Chapter 9

“Did you hurt your head?”

His little sister asked from the door . Jinwoo shook his head .

“No . ”

Not comforted by his words, his sister’s eyes were filled with concern .

“You’re really okay, right?”

“I told you, yes . ”

His little sister huffed and puffed as she started approaching him with a piercing gaze . Used to her reactions in situations like this, Jinwoo put up his guard as his little sister started hitting him .

“I told you to stop getting hurt! Do you know how much I was worried?!”

“…Sorry . ”

“Everyone else seems to do just fine, why are you the only one getting hurt all the time!”

“…Sorry…”

The hands that were striking him slowly lost their strength . Eventually, Jinah stood with her head hung low, tears falling down her cheeks . Jinwoo patted his sister on the back, doing his best to comfort her . He held back the tears forming in his own eyes .

‘To think I was prepared to die… to leave her behind…’

Thank god he had returned alive . Looking at this moment, he realized just how many times he came close to death . It was like being in a nightmare .

Jinwoo turned his gaze toward the words suspended in air .

You have unread messages .

‘And it still feels like I haven’t woken up…’

He could not understand the meaning behind the words . Still, what could he do? The most important thing was the fact that he was able to return to his family alive .

“Sniff”

Fortunately, his sister had stopped crying . Unfortunately, her rant at his condition continued for another hour…

“-So do you understand? If you get hurt again, I’ll give up my studies and go straight into working, so you won’t be able to work as a Hunter ever again!”

A sharp, piercing gaze that was unbecoming of her pretty face, she was truly her brother’s sister .

“I got it, I got it . ”

Jinwoo nodded in resignation . After receiving his confirmation multiple times, Jinah got up, satisfied .

“Where are you gong?”

“School . I just got permission to leave briefly to come and see you, but I have to go back . ”

“Right, right . The college entrance examinations are next year . ”

Although he could not afford to provide a tutor or send her to a private school, Jinah still managed to become one of the top students in the school . Her goal: to become a doctor . The little girl who could not distance herself from video games suddenly became a fervent student when their mother fell ill few years ago .

Jinwoo wanted to make sure her dreams came true .

‘Wait… video games?’

His eyes suddenly shot open .

“I’m going . ”

Jinwoo quickly caught his sister, who was leaving,

“Jinah . ”

“What?”

“When you play a game…”

Jinah smiled, “I don’t play games these days . There’s so little time until I’m in my final year . ”

“I know, I know, but I still wanted to ask,”

“About what? Oppa, have you been playing games lately?”

Although she had put them behind, she was very good in her past . As such, her brother’s question flared her interest . Jinwoo continued to stare at the floating letters and asked,

“If I have an unread message in a game, how do I open or access it?”

“First, you have to open the message box . ”

“Open the message box?”

ring~

The moment he spoke the words “open”, an electronic beep followed the opening of the message box .

You have 2 unread messages .

Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread)

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread)

Jinwoo felt himself being filled with joy .

‘It worked!’

Surprised by the sudden appearance of happiness in his face, Jinah anxiously asked,

“What? What game is it? Do you need my help?”

Jinwoo firmly shook his head,

“No, I want to try it out alone . ”

How would his sister react if he told her everything that was happening to him?

‘Don’t want to hear from my own sister that I’m crazy . ’

So Jinwoo swallowed the words he wanted to say and bid her goodbye .

After confirming that she went down the elevator out of the hospital, Jinwoo returned to his room .

‘Can’t repeat the same mistake . ’

click-

lock-

To avoid any unwanted attention, he locked the doors . Finishing his preparation, Jinwoo sat on the side of his bed and started reading the messages floating before his eyes .

Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread)

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread)

The first message seemed familiar to him .

‘Where was it, I’ve definitely heard this one before . ’

He started with the first message .

‘Open . ’

ring~

This System will help with the growth of the “Player” .

Non-compliance with this System’s instructions may result in a penalty .

Your reward has been received .

“Ah…”

He remembered now . It was the words he heard before losing consciousness .

‘It said something about a player back then, too…’

But just like that time, he had no idea what that meant .

System . Growth . Penalty . Reward .

It was a parade of unclear meanings .

‘Just what is it helping grow, and what is it rewarding?’

He found it difficult to apply these words that he saw in video games before .

Ignoring the meaning of the words for now, he went onto the next message .

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread)

Gulp .

Jinwoo swallowed at the suspicious title of the message . His heartbeat sped up .

‘Open . ’

ring~

Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful

Do 100 Push-ups:

(Incomplete) (0/100)

Do 100 Sit-ups:

(Incomplete) (0/100)

Do 100 Squats:

(Incomplete) (0/100)

Run 10 kilometers:

(Incomplete) (0/10)

*Warning: Failing to complete the Daily Quest will result in a Penalty Quest .

Jinwoo moaned after confirming the message .

“Sigh… what is this…”

Daily Quest . On top of that, a “preparation to become powerful” . He expected more than just simple exercises with a title like that . At least, it was certain if he completed the exercises in the quest, his body would probably improve a little . Was this the growth and reward the System spoke of?

‘Now that I think about it…’

He recalled reading “those with inner problems should listen to their inner voice” in some book before .

‘Guess I’m just hallucinating what my body’s telling me’

His urge to become stronger must’ve been so strong that he was now seeing these nonsensical words in the air . More so than how laughable it was, he was disappointed .

“If you can just become strong like this, who wouldn’t have done so already…?”

He shook his head in disbelief . He felt pathetic in the expectation that he would find all the answers in these messages .

‘Eh, I don’t care . ’

Jinwoo went to lie down in the bed . He stared up into the ceiling .

“ . . . ”

Although he was not doing anything in particular, time passed by quickly . As he began to feel the weight of silence throughout the hospital, he suddenly sat up .

‘Still…’

What if this did bring about change? Half in anticipation, half in suspicion, the thought of ‘should I just give it a try’ occured in his head .

‘Can’t hurt after all . ’

What if he just lightly tried out one of the motions?

After some thought, he made the decision to give it a try .

Lightly stretching after getting off the bed, he attempted do half-hearted push-ups . Instead of getting on the ground, he stood up at and angle and pushed off the bed .

“1, 2, 3…”

Starting at 1, he rapidly went down the line .

“ . . . 97, 98, 99, 100 . ”

Finishing what he started, he reached his 100th “push-up” . Contrary to his expectation, nothing seemed to change . Except for his slightly sore arms .

“ . . . So now what…”

He stood up with a smile on his face .

Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Read)

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Read)

The previously “unread” messages had become “read” . The words telling him that he had unread messages had disappeared, but he no longer had any intention to continue entertaining these delusions . He felt he had done enough .

Without any regrets, he closed the message window .

With a yawn, he returned to his bed . In response to moving after such a long time, he started feeling sleepy . The window outside glowed orange from the sunset .

‘Is it this late already?’

The man from the Hunter Surveillance Department explained earlier that his hospital bills would be footed by the Association . With that in mind, Jinwoo was not in a rush to be discharged .

‘Maybe I’ll have the hospital run some tests, make sure I’m completely healthy . ’

He thought as he lay in bed .

‘I’m sure the hallucinations should disappear after some time . ’

His eyelids slowly closed . Soon, he fell into deep slumber .

tick tick tick

As he slept, the clock on the opposite wall continued to tick . As time passed, the hands of the clock eventually pointed to 11:59:57 .

tick

58 .

tick

59 .

tick

60 .

The clock pointed to 12:00:00 .

ring~

[You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest . You will be moved to the ‘Penalty Zone’ for a set duration . ]

SHAKE!~

Jinwoo opened his eyes to an intense trembling that shook his entire body .

“E-earthquake?!”

He shot up and grabbed the bed frame at the foot of the bed . The trembling was so strong that he found it difficult to hold on .

SHAKE!~

But with each passing second, the tremors became worse .

Suddenly,

psssh~

The bed frame he held onto for his life broke . No, it had disappeared from his hands . His checked his hands, there was no sign of the bed frame . Instead, there was sand on his palms .

‘Sand?’

psssssh~

Rest of the frames on the bed turned to sand, and the trembling became even stronger .

SHAKE!~

“Uwaaak!”

Unable to hold on, he was eventually thrown off the bed . Jinwoo screamed as he bounced up and down in his room . One by one, all the furniture and items in his room turned into sand .

“Uwaaaaaaah!”

Crash!

Jinwoo suddenly found himself embedded in something . His fingertips felt the softness of sand around him . The earthshake had stopped .

spit spit

As he spat out the sand that entered his mouth, he raised his head .

“ . . . ?”

He found himself in the middle of a vast desert . Patting the sand off his body, he stood up and looked around . In every direction, he saw an endless field of sand, stretching to the horizon .

“A desert…?”

There was no logical explanation for this . Until moments ago, he was resting on a hospital bed in the middle of Seoul .

He grabbed a handful of sand and let it fall . The sand fell in a straight line to the ground .

‘There’s no wind . ’

Not just wind, looking up, there was no sun, moon or even stars .

An empty sky like black ink spilled across a canvas .

Even stranger, despite the lack of a visible light source, he had no trouble seeing his surroundings .

“Where am I?”

Sponsored Content

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 9.

.

“Did you hurt your head?”.

.

His little sister asked from the door . Jinwoo shook his head . .

.

“No . ”.

.

Not comforted by his words, his sister’s eyes were filled with concern . .

.

“You’re really okay, right?”.

.

“I told you, yes . ”.

.

His little sister huffed and puffed as she started approaching him with a piercing gaze . Used to her reactions in situations like this, Jinwoo put up his guard as his little sister started hitting him . .

.

“I told you to stop getting hurt! Do you know how much I was worried?!”.

.

“…Sorry . ”.

.

“Everyone else seems to do just fine, why are you the only one getting hurt all the time!”.

.

“…Sorry…”.

.

The hands that were striking him slowly lost their strength . Eventually, Jinah stood with her head hung low, tears falling down her cheeks . Jinwoo patted his sister on the back, doing his best to comfort her . He held back the tears forming in his own eyes . .

.

‘To think I was prepared to die… to leave her behind…’.

.

Thank god he had returned alive . Looking at this moment, he realized just how many times he came close to death . It was like being in a nightmare . .

.

Jinwoo turned his gaze toward the words suspended in air . .

.

You have unread messages . .

.

‘And it still feels like I haven’t woken up…’.

.

He could not understand the meaning behind the words . Still, what could he do? The most important thing was the fact that he was able to return to his family alive . .

.

“Sniff”.

.

Fortunately, his sister had stopped crying . Unfortunately, her rant at his condition continued for another hour….

.

“-So do you understand? If you get hurt again, I’ll give up my studies and go straight into working, so you won’t be able to work as a Hunter ever again!”.

.

A sharp, piercing gaze that was unbecoming of her pretty face, she was truly her brother’s sister . .

.

“I got it, I got it . ”.

.

Jinwoo nodded in resignation . After receiving his confirmation multiple times, Jinah got up, satisfied . .

.

“Where are you gong?”.

.

“School . I just got permission to leave briefly to come and see you, but I have to go back . ”.

.

“Right, right . The college entrance examinations are next year . ”.

.

Although he could not afford to provide a tutor or send her to a private school, Jinah still managed to become one of the top students in the school . Her goal: to become a doctor . The little girl who could not distance herself from video games suddenly became a fervent student when their mother fell ill few years ago . .

.

Jinwoo wanted to make sure her dreams came true . .

.

‘Wait… video games?’.

.

His eyes suddenly shot open . .

.

“I’m going . ”.

.

Jinwoo quickly caught his sister, who was leaving,.

.

“Jinah . ”.

.

“What?”.

.

“When you play a game…”.

.

Jinah smiled, “I don’t play games these days . There’s so little time until I’m in my final year . ”.

.

“I know, I know, but I still wanted to ask,”.

.

“About what? Oppa, have you been playing games lately?”.

.

Although she had put them behind, she was very good in her past . As such, her brother’s question flared her interest . Jinwoo continued to stare at the floating letters and asked,.

.

“If I have an unread message in a game, how do I open or access it?”.

.

“First, you have to open the message box . ”.

.

“Open the message box?”.

.

ring~.

.

The moment he spoke the words “open”, an electronic beep followed the opening of the message box . .

.

You have 2 unread messages . .

Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread).

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).

.

Jinwoo felt himself being filled with joy . .

.

‘It worked!’.

.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of happiness in his face, Jinah anxiously asked,.

.

“What? What game is it? Do you need my help?”.

.

Jinwoo firmly shook his head,.

.

“No, I want to try it out alone . ”.

.

How would his sister react if he told her everything that was happening to him?.

.

‘Don’t want to hear from my own sister that I’m crazy . ’.

.

So Jinwoo swallowed the words he wanted to say and bid her goodbye . .

.

.

.

After confirming that she went down the elevator out of the hospital, Jinwoo returned to his room . .

.

‘Can’t repeat the same mistake . ’.

.

click-.

.

lock-.

.

To avoid any unwanted attention, he locked the doors . Finishing his preparation, Jinwoo sat on the side of his bed and started reading the messages floating before his eyes . .

.

Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread).

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).

.

The first message seemed familiar to him . .

.

‘Where was it, I’ve definitely heard this one before . ’.

.

He started with the first message . .

.

‘Open . ’.

.

ring~.

.

This System will help with the growth of the “Player” . .

Non-compliance with this System’s instructions may result in a penalty . .

Your reward has been received . .

.

“Ah…”.

.

He remembered now . It was the words he heard before losing consciousness . .

.

‘It said something about a player back then, too…’.

.

But just like that time, he had no idea what that meant . .

.

System . Growth . Penalty . Reward . .

.

It was a parade of unclear meanings . .

.

‘Just what is it helping grow, and what is it rewarding?’.

.

He found it difficult to apply these words that he saw in video games before . .

.

Ignoring the meaning of the words for now, he went onto the next message . .

.

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).

.

Gulp . .

.

Jinwoo swallowed at the suspicious title of the message . His heartbeat sped up . .

.

‘Open . ’.

.

ring~.

.

Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful.

Do 100 Push-ups:.

(Incomplete) (0/100).

Do 100 Sit-ups:.

(Incomplete) (0/100). .

Do 100 Squats:.

(Incomplete) (0/100).

Run 10 kilometers:.

(Incomplete) (0/10).

*Warning: Failing to complete the Daily Quest will result in a Penalty Quest . .

. .

Jinwoo moaned after confirming the message . .

.

“Sigh… what is this…”.

.

Daily Quest . On top of that, a “preparation to become powerful” . He expected more than just simple exercises with a title like that . At least, it was certain if he completed the exercises in the quest, his body would probably improve a little . Was this the growth and reward the System spoke of?.

.

‘Now that I think about it…’.

.

He recalled reading “those with inner problems should listen to their inner voice” in some book before . .

.

‘Guess I’m just hallucinating what my body’s telling me’.

.

His urge to become stronger must’ve been so strong that he was now seeing these nonsensical words in the air . More so than how laughable it was, he was disappointed . .

.

“If you can just become strong like this, who wouldn’t have done so already…?”.

.

He shook his head in disbelief . He felt pathetic in the expectation that he would find all the answers in these messages . .

.

‘Eh, I don’t care . ’.

.

Jinwoo went to lie down in the bed . He stared up into the ceiling . .

.

“ . ”.

.

Although he was not doing anything in particular, time passed by quickly . As he began to feel the weight of silence throughout the hospital, he suddenly sat up . .

.

‘Still…’.

.

What if this did bring about change? Half in anticipation, half in suspicion, the thought of ‘should I just give it a try’ occured in his head . .

.

‘Can’t hurt after all . ’.

.

What if he just lightly tried out one of the motions?.

.

After some thought, he made the decision to give it a try . .

.

Lightly stretching after getting off the bed, he attempted do half-hearted push-ups . Instead of getting on the ground, he stood up at and angle and pushed off the bed . .

.

“1, 2, 3…”.

.

Starting at 1, he rapidly went down the line . .

.

“ . 97, 98, 99, 100 . ”.

.

Finishing what he started, he reached his 100th “push-up” . Contrary to his expectation, nothing seemed to change . Except for his slightly sore arms . .

.

“ . So now what…”.

.

He stood up with a smile on his face . .

.

Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Read).

[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Read).

.

The previously “unread” messages had become “read” . The words telling him that he had unread messages had disappeared, but he no longer had any intention to continue entertaining these delusions . He felt he had done enough . .

.

Without any regrets, he closed the message window . .

.

With a yawn, he returned to his bed . In response to moving after such a long time, he started feeling sleepy . The window outside glowed orange from the sunset . .

.

‘Is it this late already?’.

.

The man from the Hunter Surveillance Department explained earlier that his hospital bills would be footed by the Association . With that in mind, Jinwoo was not in a rush to be discharged . .

.

‘Maybe I’ll have the hospital run some tests, make sure I’m completely healthy . ’.

.

He thought as he lay in bed . .

.

‘I’m sure the hallucinations should disappear after some time . ’.

.

His eyelids slowly closed . Soon, he fell into deep slumber . .

.

tick tick tick .

.

As he slept, the clock on the opposite wall continued to tick . As time passed, the hands of the clock eventually pointed to 11:59:57 . .

.

tick .

.

58 . .

.

tick .

.

59 . .

.

tick .

.

60 . .

.

The clock pointed to 12:00:00 . .

.

ring~.

.

[You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest . You will be moved to the ‘Penalty Zone’ for a set duration . ].

.

.

.

SHAKE!~.

.

Jinwoo opened his eyes to an intense trembling that shook his entire body . .

.

“E-earthquake?!”.

.

He shot up and grabbed the bed frame at the foot of the bed . The trembling was so strong that he found it difficult to hold on . .

.

SHAKE!~.

.

But with each passing second, the tremors became worse . .

.

Suddenly,.

.

psssh~.

.

The bed frame he held onto for his life broke . No, it had disappeared from his hands . His checked his hands, there was no sign of the bed frame . Instead, there was sand on his palms . .

.

‘Sand?’.

.

psssssh~.

.

Rest of the frames on the bed turned to sand, and the trembling became even stronger . .

.

SHAKE!~.

.

“Uwaaak!”.

.

Unable to hold on, he was eventually thrown off the bed . Jinwoo screamed as he bounced up and down in his room . One by one, all the furniture and items in his room turned into sand . .

.

“Uwaaaaaaah!”.

.

Crash!.

.

Jinwoo suddenly found himself embedded in something . His fingertips felt the softness of sand around him . The earthshake had stopped . .

.

spit spit.

.

As he spat out the sand that entered his mouth, he raised his head . .

.

“ . ?”.

.

He found himself in the middle of a vast desert . Patting the sand off his body, he stood up and looked around . In every direction, he saw an endless field of sand, stretching to the horizon . .

.

“A desert…?”.

.

There was no logical explanation for this . Until moments ago, he was resting on a hospital bed in the middle of Seoul . .

.

He grabbed a handful of sand and let it fall . The sand fell in a straight line to the ground . .

.

‘There’s no wind . ’.

.

Not just wind, looking up, there was no sun, moon or even stars . .

.

An empty sky like black ink spilled across a canvas . .

.

Even stranger, despite the lack of a visible light source, he had no trouble seeing his surroundings . .

.

“Where am I?”.

.