Me, the Master of a Dungeon?

Me... the master of a dungeon?

Walking home like any ordinary day, I tucked the precious piece of paper in my hand into the inside of my jacket and let a thoroughly happy grin spread across my face.

"Hehe... I'm finally a hunter! Sure, I'm... F-rank, but still—I'm an Awakened now! I'm gonna work hard, earn money, and order chicken every single day!"

Not that I ever expected to rake in the kind of money other hunters did. Ever since I was a kid, the only thing that had grown was my age, leaving me a bean-sized man with a baby face. Who was ever ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going to like a guy like that?

"What can I even do with this tiny body... As long as nobody mistakes me for a goblin when I join a party, I'll count myself lucky. I always wanted a body like the other hunters—two meters tall, stacked with muscle..."

But my moment of brooding over my own complexes lasted only briefly. I was a hunter now, and my happiness circuit spun right back up as I headed home.

"Still, it's a relief. Even if I am F-rank, I've gotta brag to Noona."

My older sister, Han Gaeul—three years my senior—was a rising star famous nationwide for becoming an A-rank hunter in her twenties. She was only my adoptive sister, but even through the eyes of a doting younger brother, she was far too pretty to call ugly, and she was the one who had guided me along ever since I was small.

When I was in elementary school, our parents died suddenly in a Dungeon Break, and I sank into a deep despair. Every time the grief of losing the family I'd met barely a year after my adoption crushed me, Noona was there to comfort me. And from high school on, she awakened as a hunter and lifted our impoverished life into comfort.

"Gyeoul!"

By the time I reached the house, Noona was already waiting outside to greet me. The moment she threw her arms around me, two enormous, soft masses crushed my face and smothered my breath entirely.

"Can't... breathe..."

"Oh! Sorry!"

Gaeul looked at me, eyes shining with anticipation.

"So? How did it go? Of course, even if our Gyeoul never became a hunter, Noona would feed you for life!"

"Hehe... I awakened! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'm F-rank, but still—you practically raised me all by yourself, Noona, and now I can finally pay you back! Heehee."

"Huh...? You really did? Oh—con-congratulations! Still, you're F-rank for now, so until you've grown, Noona will stay by your side and help you out."

Her expression flickered with slight bewilderment, and I could tell she was a little disappointed that I'd landed at F-rank. Fair enough, I supposed. However rich she might be, nobody wanted a freeloader lounging around the house.

"It's fine. I owe you so much already. I've basically been living off you this whole time—I should stand on my own two feet now."

"...What?"

What was this? I was supposed to be making her happy, yet Noona's reaction was ice cold.

"Uh... wh-what's wrong?"

I asked, peering up at her frosty expression.

"Gyeoul, an F-rank cannot survive alone as an Awakened. Noona will take care of you, so we'll live together..."

"Uh, yeah... Okay. I'll listen to you, Noona."

"That's my Gyeoul! Noona has nothing but you, you know?"

Apparently satisfied with my answer, the chilly gaze vanished without a trace, and she beamed at me, leading me brightly back into the house.

"You're an Awakened now, so tomorrow you're coming to the Association with me. We need to get you officially registered."

After that, we ate the special feast she had prepared together, readying myself for the first step of my career as a hunter come tomorrow.

The next morning, I climbed out of bed to the sound of hurried bustle outside my door.

Beyond it, Han Gaeul was busy gathering her things, and her eyes met mine as I stumbled into her gaze.

"Gyeoul..."

A moment later, she spoke, her face full of regret.

"I'm sorry... a Dungeon Break just broke out, and I have to rush off. I made breakfast, so eat lunch and head over ahead of me. I'll wrap things up fast and come find you."

"Yeah. See you at the Association later."

After finishing my meal, I set out for the Association under the hot sun beating down on the crown of my head.

"So I'm really a hunter now. Apparently there's training I have to attend once I get there... Ugh, what a chore..."

Ziiiiiing—

My phone, left on vibrate, lit up with Noona's messages.

Getting off the bus and walking a little farther, I spotted a towering colossal building in the distance. Countless other office buildings crowded around the high-rise at its center.

Many of them were packed wall to wall with famous guild offices, thronged with all sorts of people—hunters among them.

Keeping a smile on my face, I listened in on the murmur of the crowd along the road to the Association.

"Hey, look at that. Isn't that thing insanely cute?"

"Wow, that crazy woman—she's sunk so low she's preying on little kids now?"

"Awakened at that age, huh? So jealous~"

Grr. I am NOT a little kid—I'm a healthy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠young man in his twenties. This misunderstanding had haunted me forever. Even after becoming an adult, I once got carded buying alcohol. Well... Noona was the one who blocked it, but still.

As I grumbled inwardly and kept walking, my body suddenly registered the air turning distinctly frigid.

Wh-what? Why is it suddenly so cold?

The people around me seemed just as bewildered by the plummeting temperature.

"What the hell, it's freezing all of a sudden."

"Is there some ice-mage hunter nearby or something?"

Just as the crowd was starting to panic—

"Th... there! Over there!"

With someone's shout, space itself twisted, and a gate tore open right in front of me.

"It's a Dungeon Break! Everybody run!"

"Kyaaaaaaagh!"

You've got to be kidding me—a Dungeon Break breaks out HERE, out of nowhere? Even cheap web novels got roasted for a contrived setup like this.

"Damn it, I have to run, fast—"

That was when I saw her, far in the distance, sprinting toward me.

"Gyeoul!"

"Noona!"

Relief flooded me at the sight of her, and I threw myself into a mad dash—

"Huh?"

Black smoke suddenly poured out of the gate, wrapped itself around me, and dragged me straight into it.

"Gyeoul!! No!!!"

Gaeul's scream rang through my skull as my vision went black, and the gate snapped shut.

When Gaeul came home from middle school one day, her parents introduced her to a new child.

"Gaeul, this is your new family now. He was rescued from the ruins of a Dungeon Break. He suffered a serious head injury, you see—they say he's lost his memory."

"Hello."

The boy was barely elementary-school-aged, and he was honestly adorable.

So cute...

She had believed that feeling was pure—a simple fondness for a cute little brother. But when Gyeoul reached high school, she realized just how wrong she'd been.

"Noona, are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine."

She was not fine at all. Her parents had been ripped away by a sudden Dungeon Break, and she was struggling under a crushing depression. It was one line from Gyeoul that turned her heart around.

"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a hunter. I'll work hard, earn lots of money, eat lots of good food—and we'll live together forever."

"Yes... let's do that. How about Noona becomes a hunter too, then? We'll live happily as hunters, together."

"Mm-heehee! Yeah!"

That was the moment she fell in love with Gyeoul. After the funeral, once she'd made it to her third year of high school, her ability awakened.

Upon graduating, she gave up university and began working as a hunter. Living with Gyeoul required more power, and more money.

Gyeoul celebrated her awakening—but he also worried he would become a burden to her, fretting over the weight he placed on her shoulders.

Absolutely not. I'm the only sister Gyeoul has. I'm his only family. This isn't obsession. A sister loving her little brother is just... natural, isn't it?

Gyeoul had always been popular—girls cooed over how cute he was. He didn't seem to realize it himself, but with those foxy women constantly circling him, she had kept watch at his side as much as she could.

She had promised to protect him for the rest of her life...

"Hunter Gaeul, are you quite all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Still... your complexion looks rather poor..."

"I said I'm fine. More importantly, where's today's gate?"

She answered the Association staffer sharply, grinding away at her work with dead eyes.

"Ms. Gaeul, would you care to join me for a meal some evening—"

"I decline. My schedule is full."

"Aw, come on, don't be like that~ Let's grab dinner together!"

Gaeul was a hunter affiliated not with a guild, but with the Association itself. Fending off the relentless flirtation of her superiors, she had long since grown cynical about the Association's slow, creeping rot.

If I'd only had Gyeoul, I would have quit this rotten job long ago and lived with him and no one else...

When she'd had a goal, the future had looked bright and sunny—but now, no future she imagined held any happiness. In the end, unable to walk away, she had simply stayed with the one place that felt even remotely familiar.

Anyone else would have quit ages ago, but Gaeul, who had known no working life outside the Association since the day she graduated high school, remained there, her heart quietly crumbling.

"Ugh... where... am I?"

I woke in total darkness, seeing nothing, kneading at my skull like it might crack open.

Then, before my eyes, a large screen appeared.

"Too bright..."

My exhausted eyes were momentarily blinded by the sudden light. Only after squinting my eyelids down to slits did the screen begin to drift into focus.

"This is... a Status Window?"

"What is this? Why is there a Status Window?"

Hardly had I finished gaping when the window slid away on its own, and another message appeared.

"What is any of this supposed to mean? If you're going to kill me for refusing, why bother dressing it up as some consent form?"

I held off on choosing and tried to survey my surroundings by the light of the Status Window, using it like a flashlight—and the instant I did, yet another new screen popped up.

What... is this?