Chapter Text
It has been ten years since the dungeons first appeared on Earth.
Gigi Murin was barely eight years old when it happened, and yet she remembers those early days very clearly.
She lived alone with her father, Gonathan. They struggled, but they were happy.
When the dungeon system first appeared before humanity, her father was one of the chosen ones to awaken, one of the ones to become what would later be called a “player.”
But his unique skill and class were not of a fighter, He was a crafter.
At first, this was a blessing, during the first few weeks, as dungeon resources flooded into the world for the first time, crafters like him thrived. Demand was overwhelming. Everyone wanted anything they could get their hands on to tackle this new world.
It was a gold rush, and he was selling shovels.
While fulfilling countless commissions a day, her father worked on a passion project, a set of gauntlets, crafted with magical components from the dungeons.
They were nearly finished, but then came that fateful day.
Two weeks after the first dungeons appeared, a B-rank dungeon was left alone.
No one wanted to clear it.
Its monsters didn’t drop good loot. There were too many of them, and the fight wasn’t worth the effort.
Word spread.
A useless dungeon. A waste of time. A chore.
So no one touched it, and one week later, it was unleashed into the world.
No one had known what would happen if a dungeon was left unchecked. Not until that day.
The monsters inside poured into the city, tearing through the streets, attacking civilians, tearing buildings to the ground.
Gigi and her father lived near the epicenter.
As soon as he realized what was happening, Gonathan rushed to his daughter, gripping her shoulders.
“Go to the basement,” he told her. “Lock the door.”
She obeyed.
And he left.
Even if he wasn’t a fighter, he was a player. He had equipment. He could help.
So he ran through the streets, arming every player he could find, handing out weapons, armor—anything to push back the horde.
The battle lasted two hours.
Progress was slow. Most high-level players spent their time inside dungeons in these times, leaving only those unlucky enough to be in the area to fight back.
Then, the boss emerged. A towering skeleton, draped in black, stepped onto the battlefield. Its empty sockets burned with violet light. It raised its staff. And in that instant, the tide turned.
Players fell one by one, bodies impaled on jagged spikes of bone. The streets ran red. Gonathan was exhausted. His stock was gone, his hands stained with the remains of monsters he had fought himself. But as the boss loomed over the battlefield, something in him broke. He had nothing left to give. And so, he ran.
His mind screamed at him to keep going, but his body had only one destination, home.
He barely made it to the basement hatch before his legs gave out. He reached for the door. Opened it. Locked eyes with Gigi. A moment of relief flashed across his face. Then the world came crashing down.
A shockwave tore through the streets. The building shuddered. Stone, wood, steel, all of it collapsed in an instant, swallowing him whole.
Gigi’s breath caught in her throat. One second, she had been staring into her father’s eyes. The next, he was gone. She didn’t think. She didn’t hesitate, throwing herself at the rubble, clawing at the debris with bare hands. Her fingers bled, but she did not care.
She kept going. Digging. Tearing. Until… she saw light.
She forced her way through, pulling herself free of the wreckage. And then, she saw him. Gonathan lay buried beneath the remains of their home, his lower half pinned under a collapsed wall. His face was pale, his chest barely rising.
“Dad-...Dad, please!” Her voice cracked as she grabbed his face, shaking him. No response.
Then, a shadow loomed over her.
Slowly, she turned. And there it was. A massive skeleton, standing amidst a sea of corpses, its twisted staff still dripping with blood. Dozens of bodies hung impaled on giant bone spikes. The monster barely seemed to notice her. It simply flicked its wrist, and the spikes ripped themselves free, hovering in the air, poised to strike again.
Gigi couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. She should have run, but she didn’t. Instead, she threw herself over her father, arms outstretched, shielding him with her own body.
The skeleton’s violet gaze locked onto her. The air grew thick. A deep, unnatural voice rumbled from its skull. The spikes launched forward.
It was then she saw a blur out of the corner of her eye. A gust of wind.
The skeleton froze. No burst of energy, no explosions, just a single, clean strike. It had cut through the creature like paper. For a moment, the violet glow in its sockets flickered. Then, its body simply fell apart. Bones split effortlessly, crumbling into dust.
Gigi’s knees buckled. Her vision blurred, and it was then she saw her for the first time.
A woman, standing over the fallen boss. Her long pink hair flowing in the wind. In her hands, a massive scythe, still humming with power. Her gaze swept the battlefield, cold and yet frustrated, before her eyes settled on Gigi, and her expression softened.
Gigi’s lips parted. “Help…” The word barely escaped before her body gave out. The last thing she would see that day was the pink-haired woman rushing toward her.
Fifteen players lost their lives in the breakout.
Her father survived, miraculously, but his lower half was left permanently paralyzed.
This event would come to be known as The First Incident, the day humanity learned a hard and unforgiving truth: every dungeon that appears must be cleared. No exceptions.
Since that day, dungeon breaks have been rare, and within EN City, extra precautions have been taken to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.
Gigi grew up by her father’s side.
The government paid compensation to victims, enough to last them a few years. Combined with the money Gonathan had earned in those first few golden weeks, it was enough for them to get by. But survival was not the same as living.
He tried to return to his craft, but his body had become fragile. His strength had left him. Most days, he could do little more than rest in bed.
Still, Gigi wanted to learn. She had no magic, no skills like her father, but that didn’t matter. She asked him to teach her everything he knew.
And so, he did.
She never attended high school. Instead, she took on part-time jobs wherever she could, anything to keep their household afloat.
She was smart, incredibly so, even without formal schooling, she continued her education on her own, studying late into the night, pushing herself to learn.
And through all those years, one goal burned in her heart.
She would finish her father’s gauntlets.
She would become a player.
Not for fame. Not for power. But to save people, just as she had once been saved.
After the initial wave of awakenings, something became clear.
When a person reaches eighteen, they have a chance, just a chance, to awaken. To gain the abilities of a player.
Most teenagers dream of awakening.
For Gigi, it was never a dream.
It was a certainty.
She had to awaken.
And if she didn’t?
Then the gauntlets would be enough.
She would fight anyway.
That was her resolve.
And nothing would shake it.
Her day had come. Today was her 18th birthday. At any moment, it could happen.
And her gauntlets, they were finished.
“Gigi” her father's voice called to her, as she was about to leave.
“Yes Dad?”
“No matter what happens today… please just take it easy” there was a part of Gonathan that wished for his daughter not to awaken, for her to remain a normal human instead of throwing herself into the dangers of dungeons.
But at the same time, he actually believed that when she spoke of doing it without awakening…
It was not a bluff.
“Don’t worry dad, I won’t do anything too reckless… today at least”
Gigi tried to sound assuring and serious, but the grin on her face could not be contained.
She was simply too overjoyed, her whole life had been building up to this moment.
“I'm serious, the dungeons won’t disappear next week, you can take it slow”
Gonathan knew she was serious, however he was not sure whether her confidence had any substance to back it up.
She had certainly prepared herself until now, enrolling in many martial arts classes, and quick player preparation courses for all types of combat, after all, who knows what type of skill she would awaken to.
Gonathan knew she was as prepared as a girl her age could be, still, dungeoning is a dangerous and unpredictable job, where overconfidence is known to be a silent killer.
“It will be fine, today I'm only registering at best anyway, we can have this whole talk tomorrow”
The man let out a deep sigh at the idea of what tomorrow’s sermon would have to be, and then he let her go with a simple “Good luck out there then”
“Thanks!” Gigi let out a big smile- “I’ll be back for dinner!”
She rushed out of the house. Gigi had already resigned from her part-time yesterday, there was only one place for her today, the registration center, where she would wait for her awakening, and register as soon as possible.