It was not strange that in the nurses' station, during breaks or preparations for their shifts, nurses talked about patients currently staying in the hospital.
They shared their observations, warned each other if one of the patients seemed pushy or threatening, or shared some funny stories that happened that particular day during their shift.
It was no different today when two young women were talking in the office, sitting on a small sofa with tea in their hands.
- You know that young hunter. Sung Jin-Woo?
- Ah yes. I know him, I noticed that he runs every day even though he woke up from a coma a few days ago.
- What did the doctor say?
- He only said that hunters regenerate faster than ordinary people. - The woman shrugged. - Light exercise won't hurt him.
The second nurse accidentally looked out the window just as the hunter in question ran in front of him.
- Look, he's running even now.
- As long as he doesn't strain himself, he'll be fine.
- Hmm, how long has he been running like this?
***
It had been exactly four days since he woke up from his coma.
He had enough time, and unpleasant experiences with large sand centipedes, to convince himself that these strange messages appearing before his eyes were not just an illusion or a product of his damaged mind.
He discovered that these daily quests were always the same. And they didn't bother him as much as he initially thought they would.
Instead of going to some deadly place and fighting who knows what, this whole system just told him to practice.
His body may suffer a bit. Better than coming close to death again.
[ NOTICE! ]
[ RUN ] COMPLETED [ 10/10KM ]
Out of breath, Jin-Woo stopped, resting his hands on his bent knees, breathing heavily with his mouth open as he felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his nose.
No one else saw this message or any other message of this type.
What irritated him the most was the damn ten-kilometer route he had to run every day. Not a kilometer, not five. But as many as ten. This run was definitely the most tiring. And the first day after running this route, he thought that he would either die or his lungs would burst out of his nose, not wanting to work with his body anymore.
When he more or less got himself together, he moved to the nearest empty bench to sit down.
Once he did this, he looked at the next window that appeared in front of his face.
[ QUEST REWARDS ]
[ CHOOSE A REWARD FROM THE LIST BELOW ]
[ REWARD #1 STATUS RECOVERY ]
[ REWARD #2 STAT POINTS +3 ]
[ REWARD #3 RANDOM BOX +1 ]
[ DO YOU WANT TO ACCEPT ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
The first reward after completing this quest was always like a nice refreshment after all this torment.
A spell that can get rid of fatigue after physical exercise. It made him feel like he hadn't exercised at all.
He was surrounded by a soft green-golden light that, of course, no one but he could see, and after a while, he felt as if he had just got out of bed.
No soreness, muscle pain, or lethargy.
Then there were points and a box with items. With points, he could increase any of his stats.
Since the System made him a "PLAYER", he had his statistics shown in the status window just like in the game.
He opened them now, looking at them.
[ STATUS ]
[ NAME: SUNG JIN-WOO ]
[ JOB: NONE ]
[ TITLE: NONE ]
[ LEVEL: 1 ]
[ FATIGUE: 0 ]
[ HP: 100 ]
[ MP: 10 ]
[ STRENGTH: 16 ]
[ DEXTERITY: 10 ]
[ SENSES: 10 ]
[ VITALITY: 10 ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 10 ]
[ AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: 3 ]
As soon as he saw his stats for the first time, he didn't feel surprised. He had 1 level and 10 points for each skill. Which was obvious considering the fact that he was the weakest E-rank hunter. So he wasn't surprised by such low statistics.
Of course, he became more and more powerful as his stats increased. However, he did not know yet that his statistics would increase by any amount when he reached the next level.
He hoped that he would get some additional points for his statistics. Even if you can't allocate them at your own discretion, points have already been allocated to certain attributes.
As long as he has the opportunity to level up at all. He wasn't sure about that.
And he still remembered that there was no way hunters could jump between ranks. They couldn't get stronger.
So maybe his level will remain at level 1 all the time.
But even if that was the case, he wasn't going to complain. Just getting 3 stat points every day was great.
He would become stronger each day - compared to yesterday, he would be stronger today; compared to today, tomorrow he would be stronger again.
He didn't even think about climbing to the S or A ranks. Even the thought of getting to the C or D ranks like the Hunters he worked with would surely be ridiculous.
Then this dream would become truly unreal.
So far, he has already increased his strength by six points. He felt most confident in giving points to strength. After all, he was a warrior, and they relied mainly on it in games.
He wasn't sure about Intelligence and Senses.
Investing in them did not seem profitable at the very beginning.
He associated Dexterity with Assassins.
Later, maybe he will start giving points in Vitality, which probably meant the number of life points.
Not only the status windows were taken straight from some game.
He also discovered a hiding place and equipment.
He was controlled by some strange force... An Anomaly.
I guess that's how this whole "System" could be described.
After all, hunters probably didn't have the skills he acquired.
However, could the system be called skills?
Was this system some unknown Second Awakening that no other hunter had ever experienced?
He could only guess.
***
Jin-Woo walked up to the hospital reception desk, where a young nurse was sitting, typing something into a computer.
- Can I go out today?
- I don't see any objections. May I know why?
- I have some things to do in the city. - Jin-Woo admitted evasively, hoping that the nurse would not probe further.
It would be difficult to explain to her what he wanted to do.
He gave the receptionist a nice smile and then left through the main entrance.
Standing in front of the large hospital building, Jin-Woo dug into his pocket and after a moment of searching, he pulled out a small gold key.
He didn't know anything about it, and to tell you the truth, the alloy it was made of didn't matter at all.
[ ITEM: DUNGEON KEY ]
[ DIFFICULTY LEVEL: E ]
[ TYPE: KEY ]
[ THE KEY ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE AN INSTANCE DUNGEON. YOU CAN USE IT ON HAPJUNG THIRD STATION. ]
Jin-Woo watched the key for a long time before putting it back in his pocket.
It's about time to check this little guy out.
He found this key in one of the random boxes he received as a reward for daily quests.
Whether it was called "Instance" or not, a dungeon is a dungeon.
Besides, aren't all dungeons are "Instance" in some way?
Eventually, once the boss is killed, the gate disappears forever.
When it came to the dungeon, he had many painful memories there.
During this tragedy a week ago, he managed to survive only because he was not alone. Even though he was then abandoned to death anyway.
As he remembered Mr. Kim's words, something stirred in his heart.
But if he used this key to enter the dungeon, it meant that he had to enter it all alone.
He thought for a long time before making a decision.
On the other hand, maybe there won't be any problems if he just takes a look. He could always escape. After entering the dungeon, in most cases, you could always turn back because the gate was able to let the hunters out without first clearing the dungeon.
He had been running 10 Kilometers every day for the past few days, so he was pretty sure he would escape.
***
The key disintegrated in his hand, and he moved his fingers in surprise as if still expecting to feel it in his hand.
He passed through a beam of energy quite similar to the gate that formed at the entrance of Hapjung Station.
As soon as he passed through this "Instance" gate, he heard a sound and a familiar female voice in his head.
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU HAVE ENTERED AN INSTANCE DUNGEON ]
Surprised, Jin-Woo turned around, sensing that the temporary gate through which he had entered was growing ominously darker.
To his disbelief and horror, the entrance closed, transforming from a manifestation of magical energy into something like..... a crystal wall.
Jin-Woo could see the streets outside, but when he placed his hand on the entrance, it turned out to be hard and impassable.
Jin-Woo hit the obstacle with his fist and shouted, but the people walking on the street on the other side paid no attention to him. As if not seeing or hearing him.
His shock became even greater when a young boy passed him, staring at his phone, and as if nothing unusual had occurred, he casually exited the station and strolled into the street.
As if the entrance wasn't blocked by a suddenly appearing wall.
Was he in some other dimension?
The only gates he knew that did not allow you to return to the normal world before killing the boss were the Red Gates.
But this barrier was not Red. Additionally, Red Gates has always been very dangerous.
However, the description of the key indicated that this dungeon was E-Rank.
This was definitely not how it was supposed to be.
He won't be able to escape now if something goes wrong.
He placed his hands on the wall and started pushing against the wall, hoping that it would do something.
Anything.
And it did, indeed.
However, not the kind of effect Jin-Woo would have expected.
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU CANNOT LEAVE THE DUNGEON UNTIL YOU KILL THE BOSS OR USE THE RETURN STONE. ]