The beast falls asleep. The brain trapped inside a human skull rather than the bones of an elk continues, as always, to piece together memories steeped in regret.
This time, however, the dream was strange. Instead of unfolding through the familiar first-person perspective, it appeared from the viewpoint of a third party, as though someone were secretly watching from the sidelines.
The beast soon realized that the two people in the vision were a married couple.
In the scene before him, a stranger with a warm smile was slipping a ring onto the beast’s rough hand—a hand corded with prominent veins from wielding an axe and chopping firewood every day.
This was the stranger’s proposal, several years ago in February.
About a month later, they held a modest wedding at a small church at the foot of the mountain. Having grown up in a household so dysfunctional that both of his parents had been imprisoned for child abuse, the beast had never imagined himself in such a scene.
Yet after all sorts of twists and turns, somehow, even the beast had found himself a partner.
Their newlywed life was happy.
Having spent years living alone in a cabin in the mountains, the beast ate less meat than most people and had unintentionally settled into something resembling a vegetarian diet. His partner, on the other hand, came from the city and had a fondness for processed food, so the two occasionally clashed over what to eat.
“Oh, damn it. Alright, alright, honey. I get it. Just put that down for now. Yeah. I agree! Now that I think about it, eating organically is definitely better for our health!”
Fortunately, Beast’s spouse was quite understanding.
Even when they argued, they always made up afterward, settling back into the same quiet, peaceful routine as any ordinary married couple.
He had never imagined that someone like him, someone who had never truly belonged to society, would ever be allowed to experience such ordinary days.
“Pretty eyes.”
But while they were still enjoying that honeymoon period, Beast was confronted with one of life’s cruel realities.
He had once come across the saying “What comes easy, goes easy” in a dictionary of proverbs, but he had never expected it to apply not only to money and possessions, but to people as well.
It seemed terribly unfair.
Worse still, his spouse died for an almost absurd reason.
Honestly, it was the sort of thing that belonged in a dark comedy.
If they hadn’t suddenly gone out early that morning to buy the $12 cheese fish cake sold only at a Korean market, they would never have died like that.
This was exactly why I kept telling them that eating too much processed food would shorten their lifespan, even going so far as to try persuading them with an axe in my hand.
Beast’s spouse died one year after Dungeon Shock.
However, the victim was not killed by any of the monsters that had emerged from the dungeons.
The culprit was none other than a middle school boy.
More precisely, the victim lost their life because of a prank committed by a young awakened person.
It was a grim reminder that the awakening phenomenon was not necessarily humanity’s salvation.
One day, a boy abruptly gained supernatural abilities. Fascinated by his newfound power, he began amusing himself by using it on people.
His ability was invisible telekinesis.
People who had no idea what was happening to them died in agony, while the police were unable to identify the culprit. It was a ‘clean’ ability, leaving behind no fingerprints, no obvious traces, nothing that could lead investigators back to him.
And so the awakened boy used his power to hunt ordinary people as casually as someone might shoot squirrels.
After all, hunting real people was far more thrilling than playing some heavily censored video game.
To put it simply, Beast’s spouse had been terribly unlucky that day.
They had gone out to buy food from the Korean grocery store, and the young telekinetic boy, without giving it much thought, decided that the next person he saw would be his target.
It was as casual as playing a city-building strategy simulation and clicking a button to adjust the population.
“Ugh!”
The spouse, whose eyes had always looked as innocent as a deer’s, met an abrupt and senseless death when an invisible force ruptured their stomach and spleen.
Beast, however, remained unaware of what had happened for quite some time.
He didn’t have a driver’s license at the time.
Of course, he tried calling several times with the old phone his partner had given him, but someone who had already died could hardly answer.
Come to think of it, he had never even asked where that Korean market was.
Could it be somewhere far away?
Or maybe the truck had gotten a flat tire along the way?
Beast sat idly in his room, reading a book and remembering his partner’s parting words.
“Stay home and take care of the house until I get back.”
Six hours passed.
By then, even the beast’s socially inept brain had begun to wonder whether it might be time to go to the police.
Fortunately, however, that wouldn’t be necessary.
Before long, his old cell phone rang.
The call came from an unknown number.
***
The next day.
“2:28 in the morning...”
Okay, perfect.
I quickly checked the time on my smartphone and hurried onward, making sure no one was watching.
Today’s destination was the entrance to the global dungeon, [Mimic City], which had appeared in a mountain valley in Gyeonggi Province.
I had already obtained permission to enter from the association.
################
00:02 Are you asleep?
00:02 No.
00:05 It’s nothing special, but I have a question about the dungeon...
01:41 Do you have time?
01:42 No.
01:42 Sorry, I’ll call you back tomorrow morning
<15 days ago>
02:15 Hunter Kang
03:17 No, it’s resolved, so don’t worry about it
################
I had already analyzed Kang Changho’s sleeping patterns in anticipation of a day like this, so there was nothing to worry about.
I chose the hours between 2 and 6 AM, when many Koreans would be sleeping most deeply, as the best time to sneak the body out.
Given my identity as an environmental consultant, there was nothing particularly suspicious about me entering a dungeon alone.
Besides, if nobody happened to die during those hours...
Well, that would be disappointing, but I wouldn’t exactly be losing anything.
“Let’s give it a try.”
At last, I reached the entrance to [Mimic City].
Several association employees in suits stood within the restricted area cordoned off by yellow tape. The moment they spotted me, they bowed and called out.
“Heuk!”
“Hello...!”
“Shh, shh.”
I immediately cut off their greetings.
What was there for a thief to boast about?
What good would it do to announce to the whole world that Korea’s fourth S-rank hunter was entering this place?
“It’s early in the morning, so keep it down. Sound already echoes through these mountains.”
“Aah, yes...!!”
“Anyway, can I just go in?”
“Yes!”
Times like these made me appreciate the advantages of being a celebrity.
I watched the staff retreat like the ebbing tide, then strode confidently through the gate.
The interior possessed a peculiar atmosphere, washed in a bluish hue.
Straight passageways stretched ahead with an artificial precision that made it obvious they had been designed by an intelligent being, only to split again and again into a maze of branching paths—dozens, perhaps even hundreds of possible routes.
‘Just as I heard, it’s a labyrinth.’
This other world, which was still expanding even now, was enormous.
It felt as though three or four ordinary dungeons had been fused together.
But no matter how vast the place was, I already knew where I was going.
‘Shall I begin?’
Somewhere secluded where I could crouch out of sight like a sneaky little rat!
With that in mind, I used my exploration skills to search for a suitable place to hide and wait for dawn.
.
.
.
Clank! Boom!
The sound of weapons and tools colliding rang through the dungeon’s dry air.
It was probably a scouting party from some country fighting the monsters inhabiting this place.
But to me, it was hardly a welcome sound.
Thud.
The sound of a resident of Mimic City driving a weaponized bone into someone’s body.
Thud, thud.
Or perhaps the sound of bodily fluids spilling from torn flesh.
Well, if something had to spill, I certainly wouldn’t mind hearing that kind of sound.
‘Hmm.’
I sat hunched over with my elbows resting on my crossed legs.
My chosen hiding place was inside a collapsed section of wall near the center of Mimic City.
I couldn’t remember who had said it, but I figured that if I stayed hidden in the shadows cast by this jumble of ruined dungeon structures, I should be able to avoid people’s eyes to some extent.
‘And this body is F-rank, so as long as I don’t make any noise, there’s no way anyone will notice my presence through magic...’
Wait.
Did some stone dust get into my eyes?
Why were they suddenly watering?
I lifted the hand that had been propping up my chin, gently wiped my eyes, and focused again.
For now, I had my senses spread as widely as possible, keeping track of every awakened person in the surrounding area.
Unfortunately, as expected, fresh corpses were not easy to come by.
Appraisers, who were primarily assigned to investigative work, were treated as valuable personnel no matter what country they belonged to.
For one thing, security around them tended to be tight everywhere.
‘Judging by the amount of magic, there was one A-rank and about three B-ranks, right?’
I closed my eyes and focused on the hunters’ magic, allowing the faint currents they emitted to seep into my senses.
Judging from the overall situation, it didn’t seem as though any corpses were going to appear after all.
Still, thanks to these small gains, I wasn’t nearly as annoyed as I had expected to be.
‘My senses have gotten a little sharper.’
It was the effect of [Dragon’s Lung].
Perhaps because the amount of magic my body could handle had increased, the range over which I could detect things had expanded as well.
Compared to the height of my power, when I could cover half the planet, this was still nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
Still, progress was progress.
“Hmm?”
Then, at that moment, a new S-rank hunter appeared at the very edge of my carefully extended senses.
Considering the sorcerer’s normally calm disposition, the fierce current of magic accompanying him was somewhat unexpected.
“Huh? What is this? This is Jung Haseong?”
I instinctively glanced at the analog watch I had brought with me.
It was around 4:48.
Roughly two hours had passed since I entered.
And Jung Haseong had just entered the dungeon.
“Huh? Are you crazy?”
After such a long break, I thought his habits might have improved, but who in their right mind went dungeon raiding at this hour?
No, let me correct that.
To be precise, he probably wasn’t here to raid.
[Mimic City] reset at 6:30 AM.
Entering the gate at such an awkward time likely meant that his objective wasn’t to clear out every monster inside, but to conduct some preliminary reconnaissance for later.
‘As expected.’
I quietly tracked the magic of the number-one-ranked hunter.
Sure enough, he was moving quite slowly.
That was unmistakably the walking pace of an ordinary Earthling.
In that case, all I had to do was concentrate on avoiding him.
“No, but seriously, isn’t working at five in the morning a bit much?”
I should bring this up in class.
My legs were beginning to go numb, so I shifted my sitting position slightly and returned to my thoughts.
Would any hunters die?
And was Jung Haseong coming this way?
“Hmm.”
A few minutes later.
My eyeballs twitched beneath my closed lids and rolled slightly to one side.
Something strange had changed within the area covered by my senses.
There had already been another S-rank inside this dungeon even before Jung Haseong arrived.
Could that mysterious S-rank have developed a sixth sense like mine?
Without warning, the other person began hurtling toward Jung Haseong’s position.
If I hadn’t known that what I was sensing was the movement of magic within a living body, I might have mistaken it for an arrow being fired.
“Hmm?”
The situation escalated almost immediately.
The instant the mysterious S-rank and Jung Haseong encountered one another, their magic erupted violently.
Both of them had activated skills.
And not just any skills.
Highly aggressive ones!
“Wait.”
What the hell was going on?
A few seconds later, Jung Haseong’s magic suddenly destabilized.
It was like watching the spine of a living creature snap in half. A gap abruptly appeared through the center of his magical presence, only for a faint blue energy to barely reconnect it moments later.
“Huh?”
I stared in horror.
And no, that wasn’t some complicated metaphor.
Jung Haseong had literally just had part of his waist severed, and he was frantically using a healing potion to stop the bleeding so he could keep fighting.
“Huuuh?!”
Startled by what I was sensing, I sprang to my feet.
Then I raced toward the battlefield along a shortcut through the dungeon that I had scouted beforehand.
Given who the potential corpse belonged to, this wasn’t exactly a situation where I could simply celebrate the possibility of acquiring a high-ranking body.
“There it is!”
Tak, tak, tak.
I reinforced my legs with magic and ran at the absolute maximum speed an F-rank body could manage.
When I finally reached the scene, what awaited me was already beyond belief.
‘No! The future national guard I’ve been working so hard to raise!’
Aaargh!
Haseong stood there, his body looking as though it had been torn apart and stitched back together several times over.
Not a single piece of his equipment remained intact.
And amid the blood splattered across the surroundings stood the mysterious ability user, making their presence unmistakably known.
The attacker was a beast with a bizarre mask fashioned from elk bones covering its head.
Beast was the owner of that overwhelming magical power!