1. That fateful day (1)

"L.. ive.. p-please, live.. Jin-soo ya..."

I opened my eyes and squinted at the sunlight coming through the curtain gaps. The white ceiling came to view as I remembered the contents of my dream.

That dream again.. I saw it too many times to the point of gotten used to it.

A small yawn escaped out of my mouth as I slowly sit up.

What time is it?

I blinked sleepily while turning my head to the side. My eyes lit up as I spotted my phone on top of the bedstand.

Turning on the device, I looked at the screen.

'7:49 AM.'

Still a bit too early, but I guess it's alright. I put down my phone back to it's place.

I stretched my body a little and took a quick warm shower.

Even though it's already Spring and the sun is up, it's still too cold for me to take cold shower in the morning.

Once I'm done, I wrapped the towel around my waist and dries my hair with the hairdryer. I stared at the naturally black strands swayed around by the bathroom mirror's reflection.

Just as I finished drying my hair, my stomach suddenly rumbles, begging for food.

Should I make a quick breakfast before going out?

Without thinking too hard, I walked out of the bathroom and went to kitchen. I opened the fridge, but what meet my eyes were just a few milk cartons.

'..yeah, this is the reason why I planned to go grocery shopping today.'

I laughed bitterly. It doesn't matter, guess today's breakfast will be outside as well.

I opened my wardrobe, and a beige colored hoodie is the first thing I see. For the bottoms, I decided to be simple with my usual to-go dark blue jeans.

I would think thoroughly what to wear if it's for an important day, but today it is not.

As I stand still in front of the full body mirror to look at my own reflection from top to toe, I smiled in satisfaction. My outfit looks good, despite my low effort.

And more importantly, my face completed the looks. As usual.

Feeling content, I hummed lightly as I make way to put on my shoes, and then exited my small apartment room. Before I completely close the door, the realization came.

I hurriedly went inside again and grabbed the things on top of the nearest drawer.

"Almost forgot these."

My wallet and apartment keys. It would be a disaster if I didn't bring them.

A low sigh slipped out of my lips as I also put on a black mask and a black baseball cap. It may be fine not to wear it, but it's safer this way.

After all, it's better to be safe than sorry.

The important belongings seemed to be secured, now I can finally go outside.

I locked the apartment door and walked leisurely. My first stop is the nearest convenience store.

'The weather is great today.' I walked leisurely while pulling down my cap a little more to cover my eyes.

There are tenants having a morning walk with their dogs, some having an early jog.

I politely nodded my head at the apartment's gardener that literally greeted every passerby of the apartment complex.

Just a few minutes walk and I arrived. The automatic door made a ding-dong sound as I went inside the moment it opened wide.

I went straight to the onigiri counter to take two packs of tuna flavor, and grab a bottle of canned caramel macchiato flavored coffee from the cold drinks section, then went straight to the cashier.

Luckily, it's still morning so I went straight to pay without queue.

Beep Beep Beep

"That will be 2800 won, sir."

I opened my wallet and gave 3000 won to the cashier man.

As he asked me if I wanted a grocery bag, I quietly shook my head in refusal since I'm going to eat all of it here.

After paying at the cashier, I microwaved my onigiri packs and sit at the furthest seat provided in the store.

This is my favorite spot since it's the only corner not exposed by the see-through window.

As I put down my mask, I opened one of the onigiri packs and chewed quietly.

The tuna flavor today is good as always. Light savory flavor bursts inside my mouth as I take mouth-filling bites.

While savoring my breakfast, my eyes trailed around the store.

It's still morning, so the store isn't crowded. Only a few people with working suits came and look around, seems like searching for breakfast as well.

There are even girls in high school uniforms chatting and eating ramyeon together few seats away from mine.

Aren't you suppossed to be in school during this hour?

I'm trying to remember whether this convenience store is close to any school, but it doesn't seem like it.. anyway, it doesn't matter to me.

I focused back on eating while listening to the random songs played on the store. It's a nice and quiet breakfast I thought to myself.

Unfortunately, that peace didn't last long.

"Hey hey, that guy looks hot.."

"What? Where?"

"That one sitting alone, with the black cap!"

"Oh damn, you're right! Look at that long legs!! But.. where have I seen that face before.."

"Ah, you noticed it too? His face really does looks familiar, doesn't it."

"Yeah, with that face and body, he could easily pass idol auditions for his looks. Kinda reminded me of.. who was it again? Moon Jin-soo?"

"Right, right! Do you think maybe we could, I don't know, ask his number or something?"

Not good.

I hurriedly eat the last bite of my onigiri and drank the rest of my coffee, then put on my mask again.

I passed by the two high school girls who just talked while stealing glances at me. My ears perked up at the exasperated sighs that seemed to sound regretful as I exited the store without stopping.

'..it's good that my hearing is much better than of a normal person.' I thought to myself as I pull the baseball cap lower to cover my eyes a little bit more.

With slightly heavy steps, I went to the grocery store and take my time to buy my daily necessities.

Since I live alone and need to save up as much as I could, I didn't buy much. The two white plastic bags doesn't feel heavy at all.

When I walked out of the grocery store wondering what time is it already, it was then when I realized I forgot to bring my phone with me.

'Even though it's the first thing I grabbed the moment I woke up..' it's annoying, but it's not really a big problem.

In the end, I went inside the store again to ask what time is it, then thanked the store clerk for answering politely.

Walking towards my apartment area, I glanced at the clear blue sky.

The sun is shining brightly but it doesn't feel too hot with a moderate temperature. The wind breeze felt refreshing to the skin, and it ruffled my neat hair under the cap.

Walking with a pretty good mood, I thought to myself as I glanced at the two grocery bags on each of my hands.

"It's almost lunch time.. what should I make for lunch?"

As I contemplated what menu for today's lunch, the sight of an old rundown building came to view. Although it's abandoned, I could see a crowd of people gathering near its entrance.

Passing by just like others, my tracks stopped in the middle as I heard a person talking.

"Oh, Esper Park Hyun-suk ssi! It's reassuring to have you participating in today's dungeon. We'll be in your care!"

"I'm here to do my duties, after all. I'll be in your care as well."

The cheerful loud sound of a man in his mid 40s along with series of laughs.

'Esper, and.. dungeon.'

Their existences are abnormalities that came so suddenly.

It's been two years since the first dungeon break incident, the historical day where everything changed in an instant.

That nightmarish day.

I clenched my fists as a bitter memory forcing its way to surface. The plastic grocery bags on each of my hands swayed slightly.

That's right.

This world I lived in.. is far from normal.

It's not normal.

Not at all.

My eyes glanced towards the group of people currently gathering around a person.

Just by the looks of it, the tall man at the center of the crowd with semi-formal suits looks like the said Esper.

Judging by how favored he seems, it looks like he's a high ranked Esper.

The world has been adapting to the sudden appearances of dungeons and talented people since that historical day.

Numerous people who had awakened their superpowers and magical abilities no normal human could imagined, they are called Espers.

Each awakened Espers have different abilities.

For example, magical abilities that contain nature elements like fire or water, amazing martial arts, or even something like becoming a prodigy in a specific weapon like guns or swords.

In some cases, there are people who awakened Esper powers with the ability to transform their bodies into other living beings as well. For example, animal shapeshifters.

Not only their abilities differs, but also ranks. The higher an Esper's rank is, the more powerful he is. The rank itself is scaled from C-rank as the lowest Esper's grade, and SS-rank as the highest.

Only by a test from the official government could one check their ranks.

As of the present, the largest population of Espers combined in Korea were made up of B to A-rank.

S-rank themselves are already rare and considered as 'national heroes', while SS-ranks are made up of only 0.01% of the entire population on earth, earning them the rights to be called 'international heroes' that can easily travel abroad to help other countries in case of emergencies.

This is why, Espers are special.

However, great power comes with a great price.

While Espers themselves are powerful, they are no different than a breathing timebomb. Those powers are a blessing, yet at the same time, a curse.

The more power they used, their minds would not be able to handle the exhaustion and would eventually went rampage.

That is when the existences of Guides come in as an important key factor.

Guides, although physically no different from normal people, they hold the magical energy to calm Espers through a process called 'guiding'. And through guiding, they are able to suppress the Espers' urge to rampage.

Like Espers, they also differ in ranks, and the higher his rank is the better quality the guiding.

I looked around the crowd and spotted a woman clinging to the tall Esper with a polite smile literally plastered on his handsome face, 'That must be his designated Guide.'

A baseless assumption, but that's how it is.

Espers need Guides to live, and Guides need Espers to clear dungeons and kill monsters to be able to live peacefully.

Now, people normally think an Esper and a Guide would be something like a fated pair.

Since the ratio of Espers and Guides combined compared to normal citizens would be 1:1000, that's why the ones who are eligible to be an Esper or a Guide are considered precious.

'Although, that is not always the case.'

It's the same concept as the entertainment world.

The higher your position is, the more respect and special treatment you would get.

However, if you're just debuted, or like a group that haven't got much achievements for a long time, people would still respect you, but treat you the same way as other idols. This is a common case for most A-ranked and below.

That's why, the term 'special' is most probably only valid for S to SS-ranked Espers and Guides.

Being an Esper or a Guide, the rewards provided by the government is definitely good, but the rewards for completing the dungeons and killing the monsters are even better.

The higher the dungeon rank is, the greater the rewards.

The dungeon rank is determined by the advanced technologies managed by the dungeon researchers.

It's ranked from low-level, to mid, high, and finally national-level as the most dangerous and needed attention as soon as possible.

Fortunately, national-leveled dungeon is a very rare occurance, and until this day, it only occured twice.

The elite Espers and Guides managed to complete the second national-level dungeon, however..

The first national-level dungeon was a disaster.

Due to being late in completing it, an anomality called 'dungeon break' occurred. And thus, that day is specifically commemorated as the 'first dungeon break' tragedy.

Monsters were flooding out everywhere through the portal, the damages were massive, and many people died that day. Including..

I shook my head as my mind trailed off for too long. Whatever it is, I have no intention to step inside the dangerous world of Espers and Guides, and rather choose to live quietly.

'Let's just walk away.'

However, before I was able to take another step, chilling goosebumps crept down my spine.

"Everybody, standby!"

Instinctively, I whipped my head towards the group of talented people in front of the entrance of the abandoned building.

To be exact, my sights squinted at the dark black-blue colored swirl that's named as a dungeon's portal.

"What the hell– why so sudden?!"

Just like me, the group of people also noticed the ominous feeling and stayed on alert. The Espers quickly ordered the Guides to stand far away as bright red sparks erupted from the portal.

This occurence..

I gulped, there's no way that even I wouldn't recognize this.

The exact same feeling as that day.. shit. My luck is not suppossed to be this rock bottom.

A dungeon break is happening. Right now.

So much for a quiet, peaceful life.