Chapter 3: The Grocery Store Gate
Do-Hyun walked down the street, his stomach emitting a low, mournful growl. He had just spent most of his life savings on the "trash" knife, and now a single, crumpled 5,000 won bill was all he had left.
'I just need some instant ramen,' he thought, his eyes scanning the neon signs with desperation. 'If I can just make it to a 24-hour mart, I can hide under my blanket with a hot meal for the rest of the week.'
Then he saw it. Tucked in a dark alleyway between two abandoned buildings was a shimmering, electric-blue portal. It pulsed softly, casting a welcoming glow on the grimy brick walls. 'Oh, a new convenience store?' he thought, his spirits lifting. 'They usually have grand opening sales!'
Because his Level was a statistical anomaly, his "Danger Sense" was fundamentally broken. He didn't register the thick, yellow HUNTER ASSOCIATION tape cordoning off the block. He didn't see the silent, flashing red lights from the evacuation perimeter. To him, the swirling vortex wasn't a sign of an [UNCLASSIFIED GATE OUTBREAK]—it was an invitation.
Humming a little tune, he walked straight into the abyssal rift.
Inside the Grocery Store
The air was thick with the coppery tang of old blood and the stomach-turning stench of sulfur. Do-Hyun blinked, his eyes struggling to adjust.
"Wow, this store has terrible lighting," he muttered, his voice echoing in the vast, cavernous space. "And why is the floor so... squishy?"
He was standing on the enormous, pulsating tongue of a Colossal Earth-Eater Worm. All around him, a dozen A-Rank Hunters were pinned to the fleshy walls of the creature's gullet by an overwhelming gravitational force, their legendary armor shattered and their faces masks of pure despair.
Among them was Park Min-Ah, her "Absolute Zero" aura reduced to a faint glimmer. Her ice shields, capable of withstanding artillery fire, were cracking like thin glass under the pressure of the worm's acidic breath.
"It's over," Min-Ah whispered, the last of her strength failing. "A World-Boss... in the middle of a city... we're all dead."
Then, through the gloom, she heard it. An impossible sound in this hellscape.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sound of cheap plastic flip-flops slapping against the monstrous tongue.
Her eyes shot open. It was him. The boy from the armory. He was holding a plastic grocery bag in one hand and that rusted cleaver in the other. He wasn't terrified. He wasn't determined. He looked... annoyed.
Do-Hyun's POV: 'Where are the ramen noodles? Why is there a giant, slimy tube in the middle of the aisle blocking everything? And why is that scary Ice Lady from earlier stuck to the wall? Is this some kind of weird hidden camera prank show?!'
The Colossal Earth-Eater Worm finally noticed the insignificant gnat standing on its tongue. It unleashed a roar—a reality-shaking sound wave that could liquify a normal human's internal organs.
Do-Hyun's heart didn't just stop; it felt like it ceased to exist. His "Fight or Flight" response bypassed both options and slammed into a third, undocumented state: Total System Meltdown.
[Skill Activated: Desperate Struggle (Rank: ERROR)]
[Note: User is 100% terrified. All limiters disabled. Entering 'Survival Automaton' mode.]
To Do-Hyun, the world went black.
To the Hunters, a god descended.
In a fraction of a nanosecond, Do-Hyun "stumbled" forward, tripping over a fold in the worm's flesh. To regain his balance, his body spun in a panicked, flailing motion, swinging the rusty cleaver in a wide, desperate arc.
SHING—!
There was no sound, only its absence. A line of pure, silent white light divided the dimension. The 100-meter-long worm didn't just die—it was unwritten from existence. The acid, the slime, the teeth, its very concept—all were annihilated, reduced to a fine gray ash that drifted harmlessly to the ground. The shockwave from the "trip" blew the metaphysical roof off the Gate, letting the calm moonlight shine down on the scene of impossible carnage.
Do-Hyun landed hard on his butt, the world rushing back to him as he gasped for air, hot tears of terror streaming down his face.
"I-I'm so sorry! I tripped! I didn't mean to break anything! I just wanted ramen!" he wailed, his voice choked with sobs.
[Translation Active: The Sovereign's Disdain]
What the shell-shocked survivors heard was a voice cold enough to freeze stars.
"WAS THIS THE PINNACLE OF THE ABYSS? A MERE APPETIZER. MY HUNGER IS NOT SATISFIED."
Min-Ah and the other A-Rankers watched, paralyzed, as he got to his feet, dusted off his pants, and walked out of the now-stabilized portal, his silhouette framed by the moon. He didn't even glance back at the S-Rank behemoth he had just erased from reality.
"He... he's hunting them," Kim Chul-Min, the party's leader, whispered from the floor, his voice broken. "He's hunting S-Rank World-Bosses... for sport. He called that thing... a light snack."