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Leveling Up With The System
Chapter 1: The Cleaner
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[Gate: C-Rank | Location: Seoul, South Korea | Status: Cleared]
The stench of burnt mana and monster blood clung to the air like wet smoke. Lee Kael held his breath as he stepped over a still-twitching goblin corpse, careful not to stain his worn boots with more acid-blood. The guild had cleared the gate only an hour ago. Now it was his job to clean up the mess.
"Hurry it up, Cleaner."
A voice barked from behind him — a bored, armored E-Rank hunter leaned against the gate entrance, yawning.
"Another wave opens in twenty minutes. You don't want to be inside when it reactivates."
Kael didn't respond. He simply tightened his gloves and pressed deeper into the dungeon. The walls pulsed faintly with residual magic — like veins under thin skin. Every dungeon was different. This one was humid, metallic, almost... breathing.
He dragged the corpse of a hobgoblin to the pile near the entrance. Broken swords, shattered mana crystals, and shredded gear littered the ground. It was chaos. But Kael was used to it.
This was his life: the bottom of the food chain.
A D-Rank Gate Cleaner. Not a hunter. Not even a porter. Just a grunt.
And yet—
[System Error Detected]
A message flickered across his vision.
Kael blinked. What?
[Gate instability rising. Evacuation required.]
Suddenly, the air shifted. Cold. Heavy. Wrong.
From the far end of the dungeon, where the core should have already been destroyed, Kael heard it.
A low, clicking sound — like bone on stone. Then a whisper that wasn't a voice, but more like a memory being forced into his brain.
> "You should not be here."
He turned.
A shadow peeled itself from the wall — eight limbs, no eyes, spines like blades, and a mouth that opened vertically.
Boss monster. Still alive.
Impossible.
He ran.
But the dungeon's walls twisted, sealing behind him.
He was trapped.
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[YOU HAVE DIED.]
Darkness.
Then…
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[SYSTEM REBOOTING…]
[Unique Soul Signature Detected.]
[Initializing Custom Protocol…]
[You have awakened the Singularity System.]
[Welcome, Lee Kael.]
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Kael's eyes snapped open.
He was lying in the same dungeon. No wounds. No blood. The monster... gone?
No. Not gone.
It was frozen mid-attack, like time had stopped.
In front of him hovered a translucent blue screen.
> Name: Lee Kael
Level: 1
Class: ???
Title: The One Who Returned
Skill Unlocked: [System Override Lv.1]
Skill Unlocked: [Shadow Assimilation Lv.1]
Kael stared.
He wasn't a hunter. He had no magic. He had no rights to a system.
So why—
Another window popped up.
> Quest: Survive the Impossible.
Reward: +1 Level, +1 Random Skill, ???
Failure: Permanent Death.
Kael slowly stood up.
He looked at the frozen boss monster, still mid-snarl.
And then, he smiled.
"Alright," he whispered. "Let's see what it means to break the system."
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✅ End of Chapter 1