Bugged Player: Leveling Up In Realms Meant For My Death Chapter 2: Marked for Death

Read chapter 2 of Bugged Player: Leveling Up In Realms Meant For My Death by DemoiselleAhkinie on NovelPedia.

DING! DING! BUZZ! Every phone across Korea chimed at once. “What the—? There’s a new app on my phone!” “Huh? I didn’t install anything!” "Another strange thing already? We haven't even processed the gates appearing and the Chosen freezing with those blue screens yet!" “Wait—open yours! Mine has something called Leaderboard on it!” “Leaderboard? For what?” “I don’t know! It’s empty… just headings like Ranks, Status, Code names, and something about Progress like it’s waiting to be filled.” Confusion spread through the crowded streets, the chaos loud and grating. Towering blue Paths shimmered across the country in several districts like colossal doors, their icy glow drawing stunned gazes. Scattered everywhere, in schools, offices, stations, parks and more—Chosen stood frozen in place with translucent panels floating before their eyes. To everyone else, the panels were empty. Just blank blue screens hanging in the air. But to the Chosen, an announcement was streaming across them. "Maybe it's really starting..." someone muttered. "The prophecy?" "Yeah. The ones the Celestials warned us about." A hush fell over the small group. Three years ago, mysterious beings calling themselves Celestials had descended upon the world, declaring that humanity's end was approaching. They said only those marked as Chosen would enter the Paths that would one day open and there, they shall fight to prevent it. At first, no one took them seriously, just in awe at the strange otherworldly beings. Until a few loud skeptics were killed where they stood, and every attack humanity tried passed straight through the Celestials like air. Humanity couldn’t touch them. Not one weapon could even scratch their skin. Since then, the world had changed. Marks began appearing on certain individuals. Whether old or young, male or female, age and gender had no bearing. To prepare, governments built facilities to train them. Guilds formed to recruit them and polish them. And now, after three years of waiting— The Paths had finally appeared. _ _ _ _ _ TCCHHH! [Unauthorized User Detected] Unauthorized? Yuin echoed. I guess? Since I’m not supposed to be getting this. But that was besides Yuin’s priority at the moment. Lifting his hand, he splayed them, peering into the corner of his ring finger’s knuckle, the part facing his middle finger that something new seemed to have appeared on. “What is this?” He breathed. It was a pale crest, resembling a delicate sigil. Shaped perfectly like a magic circle, it spanned the size of a pearl; tiny. Blink! Am I really not dreaming? Its pale, milky hue that made it meld seamlessly into his skin made Yuin peer harder. THUMP! His heart lurched… A million thoughts raced through his head. The mark is different and much lighter than what it's supposed to be… but it's there, He thought, as although faint, it couldn't be disputed that when a mark mysteriously appeared on a person, it meant that person was a Chosen. But— DU-DUM! His heart hammered against his chest painfully. His fingers trembled and his eyes shook wide as he stared. Two digits; 1 and 7, in the same pale, milky color, lay on either side of the mark. They didn't belong. He shut his eyes, squeezing tight like one attempting to shut out reality. “But—” He drew a heavy breath. “A mark is a mark.” Even if I’d never seen one look so…. unsettling. Does this mean I’m now qua— TCCHHH! Another glitch from the screen jerked him from his head. The sound grated sharply for a moment, blurring the earlier message and showing a new one. Zone: ??? Codename: ??? Name: ??? Age: ??? Rank: ??? Level: ??? Class: ??? Race: ??? STATS: ??? What are these? Yuin stared wide in confusion. But in a blink, another glitch. Only that when it cleared this time, the information was still intact, but there was an addition. A word. Encased in a rectangular shape. Inked in red and bold in all caps, sat diagonally across the screen; over the message, like a stamp o