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[Hunter Yoo Jihwan has died.]
[The System has recorded your death.]
[Death Count: 1]
[You have earned Death Points (DP).]
[Due to your death, your Death Points have increased by 2.]
[Death Points (DP): 2]
[Welcome to the Afterlife System.]
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Darkness.
Cold. Heavy. Endless.
Jihwan floated in the abyss — weightless, formless, yet painfully aware.
No breath. No heartbeat. No body.
Only silence.
The void wrapped around him like an ocean with no shore, pressing in from every direction. No light. No time. Only the weight of eternity grinding against his mind.
How long had it been?
A second?
A century?
He couldn't tell.
Then—
A sound.
Chime.
A single metallic note cleaved the silence. Ripples of light trembled through the dark.
And with that sound — memory returned.
The dungeon.
The mist.
The claws.
The unbearable pain.
His last memory — his body torn apart, and Lee Hyunwoo walking away.
Jihwan's lungs convulsed. His body screamed to life.
Air — ragged and foul — burned his throat. His fingers clawed at the cold ground beneath him.
Stone.
A breath.
A heartbeat.
A body.
The void shattered, and the world returned.
The stench of blood filled his lungs. The air was thick, metallic, and suffocating. Every breath tasted like rust.
He opened his eyes.
A cavern stretched before him, walls slick with crimson mist. The sound of dripping water echoed, slow and steady — like a heartbeat counting down to death.
He knew this place.
The Bloodmist Dungeon.
The graveyard of countless hunters.
The dungeon no one escaped alive.
Jihwan pushed himself up, trembling. His clothes clung to him, cold and damp. His heart pounded, but not from fear — from remembrance.
And then, he saw them.
Lee Hyunwoo — sword on his shoulder, grin sharp as ever.
Kim Jisoo — spinning her staff lazily, her smirk cruel and careless.
The others — chatting, laughing, alive.
Alive.
Jihwan's breath caught. His nails dug deep into his palms, blood dripping to the stone.
No.
This wasn't right.
They were supposed to be dead.
He was supposed to be dead.
He remembered the tearing pain.
The cold crawling through his bones.
The sound of his body breaking.
And yet — he stood here again.
Alive.
A low chime echoed in his skull, clearer this time — like a whisper from the void itself.
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[The System assigns power based on your eligibility.]
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"Eligibility…?" he muttered.
The trembling stopped. His heartbeat slowed.
The fear in his chest hardened — cooled into something sharp and merciless.
This wasn't a miracle.
It wasn't mercy.
It was punishment.
A loop written by something far beyond his comprehension.
He had died once — betrayed, discarded, forgotten.
Now he was back.
Back to the moment it all began.
His eyes fixed on the man who had left him to die.
Lee Hyunwoo.
Jihwan's lips curled into a cold, thin smile.
This time…
I won't die for you.
This time — you'll remember what death feels like.