“Did you hurt your head?”

    His little sister asked from the door . Jinwoo shook his head .

    “No . ”

    Not comforted by his words, his sister’s eyes were filled with concern .

    “You’re really okay, right?”

    “I told you, yes . ”

    His little sister huffed and puffed as she started approaching him with a piercing gaze . Used to her reactions in situations like this, Jinwoo put up his guard as his little sister started hitting him .

    “I told you to stop getting hurt! Do you know how much I was worried?!”

    “…Sorry . ”

    “Everyone else seems to do just fine, why are you the only one getting hurt all the time!”

    “…Sorry…”

    The hands that were striking him slowly lost their strength . Eventually, Jinah stood with her head hung low, tears falling down her cheeks . Jinwoo patted his sister on the back, doing his best to comfort her . He held back the tears forming in his own eyes .

    ‘To think I was prepared to die… to leave her behind…’

    Thank god he had returned alive . Looking at this moment, he realized just how many times he came close to death . It was like being in a nightmare .

    Jinwoo turned his gaze toward the words suspended in air .

    You have unread messages .

    ‘And it still feels like I haven’t woken up…’

    He could not understand the meaning behind the words . Still, what could he do? The most important thing was the fact that he was able to return to his family alive .

    “Sniff”

    Fortunately, his sister had stopped crying . Unfortunately, her rant at his condition continued for another hour…

    “-So do you understand? If you get hurt again, I’ll give up my studies and go straight into working, so you won’t be able to work as a Hunter ever again!”

    A sharp, piercing gaze that was unbecoming of her pretty face, she was truly her brother’s sister .

    “I got it, I got it . ”

    Jinwoo nodded in resignation . After receiving his confirmation multiple times, Jinah got up, satisfied .

    “Where are you gong?”

    “School . I just got permission to leave briefly to come and see you, but I have to go back . ”

    “Right, right . The college entrance examinations are next year . ”

    Although he could not afford to provide a tutor or send her to a private school, Jinah still managed to become one of the top students in the school . Her goal: to become a doctor . The little girl who could not distance herself from video games suddenly became a fervent student when their mother fell ill few years ago .

    Jinwoo wanted to make sure her dreams came true .

    ‘Wait… video games?’

    His eyes suddenly shot open .

    “I’m going . ”

    Jinwoo quickly caught his sister, who was leaving,

    “Jinah . ”

    “What?”

    “When you play a game…”

    Jinah smiled, “I don’t play games these days . There’s so little time until I’m in my final year . ”

    “I know, I know, but I still wanted to ask,”

    “About what? Oppa, have you been playing games lately?”

    Although she had put them behind, she was very good in her past . As such, her brother’s question flared her interest . Jinwoo continued to stare at the floating letters and asked,

    “If I have an unread message in a game, how do I open or access it?”

    “First, you have to open the message box . ”

    “Open the message box?”

    ring~

    The moment he spoke the words “open”, an electronic beep followed the opening of the message box .

    You have 2 unread messages .

    Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread)

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread)

    Jinwoo felt himself being filled with joy .

    ‘It worked!’

    Surprised by the sudden appearance of happiness in his face, Jinah anxiously asked,

    “What? What game is it? Do you need my help?”

    Jinwoo firmly shook his head,

    “No, I want to try it out alone . ”

    How would his sister react if he told her everything that was happening to him?

    ‘Don’t want to hear from my own sister that I’m crazy . ’

    So Jinwoo swallowed the words he wanted to say and bid her goodbye .

    After confirming that she went down the elevator out of the hospital, Jinwoo returned to his room .

    ‘Can’t repeat the same mistake . ’

    click-

    lock-

    To avoid any unwanted attention, he locked the doors . Finishing his preparation, Jinwoo sat on the side of his bed and started reading the messages floating before his eyes .

    Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread)

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread)

    The first message seemed familiar to him .

    ‘Where was it, I’ve definitely heard this one before . ’

    He started with the first message .

    ‘Open . ’

    ring~

    This System will help with the growth of the “Player” .

    Non-compliance with this System’s instructions may result in a penalty .

    Your reward has been received .

    “Ah…”

    He remembered now . It was the words he heard before losing consciousness .

    ‘It said something about a player back then, too…’

    But just like that time, he had no idea what that meant .

    System . Growth . Penalty . Reward .

    It was a parade of unclear meanings .

    ‘Just what is it helping grow, and what is it rewarding?’

    He found it difficult to apply these words that he saw in video games before .

    Ignoring the meaning of the words for now, he went onto the next message .

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread)

    Gulp .

    Jinwoo swallowed at the suspicious title of the message . His heartbeat sped up .

    ‘Open . ’

    ring~

    Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful

    Do 100 Push-ups:

    (Incomplete) (0/100)

    Do 100 Sit-ups:

    (Incomplete) (0/100)

    Do 100 Squats:

    (Incomplete) (0/100)

    Run 10 kilometers:

    (Incomplete) (0/10)

    *Warning: Failing to complete the Daily Quest will result in a Penalty Quest .

    Jinwoo moaned after confirming the message .

    “Sigh… what is this…”

    Daily Quest . On top of that, a “preparation to become powerful” . He expected more than just simple exercises with a title like that . At least, it was certain if he completed the exercises in the quest, his body would probably improve a little . Was this the growth and reward the System spoke of?

    ‘Now that I think about it…’

    He recalled reading “those with inner problems should listen to their inner voice” in some book before .

    ‘Guess I’m just hallucinating what my body’s telling me’

    His urge to become stronger must’ve been so strong that he was now seeing these nonsensical words in the air . More so than how laughable it was, he was disappointed .

    “If you can just become strong like this, who wouldn’t have done so already…?”

    He shook his head in disbelief . He felt pathetic in the expectation that he would find all the answers in these messages .

    ‘Eh, I don’t care . ’

    Jinwoo went to lie down in the bed . He stared up into the ceiling .

    “ . . . ”

    Although he was not doing anything in particular, time passed by quickly . As he began to feel the weight of silence throughout the hospital, he suddenly sat up .

    ‘Still…’

    What if this did bring about change? Half in anticipation, half in suspicion, the thought of ‘should I just give it a try’ occured in his head .

    ‘Can’t hurt after all . ’

    What if he just lightly tried out one of the motions?

    After some thought, he made the decision to give it a try .

    Lightly stretching after getting off the bed, he attempted do half-hearted push-ups . Instead of getting on the ground, he stood up at and angle and pushed off the bed .

    “1, 2, 3…”

    Starting at 1, he rapidly went down the line .

    “ . . . 97, 98, 99, 100 . ”

    Finishing what he started, he reached his 100th “push-up” . Contrary to his expectation, nothing seemed to change . Except for his slightly sore arms .

    “ . . . So now what…”

    He stood up with a smile on his face .

    Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Read)

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Read)

    The previously “unread” messages had become “read” . The words telling him that he had unread messages had disappeared, but he no longer had any intention to continue entertaining these delusions . He felt he had done enough .

    Without any regrets, he closed the message window .

    With a yawn, he returned to his bed . In response to moving after such a long time, he started feeling sleepy . The window outside glowed orange from the sunset .

    ‘Is it this late already?’

    The man from the Hunter Surveillance Department explained earlier that his hospital bills would be footed by the Association . With that in mind, Jinwoo was not in a rush to be discharged .

    ‘Maybe I’ll have the hospital run some tests, make sure I’m completely healthy . ’

    He thought as he lay in bed .

    ‘I’m sure the hallucinations should disappear after some time . ’

    His eyelids slowly closed . Soon, he fell into deep slumber .

    tick tick tick

    As he slept, the clock on the opposite wall continued to tick . As time passed, the hands of the clock eventually pointed to 11:59:57 .

    tick

    58 .

    tick

    59 .

    tick

    60 .

    The clock pointed to 12:00:00 .

    ring~

    [You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest . You will be moved to the ‘Penalty Zone’ for a set duration . ]

    SHAKE!~

    Jinwoo opened his eyes to an intense trembling that shook his entire body .

    “E-earthquake?!”

    He shot up and grabbed the bed frame at the foot of the bed . The trembling was so strong that he found it difficult to hold on .

    SHAKE!~

    But with each passing second, the tremors became worse .

    Suddenly,

    psssh~

    The bed frame he held onto for his life broke . No, it had disappeared from his hands . His checked his hands, there was no sign of the bed frame . Instead, there was sand on his palms .

    ‘Sand?’

    psssssh~

    Rest of the frames on the bed turned to sand, and the trembling became even stronger .

    SHAKE!~

    “Uwaaak!”

    Unable to hold on, he was eventually thrown off the bed . Jinwoo screamed as he bounced up and down in his room . One by one, all the furniture and items in his room turned into sand .

    “Uwaaaaaaah!”

    Crash!

    Jinwoo suddenly found himself embedded in something . His fingertips felt the softness of sand around him . The earthshake had stopped .

    spit spit

    As he spat out the sand that entered his mouth, he raised his head .

    “ . . . ?”

    He found himself in the middle of a vast desert . Patting the sand off his body, he stood up and looked around . In every direction, he saw an endless field of sand, stretching to the horizon .

    “A desert…?”

    There was no logical explanation for this . Until moments ago, he was resting on a hospital bed in the middle of Seoul .

    He grabbed a handful of sand and let it fall . The sand fell in a straight line to the ground .

    ‘There’s no wind . ’

    Not just wind, looking up, there was no sun, moon or even stars .

    An empty sky like black ink spilled across a canvas .

    Even stranger, despite the lack of a visible light source, he had no trouble seeing his surroundings .

    “Where am I?”

    Sponsored Content

    I Alone Level-up: Chapter 9.

    .

    “Did you hurt your head?”.

    .

    His little sister asked from the door . Jinwoo shook his head . .

    .

    “No . ”.

    .

    Not comforted by his words, his sister’s eyes were filled with concern . .

    .

    “You’re really okay, right?”.

    .

    “I told you, yes . ”.

    .

    His little sister huffed and puffed as she started approaching him with a piercing gaze . Used to her reactions in situations like this, Jinwoo put up his guard as his little sister started hitting him . .

    .

    “I told you to stop getting hurt! Do you know how much I was worried?!”.

    .

    “…Sorry . ”.

    .

    “Everyone else seems to do just fine, why are you the only one getting hurt all the time!”.

    .

    “…Sorry…”.

    .

    The hands that were striking him slowly lost their strength . Eventually, Jinah stood with her head hung low, tears falling down her cheeks . Jinwoo patted his sister on the back, doing his best to comfort her . He held back the tears forming in his own eyes . .

    .

    ‘To think I was prepared to die… to leave her behind…’.

    .

    Thank god he had returned alive . Looking at this moment, he realized just how many times he came close to death . It was like being in a nightmare . .

    .

    Jinwoo turned his gaze toward the words suspended in air . .

    .

    You have unread messages . .

    .

    ‘And it still feels like I haven’t woken up…’.

    .

    He could not understand the meaning behind the words . Still, what could he do? The most important thing was the fact that he was able to return to his family alive . .

    .

    “Sniff”.

    .

    Fortunately, his sister had stopped crying . Unfortunately, her rant at his condition continued for another hour….

    .

    “-So do you understand? If you get hurt again, I’ll give up my studies and go straight into working, so you won’t be able to work as a Hunter ever again!”.

    .

    A sharp, piercing gaze that was unbecoming of her pretty face, she was truly her brother’s sister . .

    .

    “I got it, I got it . ”.

    .

    Jinwoo nodded in resignation . After receiving his confirmation multiple times, Jinah got up, satisfied . .

    .

    “Where are you gong?”.

    .

    “School . I just got permission to leave briefly to come and see you, but I have to go back . ”.

    .

    “Right, right . The college entrance examinations are next year . ”.

    .

    Although he could not afford to provide a tutor or send her to a private school, Jinah still managed to become one of the top students in the school . Her goal: to become a doctor . The little girl who could not distance herself from video games suddenly became a fervent student when their mother fell ill few years ago . .

    .

    Jinwoo wanted to make sure her dreams came true . .

    .

    ‘Wait… video games?’.

    .

    His eyes suddenly shot open . .

    .

    “I’m going . ”.

    .

    Jinwoo quickly caught his sister, who was leaving,.

    .

    “Jinah . ”.

    .

    “What?”.

    .

    “When you play a game…”.

    .

    Jinah smiled, “I don’t play games these days . There’s so little time until I’m in my final year . ”.

    .

    “I know, I know, but I still wanted to ask,”.

    .

    “About what? Oppa, have you been playing games lately?”.

    .

    Although she had put them behind, she was very good in her past . As such, her brother’s question flared her interest . Jinwoo continued to stare at the floating letters and asked,.

    .

    “If I have an unread message in a game, how do I open or access it?”.

    .

    “First, you have to open the message box . ”.

    .

    “Open the message box?”.

    .

    ring~.

    .

    The moment he spoke the words “open”, an electronic beep followed the opening of the message box . .

    .

    You have 2 unread messages . .

    Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread).

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).

    .

    Jinwoo felt himself being filled with joy . .

    .

    ‘It worked!’.

    .

    Surprised by the sudden appearance of happiness in his face, Jinah anxiously asked,.

    .

    “What? What game is it? Do you need my help?”.

    .

    Jinwoo firmly shook his head,.

    .

    “No, I want to try it out alone . ”.

    .

    How would his sister react if he told her everything that was happening to him?.

    .

    ‘Don’t want to hear from my own sister that I’m crazy . ’.

    .

    So Jinwoo swallowed the words he wanted to say and bid her goodbye . .

    .

    .

    .

    After confirming that she went down the elevator out of the hospital, Jinwoo returned to his room . .

    .

    ‘Can’t repeat the same mistake . ’.

    .

    click-.

    .

    lock-.

    .

    To avoid any unwanted attention, he locked the doors . Finishing his preparation, Jinwoo sat on the side of his bed and started reading the messages floating before his eyes . .

    .

    Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread).

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).

    .

    The first message seemed familiar to him . .

    .

    ‘Where was it, I’ve definitely heard this one before . ’.

    .

    He started with the first message . .

    .

    ‘Open . ’.

    .

    ring~.

    .

    This System will help with the growth of the “Player” . .

    Non-compliance with this System’s instructions may result in a penalty . .

    Your reward has been received . .

    .

    “Ah…”.

    .

    He remembered now . It was the words he heard before losing consciousness . .

    .

    ‘It said something about a player back then, too…’.

    .

    But just like that time, he had no idea what that meant . .

    .

    System . Growth . Penalty . Reward . .

    .

    It was a parade of unclear meanings . .

    .

    ‘Just what is it helping grow, and what is it rewarding?’.

    .

    He found it difficult to apply these words that he saw in video games before . .

    .

    Ignoring the meaning of the words for now, he went onto the next message . .

    .

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).

    .

    Gulp . .

    .

    Jinwoo swallowed at the suspicious title of the message . His heartbeat sped up . .

    .

    ‘Open . ’.

    .

    ring~.

    .

    Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful.

    Do 100 Push-ups:.

    (Incomplete) (0/100).

    Do 100 Sit-ups:.

    (Incomplete) (0/100). .

    Do 100 Squats:.

    (Incomplete) (0/100).

    Run 10 kilometers:.

    (Incomplete) (0/10).

    *Warning: Failing to complete the Daily Quest will result in a Penalty Quest . .

    . .

    Jinwoo moaned after confirming the message . .

    .

    “Sigh… what is this…”.

    .

    Daily Quest . On top of that, a “preparation to become powerful” . He expected more than just simple exercises with a title like that . At least, it was certain if he completed the exercises in the quest, his body would probably improve a little . Was this the growth and reward the System spoke of?.

    .

    ‘Now that I think about it…’.

    .

    He recalled reading “those with inner problems should listen to their inner voice” in some book before . .

    .

    ‘Guess I’m just hallucinating what my body’s telling me’.

    .

    His urge to become stronger must’ve been so strong that he was now seeing these nonsensical words in the air . More so than how laughable it was, he was disappointed . .

    .

    “If you can just become strong like this, who wouldn’t have done so already…?”.

    .

    He shook his head in disbelief . He felt pathetic in the expectation that he would find all the answers in these messages . .

    .

    ‘Eh, I don’t care . ’.

    .

    Jinwoo went to lie down in the bed . He stared up into the ceiling . .

    .

    “ . ”.

    .

    Although he was not doing anything in particular, time passed by quickly . As he began to feel the weight of silence throughout the hospital, he suddenly sat up . .

    .

    ‘Still…’.

    .

    What if this did bring about change? Half in anticipation, half in suspicion, the thought of ‘should I just give it a try’ occured in his head . .

    .

    ‘Can’t hurt after all . ’.

    .

    What if he just lightly tried out one of the motions?.

    .

    After some thought, he made the decision to give it a try . .

    .

    Lightly stretching after getting off the bed, he attempted do half-hearted push-ups . Instead of getting on the ground, he stood up at and angle and pushed off the bed . .

    .

    “1, 2, 3…”.

    .

    Starting at 1, he rapidly went down the line . .

    .

    “ . 97, 98, 99, 100 . ”.

    .

    Finishing what he started, he reached his 100th “push-up” . Contrary to his expectation, nothing seemed to change . Except for his slightly sore arms . .

    .

    “ . So now what…”.

    .

    He stood up with a smile on his face . .

    .

    Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Read).

    [Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Read).

    .

    The previously “unread” messages had become “read” . The words telling him that he had unread messages had disappeared, but he no longer had any intention to continue entertaining these delusions . He felt he had done enough . .

    .

    Without any regrets, he closed the message window . .

    .

    With a yawn, he returned to his bed . In response to moving after such a long time, he started feeling sleepy . The window outside glowed orange from the sunset . .

    .

    ‘Is it this late already?’.

    .

    The man from the Hunter Surveillance Department explained earlier that his hospital bills would be footed by the Association . With that in mind, Jinwoo was not in a rush to be discharged . .

    .

    ‘Maybe I’ll have the hospital run some tests, make sure I’m completely healthy . ’.

    .

    He thought as he lay in bed . .

    .

    ‘I’m sure the hallucinations should disappear after some time . ’.

    .

    His eyelids slowly closed . Soon, he fell into deep slumber . .

    .

    tick tick tick .

    .

    As he slept, the clock on the opposite wall continued to tick . As time passed, the hands of the clock eventually pointed to 11:59:57 . .

    .

    tick .

    .

    58 . .

    .

    tick .

    .

    59 . .

    .

    tick .

    .

    60 . .

    .

    The clock pointed to 12:00:00 . .

    .

    ring~.

    .

    [You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest . You will be moved to the ‘Penalty Zone’ for a set duration . ].

    .

    .

    .

    SHAKE!~.

    .

    Jinwoo opened his eyes to an intense trembling that shook his entire body . .

    .

    “E-earthquake?!”.

    .

    He shot up and grabbed the bed frame at the foot of the bed . The trembling was so strong that he found it difficult to hold on . .

    .

    SHAKE!~.

    .

    But with each passing second, the tremors became worse . .

    .

    Suddenly,.

    .

    psssh~.

    .

    The bed frame he held onto for his life broke . No, it had disappeared from his hands . His checked his hands, there was no sign of the bed frame . Instead, there was sand on his palms . .

    .

    ‘Sand?’.

    .

    psssssh~.

    .

    Rest of the frames on the bed turned to sand, and the trembling became even stronger . .

    .

    SHAKE!~.

    .

    “Uwaaak!”.

    .

    Unable to hold on, he was eventually thrown off the bed . Jinwoo screamed as he bounced up and down in his room . One by one, all the furniture and items in his room turned into sand . .

    .

    “Uwaaaaaaah!”.

    .

    Crash!.

    .

    Jinwoo suddenly found himself embedded in something . His fingertips felt the softness of sand around him . The earthshake had stopped . .

    .

    spit spit.

    .

    As he spat out the sand that entered his mouth, he raised his head . .

    .

    “ . ?”.

    .

    He found himself in the middle of a vast desert . Patting the sand off his body, he stood up and looked around . In every direction, he saw an endless field of sand, stretching to the horizon . .

    .

    “A desert…?”.

    .

    There was no logical explanation for this . Until moments ago, he was resting on a hospital bed in the middle of Seoul . .

    .

    He grabbed a handful of sand and let it fall . The sand fell in a straight line to the ground . .

    .

    ‘There’s no wind . ’.

    .

    Not just wind, looking up, there was no sun, moon or even stars . .

    .

    An empty sky like black ink spilled across a canvas . .

    .

    Even stranger, despite the lack of a visible light source, he had no trouble seeing his surroundings . .

    .

    “Where am I?”.

    .