stood there — breathing, alive, and finally… free.
End of Prologue