Ji-woo spent the next forty-eight hours preparing like his life depended on it—because it did.
He called in sick to both jobs, burning through precious sick days he'd been hoarding. His supervisors weren't happy, but Ji-woo didn't care anymore. What was getting fired compared to death in a dungeon? He could find new jobs. He only had one life.
The first day, he focused on physical training. His level-up had improved his base stats, but Yoon's warning echoed in his mind: the dungeons scale to your level. Being stronger meant facing stronger enemies. He needed to match that escalation.
Ji-woo ran stadium stairs at the nearby high school, pushed his body through burpees and pull-ups until his muscles screamed. The strange thing was, his body recovered faster now. Muscles that should have been sore for days felt fine after a few hours. Another gift from the system—accelerated healing, even outside dungeons.
He practiced with his rusty knife, stabbing and slashing at empty air in his apartment. His neighbors probably thought he'd lost his mind. Maybe he had. But each movement became smoother, more instinctive. His body was learning the language of violence.
On the second day, Ji-woo studied the system itself. He opened every menu, read every tooltip, experimented with his inventory. He discovered he could store up to twenty unique item types, with stacks of up to ninety-nine identical items. The Tunnel Rat Leather and Rat Teeth from his first dungeon sat there, seemingly useless until the shop unlocked.
His skills menu showed only two abilities:
[DESPERATE STRIKE (ACTIVE) - LEVEL 1]
Cost: 20 MP Effect: Next attack deals 200% damage Cooldown: 30 seconds
[DEBT SENSE (PASSIVE) - LEVEL 1]
Effect: Detect nearby debtors and dungeon entrances within 50 meters No cost
Desperate Strike had a cooldown he hadn't noticed in the heat of battle. Thirty seconds between uses. That meant he needed to be strategic—save it for critical moments, not waste it on weak enemies.
Ji-woo also experimented with his MP regeneration. His fifty-point pool regenerated at roughly one point per minute outside of dungeons. Inside dungeons, it would likely be slower or nonexistent. That meant he could use Desperate Strike twice per dungeon before running dry, unless he found MP recovery items.
The night before the deadline, Ji-woo lay awake, mind racing. Tomorrow he'd enter his second dungeon. An abandoned clinic in Gangnam—one of Seoul's wealthiest districts, now home to a pocket dimension filled with who-knew-what.
His phone displayed the dungeon information:
[GANGNAM ABANDONED CLINIC - LEVEL 2][ESTIMATED DIFFICULTY: MODERATE][BOSS ENEMY: CORRUPTED SURGEON][CLEAR CONDITION: DEFEAT BOSS OR SURVIVE 1 HOUR][REWARDS: ₩15,000,000 DEBT REDUCTION + EXPERIENCE + ITEMS]
Fifteen million won. More than his first dungeon. The system was rewarding his progress.
At 10 AM the next morning, Ji-woo stood outside an actual abandoned clinic in Gangnam. The building was real—a three-story medical facility that had closed down five years ago after some kind of malpractice scandal. Plywood covered the windows, and warning signs declared it off-limits.
But Ji-woo's Debt Sense pulsed strongly from within. To normal people, this was just an abandoned building. To Debt Reapers, it was a gateway to somewhere else.
He checked his status one last time.
[KIM JI-WOO - LEVEL 2 DEBT REAPER][HP: 120/120][MP: 50/50][STRENGTH: 9][AGILITY: 9][VITALITY: 12][INTELLIGENCE: 12]
Ready as he'd ever be.
Ji-woo touched the clinic's front door. The system recognized his intent.
[ENTER DUNGEON: GANGNAM ABANDONED CLINIC?][WARNING: ONCE ENTERED, YOU CANNOT LEAVE UNTIL CLEAR CONDITIONS ARE MET][YES/NO]
He selected YES.
Reality tore open like wet paper. The familiar sensation of falling through space seized him, and then he was standing in a hallway that looked almost normal. Almost.
The clinic's interior was pristine—too pristine. White tiles gleamed under flickering fluorescent lights. The air smelled of antiseptic and something underneath it, something rotten. Examination rooms lined both sides of the corridor, their doors hanging open.
[DUNGEON ENTERED][OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT THE CORRUPTED SURGEON][TIME LIMIT: 1 HOUR][CURRENT TIME: 60:00]
Ji-woo summoned his rusty knife from inventory. The weapon materialized in his hand, familiar and solid. He'd learned in his training that he could dismiss and summon it at will, which meant he didn't have to constantly hold it.
The hallway stretched before him, doors gaping like mouths. He needed to find the boss—the Corrupted Surgeon. But the system had said "defeat boss or survive one hour." That implied the boss would come to him eventually.
Should he wait or hunt?
Ji-woo remembered Yoon's advice: The system rewards aggression.
He moved forward, footsteps echoing on pristine tile. The first examination room was empty except for a medical bed and instrument tray. No monsters. The second room was the same. But in the third—
Something moved in the shadows.
Ji-woo raised his knife. A figure shambled into the flickering light, and his stomach turned.
It had been human once. The patient gown was the first clue. But its skin was grey and mottled, eyes milky white, mouth hanging open to reveal blackened teeth. Surgical scars crisscrossed its body—crude, infected, wrong.
[ENEMY: FAILED PATIENT - LEVEL 2][HP: 80/80]
The Failed Patient lurched toward him with disturbing speed. Ji-woo sidestepped—his improved agility making the movement smooth—and slashed at its back. The rusty blade cut deep, black ichor instead of blood spraying from the wound.
[HP: 55/80]
The creature spun faster than something that damaged should move. Its fingers ended in surgical instruments—scalpels and needles fused to bone. It slashed at Ji-woo's face.
He ducked and thrust upward, the knife punching through the patient's jaw and into its brain. The creature spasmed and dissolved into black smoke.
[EXPERIENCE +15]
More than the rats had given. Higher level enemies meant better experience gains.
Ji-woo continued down the hallway, finding more Failed Patients in various examination rooms. Some were strapped to beds, thrashing against restraints. Others wandered aimlessly until they sensed him. He put them down one by one, learning their patterns.
They were faster than the rats but less coordinated. They attacked in straight lines, making them easy to dodge if you kept your distance. Their surgical instrument hands were dangerous, but only at close range.
[EXPERIENCE: 45/150]
[TIME REMAINING: 52:34]
Ji-woo found stairs leading to the second floor. The aesthetic shifted here—more surgical suites, larger rooms with operating tables. And more Failed Patients, these ones more heavily modified.
[ENEMY: SURGICAL EXPERIMENT - LEVEL 3][HP: 120/120]
The Surgical Experiment had been cut apart and reassembled wrong. Extra arms jutted from its torso, each ending in different surgical tools. Its legs bent backward, giving it a spider-like gait. Multiple faces seemed to push against the skin of its back, their expressions frozen in silent screams.
Ji-woo felt bile rise in his throat. This was someone's nightmare made real.
The Experiment charged on its backward legs, multiple arms whirling with surgical precision. Ji-woo dodged left, but two arms adjusted mid-strike, scalpels opening cuts across his shoulder and forearm.
[HP: 105/120]
Pain flared, sharp and immediate. Ji-woo countered with Desperate Strike, his knife glowing with unnatural energy as it sheared through two of the creature's arms.
[MP: 30/50]
The Experiment shrieked and retreated, black ichor pumping from its stumps. But it didn't stop fighting. It adapted, using its remaining arms more defensively, probing for weaknesses.
Smart. These enemies were learning.
Ji-woo pressed his advantage, using his superior agility to circle the creature. It couldn't turn fast on its backward legs. He slashed at its sides, its back, whittling down its health while avoiding the remaining surgical weapons.
[HP: 40/120]
The Experiment made a desperate lunge, throwing all its remaining arms forward in a coordinated strike. Ji-woo dropped low, letting the attack pass overhead, and drove his knife up through the creature's chest.
It dissolved into smoke.
[EXPERIENCE: 90/150]
[ITEM ACQUIRED: SURGICAL STEEL SCALPEL]
Ji-woo checked his inventory. The scalpel appeared as an icon—a proper weapon drop. He summoned it to examine it.
The scalpel was small but wickedly sharp, its blade gleaming with unnatural keenness. The system displayed its stats:
[SURGICAL STEEL SCALPEL][DAMAGE: 15-20][SPECIAL: +50% DAMAGE VS. FLESH ENEMIES][DURABILITY: 50/50]
Better than his rusty knife's 10-15 damage. Ji-woo dismissed the scalpel back to inventory but kept it ready. He could quick-swap weapons now if needed.
[TIME REMAINING: 47:18]
More Surgical Experiments waited on the second floor. Ji-woo fought methodically, learning their patterns, minimizing damage taken. His HP dropped to 87, then 73. Each fight cost him health, and he had no healing items.
But his experience climbed: 120/150... 135/150... 145/150...
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL 3 DEBT REAPER]
[FULL HEAL APPLIED]
[HP: 120/120]
[MP: 50/50]
[STAT POINTS AVAILABLE: 5]
The healing washed over him like cool water, wounds closing instantly. Ji-woo allocated his stats immediately: 2 Vitality, 2 Agility, 1 Strength. His HP jumped to 140.
He was stronger now. Good. Because ahead, at the end of the second floor hallway, double doors led to what was clearly the main operating theater.
[BOSS CHAMBER AHEAD]
[TIME REMAINING: 43:52]
Ji-woo pushed through the doors.
The operating theater was massive, with stadium seating arranged around a central surgical stage. Bright lights focused on an operating table in the center. And standing over that table, scalpel in hand, was the Corrupted Surgeon.
It wore surgical scrubs that had once been blue but were now stained dark with old blood. Its face was hidden behind a surgical mask and cap, but its eyes were visible—glowing green, like the tunnel rats' eyes had been. In one hand it held a scalpel the size of a machete. In the other, a bone saw that hummed with mechanical menace.
[BOSS ENEMY: CORRUPTED SURGEON - LEVEL 4][HP: 500/500]
Five hundred health. Nearly four times what Ji-woo had.
The Surgeon looked up from its work—there was something on the table, something Ji-woo didn't want to examine too closely—and spoke. Its voice was distorted, mechanical, like it came from a broken speaker.
"NEW... PATIENT... REQUIRES... SURGERY."
It stepped down from the surgical stage with deliberate, measured movements. This wasn't like the Failed Patients or Experiments. This enemy was intelligent. Controlled. Dangerous.
Ji-woo gripped his rusty knife and prepared for the fight of his life.
The Surgeon moved first, closing the distance with frightening speed. Its oversized scalpel swept in a horizontal arc that would have disemboweled Ji-woo if he hadn't rolled aside.
[AGILITY CHECK: SUCCESS]
The blade buried itself in the wall, cutting through concrete like butter. The Surgeon pulled it free without effort and immediately followed with a vertical slash. Ji-woo dodged left, feeling the wind of the blade's passage.
Too close. Too fast.
He countered with a thrust at the Surgeon's midsection. His rusty blade connected, cutting through surgical scrubs and whatever flesh lay beneath.
[DAMAGE: 12][HP: 488/500]
Barely a scratch. This would take forever.
The Surgeon brought its bone saw around in a backhand strike. Ji-woo blocked with his knife, and the impact jarred his entire arm. The saw's teeth screamed against his blade, throwing sparks.
[DURABILITY: 35/40]
His weapon was taking damage. If it broke, he was dead.
Ji-woo disengaged and quick-swapped to the Surgical Steel Scalpel. The smaller weapon appeared in his hand, and he immediately felt the difference—lighter, faster, sharper.
The Surgeon pressed its attack, scalpel and bone saw working in coordinated strikes. High-low. Left-right. It was trying to overwhelm him with combinations.
But Ji-woo's increased agility let him read the patterns. Dodge, parry, riposte. He landed cuts on the Surgeon's arms and torso, the scalpel's bonus damage against flesh enemies showing its worth.
[DAMAGE: 27][HP: 461/500]
Better. But still not enough.
The Surgeon changed tactics. It retreated to the surgical stage and grabbed something from the instrument tray—a syringe filled with glowing green liquid.
It stabbed the syringe into its own neck.
[CORRUPTED SURGEON USES: COMBAT STIMULANT][BOSS HP REGENERATION: +50/SECOND FOR 30 SECONDS]
Fifty health per second. Ji-woo did the quick math—that was fifteen hundred health total if he didn't stop it.
He charged forward, abandoning caution. His scalpel flashed in rapid strikes, cutting deep into the Surgeon's arms, chest, face. Blood and black ichor sprayed.
[DAMAGE: 31][DAMAGE: 28][DAMAGE: 33]
But the regeneration was faster. The wounds closed almost as quickly as he opened them.
[HP: 498/500]
The Surgeon grabbed Ji-woo by the throat with its free hand and lifted him off the ground. Its grip was like iron, crushing his windpipe. Ji-woo stabbed frantically at its arm, but the regeneration healed the damage instantly.
[HP: 115/140]
Black spots danced in his vision. He was suffocating.
Desperate Strike. He had to use it.
But if he used it now, he'd only have one charge left. Was this the right moment?
The Surgeon raised its machete-sized scalpel for a killing blow.
No choice.
[DESPERATE STRIKE ACTIVATED]
Ji-woo's scalpel erupted with power. He drove it not into the Surgeon's arm, but up through its wrist, severing tendons and bone. The grip loosened. He twisted free and in the same motion, brought the empowered blade across the Surgeon's throat.
[CRITICAL HIT!][DAMAGE: 89]
The Surgeon staggered back, green liquid pumping from the massive neck wound. Even its regeneration couldn't keep up with that level of trauma.
[HP: 362/500]
[MP: 10/50]
Ji-woo landed gasping, his throat bruised but intact. The Surgeon pressed one hand to its neck, trying to stem the bleeding, but it was futile. The stimulant's effects were fading.
[COMBAT STIMULANT DURATION: 5 SECONDS]
Ji-woo pressed his attack, not giving the boss time to recover. He danced around it, landing cuts on its legs, its back, anywhere he could reach. The Surgeon fought back with increasing desperation, its movements becoming erratic.
[HP: 287/500]
[HP: 234/500]
The Surgeon activated another ability. It raised its bone saw and roared—a horrible, mechanical sound—and the Failed Patients Ji-woo had seen earlier began flooding into the theater.
[CORRUPTED SURGEON USES: CALL REINFORCEMENTS]
Eight Failed Patients shambled in from side doors, surrounding Ji-woo.
The Surgeon retreated behind its minions, using them as shields while it recovered.
This was bad. Ji-woo couldn't fight nine enemies at once, and the boss's health was still too high.
Think. THINK.
The stadium seating. If he could reach higher ground, funnel them into a choke point—
Ji-woo ran for the seats, vaulting over the first row. The Failed Patients followed, their coordination poor. He let them cluster together, then used the narrow row to his advantage. They could only come at him one at a time.
He cut them down efficiently, his scalpel finding throats and hearts with practiced precision. The Surgeon watched from below, waiting for its minions to finish the job.
[TIME REMAINING: 35:18]
But they didn't. Ji-woo killed the last Failed Patient and immediately leaped down from the seats, charging the Surgeon before it could react.
His scalpel struck like lightning. The Surgeon's health dropped: 180... 156... 132...
The boss tried to retreat to the operating table, but Ji-woo was relentless. He'd learned from the rats, from the Experiments—hesitation got you killed. Aggression was survival.
[HP: 98/500]
The Surgeon made one final desperate move. It grabbed a surgical drill from the instrument tray and lunged at Ji-woo with abandon, all defense forgotten in favor of a mutual kill.
Ji-woo sidestepped the drill and drove his scalpel into the Surgeon's chest, angling up toward where a heart should be.
The blade sank deep.
The Surgeon froze, drill falling from its hand. Its glowing green eyes flickered once, twice, then went dark.
It collapsed into black smoke.
[BOSS DEFEATED!]
[EXPERIENCE: +200]
[LEVEL UP!]
[DUNGEON CLEARED!]
[TIME: 35:02]
[CALCULATING REWARDS...]
Ji-woo fell to his knees, chest heaving. He'd done it. His second dungeon, cleared.
The rewards notification appeared:
[DEBT REDUCTION: ₩15,000,000][CURRENT DEBT: ₩817,000,000]
[LEVEL 4 REACHED]
[STAT POINTS AVAILABLE: 5]
[ITEMS ACQUIRED:]
CORRUPTED SURGEON'S SCALPEL (RARE)SURGICAL MASK OF CLARITYMEDICAL SUPPLIES x5
[DUNGEONS CLEARED: 2/5 UNTIL SHOP UNLOCK]
The world lurched, pulling him back to reality. Ji-woo found himself standing outside the abandoned clinic in Gangnam, morning sun warming his face.
He'd survived. Again.
And his debt was dropping.
[END OF CHAPTER 5]