← I've possessed a body, so let me just clear dungeons.The Tower of Ruins was located at the very end of the 5th basement level beneath Gangnam Station.
It wasn't on any official map. An area unknown to the management office. Junho stood before an iron door, gripping the card key that Park Min-ji had handed him. His fingers were cold. Not just from the Americano.
"Card contact."
It was a voice he already knew, but the tone was unfamiliar. A woman's voice. Cold and mechanical. Not a synthesized voice, but an actual voice with all emotion stripped away.
He pressed the card against the reader.
The iron door slid open. The change in air pressure stabbed at his eardrums. Negative pressure. Evidence that the sealed room had been maintained for a long time. Junho breathed in slowly. Oxygen levels were normal. The ventilation system was operating.
LED lights flickered on from the ceiling. One, two, three. They lit up sequentially along the corridor.
The corridor stretched about 50 meters. The walls weren't concrete but bedrock. This was an expansion of a natural underground cave that had already existed. The cracks in the walls were traces of excavation, and some looked as if they'd been scratched by fingernails. Junho decided not to look at those.
"Identity verification."
That voice again.
"Lee Junho."
"Hunter rank?"
"E-rank."
Silence fell. Three seconds. It felt long.
"The rank does not match."
Junho's hand automatically moved to his pocket. It meant Park Min-ji's card was only valid up to this point.
"Request from Park Min-ji."
At that moment, the corridor lights flickered once. The system was processing.
"Confirmed. Entry is authorized."
The iron gate rose. A larger space was revealed beyond it.
Junho took a step forward.
The moment the space opened up, the temperature dropped. Around 12 degrees Celsius. It was different from the natural temperature of an underground cave. This was a temperature being deliberately maintained by someone. A temperature suitable for storing fresh meat. Or other things.
The ceiling was over 15 meters high. It had probably been higher originally, but part of it was sealed with a hardened black substance. Junho knew what it was.
Mana coagulant. The substance used to block off critical sections of dungeons.
Metal shelves were installed along the corridor walls. On the shelves sat transparent containers in a line. Inside them were crystals. Over a hundred of them. Various colors. Blue, red, white, black.
Mana stones. But their quality and size were different from the ordinary kind.
Junho stopped walking and picked up the nearest container.
"Do not touch."
The voice responded immediately.
"What are these?"
"That information is not included in your request."
Junho set the container back down. The tips of his fingers tingled. It was the temperature difference on the container's surface. The interior was in a state of extreme cold.
He crossed the space. There was another door on the opposite side. This time, not an iron door but wood. It was old. It smelled of mold. But the door frame was new. Recently replaced.
"What's beyond this?"
"The 1st basement level of Gangnam Guryongsan. The unofficial dungeon 'Tower of Ruins' entrance."
Junho's breathing deepened. Unofficial. That word explained everything. A dungeon not under the Guild's surveillance. A space being artificially maintained by someone.
"Was this place here in 2035?"
The silence stretched. This time, it was a question the system couldn't answer.
"Your request is to confirm life or death. Additional information requests are not authorized."
Junho almost laughed. It meant there were things even Park Min-ji didn't know. Or things she knew but wouldn't tell. Both were dangerous.
He pushed the door.
The handle was warm. Evidence of recent contact. The warmth of someone's fingers still lingered.
Darkness unfolded.
Junho took a step forward, and the door closed behind him.
He pushed down the panic. An E-rank hunter doesn't panic in a situation like this. Regardless of actual ability, that's what he had to be in Park Min-ji's eyes.
He turned on his flashlight. Light pierced through the darkness.
Stairs. Stone stairs. About 1.5 meters wide. And below them lay deeper darkness. A place the flashlight's beam couldn't reach.
Junho descended slowly.
One step, then another.
His footsteps echoed off the stone. The echo returned. The space was large. Very large.
And there was a smell. The smell of earth and something rotting. And the smell of metal. The smell of rusted iron. No—the smell of blood.
2035. On those stairs, Junho had heard a scream. The scream of guild member Shin Eun-mi. That sound was still vivid even after 14 years.
His pace quickened.
The flashlight shook. The beam swept across the walls. Those walls bore fingernail marks. Many fingernail marks. Traces of someone clawing at the walls in madness.
And carved into them were words.
"...help...me..."
Junho stopped the flashlight.
The words hadn't been written with fingers. They were scratched into the stone with fingernails. A very long time ago.
The stairs ended.
A vast space opened up. The flashlight's beam didn't reach the ceiling. And the floor wasn't visible either.
Junho directed the light downward.
The floor was about 10 meters below.
And scattered across it were things of indeterminate form.
Junho's hand trembled. The flashlight's beam wavered.
They were skulls.
Dozens of skulls scattered across the floor.
I almost dropped the flashlight.
Junho steadied his trembling fingers and repositioned the beam. Skulls emerged faintly from the darkness. Some were intact. Some had only ribs remaining. One had two arm bones positioned as if reaching out for help.
The memory from 14 years ago came flooding back. Shin Eun-mi's fingers. The way those fingers tapped against the glass tube. If only it had been a little faster, just a little faster.
'No.'
Junho clenched his teeth. Not now.
He gathered mana. The colorless energy enveloping his body flickered faintly. The mana stones in the cryogenic storage section helped. The mana sensation from his memories, carried through his regression ability, awakened.
He stood on the last step of the staircase.
The jump distance was far. Ten meters. Junho took one breath and threw himself forward.
As he descended, he gathered mana beneath his feet. Just before landing, the energy dispersed explosively.
Kurung.
Dust rose up.
The flashlight was still in his hand. The light wavered. Junho examined the nearest skull first. It was a complete skeleton. The bone color was grayish-white. It meant it had been here for at least several years.
The bones clattered as his clothes brushed past them.
Junho froze.
Something moved somewhere in the space.
In the place the flashlight's beam didn't reach. In the darkness. Something large moved.
"Who's there?"
Junho swung the flashlight around.
In that instant, something burst from the darkness.
It was a creature. It had the form of a living being.
It was shaped like a dog over two meters long. But it was not a dog. Its skin was a rotted grayish color, and muscle was exposed in places. It had no eyes. Instead, where its eyes should have been were only black holes.
And its mouth. That mouth was split all the way to its ears.
A dungeon monster. Something created by the Ruin Tower.
Junho stepped backward. He dropped the flashlight and released mana throughout his entire body. The colorless aura transformed into golden light. Power brought by regression memories.
The monster let out a cry.
It was not a bark. Not a growl either. It was like a scream coming from someone's throat. Long, horrific, and desperate.
"Ugh!"
Junho instinctively threw his body to the side.
The monster lunged forward. Its claws raked the spot where Junho had been. Stone shattered explosively. Dust billowed.
Junho rolled through the air. As he landed, he immediately moved in the opposite direction. The monster pivoted. Its speed was fast. Very fast.
He threw a punch.
His fist, concentrated with mana, flew forward. It connected with the monster's flank.
Boom.
The monster was pushed back. About twenty centimeters. Then it stopped quickly.
'What the hell?'
Junho's heart sank.
That level of impact would have sent a weak C-rank monster flying. But this thing stopped. As if that much was merely a cough to it.
The monster cried out again.
This time its target was clear. It charged. All four legs struck the ground nearly simultaneously. Its speed was faster than before.
Junho threw himself to the side. The monster passed through. Its claws raked the stone in succession. Sparks flew. The sound of metal grinding echoed.
'This is... much stronger than expected.'
In the memories from 14 years before regression, there was almost no specific information about the Ruin Tower. Back then, Junho had never descended into this place. He only knew that Shin Eun-mi had screamed, but he didn't know what was inside.
The monster turned around quickly. Faster than Junho's movements.
Its claws aimed at Junho's arm.
Junho drew up a mana barrier. Golden energy solidified in front of his arm.
The monster's claws raked against it.
Clang.
The barrier shattered. Mana exploded. Junho's arm was pushed backward. His muscles screamed.
The monster didn't stop. It immediately followed up with another attack using a different limb.
Junho rolled and dodged. The claws passed over his back. His hood tore. Heat transmitted to his skin. A thin gash. Not deep, but it was there. Blood came out.
'At this level... B-rank. No, upper B-rank.'
Junho's breathing became ragged. The strength he remembered from 14 years ago was early B-rank. And that was only when hunting carefully. This monster was easily withstanding his attacks, and he was losing in speed.
The monster cried out again.
This cry was closer. Louder. Longer.
Junho released all his mana. Golden light exploded outward around his body. The monster wavered. That level of explosion would have singed the monster's skin.
But the monster charged again.
Junho's eyes trembled. He looked behind him. How far was it to the stairs? Ten meters. No, it might already be farther.
'I can't go back up.'
The monster's claws aimed at Junho's shoulder.
Junho rolled. He gathered mana in his hands. He made a fist.
This time, he didn't throw the punch.
He drove it into his own body.
Mana spread throughout his entire body. His muscles burned hot. His nerves became taut. A technique from 14 years ago. A technique with no name, one that needed no name. Simply forcing his own body to accelerate.
The monster's claws grazed Junho's face.
Junho threw himself forward. He collided directly with the monster's flank.
Both of them rolled across the ground.
Junho brought his fist down from above. Once. Twice. Three times.
The monster shrieked. Its hind legs kicked at Junho.
Junho flew backward. His back hit stone. Pain exploded.
In that moment, something glinted in the darkness above.
The flashlight. It was still on. The flashlight that had fallen to the ground was finally illuminating what lay on the floor.
What was revealed in that light was not the monster.
Among the piles of skulls, something was moving.
More of them.