SYSTEM GLITCH

DAY ZERO

Chapter 3: DAY ZERO

Three months ago, I was broke for a different reason.

Not "apocalypse rent" broke.

"VR beta tester for 500k won" broke.

The email said:

*"PROJECT: SYSTEM - CLOSED BETA. 2 WEEKS. 500,000 WON COMPENSATION. NDA REQUIRED."*

I signed it in 4 seconds. My landlord doesn’t take "it’s an NDA" as rent.

The pod showed up on a Tuesday. Big white coffin with "DO NOT SHAKE" stickers.

I climbed in, put on the headset, and the world went blue.

*[WELCOME TO PROJECT: SYSTEM]*

*[PLEASE SELECT YOUR CLASS]*

There were 12 classes. Warrior. Mage. Healer. Archer.

And one grayed out at the bottom.

*[ADMIN] - [LOCKED]*

I laughed. "Yeah right."

I clicked it as a joke.

*[ERROR: ADMIN CLASS ASSIGNED. CAMOUFLAGE INITIATED]*

*[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. DEPLOYING DUMMY CLASS: ARCHER. RANK: D]*

"What," I said out loud. "No, undo that."

Too late. The tutorial loaded.

---

For 6 hours it was fine.

Kill 10 slimes. Loot a chest. Test [Force Crit] on a dummy. 300 damage. 0.1% Anomaly.

The Anomaly Meter was in the corner. A little bar that said "DEBUG ONLY".

A GM in a white suit popped in. "Hey, you’re the Admin bug. Don’t use real powers. This is just for data."

"Got it boss," I said. "I’ll be a good D-rank."

He nodded and vanished.

I made 47,000 credits in-game and thought about what ramen I’d buy with 500k real won.

Then the sky turned purple.

---

Not in-game purple.

Real purple.

The pod lid flew open. My headset died.

My phone screamed. Every phone in Seoul screamed.

*[THE SYSTEM HAS ARRIVED]*

*[THIS IS NOT A DRILL]*

*[WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL]*

Outside my window, the Han River was glowing.

And something was coming out of it.

"Okay," I said to my empty apartment. "That’s not part of the beta."

I grabbed the starter bow from the pod. It was a real bow now. Wooden. 1.2kg. System item.

My HUD was back. But different.

*Name*: Ren Park

*Class*: D-rank Archer Lv.1

*Real Class*: [ADMIN - GLITCHED] Lv.1

*Anomaly Meter*: 0% / 100%

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

"Glitched," I read. "That’s one word for it."

People were running down the street. Monsters were already here. Slimes. Goblins. Lv.1-3 stuff.

The System was handing out classes to everyone. Flashing blue boxes in the sky.

I could’ve run. Should’ve run.

But then I heard screaming from the convenience store across the street.

A kid. Maybe 10. Trapped under a fallen sign.

And behind him, walking out of the river, was the problem.

---

It was 80 meters tall.

Skin like wet concrete, peeling off in sheets. Ribs showing. Jaw unhinged. Too many teeth. It smelled like ozone and rot.

It took one step and a building shook.

My brain did the only logical thing.

_"oh the movies really downplay the grotesque of Godzilla this one is mad"_

That was my thought. While a kaiju was about to step on a child.

The System put up a box.

*[S-RANK ENTITY: ABYSSAL TITAN]*

*[RECOMMENDED LEVEL: 200+]*

*[CURRENT AVERAGE PLAYER LEVEL: 1]*

"Yeah," I said. "No shit."

The GM from the beta appeared in the sky. Same white suit. He looked at the Titan, then at the people running, then at me.

He pointed at me. "YOU. DON’T."

"Don’t what?" I yelled back.

"USE IT."

He vanished to go fight other monsters.

Great. Thanks for the help.

The Titan lifted its foot. The kid was still under the sign.

I had 5 seconds.

Option 1: Run. 0% Anomaly. Kid dies.

Option 2: Try D-rank Archer. 12 damage vs 50 million HP. Kid dies.

Option 3: Use it.

I hated option 3.

But I hated option 1 more.

"Okay System," I whispered. "You wanted data. Here’s data."

I moved.

First: [Cooldown Reset]. On me.

Second: [Force Crit]. Max.

Third: [Loot Override]. Aim for the knee.

Fourth: [DELETE]. 10% of the HP bar.

All of it. At once.

The arrow I fired wasn’t an arrow. It was light. It curved, hit the Titan’s kneecap, and blew a hole the size of a car through it.

*[CRITICAL HIT! 5,000,000 DAMAGE!]*

*[DEBUFF APPLIED: CRIPPLED]*

*[ANOMALY +80%. CURRENT: 80%]*

*[WARNING: THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL. NERF PROTOCOL INITIATED]*

The Titan roared and fell. The shockwave knocked me on my ass.

The kid was alive. Crying. I dragged him out.

And then the sky opened.

A white portal. And through it stepped a GM.

Not the beta one. This one had no face. Just a smooth mask and a clipboard.

*[GM ENFORCER-01]*

*[ANOMALY USER DETECTED: REN PARK]*

*[ACTION: TERMINATION]*

"Oh," I said. "That’s bad."

The GM raised a hand. The air got heavy. My HP started ticking down. 1240... 1200... 1150...

"Right," I said. "Nope."

I still had 20% meter left. I could run.

I used [Cooldown Reset] on my legs and ran.

Not like a hero. Like a rat.

Down alleys. Through subway stations. Into the sewers.

Behind me, I could hear the GM. No footsteps. Just a sound like a hard drive deleting files.

*[ANOMALY -1% PER HOUR IF NO POWERS USED]*

For 3 days I didn’t use anything.

No [Force Crit]. No healing. I let a Lv.2 slime bite me to stay "believable".

I slept in a subway car. Ate expired kimbap. Watched the news.

The Titan was called "Day Zero Event". 40,000 dead.

The System said it was "part of the tutorial".

And me? I was a ghost.

On day 3, my meter hit 30%. The GM stopped searching.

I learned the rule that day:

*Use 10-15% = safe. Use 50% = boss fight. Use 80% = you get deleted.*

---

Present day. My apartment.

I’m staring at the ceiling stain again. 12% Anomaly. 24 hour warning from GM-07.

That Godzilla thing was the first monster. And it almost killed me. Not because it was strong.

Because I was.

"That’s why I do 12 damage," I told the stain. "Because 80% almost got me erased."

My phone buzzed.

*[GM-07: 18 HOURS REMAINING. REPORT TO SYSTEM OFFICE. GANGNAM BRANCH.]*

I sighed.

Three months ago I used 80% to save one kid.

Now I was pretending to be weak to save myself.

The apocalypse is funny like that.

I got up. Put on the hoodie. Checked my bow.

"Okay Ren," I said. "Time to go talk to HR."

[END OF CHAPTER 3]