The morning after the first gate appeared, the city of Seoul felt strangely quiet.
People went about their normal routines, yet there was something off about the air. Birds flew lower than usual. Stray animals hid inside alleys. The news channels spoke in uncertain tones about the strange lights that had appeared across the sky the night before.
"An unexplained energy surge was detected across several districts," one reporter said. "Experts believe it was caused by a temporary distortion in the magnetic field. Citizens are advised not to panic."
Jinwoo listened without speaking. He sat on the couch in his apartment, the television reflecting faint blue light across his face. His coffee had gone cold.
He turned the volume down and stared out the window. The sky looked normal, but the world felt heavier. He could sense it now. The same energy he had once lived among — the pulse of mana spreading like invisible fire through the atmosphere.
The System had reactivated, but it had not told him why.
He stood and closed his eyes, focusing. A faint hum responded from deep inside him. It was quiet but steady, like the rhythm of a heart that had been asleep too long.
"Show me my status," he said quietly.
The air rippled before him. Blue light formed letters in midair.
Status Window
Name: Sung Jinwoo
Level: Unknown
Rank: S
Class: Shadow Monarch
Mana Capacity: Stable
System Integrity: 67 percent
That last line caught his attention. The System had never shown instability before. It was alive, but it was damaged.
He whispered to himself, "Something is rebuilding it from the inside."
A sudden vibration from his phone broke his focus. He answered. It was Cha Hae-In.
"Jinwoo, are you watching the news?"
"I am," he replied.
"They just confirmed that the same light appeared above Busan, Tokyo, and Shanghai. The Guild Association is reactivating emergency protocols. They are calling it a containment event."
Jinwoo walked to the window. "There are no guilds anymore. Who is leading this?"
"The new Association Head," she said. "They rebuilt the organization for research, but now… it seems they will need hunters again."
He was silent for a while. The word "hunters" had not been spoken seriously in years. It sounded foreign now, like a story from another life.
"Do you think this means the dungeons are back?" she asked softly.
Jinwoo's eyes narrowed. "No. Not dungeons. Something else."
That evening, he went to the location where the first gate had appeared. The air still carried traces of mana, faint but present. He knelt and touched the ground. The soil pulsed weakly under his hand, like a living thing.
Suddenly, he felt a faint tremor beneath the earth. It was small, but real. He stood quickly, scanning the area. Shadows stretched unnaturally in the fading light.
Then he heard footsteps.
"Who is there?" he called.
A man stepped out from behind a cluster of trees. He wore a long coat, and his expression was uneasy. Jinwoo recognized him at once — Lee Juhee's brother, now working as a field researcher for the Association.
"Mr. Sung," he said nervously. "You should not be here. The site is under investigation."
"I am only observing," Jinwoo said calmly. "What have you found?"
The man hesitated, glancing at his scanner. "The energy signatures are strange. They do not match any previous dungeon readings. It is like the mana is alive, reacting to us."
"Alive," Jinwoo repeated quietly.
The man nodded. "And there is something else. People around this area reported seeing shadows moving on their own."
Jinwoo's eyes darkened slightly. "I see."
That night, when he returned home, the System spoke again.
Mission Alert: Observe the second emergence.
Location: Busan District.
Time Remaining: 24 hours.
He stared at the message, then sighed. The System had returned to giving him missions, just like before. He looked out the window once more. The city lights flickered faintly under the dark clouds.
"Busan," he said softly. "So it begins there."
The next morning, he traveled quietly by train. The passengers around him spoke nervously about the strange lights. The world was trying to pretend everything was normal, but fear had already begun to spread.
When he reached Busan, the air was heavy with energy. The site was surrounded by soldiers and researchers. A massive crater had opened in the center of an old industrial district. The ground was scorched black, and mana waves rolled out in silent pulses.
He stepped forward, showing his credentials from the reconstruction bureau. The guards hesitated, but let him through. He could feel their eyes following him.
At the center of the crater, a small object floated — a sphere of light about the size of a human heart. It glowed softly, releasing threads of dark mist that twisted into the air.
Jinwoo approached slowly. The closer he got, the louder the hum in his chest became. The System whispered again.
Warning. Unknown mana signature detected.
Source origin: Abyssal layer.
He stopped. The Abyss was not supposed to exist anymore. He had erased it when he recreated the world.
The sphere trembled, and cracks formed across its surface. The mist thickened.
Then it broke.
A wave of energy exploded outward, throwing the soldiers to the ground. Jinwoo remained still, shielding himself with a burst of shadow energy. When the light cleared, a creature stood in the crater.
It was tall and thin, its skin like polished stone, and its eyes burned with crimson light. The air around it shimmered with pressure.
Everyone froze.
Jinwoo studied it carefully. It was not powerful, but its presence was wrong. It did not belong to this world.
The creature turned its head and stared directly at him.
It spoke, its voice low and distorted. "You... do not belong to this cycle."
The soldiers opened fire, but the bullets dissolved before reaching it. The creature raised its hand, and a pulse of energy threw them backward.
Jinwoo stepped forward. The ground darkened beneath his feet as shadows began to spread.
The creature watched him with curiosity. "Shadow Monarch. The Abyss remembers you."
Jinwoo's expression hardened. "Then you should remember what happened last time."
He raised his hand, summoning his shadow blade. The black mist formed into a long, curved weapon that pulsed with his energy.
The creature moved first, lunging forward faster than the eye could follow. Jinwoo met it halfway, their clash sending shockwaves through the crater. The soldiers could only watch as two forces collided, light and shadow spiraling in chaos.
The battle lasted seconds. Jinwoo cut cleanly through the creature's body, splitting it apart. It fell, crumbling into dark dust.
But the System was silent. There was no notification.
Instead, another sphere of light appeared above the crater, larger than before. Inside it, shapes moved — many shapes.
Jinwoo stared at it as realization dawned. The first creature had been only a messenger. The real wave was coming.
He turned to the soldiers. "Get everyone out of here."
They hesitated. His voice hardened. "Now."
As they ran, he looked back at the sky. The sphere was breaking open, cracks spreading across it like lightning.
Something ancient was returning. Something that had waited for him to wake up.
He clenched his fist, feeling the familiar power of his shadows rise within him.
For seven years, he had lived as a man.
Now, the Shadow Monarch would have to rise once more.