Worship the Higher Place.
One day, a System window announcing the "level up" of Earth's dungeons and monsters appeared.
Dungeons and Monsters: LEVEL UP
Even though the System window was translated into each country's language, no one understood its meaning at the time.
People didn't truly feel what "level up" meant until a week later.
Along with that, Korea's major guilds were facing massive, unexpected changes.
Neverending Guild.
"Captain! Hunter Kim Seungha's team just encountered a new type of monster in the dungeon they entered—one that hasn't been discovered before!"
"What? What's its rank?"
"B-rank monster. Apparently, it's a carnivorous plant from a swamp dungeon. It doesn't drain mental strength much, but it's tricky to deal with. As you know, there were no monsters in the form of carnivorous plants before."
"Got it. Tell Seungha to compile a report on the plant-type monster when he gets back. I need to report it to the Dungeon Safety Bureau too."
"Understo—"
"Captain! The Dungeon Safety Bureau just issued a notice! Three plant-type monsters have been added in this update!"
"...This update just won't end. Tell the admin team to organize the files and distribute them to all guild members."
Lee Gayeon pressed her throbbing forehead.
After the massive System update, several changes swept across the world.
The first was that new types of dungeons and monsters were popping up everywhere like crazy.
Humans on Earth had been compiling their own monster and dungeon encyclopedias up until now, but with new ones pouring in every few hours, there was no point in trying to keep up anymore.
Hunters were barely keeping their heads above water just adapting to the changes.
"Captain! Hunter Yoon Juha's team cleared the urgent dungeon in Jungnang-gu and ran into a monster wave on their way back—they just finished clearing it!"
"You're reporting that now? Have they forgotten the entire reporting protocol?"
The second change after the update: The number of dungeons and monster waves was increasing.
Hunters who had competed fiercely over the few existing dungeons for items now forgot all about rivalries and rival guilds— the moment they heard about a new dungeon, they had to rush there immediately.
According to Dungeon Safety Bureau stats, dungeon numbers had septupled, and monster waves had quadrupled. It was pure chaos.
Clang—
A harsh metallic scrape echoed through the dungeon.
After smashing a monster's head clean off with his baseball bat, Park Haejun wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Whew, it's been a while since I was out in the field. Feels like my stamina's even rustier than before."
"We need to speed up our clear time even more. We've got a lot left to do."
Jeong Sira spoke while effortlessly ripping a monster's head from its body without lifting a finger, thanks to her skill.
"Understood. Then let's wipe them all out quickly."
Park Haejun swung his baseball bat harder, and monster heads exploded one after another.
Jeong Sira, who had been checking the chat window and keeping in touch, suddenly spoke urgently.
"Huh? A monster wave just broke out right near this dungeon? They say they don't have the manpower...!"
"...No matter how I look at it, we can't make it there in time! We need another plan..."
"Ah...! Hunter Baek Yena just arrived at the site!"
Jeong Sira shouted in relief.
Only then did Park Haejun relax and smash the charging monster with even greater force.
"Did she handle all of this... by herself...?!"
Meanwhile, at the monster wave site.
Staring at the monster corpses scattered like filthy rags across the ground, the guild master of Yellow Fruit Guild—who had just arrived—couldn't believe his eyes.
"Ah, seriously... She got here way too fast..."
Baek Yena wiped the monster blood from her face, shoved her hand in her pocket, then grimaced at her now blood-soaked phone.
The Yellow Fruit Guild master glanced at her cautiously and said,
"...We were a step too late. We'll withdraw then."
"Hey, hold up."
"Yes?"
"Extracting all these monster hearts is a pain. If you guys do it, I'll share some with you."
"I-Is that okay?"
"It's more profitable for me to hit another dungeon in the time it'd take to do this myself."
It wasn't a bad deal for them either, so the Yellow Fruit Guild master nodded readily.
As he extracted monster hearts with his guild members, he stole a glance at Baek Yena.
She wasn't cursing like usual, which made her seem less fierce and somehow...
'Why does she look so anxious?'
"Guild master, no matter her bad rep in the hunter world, a national hero is still a national hero, huh..."
One guild member extracting a heart muttered.
He whispered in dismay while eyeing the sprawled corpses.
"How did she take down this many alone...? Is this even human?"
"Well, S-ranks were different from us the moment they awakened."
The guild master replied nonchalantly to the newbie hunter.
"And she's the legend who racked up that Hundred Kilometer feat. She's on another level..."
He nodded to himself, recalling the incident from a year and a half ago.
Even as they worked, Baek Yena was already checking the next dungeon she needed to rush to once the hearts were collected.
WithYou Guild.
"Oh, Vice Guild Master~ What's all this~?"
Na Seonghyeon asked, staring at the mountain of documents on his desk.
"What else? Lists that need the guild master's approval."
"Ah~ I wanna quit~."
"Team leaders' meeting first, before that."
"Okay, okay~."
Na Seonghyeon straightened his tie and headed to the conference room.
Bursting through the door, he blurted out whatever came to mind.
"Good morning, everyone~ Well, not exactly the mood for morning greetings, huh? Let's start with the HR team's report~ Ah, I wanna quit~."
Na Seonghyeon wiped away tears, thinking of the endless tasks ahead.
He'd thought being guild master would change things from his corporate days, but it felt pretty much the same.
If anything had changed, it was that he could shout "I wanna quit" loud enough for everyone to hear without anyone calling him out...
Na Seonghyeon swallowed his sigh as he accepted the flood of work.
Asteroid Guild.
"Alright, time to get to work~. Huh, oppa! Why's this dungeon assigned to me? Weren't you supposed to go?"
"Eunyoung-ah, looks like you're handling all field ops today."
"Okay? Not a big deal! But why?"
"Because I've got 138 civilian complaints straight to the guild master today."
"...Dungeons and monsters increasing means more complaints too?"
"Probably? Weird, I thought more monsters would mean fewer people left to complain..."
"Haa, humans really cling to life no matter what. Earth's basically screaming at them to die, but they just don't get the hint~!"
Even amid outbreaks everywhere, the So siblings' endless banter continued.
SnowPine Guild.
"Is this situation tough for you? Don't wanna do it? Hah, back in the army..."
As Gwak Mansu launched into yet another military story, guild members whispered in horror.
"...Dude, who hit the guild master's army story button this time?"
"The newbie looked exhausted, got caught, and now we're paying for the 'lax discipline' lecture."
"Man... This one's gonna last an hour... I'd rather a monster wave hit so we can deploy..."
The guild members racked their brains through Gwak Mansu's scolding, worse than any dungeon.
As expected, his story showed no signs of ending soon.
BlackPen Guild.
"Bro, from your face, someone else took leave again~?"
"...Hah, too many deserting from the workload."
BlackPen Guild's guild master, Pyeon Sihu, had dark circles down to his chin.
Kwon Yooseok grinned at him.
"Hmm~ This time, I'll handle field ops myself, so don't worry~."
"You little punk, you've grown up...!"
At those words like rain in a drought, Pyeon Sihu reached for Kwon Yooseok's shoulder, then noticed the notebook he was scribbling in.
"What're you doing?"
"Studying math."
"Why math all of a sudden?"
"Seoya needs it."
"...For god's sake, do some work instead."
Pyeon Sihu muttered in exasperation.
So while every hunter was blink-and-you'll-miss-it busy, what was Seoya doing?
[Seoya-ya, looks like I and Baek Yena won't make it home tonight.]
Just chilling at home.
Lee Gayeon's voice came through the phone, exhausted despite her efforts to hide it.
"Yeah, got it."
[What'd you have for dinner?]
"Jajangmyeon."
[...Put Ji Sein on.]
"Hello~."
Ji Sein, sitting next to Seoya, answered brightly.
[Sein-ah, I told you not to feed the kid just flour with no nutrition for dinner.]
"Ah, we had tangsuyuk too~ Protein, protein~."
[Flour digests fast—you'll be hungry again soon!]
"Oof..."
Ji Sein glanced at the massive ice cream tub she and Seoya were devouring.
[And stop with the nutritionless ice cream... Why aren't you answering? Don't tell me you're eating ice cream right now?]
"Unnie, I love you forever! You're my captain!"
[If you're gonna call me captain, come to the guild and work! Sitting at home doing nothing—what kinda captain is that? Just re-enroll in college! People won't even recognize you anymore since you've been out of hunting so long!]
"Yeah, yeah, princess time to sleep, bye."
[Wait! Toothpaste's almost out—new one's in the living room storage! Weather's warmer today, switch to a thin blanket, check the balcony door's locked! And also...]
Click— beep— beep— beep—
Ji Sein, satisfied after hanging up, looked at Seoya beside her.
"Ice cream then tteokbokki?"
"Cool."