Chapter 2 - Nameless Observer (1/2)
Chapter 2: Nameless Observer
April 27, 2028.
As usual, I headed to the study room with my book bag in hand. Even if we lived in an era where game concepts like ‘dungeons’ and ‘fields’ were the norm and people were running wild with their new careers as ‘players’, it was all a world completely detached from me.
‘I should just study hard.’
Earning my keep as a civil servant was perfectly fine for an incredibly ordinary person like me. And to become a civil servant, I had to study.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
It was 5:20 in the morning. The early morning breeze from a spring not yet touched by summer was especially chilly today. As if they hadn’t expected the cold, the people who had woken up at 5 am fastened their lapels as they strode towards their destination.
The study room was located in Jongno, about five bus stops away. Looking at the electronic display, the 702A bus was going to arrive in two minutes.
‘But something feels off…’
It wasn’t like I was deliberately looking at my surroundings, but something felt different from usual. If someone asked me what was wrong, I wouldn’t be able to give an exact answer, but in any case, something was strangely different today.
‘Come to think of it.’
The bus stop’s billboard was featuring makeup being sold by ‘Pink Velvet’, an idol group that had enjoyed their heydays in the past.
‘Did they get back together?’
I wouldn’t know, since I hadn’t been watching TV lately. Of all the idol groups, Pink Velvet was probably old enough to almost be considered ancients from the previous generation.
‘It’s been ten years, but they look exactly the same.’
Their faces were exactly the same as I remembered them being ten years ago. I had heard the expression that celebrities have ‘preservative complexions’ many times before, but this made me wonder if they were actually slathering preservatives all over themselves. Their faces hadn’t changed even a little bit.
I rummaged through my bag.
‘Where’s the study sheet… Ah, here it is.’
_____________
Ten years ago. Jongno. The beginning of the Cataclysm.
_____________
I read through the notepad in my hand again and again. Modern history was the most important subject in the current civil servant exam, and these notes organized the approximate timeline of the ‘Ten Years’ History’.
The bus arrived. Its doors opened and I climbed up the stairs.
[The Tutorial began with the Primordial Fog.]
This bus was going to Jongno, the same place that was at the center of the Cataclysm ten years ago.
[Out of 150,000 people, around 145,000 died.]
While I was focusing on my notes, I started hearing murmurs.
“Huh? What’s with the sudden fog?”
“What?”
“You can’t see a thing out there.”
My concentration broke when a bunch of people started making a fuss about something. I looked around, wondering what was going on.
‘Huh?’
For a moment, I was struck speechless.
‘What… is this?’
Was it fog?
‘I can hardly see anything out there.’
It was the first time I had seen fog so thick in downtown Seoul. The Primordial Fog from ten years ago might have been this dense, maybe?
‘The fog is too thick.’
I really couldn’t see a single inch in front of me. Suddenly, I remembered the notes I just read.
_____________
Ten years ago. Jongno. The beginning of the Cataclysm.
The Tutorial began with the Primordial Fog.
_____________
The bus slowed down considerably since the driver couldn’t see the cars a few meters ahead. The fog was so dense a traffic accident could happen at any time.
‘A smell…?’
I could smell something weird. It was a bit like a sewer, or if someone let a particularly smelly one rip. It was enough to make me nauseous. I wanted to plug my nose, but endured it.
‘A sewer smell?’
I looked back down at my study sheet.
_____________
With a disgusting sewer smell—
_____________
Beep—! Beep—!
My phone was ringing. An emergency alert had been sent. The contents were approximately:
[Seoul Jongno district. Thick fog in the area. High risk of traffic accidents.]
I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the study sheet.
_____________
—and the issuing of an emergency alert to the Seoul area…
_____________
I instantly came to my senses. I looked at my surroundings again.
Jongno.
A rotten sewer smell.
Thick fog.
An emergency text.
It felt like I’d seen this all before. Was it from a movie? Or a novel? I was getting goosebumps on my arms. No. It wasn’t from a movie or a novel. It wasn’t, but this was a scene that I was definitely familiar with.
‘No way.’
My body began to shiver. My thoughts were turning blank.
‘No. It can’t be.’
I looked back at the study sheet. At the very bottom of the notepad I was holding was information that I had organized.
_____________
April 27, 2018. The Cataclysm began with the thick fog that had covered the Jongno/Gwanghwamun districts.