Before Joo-Hee's eyes appeared a vast panel, an endless cascade of stat entries, each glowing softly in gold.
There were more than a thousand innate basic stats listed, far more detailed than anything she had seen or even imagined.
"Whoa..." she whispered, brows raised. "To think it could show me all my innate stats..."
She scrolled through line after line, overwhelmed by the sheer number of attributes, many of which she hadn't even realized were measurable and had already been acquired by her.
_________________
Innate Basic Stats (118/1246):
...
➤ Mana Regeneration (61/100)
➤ Magic Control (49/100)
➤ Nature Affinity (51/100)
➤ Focus (40/100)
...
➤ Weapon Mastery (13/100)
➤ Speed (32/100)
➤ Cooking (41/100)
...
➤ Life Essence (26/100)
➤ Tenacity (29/100)
...
_________________
"But there are so many of them… How am I even supposed to choose one from all of this?"
Curious, Joo-Hee scrolled further through the endless wall of glowing panels, her finger pausing briefly at each stat.
Her eyes narrowed as she read them one by one.
"Life essence, tenacity, affinities, resistances... and they're even divided into elements and subtypes???," she muttered, brows raised.
She kept scrolling like an delighted child.
"Masteries, reflex… and wait... Luck?!" Joo-Hee blinked.
_________________
...
➤ Elemental Affinity (41/100)
➤ Luck (39/100)
...
_________________
"It's already at 39???"
"But to think luck is just classified as a basic stat..."
Her brows wrinkled as she stared at the Luck stat, whispering to herself, "Should I just choose this?"
"I mean… how broken would I become if I poured everything into it?"
Joo-Hee's gaze drifted across the green lines flowing endlessly through the white void, her mind weighing every possible choice.
None of them were bad.
Each stat held terrifying potential—but time was not on her side at the moment.
With a sigh, she made the best decision she could and reached out, clicking on the stat as a thought crossed her mind.
'You better be worth it… or I'll die in this creepy forest for not finishing the quest...'
[ You have successfully selected a basic stat. ]
...
"Reporting to the Chairman, we have already deployed Han Ji-Hoon, but…"
Woo Jin-Chul paused, swallowing hard as he handed over the analysis papers regarding the dungeon disappearance.
"…he claims the dungeon has been disconnected from this world."
BANG—!!
The moment the words left Jin-Chul's mouth, the Chairman's eyes widened. He shot up from his chair, both palms slamming against his desk.
"What do you mean disappeared?!" Go Gun-Hee roared. "It hasn't even been raided yet—how could it just vanish from this world?!"
"That is exactly what the space mage reported," Jin-Chul replied stiffly.
"He said it felt as though the entire dungeon was forcibly connected to another location… far beyond Earth."
"Connected…?"
Go Gun-Hee massaged his brow as the telephone on his desk continued to ring nonstop—his personal phone vibrating along with it.
"Yes, sir. According to his explanation, it was linked somewhere else entirely. Unfortunately, beyond that, he couldn't discover anything anymore."
The Chairman could only stare blankly at his surroundings before pondering, 'What has this world become… We can't afford another anomaly, not when the Island Raid is so close.'
"Chairman," Jin-Chul said carefully, "it's already the fourth day. There has been no fluctuation, no spatial disturbance—no sign of the dungeon returning."
"Should I instruct Han Ji-Hoon to withdraw and return to his original mission?"
Go Gun-Hee exhaled slowly. "Yes. Do so. I'm sure little Cha will need him for the upcoming dungeon raid as well."
Jin-Chul nodded and offered a final salute before leaving the office.
Once alone, the Chairman sank back into his chair, letting out a weary sigh.
'I'll wait two more days,' he thought grimly.
'If nothing happens by then… it may be best to officially declare the hunters trapped inside as deceased.'
He paused, memories surfacing—Lee Joo-Hee's earlier remarks about his illness, her bold claim that she could cure him.
Absurd, perhaps… and yet, after witnessing the power of her reawakening, Go Gun-Hee couldn't dismiss her so easily.
If she mastered that strength, she might even stand on equal footing with an S-Ranker despite being an A-Rank.
Turning his chair toward the window, he gazed out over the vast expanse of Seoul.
"For now…" he murmured, "…I should finalize preparations for the Third Jeju Island Raid. We can no longer afford a single mistake."
...
Deep within the purple forest of [Kinobgral].
Bush after bush—two hunters dragged into this world were nearing their limit.
Nearly seven hours had passed since they realized the dungeon they knew was gone.
After exhaustive scouting and desperate attempts to retrace their steps, they were finally forced to accept the truth:
This was no longer the dungeon they had entered.
They ran and ran, yet no matter how far or how deep they ventured into the forest, the boundary was nowhere to be found.
A [Dungeon Boundary] was meant to be the end and limit of a dungeon's domain—an invisible, dome-like enclosure that encapsulated the entire space like a massive glass case.
Though unseen, it could be felt. Any attempt to touch or strike it would cause ripples to spread across its surface, the force rebounding harmlessly back at the attacker.
Yet here… there was nothing.
"Ha… ha…"
A young man in a torn cloak staggered forward, gripping his spear tightly as he panted.
"Jisoo… what do we do now? We've been running nonstop, but the boundary still hasn't shown up."
'Tsk, what should we do now…?'
Park Jisoo clenched her teeth as she glanced at Yoon Ji beside her. The bow in her hands trembled slightly, her breathing uneven.
'The dungeon gate disappeared when we tried to leave… and now even the boundary is gone…'
Finally, she spoke.
"It's not like we have a choice. We can only move forward. Our tank and healer are already dead—we don't have any other option."
Yoon Ji swallowed hard before replying, forcing a weak laugh.
"Hey, and even if we do find the boundary, it's not like a dungeon break will just happen out of nowhere."
That was precisely why they were searching for it despite their exhaustion.
It was common knowledge among hunters: when a [Dungeon Break] occurred, escape was POSSIBLE, even if the gate had vanished or the boss remained alive.
One of the causes of such breaks was the destruction of the [Dungeon Boundary], shattered by monsters from within, allowing them to spill into the connected world.
This grim truth had been learned years ago, during a catastrophic break.
Hunters fighting inside had watched in horror as the invisible wall shattered like glass, leaving their world exposed as monsters poured through.
Trying to lighten the mood, Park Jisoo muttered, "Well, if a break doesn't happen… better prepare yourself to eat goblin flesh~"
She laughed weakly, but the thought unsettled her.
Eating monster meat was unorthodox—disgusting, unstable, and known to cause severe stomach pain.
Still… it was better than starving to death.
"You—!" Yoon Ji shouted. "How can you joke at a time like this?! I don't even have a girlfriend yet! I'm the only guy in my family—I can't die here!"
Park Jisoo scoffed as they pushed through the forest, supplies rattling against their backs.
"That's what you're worried about?! If we get out of here—"
Her eyes suddenly widened.
Without hesitation, she lunged sideways, kicking off the trunk of a nearby tree and flipping backward.
"JI! DOWN!"
She hit the ground and loosed three arrows mid-motion, activating [Snipe].
The arrows whistled through the air, piercing straight through three goblins emerging from the brush.
Shrill screams echoed as the monsters staggered.
She immediately pulled the strings attached to her arrows with all her strength. Her muscles bulged as the goblins were violently flying forward.
Yoon Ji reacted instantly.
Planting his left foot, his body coiled with tension as he swung his spear in a wide arc.
[Crescent Swing]
The blade flashed diagonally, cleaving through all three goblins in a single, fluid motion.
Their bodies fell lifelessly to the forest floor.
Park Jisoo landed lightly on the ground, rolling once before coming to a stop. She let out a deep breath.
"That was close," she said, straightening. "Honestly, you're lucky I'm here. Without me, you'd already be dead."
Yoon Ji crouched beside the goblin corpses, pulling her arrows free.
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Ms. Narcissist."
He handed them back.
Jisoo accepted them with a smug grin, wiping the blood from the arrowheads.
"And where were we… ah, right," she said proudly.
"Like I was saying—if we make it out of here alive, how about this pretty friend of yours lets you take her out on a date~?"
But for some reason, Yoon Ji didn't answer.
Jisoo frowned, a faint tint of red creeping up her cheeks, "Hey. I'm talking to you. Are you even listening?"
Something slipped from her fingers.
Her arrows hit the ground with a soft clatter.
She followed Yoon Ji's gaze.
A chill ran down his spine as he spoke, voice barely above a whisper, "J-Jisoo… are we… looking at the same thing?"
Jisoo swallowed.
"Th-then those goblins…" she murmured, dread creeping into her tone. "They weren't trying to attack us… they were running away…"
From 'that.
A few meters ahead lay a grotesque mountain of corpses—goblins piled atop one another, limbs twisted at impossible angles.
It was only then that the stench finally reached them.
The overwhelming smell of monster blood.
Too much of it.
Both of them stiffened, feet shifting instinctively as their bodies prepared to flee from whatever had created that slaughter.
'Damn it…' Park Jisoo bit her lip, berating herself.
'How did I miss something like this? I'm a ranger, for goodness' sake. If Yoon Ji hadn't noticed first… this could've been our end.'
Without exchanging another word, they locked eyes—and dropped their supply bags without hesitation.
They 'ran' with all their might.
"YOON JI!" Park Jisoo shouted, sweat pouring down her face.
"RUN—RUN FASTER! DON'T CARE ABOUT ME! NO MATTER WHAT, WE'RE BOTH GETTING OUT OF THIS!"
"..."
"And just where do you think you're going?"
The voice echoed from nowhere.