Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Each sound dug into my skull like a metronome made for the half-dead. The air was sharp, filled with the sterile sting of disinfectant. Something cold pressed against my wrist. I felt weight all over me — like my body didn't belong to me anymore.
"…His pulse is back."
A woman's voice, calm and distant.
"Stable?" another asked.
"For now. He's lucky the Hunters found him when they did."
Hunters?
The word splintered through the fog in my brain. Hunters? Like… real Hunters?
My eyes fluttered open. White light blurred my vision. I blinked until shapes formed ceiling tiles, a humming fluorescent lamp, a curtain drawn half-closed. Machines stood beside me, blinking with lines that pulsed to the rhythm of my heartbeat.
I was in a hospital.
Alive.
Barely.
My chest ached, bandaged tight. When I lifted my hand, a needle tugged in my vein. My throat was dry, my tongue heavy as I croaked, "Where… am I?"
The nurse turned, startled. "Sir, please don't move. You're at Tokyo General Hospital. You were found near the ruins of a dungeon gate."
Dungeon gate.
I froze. That phrase didn't belong in the real world not mine, at least.
"I'm… sorry," I muttered, voice rasping. "Did you just say… dungeon gate?"
She nodded carefully. "Yes. Hunters were clearing it when they found you unconscious. You lost a lot of blood, but you're stable now. Try not to talk too much."
My pulse raced. I wasn't hallucinating she'd said Hunters and dungeon. That was Solo Leveling language.
My brain scrambled to make sense of it. I remembered blood. Pain. Me leaving for the festival. Then the festival hall empty, silent and something stabbing my chest.
I shouldn't have woken up.
"Sir?"
The nurse's voice pulled me back. I blinked hard, forcing a shaky breath as reality pressed against my ribs.
"I'm fine," I lied, even though my throat felt like sandpaper.
She gave a polite smile that didn't reach her eyes, checked the drip line, then scribbled on her tablet. "You'll need rest. The Hunters' Association will send someone later to ask a few questions about what happened at the gate."
"Hunters' Association…" I whispered. My mouth felt dry again. "That's… real?"
She frowned, uncertain whether I was joking or delirious. "Of course. You were found inside a D-rank zone. Lucky thing the gate hadn't fully collapsed yet."
When she left, silence filled the room the kind that hums louder than noise. I stared at the ceiling, trying to breathe evenly.
A D-rank zone. Hunters. Dungeon gates.
There was no way this was my world. This was Solo Leveling.
A hollow laugh escaped me. "No… no way. That's impossible."
But it wasn't. The machines, the pain in my chest, the smell of blood still faint on my clothes it was all too solid. I could even feel the faint hum of mana in the air, a kind of invisible pressure around my skin.
I turned my head slowly. Outside the glass door, two nurses passed by chatting about an S-rank hunter named Cha Hae-in and a gate incident in Busan. The names struck me like lightning.
This wasn't cosplay. I was inside the world of Solo Leveling.
And if that was true… where was Sung Jinwoo right now? Still a low-rank E-hunter struggling to survive? Or had he already awakened his system?
My heart thudded faster.
"Okay, Rex, think," I muttered under my breath. "You died. You woke up here. So either I'm crazy, or I got—"
The word stuck in my throat.
"—transmigrated."
A laugh bubbled out again, half-mad. "Transmigrated. Into Solo Leveling. That's… insane."
The beeping of the heart monitor quickened with my pulse. I forced my breathing slower, afraid a nurse would barge in again.
Then, just as my heartbeat settled, the world went silent.
The monitor stopped.
The air froze.
Even the curtain beside my bed hung mid-sway.
"W-what the—"
A faint, mechanical chime echoed through the frozen room.
[Initializing…]
The letters glowed in front of my eyes floating text, translucent and real.
I stared at it, jaw slack. "No way. No freaking way."
Another line appeared.
[Welcome, User: Rex Luie]
[The Death System has been activated.]
My pulse stuttered. I could see the reflection of the blue letters on the glass door. They were there, not in my head.
"Death System?" I whispered. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm not even Jinwoo!"
The text shifted again.
[User's heart rate abnormal. Initiating stabilization.]
A cool surge rippled through my veins, spreading warmth into my chest. The pain dulled. The monitors blinked back to life as time itself resumed.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I sat frozen, sweat beading on my forehead. "Okay, Rex… breathe. It's fine. Totally fine. You just got your own system. Not creepy at all."
Then another notification popped up:
[Daily Quest Issued]
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats
10 km Run
Rewards: +5 Stat Points, Random Box (1×)
Penalty for failure: Death Penalty Zone (Active)
My mouth went dry. "Oh, you've got to be— It's literally the same quest!"
The resemblance to Jinwoo's system was uncanny, except the title: Death System. The word Death pulsed faintly crimson, like a warning.
I swallowed hard. "You mean if I don't do this… I die?"
The text didn't answer, but a faint pulse from my chest made my skin crawl.
I laughed nervously. "Okay. Sure. Do a hundred of everything with open stitches. Great plan."
I tried to move my leg. The moment I tensed my muscles, a sharp pain shot through my ribs. "Yeah, no. Not happening."
I slumped back. The hospital ceiling felt like it was spinning above me.
I remembered Jinwoo how he'd ignored his first quest and got dragged into that penalty zone.
"Right… he rested too. Then the system tried to kill him."
I stared at the quest list again, thinking of my stitches. "If I try that, I'll literally tear myself apart. So maybe the system will cut me some slack?"
The timer appeared suddenly.
[Time remaining: 03:59:42]
"Wait, what?! You're actually counting down? Oh come on!"
I pressed my hands over my face and groaned. "I just woke up from being murdered by God knows what and you expect me to do army training in a hospital gown?"
No answer. Only the steady beeping of the monitor.
"Fine," I muttered. "Fine. I'll pull a Sung Jinwoo. I'll rest. What's the worst that could happen?"
I lay back against the pillow, shut my eyes, and tried to convince myself that this wasn't real. That maybe, if I ignored it, the blue screen would disappear and I'd wake up back in my messy apartment with Yero banging on the door, yelling about anime quizzes.
But the beeping of the monitor grew louder, faster.
And behind my eyelids, faint crimson letters began to glow again.
[Warning: Quest Progress = 0 %.]
[Failure will activate Penalty Zone.]
I swallowed hard and whispered, "You're bluffing."
The lights in the room flickered once.
Twice.
Then everything went dark.