Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: When I Came Back, I Was Rank 1
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And then I opened my eyes, but nothing had changed in a surprisingly ordinary way.
No, that wasn’t surprising at all. It wasn’t surprising, but...
I narrowed my eyes and slowly observed the nurse in front of me. It was a man who had been there the moment I opened my eyes.
The name on the badge attached to his nurse uniform was Lee Lee Sol-bang-ul.
Had I been out of Korea for about ten years, making my senses go dull? That didn’t sound like a normal name. I cleared my throat with a cough.
“Um, Nurse Pine Cone.”
“Yes, Patient Kang Ye-na. What is it?”
“So, you’re saying my condition is normal even after lying here for five years.”
It had been two days since I woke up.
Until now, I hadn’t responded to the nurse’s questions and had just stared intently at the TV, so when I suddenly started talking to him, he seemed delighted. Nurse Pine Cone gave me a very thorough, kind, and lengthy explanation.
“Yes, thanks to my skill ‘Nightingale’s Grace.’ It keeps patients in a stable condition or better. Of course, the buff effect diminishes over time, so you’ve been quite lucky, Ms. Kang Ye-na.”
No, well. It was the same explanation I’d heard two days ago.
I repeated Nurse Pine Cone’s words.
“A skill, you say.”
“Yes, a skill.”
Pine Cone smiled, wrinkling the bridge of his nose.
“Exactly five years ago, you collapsed when no one even knew what a Dungeon Break was. The world must have changed so much that it’s a huge shock.”
“Yeah, of course it’s a huge shock.”
I nodded along appropriately.
Yeah, I was shocked.
Shocked, but not because words like skills or dungeons were unfamiliar. It was because these things were happening in modern Korea.
I’d spent the last two days diligently checking newspapers, news, and my smartphone, so I knew the story. But hearing it from the person right in front of me made it feel real in a different way.
This is real. It’s reality.
Sitting on the bed, I clutched my head.
“How the hell did this happen...”
“Gasp, are you okay? No dizziness?”
Pine Cone worried over me, but my head was too muddled to respond properly.
“Don’t worry too much. Korea still has plenty of Hunters keeping society running smoothly. Once the test results come in, I’ll arrange for some Dungeon Blu... depression counseling.”
Pine Cone started chattering away. I half-listened to his voice as I slowly lifted my head.
A modern hospital room with up-to-date equipment, news droning on in a steady tone, lush trees visible outside the window, a gray road, and cars passing by occasionally.
No matter where I looked, it was the ‘Korea’ I knew.
“Then, Ms. Kang Ye-na, call me if you need anything.”
How long had he been talking? Realizing I had no will to converse, Nurse Pine Cone placed today’s newspaper on my lap and left the room.
I looked down at the newspaper on my lap.
Casualties from Sudden Dungeon Emergence in Hannam-dong
Clash Between Hunters at Fixed Dungeon Da-72 in Wonju City, Gangwon Province...
“Hahaha...”
Dungeons, monsters.
Words I’d heard day and night while rolling through Tartarus for the past ten years.
For about an hour after waking up in the hospital two days ago, I wondered if this was a dream. But I’d always been quick to adapt to reality.
This wasn’t even the first time something like this had happened.
No, after going through dimensional travel twice, what was there to do? Once was enough. I thought that too, but reality that had already happened couldn’t be undone right away.
After that first hour, I watched TV intently and asked for newspapers. I even searched communities I used to frequent on my smartphone.
The news content, the frequent posts on communities—everything was worlds apart from the Korea I knew five years ago.
In my memory, the community’s best post was about sharing tips for the crispiest fried chicken, and now it was ‘Spilling the tea on spotting an S-Rank Hunter at a Gangnam restaurant today’...
Anyway, from what I’d pieced together over the two days, the current situation was this.
1. I’d been in a coma for five years.
I’d spent ten years on the continent of Tartarus.
But time flowing differently wasn’t much of a surprise. I’d gone to another world; this was nothing shocking.
If anything, I was still only 24 here, which felt pretty good.
I’d gained five years.
The problem was that the body I’d honed over those ten years was completely gone.
Thanks to Pine Cone’s skill, I’d maintained the condition of a modern person from five years ago, but back then, I was a high school senior fresh off the college entrance exam, lounging around waiting for results, stuffing my face with chicken and pizza.
The condition of a post-exam senior who ate like that wouldn’t survive even a single goblin club swing. All the stamina and muscle from swinging my sword desperately to survive had vanished.
In other words, all the physical specs I’d built over the past ten years were completely wiped out.
Like hitting max level only to become a newbie again. Damn it.
2. Five years ago, Korea’s first Dungeon Break occurred, and people began awakening to ‘skills.’
It was the same phenomenon that happened on Tartarus after its first Dungeon Break. So, it was essentially the same event in both worlds.
The difference was that on Tartarus, it took so long to clear the first dungeon that the world was nearly destroyed, but in Korea, the government system I knew was still holding up.
There seemed to be quite a few casualties after the dungeons appeared, but nothing compared to Tartarus.
Of course, Korea’s weaponry was so superior—sorry to say—compared to Tartarus that they could quickly repel the initial monster waves effectively.
It was the same trend worldwide.
3. As people awakened skills, a new profession called ‘Hunters’ emerged.
Those who awakened skills took up clearing dungeons as their trade.
Natural progression. Items from dungeons were rare by nature, and as long as people lived and society existed, they’d fetch high prices. Obvious.
On Tartarus, we already had mercenaries doing the same thing; we just didn’t call them Hunters.
And in Korea, this new Hunter profession was especially thriving compared to other countries. Maybe because it was a nation of gamers—the community best posts alone showed Hunters were deeply embedded in daily life.
So, up to here, it seemed pretty hopeful.
4. Unlike Tartarus, this world had no ‘final dungeon.’
This was the most crucial info.
I sank into thought.
To be honest, like the ancient dragon Optatio on Tartarus, if Korea had a clear goal, saving the world again... well, I’d done it once.
So, why not do it again?
Maybe clearing the final dungeon here would send me back to Tartarus.
That’s why the first thing I searched for was info on the ‘final dungeon.’
But no matter how much I scoured the internet, nothing came up. It seemed ‘final dungeon’ wasn’t even a concept that existed.
Some researched ways to eliminate dungeons entirely, but most dismissed it as unrealistic.
On Earth, they’d already accepted dungeons, monsters, and Hunters as part of reality.
I thought it was the same as Tartarus, but this changed everything.
On Tartarus, conquering Optatio would solve it all—that hope existed. Sure, skeptics like Alicia or me didn’t fully buy the prophecy, but there was still a common goal.
That’s why Tartarus united the entire continent toward that final objective.
My comrades from the Optatio clear gathered for that reason. Without that massive goal, we never would’ve met.
But this world had no such goal.
Which meant no one could save a world like this.
Dungeons would spawn endlessly until a ‘final goal’ was achieved, and those endless dungeons weren’t a problem to solve—they were just inevitable tragedies.
I sighed and leaned my head back against the bed. Tartarus was a mess, but this place was no better.
Maybe even worse.
I didn’t roll in the mercenary world for ten years for nothing. A world without a grand common goal, just swinging swords and the strongest taking all? Nothing but brawls to see who’s tougher.
Of course, it’d only been five years here, so they were probably still fully focused on tackling dungeons...
“It’s obvious it’ll turn into a shitshow ahead.”
No way I had to save this messed-up world too, right?
From my perspective, I’d just saved Tartarus after ten years, mere days ago.
I’d pushed through clearing dungeons, even thinking death might be better, because I believed I could live well once it was over.
I didn’t fully trust the prophecy, but defeating the ancient dragon Optatio would make things better, at least.
But what awaited me was a hospital room in Wonju, Gangwon Province.
Through the window, I could see mountains in the distance. Chiaksan?
...The scenery was nice.
“Sigh, what a fate.”
When I first fell into Tartarus, I wondered if I’d committed some sin in a past life.
I went through so much there suddenly—too much to sum up in a few words.
Back then, I felt like I could do anything if I could just return to Earth.
But in the end, there was no way back, and before I could even search for one, I was fighting to survive.
Me, who’d never wrung a chicken’s neck by hand on Earth, wielded a blade against monsters, sometimes humans, staining my sword with blood.
The feeling of taking a life was horrific, and the elation of survival couldn’t be separated from the guilt.
When even that guilt dulled, I’d sniffle missing modern Korea’s warm electric blankets and ever-buzzing phones—then forget even that longing.
It was tough. A truly grueling life.
But in that life, I survived—refusing to die.
Along the way, tackling dungeons out of necessity, I looked back to find comrades I could entrust my back to, friends so dear I’d stake my life on them.
Then came a goal of my own. I wanted to protect this world, to live on with my friends.
That’s how I spent ten years on Tartarus.
Honestly, I’d grown more attached to Tartarus than Earth now.
My twenty years on Earth were just school, transfers, studying at home—vague memories. It was natural.
Here, I had no friends, no family to speak of.
So, the more I thought, the more unfair it felt returning to Earth at this point. Send me back when I begged and cried for it.
And not to the peaceful world I remembered, but one with dungeons and monsters.
I buried my face in the pillow and banged my head against it.
I was just about to live well on Tartarus, so why!
Give me back my life where I bossed around princes with a flick, chilled with the Mercenary King siblings under palm trees, and was besties with the continent’s top priestess.
“...”
But after ten years on Tartarus, I knew best that whining like this changed nothing.
What would happen would happen anyway.
All I could do was handle what I could until then.
For instance...
“Could I maybe order some chicken?”