Rei didn't sleep.
He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the window where the red eyes had been. The curtains were drawn, but he could still feel the gaze burning through the fabric.
Rank Unknown. Threat Critical.
He looked at his hands. They were still the hands of a dishwasher. Soft from water, calloused from scrubbing, but weak.
"If it wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already," Rei whispered.
He stood up. The floorboards creaked.
"It was testing me."
He checked the system timer floating in his vision.
[Quest: First Blood][Time Remaining: 6 Days, 23 Hours]
"Seven days is a luxury," he muttered. "If that thing comes back tomorrow, I need to be ready."
He went to his closet. He pulled out a dark hoodie and a pair of sturdy work boots he used for taking out the restaurant trash.
He needed a weapon.
He crept downstairs to the restaurant kitchen. The silence was heavy. He could hear Yuna breathing softly in her room down the hall.
I promised I'd be safe. Sorry, Mom.
He opened the knife drawer. He bypassed the chef's knives—too flimsy, designed for slicing meat, not piercing hide.
He grabbed the boning knife. Short, thick steel, brutal point.
It wasn't a sword. It was a prison shank.
"It'll have to do."
He wrapped the handle in duct tape for grip, shoved it into his pocket, and slipped out the back door.
The Yeongdeungpo Underground Extension was officially a "Construction Zone."
Unofficially, it was a scar.
Ten years ago, during the Cataclysm, a small rift had opened here. The Association had sealed it, but the mana residue never fully cleared. It was a "Grey Zone"—too weak to be a registered Gate, too dangerous for civilians.
Rei hopped the chain-link fence. His boots crunched on gravel.
The air here was different. It tasted like ozone and wet rust.
He walked down the concrete ramp into the darkness. The city sounds—the cars, the sirens, the hum of Seoul—faded away, replaced by a suffocating silence.
Drip.
Drip.
Water leaked from the cracked ceiling.
Rei pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. The beam cut through the dusty air, illuminating graffiti-covered walls and rusted tracks.
[SYSTEM ALERT][Entering Unstable Area: Yeongdeungpo Ruins][Ambient Mana Density: 1.2%]
Rei gripped the taped handle of his knife. His heart was thumping against his ribs.
This isn't a game. No respawns.
He walked deeper. The tunnel curved. The air grew colder.
Then he smelled it.
Rotting meat.
Rei stopped. He turned off his light.
He stood in the pitch black, listening.
Scrape.
Scrape.
Claws on concrete.
Rei's eyes adjusted to the gloom. Fifty meters ahead, near a pile of rubble, something was moving.
It was small, maybe the size of a child. But its limbs were too long, and its head was too big.
[Target Identified][Entity: Goblin Scout][Rank: F]
Rei held his breath.
A Goblin. The bottom of the food chain. The "trash mob" of the hunter world.
On TV, hunters killed these things by the dozen. They looked weak. Stupid.
But seeing it in person...
It was terrifying.
The Goblin was hunched over a stray cat, tearing into it with yellow teeth. Its muscles were corded wire under green, leathery skin. It looked fast. Vicious.
Rei swallowed the bile rising in his throat.
Kill it. Export it. Gain the power.
He stepped forward.
Crunch.
His boot landed on a piece of broken glass.
The sound cracked like a gunshot in the silent tunnel.
The Goblin's head snapped up. Its ears twitched.
It saw him.
SCREEE!
It didn't hesitate. It dropped the cat and launched itself at him.
It covered the fifty meters in three seconds.
Rei panic-froze.
Too fast!
He barely raised the knife before the Goblin was on him. It leaped, claws aiming for his throat.
Rei threw himself to the side.
Slash.
Pain flared in his left shoulder. The Goblin's claws tore through his hoodie, drawing blood.
Rei crashed onto the gravel, rolling. The Goblin landed on the wall, pushed off, and came at him again.
"Dammit!"
Rei scrambled back, kicking out blindly. His boot connected with the Goblin's chest. It felt like kicking a bag of wet cement.
The Goblin grunted but grabbed his leg.
Rei stabbed.
He didn't aim. He just thrust the boning knife down with everything he had.
Thud.
The blade sank into the Goblin's shoulder.
SCREEEEE!
The monster shrieked, a sound that vibrated in Rei's skull. It released his leg and clawed at his face.
Rei ducked, taking a claw across his forehead. Blood blinded his left eye.
"Die!" Rei roared.
He ripped the knife out and stabbed again. And again.
Adrenaline flooded his system, washing away the fear, leaving only a cold, mechanical need to survive.
Stab. Neck. Stab. Chest. Stab. Eye.
The Goblin convulsed. It thrashed, black blood spraying over Rei's face.
Then, it went still.
Rei collapsed next to the corpse. He was gasping for air, his lungs burning. His shoulder throbbed. His face stung.
"Trash mob..." Rei wheezed, wiping blood from his eye. "Who the hell called this a trash mob?"
He looked at the mangled creature. It was ugly. It smelled terrible.
But it was dead. And he was alive.
Ding.
[QUEST COMPLETE: First Blood]
[Objective Met: Slay 1 Monster]
[REWARD:]1. Skill Book: [Phantom Step]2. EXP: +50
[LEVEL UP!][Level 1 -> Level 2]
Energy rushed through him. The pain in his shoulder dulled as his stats increased.
[Stats Updated]STR: 10 -> 12AGI: 11 -> 13VIT: 10 -> 11INT: 15 -> 17Mana: 100 -> 150
Rei sat up, feeling the strength knit into his muscles. It was intoxicating.
But he wasn't done.
He looked at the Goblin corpse.
[Mirror World: Genesis available][Export Target?]
Rei reached out. His hand hovered over the dead monster.
"You tried to eat me," Rei whispered. "Now you work for me."
"Extract."
WHOOSH.
Black smoke erupted from Rei's palm. It engulfed the Goblin corpse. The body didn't decompose—it dissolved into data, sucked into the void of his shadow.
[Creature Exported][Unit: Goblin Scout][Status: Stored in Mirror World][Slot 1/2 Filled]
Rei stood up. He flexed his hand.
He could feel it. A connection. A consciousness waiting in the back of his mind, obedient and silent.
"Come out," Rei commanded.
The air beside him shimmered.
Space folded.
A perfect replica of the Goblin Scout stepped out of the air. It looked solid. It breathed. It smelled like rot. But its eyes... its eyes were glowing blue.
Rei grinned. A bloody, terrifying grin.
"100% reality," he said. "The system wasn't lying."
He had a soldier.
RUMBLE.
The ground beneath him shook.
Rei froze. The vibration wasn't a train. It was coming from deeper in the tunnel.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Footsteps. Heavy ones.
Rei recalled the Goblin Scout. The blue light vanished.
He peered into the darkness deeper down the tunnel.
[SYSTEM WARNING][Abyss Contamination Detected][Gate Stability: DROPPING]
"Contamination?" Rei frowned. "This is supposed to be a dead zone."
A roar echoed from the deep. It sounded like grinding stones.
[Entity Detected: Hobgoblin Warrior (Elite)][Rank: E+]
Rei's blood ran cold.
A Hobgoblin? In an F-rank remnant zone?
Hobgoblins were three times the size of a scout. They were E-rank gate bosses. They didn't spawn in sewer cracks.
"Something's wrong," Rei whispered. He gripped his knife. "This isn't natural."
He should run. He had his skill. He had his level.
But the System pinged again.
[Hidden Objective Opportunity][Target: Hobgoblin Warrior][Reward: High-Grade Monster Slot]
Rei looked at the exit. Then he looked at the darkness.
One Goblin Scout wasn't enough to fight the Watcher. But a Hobgoblin...
A Hobgoblin could break a hunter's spine.
"Greed kills," the Principal had said.
Rei wiped the blood off his face.
"Good thing I'm already dead to the world."
He turned away from the exit. He stepped deeper into the dark.
"Let's see what you're hiding."