It's strange how survival shows up everywhere.
In games, it's about health bars and respawns. In movies, it's the hero crawling out of the rubble. In manhwas, it's the MC defying death with a cheat skill.
In real life? It's bills, rent, and the grind that never stops. No one can just sit at home and expect life to hand them a miracle—you have to work for every scrap.
And in another world… the rule is the same, only sharper. Here, survival isn't just a struggle—it's a war.
The bunker loomed like a giant's coffin, its black walls swallowing the outside light. From the street, it might look barely seven hundred meters long. Inside, over a million people were packed like livestock.
In one quiet corner, far from the restless crowd, a young man knelt, looking around with an annoyed expression.
His pair of dark eyes were nothing out of the ordinary, and his short black hair hung beside his face like a cut-off curtain.
"You don't have to stay like that," Kaelith spoke, looking at the young man beside him who was also kneeling but with his head against the hard tiles.
"But Marcus told us to put our heads down!" The guy squirmed, not raising his head.
"Ah, soldier boy. I thought I said you should keep your heads down till I get back."
An arrogant voice came from behind Kaelith and he turned around, seeing the owner of the voice.
It was a young man who seemed to be around Kaelith's age, walking towards them with a long pike strapped around his back.
"Marcus came back again!"
"Marcus!"
"Marcus!"
People around called his name, cheering for him from all around. Marcus put on a polite smile, his set of white teeth gleaming.
He didn't want to announce his presence like this, and he had someone to blame.
The people that came inside with Marcus all had similar outfits to him, made of thick leather materials. They were all exhausted from their mission.
"Hey, soldier boy. Keep your fucking head down!" Marcus swung his leg at Kael, moving too fast.
Kaelith managed to put up an arm just in time; he was sent flying forward by the kick and he gritted his teeth, holding his arm which throbbed with pain now.
"Have you forgotten that this isn't Earth? You've only been here a week but you're already misbehaving." Marcus spat, walking past Kael who sat on the ground, staring at Marcus with a frown.
Unexpectedly, Marcus stopped, looking back at Kaelith.
"Or have you forgotten how badly you got beaten last time?" The tone of Marcus's voice changed.
Unexpectedly, Kaelith smiled, replying with a smile on his face:
"How can I forget?"
The guy behind Kaelith who also had his head to the ground was visibly scared, shaking as he perceived the interaction between Kaelith and Marcus through his ears.
"Go fuck yourself. Emilia is the real leader of this place anyway." Kaelith spoke, smiling widely.
Marcus's eyes were wide open, his fists were balled. The guys who were around him spaced out, looking scared.
"What did you just say? I dare you, say that one more time." Marcus turned around, veins visible on his temple.
But Kaelith wasn't done with the insults.
"Everyone knows what your sorry ass–"
*Bang!*
...
A week ago, Kael appeared in this new world. Before that, he was about to be deployed for an urgent mission in the Russian army.
He was playing a game on his phone when everything blacked out, and the next thing he knew, he was here.
And the full story of this place is nothing ordinary.
Three months ago, the first batch of people were—in the people's words—summoned. First, it was only a hundred people at a time, then soon it became a thousand, ten thousand.
The bunker, which was a safe place for them, became a safe haven for all the humans to stay.
But humans can never be comfortable being restricted to one place. So the first hunters ventured out, coming back with weapons and tales of their adventures.
It was then that Kaelith realized that he might be in a game, 'cause the hunters levelled up and gained advanced weapons for themselves.
"It's like a game system," Kaelith mumbled, resting his back against the wall outside the bunker.
His cheek was red and swollen on one side, and he winced in pain every now and then. He was shown how powerless he was, again.
The winds danced around, bringing soothing tunes to his ears.
He couldn't stop thinking about this place—monsters, level-up systems, people surpassing human limits.
What's next? Bosses?
"H–hey..."
Kael turned, seeing the guy who was beside him before. He had an athletic build, with curly black hair and rare blue eyes. He looked like a model, really—even in a simple plain shirt and a pair of grey shorts, he still looked good.
"Why is someone like you getting picked on?" Kael asked, raising a brow.
The guy didn't say anything at first and went over to sit beside Kaelith.
"It's actually a personal situation. I knew Marcus, back when we were still on Earth. We're enemies. Can you take a guess why? It's a common problem." The guy smiled, looking at Kaelith.
"Is it a woman?"
The dude's smile waned as he heard Kael's answer.
"Yes, actually. The girl I liked—he went after her before me. So I later confessed to her and she broke up with him to be with me."
"How the hell does that work?" Kaelith asked, chuckling slightly.
"Don't ask me, man." The guy raised his hands, a gesture of surrender.
'I guess things like that happen. I also had a situation of my own.' A hint of sadness flashed in Kaelith's eyes.
"I'm Kennedy, by the way. Ken for short." The dude said, extending his hand for a shake.
"Kaelith, Kael for short." He responded to the gesture.
"Kaelith, huh? I heard you actually tried to use your military status to control Marcus and his group, hahaha." Kennedy laughed.
And Kael wasn't liking the laughter at all.
"Tsk, mock me all you want." He relaxed, closing his eyes.
"What did you hope to achieve? The players are way faster and stronger than—"
The first day he came here had been engraved in his mind.
Being a soldier with the rank of Sergeant, he tried to control Marcus, for him to stop beating up whoever for little things.
And then, Marcus proceeded to beat him up in front of a lot of people.
That didn't faze him though. It just taught him how he needed to behave to thrive in a new environment.
"Hm, what's the noise about?" Kennedy's voice reached his ears.
That was when Kaelith realized that he was about to fall asleep right there.
"What happened?" He asked, sitting up.
A frown came on his face as he began to hear a lot of voices coming from inside, and he entered through a thick wooden door close to them.
"Whoooo!"
"They made it back!"
"Yes! We're saved!"
Inside the bunker was an uncomfortable cacophony of claps and cheers from the people around.
The target for this was a peculiar group of people. They wore similar armour to the ones that Marcus and his group were wearing, but theirs looked even more advanced.
"The cavalry." Kael recognized them.
They are said to be the first-ever set of people that arrived in this new world, and also the first to go out and conquer—levelling up and finding a way to escape this place.
In front of them all was a beautiful girl with long black hair. She wore a tight V-neck shirt with a pair of pauldrons on her shoulders. A katana was on her waist and her gaze was fierce.
"She's as beautiful as ever, isn't she? Her full name is Emilia Lenore. Quite the role model for everyone who wants to go out and explore," Kennedy said, obviously praising her.
Kael would have to agree with him though. From what he's heard, she organized the entire bunker, forming teams to go hunt beasts and leading the people to raid new zones.
Not many people are brave enough to even go into a normal forest, and this was a world with creatures more advanced than their own world.
All of a sudden, all the sound died out from the world. Kaelith frowned, looking around.
He wondered if his ears were failing him. Looking forward, it looked like everyone was also confused about what was happening.
A little flash of light blinded him for a second and he saw a floating screen in front of him displaying the words:
[System malfunction repaired]
[All players get ready for integration]
Kaelith saw motion around him and he saw panicked and confused faces all around him.
A light suddenly blinded him and he vanished from that place. The guy opened his eyes to see himself in a deserted land with dead trees and granite everywhere.
Soon, flashes of light brought even more people.
The once deserted land became filled with even more people than there were in the bunker.
"Attention all players."
Kaelith heard a bored voice in his ears. The voice didn't sound like a human; it was distorted.
"Welcome to my world, Nexus. Only worlds that have stopped evolving are brought here for the reset protocol."
Whooooooom!
The sounds of a machine made everyone look up, and Kaelith had the same expression as everyone.
'What the hell is that?!' He was frightened.
A large eyeball observed the humans from above—beyond the skies, even.
"Pay attention to the details in front of you." The voice came again, making Kaelith look in front of him.
[Delayed reset would now begin]
[There are rules to this game –
If you die, you die.
If you can survive and level up, then you can be a winner. And escape this place.]
[Beating all five continents is a guaranteed safe passage back to your world.]
[Class selection trial would now begin.]
"The game is about to start, humans. Out of a billion of you, I wonder how many will reach the fifth."
Kaelith frowned. For a moment, the voice sounded happy saying all of this bullshit. And what did it mean by a billion people?
[For higher chances of passing this trial, you need to be at level 10, with a grade 1 item.]
Immediately Kaelith read the last sentence, he gritted his teeth, and just then, a bright light covered the entire field.
Only one thought resounded in his mind.
'I'm so cooked.'