The first thing Kang Min-Soo noticed was the weight.
It wasn't the heaviness of a backpack or the crushing pressure of the dungeon he had just died in. It was a weight that sat deep inside his chest, right behind his sternum. It felt like he had swallowed a cannonball made of lead.
Beep… Beep… Beep…
The rhythmic sound of a heart monitor dragged him out of the darkness.
Min-Soo opened his eyes. A blindingly white ceiling greeted him. The smell of antiseptic and rubbing alcohol assaulted his nose.
"Hospital?" his voice cracked, dry and raspy.
He tried to sit up, but the moment he shifted his weight, the metal frame of the hospital bed groaned loudly. The mattress dipped dangerously low under his hips, as if he weighed five hundred pounds instead of his usual sixty kilograms.
Clang.
The bed frame buckled slightly. Min-Soo froze.
What the… did I gain weight?
He looked at his hands. They were pale, almost translucent, but the veins running through them looked darker than usual. Not blue, but a deep, inky purple. He clenched his fist. It felt solid. Unnatural.
"Mr. Kang! You're awake!"
The door slid open, and a young nurse in a pink uniform rushed in. She dropped the clipboard she was holding onto a side table and hurriedly checked the machines.
"We were so worried," she said, her voice a mix of relief and professional urgency. " You've been in a coma for three days. The Association… they said your party was wiped out. They found you unconscious near the entrance of the Fracture."
Min-Soo blinked, his mind reeling. The entrance?
No. That was impossible. He hadn't been near the entrance. He had been in the center. He had fallen into the singularity. He remembered the cold. He remembered the voice.
'Only the Hollow can contain the Infinite.'
"I… I'm the only survivor?" he asked.
The nurse's expression softened into pity. "Yes. The Hunters Association confirmed it. The Void Fracture collapsed in on itself. You were thrown out just before it vanished. It's a miracle, Mr. Kang."
She reached for a syringe on the tray. "I need to take a blood sample to check for Mana Poisoning. Just a small prick."
Min-Soo nodded absently, his mind still stuck in that dark room.
The nurse swabbed the inside of his elbow with alcohol. She positioned the needle, finding the vein with practiced ease, and pushed.
Tink.
A tiny, sharp sound echoed in the quiet room.
The nurse frowned. "Huh?"
She pulled the needle back. The tip was bent at a ninety-degree angle, hooked like a fishing lure.
"That's strange… maybe the tip was defective," she muttered, reaching for a fresh syringe.
Min-Soo watched, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. He hadn't flexed his arm. He hadn't used mana reinforcement—he didn't have mana.
The nurse tried again. She pressed the new needle against his skin.
This time, Min-Soo saw it.
The moment the steel tip touched his skin, it didn't pierce. It didn't even touch him. For a fraction of a millimeter above his skin, the space seemed to… warp. The needle slid sideways, sliding across his arm as if rejected by gravity itself.
"What on earth?" The nurse applied more pressure, her brow furrowing. "Mr. Kang, please relax your arm."
"I… I am relaxed."
She pushed harder.
SNAP.
The plastic barrel of the syringe shattered in her hand. The steel needle didn't break; it crumpled like a piece of tin foil.
The nurse gasped, dropping the broken medical tool. She stepped back, looking at him with wide, fearful eyes. It wasn't just the needle. She was looking at him.
"Mr. Kang… why is the air around you… shivering?"
Min-Soo looked down at his chest. The air above the hospital blanket was hazy, like the heat shimmering off asphalt on a summer day. But the room was freezing.
Suddenly, a text box slammed into his vision.
It wasn't the translucent blue interface that awakened Hunters saw. It was a rectangle of absolute vantablack, bordered by a pulsing violet light. The text was white, sharp, and commanded attention.
[The Singularity awakens from its slumber.]
[System Check: Complete.]
[Host Status: Unstable.]
[Warning: Your body density is increasing. Current Mass does not match physical volume.]
Min-Soo's breath hitched. He waved his hand in front of his face, trying to dismiss the hallucination. The box didn't move. It stayed fixed in his retina.
[Daily Quest: Gravitational Adaptation]
The vessel is too weak to house a Black Hole. If you do not reinforce your body, you will collapse into yourself.
Objective 1: Consume 10,000 Calories. (0 / 10,000)
Objective 2: Endure 2G (Twice Gravity) Pressure for 10 minutes. (0 / 10)
Time Limit: 24 Hours.
[Penalty for Failure: Event Horizon Collapse (Implosion).]
"Implosion?" Min-Soo whispered.
"Mr. Kang?" The nurse was edging toward the door, her hand reaching for the emergency call button. "I'm going to get the doctor."
She ran out.
Min-Soo was alone again. He stared at the black screen.
Implosion. He knew what that meant. If a star wasn't strong enough to push back against its own gravity, it crushed itself. He was the star. And the thing inside him—this System—was the gravity.
He swung his legs off the bed. His feet hit the floor with a heavy THUD, cracking the linoleum tile instantly.
He stood up. He felt dizzy. Not from weakness, but from hunger. A hunger so violent it felt like a hollow pit had opened in his stomach, demanding to be filled. It wasn't a craving for food. It was a craving for mass.
He stumbled toward the bathroom, catching his reflection in the mirror.
He froze.
His hospital gown hung loosely on his frame, but his body had changed. The layer of baby fat he'd always hated was gone. He was lean, corded with tight muscle that looked as hard as wire. But it was his eyes that made him grip the sink, cracking the porcelain.
His irises were gone.
His pupils were gone.
His eyes were pools of pitch-black darkness. If he looked closely, really closely, he could see a faint, violet ring spinning slowly around the edges of his sclera.
[The Abyss stares back.]
He blinked, and for a second, his normal brown eyes returned. He shook his head, splashing cold water on his face. The water didn't drip off his chin. It curved strangely around his jawline before falling, heavier than it should be.
"Status Window," he whispered.
Woosh.
The black darkness expanded, filling his view.
[Name: Kang Min-Soo]
[Class: The Event Horizon (Unique)]
[Title: The One Who Walked Out]
[Level: 1]
[Fatigue: 0]
[Mass Accumulated: 0.000001%]
[Stats]
Strength: 10 (ERROR: Gravity Assisted)
Agility: 8
Vitality: 12
Intelligence: 15
Mana: 0 (LOCKED)
Gravity: 1 (New Stat)
[Skills]
Passive: Event Horizon (Level 1) – A barrier of distorted space covers your skin. Kinetic energy of incoming attacks is reduced by 10%.
Active: Devour (Level 1) – Consume the mass and energy of a target to increase your own. (Currently available only on non-living matter or corpses).
Min-Soo stared at the last skill. Devour.
His stomach roared again, a sound like grinding metal. The hunger was unbearable. He looked around the sterile bathroom. There was no food. Nothing to eat.
His eyes fell on the metal tray the nurse had left behind.
His hand moved on its own. He picked up the twisted remains of the steel syringe.
No. I can't be thinking this.
But the System pulsed.
[Target Identified: Stainless Steel (Trace Iron/Carbon).]
[Would you like to Devour?]
Min-Soo's hand trembled. The hunger wasn't just physical; it was an instinct, overpowering his logic. He didn't put the metal in his mouth. He simply squeezed his hand.
Devour.
VWOOM.
A low, bass-heavy vibration shook the room. The space around his fist twisted. The steel syringe didn't crunch; it liquefied, stretching into thin, black strands that spiraled into his palm and vanished into his skin.
It didn't hurt. It felt... cold. And then, warm. A tiny trickle of energy flowed through his arm.
[Mass Consumed.]
[Strength +0.1]
[Satiety: 0.5%]
Min-Soo looked at his empty hand. The metal was gone. Erased from existence.
He looked up at the mirror, his dark eyes wide with terror and exhilaration.
He wasn't a porter anymore. He was a monster.
[Time remaining until Daily Reset: 23 Hours.]
[Feed the Singularity, Host.]
Min-Soo clenched his fist, feeling the raw power humming beneath his skin.
"Fine," he whispered to the darkness. "Let's eat."