Chapter 1

"Do you really like ants that much?"

The art museum at Hankuk University.

Im Dogyun, a teaching assistant in the painting department, looked exasperated as he examined Suho's artwork.

Ant pictures covered an entire section of the exhibition hall wall. There were oil paintings, watercolors, and all manner of sketches. The media were varied, and the ants themselves looked vastly different from one another.

Im attached the label he had brought beneath them.

[Hankuk University Painting Department Student Assignment Exhibition]

[Third Year: Sung Suho]

"All the ants you've drawn since freshman year would fill a truck. Why didn't you major in entomology instead of fine arts?"

"I thought about it, but they didn't have a separate department for ants."

"So it's just ants you like, not insects in general?"

"Yes. For some reason, I've liked ants ever since I was little. Whenever I found a line of them, I'd watch my step so I wouldn't tread on any, even by accident..."

"Since you were little? Your tastes certainly haven't changed."

Im chuckled and continued looking over Suho's pictures. Then he stopped short.

"This ant looks a little different."

The picture before him depicted a humanoid ant wreathed in blazing black energy.

"Hmm. Nice, dynamic movement. Is this supposed to be a magic beast?"

"A magic beast? No. It's just an ant I dreamed about when I was younger."

"Ha! You're really something. How much do you have to like ants to dream about them? How young are we talking?"

"Before the Cataclysm."

The Cataclysm.

That was what people called the apocalyptic crisis that had suddenly struck Earth two years earlier. Mysterious Gates had appeared all over the world, and horrific magic beasts had poured out of them to invade Earth.

Fortunately, a tiny fraction of humanity had awakened supernatural powers just in time, allowing humankind to narrowly survive the crisis.

That had been only two years ago. Suho had just turned twenty and was a freshman at the time.

But his recurring "ant dreams" dated back much further, to middle and high school.

"Anyway, you really are an oddball."

Im gave a disbelieving chuckle and studied Suho's picture again.

"But this really is well drawn. It looks like it could jump right out and bite me. Oh, was that going a bit too far? I guess that's how lifelike your work is."

Suho laughed inwardly at that.

'Of course it is.'

That was no mere figure of speech. The ant in the picture was his nightmare made flesh—a monster that had constantly appeared in his dreams during adolescence and lunged at him, intent on killing him.

'... Looking back, those dreams really were brutal.'

Suho recalled them.

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

In those dreams, Suho had been forced to fight monsters for his life without knowing why. Armored knights and armies of ants had blocked his path endlessly, followed eventually by enormous dragons.

Killing the monsters made him level up, just like in a game. But if he died, everything reset. He had to return to the beginning and start all over at level one.

The only way to escape the dream was to fight tooth and nail to survive and reach the final boss's room. After fighting and fighting without respite, he would finally reach the final boss, only to find, absurdly, that its face...

'Looked like my father's.'

Suho let out a wry chuckle. Just the sort of nonsense you dreamed up during puberty, he thought.

But at some point, those dreams had stopped entirely.

'That was probably... around then, wasn't it?'

Yes. The summer of his first year of high school, to be exact. After his parents went missing.

... Suho's peaceful everyday life had fallen apart.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a corner of the art museum building, ominous signs were appearing.

"They put them here?"

"Yes. The teaching assistant said he'd gathered them all in here."

CREEEAK.

The painting students opened the storage room door to collect the exhibits. Their eyes widened when they discovered what was inside.

"Huh?"

CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

A pitch-black hole hovered against the wall.

"Aah! It's a Gate!"

"Hurry, report it!"

The students recoiled in horror. They pulled out their phones with trembling hands to report it immediately, but a fourth-year student hurriedly stopped them.

"Calm down! It's obviously still closed!"

"Oh, you're right. There's no blue mist coming out yet."

"Exactly. It'll be a while before a dungeon break happens."

"Ha... That scared the hell out of me."

Finally grasping the situation, the students sighed in relief.

A dungeon break was the phenomenon in which magic beasts poured out of a Gate. But a Gate's formation did not immediately trigger one. First, "blue mist" had to seep out and contaminate the surrounding area. Only then would the Gate open, allowing the beasts to emerge.

"Which means we're safe for now. Heh heh."

"Wh-why are you laughing like that? You're making me nervous. It's still dangerous, so shouldn't we report it right away?"

"You idiots. Haven't you heard the rumor? They say breathing in the blue mist can turn you into an awakened person."

"Oh!"

The younger students perked up at his words.

The exact nature of the blue mist had yet to be established. But at some point, a rumor had begun quietly circulating online like an urban legend: the mist was actually vaporized mana, and inhaling it could instantly awaken mana even in an ordinary person.

"Isn't that just a baseless rumor?"

"Nobody's proved it's false, either."

"Hmm."

"Heh heh. So let's find out for ourselves. Who knows? One of us might turn out to be an S-rank hunter."

"...!"

At their senior's conspiratorial tone, the looks in the younger students' eyes changed completely. They were thinking of the astronomical sums S-rank hunters earned.

As magic beast carcasses and dungeon ores gained attention as new materials, hunters—who could rake in all those resources—had become symbols of wealth and glory.

But only two years had passed since the Cataclysm. No one had yet clearly established how to awaken mana.

"Besides, you all know Im's an E-rank awakened person, right?"

"We've heard. He's always grumbling that he can't make much as an E-rank hunter. That's why he works as a teaching assistant during the semester, too."

"Tsk, tsk. You don't know a thing. He's just playing poor, man. Do you have any idea how much he makes just going into dungeons with a mining team, not even a raid party?"

"How much does he make?"

The senior lowered his voice to a whisper as though revealing some tremendous secret. A moment later, the younger students' eyes went wide.

"What? He makes that much?"

"Even at E-rank?"

"Yeah, man. Even if you're only lucky enough to become the lowest-ranked hunter, you can make that much. Are you really going to throw away an opportunity this good? Huh?"

"Wow. Being a hunter really is the best. But if he makes that much, why's he still hanging around school?"

"He makes his money in dungeons, then splashes it around on his art. Working in the department office gives him plenty of exhibition opportunities, too."

"That's incredible."

An E-rank hunter's income was a far more convincing lure than an S-rank awakening, which was said to be much rarer than winning the lottery. Under their senior's continued persuasion, the younger students finally lowered the hands holding their phones.

"Well, ahem. They do say it's safe for a while even after the blue mist starts coming out..."

"Th-then shall we wait a little? Just a minute?"

"Now you're talking. You only need one big break in life. We'll take just one breath as soon as the mist comes out, then report it. There won't be any danger."

A little while later, deep-blue mist finally began creeping out of the Gate.

* * *

THUD!

The building suddenly shook.

'Huh?'

Suho looked up in the exhibition hall.

'What was that? An earthquake?'

Something was wrong. It felt as if space itself were rippling.

But Suho was the only one who sensed anything unusual. No one else in the exhibition hall had noticed.

Then it happened.

THUMP.

"Uuugh."

A student staggered into the exhibition hall. Im, who happened to be near the entrance, approached him.

"Youngchul, I only sent you to the storage room. What took you so—"

"I, I tried, to stop himmm."

"... Youngchul?"

"H-he kept, insistiiing."

"Park Youngchul?"

"The smoooke."

A chill ran through Im.

'Something's wrong.'

His expression hardened as he examined Youngchul up close.

His eyes trembled, unable to focus. His mouth kept mumbling incomprehensible words.

"Park Youngchul? What's that coming out of your mouth?"

Only at Im's question did Youngchul realize what was happening to him.

HISSSSS.

Blue smoke had begun seeping from his mouth and nose.

"Uh, th-this, shouldn't, happen. Grrk."

Panicking, Youngchul clamped his hands over his mouth. But that only made more smoke leak out between his fingers.

Then—

WHOOOSH!

With a blast of scorching heat, blue smoke engulfed Youngchul's body.

"Im!"

Suho rushed up from behind just in time and yanked him back.

"Gaaagh! H-hot...!"

"...!"

Im stared wide-eyed from where he had been pulled back. Wreathed in blue smoke, Youngchul's body had begun to burn.

"Aaaaaah!"

"Wh-what is that?!"

Nearby students screamed in horror at the dreadful sight.

Just then—

WAAAAAAAIL!

A chilling siren blared through the campus speakers.

[This is an emergency!]

The sudden noise set the students murmuring.

[A Gate has appeared on campus!]

"...?!"

"A G-Gate?"

[The Gate's confirmed location is the art museum building...!]

"Fuck! That's here!"

"Aaaagh!"

"Aaaaaah!"

The chaos intensified. Pale with terror, the students began scrambling to escape. Having just watched someone burn to a blackened corpse before their eyes, they were frightened beyond words.

But there was one problem with getting out. Youngchul's burning corpse lay right in the middle of the exhibition hall entrance. They had no choice but to pass it to escape.

WHOOOSH!

One student at the head of the rush faltered at the scorching heat.

'Is there another way out...?'

The student frantically looked around, but there was none to find. There was only one exit.

As the terrified students milled about in confusion...

["Grrrrr..."]

Something unbelievable happened.

"Huh?"

"Th-that guy...?"

Youngchul's charred corpse was rising to its feet, consumed by blue smoke.

"W-wait. Is that...?"

Im's eyes widened at the sight.

"It's a magic beast! Get away from it, now!"

Im shouted urgently.

["Kraaaah!"]

But it was already too late. Using Youngchul's corpse as a wick, the magic beast of blue smoke lashed its arm like a whip.

CRASH!

"Aaaagh!"

Students tumbled across the floor, coughing up blood. As blue smoke clung to their clothes, their bodies began burning fiercely as well.

"Aaaagh! Fire! Fire!"

"Aaaaaah!"

The students scattered in blind panic. Agonized screams filled the hall.

"My God. It really was a Mist Burn..."

Im hurriedly pulled out his phone. A Mist Burn was not something he could handle alone as an E-rank hunter.

As Im sent out a request for backup, Suho urgently asked him a question.

"A Mist Burn? What kind of magic beast is it?"

"If it gets us..."

Im bit his lip.

"We'll turn into the same thing."

["Graaaar!"]

Just then, the corpses of the students attacked by the Mist Burn began rising again, blazing with blue smoke.