Serious Reflection

Jinwoo woke up the next day to a flurry of questions from both the Surveillance team and doctors.

Thankfully, the healer hunters had managed to get to Jinwoo in time, allowing for a full recovery from all of his injuries, although it was apparently a close call. In the end, it seems like the investigation team put the injuries down to a delayed effect caused in the dungeon. While there was no former cases for this, it was the only explanation as the CCTV did not show Jinwoo leaving the room at all.

"All of that hassle... At least I am alive though..."

Despite it being a bright and sunny morning, Jinwoo was already exhausted and ready for bed.

Unfortunately, such luxuries were no longer allowed.

"I better get started on the daily quest stuff, I don't think my heart could take that sort of punishment again..."

With those words, Sung Jinwoo climbed out of bed as he opened the quest screen. Once more, it had the daily quest showing.

Shaking off the cold sweat, Sung Jinwoo begun to exercise in the way his quest dictated. As he expected, with every squat he did, the squat counter increased, as was the same for everything else.

After about an hour, he had completed every exercise except the run. His body felt heavy, while he was more athletic than your average person, Sung Jinwoos lifestyle was less active outside of the dungeons themselves.

"I was seriously quite unfit now that I think about it..."

As a hunter, your strength is often static, meaning that no matter how much you train your body, it will not increase your hunter skills. However, that does not apply to survival skills.

From his most recent experiences, whether it be the centipede or the God statue, Jinwoo was certain that his lack of fitness held himself and those around him back.

"I suppose that's what separates a generic hunter with those at the peak of the industry"

Grabbing his towel and a water bottle, Jinwoo took himself out of the hospital room and into the courtyard.

Along the way, a few nurses who were familiar with him, had strongly urged him to return to bed, but he was insistent.

To outsiders, he looked like a determined young man, eager to go back and fight, however, in reality, Jinwoo had no desire to wrestle with overgrown bugs again so soon, thus he knew he had to train.

'From what I can tell, this system is designed to make the player stronger'

With that though, Sung Jinwoo sat down on the nearest bench, having completed his run.

He noticed an alert informing him of his quest completion.

'ALERT'

'DAILY QUEST COMPLETED'

'AVAILABLE REWARDS'

'1. FULL RECOVERY

2. 3 STATUS POINTS

3. RANDOMIZED BOX'

As he sat down, he brought up a panel which he had found when playing around with the system in his hospital room.

'STATUS'

'NAME: SUNG JINWOO'

'LEVEL: 1'

'JOB: NONE'

'HP: 100'

'MP: 10'

'STRENGTH: 10'

'AGILITY: 10'

'VITALITY: 10'

'PERCEPTION: 10'

'INTELLIGENCE: 10'

'REMAINING POINTS: 3'

Jinwoo pondered over his options. If his guess was correct, distributing these points would affect his actual bodies abilities. So far, the system had been able to mess even with space and time, altering his bodies growth is nothing compared to paradoxical laws.

'For now, I will invest into strength and agility. My perception for death is sadly already quite high from spending my life on the verge of keeling over...'

He continued on with his thoughts.

'As for Vitality, it will be handy for later but my fighting style is more leaning towards a glass cannon. As for intelligence, I dont seem to have any magic yet so that can wait, maybe it might be worth improving it to see if I learn any spells from it'

His hopes of being a magic wielding dagger user were lit.

'STATUS'

'NAME: SUNG JINWOO'

'LEVEL: 1'

'JOB: NONE'

'HP: 100'

'MP: 10'

'STRENGTH: 12'

'AGILITY: 11'

'VITALITY: 10'

'PERCEPTION: 10'

'INTELLIGENCE: 10'

'REMAINING POINTS: 0'

Finishing up with his stat distribution, Sung Jinwoo selected one of his other rewards. The random box.

Jinwoo had his suspicions considering its name, however what it could truly unbox was still a mystery.

A small box appeared in his outstretched palm, its weight was no more than a small notepad. 

Without delay, he imagined the box opening, causing it to shine brightly in his palm. Despite the bright shine, he noticed that no-one around him reacted despite the random flashbang on the park bench.

'Perhaps people can't see the particles of the system? I should ask Jinah if she can see any items I get from the system'

The shining lasted no more than a few seconds before his boon was revealed. A key, an old style key.

"A key?"

Focusing on the key caused a panel to appear next to it.

'ITEM: DUNGEON KEY'

'A KEY USED TO ACCESS AN INSTANCE DUNGEON AT THE 3RD ENTRANCE OF HAPJONG STATION'

His mind raced after reading the information. It left Jinwoo with so many questions, questions he could only answer after trying out the key.

Nevertheless, Sung Jinwoo, despite his reckless diving into dungeons, knew full well that diving in straight away was as good as throwing his life away.

"5 days, I will give myself 5 days before heading back into the dungeon, that will give me some time to buy a new weapon"

Jinwoo grimaced slightly at the thought of having to spend on another weapon, a poor quality one no less.

He had been stuck in the hospital for 3 days since receiving the key now. Originally, he should have been discharged by now as all of the tests showed he was perfectly fine. Unfortunately, the injuries he received from the Giant Centipede had caused the doctors to be wary of further delayed effects. Therefore, Sung Jinwoo was sternly told that he would not be allowed to discharge himself no earlier than a week.

A wry smile sat on his face as he sat on the edge of the bed, just having come back from his daily quest.

'In a way, it's not too bad being here right now, I am able to focus on my daily quest immediately from when I wake up, plus I don't have to be too wary about the eyes around me'

As he downed his water bottle, a knocking was heard from his door. The door opened almost immediately after.

Jinah walked through the door with a smile on her face.

"Morning! How are you feeling?"

Jinwoo smiled at the expected visitor.

"Good morning Jinah, there's nothing to do around here"

Jinah smiled wryly at him.

"The doctors still won't let you discharge yourself?"

His sister questioned as she looked at her brother. From as far as she could see, he seemed perfectly fine, ready to head home. Then again, as someone who was aiming for the medical field, she knew that unknown conditions were much more dangerous to gamble on.

Sung Jinwoo shook his head before asking for Jinahs daily life updates.

Due to his constant injuries, Sung Jinwoo was never home enough to keep fully in know about her day to day life. Of course he was only a phone call away, but this type of catch up was rare for them. 

Alongside updating her brother with her daily life gossip, she made sure to make Jinwoo promise to attend her next Parent - Teacher meeting.

"Hey Jinah, depending on the Parent - Teacher meeting results, I may take you out somewhere nice"

As soon as she heard that, Jinah leant forward in excitement, a wide smile upon her lips.

"That's a promise right?"

"Of course"

Happiness swelled in his chest as he saw the happiness of his little sister.

'I need to get stronger... Stronger so that she will never be sad again'

An unbreakable resolve grew within him while he thought of Jinahs happiness.

Five days passed by in the blink of an eye, five whole days spent preparing for the dungeon and what may be waiting within.

Completing his final exercise before his trip to the dungeon, Jinwoo sat on the familiar park bench as he stared at his status screen.

'I must admit, I will miss this bench'

Such useless thoughts floated in his mind as he stared at the panel in front of him

'I wonder if these stats will be good enough...'