The Lowest Rung

The dungeon gate loomed over the parking lot like a jagged mouth frozen mid-scream. Kim Min-jun adjusted the straps of his oversized backpack, the weight of scavenged monster bones digging into his shoulders. Three years had passed since the Aurora Incident split the sky and birthed these hellish portals, but the sight still made his stomach clench.

"Move it, Mudeok!" A boot slammed into the back of his knee. Min-jun staggered, catching himself on the grille of a guild van plastered with Ironfang's snarling wolf emblem.

Lee Dae-ho, Ironfang's D-Rank berserker and resident bully, loomed over him. "You think we pay you to gawk? The retrieval team's waiting!"

Min-jun kept his eyes down. '"Pay" was 30,000 won per run—barely enough to cover his mother's meds.'

"Apologies, sunbae-nim."

Dae-ho spat near his worn sneakers. "Disgusting. How do vermin like you even get guild permits?"

"By being cheaper than pack mules," muttered Park Hae-won, Min-jun's only friend among the porters. He flicked a cigarette butt at Dae-ho's boots. "Relax, *hyung*. The gate's only E-Rank. Even you could clear it blindfolded."

The berserker's face purpled, but he stormed off to join his team. Hae-won grinned, slinging an arm around Min-jun's shoulders. "One day, I'll get fired for that. Worth it."

Min-jun shrugged him off. "Don't. You've got your sister's tuition."

"Ah, come on. Let's just—"

A horn blared. The dungeon gate rippled as Ironfang's strike team materialized—six Awakened in black tactical gear, their leader trailing frost from her fingertips. Min-jun recognized Kang Ji-woo, the B-Rank cryomancer who'd frozen a tidal wave during last year's Busan disaster. Her eyes skimmed over the porters like roadkill.

"E-Rank Gate #4419 confirmed," she said. "Low-level arachnids. Porters—you have thirty minutes post-clearance for looting. Touch a core and you lose a hand."

The gate swallowed them whole.

---

The gate's interior stank of ammonia and wet stone. Min-jun's headlamp cut through the gloom, revealing walls pocked with bioluminescent fungi. Somewhere ahead, explosions rattled the tunnels—Ironfang's team carving through the hive.

"Clear here!" Hae-won called from a side passage. "Just egg sacs and—"

A scream cut him off.

Min-jun sprinted toward the sound, boots slipping on viscous sludge. He found Hae-won pinned against a wall by a spider the size of a sedan, its fangs glistening with venom.

"Get Back!" Min-jun hurled his pickaxe. The tool clanged harmlessly off the creature's carapace.

"[New Skill: Improvised Ranged Combat (Lv. 1) - Proficiency: 1%]"

The spider skittered toward him. Min-jun grabbed a bone shard from his pack and lunged, aiming for the joints in its legs.

"[Improvised Melee Combat (Lv. 1) Acquired]"

The shard snapped. The creature reared, dripping mandibles poised to strike—

Suddenly it froze, encased in ice.

Kang Ji-woo stood at the tunnel's mouth, her breath frosting the air. "I said *thirty minutes*." She flicked her wrist. The spider shattered.

Hae-wun vomited. Min-jun stared at the glowing core embedded in the ice shards.

"Eyes off, Mudeok." Ji-woo pocketed the core. "Your kind wouldn't survive its radiation anyway."

---

They worked in silence afterward, filling their packs with chitin fragments and venom sacs. Guilds monopolized cores and rare materials, but the dregs still sold to apothecaries and black-market enhancers.

"You're bleeding," Hae-won said.

Min-jun glanced at his palm, split open during the fight. "It's fine."

"Let me—"

"I said *fine*."

Hae-won sighed. "You've been like this since Soo-ji left. You're not responsible for everyone, you know."

Min-jun tightened the straps on his pack. "Aunt Mi-kyung's rent. Mother's pills. Electricity bill." "Let's go."

---

They were halfway to the extraction point when the ground shuddered.

"Aftershock?" Hae-won steadied himself against a wall.

Min-jun's headlamp flickered. The fungus pulsed brighter, veins of violet light snaking across the cavern. "This isn't E-Rank."

The ceiling exploded.

A segmented horror crashed down—a centipede-like creature with a humanoid torso grafted to its head, six arms clawing the air. Its stench liquefied Min-jun's stomach.

"What the fuck is that?!" Hae-won scrambled back.

"Run!" Min-jun shoved him toward the exit. "Find Ji-woo!"

The creature's tail slammed into Hae-won's legs. Bones crunched.

"[New Title: Battlefield Clarity (Passive)]

[Effect: Time perception slows by 15% during combat.]"

Min-jun's vision sharpened. He saw the creature's muscles coiling, the trajectory of its strike. He grabbed Hae-won's collar and yanked.

"[Manual Dexterity (Lv. 1) Acquired]"

The tail impaled the ground where they'd stood.

"Go!" Min-jun slapped Hae-won's guild transponder. A distress beacon blared.

The creature turned its human face toward him. Milky eyes rolled. "Hungry," it rasped.

Min-jun's blood iced. 'What the fuck, it can speak?'

He sprinted down a side tunnel, the monster's screeches echoing behind him. His headlamp died, plunging him into darkness. The walls narrowed. Stalactites tore his arms.

"[Pain Tolerance (Lv. 1) Acquired]"

A dead end. The creature's stench flooded the tunnel.

'Think.'

His pack—chitin fragments. Venom sacs. And the illegal thermal grenade he'd scavenged last week.

"[Item Identified: MK-9 Incendiary (Damaged)]"

"[Caution: 67% detonation failure rate]"

The human face leered through the dark. "Meat…"

Min-jun primed the grenade.

"[Weapon Handling (Lv. 1) Acquired]"

The creature lunged.

He threw.

---

The explosion shattered the tunnel.

Min-jun woke buried in rubble, his left arm mangled. The creature's torso twitched nearby, its human mouth still working soundlessly.

"[Critical Injury Detected]"

"[Survival Instinct (Passive) Activated]"

"[Skill Fusion Available: First Aid (Lv. 3) + Pain Tolerance (Lv. 1) = Emergency Triage (Lv. 1)]"

His hands moved on their own, tearing fabric for a tourniquet, setting the bone with brutal efficiency.

"[Emergency Triage → Proficiency: 12%]"

The creature's core glowed faintly in its chest. Min-jun crawled toward it, pickaxe in hand.

"P-please…" The human mouth wept black tears. "Kill… me…"

The pickaxe fell.

[Dungeon Core Acquired: Mutated Hybrid (C-Rank)]

[Warning: Core Radiation Exceeds Mudeok Tolerance]"

The core dissolved into his blood.

"[System Initialized]"

"[Welcome, Kim Min-jun]"

Screens flooded his vision—status panels, skill trees, quest logs. His broken arm knit itself.

"[New Title: Reborn of the Aurora]"

"[Effect: All skill proficiency gains doubled when health drops below 30%.]"

Footsteps echoed. Ji-woo's voice cut through the dust. "Porters! Report!"

Min-jun stood, the system fading to a faint overlay. "Here."

Ji-woo froze at the sight of the mutated corpse. "You killed that?"

"It was already dying."

She eyed his bloodied clothes. "Liar. But who'd believe a Mudeok?"

Hae-won limped into the chamber. "Min-jun! You're alive!"

"Barely."

As they exited the collapsing gate, Min-jun glanced back. Status panels hovered over Ji-woo and Hae-won:

"[Kang Ji-woo - B-Rank Cryomancer - Lv. 42]

"[Park Hae-won - Unguilded Porter - Lv. 5]"

He clenched his healed fist.

'Time to climb.'