Kang Seo-jun stepped out of the gosiwon and into a world he no longer recognized.
The air was the first thing that hit him. It was thick. Oily. It smelled of burning plastic, ozone, and a coppery, sewer-like tang that his hindbrain, his ten years of experience, identified as monster.
The sun was high, but the sky was hazed with smoke from a dozen different fires. The street, a place he'd walked a thousand times, was a graveyard of abandoned cars. A city bus was on its side, its windows shattered.
And the sound.
The city-wide symphony of screams had found a new, dominant instrument: the high-pitched, chittering shrieks of Goblins. They were everywhere.
Seo-jun stood in the shadow of the doorway, his [Ebon Dagger] in a reverse-grip, its cold, stone-like surface a comfort in his hand. He was a shadow, a ghost. He used [Monarch's Eyes].
[Burning Sedan (F-Rank Durability, 'Burning' Status)] [Cracked Pavement (F-Rank)] [Fleeing Civilian (F-Rank)] [Level: 1] [State: Terrified, 'Bleeding' (Minor)] [Potential: None.]
His gaze snapped to the man. He was running, stumbling, from a convenience store. Three Goblins were in pursuit, laughing, toying with him.
"Help!" the man screamed, his eyes landing on Seo-jun. "Please! Help me!"
He was running towards him. He was leading the monsters to his doorstep.
In his past life, Seo-jun would have panicked. He would have tried to help. He and the man both would have died, torn apart on the pavement.
Seo-jun didn't move.
He watched. He calculated.
Three Goblins. Level 1. 'Berserk' state. My stats are '1'. Void's Hand is Level 2. My dagger is untested. Risk... moderate. Reward... zero.
[Potential: None.]
The man was ten meters away. "Help!"
Seo-jun raised his left hand. He activated ['Void's Hand'].
The man's eyes lit up. He thought he was being saved.
Seo-jun pushed the large, metal dumpster on the curb, right in the man's path.
The 10kg force of his skill was just enough to send the over-full container sliding. It slammed into the running man's legs.
He shrieked as he went down, his leg bending at an unnatural angle. A sharp crack echoed over the din.
[Target has gained 'Crippled' status.]
The man looked at Seo-jun, his face a mask of disbelief and agony. "W-why...?"
The three Goblins, cackling, fell upon him.
Seo-jun did not watch the kill. He used the cover of the Goblins' distraction, their gleeful shrieks, to melt away from the doorway. He crossed the street, keeping his head down, his body low, moving in the shadow of the burning sedan.
He felt nothing. No guilt. No remorse.
He just felt... efficient.
He remembered Hye-jin's final words to him, as she'd left him to die. This world isn't for people like you anymore, Seo-jun. It's not for the kind. It's for the strong.
You were right, Hye-jin, he thought, his grip tightening on his dagger. Thank you for the lesson. I'm finally putting it to good use.
His destination was the university. It was six blocks away. Six blocks of this open-air hell.
He moved with a purpose he'd never had in his first life. He wasn't a survivor, scurrying from one hiding place to the next. He was a hunter. He knew this terrain.
He knew that Goblins, in the first hours, were 'Area-Bound'. They wouldn't stray more than a few hundred meters from their 'spawn-points'. The convenience store. The bus. The apartment buildings. All 'Red Zones'.
He stuck to the alleys. The service corridors. The places no one else would think to go.
He found his first real test in a narrow alley between a dry-cleaner and a chicken restaurant. A lone Goblin, separate from any pack, was crouched over a dead dog.
[Starving Goblin (F-Rank)] [Level: 1] [State: Feeding, Unaware.] [Potential: None.]
This was the one.
Seo-jun felt the dagger in his hand thrum. A faint, almost imperceptible vibration. It was hungry.
He was hungry.
He didn't just walk up to it. He was not a warrior.
He activated [Void's Hand] and pulled a loose brick from a pile of rubble ten meters behind the Goblin. The brick skittered across the asphalt.
The Goblin's head snapped up, its feeding-snarl turning into a confused grunt. It spun around, its back to Seo-jun, and hissed at the empty alley.
Seo-jun was already moving.
His 'Agility: 1' meant his sprint was slow. But his movements were silent. His ten years as a porter, hauling hundreds of kilos of gear, had taught him how to place his feet.
The Goblin was still staring at the brick.
Seo-jun closed the distance. Three meters. Two.
He lunged.
He didn't aim for the back. He aimed for the neck.
The [Ebon Dagger] was not steel. It felt... wrong. Like plunging a piece of cold, hard-packed ash into the creature. There was almost no resistance.
The Goblin's head was nearly severed from its body. It didn't even have time to scream.
[You have slain 'Starving Goblin' (Level 1).] [You have gained 5 EXP.]
Seo-jun pulled the dagger free. A wisp of black smoke, not blood, was on the blade.
Then, the messages he was waiting for.
['Ebon Dagger' has consumed its first kill.] [Blood has been fed to the blade. 1/100]
[Target slain by 'Void Monarch'.] ['Devour' skill is available. Devour? Y/N]
"Yes."
The cold, icy rush. The purple wisp of essence. This time, it felt cleaner. It flowed into his hand, and he felt a 'ping' as it also flowed into the dagger.
[Essence of 'Starving Goblin' (F-Rank) has been devoured.] ['Ebon DDagger' has absorbed a minuscule amount of 'Void' essence.] [The blade's hunger grows.]
He felt a connection to the weapon. It was a part of him now. They were both parasites. Both hungry.
He left the mummified corpse in the alley and continued.
He killed four more Goblins on his way to the university. Each kill was the same. Isolate. Distract. Assassinate. Devour.
By the time he stood before the massive, wrought-iron gates of Seoul National University, his [Ebon Dagger] was 5/100 and his ['Void's Hand'] was close to leveling up again.
The campus was a warzone. The main quad was a 'Red Zone', a sea of Goblins. This was a primary 'spawning point'.
This was a Dungeon.
He remembered this place. He remembered this day.
He had hidden in the bushes, bleeding from a piece of shrapnel, until a party found him. A party with a strong, confident-looking man with a metal bat. A man named Park Jin-ho.
And with him, a crying, terrified girl with a [Healer] class. Lee Hye-jin.
They had "saved" him. They had taken him to their "safe zone"—the sub-basement of the main library.
Seo-jun's lips pulled back in a snarl that was more animal than human.
He looked at the main doors of the library. It was besieged. At least thirty Goblins were trying to break down the heavy oak doors.
He knew, from his memory, that Jin-ho and his little group were inside. Hiding. Cowering.
He was not going to save them.
He was going to find them.
He bypassed the main entrance, a cold, clear memory guiding him. He moved around the back of the building, to a maintenance shed.
In his past life, he'd spent years here. He'd been the one to maintain the generators. He'd been the one to map the steam tunnels.
He knew a way in that no one else did.
He kicked open the rusted metal grate. A black, gaping hole leading down into the dark.
He looked at the burning campus. He looked down at the tunnel.
He was not a hero, coming to save them.
He was a ghost, coming back to haunt.
He descended into the darkness, his [Ebon Dagger] leading the way.