5
Coming out into the living room, Baek Woo-jin blinked at the sight of the mother and daughter sitting on the sofa—or more precisely, Baek A-yeon lying with her head on Mrs. Jang's lap, fiddling with her smartphone.
It hadn't even been three minutes since the two left before she came out of her room. To change from her school uniform to pajamas in that short time.
"Going out?"
"Yeah. Might be late."
"Alright. Let me know in advance if you think you'll stay out all night."
"I'll be back around this time~!"
Baek Woo-jin chuckled at the sight of Baek A-yeon, who had returned to being her bratty younger sister, perhaps having grown tired of the demure girl act in just three minutes.
'That's more like it.'
Before heading to the entrance, Baek Woo-jin slightly opened Baek A-yeon's door, then closed it at the sight of his sister's pile of shed skins strewn across the bed and floor.
"At least clean your room."
"It's my room?"
Baek Woo-jin lightly ignored Baek A-yeon's chatter about how opening his fully-grown sister's room door was too creepy even for siblings related by blood, and left the house.
'The closest F-rank dungeon.'
Heading to the bus stop, Baek Woo-jin accessed the Awakener community and looked up the location of the nearest F-rank dungeon from his home. If it was too far, he had planned to take a taxi, but fortunately, he confirmed that there was a government-owned public dungeon 30 minutes away by bus.
'It's chilly.'
Considering the only thing he wore was a padded jacket, it would be stranger if he wasn't cold. Except for Hunters, commonly called superhumans, Awakeners were still human at their core, making them just as vulnerable to heat and cold.
Whether before the regression or now, he still felt the cold in winter, but at least after regressing, it didn't chill him to the bone as if his chest had been hollowed out.
Arriving at his destination by bus like any ordinary person, Baek Woo-jin took in the sight of a small building resembling a guard post and, behind it, the dungeon entrance undulating with a blue glow.
'A form I can never get used to, no matter how many times I see it.'
Commonly called the dungeon entrance, or simply the entrance, the dimensional rift—as some scientists or people who liked to show off their knowledge called it—took the form of blue light rippling in a void that looked as though space had been shattered open.
It was a visual that any human with normal thinking wouldn't dare approach unless they were crazy.
'Come to think of it, it's funny.'
Before the regression, he had desperately wanted to get closer to dungeons, but the result was disastrous. Yet now, despite resolving to have nothing to do with dungeons, let alone become a Hunter, he found himself standing in front of one before he knew it.
You're supposed to play hard to get in moderation.
That was what he thought inside, but truthfully, Baek Woo-jin's mood wasn't too bad.
'Is this what they call a honey pot?'
Approaching the management office building, Baek Woo-jin lightly tapped the glass to wake up the civil servant who was comfortably dozing off while leaning back in his chair.
-Yawp...?
Perhaps he was having a good dream.
The dozing civil servant wiped the drool from his mouth and groggily sat up. And only after stretching refreshingly did he open the window and poke his head out.
"Ahem, what brings you here?"
"I'd like to enter the dungeon."
"Ah, the dungeon."
Perhaps mistaking him for an auditor from above, the civil servant leaned back comfortably against the chair back and pulled out a scanner from the drawer.
"May I see your ID card?"
"The card is still being issued."
"Hmm..."
Annoyance overtly appeared on the civil servant's face.
"Then your ID, please."
"Here."
Having prepared in advance, Baek Woo-jin handed over his ID, and the civil servant entered the name and resident registration number written on the ID into a tablet on the desk.
"You just registered today?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, it's not that you can't..."
The civil servant returned the ID and scratched his head.
"There's no one in the dungeon right now?"
"I see."
"That's not what I mean... Are you really going in?"
"Yes."
"For sure?"
A laugh escaped him at the civil servant's response, which reminded him of his memories before the regression. I had thought it was worth trying since I was F-rank and they were F-rank too.
The result was being rescued, practically dragged out, by other Hunters who were inside the dungeon after becoming a complete wreck. It was the decisive incident that made him decide to just take the bus.
"I'll write the pledge."
"No... well, if you insist, then fine."
With a disgruntled face, the civil servant pulled out a piece of paper and a ballpoint pen from the drawer.
The pledge didn't contain much.
It simply stated that no matter what problems occurred inside the dungeon, the civil servant would not be held responsible.
After finishing writing, Baek Woo-jin returned the pledge and briefly pointed at a large box placed in the corner of the management office.
"I'd like to rent a sword, please."
"Those haven't been maintained in a long time."
"I'm aware. Still, it should work against Ratmen."
"Well, that's true but... sigh. Hold on."
The civil servant got up from his seat and headed toward the box. Then, with a grunt, he pushed open the dust-covered lid and began rummaging through the pile of tangled weapons regardless of type.
"This one is at least usable without breaking."
"Thank you."
"If you're really grateful, please come out in one piece. That's more than enough."
Baek Woo-jin gave a slight nod in response and, taking the sword handed to him by the civil servant, walked into the entrance.
**
"Better than before."
Before the regression, his stomach had churned so badly that he eventually couldn't hold back and threw up. If your condition was like that before even starting, normally the first thought would be to turn back.
"Condition is good."
Unlike before when he had even vomited, currently no abnormal symptoms appeared at all. If there was a slight difference, it was that the bizarre sensation of enveloping the body when entering the dungeon was felt more vividly than before.
'I asked for a sword, but...'
Baek Woo-jin drew the sword at his waist and swung it about a dozen times.
'As expected, it doesn't feel right in my hand.'
Perhaps because he had held a pickaxe for so long, awkwardness was evident in many ways. The most difficult thing to adapt to was the excessively light weight.
Holding something wasn't an issue since he had gripped a pickaxe for so long, so he didn't feel much awkwardness in that regard, but the weight when swinging it was so light that it felt incredibly awkward.
"Still, better than nothing."
After lightly warming up by swinging the sword in front of the exit, Baek Woo-jin took a breath and stepped into the forest where trees and lush grass grew thickly.
'I'm not not nervous.'
Until he entered, his heart had been beating as calmly as usual. However, the moment he entered the dungeon and stepped out of the safe zone of the exit area, his heart rate rapidly increased in real time.
'Not bad.'
Being too tense would be a problem, but this level of tension actually had the effect of increasing concentration, making it just right for the current situation.
After pushing through the bushes for a short while.
Squeak.
At the sound that anyone would recognize as something a rat would make, Baek Woo-jin turned toward the direction of the sound. And, not caring that his footsteps would leave prints, he pressed down hard on the tips of both feet to silence his footsteps as much as possible as he moved forward.
'Lucky.'
Seeing a giant rat picking up and eating fallen fruit under a tree, Baek Woo-jin gripped the sword in his hand even tighter.
A giant rat with a body about half the size of an adult male that walked on two legs.
Less intelligent than Goblins, which could use tools and form groups, it was evaluated as nothing more than a large rat and considered the weakest among monsters.
Of course, this evaluation was based on Hunters as the standard; for ordinary people, it was still a monster that would be a disaster to encounter, no different from other monsters.
'Stay calm.'
The Ratman was distracted by eating the fruit.
Baek Woo-jin calmly took a breath and raised the sword he had lowered. And the moment the Ratman lowered its posture to pick up a new fruit.
Swish!
He burst out of the bushes in one motion and thrust the sword into the head of the Ratman that had turned its back.
"Huuu, huuu."
Along with the unfamiliar sensation transmitted through the grip he held, the Ratman with the sword driven into its skull collapsed without even letting out a squeak.
It was a clean strike, making the memory of barely being able to cut through leather seem meaningless.
"Ugh?!"
Trying to pull out the sword, Baek Woo-jin staggered while clutching his head at a sudden headache that rushed in.
"Hah, haaah..."
Fortunately, the headache didn't last long. It wasn't even as severe as he had thought, either.
Pulling out the sword embedded in the head, Baek Woo-jin briefly leaned his back against the tree the Ratman had been facing without even thinking to shake off the blood.
"Hah."
There was a cause for everything, and the headache that had just struck him also had a cause. And that cause surprised even Baek Woo-jin, who had gone through regression.
All sorts of knowledge about the Ratman he had just killed flowed into his mind.
From preferred food, environment, and burrowing methods to reproduction, rare mutated individuals, and higher species rooted in Ratmen.
'A skill...'
The only thing within Baek Woo-jin's current knowledge that could explain this situation was a skill. And Baek Woo-jin had one skill whose effect—let alone its name—was shrouded in mystery.
"It still doesn't come to mind..."
Baek Woo-jin soon lightly shook his head.
This problem could be thought over after returning home. Hunting took priority right now. Besides, Ratman hearts were used as ingredients for the cheap potions supplied by the Association, so while they weren't worth much, they still fetched some money.
"I should have brought a bag."
Even so, putting a heart in his padded jacket pocket was a bit much.
Resigning byproducts to next time, Baek Woo-jin moved on to find the next Ratman.
Squeak.
A Ratman, dreaming without knowing what future would unfold shortly, was walking while stepping through the bushes.
'What is this now...'
Baek Woo-jin blinked his eyes a few times at the red lines visible on the Ratman's body, but the red lines did not disappear and remained etched onto the Ratman's body.