DOOMSDAY SYSTEM: REBORN TO BECOME A BOSS

Expressway to City C.

He would have to do this alone.

 Lucas breathed in slowly, and his hand moved to retrieve the knife in his pocket.

 Two glowing yellow eyes locked on his every movement.

 Ground hogs.

 That was the name of the creatures.

 Just one of them was enough trouble for a D-ranked player, not to talk of him, who was a normal person and without any ability.

 The groundhogs let out a gru..lu..lu.. sound and attacked him at the same time.

 Lucas sidestepped a claw aimed at his chest.

 A vicious breeze struck his head. Without thinking, he ducked forward, tucked in, and rolled over.

 The feeling of razor-sharp teeth brushing through his hair almost made his legs give out.

 Lucas tightened his grip on the knife. 

 Gru...lu...lu...lu... One in front and one behind, the groundhogs moved in perfect synchronization.

 Fuck.

 Lucas clenched his fist, eyes darting around while dodging the attacks that came from all sides.

 To the left a row of jagged teeth snapped at his shoulder. Lucas spun to avoid it. 

 He brandished the knife and dragged it across the ground hog's exposed fur.

 It left a cut that was deep but obviously not enough to kill it.

 The second hog was a step behind.

 Lucas shook off the blow and broke into a sprint.

 Gru...lu...lu... The sound came from above. 

 One of the groundhogs had climbed the wall in a hot pursuit.

 Lucas's  back was soaked with sweat. His lungs burned with the need for oxygen. 

 Then a sudden crisis hit him.

 Where did the second hog go?

 Crash...

 A sudden darkness filled his peripheral vision. 

 Lucas threw himself to the ground without thinking.

 The groundhog flew from his blind side and smashed into the spot he was in a second ago.

 The second hog crashed right into it in a confused frenzy. 

 Dust exploded.

 Lucas was breathing heavily.

 He needed to find the dungeon's core. Fast.

 Lucas's  frantic gaze fell on a nest of twigs and bones in an inconspicuous elevated corner. Hidden beneath the shadow of a wall.

 There!

 The groundhogs seemed to sense his intention.

 They let out a grating screech and threw themselves at him.

 Lucas dodged while racing towards the nest.

 In the six years he spent in the apocalypse during his past life, the two skills he developed to the max were, one, how to sense danger and, second, fleeing!

 He didn't have any abilities, but when it came to escaping, Lucas couldn't be underestimated.

 His gaze was single-mindedly fixed on the nest.

 Lucas stepped on an elevated stone and grabbed a corner of the nest.

 A dull throb came from his shoulder.

 The joint buckled from bearing the whole of his weight.

 Lucas was reminded that this wasn't the body that was trained by the apocalypse.

 The him of 21 years was a weakling who couldn't carry out the simplest exercise.

 Teeth clenched, Lucas bore the pain and dragged himself into the nest.

 In the middle of the nest were four, round, white eggs about the size of a football.

 Lucas struggled to his feet. Without any blinking, he raised his foot and stomped on them. One after the other.

 The fragile shells gave out under his resilient assault with a loud "puchi." 

 The orange-white content inside spilled out. 

 Then he got to the last egg. 

 When the white shell broke apart and revealed a shiny blue orb.

 The dungeon's core.

 "Found it."

 All the attacks immediately ceased.

 Lucas let out a breath. 

 He leaned down and picked up the orb. A look of satisfaction flashed across his face.

 A mid-grade spiritual orb.

 Which means this was either an E-grade or D-grade dungeon.

 "Not bad." He tossed the orb into the air and caught it.

 Spiritual orbs were really valuable, and not to talk of their use to forge weapons, they could also be exchanged for a lot of money.

 He put the spiritual orb in his bag and then looked around.

 He was back to standing in the middle of a street.

 Tens of empty cars blocked the road. Some were in the middle of a collision, while others were abandoned by their owners who were in a hurry to flee.

 Immediately the dungeon core is located, and it collapses.

 Lucas didn't try to look for the girl and the middle-aged man. Neither did he care if they survived or not.

 There was no soul in sight, and the sun hung brightly in the sky.

 Hot and hammering.

 A bead of sweat rolled down Lucas's  face, slipping into the collar of the shirt he was wearing.

 He looked towards the direction of City C, then took a step forward.

 Less than an hour later, his stomach let out a loud growl.

 "So hungry." Lucas licked his patched lips and looked around.

 Not far from him was a big mall. Next to it was a saloon, and looking further, you'd see a small restaurant.

 Lucas was reluctant to take anything from his food stash. 

 He walked towards the restaurant and quietly scanned the vicinity before pushing the door open.

 It gave in easily with a soft creak.

 The inside of the restaurant was in disarray.

 Chairs and tables were unturned. Broken pieces of plates and bottles littered the floor.

 Lucas headed straight to the kitchen.

 He didn't touch anything on the kitchen counter and looked through the fridge instead.

 He hadn't forgotten about the rapid contamination following the apocalypse.

 Air, food, and water. 

 Nothing would be safe anymore.

 Cold air smacked his face as he peered inside the fridge.

 Raw meats. Raw ingredients. A looked at it expressionlessly.

 Although the power was cut off, the meat were still fresh.

 Lucas's  hand holding the fridge door hesitated, and then he took a packet.

 He searched around and was able to find a small gas cylinder.

 Carrying it in one hand, he leaves the restaurant, circles around the area, and then quietly sneaks into the mall from before.

 Lucas found a shop with a window view outside.

 From where he stood, he could easily keep an eye on everything happening in his vicinity.

 Lucas took off his bag.

 The store he was in was a clothing shop.

 He pushed the rack close by away and turns on the gas cylinder.

 Lucas roasted the meat on the fire and added some seasoning. 

 The appetizing scent drifted in the shop.

 Unable to resist, Lucas ate more than half of the roasted meat before boiling a pot of instant noodles.

 Lucas devoured it all in less than five minutes.

 He ate until his stomach was round and he was fully stuffed.

 When last had he been able to eat like this? Lucas thought sorrowfully.

 During the apocalypse, protein food became so scarce that only those of high class could afford it.

 People like Lucas who were at the bottom of the ladder might not even get to eat just a piece for a while yet.

 Just having enough rice to fill one stomach was considered a blessing.

 Lucas made sure the door was locked and secured, then made a makeshift bed from soft clothing he was able to scavenge from looking around.

 He lay in the soft bedding. His body sank into the warmth, yet his eyes remained wide open.

 It was at this moment that reality really settled in.

 He was back.

 After five years of suffering through the apocalypse.

 That year when he reached base C and was told his family had settled in base A, Lucas was disappointed.

 Going from base A to base C wasn't a short journey.

 He worked as a laborer and also as a dungeon sweeper. 

 People who wander in dungeons picking items with the hope that they can exchange them for something valuable.

 Lucas used it to gather enough money and was able to use it to catch a ride with a guide who was going to Base A on a mission.

 Halfway there he was abandoned, and all he owned was looted by the guide he hired.

 Unwilling to give up, Lucas struggled on his own and finally arrived at Base A.

 Then he met his family and realized that they were completely unbothered and were, in fact, doing well.

 There was another Lucas living, breathing, and laughing beside them.

 So who was he? He thought in confusion when he saw the scene.

 An abrupt laugh tore out of Lucas's  throat, and he stopped thinking about what happened in his past life.

 He closed his eyes, wanting to catch a short nap, but he somehow drifted off.

 When he opened his eyes some hours later, Lucas subconsciously tensed up. 

 There was the soft click of metals and then footsteps. 

 Eyes alert, he looked around the store he was in, confirming that nothing was wrong.

 No one had come in.

 He had actually fallen asleep.

 He lightened his breath and listened. There were about four footsteps, and he could also catch the muffled sound of people talking.

 Lucas rubbed his face, stood up, and began to clear the space.

 He then wore his bag.

 Lucas didn't check who they were.

 He quietly slipped out of the mall through a back entrance he had scouted the night before.

 The day was still early, and the moon was yet to retreat. It glowed softly among an expanse of greyish black clouds.

 Lucas trembled as he made his way down the street. Goosebumps rose along the exposed skin of his arms.

 It was cold. Puffs of white smoke curled out his mouth with each exhale.

 The temperature seemed to be dropping steadily.

 A big contrast to the extreme coldness from the day before.

 Lucas was wearing a black t-shirt and the joggers he was in when he woke up in the dorm.

 He entered a clothing store and looked through the makeup section.

 Lucas found a blue hoodie with the words 'Mummy's boy' written on it. 

 He looked outside the store window. The moisture on the glass slowly froze into a flake of blue ice.

 Yeah. The hoodie it was.

 With a blank face, he turned the hoodie inside out and put it on.

 This was the apocalypse. Who cares?

 On his way out, he caught a stack of nose masks hanging in one corner of the shop.

 Thinking that the contamination would start three to four days into the apocalypse, he grabbed about four of them and walked out of the store.

 An hour later Lucas arrived at the expressways.

 He halted in his steps and gazed at the long line of cars blocking the road. 

 It created an unending congestion.

 Lucas thought he would be able to get a car he could drive from here on, but it seemed he would have to abandon the idea.

 A soft crunch came from the other side of the road. 

 He looked over and saw a group of people. 

 They merely glanced at him before walking away in a hurry.

 At the beginning of the apocalypse, at least half of the human population was wiped out by the sudden appearance of the dungeons.

 Those who survived hid in residential areas or other intact buildings. 

 Lucas was the same in his past life.

 On the second day a rescue team arrived from Base C, which was also the closest base to Seoul.

 They came in military trucks and sang songs about government support. 

 The survivors were loaded into the trucks and

 Out of the seven military trucks, only three arrived intact. 

 Lucas retrieved his eyes as he watched the group disappear and also started to move.

 About a mile later the traffic congestion reduced.

 Lucas started looking around for a working car.

 Most of the cars were damaged during the collision and couldn't be driven anymore. 

 Lucas spotted a red sports car and was immediately drawn towards it.

 Well, there was no harm in trying. He thought to himself.