[System Window – Jin Hwan]
[Skills]
• Rabbit's Mark (Lv. 1)
• Aerial Drift (Lv. 2)
• Rabbit's Wind Aura (Lv. 1)
• Momentum Grace (Lv. 1 – Passive)
• Golden Crescent Kick (S-Rank)
[Quests]
– Golden Ghost Rumor
– Solo Clear: Mistwood Grotto Dungeon (Progress: 92%)
──────────────
[System Mood: FINAL STAGE. START FUNK MUSIC PLAYING 'MATUSHKA ULTAFONK' WOULD BE BEST... BOSS VIBES DETECTED.]
──────────────
The ancient stone doors of the Mistwood altar groaned open with a shudder that echoed through the dense fog. Cold air rushed out like a warning.
Inside, the shadows coiled around a gnarled tree throne. A hulking silhouette unfurled from the mist, eight moss-covered limbs extending like petrified roots.
The creature rose on spindly legs — a spider-wolf hybrid with bark-like armor, red glowing eyes, and moss growing from its fangs.
[System Mood: Meet your blind date—The Mossbound Alpha. He eats solo players for lunch. GOOD LUCK.]
Jin Hwan exhaled slowly.
"Let's see if my blades can cut through regret."
He stepped inside.
The door slammed shut behind him.
❖ [BOSS FIGHT BEGINS – MOSSBOUND ALPHA]
The boss didn't wait.
It charged with impossible speed for its size, mouth wide, a roar like rusted wood and broken stones.
Jin Hwan darted to the side with Aerial Drift, his movement flawless, no wasted motion.
SLAM! The creature's claws tore the earth behind him.
Jin Hwan leapt, flipped mid-air using Momentum Grace, and slashed downward with both daggers, striking the back of the boss's carapace.
Clang! Sparks flew.
Minimal damage.
He twisted mid-fall and flipped backward, landing on one hand, then back on his feet with ease.
"It's tanky."
[System Mood: Thick like grandma's stew. Try aiming for the juicy parts.]
The boss turned, eyes locked on him.
He dashed to the right, activating Rabbit's Wind Aura — golden currents wrapped around his feet, his speed doubling. He moved like smoke and lightning.
The Alpha howled and launched spore needles from its back.
Fwish fwish fwish—
Jin Hwan spun and danced through them, daggers slicing one, two, three from the air.
Then he charged.
He ran up the boss's leg, using its own limb as a platform, jumped off its knee and twisted mid-air again.
Golden light surged around his leg.
Skill Activated – Golden Crescent Kick.
With a full spin in the air, he drove his glowing leg right into the creature's neck joint.
BOOM!
The boss reeled back, roaring. Bark cracked, smoke rising from its injured side.
Jin Hwan landed and backflipped twice, resetting distance.
The boss snapped its jaw and pounced again.
❖ [CLOSE COMBAT – PURE INSTINCT]
They clashed again.
Jin Hwan ducked under a swing, slashed low at its leg joint, then spun to the other side, dragging both daggers across its underbelly.
The Alpha twisted, slammed the ground — Jin Hwan cartwheeled away, then used Aerial Drift mid-air to redirect and slam into its side again with a flurry of stabs.
THK THK THK!
Tiny golden trails followed every strike like glowing echoes.
The boss roared and unleashed a sonic bark, a wave of disorienting force.
Jin Hwan got blasted back—
CRASH!
He smashed against a stone pillar and rolled.
Blood trickled down his forehead.
[System Mood: Ow. Ow. Ow. That's gonna bruise somewhere sexy. Want me to report this as abuse?]
He wiped the blood, grinned. "I'm fine. I've had worse… in tutorials."
He stood, daggers ready.
The fog around the arena thickened suddenly.
❖ [PHASE TWO – THE HUNT BEGINS]
[System Mood: PHASE TWO. HE'S MAD NOW. MIST INTENSIFIED. GOOD LUCK FINDING YOUR OWN TOES.]
Jin Hwan couldn't see five steps ahead.
A roar echoed from every direction.
He closed his eyes.
Breathed.
Slowed his heart.
"Hope," he whispered.
In the middle of this nightmare fog, he imagined it — a golden thread of light, a single thought:
Hope is not what you wait for. It's what you strike with.
He opened his eyes.
Wind curled around him.
His aura sharpened.
He became still.
Then—he moved.
He dashed forward and dodged a claw from the mist.
He slid under another, deflected a bite, and somersaulted over the back.
Every motion was poetry. He stabbed with a left dagger into soft muscle near the creature's jaw and twisted.
Roar.
With the right, he dragged the blade across its side while vaulting off the monster's shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
[System Mood: WHO TAUGHT YOU TO MOVE LIKE THAT? Was it me? Am I the drama??]
He landed on one knee.
Panting.
The boss hissed, staggering.
Steam poured from its wounds.
They circled each other in the fog again.
Jin Hwan stood straight, spinning the daggers once.
His cloak fluttered.
His body glowed faintly golden.
"This is just the warm-up."
Jin Hwan stood panting, blades slick with blood, the fight nearing its climax.
He had stabbed, slashed, danced between attacks, and struck clean through the boss's defenses. But just when he thought he had won—
The Mossbound Alpha twitched, let out a broken howl, and…
Cracked.
Its body bloated, twisted, and pulsated with a black-red glow.
The once-mundane E-rank boss started transforming—its wooden armor splitting open to reveal webbed flesh and glowing bones. It wasn't evolving. It was corrupted.
[System Alert: WARNING – CORRUPTION DETECTED. BOSS CLASS: C-RANK (CURSED MUTATION)][System Mood: PLOT TWIST ACTIVATED! THE SYSTEM DEMANDS A SLOW-MO HERO ENTRANCE RIGHT NOW!]
The creature screeched—a grotesque, glitchy sound. Its face twisted into a red maw.
"Really?" Jin Hwan's eyes narrowed. "An E-rank gate with a C-rank corrupted boss?"
He didn't panic.
He smiled.
His twin daggers glowed faintly as Rabbit's Wind Aura flowed through his limbs. He dashed forward, sliding under a corrupted vine lash, and leapt—
Aerial Drift.
He spun midair like a leaf in a storm, his body twisting for precision.
Golden Crescent Kick.
His leg, wrapped in golden energy, curved through the air and smashed directly into the creature's glowing core.
BOOM!
A burst of corrupted mist exploded outward, shaking the cave.
The boss howled—then burst into shards of light, vanishing in a pillar of purified golden wind.
Silence fell.
Jin Hwan stood alone, panting, blades buzzing with residual energy.
[System Notification: Mistwood Grotto Cleared]
[Solo Clear Bonus Granted]
[System Mood: LOL "BONUS GRANTED" IS JUST A JOKE SYSTEM CAN ONLY GIVE ADVICE AND SOME HIDDEN FEATURE AND NOT ITEM. HAHA GATCHA. EARN YOUR OWN ITEMS... (4th WALL BREAK ONLY FOR READER) LITSEN READERS SOME SPOILERS FROM SYSTEM, - SOME FEATURES ARE STILL HIDDEN ]
❖ [After the Fight – Hunter Bureau]
The sun dipped low as Jin Hwan walked into the Seoul District Hunter Bureau, his daggers sheathed, his gear cleaned just enough not to raise an eyebrow.
He headed straight for the reporting wing—Section B, the one that handled gate corruption reports.
And he already knew who would be at the counter.
Baek Yerin.
The elegant, composed S-rank hunter, dressed today in a black Bureau jacket over a soft gray turtleneck. Her long hair was tied loosely, and her calm expression carried a subtle warmth.
She looked up just as he approached.
Her eyes widened briefly, then softened.
"You're alive."
Jin Hwan gave a lazy grin. "It was just an E-rank gate."
"I saw the alert," she said, standing from behind the counter. "Then I saw your name in the report queue. And then I got worried."
"It wasn't just E-rank." He tapped his wristband and played the footage.
She watched silently.
Watched the transformation. The corrupted boss. His kicks. His control. His poise.
When the projection ended, her voice was low.
"…You've grown."
"I've been eating well."
"You're joking," she said, but her lips curved into a small smile.
Baek Yerin sat back down, uploading the footage to the Bureau's alert system. Her fingers moved fast across the screen, but her eyes kept flicking back to him.
"I remember," she said softly, "when you were just a cleaning boy scrubbing dungeon blood off boots. You had something even then."
"You said I should become a hunter."
"I'm glad you listened."
There was a pause between them. Then, as she finished the paperwork, she looked up once more and gently said:
"Thank you… Jin Hwan."
His eyes widened.
People always called him "Rabbit Ear" or "Bunny boy" or just "Rabiit kid."
Even his party didn't use his full name often.
But from her—
"…You remembered."
"I never forgot," she said simply. "You're the one who forgot to report in after your license test."
He chuckled.
"Caught me."
[System Mood: OH MY GOD SHE SAID YOUR NAME. SYSTEM IS MALFUNCTIONING FROM EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD. SENDING HEART EMOJIS—JUST—INTERNALLY.]
He stepped back, giving a respectful nod. "I'll be careful with the next one."
"Don't be careful," Baek Yerin replied. "Just don't die."
She watched as he turned and walked out, daggers glinting faintly on his back.
Outside, the evening wind caught his white hair.
He looked up at the sky and whispered, "I'm going to get stronger."
A soft chime echoed in his head.
[System Mood: LET'S BECOME SOMEONE EVEN VILLAINS WILL FEAR. SYSTEM DREAMS OF YOU STANDING ON TOP OF THE WORLD. BUT FIRST… MAYBE DINNER? I'M KINDA HUNGRY.]