Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I Awakened as a Plague Doctor (1)

Rumble, crash!

Shaaaa.

A day of torrential rain accompanied by thunder and lightning.

The driver's license test center.

“Taking forever to issue. Is it because there are so many people···.”

The joy of having obtained a driver’s license lasted only a moment before I muttered with a bored expression.

I had already been waiting for nearly twenty minutes.

After watching the refreshing downpour beyond the window, I accessed SNS on my phone.

Wondering if my favorite singer-songwriter ‘Happy Quokka’ had posted something new.

“Ah···.”

Instead of Happy Quokka, the first thing that came up was a new post from my older sister.

[Stepped on the bottom of the household hierarchy #ArongArong]

A photo of a dog proudly placing its front paw on the head of someone sleeping face-down on the bed.

The one being stepped on is me.

I immediately sent a message to my sister.

[Why did you post someone else’s photo]

-[Your face didn’t show. Did you get your license?]

[Not yet]

-[Get cold medicine on the way]

[Middle finger]

-[You ate everything that was at home, you bastard. If you don’t buy some this time I’ll post the one where I scratched your face]

[Middle finger]

-[Middle finger]

Should’ve gone to the hospital instead of wasting time on SNS.

I went back to SNS and scrolled down.

My finger stopped.

An advertisement for a mobile game I’d never seen before.

It looked like the apocalyptic strategy survival games that are popular these days, and the review reactions weren’t too bad.

-Since it’s a new release there’s no paywall and no forced ad watching, and there’s so much to do that time flies for real lol

-Same as the ad. Other similar games block you from leveling up without paying once you play for a while but this one doesn’t have that yet

-Only impatient people would buy a pass

-No paywall and good for killing time

I’m bored, maybe I’ll try this.

How long had it been since I pressed install.

The game launched right away.

A kingdom destroyed by a plague that spread.

A prince and his party who had gone abroad on a mission return, gather survivors, defeat the plague, and rebuild the kingdom.

[System]

[Please select a class.]

I could choose one from the prince’s party.

Prince, warrior, scientist, doctor, priest.

“Why does the doctor look like that.”

A bird-beak mask with round goggles attached, a wide-brimmed hat, a pitch-black coat hanging loosely, and a cane.

A plague doctor.

Bloodletting. I knew them as quacks who believed drawing blood could cure disease and sent many people to their graves.

But it’s a game.

They must have designed it this way to fit the apocalyptic setting.

The main skill is also ‘Plague Treatment’.

After thinking for a moment, I chose the doctor.

Better a guy whose face is covered than the other ugly characters.

[System]

[You have selected the Doctor class.]

[Please enter your real name.]

Real name?

They must have written nickname wrong.

That’s just how translations of foreign games coming out these days are.

[MomToldMeNotTo]

I pressed the confirm button.

The letters ‘MomToldMeNotTo’ were cleanly erased and the field became blank again.

[System]

[Please enter your real name.]

“······?”

[IDontWantToWhy]

[System]

[Please enter your real name.]

“······.”

What the hell, this is creepy.

Just as I was about to exit the game.

“Kang Bong-sik-nim.”

The staff member in charge of issuing licenses called my name.

“Yes!”

I roughly shoved the smartphone into my pocket and went to the counter.

The staff member stared hard at me and confirmed again.

“Kang Bong-sik-nim?”

“Yes, I’m Kang Bong-sik.”

This person, earlier too··· was their face like this?

Their expression is a bit scary?

The staff member smiled brightly.

Rumble, bang!

It seemed lightning had struck nearby, as the thunder sounded extremely loud.

“Congratulations. Drive safely.”

“Yes, thank you···.”

The staff member’s condition looked a bit strange, but is it any of my business? We’re just meeting today and that’s it.

Looking at the freshly issued driver’s license still warm, a grin spread across my face.

“Hehe.”

My mother had said.

Once I get my driver’s license, she would hand over the car she had been driving. Even if it’s an old compact, having a car at my age is something.

I put the license in my wallet and went out in a good mood, opening the umbrella.

Pitter-patter.

Thick raindrops mercilessly beat down on the childish umbrella with a large cat drawn on a sky-blue background.

It’s not my umbrella, it’s my sister’s.

There wasn’t a single decent umbrella at home, so I had no choice but to bring it.

Lightning flashed between the pitch-black rain clouds and then rumble. The thunder sounded like a beast’s roar.

At least there was no wind, which was fortunate.

While walking toward the bus stop I took out my phone.

The game seemed to have closed on its own and the home screen appeared. Thinking nothing of it, I called my sister.

“Should I just get general cold medicine?”

-[Yeah···.]

A heavily hoarse voice came back.

-[You know that one they advertise on TV that you suck. The red and black one···. Cough, cough!]

She’s dying.

Since I’m the one who gave her the cold I can’t even tease her more.

“Got it.”

The moment I was pressing the end call button. The phone slipped from my hand.

“Ah!”

I quickly bent my body and reached out.

Thwack.

“Phew.”

I almost shattered it only two weeks after buying it···.

Splash.

“······.”

Right beside me.

A car passed by forcefully stepping into a puddle full of water. Since I had been bent over, my face, upper body, pants, and shoes got thoroughly soaked.

Only the left side.

“Hey you bastard! Don’t you know Road Traffic Act Article 49 Paragraph 1, you bastard?!”

Rumble, crash!

The thunder swallowed my shout.

“Hah···. Fuck, seriously.”

I wiped the phone by rubbing it on the still-dry right pants.

“It even comes up on the written test. No, why is this game turning on out of nowhere again.”

Rumble.

[Loading]

After roughly wiping it and looking at the phone, the name input window had appeared again.

[Kang Bong-sik]

My real name was written there.

What.

I never entered my name···.

Crash!

“······?!”

In an instant everything in front of my eyes turned pure white, and a tremendous sound and impact struck my body.

“······.”

I collapsed without even being able to scream.

[!@^$&###- ^&$]

An unknown voice echoed in my head.

[Language patch for guidance complete.]

[You have been selected as an Awakener···.]

Static.

Noise mixed in, and the voice grew smaller.

A sense of confusion could be felt.

[What? Earth is 1328 years later? But the first Awakener has already been selected···. $&###@-.]

Click.

Along with the voice, my consciousness cut off as well.

***

‘When I opened my eyes again, it was a hospital.’

The monologue muttered by protagonists who lost consciousness in accidents in dramas or webtoons, as they open their eyes in a hospital.

I never thought I would end up doing it too.

“Bong-sik! Our son···! Are you conscious? Do you recognize Mom and Dad?”

Our parents also embraced me and cried like the parents commonly depicted in such media.

After that I underwent all sorts of tests, heard from the doctor ‘Fortunately no major problems were found,’ and was discharged within a few days.

Even though a clear major problem had occurred.

“······.”

“Bong-sik, are you listening?”

“···Yes?”

“This kid got struck by lightning and still.”

“It wasn’t a direct hit, the current from the lightning that struck nearby passed through, right.”

I turned my head from the scenery outside the car window.

“What did you say?”

“What do you want to eat for dinner.”

“Meat.”

“Okay, let’s eat meat.”

We returned home.

My sister came out of her room wearing a mask.

“Congrats on coming back alive, congrats.”

I paused.

My sister’s hair was greasy and messy as if she hadn’t washed for days, and both her eyes were swollen.

“···Yeah. Sister, you were still alive too.”

“Yeah. But you took my umbrella? That was a gift from a friend. This bastard is trying to get scolded by his sister.”

“······.”

“What are you looking at like that? Mom, did something happen to Kang Bong-sik’s head? Why is he observing people so curiously?”

“Look at your appearance. Is that a human’s appearance.”

“Isn’t it about time you washed, daughter? You smell like a widower.”

“I’ll wash later, Dad.”

“Bong-sik, you go into your room and rest.”

“Yes.”

As soon as I entered my room I flopped onto the bed.

Our house dog Arong came trotting after me.

Sniff sniff.

Is it because the hospital smell is on me. It persistently sniffs my clothes, bag, and feet.

I let out a big sigh and turned my head.

Through the open door. I could see Mother and Sister talking in the living room.

“Bong-sik could catch a cold again so be careful not to pass it on.”

“It originally came from that guy so it’ll be fine, right?”

[Contagious Disease Patient]

A green text floating above Sister’s head.

From the moment I regained consciousness in the hospital, I could see texts like that above some people’s heads.

Occasionally there were red and yellow ones too, but green was the majority.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell the doctor because I was afraid they’d send me to psychiatry.

Even with zero medical knowledge, I could tell this was far from ordinary hallucinations.

More than anything, the voice I heard before losing consciousness.

「What? Earth is 1328 years later? But the first Awakener has already been selected···.」

Here.

A small system window that appeared at the bottom right of my vision.

If I don’t consciously look for it I can’t see it, but when I concentrate to look, the tiny letters come into clear focus.

[System]

-You have awakened as a ‘Plague Doctor’.

-Acquired skill ‘Immunity (Lv.1)’.

-Acquired skill ‘Plague Treatment (Lv.1)’.

-Acquired skill ‘Bloodletting (Lv.1)’.

Due to some unknown beings’ mistake, did I become an Awakener 1328 years earlier than others?

Like the webtoons based on popular web novels these days?

Then where did those bastards go?

If they made a person like this by mistake, shouldn’t they return them to normal?

I turned on my phone again, but the game I had installed at the driver’s license test center was gone.

Even the installation record.

It wasn’t in the app store either, and searching SNS didn’t show any advertisements for that game.

Mobile game lists, internet communities, and so on.

I tried searching while explaining about that game, but only names of similar types of games came up.

“I’m going crazy and jumping···.”

But after watching for a few days, those texts and the system window just appear and don’t particularly affect me.

There aren’t even quests or anything.

If I treat it as a unique form of visual snow, will I get used to it?

“······.”

But human psychology is like that.

When something that seems like it might work appears, doesn’t curiosity and a sense of adventure well up wanting to try it at least once?

Especially for a guy, even more so.

Sniff sniff.

Lick lick.

I held out my hand to Arong and concentrated on looking at the system window.

A thin gauge was visible below.

[MP 100/100]

“······.”

I stood up.

In case of an unforeseen situation, I sent Arong outside the room and closed the door.

“Ahem.”

When I actually try to say it out loud, even though I’m alone it feels embarrassing.

“Sta, status window.”

······.

“St··· atus.”

······.

“Skill window. ···Oh.”

A system window tinged with a faint blue appeared anew.

[Kang Bong-sik (Plague Doctor Lv.1) possessed skills]

[Passive Skills]

-Immunity Lv.1

[Active Skills]

-Plague Treatment Lv.1 (0/100)

-Bloodletting Lv.1 (0/100)

Is there no separate explanation?

I pretended to touch the system window with my finger, but nothing changed.

“Plague Treatment skill description.”

······.

“Activate Plague Treatment.”

······.

Is it not working because there’s no one infected with the plague?

Or is another activation condition needed?

Should I experiment on Sister right away?

I don’t know if a cold counts as a plague, but it kindly tells me it’s a ‘Contagious Disease Patient’.

And in green, as if it’s a monster suitable for my level.

···No.

If something happens to Sister from experimenting, Mom and Dad will be sad.

Let’s drop it.

While I was lost in thought the skill window disappeared on its own.

“Phew···.”

I flopped onto the bed again.

That evening.

After eating my fill of rice with the delicious meat side dishes my parents grilled, while I was lying on the bed loafing around.

Ding.

My high school friend Lee Jin-seok sent a message.

-[Alcohol]

The doctor said not to drink alcohol for a while just in case.

-[I’m treating]

I got up groggily.

I should just lightly freeload some side dishes and come back.

© TofuSpirit#1bejl