The First Spark
The abandoned factory on Sora Street had become their makeshift dojo. Sunlight filtered through broken windows, casting jagged shadows on the concrete floor. Soojin stood in the center of the room, her sneakers scuffing against dust and debris, while Min-jun circled her like a hawk.
"Again," he said, his voice flat.
Soojin lunged, her fists swinging in a clumsy arc. Min-jun sidestepped, catching her wrist and twisting it gently but firmly behind her back.
"You're telegraphing," he said. "Your shoulders tense a full second before you move. Makes you predictable."
Soojin wrenched free, scowling. "Maybe I'd learn faster if you stopped treating me like a guild punching bag."
Min-jun's system flickered:
"[Teaching (Lv. 1) Acquired]"
"[Proficiency: 12%]"
He ignored it. "You want to survive? Stop complaining. Again."
For three hours, they drilled footwork, evasion, and basic strikes. Soojin's Awakening flared unpredictably—a burst of heat singeing Min-jun's sleeve here, a flicker of flames melting a puddle of rainwater there.
"Focus the heat in your palms," he instructed, tossing her a dented thermos. "Boil the water inside without cracking the metal."
Soojin glared at the thermos like it had insulted her ancestors. "How?"
"Same way you reheat leftovers. Control the energy, don't let it control you."
By dusk, she'd managed a lukewarm trickle of steam.
"[Soojin's Progress: Heat Control (Lv. 1) Acquired]"
---
That night, Min-jun spread a map across Soojin's kitchen table. Red circles marked unregistered gates—D-Rank nuisances the guilds ignored.
"We start here." He tapped a location near the Han River. "Abandoned subway tunnel. Low-level insectoids. Minimal radiation."
Soojin leaned over the map, her brow furrowed. "What's the catch?"
"The gate's unstable. Collapses after 2-3 hours. But the cores there are pure, no guild tampering."
"And if we get trapped?"
Min-jun slid a chipped transit card toward her. "We won't."
"[Item Identified: Black Market Gate Key]
[Function: Emergency gate destabilization]"
Soojin pocketed the card, her jaw set. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow. Dawn."
---
The subway entrance reeked of urine and rust. Min-jun shouldered a frayed backpack loaded with supplies—first-aid kits, glow sticks, and a stolen guild sensor to track Aurora fluctuations. Soojin trailed behind, her hood pulled low.
"Stay close," he said, activating the sensor. "The gate's ahead."
A pulsing violet rift split the tunnel wall, its edges crackling like static. Soojin hesitated. "It's… smaller than I expected."
"D-Rank. Won't bite—much."
They stepped through.
---
The dungeon was a claustrophobic maze of fleshy tunnels, the walls slick with bioluminescent mucus. The air hummed with the buzz of insect wings.
"[Environmental Analysis (Lv. 2) Activated]"
"[Threats Detected: Swarm-class insectoids (x12), Hive Guardian (x1)]"
Min-jun tossed Soojin a knife. "Aim for the joints. They're brittle."
"What about you?"
He flexed his hands, embers dancing at his fingertips. "I'll handle the guardian."
The swarm attacked in a wave of chitin and venom. Soojin ducked and weaved, her knife flashing. Min-jun watched from the periphery, intervening only when necessary—a well-timed kick here, a burst of flame there.
"[Teaching (Lv. 1) → 45%]"
"Stop hesitating!" he barked as she faltered. "They're not people. They're obstacles."
Soojin gritted her teeth, driving her blade into a beetle's thorax. "Easy for you to say!"
The guardian emerged minutes later—a hulking mantis-like creature with serrated forelimbs. Min-jun lunged, fire wreathing his fists. The fight was brutal, tactical. He let the creature corner him, testing its reflexes, before incinerating its antennae and driving a molten spike through its core.
"[Combat Victory: Fire Affinity (Lv. 3) → 22%]'
Soojin stared at the smoldering carcass. "You… you 'enjoyed' that."
"No," he said, wiping ash from his hands. "I survived."
---
The dungeon's core pulsed in a chamber lined with crystalline honeycomb. Soojin reached for it, but Min-jun caught her wrist.
"Wait." He pressed a glow stick to the walls. The honeycomb shimmered, revealing veins of blackened corruption. "Tainted. Guilds must've dumped waste here."
"Can we still use it?"
He pried the core free with his knife. "Not for purification. But it's worth something on the black market."
"[Item Acquired: Degraded Aurora Core (D-Rank)]
[Value: 120,000 won (unrefined)]"
Soojin pocketed it. "Enough for Mom's meds?"
"For a week."
---
They emerged at sunset, the gate collapsing behind them in a shower of violet sparks. Soojin slumped against a graffiti-covered wall, her clothes streaked with ichor.
"We did it," she breathed.
"We survived," Min-jun corrected. "There's a difference."
But as they walked back to Sora Street, he noticed the ghost of a smile on her face.
---
That night, Min-jun sat on the rooftop, cleaning his gear. The system's alerts glowed softly:
"[Quest Progress: Mentor Soojin → 30%]"
"[New Skill Unlocked: Tactical Instruction (Lv. 1)]"
Below, Soojin practiced her heat control, boiling water in a cracked teapot. Eun-ji's words echoed in his mind: 'You need someone to remind you what you're fighting for.'
For the first time, he wondered if survival wasn't a solitary path.
---