POV 1: Jinwoo Han — Ardent Flame Guild
The first dungeon appeared without warning.
A swirling vortex of darkness pulsed above the ruins of City Hall, devouring clouds and light alike. The System called it a Gate, and when the first scout entered, only static returned.
The next day, Jinwoo and his squad arrived.
[Dungeon Detected: "The Hollow Hive"][Recommended Level: 40+][Status: Unexplored]
He tightened the strap on his gauntlet, flame circling his fingertips. The air stank of metal and rot. Around him, his guildmates whispered in fear.
"Captain," one said softly. "They say another team went in last night… and didn't come out."
"Then we'll bring them out," Jinwoo replied.
The moment he stepped into the Gate, the world folded.
Inside was a maze of glistening black stone, walls throbbing faintly like veins. The Hive pulsed with alien life. Insects the size of wolves scuttled through the corridors, dripping acid from their mandibles.
His flames flared brighter, searing through them, lighting the way.
But after the tenth wave of monsters, his fire began to fade.
Even he was nearing exhaustion.
[MP: 22% Remaining][Fatigue Level: High]
Then—a sound. Soft, steady footsteps echoing from deeper within the dungeon.
Jinwoo signaled for silence. The squad raised their weapons.
From the shadows emerged a woman in a torn brown cloak, hood pulled low. Her hands were bare—no weapons, no armor. Just a small satchel glowing faintly green.
For a second, Jinwoo thought she was another survivor.
Until the Hive reacted.
The monsters—thousands of them—stopped moving. Every single one froze mid-motion. The tunnels fell silent. Then, as if obeying an unseen command, the creatures turned to dust.
No flame, no strike. Just life collapsing out of existence.
Jinwoo felt the hair rise on his neck.
[System Notification: High-Rank Entity Detected.]
[Classification: Unknown | Power Rating: SSS+]
The woman didn't look at them. She knelt by the ground, placing a hand against the black stone floor. Where her fingers touched, green light spread—healing the cracks, purifying the darkness.
The System pinged again.
[Area Cleansed: Hive – 78% Purified.]
When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, almost gentle."You should leave. This place isn't stable."
Jinwoo took a step forward. "Who are you?"
She didn't answer. Only lifted her gaze for a brief moment—eyes the color of soft amber, steady and tired.
Then the light around her flared.
And she was gone.
Outside the dungeon, minutes later, Jinwoo stumbled into daylight, breathing hard. His entire squad was silent, stunned.
"Did that just—?"
"Everything inside just disappeared!"
Jinwoo didn't respond. His system window was still flickering.
[Dungeon Cleared: The Hollow Hive]
[Contribution: 7%]
[Main Clearer: ??? (Data Hidden)]
[Reward Distributed: Reduced]
He stared at the "Data Hidden" line for a long time, the image of that cloaked woman burned into his mind.
And for the first time since awakening, the Flame of Seoul felt small.
POV 2: Yuna Havel — Scholar Guild "Horizon Union"
Yuna wasn't a fighter. She was a researcher, one of the few remaining data analysts who survived the first wave. Her class—Archivist of Knowledge—let her see fragments of System data most others couldn't.
She spent her days tracking anomalies.
And one day, she found her.
[Unregistered Entity Detected]
[Alias: "E.P."]
[System Contribution: 78% of Seoul City Restoration Tasks]
[Estimated Rank: 1]
[Class: Life Artisan]
"Life Artisan?" Yuna whispered, eyes widening. "No combat record… yet she has over seventy percent of the total reconstruction score?"
The data didn't make sense. Every guild leader had thousands of battle points. But this anonymous user had creation points that surpassed even S-tier awakeners.
"Could she be the hidden top ranker?"
Her assistant, a thin boy with a prosthetic arm, frowned. "But that's impossible. The first awakener was said to be a combatant."
Yuna smiled faintly. "Who said the first one had to fight?"
That night, she analyzed the Hive's afterdata.The signature she found inside was the same: Life energy manipulation beyond measurable limits.
And for a single frame, she captured an image—a figure cloaked in brown, eyes glowing like sunlight.
She printed it out, pinned it to her wall, and murmured,"I'll find you, whoever you are. The world deserves to know its true savior."
Interlude: The Hidden Garden
Far away, under the quiet glow of her protected dome in District 13, Evelyn Park sat among her blooming herbs.
Her cloak was gone, her hands raw from channeling too much energy. But the Hive was purified. The dungeon gone. The city safer.
She could see faint lights from afar—fires, guilds building walls, survivors organizing under banners of flame and steel.
And she smiled softly.
"I guess the world's starting to move again."
Her system pulsed quietly.
[Quest Completed: Cleanse the Hollow Hive]
[Reward: +10 Levels | New Title Unlocked: Guardian of the Living Soil]
[Hidden Notification: "Two entities detected searching for you."]
Evelyn glanced up, expression unreadable.
"Jinwoo Han… and Yuna Havel."Her lips curved faintly.
"Let them look. It's not time yet."
Outside her barrier, the city howled and burned.Inside, life kept growing.