The sky over Seoul didn't scream; it tore.
It was a sound like tectonic plates grinding against glass—a screech that bypassed the ears and vibrated directly into the marrow of the bone. High above the Lotte World Tower, the air rippled, turning a bruised shade of violet before snapping open. A Gate. But this wasn't the shimmering blue of a stabilized portal; it was a jagged, bleeding red.
A Rank-A "Cataclysm" Gate.
Below, in the crowded streets of Gangnam, the "System" notifications on every citizen's vision flared crimson.
[WARNING: Regional Mana Density has exceeded safety thresholds.]
[Status: Uncharted Red Gate detected.]
[Constraint: Forced Entry Protocol engaged for all Users within 500 meters.]
Han Jin-woo stood in the center of the sidewalk, a plastic bag containing a half-eaten convenience store kimbap dangling from his hand. He looked up, his dark eyes reflecting the chaotic swirl of the vortex. Around him, people were screaming, scrambling for the designated shelters, but Jin-woo remained eerily still.
He wasn't brave. He was just doing the math.
Red Gate. Average monster level: B-High to A-Low. Forced entry means the System is dragging in everyone nearby to act as 'fuel' or 'fodder' to stabilize the interior. Jin-woo looked at his own status window, a pathetic, flickering screen that only he could see.
[User: Han Jin-woo]
[Rank: F-Low]
[Class: None (Unawakened)]
[Unique Trait: Quantum Thread (Level 1)]
[Current Threads: 1/1]
"Of all the days to buy tuna kimbap," Jin-woo muttered, his voice dry and devoid of the panic infecting the crowd. "I should have gone for the premium beef. If this is my last meal, the aftertaste is going to be insulting."
A pillar of black light erupted from the Gate, slamming into the pavement. The shockwave tossed cars like toys. Jin-woo felt a familiar, sickening tug at the base of his skull—the System's "Summoning Hook." Before he could even drop his grocery bag, the world blurred into a kaleidoscopic tunnel of shadow and static.
When the world stopped spinning, Jin-woo wasn't on the streets of Seoul.
He was standing on a floating island of obsidian, surrounded by a sea of literal fire. The sky was a ceiling of jagged rocks, dripping with molten sulfur. Around him, about forty other people were stumbling to their feet. Most were crying. Some were vomiting.
And then there was the smell. It was the scent of ozone, rotting meat, and something metallic.
"Form a perimeter!" a booming voice commanded.
A man in silver-plated armor stood at the center of the group. His name tag flickered: [Kang Min-ho – Rank B-Mid – Tanker]. Beside him stood a woman with a long, elegant bow, her eyes sharp as a hawk's. [Yoo Shin-ah – Rank A-Low – Archer].
Jin-woo's eyes lingered on Shin-ah. She was the "Spear of Radiance," a rising star in the Hunter Association. Even in a chaotic Red Gate, she looked like a marble statue—perfect, cold, and utterly lethal.
"Listen up!" Kang Min-ho shouted, his shield glowing with a faint blue light. "We've been pulled into a Red Gate. The exit won't open until the Boss is dead. F-Ranks and civilians, stay in the center. D-Ranks and above, prepare for the first wave. If you want to live, do exactly what I say!"
Jin-woo drifted toward the back of the group, blending into the shadows of a large obsidian pillar. He didn't plan on being "protected." In these situations, the "fodder" were usually the first to be sacrificed when the Boss appeared.
"Joon-ho," Jin-woo whispered, not looking back.
"I'm right here, and I'm currently reconsidering our friendship," a voice replied.
Choi Joon-ho, the youngest heir to the Choi Conglomerate, was crouching behind the same pillar. Despite the life-threatening situation, his hair was perfectly styled, though his face was as pale as a sheet.
"My father is going to sue the System," Joon-ho hissed, clutching a high-grade mana-stone dagger. "I pay for premium insurance. This shouldn't be happening!"
"Save the legal fees for the funeral," Jin-woo said, his eyes narrowing as the ground began to tremble. "Look."
From the sea of fire surrounding their island, creatures began to crawl. They were [Hell-Hounds: Rank D-High]. Their skin was molten lava held together by charred muscle, and their eyes were pits of white-hot heat. There weren't just a few. There were hundreds.
"One, two, three... forty-six..." Jin-woo began counting under his breath, his mind working like a high-speed processor.
"What are you doing?" Joon-ho asked, trembling.
"Calculating the probability of the B-Rank Tanker holding the line," Jin-woo replied. "It's currently 14%. We need a distraction."
"A distraction? Jin, we're F-Ranks! We are the distraction!"
Jin-woo didn't answer. He closed his eyes. In the darkness of his mind, he saw a single, glowing blue string. This was his "Unique Trait." To the world, it was a useless "Evasion" skill. To him, it was something else entirely.
Focus. Don't just make a shadow. Create a thread of probability.
[Skill Activated: Phantom Image (Level 1)]
A flicker of light appeared beside Jin-woo. Slowly, it solidified into a perfect replica of himself—down to the tattered kimbap bag in its hand. However, the replica looked slightly translucent, like a hologram with a poor connection.
[Current Threads: 1/1]
[Note: Phantom Image possesses 5% of host's durability. Duration: 10 minutes.]
"Go," Jin-woo commanded mentally.
The Phantom Image didn't run. It glided. It moved toward the edge of the obsidian cliff, away from the main group of survivors.
"Hey! You!" Kang Min-ho, the Tanker, shouted at the Phantom, thinking it was a fleeing civilian. "Stay with the group! You'll get yourself killed!"
The Phantom ignored him, standing at the edge of the lava. A group of Hell-Hounds noticed the "stray" and veered away from the main group, their predatory instincts triggered by the isolated target.
"Jin, what is that thing?" Joon-ho whispered, staring at the replica.
"That's me," Jin-woo said, his brow sweating. "Or a version of me that's about to have a very bad day."
The first Hell-Hound leaped. Its jaws, dripping with liquid fire, snapped shut on the Phantom's shoulder.
Jin-woo gasped, clutching his own shoulder. He didn't feel the heat, but he felt the data.
[Phantom Image has taken damage.]
[Analyzing Monster Mechanic: 'Flame Body'...]
[Analysis Failed: Damage insufficient for permanent acquisition.]
Not enough, Jin-woo thought, his teeth gritted. I need it to die. I need to 'kill' the mechanic.
"Joon-ho, give me your dagger," Jin-woo ordered.
"What? No! This cost four billion won!"
"Do you want to live or do you want to die with a very expensive toothpick?"
Joon-ho handed over the dagger. Jin-woo didn't use it himself. Through the "Quantum Link," he projected the weapon's properties onto the Phantom. The translucent replica suddenly gripped a shimmering, ethereal version of the dagger.
The Phantom Image, driven by Jin-woo's strategic mind, didn't swing wildly. It waited. As the Hell-Hound lunged for its throat, the Phantom stepped into the bite, shoving the dagger upward through the creature's jaw and into its brain.
The Hell-Hound exploded into a shower of sparks and ash.
[Phantom Image has defeated 'Hell-Hound' (Rank D-High).]
[Unique Trait Triggered: Mechanic Copy.]
[Acquiring Mechanic: 'Heat Dispersion'...]
[Success! Passive Buff Acquired: Minor Fire Resistance (Low-F).]
[User has leveled up!]
A surge of cold energy washed over Jin-woo. The heat of the cavern, which had been blistering his skin, suddenly felt manageable. It was like someone had turned on a faint air conditioner inside his veins.
[Level Up! Current Level: 2]
[New Thread Available: 2/2]
Jin-woo's eyes snapped open. He felt the mental weight double. Now, he could feel two points of view—his own, and a second, vacant space waiting to be filled.
But there was no time to celebrate.
The ground split. From the lava sea, a massive hand made of cooled magma gripped the edge of the island. Then another. A creature the size of a three-story building pulled itself up.
[Boss Monster detected: Magma Golem – Rank A-Low.]
"Formation! Formation!" Kang Min-ho screamed, but his voice was shaking. A B-Rank Tanker stood no chance against an A-Rank Boss in a Red Gate.
Yoo Shin-ah stepped forward, her bow glowing with an intense, blinding white light. "Min-ho, take the civilians and run to the far ridge. I'll buy you three minutes."
"Three minutes?" Min-ho stammered. "Against that? Shin-ah, you'll die!"
"I am an A-Rank Hunter," she said, her voice like ice. "I don't plan on dying in a hole like this."
She released an arrow. It streak across the cavern like a comet, striking the Golem's chest. The explosion rocked the entire island, but the Golem didn't even flinch. It let out a roar that sent a wave of physical pressure through the air, knocking the survivors to their knees.
Jin-woo watched from the shadows. He saw the way the Golem's body hummed. He saw the cracks in its armor that glowed with a core of pure energy.
It's not just a rock, Jin-woo realized. It's a thermal engine. If I can copy that regeneration... I can survive anything.
"Joon-ho," Jin-woo said, standing up.
"Please tell me you're not going to do something stupid."
"I'm going to do something very smart," Jin-woo replied, a sharp, dangerous grin spreading across his face. "But it's going to look incredibly stupid."
Jin-woo snapped his fingers.
Two Phantom Images appeared. One took on a defensive stance, its face mimicking Jin-woo's serious expression. The other... the other began to do jumping jacks and shout insults at the Golem.
"Hey! Overgrown Pebble!" the second Phantom yelled. "Your mother was a pebble and your father was a pile of silt!"
The Golem's massive head turned.
"Jin-woo..." Joon-ho whispered, horrified. "Did you just make a clone specifically to talk trash?"
"Strategic taunting," Jin-woo corrected. "If the Boss is focused on 'us,' it's not focused on the lady with the bow. And if I'm going to level up, I need to be in the line of fire."
As the Golem raised a fist the size of a boulder to crush the annoying "insects," Jin-woo felt the familiar hum of the System.
[Warning: Physical 'Crash' Imminent.]
[Processing simultaneous data streams...]
"Let's see if the 'extra life' theory works," Jin-woo muttered.
The fist came down.
[BOOM.]
The obsidian island cracked under the force of the blow. Dust and fire obscured everything. Yoo Shin-ah screamed something, but her voice was drowned out by the Golem's roar.
Inside the crater, where Jin-woo should have been a smear of blood, a blue light flickered.
[Quantum Link: Swapping places with Thread 2...]
[Success.]
Jin-woo appeared ten feet away, completely unharmed, while his "trash-talking" clone was obliterated.
[Phantom Image destroyed.]
[Absorbing Mechanic: 'High-Density Regeneration'...]
[Warning: User's Rank is too low for full acquisition.]
[Partial Success: Passive Buff 'Stone Skin' (Rank E) Acquired.]
[Feedback: Mental Fatigue at 40%.]
Jin-woo stumbled, his head throbbing as if a spike had been driven through his temples. The memories of the clone—the sight of the massive fist descending, the feeling of the air being squeezed out of its lungs—slammed into his brain all at once.
He fell to one knee, gasping for air.
"Jin!" Joon-ho ran over, grabbing his shoulder. "You're alive? How are you alive?!"
"Calculated... risk," Jin-woo wheezed, wiping a streak of blood from his nose. "I just... need a second... to stop the world from spinning."
Above them, Yoo Shin-ah landed gracefully, her eyes wide as she stared at Jin-woo. She had seen him get crushed. She had seen him vanish and reappear.
"You," she said, her bow still drawn but pointed at the ground. "What kind of F-Rank are you?"
Jin-woo looked up, a shaky, witty smile returning to his face despite the "Crash" beginning to settle in.
"The kind that really, really wants to go home and finish his kimbap," he said.
The Golem roared again, its body beginning to glow with a blinding white light. It was entering its second phase. The real fight was just beginning, and Jin-woo could already feel the System preparing another "Thread."
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 3]
[Total Threads: 3/3]
"Shin-ah, right?" Jin-woo stood up, his legs trembling but his eyes burning with a new, predatory light. "Stop shooting at its chest. It's a thermal engine. The exhaust is in the back of its neck. If you distract it, I'll send my 'other selves' to plug the vents."
Shin-ah hesitated, looking from the towering monster to the "weak" F-Rank. For some reason, the logic in his voice was more convincing than any S-Rank commander she had ever met.
"Fine," she said. "Don't die, Classless."
"I've got three lives now," Jin-woo joked, though his vision was blurring. "Dying is a hobby at this point."
As the A-Rank Boss lunged, Han Jin-woo—the man with no class and a fractured soul—prepared to rewrite the laws of the System, one death at a time.