Awakening the System

A/N: My bad guys, I kinda fell of the planet Earth there for a moment, but I should be back now, I'm still not too certain. But we'll see how it goes.

For those who care to read this author's note, the main reasoning for me disappearing was because I had the slight feeling I would drop this story if I were to continue writing (that's because the first three chapters of the Solo Leveling Arc are trash and I plan to rewrite them eventually). I even tried to write the SAO Arc instead, but that didn't go well either. And if you're wondering why, I want you to go to the SAO fandom and look at the amount of information that you can find, it's frickin crazy.

Anyway, I got over the hurdle of not writing, so I'll be progressing the Solo Leveling movement as planned and once I get a situation on what I'm actually doing, Ima go back an rewrite those first three chapters. Goo~

P.S: Because I plan to rewrite the first three chapters, that's why there isn't a picture of Sung Jinwoo, Sung Jinah, and other seemingly important characters.

P.P.S: The MC started the world as 17 simply just so that Jinah could be added to the harem. There is literally no other reason for me doing that. ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ 👍

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In a trice, my eyes snap open, I spring upwards in the bed, and my hands shooting to my abdomen where I had been cleaved in half by the Architect. The fear that I had perhaps been wrong about my previous guess continued to run through my mind, since I could have lost it all had I actually died in there.

My own ramblings were cut out by the bursts of breath that came from a bed near mine. Looking over, I see Sung Jinwoo clutching his chest, heaving breaths, and sweating bullets, the aftereffects of almost dying. It then suddenly occurred to me that we were in a hospital.

As Sung Jinwoo began to look around the room, his eyes connected with mine and tears began to swell in his eyes, but before we could share stories with one another, I see Jinwoo give a confused glance to our room door.

"Are you both finally awake now?"

Turning my head, I see a handsome young man with slick orange hair, having only a single strand poking out and black eyes. His clothing is most fashionably a black tux.

""Who are you?"" Both Jinwoo and I ask at the same time.

"I'm sorry if I surprised you."

Handing the two of us business cards, it reads that he's Woo Jinchul, someone apart of the Korean Hunter Guild's Inspectors.

"Why do the Inspectors want to see us…"

Taking the stool that lay directly next to the head of my hospital bed, Woo Jinchul begins to explain the situation, emphasizing the fact that we had been asleep for three days. Plus, among those who had escaped (or rather the two that Jinwoo and I cared about), both were looking at retiring, either because of the loss of a limb, or the trauma that the dungeon had imposed on them.

"When the Inspectors and The White Tiger Guild reached the scene, they were all gone. In that room were only the two of you. One lying on the altar, the other lying not very far from it. No statues or anything the others described were found. Normally, we would think that the whole thing was a sham, but the survivors' testimonies all matched one another… and there was a plethora of the body parts of the deceased. So, the one reasonable conclusion that we've come to, is that the one or both of you have received the "Double Awakening"."

Normally, a hunter's stats were set when they receive the "awakening" or power. However, some Hunters get awakened again after the first time. There have been cases of C-Ranks plowing directly to an A-Rank, or a B-Rank shooting straight to S-Rank.

Presenting a beautifully ornate magic power detector to the one who lay closer to him (which just so happened to be Jinwoo), Mr. Woo began to measure Jinwoo's power, but a look of disappointment came over Mr. Woo's assistant when he stared at the number. Switching the device over to me without paying Jinwoo anymore heed, they measured my power, but the look of extra disappointment was eminent on the assistant's face.

"It looks like we suspected you for no reason."

Within literal seconds, the device was packed up, and they left the room. During the entire process of them testing us, a screen had shown up in front of me, and based on their actions, it was clear that they couldn't see it. It had striking similarities to the blue box I always saw when I transported worlds, but it instead read

⸢MESSAGE – You have unread mail⸥

Looking over to Jinwoo, I see him leaning forward to go and touch something, but he finally remembers that we're in the same room as one another.

"Can you see this?"

Pointing to the open air in front of him, I shake my head, but in turn, I ask the same question. Seeing him shake his head, Jinwoo starts to scratch his head. He then turns towards me and probably goes to ask about the incident, but our room door opens again. Glancing to see who it was, we see Jinah standing there, unmoving.

Before I can even speak, Jinah rushes from the door and buries herself in my embrace. Peering up at me, I see that tears threaten to come out of her eyes.

"You… … stup… … worri… … othe…"

All of Jinah's speech came out as incomprehensible garbage since she was speaking into my abdomen, but the anger was still there.

Stroking her head, Jinah settles back down, and I give her a caring smile, "Sorry… this is the first and last time that this'll happen. I'd rather not leave you behind after all."

I feel Jinah snort but besides that, she remains silent.

"Hey Jinah…"

Shooting a glare at Jinwoo, she grumbles, "What?"

"When there's an unread mail in a game, how would you read it?"

"You hurt your head our something?" Jinah sneers, giving Jinwoo a 'are you stupid' look. "But if you wanted to open it, you'd have to open the mailbox first."

"Open the mailbox?" Upon uttering those words, Jinwoo's complexion changed to that of surprise.

Finding that he was no longer bothering her, she once again got comfortable in my embrace. Nearly ten minutes after just sitting there while I was giving Jinwoo a strange look as he waved his hands around in the open air, Jinah reluctantly left, clearly still having to go to school.

Now that both Jinwoo and I were alone again, I whipped my head towards him, and he whipped his head towards me, and we both began to share our sides of what had occurred in that Second Dungeon. Though, it wasn't of much use, as my story barely went past his own. And besides stating the fact that I'd been bisected, I left the Architect out of the conversation. Even if it wouldn't affect anything, it served as a latent, dangerous surprise.

Finding that he was still tired even after having rested for three days, Jinwoo covered himself and went to sleep.

I on the other hand, thought, 'Open Mailbox'. The box now read

⸢MESSAGE – Welcome, [Player] (unread) [Daily Quest: Becoming stronger than a King] has arrived (unread)⸥

⸢ALERT – The System will help the 'Player's growth. If he fails to over the system's orders, there may be a penalty. Your rewards have arrived⸥

Checking all of them, the daily quest was the basic 100 push-ups, 200 curl-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run. Alongside such, it also came with a timer at the bottom and a statement of punishment if I chose to not complete this basic task.

Unlike Jinwoo who decided to sleep this worry away, I immediately got to it, while also wondering as to why the goal for such was so low. But the black band on my wrist informed me of it all. Though, looking closer at the band, I could see that there were micro cracks in it. In conclusion, if the band ever 'shattered', then I would have my original Demon Slayer strength back.

Even with a miniscule, insignificant piece of my power back, the daily quest made it feel like I was dying on the inside. Knowing the limits of my body, instead of choosing the much-appreciated Reward #1: Status Recovery and gambler's dream Reward #3: Random Box, I chose Reward #2, which was +3 stat points. And instead of using said points, I stored them.

Resting my body once said quest was complete, I lazily open my eyes when I hear Jinwoo stumbling through the room, having experienced the atrocity that is the Punishment.

After that, once Jinwoo was refreshed, we shared what it is that we saw. And other than the fact that we couldn't see the others' system, they were blindingly similar, even inducing the same rewards. Once Jinwoo learned that he begged for the two of us to do the quest together.

His reasoning was, "If I'm going to look crazy, I want you to look crazy with me too."

And now, four days have passed, and along with that, came more understanding of the system in front of our eyes. The system lets us get stronger by increasing our character stats and of course, increasing levels would do the same. Besides that, there's also a status, skills, items, inventory, and item storage tab. In other words, it's like a game.

After having finished our quest for the seventh day, both Jinwoo and I decided to use our reward to get Reward #3: Random Box. In a surprisingly similar fashion, a key suddenly appeared in our hands along with an item box description.

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[Item: Dungeon Key]

{Item Class: E}

{Type: Key}

{A Key that allows you to create an instant dungeon. You may fuse this in the third entrance of the Hapjung Station.}

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Unlike Jinwoo's green key, mine was yellow in color. Talking about the key's that we received, we found out that the Instant Dungeon was created at the same place. So, I wanted to see what would happen if we exchanged keys. But the moment that my hand met Jinwoo's key, a system alert came up.

⸢ALERT – You are strictly forbidden from exchanging items with other 'Players'. If you continue to try and take his items, a penalty will be applied⸥

Jinwoo must have received the same message as his hand recoiled away from my key.

"Guess our problems are our own…" Saying that, Jinwoo and I wait a day before asking the front desk for a leave.

Standing like delinquents in front of the Hapjung Station, Jinwoo grips his key tightly.

"It's time to figure out what this does. Compared to what I've already gotten from the random box, this one seems different. A key that can open instant dungeons… quests, the status window, rewards… could it be that all of this… is because of the double awakening?"

Thinking the question was directed at me, I answer, "You can think of it like that, or you can think of it as a procedure towards a double awakening. After all, we're still the weakest hunters in existence."

With a fire in his eyes, Jinwoo proclaims, "If that's the case, it's worth trying out! The world's weakest duo receiving a double awakening, huh… other people would laugh if they heard."

"I'm laughing."

"But I'm confident in my ability to run, so if it becomes too dangerous like last time, I'll run away no matter what."

Stepping in front of me, Jinwoo stabs his key into the air in front of him and twists. I wait to see if something would happen but become absolutely befuddled when Jinwoo walks forward and then disappears, leaving no trace of his former self behind.

Looking around to see if anyone had seen what I'd seen, I take out my own key and plunge it into the same open space that Jinwoo had. Instead of seeing nothing happen, the key glows a bright yellow before a slightly opaque spiraling and energy releasing dungeon opens. Walking through the dungeon door, the system alarm goes off.

⸢ALERT – You have entered the instant dungeon⸥

The sunlight behind me disappears after I read the message. Turning around, I find that the entrance got blocked and besides that, people were freely passing through.

"So, compared to the normal dungeon, this dungeon is still completely connected to this world. However, it's some sort of other dimension. How intriguing.".

⸢ALERT –You cannot leave the dungeon. Either kill the BOSS or use the Return Crystal⸥

"I'm still weak, so solo clearing a dungeon might be a bit much. Then again… I should be able to use one breathing technique without my lungs feeling like they're collapsing in on themselves. Mabey I can… maybe I can't… all it takes is for me to try."

A wind of killing intent brushes past me and I look down the station stairs.

"Welp, let's get to it."

As I start to descend into the dungeon, I ask myself, "Why do I hear "Rats, we're rats, we're the rats."?"