A young man with brown hair and brown eyes wiped the square glasses in his hand.

  Then he placed them back on his face and squeezed more into the back, observing.

  His gaze was directed at the entrance of the hospital where a nurse was attending to the crowd.

  Her gaze was patient and her smile was professional despite the overwhelming crowd.

  The crowd all had anxious looks on their faces, almost pushing their way in.

  But the sight of the two intimidating–looking men beside the nurse made that last step impossible.

  Alex watched as a man was hurled away without the bodyguard moving.

  The man had been too anxious and was promptly used as a physical example.

  The crowd moved back as various scalpels appeared behind the second bodyguard, floating in the air.

  "Please maintain order, we have enough space for everyone," the nurse, ever patient, said gently.

  The young man with brown hair eyed the blades floating and his hand rubbed the knife hidden in his pants.

  I wonder who would be faster, he thought as various scenes flashed through his mind.

  But he reeled in his bloodthirsty nature, muttering to himself that it wasn't time yet.

  He had to take it slowly and enjoy his sweet time.

  With that, he opened his status window.

  A blue screen appeared in front of him with no one else noticing.

  Still, he shifted away from the crowd and into a corner.

  Name: Alex

  Age: 25

  Level: 1

  Identity: chef

  Clear objective: Survive

  Time limit: error...$#@&

  Status: Active

  Physique: a mildly healthy young man for the apocalypse

  Skills:

  Chop: the most dangerous tool in a chef's hand is, of course, the knife.

  You have high mastery of knife wielding.

  Note: an apocalypse chef not only knows how to cook but also how to procure ingredients.

  Heat: a chef can handle the heat at all times to produce a delightful dish with just the right heat.

  Note: sometimes the ingredients might need heat applied before processing.

  Taste: a good chef has excellent taste and his palate can resist anything.

  Note: good ingredients are scarce in the apocalypse but poisonous substances are abundant. As a chef, identifying the two is very important.

  Instance points: 0

  System points: 100 (reset)

  Instance shop: locked until level 10

  System shop: reset

  System hint: investigate the hospital

  Alex stared at the active status on the screen and traced it with his hand.

  He resisted the urge to laugh and opened the bottle in his pocket.

  It was a small rectangular flask, and the content was getting low.

  Frowning, Alex took a sip of the alcohol and shivered in delight as it burned his throat.

  His rage and the violent thoughts that sprang up like a flood reduced.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Rubbing his forehead, Alex muttered to himself that it's okay.

  This should be the last time he has to go through the instance again.

  Hopefully he wouldn’t die again—or at least this time, it would be permanent.

  But he did feel a little frustrated, which made his face permanently stuck in a scowl and his dead–fish eyes gloomy.

  His whole disposition gave off the vibe of a caged beast just waiting to strike, which made the others around him shift away.

  Alex glanced at them and snorted.

  These guys were obviously non–important NPCs.

  It would be better to start with the nurse up front than talk to them.

  He said that, but truthfully Alex envied them.

  At least these guys were ignorant.

  Sometimes Alex wished he was ignorant… or he could at least forget about his home.

  Not the home in this place, but his real home.

  Outside the instance.

  That's right, Alex was now in an instance.

  And he had been stuck in this instance for a very long time.

  Alex would like to tell you how long, but after dying the first time, it just became a blur.

  But the memories of his real life with family and friends were perfectly clear.

  And that was what haunted his dreams continuously.

  The first day he entered the instance was like a permanent loop.

  First, his real name was Alex and he remembered that he was just a fresh graduate.

  He went to a normal university and studied finance at the request of his parents.

  Alex planned to use that finance degree to open a restaurant no matter what his parents said.

  After all, cooking was his passion and his dream.

  He had bowed his head to study finance, but he certainly wasn't going to give his dream up.

  So he developed a habit of staying out of the house all day to avoid his parents’ questions about what he wanted to do after graduation.

  Feeling stifled by the relentless questions and teasing of his annoying younger sister,

  Alex went out to drink with some friends and talk about their future.

  After that… well, Alex only remembered drinking and then passing out.

  He was always a lightweight, so passing out from a few drinks was something he expected.

  Plus, he just wanted to let loose with friends because of the stress from home.

  The after–effect was that he woke up in a dorm room with high school students wearing red uniforms.

  Alex panicked and thought that he had been kidnapped by some deranged kids.

  But a screen appeared before his eyes and a voice spoke to him.

  The voice claimed that he had been chosen to complete a game and eventually have a wish granted.

  Alex immediately refused because he was just a normal person and there was no way he wanted any part of this.

  The voice sneered and said the only way out was through death.

  Then the screen showed that he had an objective which was to survive.

  Alex lay down numbly on the bed while the other students chattered on.

  Eventually he sighed and had to accept that he was stuck here.

  The game then gave him background information about his character, who was a regular student.

  Then information about the world in the instance.

  Basically it was just like his home world, except they went through natural disasters before having a huge leap in technology leading up to the present time.

  The school he went to was prestigious and his roommates were friendly.

  He followed them to class and sat down nervously.

  Eventually something happened during the first period.

  A student transformed into a zombie.

  Alex had watched a few zombie movies with friends, but he realized they were more disgusting in real life.

  So disgusting that he almost threw up as he ran away.

  He wasn't given any memory from the character he played, so he just followed the crowd while running.

  Eventually he chose to hide in the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

  A lot of things happened and he was pushed into a horde by his roommate.

  Alex went mad with fear and swung the knife fiercely, but he was eventually overrun.

  At death's door and ravaged by zombies, the system appeared.

  It offered him help because he was the first person to die in the first five minutes of a game instance.

  The system then gave him the ability to regress.

  Alex felt gratitude and promptly looked for a way out of the school.

  He held the kitchen knife he stole tightly as he fled far away from the school in panic.

  After finding a safe distance, he stopped to check his pockets for an ID card or a phone.

  Then he heard a snarling sound that could only come from a zombie.

  Alex fought fiercely with the pouncing zombie and got scratched.

  He almost passed out thinking he was going to turn, but his death was very swift and he barely felt any pain.

  Returning once again, Alex wasn't stupid and realized that the apocalypse wasn't only in the school.

  He still chose to escape once again with the kitchen knife, but this time he was very vigilant.

  The apocalypse appeared all over the world and Alex spent a long time running, hiding, and fighting zombies.

  The cycle went on for a year, then two, and at a point Alex realized that he had been in the instance for five years.

  And there was never a time limit specified.

  Alex questioned the game but it did not respond.

  He went to the system for answers, which revealed that the real reason Alex was chosen was because he was targeted by an evil entity that had corrupted the instance .

  It had trapped Alex in the instance just to toy with him.

  Alex asked why it chose him.

  The system replied that the evil entity felt that his despair was delicious after dying the first time.

  Alex broke down, begging to go home, but he seemed to hear the cruel laughter of the instance.

  Then Alex went completely mad and swore to kill that entity.

  No matter how many times he had to die to do it.

  As if mocking him, he was attacked by a zombie horde and died soon after.

  But this time, Alex was smiling with glee just thinking about it.

  The fourth life he had was taken on by a new him.

  Paranoid, ruthless, and a man stuck solely on revenge.

  He didn't hesitate to abandon those who would drag him down.

  But he also had principles.

  He wouldn't bully the weak or attack the innocent.

  And anyone who crossed him died.

  Along the way, Alex got entangled with a woman who worked in this same hospital.

  The system had pointed out how she was contaminated by the evil entity.

  Alex never forgot her name:

  Seo Rina.

  He had been surviving on his own when he heard rumors of a crazy woman going around killing people.

  The system then hinted that she was related to that evil entity.

  Alex didn't need any persuading as he hunted her down wildly.

  It didn't take long, with the help of the system, to track her down.

  Alex clashed with her on equal bounds of madness, both trying to trade injuries, trying to bite the other person to death.

  But the crazy woman got stimulated and released a virus that killed them both within seconds.

  Alex felt a sense of satisfaction even as his body was spasming with pain.

  Just because he saw Seo Rina dying and by extension harming that evil entity.

  That was when he realized that he had changed.

  Far too much… and there was no way of going back to the way he was.

  He was lost for a while in this fifth life at the beginning.

  The positive side was that the system upgraded his character to fit his age in his previous life and his starting point was a month after the apocalypse.

  And the character was also working as a chef, which came with its own set of skills.

  The system got tired of his dazed state and promised to erase his memories of the instance once he killed the evil entity.

  So Alex mustered up his resolve and started the cycle of endless survival all over again.

  Although this time, there was something strange about the apocalypse.

  The previous zombies weren't this strong, plus they could spread the virus.

  But the zombies in this instance didn't spread the virus and abilities didn't exist.

  Alex then traced back through the hazy memories of his previous lives in the instance—

  Hazy because he wasn't living, just barely surviving—

  and realized that there were changes in the instance after each death.

  Alex had a theory that the evil entity felt the game would be boring if he had knowledge of future events.

  Had to hand it to the evil entity, it was certainly not stupid.

  Alex sneered.

  Then he went to the back of the line while wondering whether that crazy woman would still be here.

  After all, he still had a score to settle with her for killing him in his fourth life.

  And a blood debt had to be repaid.

  Alex looked at the hospital with his vacant eyes while rubbing the hilt of the kitchen knife to calm his nerves.