- I'll murder you! - Jin-Ah announced furiously, storming into the room. - I told you to stop hurting yourself! You have no idea how worried I was.
The girl attacked her brother and began to beat him furiously with her fists.
- Sorry. I didn't want you to worry again. - The boy said sadly, thinking about what his sister would feel if he really died.
For a long time, they only had each other. Four years to be precise.
She would probably cry so much.
Had he really never thought of this before?
This... the money she would get after his death wouldn't solve the problem of her loneliness if something happened to him.
Eventually, the power behind Jin-Aha's punches gradually disappeared. She soon stopped, and when her head went down, she began to cry. Jin-Woo slowly patted his sobbing sister's back.
Feeling a burning sense of guilt.
He was glad he was alive and that his sister didn't have to go through the pain of losing him.
He had experienced a hellish terrifying nightmare. And he was so happy that he got out of it in one piece.
Jin-Woo's gaze moved slightly toward the words floating in the air.
[ MESSAGE ]
[ YOU HAVE AN UNREAD MESSAGE ]
Although it's possible he didn't fully wake up from this nightmare.
There were so many things he couldn't understand.
Fortunately, his strong sister stopped crying after a while. Unfortunately for him, however, her nagging continued for over an hour.
- Can you hear me? If you get hurt again, I will quit school, get a job, and make sure you never work as a Hunter again.
Jin-Ah's fierce gaze didn't match her pretty face, but it was a biological trait she shared with her older brother.
- All right, all right. I heard you.
Jin-Woo nodded as if he had given up.
Only after gaining his assurance several times did she show a hint of satisfaction and get up from her seat.
- I have to go back to school, I only got permission to visit you for a short time.
Jin-Woo nodded.
His sister was very committed to her studies. There were college entrance exams next year and she wanted to do them as well as she could. That's why she didn't want to miss class.
She may never have received private tutoring or taken extracurricular activities, but she has always been in the top ten in her school so far.
Jin-Ah dreamed of becoming a doctor.
Until a few years ago, she loved wasting her time on video games and stuff like that, but then when their mother got sick, she swore she would become a doctor, and she never stopped learning since then.
Jin-Woo really wanted his sister to fulfill her dream.
Wait a minute... play video games?
Suddenly, Jin-Woo's eyes flashed a little dangerously.
In the temple...
What exactly happened when I heard that female's voice?
I became... a player, didn't I?
But how exactly did I agree to become a player?
No... I remembered what happened then.
Did I do anything specific?
Did I say?
No... I guess I couldn't speak. I didn't have the strength for it anymore.
How did I agree?!
Did I nodded?
No, I was too sore and broken to move.
I didn't seem to do anything important.
I just... agreed.
I wanted to.
But this uncertain knowledge will not help me understand how to open this strange message the letters were talking about.
Unless...
It doesn't cost me anything to try it.
Looking stubbornly at the letters he saw in the air, Jin-Woo wished for the message to open. He even tried to say "Open" quietly in his head just to be sure.
To his surprise, the letters responded to his request.
[ MESSAGE! ]
[ HELLO, PLAYER ] (UNREAD)
[ A NEW QUEST HAS BEEN RECEIVED ]
[TODAY'S QUEST: THE ROAD TOWARD POWER ] (UNREAD)
He thought the first message sounded familiar like he'd heard it somewhere before.
So first message.
[ CONGRATULATIONS ON BECOMING A "PLAYER" ] (UNREAD)
[ THE SYSTEM WILL HELP THE "PLAYER" BECOME STRONGER ]
[ IF THE PLAYER DOES NOT FOLLOW THE SYSTEM'S INSTRUCTIONS, THEY MAY RECEIVE A PENALTY ]
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR REWARDS ]
Before passing out in the dungeon, he was called a player.
Of course then, and even now, he still couldn't really understand what was going on here and what it all meant.
"System", "Penalty", "Rewards".
It all sounded very mysterious without context.
How will it help him become stronger?
And what will she reward me with?
Seeing words that could only be found in a video game appear before his eyes without any prior explanation or context confused him even more.
[ MESSAGE ]
[ NEW QUEST RECEIVED ]
[ TODAY'S QUEST: THE ROAD TO POWER ] (UNREAD)
Jin-Woo sighed in admiration after reading this rather suggestive title. His heart began to beat faster in anticipation.
- Choose. - After this quiet mutter under his breath, the screen changed showing some pure statistics.
[ DETAILS ABOUT THE QUEST ]
[ DAILY QUEST: THE ROAD TOWARD POWER ]
[ GOALS ]
[INCOMPLETE] PUSH-UPS [0/100]
[INCOMPLETE] SIT-UPS [0/100]
[INCOMPLETE] SQUATS [0/100]
[INCOMPLETE] RUN [0/10KM]
[ CAUTION - FAILURE TO COMPLETE THE QUEST WILL RESULT IN RECEIVING STOCK PENALTY ]
Jin-Woo reflexively spat out a stunned chuckle after confirming the content of the message.
- What is this supposed to be? Is this some kind of bad joke?
Was what he felt now disappointment?
Probably.
He didn't need to get nervous seeing all those strange windows in front of his face.
"The Road to Power" sounded pretty badass.
And now this strange System is telling him to do sit-ups?
Come on, please. It sounded idiotic.
It doesn't matter how hard the hunter practices and trains. It was impossible to increase one's strength in this way. You couldn't jump between ranks.
The only such possibility was the Second Awakening, of which he had been unreasonably suspected a few hours ago.
Was this what this development and reward was talking about?
Maybe his tired, desperate mind wanted to help him become stronger at all costs?
And he really had hallucinations seeing these windows in front of him.
How desperately did he want to get stronger just to see this stupid hallucination?
While it was fun, he also felt a little lonely inside.
And humiliated.
Jin-Woo shook his head, feeling even worse than before.
He suddenly thought he was a fool for finding answers to so many questions in fucking hallucinations.
Now that he thought about it, it was a good thing he hadn't admitted seeing these things to the inspector: "I'm too hot for this shit and I need a few fucking hours of sleep."
He wasn't going to bother with this humiliating nonsense any longer.
Jin-Woo lay down on the bed with his legs spread. He stared at the ceiling without saying a word. He wasn't doing anything important, but time passed.
As soon as he began to feel the weight of silence filling his hospital room...
Jin-Woo abruptly lifted his torso off the bed.
What if something could change after doing these exercises?
Because his thoughts were half-filled with uncertain anticipation and half-filled with unconvinced curiosity, he began to wonder if he should at least try.
Well, he had nothing to lose anyway.
There would be no reason not to try it if it was just a light muscle stretching workout or something, right?
Jin-Woo closed the mailbox without regret.
A Hunter can't just get stronger. If it were like this, there would only be B, A, and S rank hunters walking around the world.
Jin-Woo yawned long and covered himself with the blanket, lying down comfortably.
He slept for four days. But he wanted to sleep some more. He had nothing else to do here anyway.
Maybe these strange hallucinations and voices will go away once he sleeps.
His eyelids slowly closed. And Jin-Woo fell into a deep sleep.
The hours passed, his sleep continued, and the hands on the small clock drawn under the "Road to Power" quest began to change.
The needles spun and spun until they read
[ 23:59:57 ]
[ 23:59:58 ]
[ 23:59:59 ]
[ 23:59:60 ]
....
The needles stopped exactly when they touched 12:00.
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED YOUR QUEST FOR TODAY. FOR A SPECIFIC TIME YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO THE PENALTY ZONE ]
Jin-Woo opened his eyes when strange tremors shook his body and the entire bed.
Jin-Woo sat up and grabbed the edges of the bed, terrified. The shaking was so strong that he couldn't keep his balance and everything in the room, not only the bed, began to jump and tremble restlessly.
As the seconds passed, the shaking became more and more aggressive, and the boy wondered if Seoul had been hit by some terrible earthquake.
Suddenly, to his disbelief and shock, he saw the furniture and objects in the room begin to turn to dust.
One of the steel bars of the hospital bed began to turn into dust before his eyes, followed by the rest of the metal structure.
Upon closer inspection, Jin-Woo realized that what the objects were turning into was not ash but sand.