Friday came fast.
The week had passed in silence. No new awakenings. No strange readings. Just the slow, quiet rhythm of school life.
Morning classes. Afternoon lectures. Club announcements. Graduation forms.
Ha Joonwoo sat at his desk like always, back row, by the window. His hair was still short from the cut earlier in the week, his uniform ironed, his eyes calm.
But something in him had changed. Not on the surface—on the inside. His grip was steadier. His mind was sharper. When he looked at the world now, he didn't just see it.
He saw through it.
"Yo, Ha Joonwoo," Daehwan called from across the room, lazily spinning a pencil between his fingers. "You spacing out again?"
Joonwoo didn't answer. He stared out the window, watching a flock of birds scatter across the sky.
Behind him, a few students chuckled.
"He's still doing that quiet loner thing," one girl whispered.
"Just ignore him," another replied. "He'll probably vanish after graduation."
Joonwoo blinked.
[Daily Quest Complete]
[+10 EXP | +2 INT]
Still not enough to level up.
He glanced down at his screen only visible to him. His SP balance had risen. A few more quests and he'd be able to afford an F-rank weapon upgrade.
But gear didn't matter if he couldn't protect anyone.
And that he was beginning to understand was what the System wanted.
Lunch came. Jina had texted him earlier:
I ate all the candy in your drawer 😅 sorry!!!"
He'd smiled at that. She was trying to act normal. Brave. Like nothing had happened.
So he bought extra snacks on the way to school and left them with the front desk. She'd find them when she got home.
One of the teachers noticed. "You've been staying late in the library, Ha Joonwoo. Studying for entrance exams?"
He nodded, even though he wasn't.
The truth was, he wasn't sure if college mattered anymore.
Not in a world where dungeons opened without warning.
Not in a world where a goblin could tear a grown man apart in seconds.
Still… he played the part.
The final period on Friday was Gate Studies—a new subject introduced after the Third Break, when three cities were lost to uncontrolled Gate storms.
The teacher, a former C-rank hunter turned educator, was halfway through a lecture on gate management protocols when it happened.
The lights flickered.
A low hum ran through the air, almost like a heartbeat.
Then
CRACK.
Joonwoo's eyes widened.
Out past the classroom window, just beyond the soccer field, the air shimmered like water.
A portal appeared in the field jagged, swirling with violet-black energy.
It hovered ten meters above the ground, spinning like a vortex. The air around it bent. The ground shook. Students screamed.
Then came the sound.
Screeches.
High-pitched. Wet. Animalistic.
Goblins.
Not dungeon ones wilds. The kind that got out.
The teacher dropped the pointer and bolted for the door.
Students followed.
Chairs scraped. Desks fell. Phones rang. Someone tripped and got stepped on. Daehwan froze, face pale as paper.
Outside, the portal expanded.
Then they dropped.
Goblins.
Dozens of them.
Green-skinned, hunched, eyes glowing red. Some wore bone armor. Others dragged rusty weapons. All of them were fast. Hungry.
And they were heading for the school.
Joonwoo stood up.
He didn't hesitate.
He took three steps to the window, eyes narrowed.
Below, chaos exploded. Students ran across the field. A teacher tried to usher them toward the parking lot. One of the goblins leaped and tore into his back.
Blood sprayed.
Screams followed.
"W-what the hell…" Daehwan whispered.
Another goblin smashed through the east-side fence.
More poured in behind it.
Then joonwoo saw her.
A girl in the lower year. Trapped under the collapsed goalpost, ankle pinned. She screamed as two goblins closed in.
Everyone else was running.
No one noticed her.
No one was coming.
Except him.
He didn't look back.
Didn't say a word.
He just backed up, took two steps forward—and jumped.
The glass shattered around him.
He fell like a bullet, coat flaring behind him, eyes locked on the girl and the goblins.
Midair, the System chimed:
[Active Skill: Dash – Activated]
His body burst forward with a surge of momentum.
In one blink, he slammed into the first goblin, shoulder-first, cracking bone.
He spun and drove his elbow into the second. It screeched and dropped.
He knelt beside the girl.
Her eyes widened. "Y-you're—!"
"Close your eyes."
She did.
He turned toward the field.
More goblins were coming.
And behind them… the portal pulsed again.
Something bigger was
on the way.
He stood slowly, the wind shifting around him.
No one else had moved.
No one else had returned.
Just him.
Because the System had chosen him.
Because he was the only one who could.