Surviving Restructuring

It was 9:37 AM, about twenty minutes before the next trial was set to begin.

[ROK-145 District trials have been completed.]

The Safe Zone vanished. Everyone out there had probably received a short break and whatever reward they were owed just like always. However, the survivors shown on the screen were different.

“Huh? W-why are they acting like that?” Eun-Ho asked.

Instead of relief, they wandered about with even more anxious faces.

“S-shouldn’t they be running?” Jae-Hyuk asked.

He was right. Not far from the survivors’ Safe Zone lay a habitat crawling with monsters. Those were massive ones baring their teeth, sometimes even turning on one another like competing predators.

“They must’ve heard the roaring, so why aren’t they running away?” Eun-Ho muttered.

The survivors, their faces blackened with soot and grime, only lifted and lowered their heads helplessly.

Thud!

One by one, they gauged their surroundings, then began crawling into the debris of a collapsed building. The place seemed ready to crumble the moment someone breathed on it.

“Why are they going in there?” Eun-Ho muttered.

“That place will collapse if someone sneezes!” Jae-Hyuk said, reaching out helplessly before dropping his hand again.

“It’s the rain,” Ji-Eun said quietly.

“Sorry?”

“They’re trying to avoid the rain!”

“Huh?”

“Do you know something that we don’t?” Eun-Ho asked.

When he looked at her, puzzled, Ji-Eun bit her lower lip and said, “During my OJT at the Investigation Bureau, I got a glimpse of a report. They took it away before I could finish reading it, but I’m sure it said Sector 13.”

On her first day of OJT, when everyone returned from their initial trials, Eun-Ho had been given the ridiculous task of making report copies. Others brewed coffee, cleaned, or even sang while they completed whatever odd jobs they were assigned with.

He still remembered Ji-Eun’s voice then.

“I also wrote reports.”

She had trailed off, looking unwell, and he had meant to ask more about it later.

“Your team was in charge of Sector 13?” Eun-Ho asked.

“Yeah...”

“And you didn’t say anything because the situation was bad?”

Ji-Eun nodded, still biting her lip.

“They said that once the restructuring process ends, black rain would fall. Rain that corrodes civilization and rewinds anything alive.”

Without meaning to, Eun-Ho’s voice took on a sharper edge. “Rewinds? Rewind it into what?”

Ji-Eun flinched as if she were being scolded. “That part... I don’t really know...”

“Ah, but they did say it’s safe while a trial is active. The Arena would take priority, apparently.”

So that was it.

No wonder the survivors who had completed the trial seemed gloomier than before.

“But I didn’t think it would be this bad,” she whispered.

Inside the rubble, people curled up and shut their eyes as if unconscious. Yet even the slightest breeze made them flinch awake, trembling.

Eun-Ho sighed. “Ha...”

They were terrified that monsters would storm in at any moment. The way they nodded off only to jerk their heads up again, scanning their surroundings, told him enough about what they had endured.

“Everyone looks awful...” Ji-Eun said quietly.

Then, she suddenly gasped and pointed at someone on the screen. There was a man whose limbs and ribs poked through rags, his beard grown wild like some destitute peasant from centuries past.

“Look! Chef is there too!” she cried.

“What? No, that can’t be, can it? The Chef I remembered was quite chubby!” Jae-Hyuk replied.

“It really looks like him though. He’s gotten so thin,” Ji-Eun said.

Jae-Hyuk stared, stunned. Who wouldn’t be? Someone had transformed that drastically in the span of a single week! It was practically as shocking as watching a man turn into a Skeleton Soldier.

“That’s impossible...” Eun-Ho muttered.

Eun-Ho remembered meeting the chef during the incident at Namsan. The man had sided with Yoo Ri-Na without thinking, but he had apologized properly afterward, and even helped steer public opinion. He had helped again on Sky Island, building the mood and supporting Eun-Ho’s efforts. Most of all, he had earned everyone’s trust by feeding them, meal after meal.

Eun-Ho sighed again. The chef had loved food more than anything. He even tried doing a mukbang during an observation trial. However, now, he was whittled down to something worse than a Skeleton Soldier, all because he had been reduced to entertainment fodder for people like that.

[A number of observers are finding the survivors’ ordinary survival boring.]

[An observer has left.]

[An observer has left.]

...

[The Hawk Eye from the Bureau of Investigation clicks their tongue, calling them weak and useless.]

[The Real Man from the Sales Department snickers, saying only bottom-feeders are left, so what would they expect?]

Heat boiled up inside Eun-Ho and rage pushed at his throat. “Bottom-feeders?”

“What did they just—” Jae-Hyuk began.

“Stay calm,” Eun-Ho said.

Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

He repeated it to himself, trying to keep his head clear.

“But—” Jae-Hyuk protested.

“When you let your temper flare, you stop thinking about what’s important,” Eun-Ho said. “The hotter things get, the more you need to focus on what you actually have to do.”

Right at that moment, Harona handed something to Eun-Ho, seemingly less than thrilled. “Here.”

When Eun-Ho accepted it, a flicker of unease mixed with faint anticipation crossed her face. She seemed unsure whether to be nervous or hopeful about his next choice.

“Thank you,” he said politely.

[Restructuring Trial Guidebook for Sector 13.]

It was a thick hardcover that was easily several hundred pages long. Eun-Ho had expected a dry packet of reports, but this was far more detailed. It had the trial overview, difficulty levels, rewards and even photos showing the arena conditions. Therefore, it was a perfect guidebook.

“You need to input your choice within ten minutes,” Harona warned.

Ten minutes was not nearly enough time to skim, let alone read, a book this thick.

“If it’s too much, say so now,” she added. “I can recommend two or three that suit you. You just pick from there.”

“You’ll give recommendations?” Eun-Ho asked.

“Of course! Looking after rookies is my pride and joy,” she said, puffing out her chest.

However, the way she kept glancing at him made it clear she half-expected him to give up and let her choose for him.

Wait a second. This isn’t that different from the proposal the twins gave me, Eun-Ho thought.

The details varied, but the core information he needed about each trial was largely the same.

In other words, I already know most of this.

[No. 17] Hunt

- Overview: Eliminate the Target and Submit a Daily Quota.

- Difficulty Level: High-Mid

- Rewards: 3 Points and 1,000 Welfare Points.

Furthermore, a few were trials they had actually completed themselves.

Eun-Ho skimmed page after page, turning them swiftly as he asked, “I have a question.”

“Yeah, sure. What is it?” Harona asked.

“Why is a department transfer considered a penalty?”

She froze. Her eyes, which had been gleaming with excitement while talking about trials, narrowed instantly. The man standing behind her even flinched.

“The Operations Bureau is just another department, right?” Eun-Ho asked. “Same as Personnel or Administration. So why is being reassigned considered a trial-failure penalty?”

“So that’s what you’re curious about?” she asked.

“Yes.”

He had to understand the stakes to know how desperate he was expected to be.

Harona shrugged and said, “Our company does a lot of different kinds of work.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Departments focusing on field work like ours are tough, but the rewards are solid. Promotions are the fastest too.”

That much made sense. The Sales Department and Management Bureau would probably be the same. Even the employee housing and the Employee of the Year rewards made that clear.

“At the Research Center, people grind for days on end, but once they produce results, they’re set for life.”

“Is that because the incentives are good?” he asked.

“That too. But researchers can also shoot up the ranks quickly. Some even...” Harona lowered her voice and leaned in, her twin tails bobbing as she whispered like she was sharing a forbidden secret, “register patents or trademarks and basically coast for the rest of their lives.”

“Is that allowed?” he asked.

“As long as they file the paperwork. That’s why those researchers work like their lives depend on it.”

So that’s why they all looked so desperate, he realized.

“But as you’ve probably noticed,” Harona continued, “there are departments like the Investigation Bureau. There are places where the workload is light and the hours are easy, even if the rewards aren’t great.”

“So every department has its pros and cons,” Eun-Ho said.

“Ah, no. Not every one of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a department that has nothing but downsides. The one everyone avoids.”

If everyone avoided it, the work was either impossibly hard, or the compensation was nonexistent. It had to be one of the two.

“Is that the Operations Bureau?” he asked.

Harona nodded. “It’s a place where you work in the dark with no reward. You pour your whole body and soul into it, but no one ever acknowledges you. That’s the Operations Bureau.”

“So in other words, if I fail this trial, I would be reassigned there,” he murmured.

The bitterness lingered on his tongue. Judging by the stricken looks beside him, Ji-Eun and Jae-Hyuk had come to the same realization. Both of their faces had gone gray.

“Don’t worry!” Harona said brightly. “You just have to succeed. Push yourselves hard!”

The only energetic ones were the owner of this room, along with the system messages on the screen, chirping along as if this were a game show.

“I’ll go with this one,” Eun-Ho said.

Thud.

He set the guidebook down on the table.

“What is it? What’d you pick?” she asked, eyes already shining as she skimmed the pages.

“Hmm... Someone actually ran this one on an island nearby not long ago,” she said. “It blew up over there.”

It seemed like Harona already knew about this trial.

“Perfect timing. I’d been wanting to try it myself,” she said.

“Really?”

“The temporary contract workers like it too. If they kill a few guys and disembowel some, they get the points right away.”

“Disembowel? Ah, right.”

[No. 54] Designated Disembowelment

- Overview: The summoned Vampiric Blade pierces the abdomen of any target who receives three or more designations. After it absorbs all of the target’s blood, it moves on to the next designated victim. If no designation is made for thirty minutes, the trial ends automatically.

- Difficulty Level: Very low

- Rewards: 1 Points and 1,000 Welfare Points per person disemboweled

So this is basically a majority-vote murder game disguised as game...

However, that was not what he had chosen.

“I meant the one next to it. Number fifty-five,” Eun-Ho said.

“Huh?”

[No. 55] Quarter

- Overview: The Safe Zone shrinks to a quarter of its original size. Through competition between survivors, the trial ensures a drastic population reduction.

- Difficulty Level: Low-Mid

- Rewards: 2 Points and 2,000 Welfare Points

“You picked this one?” Harona asked.

“Yes.”

“This is something they only use when there are way too many people, like in the country on the opposite side.”

“Is that so?”

“If you run this, the headcount over there will drop to one-quarter. Are you sure you’re fine with that?”

Of course he was because this was the surest option—the only way everyone could survive together.

“I’m registering it,” Eun-Ho said.

***

I’m starving.

The chef was in agony. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten a real meal, something other than the moldy bread sold at the low-tier shop.

His mind felt blank, and his stomach had hollowed out so thoroughly, it no longer even hurt. He could barely feel anything at all. He couldn’t walk anymore, let alone run. His belly clung to his spine so tightly that breathing felt like a chore. What was the point of living like this?

Why... Why did I do that back then...

His life replayed in his head, every moment steeped in regret. The spaghetti sauce he scraped off during the observation trial, the instant-noodle broth he left behind because he was trying to lose weight, and even the soybean-paste stew his mother made thirty years ago hovered in his memory.

He could almost hear her voice.

“If you waste food, you go to hell. You know that?”

“Hell?”

“Yes! And when you get there, you’ll have to eat every leftover you ever threw away all mixed together.”

“Oh! Then I’ll get rid of some ice cream! So that I can eat that in hell!”

If he ever met his late mother again, he would probably scold her for not smacking his backside harder, and making him eat every last bite.

If I could just upgrade to the intermediate-tier shop...

He remembered what the big guys had told him earlier. Unlike the low-tier shop, the intermediate-tier one actually sold real food. He wouldn’t have to chug spoiled milk or eat moldy bread until he vomited. Hence why he had run everywhere, tirelessly saving Points to pay the ten thousand needed for the upgrade.

However, every time he felt like he saved a little, another bill arrived. Then, just as he saved a little more, another one arrived right away.

[A new bill has arrived.]

[Point calculation in progress!]

A week had passed, and all he had left was three thousand Points.

Can I even survive with this?

As he sank into that thought, an announcement echoed overhead.

[Attention, temporary contract workers of the ROK District.]

[The next trial will begin shortly at 10:00 AM.]

Hearing this announcement, the chef swayed. He then forced his trembling legs to stand. Like a corpse obeying another’s commands, he moved without strength, will, or nothing.

[Please proceed to the Safe Zone!]

However, when he staggered there and squeezed in just in time, the boundary got smaller again.

Wait, is the circle keep shrinking?

He pushed his way in once more, and again it shrank. Those who were pushed out raised kitchen knives with their thin, skeletal arms.

Clack!

They did not have the strength to shout “Move!” or “Let me live!” They simply lifted their blades in silence.

Feeling the cold edge pressed to his throat, the chef tightened his grip on his kitchen knife.

Should I stab them? If I want to live, I have to do it. But once I use this knife to spill someone’s blood, I will never be able to cook again.

That thought alone made him close his eyes tightly. Then, a sound descended from the sky.

Ding!

Huh?

[A gift has been delivered.]

[Would you like to check it?]

A box materialized before him like something out of a dream.His eyes widened at the sight of the neatly packed meal inside.

[Lasagna Meal Combo]

- A special dish from Gourmet Journey of the West. Thin lasagna sheets layered with vegetables and sauce, baked in the oven. No rare ingredients, but highly filling.

- Restores Stamina recovery speed by one percent for one hour upon consumption.

Ding!

Then, the alert rang again.

[You have a new message.]

- From: Lee Eun-Ho

- Message: Get down.

Wait who? And what did he just say? Get down in the middle of a trial?

The chef frowned, about to ask what that meant, when another message arrived.

- Message: Just like lasagna.

Like lasagna? Like layered? You mean on top of each other?

For the first time, the chef shouted, “Attentioooooon!”