Player 0: Foundation of a Fallen World
Chapter 3 — Acceptance
The crack in the sky slowly widened.
There was no thunder. No wind. No trembling.
But everyone in the hospital fell silent at once.
Bow stood close to the window, watching a dark red line slowly seep through behind the white fissure.
It wasn't sunlight.
It was as if something existed behind the sky.
And was looking back down at them.
“Get a picture! Hurry!”
Someone shouted from the hallway.
Dozens of phones rose into the air.
“Facebook's down!”
“I can't get into TikTok!”
“Holy crap, it's happening in Bangkok too!”
A man held his phone out for the person beside him. A short video from Bangkok showed the same cracks in the sky before the signal froze.
Someone else opened a video from Udon Thani.
Another clip came from Vientiane.
Then every screen went black at once.
Flicker!
The hospital lights went out.
Startled cries erupted everywhere.
Less than two seconds later, white emergency lights came on in their place.
Bow quickly turned back toward the bed.
“Mom!”
“I’m right here!”
Dad reached out and grabbed Mom by the shoulder.
Phod’s heart monitor was still running on backup power.
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
“He’s still here.”
Bow had only just let out a breath when another voice rang out.
It didn't come from the speakers.
It rang inside their heads.
It was so clear that no one could pretend they hadn't heard it.
[To all human life-forms]
Everyone froze.
[World Number 7,914,201 has entered the adaptation phase]
[Initiating the Selection]
A transparent window appeared in midair in front of Bow.
She flinched and stepped back.
But the window moved with her gaze.
[You have been granted the right to participate in the Selection]
[Participation is voluntary]
Two options appeared below.
[Accept]
[Refuse]
An uproar immediately spread through the hallway.
“Do you see this too?”
“What the hell is this?”
“Don’t touch it! Don’t just press things!”
“Is this some kind of game?”
Bow turned to Dad.
“Can you see it?”
Dad nodded.
Mom was staring at something in front of her too, her face pale.
Everyone could see it.
Even Phod, who was still unconscious.
Only the window above his body was different.
[Player 0 is not subject to the Selection]
No one else could see it.
The messages for ordinary people changed simultaneously.
[Warning]
[The Selection will alter the structure of the body and soul]
[There is a risk of death and permanent damage]
[The system does not guarantee results]
The chaos that had filled the hallway fell silent.
No one was laughing anymore.
Bow stared at the words risk of death.
Then she looked at Phod.
Mom spoke immediately.
“No.”
Dad turned to her. “Take it easy.”
“It says he could die!”
Mom pressed [Refuse] without hesitation.
The window vanished instantly.
Dad watched for another moment before pressing it too.
Bow still hadn't moved.
“Bow.”
Mom called her name.
“Refuse it, honey.”
She didn't answer.
A voice came from the room across the hall.
“I’m in.”
A young man around twenty, who had been watching over a relative in the room next door, raised his hand and tapped [Accept].
His mother yanked his arm.
“Don’t!”
It was already too late.
White light wrapped around the young man’s body.
He collapsed to the floor at once.
“Aaaagh!”
His scream made everyone recoil.
The veins in his neck bulged, and his muscles spasmed as if he’d been hit with an electric shock.
Two nurses hurried over.
“Don’t touch him!”
But less than ten seconds later, the young man stopped thrashing.
He lay perfectly still.
Then he opened his eyes.
His irises had turned a faint gold.
“I...”
He raised a hand and stared at it.
A tiny spark danced above his fingertip.
Everyone in the hallway stood there with their mouths hanging open.
“Power...”
That single word shattered the hesitation of countless people.
The sound of [Accept] rang out all around the hospital like an epidemic.
Some people laughed.
Some cried.
Some prayed before pressing it.
Bow turned and spotted the old man in the wheelchair she had seen when she went downstairs to buy coffee.
His granddaughter was gripping his hand tightly.
“Grandpa, don’t.”
The old man smiled.
“Your grandpa hasn’t been able to walk for three years.”
“But it says you could die!”
“I’m going to die eventually anyway.”
“Grandpa!”
He looked down at his legs.
Then he raised his head and looked at his granddaughter.
“What if it lets your grandpa walk again?”
A wrinkled finger touched the word [Accept].
Light swallowed his body.
The woman in the patient gown Bow had passed earlier was standing not far away.
Her phone was still connected to a call with her daughter.
“Mom?”
The voice on the other end trembled.
“Mom, don’t press it.”
Tears ran down the woman’s face.
She stroked her head, where treatment had left her with thinning hair.
“The doctor said I only have a few months left.”
“I’m coming to you right now.”
“Don’t.”
“Mom!”
She smiled through her tears.
“Let me try one more time, sweetheart.”
[Accept]
Bow clenched her fists.
These people didn't want to be heroes at all.
Some of them just...
wanted to have a tomorrow.
Screams began rising from every floor.
Some people made it through.
Some didn't.
On the hallway floor, a middle-aged man spasmed a few times before blood ran from his nose and he went completely still.
Another woman woke up, only to find that she couldn't feel one of her legs.
A nurse who had just completed the Selection stood there crying because she could no longer see out of her left eye.
The hospital, already packed with patients, was turning into a battlefield without a single enemy in sight.
“Bow.”
Mom grabbed her arm.
“That’s enough. You’ve seen what happens, right?”
Bow had seen it.
She'd seen it very clearly.
She looked at Phod.
The foul-mouthed kid who normally complained if someone opened a door too loudly, even when he was asleep.
But today, he hadn't said a word.
The doctor had told them to wait.
Everyone had told them to wait.
What if he didn't wake up?
What if something had been damaged, and the doctors just hadn't found it yet?
What if this power—
Bow drew a deep breath.
“Mom.”
“Don’t.”
“What if I get a healing power—”
“And what if you die?”
The words struck her hard enough to leave her frozen.
Dad stepped over.
“Bow, you don’t have to go that far for your brother.”
She turned to look at him.
“What if he needs it?”
No one answered.
Bow let out a soft laugh.
Her voice trembled more than she’d intended.
“This bastard owes me big time. He can’t die yet.”
“Bow...”
“I’m scared too, Mom.”
She said it plainly.
“Terrified.”
One hand gripped the railing of Phod’s bed.
“But if I refuse, and someday I find out I could’ve helped him...”
Bow pressed her lips together.
“I’d hate myself even more.”
Her finger came down.
[Accept]
The entire world suddenly turned white.
The sound of Mom calling her name vanished.
Pain shot through every bone in her body at once.
Bow crumpled.
But before her head could hit the floor, Dad caught her.
“Bow!”
Phod’s heart monitor suddenly began beeping rapidly.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
No one noticed that beneath his tightly closed eyelids, new messages were appearing.
[Participant with a blood relationship detected]
[Analyzing...]
Meanwhile—
Above the cracked sky,
one enormous black hand
slowly slipped through the fissure.
And the screams that rose from the street below this time
did not come from the Selection.