Everyone Except Me is a Newbie

The World is Collapsing!

Kim Iseo, having spent his last ounce of energy, collapsed. He fainted as the quest was cleared. Around him, the goblins’ corpses were immersed in red mana.

“Team Leader!”

Lee Hae-won rushed over at lightning speed.

‘I… I have to save him!’

He was not the first to rush due to recklessness, but because he believed he was the only one who could save Kim Iseo. Earlier, when he had saved Choi Seo-yeon, the constellation had shown interest and granted him a skill.

[Green Constellation is intrigued by your camaraderie.]

[Green Mana +10]

[Your body is responding to the new mana.]

[Skill: Healing Zone (Rare Grade) Acquired!]

‘Healing Zone!’

Green or yellow constellations usually grant predetermined starting skills. For green, it was Healing Zone.

‘I can save the team leader!’

The team leader, who had always guided him, was a hero to Lee Hae-won. Though he wouldn’t dare call him a good person to his face, Kim Iseo was his benefactor.

* * *

When Kim Iseo opened his eyes, he was greeted with some welcome news.

[You have received the reward for the event quest.]

[‘Rapid Evolution Stone★’ has been added to your inventory.]

First was the Rapid Evolution Stone, a reward for clearing the event quest. 

‘With this, I can evolve as soon as the prologue ends.’

Evolution Stones could only be used after the prologue, so Kim Iseo turned his attention to the constellations.

[The Blue Constellation is watching your strategy.]

[The Red Constellation, ‘Indomitable Fighter,’ is showing great interest in you!]

One Red Constellation was approaching by name, and a new Blue Constellation had begun showing interest.

‘I’ll have to choose between them…’

He would have to choose eventually. For now, he was in a neutral state, with the freedom to choose.

‘Hmm…? By the way… What happened to me?’

What caught his eye last was the green barrier enveloping him.

“W-What is this strange barrier?”

At the center of the barrier was Lee Hae-won’s short sword, glowing with brilliant green light.

“Healing Zone…”

Lee Hae-won mumbled, feeling awkward about boasting.

But Kim Iseo wasn’t someone who would miss even small details.

“You’ve bonded with the Green Constellation?”

“…Yes.”

Kim Iseo examined his wounds. Remarkably, they were healing rapidly.

“Where are we…?”

“We’re at the main entrance of the 1st floor.”

“The 1st floor?”

Kim Iseo recalled his memories. After activating ‘Determination,’ his sensation became hazy, but the sensation of relentlessly clearing goblins remained.

“Did we… really do it?”

“Yes, you broke through, Team Leader…”

“Damn it! We’re alive! We made it!!”

He jumped up and hugged Lee Hae-won tightly.

“Hahaha! We really did it!!”

“Team Leader, this… this is…”

Lee Hae-won’s face turned red from the sudden affection, and he struggled to break free, but Kim Iseo was too immersed in the victory.

“Yaaaay! Team Leader is alive!”

Choi Seo-yeon ran over and put her arm around him.

“Damn it! You’re amazing!”

“Hahaha!! We actually did it!”

Heo won-moo forgot all about his fallen cigarette pack and joyfully jumped around. Ji Ho-tae stomped around, shaking the floor with his large figure.

“This guy! Always lacking in spirit, but now look at him! A Green Constellation! Hahaha!”

Kim Iseo ruffled Lee Hae-won’s hair.

The Green Constellation might be the hardest to obtain now that the game has become reality. It was rare to see someone show ‘camaraderie’ in such extreme situations.

Kim Iseo highly valued Lee Hae-won for fulfilling the conditions for acquiring the Green Constellation’s skill.

The joy of achieving this feat was brief.

“Eh? Music…?”

Dun! Dun-dun! Duuwung!!

Familiar music echoed in Kim Iseo’s ears.

“Hey! We need to get out of here quickly!”

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? The building is collapsing!”

He grabbed Lee Hae-won by the collar.

“C-Crap… Ah, yes!”

Kim Iseo jumped up. He remembered why they had come out of the building while clearing the 500 goblins.

Rumble…

The building of Donson shook violently, and bricks fell like gravel.

– Aaaaah!!

The screams of the few remaining employees filled the air.

“What? It sounds like there are survivors?”

Heo won-moo shouted as he ran.

“Don’t.”

Kim Iseo had no intention of trying to save everyone.

“I was just saying. I’m not going to try.”

Heo won-moo knew well that it wasn’t possible to save anyone under the current circumstances.

Just then.

Ding!

The sound of the elevator arriving on the 1st floor was heard.

“It seems someone managed to take the elevator down!”

-1st Floor.

The elevator doors opened with a familiar voice.

“Gah…”

“…This is…”

Inside, a horrific scene was unfolding with the bodies of humans and goblins tangled together.

“Grrr…”

Amidst the group, someone was managing to stand up with the support of a shortsword.

‘Is that Vice President Lee Kyung-young…?’

To his surprise, it was indeed Vice President Lee Kyung-young. Since he was one of those who had seen the demonstration, it was not surprising that he had adapted to some extent.

“Ah, it’s you… What… What is this…?”

Thud.

The Vice President’s body collapsed. He was covered in wounds. His severed arm was being chewed on by one of the goblin corpses, and his abdomen was ripped open, with his entrails spilling out. It was as good as dead.

“…Let’s go.”

Kim Iseo lowered his head. Although he wasn’t on good terms with the Vice President, he still felt a tinge of respect.

‘…I’m sorry.’

But all he could do now was pay a brief tribute. For now, those who could survive had to survive.

* * *

The developers of Weplug had all come out into the streets.

There were hardly any intact buildings left. Most small buildings had already collapsed.

More than anything, the severity of the situation was apparent once they emerged.

“Mommyyy!!”

“Jae-hyun!!”

Families were being slaughtered by just a few goblins right before their eyes.

Boom! Bang!

“Hey, damn it!! Move aside!!”

The roads were blocked with cars honking their horns. Naturally, this only attracted the attention of the monsters passing by.

– Growl!

Wolves with crazed eyes attacked the drivers in their cars, biting them.

“Aaaah!”

The streets were truly a scene from hell.

“Ha… This is insane.”

“Oh, oh, oh… What do we do…?”

The developers were moving through the narrowest paths, trying not to attract the monsters’ attention.

“Shelter? Underground parking lot? Where should we go to be safe?”

“…I don’t know.”

Deciding where to go was a task in itself. With every building collapsing, where were they supposed to go?

“Subway.”

Kim Iseo concluded.

“Why? The parking lot seems more spacious.”

“Subway is more convenient for movement. Are we going to stay in Pangyo?”

“Ah… That’s true. Since the tracks are all connected…”

“Wait.”

Kim Iseo covered Choi Seo-yeon’s mouth and whispered.

“It seems like Queen is too close.”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sound of Queen’s footsteps was now felt as vibrations.

Queen, the boss from the prologue episode, was a cause of increased difficulty and a source of terror.

Of course, it was designed not to be defeated but to be avoided.

“Ha… Let’s run again.”

Kim Iseo, perhaps feeling anxious, wrapped his arms around his still healing wounds and started running.

“Yes, yes!”

The rest of the group began to run as well.

“Let’s head to Pangyo Station!”

At that moment.

Boom!

A vibration of a different magnitude than before shook the ground.

‘M-Mad right behind us?’

Kim Iseo didn’t want to look back, but he had no choice but to glance.

A gigantic monster was smashing the top of the Donson building. A terrifying sense of dread surged, making his head go blank.

“Don’t look back! Just run!”

Kim Iseo shouted to prevent panic among his team.

“Aaah!!”

But it was Heo Won-moo’s scream that came first.

“What? What’s wrong…?”

In this situation, who could avoid looking back?

Eventually, all the developers saw Queen manifesting into reality. They also saw the head of the Donson building being thrown to the ground.

“Kyaaa!!”

“Aaah!!”

Naturally, everyone was engulfed in panic. They ran forward as fast as they could.

Bang!

A high-rise building, torn apart just ten minutes ago, crashed spectacularly into the place they had been.

“Watch out everyone!”

When panic sets in, people might run faster, but the chances of falling increase.

‘If you fall now, it’s over.’

There was no chance of saving anyone who fell with Queen right behind them. It wasn’t even worth contemplating.

“There’s an exit over there!!”

Fortunately, no one tripped.

“Get inside, quickly!”

One by one, they safely descended into the subway station.

Dun-dun! Dun!

The climax of the background music played.

“Ha…”

“This… This can’t be happening…”

Just before entering the subway station, they looked back at Pangyo, which was literally ‘collapsing’.

Kruuush!

Every building seemed to collapse like a sandcastle.

The towering structures built by humanity were turning to dust in an instant.

Above them, Queen’s form was revealed.

– Kaaaargh!!

Queen roared as if celebrating its victory. At the same time, messages began to appear.

[April 1, 2025. The gate to the other world, Planet Gaia, opens, and Earth faces a major crisis…]

The developers were familiar with this text.

[…The goddess Zannaret from Planet Gaia, who possesses the artifact ‘Savior’ containing the energy to rescue humanity from this crisis. Find her…]

They ignored the rising messages. Instead, they could not tear their eyes away from the collapsing city and slowly walked further down.

‘Hmm?’

At that moment, Kim Iseo noticed something strange.

‘…A fairy?’

Something that clearly looked like a fairy was flying in the sky.

In the game world, fairies flying around might not be a big deal, but the situation was different.

‘There’s no fairy like Tinker Bell in here…’

Something had been added to this world that he didn’t put in.

“Hey, did anyone add a tiny fairy or something?”

“…I don’t think so?”

At this point, Kim Iseo didn’t take it seriously. He thought it was just one of those elements that developers sometimes add as a joke.

“Why?”

“Never mind. Let’s go.”

* * *

There were surprisingly few people inside the subway station. They walked deep into the station.

“Why are there so few people here…?”

Choi Seo-yeon, scared, clung tightly to Kim Iseo. He immediately detached her.

“Don’t cling. It’s a hindrance.”

“Hmph…”

“No ‘hmph’…”

No matter how much she acted cute, they couldn’t give special treatment to anyone. Now, Choi Seo-yeon had to live as a Mana Sword player, not as a woman.

“It seems like there was a commotion here as well.”

Kim Iseo said, looking at the sticky bloodstains on the floor.

‘No corpses… just bloodstains…’

It was puzzling. It seemed like monsters had been here, but there were no human corpses.

‘So, it must be a type of monster that devours its prey.’

There were indeed monsters that consumed their prey to replenish their own strength. If it was a monster from the prologue, there was only one.

“Sulfur Toad.”

If it was the one that devours everything without leaving bones, then it was indeed that one.

“Damn it… Is it still here?”

As soon as the name was mentioned, Heo Won-moo sighed deeply.

“It’s okay. It’s not like Queen. We should be able to deal with it.”

“Right. We should be able to deal with it. Even if one person gets melted by sulfur sliva.”

Heo Won-moo’s grim details made Ji Ho-tae shiver.

“Hi… Hiiiii…”

“Stop with the pointless talk… Hae-won, check the downloaded data for Sulfur Toad.”

While he remembered the goblins from his memory while lesser monsters like Sulfur Toad was hazy.

“Ah… Yes, yes. Let me check.”

「The Acid Toad prefers dark and damp places. Its original habitat was at the edge of Gaia’s ‘most dangerous swamp’.」

“Hm… Got it.”

Confirming again, it did make sense for it to be in the subway due to its habits.

‘No need to mention it.’

Since there was a toad here, mentioning it would only make everyone panic more.

“Let’s rest here for a moment. Let’s go over the rewards we received earlier. 

Constellations and such.”

It was better to prepare for combat. If they know about their ability.

“I’ll go first.”

Kim Iseo opened his status window to check his condition.

[Player Information]

▻ Name: Kim Iseo

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

▻ Type: Colorless

▻ Skills: Basic Swordsmanship Lv. 1, Strangling Lv. 3, Kicking Lv. 3, Physical Defense Lv. 2, Robust Body Lv. 3

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

▻ Interest Constellations: 124

▻ Special Trait: Eye of the Creator

He went through his status and checked his skills. He had not noticed, but even his defense-related skills had leveled up.

“Well, I have… Basic Swordsmanship Lv. 1, Robust Body Lv. 3, Physical Defense Lv. 2. And I also have Kicking and I have the Thunderstrike Sword… and I got a Rapid Evolution Stone.”

The developers were impressed by his words.

“Already combined into Basic Swordsmanship? That’s incredibly fast…”

Ji Ho-tae was surprised by the Basic Swordsmanship entry. Normally, Basic Swordsmanship was pursued after mastering advanced slashing and thrusting techniques, but Kim Iseo had skipped that process.

“Wow…! With the Rapid Evolution Stone, you can evolve your Mana Sword right away.”

Choi Seo-yeon was astonished by the Rapid Evolution Stone, as it was one of the most crucial items for Mana Swords.

“How did you get it? Did you receive the event quest’s vanguard effect or something?”

Heo Won-moo pinpointed it correctly.

“Yeah. I was the first to grab it. You cowards. What rewards did you get… Oh? Wait a moment.”

Kim Iseo noticed something unusual while checking his status window.

▻ Interested Constellations: 124

The number of interested constellations didn’t make sense.

“Wait… How many constellations did we plan for?”

“Um, around 50?”

“Didn’t we say we’d create more than that during the online phase?”

“No, that was for future patches… But at most, we’d make 100. More than that would just complicate the game.”

Fifty? A hundred? Kim Iseo was confused. The number of constellations currently tracking him was listed as 124, and the number was rising in real-time.

▻ Interested Constellations: 135

What was even more surprising was the following:

[Skill. The Creator’s Eye reacts.]
[You can view the conversations of the constellations.]
[ON/OFF function is available.]

Constellations’ conversations…?

This was completely out of the planned settings. It wasn’t even something they had imagined.

Kim Iseo hesitantly pressed the [ON] button.

[Beginner’s Tip: By contracting with constellations, you can fully utilize their power. However, skills from other categories will be restricted.]