As everything around him shattered into mirror-like fragments, Jinwoo suddenly woke up.
He was still in the hospital bed.
His clothes were soaked with sweat. His heartbeat was racing.
He tried to calm himself as the memories came flooding back — the entity, the spider, the suffocating darkness… and the revelation that it had reincarnated him.
And now he had to work for it to repay some kind of debt.
Jinwoo clenched his fist and covered his eyes with his forearm.
He had been weak.
Too weak.
He hated that feeling.
Screaming from pain with just a snap of that entity's fingers. Being toyed with like he was nothing.
He hated it.
He wanted to tear that thing apart.
He was angry — at the entity… and even more at himself.
But suddenly—
All his emotions vanished.
A system prompt appeared.
[HIGH EMOTIONAL STATE DETECTEDACTIVATING ????? BLESSINGEMOTIONS HAVE STABILIZED]
"…What the hell?"
He realized he was calm.
Too calm.
Despite what he had just experienced.
Despite what he had just felt.
"System."
[YOU HAVE MULTIPLE UNREAD MESSAGES]
"Open message box."
[CONGRATULATIONS ON BECOMING A PLAYER — UNREAD????? GIVES YOU HIS BLESSING — UNREADNEW FUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN FORCEFULLY ADDED TO THE SYSTEM — UNREAD]
"Show me the blessing."
[???? BLESSING
DESCRIPTION: ???? HAS BESTOWED YOU WITH HIS BLESSING FROM THE OUTER WORLDS. HE HOPES YOU GROW STRONG.
EFFECTS:• Increased Mental Fortitude• Resistance against mind- and soul-based attacks• Increased mental energy recovery speed• During high emotional fluctuations, the player will remain calm]
"…So that's why I calmed down."
He exhaled slowly.
"This blessing is actually useful. Increased mental fortitude… resistance to mind and soul attacks…"
He narrowed his eyes.
"But it's resistance — not immunity."
That difference mattered.
"System, show me the new functions."
[PLAYER, THE NEW FUNCTIONS ARE BEING UPDATED47 HOURS 23 MINUTES 34 SECONDS REMAINING]
Jinwoo closed the panel.
The clock read 3:00 a.m.
Now that his emotions were stabilized, he began thinking rationally.
"First… it said Mom might not be in eternal slumber. She might be affected by something else."
But he frowned.
"It could've been lying just to provoke me. And I fell for it."
He exhaled.
"I'll try using the original Jinwoo's method to heal her. If that fails… I'll have to confront that entity again."
He rubbed his forehead.
"Second… it said it reincarnated me. Why? And what kind of work will it make me do?"
A bitter thought crossed his mind.
"Did I unknowingly get dragged into some black corporate contract? Dangling rewards in front of me while I do its work?"
He sighed.
"Well… I'm already in it. No point overthinking. I'll have to deal with whatever comes."
He looked up at the ceiling.
"I just hope the work isn't too bad."
He paused.
"Third… and most important — it modified the System."
His eyes sharpened.
"Adding new functions means it's at least Monarch level."
He shook his head.
"No… probably much higher. It reincarnated me. The blessing says 'from the outer worlds.' That means beyond this verse."
He remembered that there were multiple worlds in Solo Leveling — especially in Ragnarok.
"So… something beyond even that."
He clenched his fist.
"I can't trust it. The only option is to get stronger before it gives me work."
The clock read 3:30 a.m.
He got up and went outside to the hospital garden.
He started exercising.
While running, a thought surfaced.
"That spider… it looked strangely familiar. Like I've seen something similar before. Maybe from another anime… or something else."
He finished the exercises.
A prompt appeared.
[DAILY QUEST COMPLETEDDOUBLED DAILY QUEST COMPLETED
REWARDS:• COMPLETE RECOVERY• +3 ABILITY POINTS• RANDOM CURSED LOOT BOX• RANDOM BLESSED LOOT BOX]
The blessed loot box gave +3 ability points again.
The cursed loot box gave…
A ballpoint pen.
"…Well. I can't get overpowered rewards every day."
He smirked slightly.
"Now I have 12 ability points."
He opened his status.
"Strength is out for now — it's already my highest stat after mana."
"No need to increase intelligence either. I'll need more mana after the Job Change Quest, and my Pseudo Black Heart increases mana passively anyway."
"That leaves agility, stamina, and perception."
After thinking for a moment, he decided:
"I'll invest six in agility and six in perception. Both are below 20."
[AGILITY: 18 → 24][PERCEPTION: 16 → 22]
"Good."
At 6 a.m., he wore his usual outfit and got discharged.
After reaching the subway, he pulled out the key from his inventory.
[INSTANCE DUNGEON KEYDIFFICULTY: D-RANKUSABLE AT: SEOUL CENTRAL STATION]
He took a deep breath.
Walked toward the entrance.
Inserted the key.
Unlocked the gate.
And stepped inside.
"…Let's begin the grind."
[STATUS
SUNG JIN WOO
LEVEL: 1
STRENGTH:28
STAMINA:23
AGILITY:24
INTELLIGENCE:10
PERCEPTION:22
MANA: 60
Ability points:0]
[A/N: am i dragging this out ???? ]