First Mission
“Hey, is something wrong? You’ve been staring over here the whole time…”
Her cold voice snapped me back to reality.
While glancing at my status window mattered, I couldn’t leave her like this—the thought that her opinion of me would drop kept me from closing it.
“…No, just thinking.”
You were looking at my status window.
If I answered that way, I wondered what her language model would do, but there was no reason to pick the option that would tank my affinity.
Even as an NPC, there was no point in testing her team-lead affinity that deeply.
“The team leader looks really tired.”
“…Huh?”
A brief silence fell.
She stared at me quietly, as if searching for something on my face.
“…Your observation skills are impressive for a newcomer.”
Thankfully, she let it slide this time.
“Just a feeling.”
“…Really?”
Her eyes still held suspicion, but she didn’t press further.
Instead, she slowly turned her body and shifted her gaze toward the monitor.
“The briefing is about to start soon. Your supervisor should be arriving any moment, so it’s best to stay alert.”
“…Supervisor?”
“Yes. The person you’ll be entrusting your life to from now on.”
With that, silence settled inside the conference room.
And right on cue.
Thud.
The door to the closed conference room opened.
The woman who stepped inside looked far more ordinary than I expected.
She had a blunt elite-agent vibe, but closer to the first colleague you’d chat with at the company.
“…Oh, the new hire. Jihoo Seo, right?”
She shook her employee ID and smiled slightly, and for a moment my tension eased.
But then.
[The Causality of Hell is reacting.]
…What?
The status window floated up on one side of my vision on its own.
And inside it, her information from just entering the room unfurled as if waiting for this exact moment.
[Hell Condition: During the target’s psyche corruption, one side reaches 100%.]
The information pressed in.
In that split second, I stared blankly at her status window.
[Affinity: 15%]
[Status: Interested in the new member]
The system kindly even analyzed what she thought of me.
Interested…
I rolled the word around in my mouth.
A supervisor taking an interest in a newcomer was common.
Starting at 15 affinity meant a very favorable situation for me, who needed to push her psyche corruption to 100.
“Ah… why are you staring so intensely? Did something get on my face?”
She scratched her cheek awkwardly and smiled.
The distance had grown noticeably closer than before.
A faint scent of soap tickled my nose.
“Ah, sorry. Your first impression was just too good… I guess I relaxed a little.”
“Hoo, really? That’s good. I got a little excited when I heard a new hire was coming.”
She smiled with narrowed eyes, satisfied.
“My name is Han Seah. I’ll be in charge of your training from now on. Please take care of me, new guy.”
I lightly clasped the white hand she extended.
The warmth at her fingertips made me forget, for a moment, that everything here was just part of the game.
“Then let’s move straight to the briefing. Both of you look this way.”
When Team Leader Kang Seoyun called, I let go of Han Seah’s hand and turned.
There, a massive holographic screen stood ready.
The red dungeon map on the screen reminded me of a game minimap.
“This is the first mission for the two of you… an exploration of F205. F205 is already cleared, so most monsters and traps inside have been removed. That makes it a suitable space for a dungeon-inexperienced newcomer to learn the structure safely.”
A point on the map began to flash with the team leader’s gesture.
“This mission only requires you to reach the designated area of F205 and return immediately. Basically, your special trait… a perception-inhibition trait, was it? We need to check how it affects things inside the dungeon. Seah, please take care of him and keep him from pushing himself.”
“Leave it to me.”
Han Seah answered with a light smile.
At some point, she had naturally moved to stand right beside me.
“You don’t have to be too tense. F205 isn’t that different from a walk.”
“…A walk in a dangerous place?”
At my words, she let out a small laugh.
“You’re right about that.”
Kang Seoyun glanced at us for a moment before enlarging the map again.
Several branched corridors and numbers floated above the red holographic map.
“The dungeon interior is divided into three areas. The one we’ll explore this time is the outer section of Area 1. Even though it’s a cleared dungeon, it’s not completely safe. Residual monsters might appear, and some traps might remain untouched.”
She spoke while looking straight at me.
“Especially you, Jihoo, you don’t have any basic combat experience inside dungeons yet. If anything happens, don’t try to judge on your own—follow Seah’s instructions immediately.”
“…Understood.”
“And last.”
With Kang Seoyun’s gesture, a specific point on the map began blinking blue.
“This is the goal point of the mission. Once you reach here, collect surrounding reaction data, and return, the mission is complete. Round trip time is expected to be about two hours. Any questions?”
After her explanation, the conference room fell quiet for a moment.
“Then there are no separate questions, and the briefing is over. Seah, please take Jihoo and head out once you’re ready.”
The briefing ended and the holographic screen slowly dimmed and vanished.
“…Hmm.”
A short silence.
Han Seah crossed her arms and scanned me from head to toe, then smiled awkwardly.
“First, let’s get you equipped.”
“Equipped?”
“Yes. I hope you weren’t seriously planning to enter the dungeon naked.”
***
The moment I stepped inside the dungeon, the first thing I felt was the bone-chilling cold air.
Damp stone walls.
Faintly echoing dripping sounds.
And an eerie silence that felt off from reality.
But more than any of that, something kept drawing my eyes.
The woman walking in front of me.
Her black tactical suit clung tightly to her body, with various equipment and ammo pouches precisely fixed at her waist and thighs.
The belt wrapping her thighs and the pistol holster.
Her ponytail swaying lightly.
And her relaxed steps as she walked through the dungeon without any tension.
It was completely different from the soft, friendly atmosphere in the team leader’s office.
The woman right before my eyes now was the very embodiment of a veteran who had faced the dungeon countless times.
“…Why are you looking like that?”
Han Seah, who had just turned around, stared at me with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, nothing.”
“…?”
She tilted her head for a moment, then let out a soft laugh.
“Are you nervous?”
“…A little.”
That wasn’t a lie.
But…
Not just the dungeon, the curves created by the woman walking ahead pulled my attention far more strongly.
The lines of her hips and buttocks visible over the tight suit felt like primitive stimulation rather than just tactical gear.
“Don’t worry too much. Everyone gets like that at first. Just keep an eye on my back and follow.”
She walked forward and answered casually.
The swishing of the suit rubbed softly beneath her swaying ponytail.
Well, I was looking at her backside… not her back.
I swallowed dryly and followed behind her.
How long had we walked?
We safely reached the goal point.
“We arrived faster than expected.”
“Yeah. We only ran into two little slimes…”
It was an easy mission that I might even call a success, but nothing was obtained either.
Before reaching here, I had encountered a slime-type monster.
The kind often used as beginner fodder in games. Their slow movements and non-threatening attacks made it perfect to test my [Perception Inhibition Trait].
[All traps and monsters inside the dungeon cannot detect the player as an intruder.]
As the skill description said, even when I approached closely, the slimes showed no reaction.
Then what if I touched them directly?
Han Seah, with her gun aimed at their cores at all times, reached out to the slime’s watery surface.
Her fingertips slowly penetrated deep inside, yet no resistance came.
Puk.
And it remained unchanged even when my hand reached the core itself, crushing the monster’s very life force.
Of course, slimes were the lowest tier among low-grade monsters, so I couldn’t yet apply this to all monsters, but…
Just witnessing that possibility was already a solid harvest.
All that remained now was to collect surrounding reaction data and head back the way we came.
As I thought that, something entered my line of sight while I scanned around.
A door…?
There being a door inside the dungeon wasn’t strange.
In fact, I had passed through dozens of doors during the journey here.
But this was the dead end of Area 1.
The minimap showed no corridor ahead.
“Hey… Senior? There’s a door right in front.”
“Huh…? A door? Where?”
Han Seah looked in the direction I pointed with a puzzled expression.
But her reaction was unusually calm.
As if she truly couldn’t see anything at all.
“…Right in front. Toward the wall.”
I pointed forward with my finger again.
Between the gray stone walls, a black door was hidden like a crack.
The massive door made of metal and stone mixed material was oddly mismatched with the dungeon atmosphere.
“…Jihoo?”
My mind snapped back at Han Seah’s voice.
She had moved right beside me.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You keep looking at strange places since earlier.”
“…Can’t you see it?”
“What?”
“That door.”
I slowly looked straight ahead.
The door was still there.
And it looked even clearer than before.
After a moment of hesitation, I eventually spoke slowly.
“…Give me a moment. I’ll go check.”
“What? Check what…”
Before Han Seah could stop me, I walked straight to the door.
And.
I slowly extended my hand.
Squeak.
With a cold touch, the door fully opened.