Everyone Except Me is a Newbie

A 40-story building was about to collapse. A Queen was appeared nearby.

“Damn… this is driving me crazy.”

Even though Kim Iseo didn’t show it, he couldn’t be optimistic about the situation.

“Of all places, a Queen had to appear here…”

The Queen was a type of event boss monster that spawns in limited quantities randomly. Despite the situation, he didn’t show his anxiety and pushed the team harder, knowing that if he faltered, it would be the end for everyone.

Iseo shouted loudly.

“Take it quickly! Quickly!”

Was it thanks to his urgency? The developers swiftly gathered all the data.

“It’s… it’s complete!”

“Me too!”

Whirr.

Kim Iseo opened a large backpack and threw in all the external hard drives and connection adapters.

 “Alright, now let’s check the other stuff…”

RAAAAAAWR!!!

His words were drowned out again by the Queen’s roar. The fear it instilled was incomparable to footsteps.

“Ugh… Aren’t we just really unlucky?”

“Exactly. Aren’t we all gonna die here?”

Ji Ho-tae and Choi Seo-yeon whimpered. While Choi Seo-yeon was understandable, even the burly Ji Ho-tae was trembling.

Click.

Next to him, a cigarette lighter flared up.

“…Sigh.”

“Hey. No smoking here.”

“One last smoke before I die…”

Heo Won-moo, had already given up on life.

‘These two guys are losing it.’

Kim Iseo, who was treated like a tough guy among them, was speechless. Ironically, at an average height of just over 173 cm, he was the toughest one here.

“First of all. Stay calm. It’s still far away. You can tell from the footsteps.”

He checked the player info screen again.

[Player Info]

▻ Name: Kim Iseo

▻ Rank: Red ★ / Blue ★ / Green ★ / Yellow ★

▻ Affiliation: None

▻ Skills: Basic Slash Lv. 1, Basic Stab Lv. 1

▻ Stats: Red 0/10, Blue 0/10, Green 0/10, Yellow 0/10

▻ Interest Constellations: 0

▻ Perk: Creator’s Eye

Each constellation category influences the rank. Skills are based on those ranks. The stats show the mana needed for those skills by color. Everything was as he knew, except for one thing.

‘Special Ability?’

Special Ability. A special skill granted for achieving a special accomplishment.

‘Creator’s Eye? Never heard of this.’

Creator’s Eye. Clearly aimed at Kim Iseo.

‘Seems like a good skill, at least from the name.’

The name alone suggested it was a beneficial skill. The problem was he didn’t know how to use it.

“Everyone, check your player info screens. Is there anything unusal?”

He instructed the developers to check their screens.

“…Uh, it’s just the mana sword info screen.”

“Looks like a basic 1-star character.”

“Same here.”

They skimmed through the info, distracted by the approaching footsteps.

“Look closely at your screens!”

Iseo shouted.

“…Oh.”

Lee Hae-won noticed something.

“There’s no list of interest constellations… We deleted that for being meaningless, remember?”

Mana Sword has artificial intelligence called constellations. They give skills and supply mana, making them quite important.

A player can have only a few interested constellations and make a formal contract with just one. For readability, they had removed it from the info screen.

“Right. I missed that, too.”

‘Lee Hae-won is surprisingly calm.’

Usually quiet and gentle, Lee Hae-won was holding up well.

‘Am I the only one with a special ability?’

He wanted to ask if anyone else had a special ability but held back. Revealing it might cause trouble. He had to be cautious since he knew nothing about it.

“Next, check your weapons. They’re probably all short swords, but there seem to be slight differences from what we created.”

Next was the weapon check. The initial weapon issued was the most basic form of mana sword, the short sword.

‘The short sword looks quite chunky…’

A short sword was designed as to look a bit cute, but the blades were deadly sharp.

“Ah…”

Seo-yeon cut her finger on the blade and sucked on it.

“The blades are really sharp…”

This had significant implications.

‘Does this mean… it’s real?’

It suggested they might actually have to fight.

It was a different level of realism compared to the player info screen appearing before them and the game’s opening music blaring throughout the company, or rather, the entire world.

“My short sword seems fine.”

“Mine too… It’s exactly as we designed. But it looks a bit funny, though.”

Everyone’s short swords were fine. Kim Iseo thought of the next step.

‘We need to get out of here.’

Their office was on the 41st floor of a 49-story building, almost at the top.

‘The risk of collapse is too high.’

Mana Sword’s setting was a society turned into apocalyptic. The main theme of the prologue was about almost all the buildings in modern society collapsing.

‘Damn… I shouldn’t have designed it that way.’

Regretting the decision to create a game where buildings were about to collapse, Iseo knew hiding was the right move for now.

“I’ll go first. Everyone, hide your swords.”

Iseo cautiously opened the office door. The other developers followed him quietly.

‘No need to hide them, huh.’

Realizing the situation, he saw everyone had swords.

“What’s this?”

“A sword?”

“Mana Sword?!”

The main office was in chaos. All employees had short swords.

“Isn’t this the game Kim Iseo developed?”

“Yeah, the game he developed was called Mana Sword Online, wasn’t it?”

Some colleagues started to catch on.

“Everyone, keep quiet and move out.”

Nodding in agreement, the developers had the same thought.

‘If we get caught here, we might die with in the building.’

They couldn’t waste time.

For two reasons: one, the risk of building collapse; two, the footsteps were getting closer.

Thud. Thud.

Everyone heard it.

“What’s that sound?”

“Ask Kim Iseo about it.”

“Hey, you’re friends with Seo-yeon, right?”

Those who ignored the game during the demo were now all clamoring about Mana Sword and Kim Iseo.

Iseo quickly hid in the emergency exit. The four developers followed.

Thud.

After the emergency exit door closed, they leaned against the wall.

“Phew…”

“Ha…”

“This feels like we’re criminals…”

Seo-yeon kept glancing at the emergency exit door, maybe worried about her colleagues.

“Don’t mind it. Anyway…”

‘Not everyone will survive.’

Iseo didn’t say it out loud, as nothing was certain yet.

“Damn… what a mess.”

Heo Won-moo sighed deeply.

“Still got that cigarette in your mouth?”

“No time to put it out.”

Won-moo finally stubbed it out in the ashtray by the stairs.

“What now? Not taking the elevator?”

Unknowingly, they had hidden in the emergency exit, not having the courage to stand by the elevator.

“Standing there would mean getting trampled by people asking questions.”

As Iseo stood up and started down the stairs.

“Let’s go to the 30th floor. Different departments won’t know us there. We’ll take the elevator from there.”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

***

Iseo’s plan was too optimistic.

“What is this? Isn’t this the game from the demo?”

“They said this is Mana Sword!”

Voices came from outside the emergency stairs on the 30th floor. The elevator area was packed.

‘What was I thinking in this era of group chats and social media…’

He realized his was wrong in assuming different departments wouldn’t know him. In today’s age, such information spreads rapidly.

‘This prologue…’

The game was designed to progress, meaning this era would soon end if it followed the script.

“Damn… even 10 floors is tough…”

“Quit smoking, you idiot.”

Heo Won-moo, having sat down, was likely exhausted from the tension, not just the descent.

“Can’t use the elevator, huh?”

Seo-yeon asked, locking the emergency exit door.

“Looks like they’re not evacuating in a rush. If everyone decides to evacuate, we wouldn’t be able to use the stairs, so we’d better keep going down.”

At that moment.

“Ahhh!”

A scream echoed through the emergency stairs.

“What was that? From the 1st floor?”

“Maybe…”

Iseo looked at Lee Hae-won.

“The prologue field monsters are all spawned on the first floor, right?”

Though it was obvious, he had to be sure.

“Yes, but…”

“Quickly.”

“Oh, yes… there are a few areas with goblin hordes. They move fast… about 200 at a time…”

Hae-won wasn’t articulate, but his point was clear.

Creak, creak!

Thudding. The sound of many footsteps filled the emergency stairs.

Won-moo peeked down.

“So, they start from the 1st floor, but we’re screwed because the goblin horde is fast?”

His calm summary made Seo-yeon and Ji Ho-tae panic.

“Goblins? What do we do?”

“Ugh… let’s go to the roof!”

Thudding footsteps continued. Screams intermittently mixed in.

‘Damn… they’re nothing in the game.’

Meeting goblin hordes was a bad luck, but it’s just the prologue. In the game, it’s a breeze to clear. So, fighting goblins was the first challenge.

“I’m not going to the roof. I told you. The building is going to collapse soon.”

Kim I-seo closed his eyes tightly.

“Going up won’t help. Unless a rescue helicopter comes, it’s hopeless.”

A rescue helicopter? There was no way that would happen.

The answer was clear. But even so, it was hard to muster the determination to face a living goblin horde.

Thud thud thud.

Meanwhile, the goblin horde continued to climb the building. Although their numbers were decreasing as they ascended floor by floor, there were still many of them.

“What, what should we do? There must be hundreds of them!”

The 20th floor. 

The weapons the goblins carried were visible. Swords and hand axes—nothing special.

“I have to decide.”

Thud thud thud.

25th floor.

Only 5 floors away now. Some of the larger goblins were close enough to see their eyes. The goblins who made eye contact with Kim I-seo glared intensely.

Kieek! Kieeek!

28th floor. 

He could even see their fur.

29th floor. 

There was no place left to retreat.

“Gasp… T-Team leader?”

“Arghhh!”

Kim I-seo had finalized his thoughts. After a deep breath, he dashed out.

“Damn it! Everyone draw your swords!!”

In front of the hundreds of green monsters.

“If it works in Mana Sword, it will work here too…!”

Kieek, Kieek!!

Over 200 goblins charged forward, swinging their swords ferociously. Their eyes glowed red like there was blood in them. His sight was numbing.

Kim I-seo’s shadow loomed over the scene.

“Die!”

[Skill: Basic Slash Activated!]

The moment he decided to slash, his body, which had never held a sword before, created a perfect form.

Swish.

A horizontal slash.

The head of the leading goblin flew through the air.

Whoosh!

Crimson blood sprayed up to the ceiling, signaling the start of the battle.

Kieek! Kiyaaaak!!

The goblins charged with a noise that hurt the eardrums.

Kim I-seo, as if mastering martial arts, immediately slashed sideways. A goblin that had jumped on him was sliced in half.

[Skill: Basic Thrust Activated!]

Next was the frontal thrust.

Kieek…!

A goblin with its throat pierced collapsed, spitting out blood. Behind it, there were at least 200 goblins stacked up.

Slashing, thrusting, and even grabbing and throwing one of them, he took a step forward.

“It works…!”

Kim I-seo was confident in his combat sense that.

This prologue could be cleared.

[Red Constellation 1 is showing interest in you.] [Current interested constellations: 1]

[Beginner Tip: In “Mana Sword Online,” there is only one weapon, the Mana Sword. The Mana Sword evolves into various forms depending on the player’s traits and the chosen Constellation.]