Year 2300
Life on Earth has become almost impossible because of a bomb that destroyed a good part of the planet and the other part suffered from super toxic gases.
The 3rd world war ended with that bomb and frankly I hate sitting in such a big tall building alone in a room, even if I have someone to talk to if I want I still feel lonely, my family was killed by those toxic gases.
It was devastating, thousands of innocent souls turned to ash in just a few seconds, I couldn't save my family and I feel like a monster for that.
Japan and South Korea have made an alliance called JaSoKo that is trying to attack the monsters that surfaced with that bomb, the monsters in the glaciers that were cracked in the aftermath of that bomb, millions of monsters are walking around Asia like it's their home and looking for people to kill and by the sounds they make it sounds like they are hungry.
I am Song Ji-hoon and I have decided to leave behind my life and risk it in order to save the last part of humanity that is still alive, but to be honest, I think that out of the whole planet at the moment only Japan and South Korea are still alive, at least partially.
In our head some chips have been inserted that let us see a system that links to our body and rank in this organization and so on, however it's silly because we also have an ID card with which we identify ourselves anyway but damn, I'm not smart enough to understand this mechanism, I just know that this system annoys me to no end.
The system serves as an essential aid to being identified by that chip more easily than with an ID card, it's like those sci-fi movies that were always on TV except in real life, I can think freely but having a chip with a system embedded in it makes me feel more insecure in my own mind.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a robot and I'm glad I'm not but sometimes that's how I feel, like a robot trapped in a prison with many rooms and windows.
"Hey Ji-hoon, what are you doing in the organization's hallway at this hour?"
"Ah hey Min-ji, this system needs to get an update but I don't know where the chip update place is"
Min-ji tells him that the update room is on the 7th floor, room 149.
"Thanks a lot Min-ji"
Ji-hoon gets on the elevator and chooses the 7th floor and at that time Ji-hoon's information appears in front of him.
[Information about you]
Name: Song Ji-hoon
ID Number: 6654
Abilities: None
Blood type: O
Allergies: None
Physical Condition: Perfect
Rank: Class 5
Previous missions: None
Tech Rank: 0
I have a fear that I'm going to die, but to be honest I don't have a definite reason for living now anyway.
Ding
The elevator doors open on the 7th floor and Ji-hoon gets off, looks for door 149 and finds it after a few minutes.
Knock, Knock
"Come in!"
Ji-hoon goes inside where Dr. Jung is.
"Hello Mr. Jung"
"Hi, can you please show me your ID card?"
Ji-hoon hands the ID card to Dr. Jung. He looks at the ID card and sees that Ji-hoon is class 5.
"Looks like you're new to the organization, how can I help you though?
Ji-hoon points his finger at his head.
"Chip update?"
"Yeah."
Doctor Jung shows him the table where Ji-hoon should sit and Ji-hoon without saying much sits on the table and closes his eyes, at which point Doctor Jung injects him with anesthesia and removes the chip from his head using a special chip removal tool.
Stolen novel; please report.
Dr. Jung places the chip on his desk table and inserts it into the computer.
"Good"
The computer shows him a series of numbers with 0's and 1's, pressing more keys the computer shows him that the chip is updating.
' Chip in process of updating! '
2 hours later the chip was successfully updated.
' Chip updated! '
Doctor Jung inserts the chip back into Ji-hoon and closes the wound with some wires.
After 20 minutes Ji-hoon wakes up and receives a new information from the system.
[System Updated!]
' The new functions are as follows: '
' A new interface '
' The system now shows your picture '
' Missions will be given automatically when the chip detects that your body is eligible for them '
"What the hell."
Dr. Jung looks curiously at Ji-hoon and asks him what he is referring to, to which Ji-hoon just says the word "System" and Dr. Jung says he never reveals what updates he is getting because it can be detected and destroy the chip, causing the brain to boil leading to his death.
"What do you mean?"
"Well the system chooses the updates differently, basically someone gets the same update but has different things that update"
Ji-hoon looks at Doctor Jung strangely and asks him how the chip can only be read by the update information.
"Well the world has advanced, both technologically and mentally and there are still Hackers who want to hurt people"
"So there's still life on earth besides this organization?"
Dr. Jung confirms but also says that the remaining people outside the organization are some malicious people who have taken refuge in countries with lower toxicity rates such as China and Mongolia but nevertheless the monsters walking around outside are a serious danger.
"I understand, however it is extremely strange"
"It is but there's nothing you can do about it"
Ji-hoon asks Doctor Jung why everyone keeps wearing such chips if they're risky to wear.
"Well that's because it's easier to identify you"
Ji-hoon thinks for a moment but still thanks the doctor for updating the system and walks out the door.
Well I understand the use but if it's so risky I don't see the point in wearing such chips in our heads.
Ji-hoon goes to wash his face and looks in the mirror insistently, super insistently.
"I don't feel like myself anymore, I can feel my emotions slowly dying"
Ji-hoon touches his face, amazed at what he's become, some kind of machine, even though he can think he's as vulnerable as a robot.
"It's like this chip makes me feel nothing but hate, a deep hatred for humans"
Ji-hoon wipes his face and hands and exits the bathroom, walking to the elevator down to the 5th floor where his room is.
The elevator reaches his floor and he gets off it, walking down the quiet hallway of the floor he opens the door to his room using his own eye.
Entering his room, he notices the TV on.
"Bullshit, it's not even funny to watch TV anymore."
Ji-hoon turns off the TV and lies in bed, staring at the ceiling without making a sound.
"I'd rather be killed by an outside monster than live in such a life that feels like it's being faked."
A pop up appears announcing that he has to train in the lobby with the others in the morning.
[Announcement]
' Tomorrow morning you have to exercise with the other people in the organization in the lobby '
"I hate being bossed around but I can't go out and end my days either"
Eventually Ji-hoon goes to sleep, only to be woken up the next day by the organization's pre-set alarm. Ji-hoon gets out of bed, lies down and looks in the mirror in his room and notices that his eyes turn from a beautiful brown color to a reddish color, resembling pure hatred.
"What the hell is wrong with me?"
Ji-hoon looks in the mirror in his room and notices his eyes turn a reddish color, he shakes his head and looks again, his eyes are almost the same red, at that moment Ji-hoon feels a cold feeling of hatred and contempt and at that moment he punches his mouth, blood comes out of his mouth.
" I hate being stuck here."
Ji-hoon looks further into the mirror and notices that his eyes have become redder, an even darker shade of red, one resembling blood.
Ji-hoon though he wants to get rid of those red eyes sees that it's late so he wipes the blood from his mouth and starts to put on his clothes and then his shoes.
Leaving his room, he locks it and walks to the elevator, where there are other people waiting to get on the elevator.
Eventually, someone gets in his way and introduces himself as Hwang Seung-min.
Ji-hoon ignores him so Seung-min walks away leaving him alone.
Eventually Ji-hoon gets on the elevator going down to the 0 floor where the lobby is, there is Mr. Kim, the founder of the organization in South Korea.
"I respectfully greet you all, on this day you will be training and because there are quite a lot of you you will be divided into 50 groups that will be transported to different training locations of the organization"
Ji-hoon stands without any facial emotion staring blankly, pale in the face until Min-ji sees him and his reddish eyes.
"Hey, what happened to you?"
Ji-hoon ignores her as well and stands in the same position without moving his eyes or any other part of his body.
"Hey, earth to Ji-hoon!!!"
"Shut up!"
Ji-hoon puts his hands to his ears to stop hearing Min-ji.
"What happened to you Ji-hoon? You were fine yesterday"
"Everyone changes at some point"
With that reply Ji-hoon makes Min-ji walk away from him in disgust.
I don't care about people anymore, I'm insecure but I feel extreme hatred inside me, I hate to hate that's why I'm weird but that's what it is.
"The groups have been chosen, so you will be transported to different places within the organization as I told you."
Mr. Kim presses a button and everyone is transported to different places within the organization.
Like I said, nobody cares what we think here, why should we? We're like robots controlled by this organization to play their dirty games.
"At this stage of the training you will be able to choose what types of exercises you want to do" Mr. Kim's voice can be heard from speakers placed throughout the location.
I wonder how they let us have the freedom to execute the exercise we want, but anyway that's just for now.
Ji-hoon does 100 push-ups, 50 sit-ups and 150 pull-ups on the spot.
Everyone looks at Ji-hoon strangely because they couldn't do even half of what he did.
Ji-hoon notices this but prefers to ignore it and continue his physical exercises, those now being the kick on the spot and legwork.
After several hours of intensive training, Lord Kim's voice fills the room "Training is over, you will be transported to your rooms now!"
Ji-hoon lies on the bed, drinking water and staring blankly, thinking about how manipulative these people in the organization are and how stupid others are not realizing they are being manipulated.
Knocks on Ji-hoon's door can be heard, so Ji-hoon looks out the peephole, behind the door is none other than Min-ji.
"You can go."
"What's wrong with you Ji-hoon? You've changed in one night tremendously"
"Like I told you, people change."
Min-ji doesn't say anything else and footsteps walking away from his door can be heard in the hallway.
How annoying to have people ask you what's wrong with you, I hate that now.
Ji-hoon walks to his bed and goes to sleep, waking up a few hours later with a terrible eye pain. When he goes to the mirror, he sees his eyes completely red, a bloody red, and blood is pouring from his eyes.
Ji-hoon wipes at the blood dripping from his eyes, but all it does is make matters worse, more blood drips onto the floor of his room, the pain doesn't stop and persists until Ji-hoon just tries to ignore it and goes to the bathroom to wash his eyes. When he looks in the mirror, he sees himself with a reddish glow coming out of his eyes.
Unable to hold back any longer he punches his face to get rid of that light and those red eyes, after he finishes and wipes the blood from his mouth he notices that the light and blood dripping from his eyes has disappeared but his eyes still remained red.
"Am I.. a real demon?"
[Information]
' Your blood has been changed to AABO '
"AABO?"
[Warning]
' All your statistics have been changed '
"Changed?"
Ji-hoon feels his power level increase significantly, he is in extreme pain but at the same time his strength is increasing extremely.
[Information about you]
Name: Song Ji-hoon
ID Number: 6654
Abilities: Shadow hands.
Blood type: AABO
Allergies: None
Physical Condition: Perfect
Rank: Class 3
Previous missions: None
Tech Rank: 5
Ji-hoon got up from the floor in all his pain and took one last look in the mirror, seeing himself, his eyes red and bloodshot. He fainted, falling off his feet and banging his head against the sink, bleeding profusely.