SYSTEM GLITCH

Beginnings

Chapter 1: [ERROR: ADMIN CLASS DETECTED]

The sky turned purple on a Tuesday.

No warning. No news anchor. Just one second I was eating cold pizza, the next second every phone in Seoul screamed at once and the ceiling cracked open.

A blue box floated in front of my face.

*[THE SYSTEM HAS ARRIVED]*

*[WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL]*

*[PLEASE SELECT YOUR CLASS]*

And then the monsters came out.

That was 3 months ago.

Now it’s Thursday, and I’m broke.

---

I stared at the ceiling of my 1-room apartment. Water stain in the shape of Australia. Rent was due in 2 days. I had 43,000 won in my account and a D-rank Archer class that I definitely did not pick.

Because I didn’t pick anything.

*[ERROR: ADMIN CLASS DETECTED. USER NOT FOUND.]*

*[INITIATING EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: CAMOUFLAGE]*

*[ASSIGNING DUMMY CLASS: ARCHER. RANK: D. LEVEL: 1]*

That’s what the System told me 3 months ago, before it tried to delete me and failed.

So now I’m Ren Park. Age 22. Part-time convenience store clerk. Full-time problem.

And apparently, I’m the only guy on Earth with Admin powers.

Cool. Very cool. Also very illegal.

Another blue box popped up.

*[DAILY QUEST: CLEAR TUTORIAL DUNGEON]*

*[REWARD: 50,000 CREDITS + RANDOM LOOT BOX]*

*[FAILURE: ???]*

“Fifty thousand,” I muttered. “That covers half my rent.”

The System didn’t care about my financial problems. It just wanted me to go kill slimes.

I threw on my hoodie, grabbed my bow. It was a starter bow. Wooden. Looked like it came from a dollar store. Perfect for a D-rank loser.

Time to go commit some light fraud.

---

The dungeon gate was in the middle of Gangnam Station. Big swirling purple portal with a line of people waiting to go in.

Everyone had their System HUD up. Stats floating over their heads. Guild tags. Flashy gear.

“D-rank Archer,” a guy with an A-rank guild tag scoffed as I walked past. “Bro, this is a Lv.10 dungeon. You’ll die.”

“Thanks for the concern,” I said, smiling. “My mom said the same thing.”

He didn’t laugh. People in the apocalypse have no sense of humor.

I stepped into the portal.

---

*[TUTORIAL DUNGEON: SLIME FOREST]*

*[RECOMMENDED LEVEL: 1-10]*

*[CURRENT ANOMALY METER: 0%]*

Ah, there it is. My favorite stat.

The Anomaly Meter.

Every time I use my real powers, it goes up. At 100%, the System sends a GM to delete me. Permanently.

So my job is to look weak while being strong. It’s like playing Dark Souls with a controller made of potatoes.

The forest was green and fake. Tutorial dungeons always are. Ten meters ahead, three slimes were bouncing around. Lv.3 each. 300 HP.

A normal D-rank would take 5 minutes.

I could [DELETE] them and be done. 50% Anomaly. Hard pass.

I could [Force Crit] them. 1% Anomaly. That’s better.

I nocked an arrow. Took aim.

“Okay slime #1,” I whispered. “Nothing personal. It’s just business.”

I shot.

The arrow curved mid-air. Hit the slime directly in its eye. It exploded into blue goo and 12 credits.

*[CRITICAL HIT! 300 DAMAGE!]*

*[YOU HAVE GAINED 30 XP]*

The other two slimes turned to me.

“Whoops,” I said. “Accident.”

I “tripped.”

My second arrow flew. Crit. Slime #2 gone.

Third arrow. Crit. Slime #3 gone.

*[DUNGEON CLEAR!]*

*[TIME: 00:47]*

*[RANK: S]*

*[REWARD: 50,000 CREDITS + IRON DUNGEON KEY + HEALTH POTION x3]*

A blue box popped up with a warning.

*[ANOMALY +3%. CURRENT: 3%]*

*[SYSTEM NOTE: UNUSUAL LUCK DETECTED. MONITORING.]*

“Monitoring,” I repeated. “Sure. Watch all you want, buddy.”

I picked up the loot. 50k credits hit my account instantly. The key was for a silver chest. The potions were trash.

And that was it. 47 seconds. New record for a D-rank.

Time to get out before anyone asked questions.

---

I was halfway out of the portal when it happened.

“Dude. Wait.”

A girl in full plate armor was jogging toward me. A-rank Tank. Name: Hana. Level 42. HP: 12,000.

She was also the only person in this line who didn’t look like she hated her life.

“You cleared that in under a minute,” she said. “As a D-rank.”

“Must’ve been lag,” I said. “System is buggy today.”

“Right. Buggy.” She squinted at me. “I’m Hana. From Iron Shield Guild. You free?”

“Depends. Is free paying rent?”

She blinked. Then laughed. “You’re funny. Look, we’re running a C-rank dungeon in 20 minutes. Tank went AFK. 200k credits to join. You in?”

200k. That’s 4 months rent.

My brain said no. My bank account said yes.

“My DPS is trash,” I warned her. “Like, really trash.”

“We have DPS. We need a warm body with a pulse. Please?”

I looked at my Anomaly Meter. 3%. I could afford one small mistake.

“Fine,” I sighed. “But if I die, tell my landlord I’m sorry.”

---

The C-rank dungeon was called [ABANDONED FACTORY]. Recommended Level 30-40. Boss was a Lv.45 Ogre with 2 million HP.

Hana’s party was 4 people. All B-rank or higher. All geared. All staring at me like I was a cockroach.

“This is him?” said a mage. “D-rank?”

“He’s got good vibes,” Hana said. “And we need numbers.”

“Vibes don’t tank bosses,” the mage muttered.

The dungeon started.

We fought through waves of robots. I shot arrows. Missed on purpose. Hit the floor. Hit a pipe. Accidentally crit a robot once and blamed “wind”.

Anomaly: 3%. Good.

Then we hit the boss room.

The Ogre was huge. Metal pipes for arms. 2M HP bar floating above its head.

“Plan,” Hana said. “Tanks front. DPS burn. Healer keep us up. Archer... just don’t die.”

“Got it. Professional non-dying.”

The fight started.

It was chaos. The Ogre slammed the ground. 40% of the party HP gone. The healer panicked.

I stood in the back and shot arrows. Each one did 12 damage. Pathetic.

*[ANOMALY +0%. CURRENT: 3%]*

The Ogre hit 50% HP and enraged. Attack speed doubled.

One tank went down. Then the mage.

“Wipe incoming!” the healer screamed.

Hana was at 10% HP, holding aggro alone.

I checked my UI.

Ogre HP: 980,000

My options:

1. Run. Let them die. 0% Anomaly.

2. [Force Crit] spam. Maybe 9% Anomaly total.

3. [DELETE]. 50% Anomaly. Instant win.

Option 3 was so tempting. One button. Problem solved.

But then the GM would come. And I’d have 24 hours to live.

Nope.

“Okay,” I said to myself. “Time to be lucky.”

The Ogre charged Hana. She braced for it.

I “slipped” on a bolt. My bow jerked.

[Force Crit]

The arrow shot out. It wasn’t aimed at the Ogre’s head. It was aimed at the chain holding a 2-ton metal crane above the boss.

The chain snapped.

The crane fell.

*[CRITICAL HIT! 1,200,000 DAMAGE!]*

*[ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE! 800,000 DAMAGE!]*

The Ogre was flattened.

Silence.

*[BOSS DEFEATED!]*

*[WORLD FIRST CLEAR: C-RANK DUNGEON]*

*[REWARD: 200,000 CREDITS + RARE LOOT BOX]*

*[ANOMALY +6%. CURRENT: 9%]*

*[SYSTEM NOTE: EXTREME LUCK ANOMALY. FLAGGED FOR REVIEW.]*

“Flagged for review,” I whispered. “Of course I am.”

Hana was staring at me. The healer was staring at me. Even the dead mage’s ghost was probably staring.

“That... that was amazing,” Hana said. “How did you—”

“Beginner’s luck?” I offered. “Also physics. And gravity. Gravity does a lot of work.”

“You just one-shot a boss.”

“I mean, technically the crane did. I just cut the rope. Very D-rank of me.”

She didn’t buy it. But she smiled anyway. “200k. And the rare box. You earned it.”

The credits hit. My account: 293,000 won. Rent: solved.

The loot box gave me a ring. [+5 AGI]. I equipped it.

We walked out of the dungeon. People outside were already watching. Phones out.

“Dude, that was you? You’re trending,” someone said. “#D Rank RNG God”

Oh.

Oh no.

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

Text: *[WE NEED TO TALK. -GM-07]*

I deleted it.

“Everything okay?” Hana asked.

“Yeah,” I said, forcing a grin. “Just my landlord. He loves me.”

But inside, my Anomaly Meter ticked to 9%.

And somewhere, in a white room with no windows, a System log updated:

*[ANOMALY USER: REN PARK. THREAT LEVEL: LOW]*

*[ACTION: MONITOR]*

Not for long.

---

I got home. Paid rent. Ate ramen.

Then I opened my System window and stared at it.

*Name*: Ren Park

*Class*: D-rank Archer Lv.2

*Real Class*: [ADMIN - GLITCHED] Lv.2

*HP*: 1,240 / 1,240

*Anomaly Meter*: 9% / 100%

*Skills*: [Force Crit h***:://Lv.MAX] [Cooldown Reset] [Loot Override] [XP Siphon] [DELETE]

All that power. And I used it to cut a rope.

I laughed. Couldn’t help it.

“Living the dream,” I told the ceiling stain.

Then another box appeared.

*[DAILY QUEST UPDATED]*

*[CLEAR 3 DUNGEONS TOMORROW]*

*[BONUS: HIDE FROM GM-07]*

“Yeah,” I said to no one. “That’s the real quest.”

I closed my eyes.

Tomorrow I’d have to be even luckier.

Because the System was watching.

And I was running out of excuses.

[END OF CHAPTER 1]