-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: System Administrator
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was a day like any other.
When news broke that a blue gate had appeared in a park, Yoon Seora was dispatched along with Jeong Taeseok from her team.
It was a simple mission: measure the rank of the dungeon beyond the gate and request a raid from one of the guilds cooperating with the Association.
“Is she still not done with the measurements? If you’re a useless F-rank, at least be quick on your feet. See, this is why F-ranks are no good.”
If only it weren’t for that incessant chirping from behind her.
Seora sighed inwardly at the drivel coming from Park Jinyong, the leader of the raid team assigned to this dungeon.
F-ranks, the lowest of all the Awakened, were treated like this wherever they went, often called scrap-heaps for how weak they were.
Association employees were usually spared the worst of it, but this guy, who had been judged an A-rank the moment he Awakened and joined one of the nation’s top five guilds, seemed to consider civil servants nothing more than doormats to clean up their messes.
Getting angry over every little thing would only tire her out, so Seora chose to ignore him.
But it seemed he had no intention of stopping there.
“The Association is ridiculous, anyway. If they’re hiring civil servants who have to deal with guilds all the time, they should pick someone decent. Why are they using trash like that?”
*Wow.* It was as if his tongue had a motor; the way he was running his mouth, this clearly wasn’t the first time.
*Did an F-rank scam him out of money or something? Most of us just keep our heads down and try to get by. Why is he always looking for a fight?*
Dumbfounded, Seora scoffed and shot him a glance.
So what if he was an A-rank hunter from the Cheongrang Guild? *You, you bastard. You’re the one with a scrap-heap personality.*
“What? You got a problem? That’s some look you’re giving me.”
*Did he expect her to be in a good mood after listening to his barking nonsense?*
“Did I say something wrong? Huh? It might be different for others, but you’re just a scrap-heap civil servant wasting tax money. I regret paying my taxes.”
*Wasting tax money, my ass! If I really did nothing, I wouldn’t feel so wronged!*
Seora lamented the fact that she worked overtime almost every day and couldn’t even remember the last time she’d left work on time.
A cushy civil servant job with guaranteed security? That was a thing of the past. There was no such thing for an Association employee. Every one of them put their lives on the line.
Biting her lip, Seora glanced at the shimmering blue gate.
Still, she couldn’t voice her complaints here. If she messed up and ruined the raid, it wouldn’t end with just one or two people getting hurt.
*Right, I’ll be the better, more rational person and just endure it.*
“Our Association simply strives to ensure the safety of our citizens. Rank is irrelevant to that commitment.”
*You, a fool who judges people only by their rank, would never understand, but we carry a rather important mission.*
Though she was mocking him inwardly, Seora smiled sweetly on the outside. As expected, the man didn’t grasp her underlying meaning and just snorted.
“Give me a break. Hey, how long has it been since the world turned upside down, and you’re still spouting that nonsense? Huh? In this world, rank is everything. But I guess someone who’s never even properly raided a dungeon wouldn’t know that.”
Park Jinyong’s thick fingers tapped Seora’s head. A surge of displeasure washed over her, and her expression hardened.
She was willing to tolerate his dismissiveness, but… this was going too far. Was being an F-rank such a crime? In the end, anyone could die if they were unlucky, regardless of rank. They were all in the same boat.
“I don’t understand why you’re picking a fight with me. Ah, are you perhaps nervous before the raid? Well, if that’s the case, I suppose I should be understanding.”
Seora looked Park Jinyong straight in the eye and smiled coolly.
The face of the man who had been mocking her stiffened.
“What?”
“Even for an A-rank, it’s natural to be afraid of a raid. If you find it difficult to tell your guild, shall I pass on the message for you? I have to work hard if I don’t want to be a civil servant who just wastes tax money.”
At Seora’s taunt, Park Jinyong’s unsightly jowls quivered. It was almost funny. Compared to what he’d said, her words were mild, yet he was this furious.
*Beep. Beep.*
Just then, the dungeon mana meter she was holding beeped, signaling that the measurement was complete. Park Jinyong’s gaze reflexively shot toward it.
*Ah, finally, this guy will leave.*
Seora called out to Jeong Taeseok, who was on the phone requesting that the area around the park be cordoned off.
“Gyejangnim, the measurement is complete. It’s a normal dungeon, and the rank is…”
She was about to announce the rank displayed on the mana meter as Jeong Taeseok approached, having ended his call.
“Perfect timing.”
A voice laced with menace fell over Seora. Her mouth snapped shut, and her eyes widened as she looked up.
“I guess I’ll have to show this tax-wasting F-rank, who always stays out of dungeon raids, just how dangerous they are.”
The first thing she saw was a thick hand swinging at her.
Suddenly, everything slowed down.
Park Jinyong’s hand reaching for her, her own body being grabbed by the collar and shaken, her vision tumbling into a chaotic mess, and her body being thrown somewhere.
Everything moved in slow motion. Like a clock with a broken spring.
Jeong Taeseok’s horrified face was reflected in Seora’s wide eyes.
“Yoon Seora!”
But it was only for a moment.
*Crash!* As her entire body was violently thrown to the ground, Seora’s mind snapped back to reality.
Her surroundings, her vision… everything had changed.
“…What is this.”
This wasn’t the park where the gate had opened. She was now trapped in a cave that seemed to be made of dry earth.
Ah, the moment she realized it, her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
*No. It can’t be. No matter how crazy that bastard is, he wouldn’t do something like that.*
*No matter how angry he was, he wouldn’t have thrown me into a dungeon!*
【Awakened ‘Yoon Seora’ has entered the 3rd-grade dungeon ‘Werewolf’s Habitat.’】
But the moment the system message appeared before her eyes, Seora couldn’t help but curse.
“That crazy bastard!”
A 3rd-grade dungeon! How could he—how could he throw someone into a high-level dungeon like this? He must have seen the mana meter, so he would have known the rank!
*No. Stay calm! I can get out right now!*
The gate doesn’t close until the dungeon boss is defeated. So she should be able to get out without any problem. Once she was out, she would make sure that bastard who did this to her would never get away with it.
Seora frantically reached her hand toward the gate.
But her hand couldn’t pass through to the outside.
“Why…?”
The gate… was closed.
“Why on earth!”
The gate closed even though the boss monster hadn’t been killed!
*Grrrrr.* At that moment, a chilling, bestial sound came from behind her, and Seora whipped her head around.
“Ah…”
Dozens of wolf-like monsters were drooling as they stared at her.
“…Help me.”
Her plea for salvation echoed pathetically through the cave.
But the only response was the pack of wolves charging toward their prey.
* * *
“Hah, haah…!”
After running for her life, Seora squeezed herself into a corner of the cave. As she was about to peek outside, her eyes fell on her bloody feet, her shoes gone.
“When did they come off?”
She hastily tore a strip from her jacket and wrapped it around her foot like a bandage, but blood had already dotted the area. She had to get out of here before the monsters caught the scent of blood and tracked her down…
“My mana is already gone.”
Was that all?
“No reinforcements are coming, either.”
The fact that so much time had passed without any news meant the gate still hadn’t opened.
*I haven’t even seen the boss monster, so why did it close?*
And why did that trash bastard Park Jinyong have to throw me into a place like this!
“It was just a few words. Were a few insignificant words enough to make you that angry?”
She shouldn’t make a sound, but what did it matter now? Her mana was gone anyway. It was all over.
“Was it so wrong for me to say something? You can treat me like trash, but I can’t even get a little upset? Why do I have to suffer like this!”
A voice mixed with desperation, anger, and a will to live—but also the agony of being unable to escape on her own—lashed out violently in the wolf’s den.
It was in that moment.
【System responds to Awakened ‘Yoon Seora’s’ voice.】
【System is forcibly activated.】
Yoon Seora’s eyes widened at the system message window that appeared before her.
“Normally, you can’t use anything but your inventory inside a dungeon…”
She couldn’t understand what it meant by responding to her voice, nor what forced activation was.
Stunned, Seora tried manipulating the system on a whim.
“Ah…!”
The community site operated by the system actually appeared before her eyes.
Seora’s face lit up.
The Association monitors this community 24/7 to gather information on gate formations. If she used this, she could contact the outside world!
“The Siljangnim, if I can just reach the Siljangnim…”
The head of her management department and the second-in-command of the Association.
As the face of her gruff but caring boss came to mind, a sliver of hope bloomed in Seora’s trampled heart.
*Grrrrrrr.* But that flower was crushed under the claws of a beast that appeared as if it had been waiting.
The wolves, having caught the scent of blood, had approached without her noticing.
“…Of all the times.”
Seora’s hands fell limply to her sides.
*Ah, System, System. If you were going to respond, couldn’t you have done it a little sooner? Dying after giving up is less miserable than dying after your hope has been shattered.*
“System, you son of a bitch!”
That was why.
As dozens of wolves lunged at her, Seora found herself cursing not Park Jinyong, but the system.
Ah. But what on earth was happening now?
As if in response to her curse, system messages began to pop up one after another.
【The System Administrator is intervening in the dungeon. Activating protective shield.】
【The Administrator’s protective shield has been temporarily generated in the 3rd-grade dungeon ‘Werewolf’s Habitat’!】
…Excuse me? Wait, what did you say?
The System Administrator is making an appearance here…?
*…For real?*
