The monster approaches the helpless men with its giant war ax, preparing to inflict the finishing blow.

"..."

Like that, life flashes by the man's eyes as he reminiscences the time he spends with his family, all the fun things they've done, and the happy memories they've shared. The man slowly smiles, with his last wordsーーー

"Hah, guess this is the end...I think I won't be making it out alive, sorry everyone."

The man silently closes his eyes and waits for the inevitable death to come at him.

"ARAAAAAGH!"

The monster swings its ax towards him. As he thought for a second that his head would be rolling in the middle of the ground, something happened, or rather, something 『intervened』.

"Huh?"

The man slowly re-opens his eyes to a confusing sight, the monster stopped, and the ax it wields is so close in colliding with his neck.

"What?"

He slowly moved away from the creature's weapon while closely and cautiously observing it. For a moment, he thought this might be some aftermath a person would experience after death and that he's currently a floating spirit that is about to head to the afterlife in any moment...but he was wrong. Truth is, the monster is currently『frozed』in its position.

The more he looks at the monster, the more he notices something strange about it.

Something about the creature is becoming more visible in his eyes.

"What is that?"

He thought for a second. Is his head playing tricks on him? Or is the monster being surrounded by some thick layer of aura covering the surface of its entire bodyーーーwait, no, that's not an aura, it looks like one, but not actually one.

If the man recalls correctly, he had seen these types of  "auras" somewhere before. It is something really similar toーーー

"Ah!"

Realization hits hard like a rock. The man's eyes widened in shock upon finding out the so-called "monster" was actuallyーーー

"A hologram capable of harming people?!"

Indeed, what the man is seeing isn't some kind of illusion. It's a hologram that manifests within the dungeon, yet it can harm and take out the entire squad as if it's a real monster.

"Hah!? Hey! Is this some kind of joke?! Am I being kidnap by some shady organization for unethical and psychological experiments?!"

The dungeon he and his squad entered suddenly turned bright yellow before slowly dissolving into thin air, leaving nothing behind other than him, his team, and their broken equipment within a vast white space of no end.

He was frustrated after getting no answers before he could even use any of his ＜＜skills＞＞ or ＜＜divine artifacts＞＞ to destroy this damned void and get the hell out of this place to find whoever was in charge of this, the screen appeared right before him, with a message that he has never once received in his entire career.

「The dungeon has been sabotaged.」

≪Proceeding emergency ejection…≫

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≪Emergency ejection successful...≫

≪Commencing ejection...≫

"Huh?! Hey! Wait-"

The dungeon transported him and his squad back to the real world when he could even say another word.

 

A young man is shown to be observing the Dungeon Walkers through the screen, witnessing how the Dungeon Walker and his men got ejected out of the dungeon after it was『intervened』, or rather,『sabotage』by him.

"Geez, at least be thankful that you survive."

The young man was thankful that he made it in time, otherwise, the other person on-screen would have turned into a mangled corpse.

He rolled the chair over in the opposite direction as he looked outside the windows towards the vast, beautiful, neon-like cityscape. The skies outside are filled with stars and colorful nebulas from afar. There also seems to be the presence of multiple humanoid creatures flying throughout the city and talking to one another, dressing up in clothes as humans do.

For a moment of silence, the young man who sat there and watched the scenery sighed.

"Ah, like always, this world is beautiful. I wish my world would be the same as well."

Aside from the young man is the body of a creature, lying unconscious on the floor after its head took a fatal blow from a sneak attack that the young man brought upon him with his weapon, though it's still alive.

The mysterious young man stood up as he left the office while revealing himself holding what appeared to be a frying pan.

---

The Foreigner - Part 1

In the year 20XX.

Numerous of unexplainable events began to occur worldwide, leaving a huge impact that not even the government or the military could deal with.

People called it the 『Ｇｒａｎｄ　Ａｐｏｃａｌｙｐｓｅ』.

It's very own existence dwarfs humanity to the brink of extinction.

With『Towers』that pierce the skies, swarm out numbers of『Monsters』that are immune to military weapons and destroy armies with a single strike. With the existence of strange『Phenomenons』that twisted the law of space and time, altering the universal order in the process, many supernatural disasters were born, and things that once never existed on Earth began to exist.

It was humanity's darkest time yet, no one was safe, there were no safe havens, and the government was torn apart that day. We weren't prepared for said disasters, so many deaths, so many destructions, nearly everyone was helpless, hope is lostーーー

ーーーAnd so, that's what we thought, until a day when a miracle happens.

"Let's do it!"

The man charges forward at one of those monsters and destroys its head with his own fist, along with him is another group of armed men who are equipped with weapons on their hands.

We call them the『Dungeon Walkers』, humanity's last line of defense, with their special skills, abnormal growth, and enchanted weapons, they manage to suppress the influence, and destruction of the『Ｇｒａｎｄ　Ａｐｏｃａｌｙｐｓｅ』, being able to rekindle the lost flame of hope.

Fast forwarding to 30 years later.

Their own achievements and deeds from the past couldn't be forgotten by humanity.

They were legends, myths, and heroes in the eyes of everyone when desperation calls.

Thus, with power now in the grasp of humanity, they remake the world into something more. The old order was torn down on that day, and a new world was born from the ashes.

I, Kim Lee-Park, am an aspiring Dungeon Walker, and I...what the hell am I even saying? Of course, I'm far from being a Dungeon Walker, you idiot, all because of your rotten luck.

I was born in a family of powerful hunters as the eldest son and also the weakest of them all. I didn't awaken any abilities or growth nor obtain any powerful weapons and blessings at all.

I was viewed in school as a shame in the eyes of my family, every people thinks that because I live in a family full of powerful Dungeon Walkers means their the type of rich households that live by the brand of do not disappoint us, or make the family proud or else, while in fact, that is not true, my family genuinely cared about me.

But that doesn't matter! Why the hell should I be an aspiring Dungeon Walker?!

All my life was already assigned by fate to pursue different things unrelated to Dungeon Walker topics. Thus, I decided to rethink my decision and pursue another dream, being a comic artist.

I'm not jealous!

"Hey guys, look at these items I've collected as a reward from an S-Class dungeon,"

Forget it. I'm truly jealous.

The family is currently conversing about their jobs in different guilds. While their at it, I spaced out and stared at my plate, thinking of what storyline should I written for my story in the future.

"So, brother, how was your day?"

Ah.

"Oh...it's-it's nothing, same as usual, my drawing skills improved lately,"

"I see, good luck in pursuing your dreams then!"

"Yeah, thanks."

I'm kind of an introvert, I don't talk much, and I get annoyed in long conversations about topics I'm uninterested at.

After dinner with my family, I was the first to leave the house back to my apartment. On my way back home, I glanced over to see advertisements of top-rank Dungeon Walkers, guilds recruiting members, and even people offering discounts for items they are selling at the mall. All I could do is stare at it without doing anything.

"Man, Dungeon Walkers really have gone viral."

There was not a single day where I got to see some other popular news other than the topics discussing Dungeon Walker this and Dungeon Walker that. It's getting frustrated lately, even when I admit I envy the life they live.

As I approached my apartment and got out my keys, I noticed something was left in front of the apartment's door. Out of curiosity, I picked up and inspected it.

"A mail? No, it's an envelope."

I opened it and pulled out the paper to read its content. I wonder, is this some kind of advertisement? Or is it an invitation to someplace?

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"Wah?"

As I expected something special inside of this mysterious envelope, what I found was only a blank sheet of white paper.

"Fucking pranksters. And here I thought it was something special."

I got inside my apartment and kept mumbling aggressively before shutting the door.

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「Congratulations, you are officially a citizen of『The Land Above All』」

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≪Creating ID...≫

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≪ID successfully created...≫

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≪Registering citizenship...≫

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≪Citizenship created...≫

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≪Proceeding transportation…≫

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≪Transportation successful...≫

≪Commencing transportation...≫

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≪Transportation complete...≫

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「Incoming message from ≪The ???≫」

【Message added into your inventory.】

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