The Tutorial had remained silent since Kingrat’s disappearance.

  Too silent.

  Then suddenly, an alert swept across every zone inhabited by participants. Tens of thousands of notifications appeared at once, freezing every virtual interface mid-flow.

  [GLOBAL ALERT.]

  [Major Event Detected.]

  [Major Entity Eliminated: KINGRAT.]

  A collective sigh rippled through the participants.

  The legendary monster—the one no one dared to confront—was gone.

  For the first time, most believed they could breathe.

  The relief didn’t last.

  The System added another line—cold and precise.

  [New Entity Created: KING OF THE DEADRAT.]

  [Rarity: ★★★★☆☆☆ (4 Stars)]

  [Status: Immutable — Cannot Die During the Tutorial]

  [Habitat: Contaminated Zones, Graveyards]

  [Capabilities: Lethal Toxin Secretion, Superhuman Strength, Control of the Dead, Damage Immunity]

  Then, simultaneously:

  [New Quest: CRITICAL SURVIVAL]

  [Objective: Survive 1 Hour Against the Assault of the KING OF THE DEADRAT and Several Hundred Undead Sharprats]

  [Reward: Unique Skill Determined by Your Actions]

  [Failure: Immediate Death]

  The Tutorial had changed.

  It had rewritten its rules in real time.

  Dae-hyun felt his heart tighten.

  “…What?!”

  “1 hour…?” Ha-joon whispered, eyes wide.

  “And they won’t stop until it’s over.”

  Rin remained silent, studying the notification.

  The System had never reacted like this—except when a major boss died.

  Creating a nearly invincible entity to punish participants?

  That surpassed anything he had anticipated.

  “Kingrat… was just a test,” Rin said quietly.

  “Now the Tutorial is showing it can be cruel beyond imagination.”

  Mi-sun crossed her arms, impassive.

  “Then we survive.”

  “No matter how hard they try to crush us.”

  Ha-joon swallowed—but his eyes gleamed with nervous curiosity. The danger didn’t terrify him.

  He wanted to understand it.

  And survive it.

  Rin glanced into the darkness of the tunnel.

  Somewhere, Jin-woo was alive.

  And even if no one saw it, part of the Tutorial seemed to be watching him—recording his decisions, his outrageous luck.

  The future of certain participants might soon become…

  Complicated.

  The timer appeared again.

  [Time Remaining: 1h]

  “The Tutorial doesn’t give gifts,” Dae-hyun muttered.

  “And this time, it won’t hold back.”

  A sinister wave passed through the simulated world.

  Hundreds of undead Sharprats began to materialize at the edges of contaminated zones.

  And far away, a heavy, metallic roar shook the ground.

  The King of the DeadRat had awakened.

  The Tutorial had entered a new phase.

  Survival would never be the same.

  The hour stretched endlessly.

  Every step was calculated.

  Every detour a compromise between speed and safety.

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  Undead Sharprats surged in waves—dozens, then hundreds. Their numbers seemed to grow as time advanced.

  Rin led the group with precision, using cracked floors and unstable sections to their advantage. Mi-sun walked beside him, silent, observing every threat, noting every opportunity.

  Her coldness hadn’t faded—but her eyes now followed Rin with new attention.

  “…You’re focusing on the waves,” she murmured quietly, gesturing toward the pursuing hordes.

  “I’m doing what I can,” Rin replied.

  Mi-sun nodded.

  A faint flicker of a smile passed across her lips.

  Not warmth.

  Recognition.

  Rare.

  But significant.

  —

  A few corridors away, Jin-woo moved alone.

  Luck followed him like a loyal shadow.

  Whenever a corpse collapsed in his path, he slipped between debris without a scratch.

  Whenever an undead Sharprat lunged, it seemed to brush past him harmlessly.

  “Hahaha… now that’s luck,” he muttered, sliding behind a broken wall.

  But behind the laugh, something simmered.

  A subtle satisfaction.

  Almost unsettling.

  He had absorbed Kingrat’s Essence.

  And even if it wasn’t visible, he felt it.

  Power flowed beneath his skin.

  The strength of the undead ancestor pulsed quietly inside him.

  And the System was recording it—silently, tracking every improbable survival.

  Rin barely noticed his absence.

  Their mission was simple:

  Survive one hour.

  The Sharprats charged again.

  The waves were growing heavier—but predictable to those who observed.

  Mi-sun raised a hand, stopping Rin.

  “Here. Break that wall. Quickly.”

  “…What are you planning?”

  “A passage only the living can use. The dead will fall into the void behind it.”

  Rin nodded.

  Together, they exploited the tunnel’s fragility, trapping dozens of undead in a controlled collapse.

  No direct confrontation.

  Just survival.

  Just terrain mastery.

  Further down a parallel corridor, Jin-woo watched.

  Luck continued to shield him—but as he observed Rin and Mi-sun, a thought crossed his mind.

  A darker curiosity.

  Not violence.

  Not yet.

  Just an interest in what survival did to the strong.

  And what he might do with that strength himself.

  Rin felt the gaze briefly.

  Then dismissed it.

  The hour ticked forward.

  The System adjusted the waves in real time—sometimes sending hundreds at once, sometimes thinning them.

  The King of the DeadRat never targeted them directly.

  But its presence made every step lethal.

  “…We’ll last,” Rin murmured.

  “Yes,” Mi-sun replied—this time with the faintest trace of warmth. “Just a little longer.”

  In the shadows, Jin-woo smiled.

  Not a threat.

  Not yet.

  Just certainty.

  That every accident.

  Every decision.

  Could make him different.

  Stronger.

  And that the System—silent—

  Never stopped watching.

  [Time Remaining: 50m]

  They found a partially collapsed corridor, narrow enough to force the Sharprats into bottlenecks.

  Rin and Mi-sun coordinated wordlessly.

  Every motion measured.

  A strike here.

  A controlled collapse there.

  An improvised barricade to slow the dead.

  “Twenty meters more,” Rin murmured.

  “Yes… left there,” Mi-sun added, pointing to a fracture in the wall.

  Slowly.

  Patiently.

  They forced the hordes to scatter, to fall into natural traps.

  Each wave felt less overwhelming than the last.

  But fear never disappeared.

  It seeped into muscles.

  Into breathing.

  Into silence itself.

  Far away, a deep vibration shook the ground.

  The Sharprats slowed.

  Hesitated.

  A massive silhouette approached.

  Rin understood immediately.

  The King of the DeadRat wasn’t targeting them directly.

  It advanced on a parallel path—controlling its servants like an invisible puppeteer.

  “…It’s not aiming at us,” Ha-joon whispered.

  “Exactly,” Rin replied. “It’s attacking all survivors at once through its horde.”

  Mi-sun clenched her jaw.

  “That’s still unpredictable.”

  Time continued relentlessly.

  Each second survived was a fragile victory.

  Rin had begun calculating the intervals between waves—anticipating patterns.

  Mi-sun did the same, her eyes cold and sharp.

  “If we keep this pace… we’ll make it,” Rin said quietly.

  “…And after?” Dae-hyun asked weakly.

  “After, we adapt.”

  In a shadowed corridor, Jin-woo still watched.

  Luck protected him—but he missed nothing.

  Every calculation.

  Every risk.

  Every micro-decision fed his curiosity.

  “How do the strong react?” he murmured.

  “How do they choose when everything could kill them?”

  He didn’t intervene.

  He let the System record his restraint.

  His patience.

  With every breath, he was becoming something else.

  [Time Remaining: 30m]

  The quest intensified.

  The waves now felt orchestrated—appearing precisely where chaos would peak.

  But Rin had understood something crucial:

  The Tutorial didn’t want to kill directly.

  It wanted to observe.

  And to survive, one had to outthink the System—not overpower it.

  Mi-sun dislodged a block of debris, sending a cluster of Sharprats plunging into a chasm.

  The impact echoed through the tunnels.

  “Well done,” Rin murmured.

  “…Don’t thank me yet,” she replied.

  Each interaction.

  Each subtle shift.

  Marked psychological victory.

  Mi-sun was beginning to recognize her reliance on Rin.

  Not emotional.

  Not yet.

  Just acknowledgment.

  A fracture in the cold.

  [Time Remaining: 15m]

  The pressure rose.

  The Sharprats grew more aggressive.

  More erratic.

  The King of the DeadRat continued forward—ignoring them, as predicted.

  “Stay tight,” Rin whispered.

  “I know,” Dae-hyun replied tensely.

  The System kept measuring.

  Coordination.

  Risk-taking.

  Adaptation.

  Then—

  A stronger vibration shook the ground.

  A roar—closer this time.

  Rin’s eyes met Mi-sun’s.

  “…It’s almost over,” she murmured.

  “…Yes. Just a little longer.”

  In the shadows, Jin-woo smiled.

  Invisible.

  Still.

  Each movement of the group deepened his understanding.

  Each second survived strengthened his dangerous confidence—

  In the System.

  And in himself.

  [Time Remaining: 1m]

  The hour neared its end.

  The Sharprats slowed slightly.

  The King of the DeadRat continued on—indifferent.

  Then time almost froze.

  A subtle recalibration in the air.

  As if the world adjusted itself around their survival.

  The Tutorial had marked the end of the trial.

  “…It’s over,” Rin murmured, low but relieved.

  “…Yes,” Mi-sun replied softly. “It’s over.”

  And somewhere in the shadows, Jin-woo smiled.

  No open threat.

  No direct confrontation.

  Just observation.

  The world had delivered its lesson.

  And recorded another name.

  [Quest: CRITICAL SURVIVAL Completed.]

  [Reward: Unique Skill Generation in Progress.]