Darkness eveloped me and a freezing wind slapped my face before I could even scream. My bare feet hit ice.
[Penalty Quest Activated: Failure to complete daily quest.]
[You have been transported to the penalty zone.
Duration: 2:00:00 ]
I stumbled forward, gasping, the hospital gown flapping like torn paper in a storm. The sky was black, no moon, just ash-colored clouds swirling like ink in water.
I wasn't in the hospital anymore. I wasn't even sure I was on Earth.
Snow stretched in every direction. Black rocks jutted from the white plains, and beyond them loomed a forest of frostbitten trees. The air was cold enough to slice skin.
My body trembled as my brain caught up with my surroundings.
The System message still floated in front of me like a hologram.
[Penalty Quest: Survive for two hours.
Failure Result: Death of Player.]
"What the hell." I started, but the words froze in my throat." Got to be kidding me."
A low, guttural growl echoed behind me.
I turned. My breath hitched. From the edge of the dark forest, a massive wolf no, a hound emerged. Its fur was black and ragged, its eyes a hungry red that glowed through the blizzard. Steam curled from its jaws as it sniffed the air, catching my scent.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, I saw a dozen pairs of crimson eyes flickering in the dark.
"Oh no…"
The first one howled. The others answered, a chorus that rattled my bones.
[1:59:31]
Two hours.
Two hours of this hell.
"Run," I whispered to myself, and then I did exactly that.
My legs pumped through the snow, each step taunted with my balance. I didn't know where to go there was nowhere safe, nowhere human.
The icy wind cut through my skin, but the pounding behind me was worse. The claws, paws, snarls, the weight of monsters chasing my heartbeat.
Every breath burned. I slipped on a patch of ice, nearly falling, then caught myself on a jagged rock. Blood stained the snow beneath my hand. The hounds were closing in.
The ground trembled with their pursuit. I didn't look back not like I could . I pushed harder, my lungs screaming for a break. I spotted a frozen cave up ahead, narrow and deep maybe I could lose them there.
I leapt, landing hard on the edge of the ravine, then scrambled down the slope. Ice broke beneath my fingers as I slid into the shadowy trench. I pressed against the cold wall, panting, heart hammering like a drum in my ears.
The growls grew louder.
Their sniffing pulled in closer and all I could think of was dying a second time.
The timer flickered in the air:
Twenty two minutes. That's all? You've got to be kidding me!
I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to think. Okay, Rex. Calm down. You watched Solo Leveling a hundred times. Jinwoo survived worse. He was weak too, at first.
I snorted bitterly. "Yeah, except he didn't get dropped here in a freaking hospital gown to play with a pack of hounds!"
A low snarl cut through the wind, one of them had found my trail. I bolted.
The hound lunged from above the ridge, jaws wide. I threw myself sideways, the creature crashing into the snow where I'd just been. Its claws scraped against stone, sending sparks. Its eyes locked on me intelligent and malicious.
"Stay back!" I yelled, grabbing a shard of ice and swinging it like a knife. The hound lunged again, and I slashed. The makeshift weapon shattered, but the impact grazed its muscle, drawing dark blood.
It howled, staggering back for a heartbeat then three more appeared behind it.
"Great. Just great!"
I ran again, legs screaming in protest. My bare feet left trails of blood in the snow. The timer flashed:
[1:32:50]
This feot like eternity. I wasn't sure I would survive another thirty minutes here. Fuck.
At some point, my body stopped responding to pain. Everything was just numb movement a blur of snow, shadows, and breath. I ducked behind fallen logs, crawled beneath frost-bitten roots, slipped across ice sheets that cracked under me.
Every time I thought I'd lost them, another howl came from somewhere close.
"Two hours…" I muttered through clenched teeth. "Just two freaking hours…"
I stumbled into a small clearing surrounded by icy cliffs. There was nowhere left to run. My vision blurred from exhaustion. The wolves emerged from the treeline, forming a ring around me.
My chest heaved. Steam poured from their mouths. The biggest of them twice the size of a horse stepped forward. Its fur was streaked with scars; its fangs gleamed like ivory blades.
It crouched, muscles rippling.
"Come on then…" I muttered trying my best to be cool. "Let's dance."
It charged.
I dove aside, barely missing the strike. Snow exploded behind me as its claws tore into the ground. I grabbed a broken icicle, thrusting upward as it lunged again the shard pierced its eye, and the beast roared in agony, thrashing.
For a heartbeat, victory sparked in me. Then the others attacked.
I didn't stand a chance.
I fell backward, rolling, arms flailing. A teeth grazed my leg a sharp, burning pain tore through muscle. I screamed, kicking wildly, my heel connecting with one jaw, then another.
The timer flashed: [1:02:34]
An hour. I could do this. I had to.
I scrambled up, limping, using the cave wall to hold myself. "Come on, Rex, you've watched enough anime to know how this goes the protagonist doesn't die in episode two!"
I staggered forward, slipping, sliding, bleeding running with whatever I had left.
The wolves didn't tire. They didn't slow down. But I learned their rhythm. When they lunged, I ducked. When they circled, I used terrain stones, fallen trees, ice ridges anything to buy seconds.
Seconds that turned into minutes.
Minutes that felt like lifetimes.
By the time I reached a frozen lake, my breath came in sharp bursts. My limbs shook uncontrollably. I fell to my knees, chest heaving, blood dripping onto the snow. The timer flickered:
[00:13:56]
Almost there.
"Come on… come on…"
A low growl echoed from behind me. I turned slowly. The alpha stood there one eye missing, frost steaming from its wounds.
"Of course it's you again."
It snarled, crouched low and pounced.
I rolled to the side, grabbing a broken tree branch half-buried in snow. I swung with everything I had left. The wood cracked against its jaw; the beast yelped and tumbled, ice breaking beneath it.
Then the ground shattered.
The alpha crashed through the ice into the freezing water below, dragging me with it.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Cold swallowed me whole.
The world above became a blur of white and silver. My lungs screamed for air as I kicked, clawed, fought toward the surface. The wolf's weight dragged me down claws raking, jaws snapping.
Then
A flash of light.
The world folded.
And the cold disappeared.
[00:00:01]
I collapsed onto a bed the same hospital bed gasping, shaking, drenched in water that wasn't there. My entire body hurt, but the monitors were beeping again, steady. Real.
I lay there for what felt like hours, laughing weakly.
"I'm… alive," I whispered, half-crazed, half-relieved. "I actually survived that…"
Tears rolled down my cheeks part laughter, part disbelief.
"Two hours of hell," I muttered, chuckling. "And I didn't die. Jinwoo, I get it now… I get it."
I stared at the System message hovering faintly in the air above me.
[Quest Completed
Reward: +10 Strength, +10 Agility, +10 Endurance ]
My eyes widened.
I felt… lighter. Stronger. My body, though battered, didn't ache as much. I could breathe without pain.
"Just like… Sung Jinwoo."
I clenched my fists, the strength real beneath my skin.
That night, I didn't sleep. I just sat there, staring at the glowing System interface.
If Sung Jinwoo existed here if his world was real then maybe he was out there right now, rising through dungeons, becoming the Shadow Monarch.
And maybe… I was meant to follow that path.