The steam tunnels were a different kind of hell.
If the world above was a bright, burning inferno, the tunnels were a cold, damp, and suffocating grave. The air was thick with the smell of rust, mildew, and... death. The pipes that lined the walls, some wide enough to crawl through, were weeping condensation. The only light was the weak, flickering beam of an emergency bulb every hundred meters.
It was perfect.
Seo-jun moved with a confidence that felt alien to his 20-year-old body. His ten years of experience were a map in his head. He knew every junction, every maintenance ladder, every steam-vent.
He also knew that this place was not safe.
A low, wet snarl echoed from the darkness up ahead.
[Monarch's Eyes] active.
[Goblin 'Skulker' (F-Rank)] [Level: 2] [State: Patrolling, Aware.] [...Analyzing...] [A 'variant-spawn'. More intelligent than its 'Starving' kin. Uses darkness. Prefers ambush.]
Seo-jun smiled.
More intelligent? Good.
He didn't slow down. He kept walking, his footsteps echoing, deliberately heavy. Click, clack, click, clack. He was baiting the trap.
The 'Skulker' was in an alcove, just around the next bend. He could feel it.
He rounded the corner.
The 'Skulker', a slightly larger, darker-green Goblin with a crude, sharpened piece of rebar, lunged from the shadows, its yellow eyes wide with murder.
Seo-jun was already in motion.
He didn't try to block. He didn't try to dodge.
He used ['Void's Hand'] at Level 2. The 10kg of force wasn't aimed at the Goblin. It was aimed at the rusted, heavy maintenance hatch on the wall right next to the Goblin.
He pulled.
The hatch, which weighed 20kg, was too heavy to pull free. But the 10kg of telekinetic force was enough to rattle it. It made a CLANG so loud it was deafening in the narrow tunnel.
The 'Skulker', in its lunge, flinched. Its ambush-instincts were betrayed by the sudden, unexpected noise. Its head turned.
That half-second was all Seo-jun needed.
He stepped inside the Goblin's clumsy stab, the rebar scraping his shoulder, and buried his [Ebon Dagger] hilt-deep into the creature's ribs.
The Goblin choked. It stared at him, its eyes full of surprise.
Seo-jun twisted the blade, and [Devour]-ed.
He didn't wait for the death message. He [Devour]-ed the 'essence' of the Level 2 creature while it was still dying.
The Goblin shriveled. Its scream of pain turned into a dry, papery rattle. Its skin cracked. Its eyes turned to dust.
It was a mummified husk before it even hit the floor.
[You have slain 'Goblin Skulker' (Level 2).] [You have gained 10 EXP.] [You have gained 10 EXP.] [LEVEL UP!] [You are now Level 2.] [Your 'Authority' has grown.]
[You have 'Devoured' a higher-quality essence.] ['Ebon Dagger' has consumed a kill. 6/100] ['Void's Hand' has absorbed sufficient essence.] ['Void's Hand' (Level 2) -> 'Void's Hand' (Level 3)] [Weight Limit: 15 kg. Cooldown: 6 seconds.]
A cascade of system windows.
Seo-jun felt the 'level up'. It wasn't a rush of stats. His stats were still '1'. It was a... deepening. The hollow, cold space in his chest felt larger. His [Authority] was stronger.
He felt good.
He finished the 20-minute trek in five. He killed two more 'Skulkers' in the same way. Distract. Assassinate. Devour.
By the time he reached the maintenance ladder to the library's sub-basement, he was Level 3, and his dagger was 8/100.
He climbed.
He emerged into a cavernous, dark room. The sub-basement. Rows and rows of 10-meter-high, automated shelving. The 'Tome-Retrieval' system. It was all dead. The power was out.
The air was thick with the smell of old paper, dust, and... fear.
He could hear them.
Voices. Whispers. From the far end of the racks, from the 'Staff-Only' lounge.
"...shut up! Just shut up!" "But I saw them! They broke the doors! They're... they're in the main hall!" "W-we're all going to die... I can't... Jin-ho, I'm scared..."
Seo-jun walked, his footsteps silent on the concrete floor. He moved between the towering shelves of forgotten books, a ghost in the stacks.
He remembered this room. He remembered hiding here, with them. He remembered Jin-ho, with his broad shoulders and his "confident" smile, handing him a metal bat and saying, "We protect each other."
What a lie.
He reached the end of the aisle. The lounge was just ahead. He could see the light from their single, battery-powered lantern.
He rounded the corner.
They were there.
Three figures, huddled together like rats in a nest.
Cheol, the future Mage, was rocking back and forth, his face buried in his hands.
Park Jin-ho, his future "Leader," was clutching a broken chair leg, his face pale and sweating, but trying to look tough.
And Lee Hye-jin. His future... betrayer. She was weeping, her shoulders shaking.
They were pathetic.
They hadn't seen him.
Seo-jun just... watched. He watched the three people who would, ten years from now, murder him for a piece of loot. He watched them in their 'larval' state. Weak. Scared. Human.
Cheol looked up first. His eyes, red and puffy, went wide. He didn't see a human. He saw a figure emerge from the total darkness, covered in black, dried blood and filth, holding a dagger that seemed to drink the light.
He screamed. "A-a monster! Jin-ho! A new one!"
Jin-ho scrambled to his feet, raising the chair leg. "S-stay back! I'm warning you! I... I'll kill you!"
Hye-jin looked up, her face a mask of pure, abject terror.
Seo-jun didn't move. He just... was.
He activated [Monarch's Eyes].
[Park Jin-ho. Level 1. Class: None.] [State: Terrified, Feigning Bravado.] [Potential: B-Rank (Latent - 'Warrior').]
[Lee Hye-jin. Level 1. Class: None.] [State: Weeping, Panicked.] [Potential: A-Rank (Latent - 'Healer').]
[Cheol. Level 1. Class: None.] [State: Hysterical.] [Potential: F-Rank.]
So that's how it was. Hye-jin, with A-Rank potential. Jin-ho, with B-Rank. And Cheol... worthless. Just like him. No. Less than him.
They were just scared, useless children.
It was Hye-jin who recognized him first. Her weeping stopped. She squinted through the dim light, her eyes widening.
"S... Seo-jun?"
Her voice was a thin, trembling whisper.
"Kang... Kang Seo-jun? Is... is that you?"
Jin-ho and Cheol froze. They looked.
"Seo-jun?" Jin-ho's "bravado" dropped, replaced by stunned disbelief. "What... what the hell? Where did you come from? You're... you're covered in..."
Hye-jin scrambled to her feet. "Seo-jun! Oh, thank god! Help us! Please, help us! There are monsters everywhere! They broke into the main hall! They're... they're..." She devolved into sobs again.
Seo-jun just stood there.
He looked at Hye-jin. Her face, streaked with tears and dirt, was looking at him with hope. The same way he used to look at her.
He looked at Jin-ho, who was already sizing him up, noticing the blood, the dagger, the calm.
And then Seo-jun did the one thing they didn't expect.
He smiled.
It was not a kind smile. It was not a smile of reunion.
It was the smile of a predator that had just found its old, crippled tormentors.
"Hello, Jin-ho," he said, his voice a low, gravelly sound he didn't even recognize. "Hello, Hye-jin."
He savored the names. The first time he'd spoken them in this new life.
"It's good to see you again."
The silence in the room was absolute, broken only by Hye-jin's hitched, terrified breathing. They had been waiting for a savior.
They had just realized, in that one, cold smile, that they had found something else entirely.