Sung Daeho had barely stepped out of the shimmering blue exit portal when he was hit with an overwhelming wave of commotion.
A small crowd had gathered outside the Shincheon Substation Gate. Cameras flashed, news reporters held up their mics, and dozens of civilians craned their necks to catch a glimpse of something—or someone.
Right in the middle of this chaotic circle stood several men in formal black suits bearing the silver phoenix crest of the Awakeners Association, accompanied by at least a dozen armed security officers.
Daeho squinted. What the hell is going on?
He stepped forward cautiously, Kali walking beside him in his shrunken wolf form. The moment he was spotted, a tall association officer in his forties, sharp-jawed with a clean undercut, immediately made his way through the crowd toward Daeho.
"You! You just came out of the D-rank dungeon, right?"
"Yes, sir," Daeho replied, warily straightening up. He felt everyone's eyes on him.
The officer's face didn't show suspicion—only urgency. "Did anything unusual happen in the dungeon?"
That one sentence was all Daeho needed to understand.
They know.
His mind raced. The dungeon was marked as D-rank, but all monsters he encountered—especially the Orcs—were at least C-rank.
He nodded slowly, deciding not to lie but not to reveal everything either.
"Yes, sir. Inside the dungeon, I encountered C-rank Orcs. I expected goblins, but… they were stationed as guards in front of a village."
There was a momentary pause before the officer gave a heavy sigh and muttered, "That confirms it…"
Daeho tilted his head. "Confirms what, sir?"
The man motioned for the nearby media to stay back and then leaned in to speak quietly.
"Across the entire world, in the last 48 hours, hundreds of low-rank dungeons have mysteriously changed in structure, strength, and monster class. The official readings still identify them as E or D-rank from the outside, but inside, they are now one full rank higher."
Daeho's stomach dropped. "Wait… this is happening everywhere?"
The man nodded grimly. "Yes. Korea is just one of many affected nations. Japan lost a team of young B-rankers in a dungeon they thought was A-rank—it turned out to be an S-class field dungeon. The U.S. is calling it a global destabilization event. We're calling it the Rift Surge for now."
Daeho suddenly understood the urgency in the air, the presence of the media, and the unusually large number of association officials.
The officer adjusted his collar. "Now tell me, how did you survive in a dungeon full of C-rank monsters alone?"
Daeho gave a careful smile. "Well… I recently got promoted to C-rank, so I knew I could handle at least one C-rank monster if I had to. When I saw that the Orcs were all gathered together, I started throwing goblin bodies into the forest to lure them one at a time."
He paused for dramatic effect, then added, "Still, I wouldn't have made it out without my summon. I contracted a dire wolf recently."
The officer raised an eyebrow, impressed. "Tactical, and lucky. You're smarter than you look."
Daeho simply bowed his head. "Thank you, sir."
The man then snapped his fingers, and an assistant came over holding a tablet.
"We'd like to compensate you," the officer continued. "As a token of apology for our failure to reclassify the dungeon in time, we're offering to buy all your monster cores from that dungeon at double the current market price."
Daeho blinked. "Double?"
The assistant began calculating based on Daeho's declared kills.
> [Goblin Cores x104] → Regular Market Value: ₩2.6 million
➤ Association Purchase: ₩5.2 million
> [Orc Cores x4] → Regular Market Value: ₩2 million
➤ Association Purchase: ₩4 million
Daeho kept his expression calm, but inside he was grinning ear to ear. Only 4 orcs, huh? Good thing I didn't tell them about the other 102.
"Thank you," he said and handed over only four of the orc cores, keeping the rest hidden in his inventory ring.
The money was transferred instantly to his linked hunter account. He confirmed the transaction on his panel. ₩9.2 million in total.
The officer nodded. "Good work, Hunter Sung Daeho. We'll be keeping an eye on your progress."
Daeho bowed slightly. "It's an honor."
---
After escaping the crowd and ensuring he wasn't being followed, Daeho turned to Kali.
"Well, boy… time to cash in the real prize."
He wasn't going home yet.
Instead, he headed straight for the Black Market.
---
The Black Market wasn't marked on maps, but every awakened knew about it.
Built deep beneath Seoul's abandoned Hanjeong District, the Black Market was a subterranean network of auction houses, trading posts, weapon forgers, alchemy vendors, and core dealers. If it existed in the awakened world, it could be bought—or sold—here.
Everything had a price.
And today, Daeho had 102 Orc cores burning in his pocket.
He walked past flickering neon signs and passed suspicious glances from rogue hunters and shadowy guild members. Kali stayed close, silently towering in his larger form, his presence enough to deter any foolish pickpockets.
Daeho stopped in front of a shop labeled "CoreLine Exchange".
It was run by none other than his longtime acquaintance—
Kim Suzy.
She was in her early twenties, her hair tied into a lazy ponytail, and wore a sleeveless black turtleneck with slim black pants—simple, but stylish. She was organizing some B-rank cores when she noticed someone entering.
When she saw Daeho, her lips curled into a surprised smile.
"Well well, look who's still alive."
Daeho chuckled. "Still alive, and recently ranked up."
Suzy leaned over the counter. "C-rank?"
He nodded. "Yep. Finally made it."
She gave him a quick once-over. "You don't look like a porter anymore, that's for sure."
Daeho smiled faintly. Suzy had always looked after him when he was struggling, sometimes giving him expired mana potions for free or letting him nap in the back room when he didn't have enough money to afford rent.
To him, Suzy was family.
After some casual chatter, Suzy finally asked, "So what brings you here?"
"I have some cores to sell."
Suzy raised an eyebrow. "How many?"
Daeho leaned in slightly and whispered, "One hundred and two orc cores."
Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?!"
He gave a smug look. "You heard me."
Suzy blinked several times, then said, "Wait… how the hell did you even get that many?"
"I cleared an entire orc village solo," he said casually, inspecting his fingernails.
"You cleared a C-rank monster village… ALONE?"
"I had Kali."
Suzy blinked again. Then she stepped out from behind the counter and flicked Daeho on the forehead.
"Are you insane?! You could've been killed!"
Daeho rubbed his forehead, grinning. "But I wasn't."
She rolled her eyes, but her expression softened. "Still... I'm glad you made it back. You always do crazy things for the people you care about, you know that?"
He smiled back, sincerely. "You're one of them."
There was a brief pause between them, the kind that didn't need words.
Then Suzy cleared her throat. "Alright, show me the cores."
Daeho summoned them from his inventory ring—all 102 of them. The sight of that many high-quality C-rank monster cores made even the hardened black market buyers behind her gasp.
Suzy gave a low whistle.
"These are premium orc cores. No cracks. All fresh. You said 102?"
He nodded.
She tapped some numbers into the old terminal behind her.
"Best I can do is ₩45 million for the lot."
Daeho blinked. That was an excellent price, especially in the black market, where merchants usually tried to lowball solo hunters.
"Deal."
The money was transferred instantly. Daeho's account now showed over ₩54 million won combined from today's haul.
Suzy handed him a receipt and a sealed badge that proved the transaction was legal even in regulated stores.
She smiled. "You're going places, Daeho. I just hope you won't forget us normal people."
He laughed. "Not a chance."
They talked for a few more minutes before Suzy had to return to business. Before he left, she grabbed his wrist gently.
"Be careful, okay? Something's going on in the world. The hunters that went into the wrong dungeons lately… didn't come back."
Daeho gave a soft smile. "I'll be careful."
---
As he stepped out into the cool night air, the full weight of the day finally hit him.
He had survived a misranked dungeon.
Created an S-rank skill.
Made nearly ₩60 million won.
And discovered something no one else knew: the world was changing.
Daeho mounted Kali and rode home beneath the city lights.
The wind felt different now—not as a porter scraping for leftovers, but as a hunter standing on the edge of power.
And the red panel in his vision pulsed softly.
As if waiting.
---