The Dropout Stands on Modern Soil!
The Dropout Stands on Modern Soil!
Gray did not miss the moment the woman staggered and brushed past her side.
Waist. Left side. A dagger carelessly tucked in.
Her hand moved first. Brushing past the woman's grip, she grabbed the dagger's handle and pulled it out.
It didn't take a beat, not even half a beat. By the time the woman noticed, the blade was already spinning in Gray's hand, held in a reverse grip.
"......Light."
The handle was short and the blade thin.
Not a usable steel blade, but an unsatisfactory feel like a self-defense dagger.
The mana infused in it was trivial, but the edge was decent enough.
For now, that was sufficient.
What she was more certain of: This woman is not an adventurer. Her reaction when the dagger was taken—no stiffness, no resistance.
Her strength was pitiful, and her posture was pure defenselessness. A body that had never received combat training.
She scanned the clothes again. A black cloth top, blue pants, white shoes. A style she had never seen in any kingdom.
No armor, no protective gear. Surely the attire of some foreign tribe.
She gritted her teeth.
"......Those Empire bastards. Did they even drive foreign women and children into the subjugation?"
Rage welled up but she swallowed it. Now is not the time to be consumed by emotion. She has to get out.
If she goes outside, she'll become a wanted criminal of the Empire for disobeying the decree, but it's better than dying in here.
"Don't move."
She threw out the words and stepped forward.
An Orc—no, a Hobgoblin charged forward, raising its club. The floor shook.
Its size was 1.5 times her own. If she were in her original body, she would have pushed back head-on with strength, but now this body was small and light.
But.
Being light also meant being fast.
The iron club came crashing down over her head. The floor cracked and fragments flew.
Gray had already dodged to the left. One step, two steps. She stepped onto the creature's forearm and leaped up.
She stepped onto its shoulder. Her toes slipped on the greasy skin, but she clenched her thigh muscles to balance and, carried by inertia, mounted its neck.
The Hobgoblin belatedly reached out to grab her. But it was far too slow.
Holding the dagger in a reverse grip, she stabbed deep into the side of its neck.
The blade pierced the skin, cut through the muscle, and she dragged it forward, slashing.
The leathery skin split, and dark red—no, almost black blood gushed out.
A stench stabbed her nostrils. A smell of rotten meat mixed with iron.
The massive body staggered. One step. Two steps.
The club slipped from its hand and fell. A dull metallic sound rang out, and the Hobgoblin's knees buckled.
Gray leaped down from its neck and landed. The impact vibrated through her soles, but she rolled to absorb it.
Behind her, the enormous body crashed to the floor, raising dust.
The black blood from its neck soaked the stone floor and spread, and after a few convulsions, the creature fell silent.
Gray flicked the blood off her dagger and muttered.
"Even with equipment like this...... still, Hobgoblins are weak in the neck."
At the same time, a trembling voice overlapped from behind.
"Amazing...... With just a dagger, an Orc......!!"
Gray turned her head. The woman was pressing her back against the wall, eyes wide open.
Silence fell.
"......Orc?"
"......Hobgoblin?"
The two's questioning voices exactly overlapped.
Gray let out a snicker.
She was dumbfounded. Calling a Hobgoblin an Orc.
Since she stepped into a dungeon, she should at least know the basic classification of monsters, but this woman didn't even know that.
And yet she was thrown into a subjugation operation.
"Alright, catch."
She tossed the dagger lightly, spinning it so the handle would come forward.
"Eeek―!!"
The woman flinched and stepped back. Her back hit the wall again, and her bottom touched the floor.
The dagger clattered to the stone floor in front of the woman's feet and stopped. Even though the handle was facing her, not the blade, such a reaction.
"......Truly an innocent woman."
It was the reaction of someone who had rarely even seen a knife, let alone fought.
The woman stared at the fallen dagger for a long moment, then cautiously reached out and picked it up. Her fingers were still trembling.
Still, seeing her manage to tuck it into her waist, it seemed to be at least her own possession.
Gray crossed her arms and looked down at the woman. No, she faced her.
With her current body's height, her eye level wasn't much different from this woman's, who was awkwardly trying to stand up.
That fact was bitter again, but she didn't show it.
"Orc, you say. Are you such a noble lady out there that you don't even know about monsters?"
Her tone was sarcastic, but she was genuinely curious. Hobgoblins and Orcs are different in appearance from the start.
Hobgoblins are an advanced variant of goblins, with green-brown skin, short tusks, and bulky bodies.
Orcs are a completely different kind of monster, with pig-like snouts and gray skin.
Even if not an adventurer, a village hunter would know the difference as common sense.
The woman opened her mouth with a dazed expression.
"......Hobgoblin? That's...... the first time I've heard of it."
First time.
Gray's eyes narrowed.
This woman wasn't lying. Her expression, her voice—it was all sincere.
She doesn't even know the name Hobgoblin. How could someone who doesn't know basic dungeon monster classification have come down to the middle floors?
Clothing. Language. Reaction. Equipment.
Nothing matched. It didn't overlap with any foreign tribe's style.
Gray thought of one possibility but shook her head. It was too early to judge.
"......Name?"
The woman lifted her head. Tear traces still remained around her eyes.
"Han...... Han Soo-yeon."
It was a name she had never heard before. Different from any kingdom's naming convention.
Gray leaned against the wall and uncrossed her arms.
"Han Soo-yeon. Alright, I'll remember that."
The origin of the name can be figured out later. What matters now is survival.
This situation with abnormally thin mana concentration, the anomaly of goblins wandering the middle floors, and her own changed body.
There were mountains of mysteries to unravel, but that was for after she got out alive.
"Han Soo-yeon. Do you know the way to the entrance from here?"
Suyeon tilted her head.
"The entrance? Why go to the entrance?"
Gray's steps stopped.
"......What?"
Suyeon pointed at the corpse of the Hobgoblin—no, according to her, the 'Orc'.
Beyond where the huge body had fallen, something was shimmering on the wall at the end of the passage. Something that hadn't been there a moment ago.
"It seems that Orc was the boss monster of this gate. It says 'Subjugation Complete', right? And over there, a portal has opened."
Boss monster. Gate.
They were words she couldn't understand at all.
Gray followed Suyeon's gaze and turned around.
Her breath stopped.
In the middle of the wall, the air was torn. A blue crack pulsed, distorting space.
The edges were fractured like glass, and light leaked through.
If it was a portal, she had seen mages use them rarely. But the caster was still nowhere to be seen.
She had lived in the dungeon for ten years, but she had never seen such a phenomenon.
Beyond the crack, a landscape was visible.
The surface.
There was a sky. There were clouds. Just that made her chest tighten. But the moment she squinted and looked closer, a sense of unease struck the back of her neck.
Buildings. Not stone, not wood, but gray massive structures densely packed together.
Transparent walls reflected sunlight, and below, on black roads, unknown iron boxes were lined up in rows.
People were visible. People in clothes that were not of the Empire's style, nor the border's style, nor any foreign tribe's style, were hurrying back and forth.
They wore the same kind of clothes as Suyeon.
It wasn't the capital. It wasn't the border. A world unlike any kingdom, any allied territory, anywhere.
"......This is."
Her heart raced.
Gate. Suyeon called this place not a dungeon but a gate.
She said a portal opens when you defeat the boss monster. As if it were common sense.
Gray's lips trembled.
"Not a dungeon?"
She was attacked by Balrog and lost consciousness. When she woke up, her body had changed. The mana concentration was abnormally low.
Goblins that shouldn't be in the middle floors were wandering around. This woman was here without even knowing basic dungeon knowledge.
It all connected. Into one possibility.
"If this is not a dungeon—if it's not where I was—"
"This body. This world. What the hell are they?"
"Hey, are you okay? Your face has gone pale......"
Suyeon's voice sounded distant.
Gray looked up at the blue crack. The shimmering light rippled over her golden eyes.
"......I don't know."
Nothing was certain. Not this body, not this place, not the world beyond that crack.
But one thing was clear. There was no time to stand here lost in confusion.
Whether dungeon or gate, staying inside means death. That truth was the same in any world.
Gray gritted her teeth and suppressed her emotions.
She clenched her trembling hands into fists to stop them, took a deep breath in, and exhaled. Her gaze sharpened again.
"......I'm fine."
She turned to look at Suyeon. Her face was still frightened, but at least she seemed to have the strength to stand.
"If we go in there, it's outside, right?"
Suyeon nodded.
Gray stepped toward the crack. An unknown world. An unknown body. Still, she had to live.
Surviving was the only thing Gray was good at.
"......!!"
The moment she passed through the crack, light poured in.
Her eyes hurt. Her pupils, accustomed to the dungeon's darkness, screamed.
When she covered her forehead with her hand and barely opened her eyes, Gray's thoughts stopped.
Sound.
Sounds pouring from all sides, their identities unknown. The iron boxes slid along the black roads, honking sharply.
Above her head, a massive glass building pierced the sky, and a giant picture embedded on the building's wall moved on its own, emitting light.
People hurried back and forth. Those with something in their ears talking to the air, those walking while looking at a palm-sized glowing plate.
"......This... am I going crazy??"
Wind blew. It was warm.
Not the damp, cold air of the dungeon, but real outside wind.
Living air mixed with smog, food, and the smell of people.
Strength left her legs.
"Hey, wait—are you okay?"
Suyeon's voice was heard, but she couldn't answer. Her golden pupils scanned the landscape without focus.
Not the capital. Not the border. Not any kingdom. This was not the world she knew.
"......This is, outside?"
"Huh? Of course, it's Seoul. Mapo-gu."
Each word struck like a nail. Seoul. Mapo-gu. All place names she was hearing for the first time.
"Ah, seriously—!! When I see those people, I won't let them off!!"
Suyeon suddenly started huffing.
Her voice was filled with such anger that it was hard to believe she had been sobbing until just now. She clenched her fist and ground her teeth.
"Three C-class Hunters abandon one scout and run away? If I report this to the Association, they'll get a suspension. No, it'll be a revocation, a revocation!!"
Suyeon grabbed Gray's wrist.
"Let's go to the Association first. You have to come with me, since you're a witness!"
She was dragged along.
And so Gray—the Gray who cut down monsters in the dungeon, crushed the Rock-boring Bug's jaw, and slit the Hobgoblin's throat—was dragged along without any resistance by this frail woman's strength toward an unknown place called the Association.