2 The Start of the New World

April 1, 2027. Seoul, South Korea. On a fairly busy street in the middle of the day, there was a young man who was walking as if he had lost his way and was not focused on his steps.

The youth had a tall and thin, muscular figure with an aura of strength and power around him. He had a mane of long black hair that was braided down his back and bright blue eyes that seemed to glisten with a hint of electricity. His hair was black and slightly unkempt, and it fell just past his ears. His skin was slightly tanned and had light freckles. He was also adorned with various tattoos on his arms and neck, along with accessories such as ear piercings.

Honk, Honk--

"Hey, you punk! Don't you have eyes?! This is an avenue, not your ancestor's yard! Get off the road! I need to get through. Crazy!"

The sound of a car horn and the driver's yell awakened the young man's reverie, who was staggering. He finally realized that he was walking in the middle of the highway.

'Ah! I... Where Am I? What happened!?'

The young man wondered as he took his feet off the road, trying to assess the situation he was in. Even though he had woken up from his daze, his expression still contained great profound confusion over what he had seen and heard.

He began groping his entire body thoroughly, making people who walked past him feel strange and slightly disgusted.

It was like a pervert in a crowd.

But who cares?

The young man didn't heed the cynical glances around him and walked closer to a tall building whose walls were covered with large mirrors lined up, reflecting what was in front of it.

"This is... me. The Zephyr Quinn of thirteen years ago." He said in disbelief while contemplating what was going on after seeing his reflection in the glass of the building. Even though he was a little different, it was still him.

Zephyr didn't understand why he could see his youthful appearance when he only wanted to confirm his condition after thinking he was dead.

"On second thought, I don't seem to be dreaming." Despite being in a bizarre situation, Zephyr quickly calmed down and pulled himself together in a relaxed manner.

The towering buildings, the paved streets, the concrete walkways, and the crowds of people made him acutely aware of his surroundings.

By looking back and forth, he felt like he was in the past based on his current appearance. On top of that, he also figured that he was currently in Seoul prior to the Apex World

The tip of his tongue was about to say it was impossible, but the fact that he didn't feel like he was in a dream was authentic. All his senses did not lie to him.

"I...regressed?!" Zephyr said, enduring the pressure of questioning whether his sanity was still there or not.

However, before he could process the situation further, he suddenly had a headache with a loud ringing in his brain. There was the voice of a robot or artificial intelligence but in such a low pitch that he couldn't make out what it meant.

He then bent down and knelt on the ground, drawing the attention of the people around him. After enduring the pain for a while, red blood mixed with blue one dripped from his nose.

"Hey, young man. Are you all right?" Suddenly, one of the passersby asked.

"Ah, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern." Zephyr hoarsely answered while wiping his nose with the back of his right hand. He was quite surprised to see that there was a mixture of blue liquid in his blood.

Still, amidst that situation, the ground suddenly shook slightly like an earthquake, and there was a loud sound that reverberated throughout the country. Everyone staggered and almost fell over if the shaking lasted a little longer. They were shocked by the phenomenon and naturally looked up at the sky.

Zephyr also got up from his knees and didn't bother about his blood anymore. Instead, he looked up just like the others.

Tring!!

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Starting the installation...

Access permitted!

The process of terraforming planet Earth is about to begin!

Time remaining: 10 minutes

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A big hologram screen floated in the sky, containing text in a language never before seen in human history. Everyone was confused and looking left and right, trying to understand and asking if anyone knew what was going on.

Zephyr, who was far behind the crowd that saw the commotion, understood the words on the big holographic screen.

'How melancholy. Those are Apexian letters.' He thought while completely accepting that he had returned at the beginning of the catastrophe. He didn't know how he could go back in time. But it was real. He didn't need to think complicated about it. It was definitely an opportunity for him.

Zephyr clenched his fist, raised it up, and gritted his teeth. 'I will lead humanity to survive until the end. And the time will come where I will destroy that alien civilization as the mastermind behind all this!'

He knew with absolute certainty what goal he wanted at this timeline. Even if he had to go through all the suffering and sorrow, he would still walk the path that was thorny and full of bloodshed.

All catastrophes were inevitable. Zephyr could only live and strive for humanity to survive as much as possible. At least with humans prevailing until the end, those aliens would come down to earth. And it would be his and others' chance to free the world from the clutches of disaster.

Zephyr looked at the large hologram screen again, and the remaining time changed to 7 minutes. He then hurriedly glanced around, looking for something that would help him survive the terraforming period.

Meanwhile, everyone but him was busy looking at and chatting about the hologram screen. The occurrence brought the bustling city of Seoul to a halt just before dozens of youngsters ran down the street.

The people who stopped to look at the strange phenomenon couldn't understand why those youths were running chaotically out of nowhere.

But Zephyr knew who they were and why they were moving in such a hurry.

They were players of the game called Apex Online. And the incident where the hologram screen appeared coincided with them finishing the game.

Because everything that happened in the real world was almost similar to the game, they were the ones who adapted the fastest.

And that made those players an essential presence because humanity needed hope with a symbol of heroism. And that was them.

The Frontliners!

An established organization whose members were all gamers and knew the new world. With the aim of helping other humans adapt to survival and fighting to eradicate those beasts.

It was because of them that humanity was able to survive for thirteen years in that dark era, where ferocious beasts roamed the wilds, hunting every single human who scattered around without direction.

But that was still far in the future. Now, they were just looked down upon and considered troublemakers by most people.

That was because the terraforming period took three days to complete. Despite knowing the experience, those players struggle in real life.

On top of that, the beasts that would inhabit the new world didn't exist yet and would only appear after a month as soon as the terraform event was over. Thus, the abilities of those players did not shine until the first onslaught came.