Jinwoo woke to an unfamiliar emptiness.
He reached out instinctively, but the space beside him was completely cold.
"…Jin-ah?" he murmured, before his mind fully cleared. He sat up, blinking away the remnants of sleep. The room was perfectly quiet, morning sunlight filtering softly through the curtains.
A small knot formed in his chest, but as he stood and stepped into the living room, he noticed something else.
The small dining table was set.
A simple breakfast—rice, perfectly rolled omelet, and soup—was waiting for him, still warm. Steam rose faintly from the bowl. Beside it lay a neatly folded napkin and a small note, placed with careful precision.
He picked it up.
Oppa,
I made breakfast before heading to school.
Eat it before going out and don't you dare to
skip your meal.
— Jinah
Jinwoo stared at the note for a long moment, memories of last night's passionate surface again.
He smiled, a deep warmth settling in his chest. "She really did grow up," he murmured softly.
He sat down and ate slowly, tasting more than just the food. There was profound care in every single detail—the slightly overcooked edges of the eggs, the soup seasoned exactly the way he liked it.
As he finished the last bite, his gaze drifted toward the door.
'I should level up today,' he thought, standing to clear the dishes.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the System window flickered aggressively at the very edge of his vision, as if suddenly remembering something critical.
Jinwoo dismissed it without looking, folding Jinah's note carefully and slipping it into his pocket. Outside, the city moved on as usual. Inside the small apartment, Jinwoo lay back down on his bed, allowing himself a short rest to digest before heading out to find a gate.
BEEP—!
A sharp, blaring alarm suddenly echoed directly inside his skull.
His eyes snapped open. "…System?"
A blood-red light flared into existence before his eyes, completely replacing the usual calm blue of the interface.
[ DAILY QUEST – INCOMPLETE ]
[ Quest Failure Detected. ]
[ Remaining Time Until Penalty: 01:57 ]
Jinwoo's breath hitched. "What…?"
His eyes scanned the glowing crimson panel rapidly. Then, it hit him like a physical blow.
Yesterday. He had spent the entire day lost in Jin-Ah's company.
He had completely forgotten to do his daily workout.
A cold sensation crawled up his spine. "…Damn it."
The timer kept ticking, merciless and absolute.
[ 01:42 ]
[ 01:41 ]
He clenched his teeth, his mind racing. "There's no stopping it…"
The penalty zone. He had barely survived it the first time he failed a quest. He had spent four agonizing hours running for his life from giant centipedes in an endless, scorching desert.
But this time—he wouldn't make the same mistake.
Jinwoo's eyes hardened with terrifying resolve. "Store."
The digital marketplace burst open instantly. He ignored the weapons and armor tabs, scrolling straight to the consumables section.
[ Low-Grade Health Potion — 500 Gold ]
[ Mid-Grade Health Potion — 2,000 Gold ]
"Buy. Buy. Buy."
His hard-earned gold plummeted as potion after potion materialized and filled his inventory grid—ten, twenty, forty—until only a meager handful of coins remained.
[ Inventory Updated. ]
Jinwoo exhaled sharply. 'Now I'm ready.'
The countdown burned into his vision.
[ 00:10 ]
[ 00:09 ]
He stood in the dead center of the living room, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He could feel Jinah's folded note pressing lightly against his chest through his shirt.
'I'll come back,' he promised silently.
[ 00:03 ]
[ 00:02 ]
The world began to violently distort.
[ 00:01 ]
[ Penalty Commencing. ]
The apartment completely vanished.
Gravity twisted, tearing reality apart. Jinwoo felt himself pulled, crushed, and violently reassembled in a fraction of a second.
Then—he slammed into the ground.
Hot, coarse grains of sand scraped against his palms as he sucked in a sharp, dry breath. The temperature was blistering, the sun beating down like a physical weight.
"… place again huh, I never thought I will repeat same mistake as old jinwoo," he muttered, slowly rising to his feet.
An endless, desolate desert stretched in every direction. The air was heavy, oppressive, and dead. The punishment zone.
Suddenly, the sand thirty yards away began to ripple. Low, clicking growls echoed from beneath the dunes.
Jinwoo didn't hesitate for a second.
Kasaka's Venom Fang flashed into his grip, the curved, bone-white blade gleaming dangerously under the harsh desert sun.
"Come on," he challenged the shifting sands, dropping his center of gravity. "I'm ready this time."
From beneath the earth, massive red eyes snapped open. Then another pair. And another. Giant, armored centipedes burst from the dunes, their mandibles snapping wildly.
Jinwoo lowered his stance. There was absolutely no fear in his eyes. Because this time, he wasn't here just to survive.
He was here to farm.
The first monster lunged. Jinwoo moved.
His body reacted faster than conscious thought—his 27 points in Agility surging as he twisted effortlessly to the side. The beast's massive jaws tore through empty air.
Kasaka's Venom Fang flashed in a brilliant, deadly arc. The monster's head cleanly separated from its armored body, instantly dissolving into black mist.
[ Monster Defeated. ]
[ EXP Acquired. ]
He didn't even slow down. Two more centipedes attacked from his blind spot.
He ducked beneath the first, driving his dagger violently upward through its softer underbelly, then spun on his heel and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to the second beast's carapace. Bone and armor cracked under the sheer force of his Strength stat.
Slash.
Stab.
Both vanished into black dust.
'This place is meant to punish me,' Jinwoo realized, a wild, predatory grin spreading across his face. 'Then I'll use it.'
More monsters came.
Five.
Ten.
Dozens.
Jinwoo fought relentlessly, a whirlwind of blades and blood. Every movement was sharper than the last. His strikes grew faster, cleaner, more perfectly optimized for slaughter.
When a stray claw finally tore into his side, pain flared hotly—but he simply opened his inventory and drank a potion without a second of hesitation. Cool, refreshing warmth flooded his veins, instantly knitting his torn flesh back together.
"Keep coming!" he roared to the empty desert.
Minutes blurred into hours. Black mist and blue blood soaked the golden sand. At some point, he simply stopped counting the bodies. His Sense Enhancement pulsed on and off like a radar, warning him mere fractions of a second before every ambush.
Then—the ground beneath him exploded.
A colossal creature erupted from the depths. It wasn't a centipede. It was a massive, humanoid golem formed of hardened desert rock, its arms jagged like broken stone pillars.
It unleashed an earth-shattering roar.
Jinwoo didn't retreat. He charged directly at it.
The stone monster slammed its massive fist down, trying to crush him into a paste. Jinwoo leaped at the exact moment of impact, using the tremors to launch himself into the air. He landed lightly on the creature's outstretched arm, sprinted up its rocky bicep, and plunged Kasaka's Venom Fang deep into the glowing red core at its neck.
"Die."
The rock giant shuddered violently before completely exploding into dust.
[ Monster Defeated. ]
[ EXP Acquired – Large Amount. ]
Chimes began to ring endlessly in his ears.
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
"This isn't punishment anymore," Jinwoo laughed breathlessly, wiping sweat and monster blood from his forehead. "This is a hunting ground."
For the next three hours, he adapted.
When he grew exhausted, he changed tactics to conserve stamina.
When he was wounded, he drank his stockpile of potions.
When his muscles shook with fatigue, he forced himself to take another step forward. Again. And again. And again.
Near the very end of the countdown, a tensile, bladed limb caught him off guard, tearing brutally through his thigh.
Jinwoo crashed into the sand. Agonizing pain exploded up his leg. Darkness crept into the edges of his vision—
Then, Jinah's smiling face flashed in his mind. The warm breakfast waiting for him. The promise he had made to protect his family.
Jinwoo crushed two potions at once, the liquid splashing over his face, and surged back to his feet with a primal roar.
"No," he growled, his eyes burning with unnatural blue light. "I'm not done yet."
The final wave of monsters crashed down on him like a storm. When the very last beast finally fell to his blade, an eerie, absolute silence blanketed the desert.
[ 00:00:00 ]
[ Penalty Time Completed. ]
Jinwoo dropped heavily to one knee, gasping for air.
A brilliant, soothing blue light enveloped his completely battered body.
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level Up! ]
[ Level 15 → 20 ]
Jinwoo looked at the floating numbers, a tired but triumphant smile on his lips. "…Worth it."
The world twisted one final time.
A blinding flash of light consumed the desert.
Jinwoo collapsed onto the hardwood floor of his apartment, his chest heaving wildly as the familiar, water-stained ceiling spun above him.
The morning sunlight was still streaming through the window.
He was home.