[Flesh-Eating Giant Jungle Wendigo]
"...Is this a joke?"
The beating rain made it hard to think. The only thing that Taeyang was focused on was the cryptid, its red nametag, and the panel in front of him.
[Penalty Quest: Survive.]
[Goal: Survive until the time runs out.]
[Time required: 4:00:00]
[Time remaining: 3:59:50]
Thud… thud… thud…
Two more monsters surrounded Taeyang, with the same labels as the first. "Flesh-Eating Giant Jungle Wendigo" in red color.
They were beings that, despite being completely unaware of their origin, he knew what they were constituted of as if it was because of intimidation.
Their bodies were constituted of a completely pure and untapped energy source.
Mana.
Grrr…
The sounds they produced were reminiscent of a lion or bear. And they exuded the same murderous intent.
"A patient is missing?!"
"It looked as if an earthquake struck his room. None of the alarms were sounded!"
"Get security on this. Make sure all exits are secure."
"Should we contact his family?"
"...Wait until after he's confirmed missing."
The mud was slippery and the air was disgustingly humid. Taeyang's hospital gown clung to his skin in a mixture of sweat and rain as he heard the sound of titanic footsteps behind him.
"AAH-!"
Taeyang leaped in the air just in time. A sweeping hand larger than his entire body uprooted countless trees into the air. He crashed his shoulder into the mud in a barrel roll.
"It's a good thing I practiced parkour so much," he thought in between breaths. "But…"
Taeyang looked at the timer.
[Time required: 4:00:00]
[Time remaining: 1:42:35]
"I'm supposed to do this for four hours?!"
…
"He's not here!"
00:00:04…
"He's not on the rooftop either."
00:00:03…
"What about the cafeteria?!"
00:00:02…
"No… not there, either…"
00:00:01…
"...Alright. Call the police and report a missing person-"
00:00:00.
[You have completed the Penalty Quest.]
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH-!"
The slamming of a body against the wall was heard on one of the higher floors of the hospital, causing several security guards and doctors to rush in.
"Mr. Yun!"
Taeyang's body was sprawled on the floor and he was completely unconscious. His feet and clothes were stained with mud and the room was plagued with the stench of rain.
"What happened?! Why is there mud everywhere?!"
"It doesn't matter right now. Treat and clean him immediately."
Taeyang immediately blacked out when he was transferred back to the hospital. He didn't even get the chance to view the rewards for the penalty quest.
"..."
Detective Sung Jinwoo sat at his desk in the Forensics Department of the Seoul Police Station. After cramming in paperwork from a murder case, he took a visit to the rooftop.
"...Beru."
Jinwoo looked toward the Asan Medical Center which was kilometers away. A black, insignificant speck rose from his peripheral vision that any normal person would've disregarded. The black speck grew larger and larger in his view until its form was fully visible.
"Khiiik! My liege!" the black, humanoid ant addressed Jinwoo, kneeling before his king.
"What did you see?"
"Yun Taeyang is a weak human. However… he disappeared for four hours during the night and came back covered in mud."
Jinwoo's eyes widened significantly.
"My liege, do you think…?"
"...It's possible, but I can't think of any reason."
"Shall I kill him to prevent future troubles?"
"...No. Let's not interfere in his life for now."
"Yes, my liege…" Beru's body sunk into Jinwoo's shadow like quicksand.
"Mmhnm… mmmhm…!"
Taeyang quickly sprang up before collapsing back into his pillow with a throbbing pain in his head.
"Ahck… damn… my head… my body…"
The consequences of running for four hours on nothing but adrenaline hit Taeyang. His entire body was sore and it felt as if he were paralyzed.
"Hah…" he panted as his leg muscles cramped. "I wish I didn't have all this fatigue."
As if to grant his wish, his body took on a golden glow as the cramps and soreness in his body vanished and were replaced with an invigorating energy.
"...Huh?"
He sprung up once again but didn't feel any headaches or muscle cramps. He actually felt as if he had just slept ten hours.
"I feel so light… What's going on?"
He looked around and realized he was in a different room and hospital gown. "Who changed me?"
Then Taeyang remembered. The flesh-eating Wendigos that relentlessly pursued him in the middle of the night. He didn't need to pinch himself because he knew he had experienced reality.
"What the hell was that?"
He looked to his left and noticed the holographic window.
[Penalty Quest Rewards]
[1. Status Recovery (CLAIMED)]
[2. Stat Points +3 (UNCLAIMED)]
[3. Random Box +1 (UNCLAIMED)]
"Stat points plus three… and a random box, huh?" Taeyang repeated. "What the hell do I need stat points for?"
Another window opened as if to answer Taeyang's question. It was a window that provided a comprehensive account of his biology.
[Name: Yun Taeyang]
[Level: 1]
[Class: None]
[Title: None]
[Fatigue: 0]
[HP: 100]
[MP: 0]
STATS
[Strength: 10]
[Vitality: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Intelligence: 0]
[Sense: 10]
Strength, vitality, agility, intelligence, and sense. Some windows showed his inventory, skills, and equipment.
"It really is like a game," he remarked. "I could still be hallucinating, though."
He shook his head, as if welcoming that prospect were a waste of time.
"These are easy to understand. But intelligence?"
Taeyang thought back to all the MMORPGs he's played.
"An intelligence-build… so a lot of MP? But MP isn't- shouldn't be real… but…"
Taeyang remembered the Wendigos in the penalty zone. They radiated a type of energy that he had never felt anywhere else before.
"Is there something more to the world? The universe?"
After some thinking, Taeyang shook his head and decided to not think about it. "Three points into agility. I'll put it into something I need rather than gambling on something I don't even know about."
[Agility: 13]
"Parkour will be a piece of cake," he mumbled sarcastically. "And now for this…" Taeyang held his hand out.
The air swirled around a box-shaped energy core. It turned into a red present, secured and decorated with a gold ribbon.
"Status Recovery and bonus points…" said Taeyang. "What could be in here? An item of some sort?"
Taeyang closed his eyes in preparation. The box opened and disappeared into magical energy flakes, and a round object filled his hand.
"...An apple."
It was a rudimentary apple. Nothing special to it.
"Man, what the hell…" he scoffed, taking a bite. "How anticlimactic."
Another window popped up. "Hm?"
[Daily Quest: Strength Training has arrived.]
[GOAL]
[Push-ups (0/100)]
[Sit-ups (0/100)]
[Squats (0/100)]
[Running (0/10km)]
[WARNING: Failure to complete the daily quest will result in an appropriate penalty.]
"...You have to be F-"
On the lower floor, the nurse working the receptionist's desk heard a rumble.
"An earthquake?"
Taeyang groaned while covering his eyes, hoping that the daily quest was simply a hallucination.
"I guess it does make sense… it's a daily quest…" he reasoned with himself, before remembering the consequences of not completing a daily quest.
The color drained from Taeyang's face as he pressed the call button on his hospital bed.
"Mr. Yun?" a nurse answered.
"...Can I be discharged? Like right now?"
"Eh- Mr. Yun, just hold on a second!"
Taeyang was eagerly filling out his discharge papers. "I'm in a hurry."
"But you disappeared last night and you have no recollection! We have to keep you for at least a little while."
"You can examine me. You'll see that there are no abnormalities."
"Uh- uhm…"
"And you can't legally keep me here unless you declare that I don't have decisional capacity, right?"
"..."
Taeyang handed the clipboard back to the attending nurse, readjusting his black tracksuit jacket and promptly exiting the hospital.
"First," he said to himself, opening the daily quest window. "Let's knock out ten kilometers."
"Hey, isn't that Yun's kid?"
"I heard that he was part of that 'portal' incident or whatever. He's been in the hospital and was in a week-long coma."
"Then why has he been running so much?!"
Passersby noticed a blonde-to-orange-haired kid with purple eyes running like there was no tomorrow for a full hour.
[Running: (10/10km) COMPLETED]
"Ah… finally," he panted, resting his hands on his knees. "Now time for the rest of these."
100 squats, sit-ups, and push-ups. After running ten kilometers without rest, Taeyang chose to do the squats first as he deemed them the easiest.
"I'm finally starting to get the hang of it…"
…
[Push-ups: (100/100) COMPLETED]
[Sit-ups: (100/100) COMPLETED]
[Squats: (100/100) COMPLETED]
[Running: (10/10km) COMPLETED]
Taeyang checked his watch. "There are those who've done it for less time… but I have the whole day. It's fine."
When Taeyang began his workout, it was 9:00 in the morning on Saturday. Now it was 10:15. He had been performing full throttle for an hour and fifteen minutes without rest or a water break.
But Taeyang knew he didn't need any of those.
[Daily Quest Rewards]
[1. Stat Points +3 (UNCLAIMED)]
[2. Random Box +1 (UNCLAIMED)]
"Huh?!" he gasped. "No Status Recovery?!"
He thought back to last night.
"Oh… so because the penalty quest rewards gave me Status Recovery, I can't get it in the daily quest? That's a shame… I thought I could exploit the penalty rewards and the daily rewards somehow."
Taeyang claimed the three stat points.
"All into strength."
Taeyang watched as his strength stat increased by three, for a total of 13.
"So now my strength and speed increased by 30%," he thought to himself. "Please, let this one be good!"
Taeyang claimed the final random box. It appeared in his hand in the same manner as before. This time, it was cold, metallic, and small. It was a highly ornamental key.
"A key..?" he remarked. "What is it for?"
Before he could take a peek at the information panel, a distinct and familiar duo of voices called his name.
"Taeyang!"
It was Su-Jin and Jiyeon.
"Jiyeon? Su-Jin?" said Taeyang, shuffling the sleek white key into his pocket. He was so focused on the two of them that he didn't even notice the key disintegrating into electricity.
"Why didn't you tell us you were discharged?" asked Jiyeon.
"Uh… I had to run some errands before I went home."
"Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, I am," he replied, standing up from the bench.
"I didn't tell them about this 'System' thing yet. But they'd probably think I'm mental," Taeyang contemplated to himself.
Was it worth trying to get Su-Jin and Jiyeon to understand the things he's seeing? As far as Taeyang is aware, he's the only human on earth with these hallucinations. He decided that he would pretend to live his life as normal, unfolding the secrecies within the entity known as the System.
"Well, since you're awake…" Jiyeon said, motioning Taeyang to follow. "Principal Choi told the three of us to visit the school. Some sort of 'behavioral checkpoint' or whatever."
"I see… alright… by the way…?"
Taeyang looked at Su-Jin's tall and bulky physique. Or rather, what was on it.
"You don't usually wear that."
Su-Jin looked down at his own clothing. It was a checkered, short-sleeved button-up with a white t-shirt beneath it.
"You get tired of varsity jackets or something?"
"Ah… Jiyeon helped me realize that the friends I have at school aren't very good friends. So she helped me cut them off."
Taeyang widened his eyes. "But that'd ruin your reputation. What about the wrestling team? You'll be seeing them often."
"It's alright," Su-Jin assured Taeyang. "I'm gonna stay and be better than all of them."
Taeyang listened to Su-Jin as the trio walked. There was a side to Su-Jin that Taeyang never expected him to have. His entire time at Yeonkkoch High School was riddled with bullying from Su-Jin and his clique, and then he beat all of them up.
Taeyang always appreciated genuine people. Against all odds, Su-Jin was one of them.
"Have you learned your lesson?" Principal Choi asked Su-Jin and Taeyang, while Jiyeon stood in the back of the room.
"...Yes, ma'am," Taeyang and Su-Jin both avoided eye contact with her.
"Is this true, Jiyeon?"
"Yes, ma'am. Even though Taeyang had been hospitalized, his behavior has become much more consistent with the school's code of conduct."
"Great," Principal Choi neatly fixed a stack of papers on her desk. "I'll be lifting the supervision of Hwang Jiyeon over you two. However, since Taeyang was hospitalized, he still needs to catch up on filling the 8-hour tutoring requirement with Su-Jin."
…
Taeyang and Su-Jin looked at each other before nodding.
"If it's possible, Principal Choi…" Taeyang began. "Could you keep the supervisor?"
Jiyeon's eyes widened.
"Oh? Why is that?" Choi was intrigued.
"Jiyeon carries herself maturely and sensibly. Her company is comforting. And… that's not a lot to ask for in a friend."
Jiyeon hid it from her expression, but her heart squeezed at their passion.
"You know you guys can just hang out without my permission, right?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"Leave my office," Principal Choi chuckled. "It's the weekend, go enjoy yourselves."
"My company is comforting, huh?"
"...Shut up."
When the sun set, Taeyang, Su-Jin, and Jiyeon all waved goodbye to each other before going their separate ways home.
"Halmeoni? Harabeoji?"
When Taeyang arrived home, the house was empty. There was a note on the kitchen table.
"Went to the fish market. Be home soon. And don't sleep late!"
Taeyang heard his grandfather's nagging through the note. He promptly threw it in the trash and made his way upstairs, throwing himself on his bed.
"Hah…" Taeyang was finally relaxed. "...!"
He felt around in his jacket pocket and realized that the key he got from the random box was gone.
"Shit… did I drop it?"
Taeyang looked in every one of his pockets, cursing under his breath. "What if it was something valuable?"
In front of him appeared the System window. This time, it was labeled inventory and had an extensive row of black, empty boxes except for the first one. Taeyang stretched his hand towards it, and instead of his hand passing through the hologram, it could actually be touched.
Buzz…
Electricity sparked around his hand and the window as he pulled out the key. "...Neat. Now I won't need a backpack."
The information window opened in front of him.
[Name: Dungeon Key]
[Rank: E]
[Type: Key]
[A key to access an Instance Dungeon. Usable in Jogyesa Buddhist Temple.]
"...Dungeon?!"