Red Dot - 1

Chapter 1

Day 1 –

Kang Junseong, who considered himself a game enthusiast, never liked first-person shooter (FPS) games.

He felt comfortable when he could look down at his character from a distance, like a god, and see everything around him in 360 degrees without worrying about front, back, left, or right. He preferred an environment where he could calmly respond, whether an enemy jumped out from behind or something dangerous flew at him from the side.

Also, even though the character was “his,” he knew that looking from above meant it wasn’t really himself. So, he wasn’t emotionally affected if the character got hurt or died because of monsters or other players.

But first-person games were completely different. They made him feel like he was inside the game, fully merged with the character.

The restricted view, unlike third-person games, the deadly weapons in his hands, the bullets and blades flying straight at him without mercy, and even the bl00d bursting in front of his eyes.

Everything felt too “real,” and it made him uncomfortable.

That was the biggest reason why Junseong, who had played countless games since childhood, always avoided first-person games.

But now…

“Ahhh!”

He had no idea why he kept having this ridiculous dream.

“Urgh, gah…!”

A middle-aged man, who had been joking just moments ago, was now struggling as he was held down by four bl00d-covered people. He let out painful screams and groans, and bright red bl00d poured from his mouth with every cough.

Grrr…!

The people, their faces buried in the man’s body, tore his flesh apart with their teeth like wild beasts. Their mouths, filled with both their own bl00d and the man’s, made a wet, gurgling sound as if phlegm was stuck in their throats.

The middle-aged man, his eyes rolling back as he spat out bl00d, reached toward Junseong.

“Sa… Save… me…”

Junseong took a small step back from the man, who was coughing bl00d in agony, and from the ‘corpses’ eating him alive.

But behind him was a tall, dead-end wall.

There was nowhere to run.

‘Is this route a failure too?’

He had succeeded in finding the path with the fewest moving corpses—so-called “zombies.” But he never expected that they would jump down from the second floor of a nearby building near the wall. Because of that, he ended up losing the middle-aged man, who had been a great help with his cheerful personality and wide knowledge.

Grrk!

One of the zombies, busy devouring the writhing man, suddenly lifted its head and looked in Junseong’s direction. Its strange eyes, completely covered in a dark red film, rolled around like they were searching for another meal.

Since the zombies’ vision was blocked by the bl00d film, they couldn’t see clearly unless something was right in front of them. So, with Junseong about ten meters away, it was nearly impossible for the zombie to spot him immediately.

Junseong, his face tense, cautiously stepped backward.

If he just stayed pressed against the wall and waited a little, the zombies—who had poor vision—would eventually move away. Then, he could retrace his steps and escape through the side alley to reach “that place.”

As he thought that and leaned against the solid wall—

Plop. Drip.

Something warm landed on the top of his head.

A chilling sensation ran down his spine. With a stiff expression, Junseong slowly reached up to touch his head.

His fingers came away covered in a sticky, unpleasant liquid. Seeing the dark red substance, he didn’t need to think hard to know what it was.

He looked up.

A female zombie was crouching on top of the wall, staring straight at him.

Her eyes, covered in a red film, were filled with fresh, uncoagulated tears of bl00d. Her mouth, opened wide to reveal sharp teeth, dripped the same dark red bl00d that had just fallen onto his head.

At this close range, even with the bl00d film covering her vision, there was no way she wouldn’t see him.

Kyaaa-!

The female zombie opened her mouth wide and let out a horrifying scream. At the same time, she stretched out her arms, jumped down upside down, and pinned Junseong to the ground.

Junseong, who had fallen onto the hard floor, didn’t feel any pain despite the impact on his back. It was like playing a console game where the character gets attacked, but all he could feel was the vibration of the controller. His senses were all intact, yet the pain was completely numb.

Kyak, Kyaaak-!

He had no time to block or dodge.

As soon as she climbed on top of him, she lunged forward and bit him, making bl00d spurt from his neck. A chunk of soft skin was torn away, and breathing became difficult. If he screamed now, his voice would probably mix with the zombies’ guttural noises.

He could clearly feel the warm, fresh bl00d staining his neck and jaw. The disgusting sound of his flesh being torn apart and the growling of the female zombie as she chewed on his meat were unbearable.

Grrr-!

The other zombies, who had been devouring the already-dead middle-aged man, reacted to the noise of Junseong and the female zombie struggling. Since their eyesight was severely impaired by the dark red film covering their eyes, they relied on sound to detect movement.

As Junseong stared at the other zombies rushing toward him with terrifying cries, he felt his entire body freeze. His vision quickly darkened, and he closed his eyes. The strong smell of his own bl00d and the rotting stench of corpses, something he never thought he would experience, gradually faded away.

Darkness swallowed him completely in an instant.

When he opened his eyes again—

Junseong was lying on his bed, welcoming the morning.

The clean, white wallpaper typical of a new studio apartment, the large window pouring in bright sunlight, the soft queen-sized bed he had splurged on, and the faint aroma of the diffuser a junior had given him long ago.

It was a completely different scene from the bloodstained, corpse-infested alley he had just been in.

Even so, Junseong lay still in bed, blinking, without a single sign of surprise. Instead, he carefully recalled every horrifying moment from earlier.

What caught his attention the most was the sight of the zombies jumping down from the second-floor window of the low-rise building, ambushing him and the middle-aged man. He had never expected there to be zombies watching from that window.

‘Next time, I should move as close to the building walls as possible and crouch down to stay out of the second-floor zombies’ sight…’

As he analyzed the situation, Junseong sank into deep thought. It was a long time before he finally sat up in bed.

Dreaming about games wasn’t unusual for him. He had played various types of games since childhood, so it was bound to happen.

But having a dream about a ‘game that resets every day,’ especially an FPS apocalypse-themed game he didn’t even enjoy, was completely new. Even stranger, he was fully aware he was dreaming and could move freely and interact with people within the dream.

Everything he said and did affected the future, just like a well-made game. The level of freedom was so high that it felt overwhelming.

In reality, he just wanted to believe this bizarre dream was a ‘game.’

‘It’s too real.’

The experiences in his dream were too lifelike.

The strong scent of bl00d and the rotting stench of walking corpses still made him instinctively wrinkle his nose. The weight of the female zombie pressing him down and the look in her dead eyes were still hauntingly vivid. If he had to describe the sound of flesh being torn apart and the sensation of warm bl00d spurting out, he could fill an entire A4 page in size 10pt font.

For over a month, Junseong had been having this hyper-realistic dream every single night.

Every time he fell asleep, he would find himself standing in the middle of his studio apartment.

The setting was so perfect that he would lose himself in the familiarity for a moment, but soon, the world would turn into a nightmare. The streets would be overrun by zombies, just like in movies and games, and the overwhelming stench of bl00d would make him nauseous. If he accidentally ran into a zombie and got bitten, the excruciating pain of being eaten alive would make him scream until he woke up.

Then, he would fall asleep again and find himself back in the middle of his studio.

As if time had rewound, everything would start exactly the same, and every event that followed would unfold identically.