When my older brother awakened, I was 16 years old. Not quite so young anymore, in my third year of middle school.

After school, I would immediately return home to spend time there. Once my brother awakened too, now when I came home, instead of family, there was the housekeeper ajumma.

“Bom, you’re back? Have you eaten? Shall I prepare something?”

“No, I’m going to have patbingsu with Ga Young unni.”

“You should eat a proper meal before having bingsu.”

“Ajumma!”

Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted our conversation. Ga Young unni appeared, patting the ajumma’s shoulder.

“I bought some for you too, ajumma. Let’s eat together.”

“Oh, should I?”

The ajumma, seemingly tempted by the refreshing-looking patbingsu, nodded as if unable to resist.

Ga Young unni is the only daughter of the Korean Awakening Association’s chairman, who is an acquaintance of my father. Our family and the chairman’s family have often gathered together since we were young.

Unni was particularly close with my brother, who is the same age. They attended the same school and even had weekend tutoring sessions together.

But all that stopped after my brother awakened.

Still, unni often came over to our house, saying she felt lonely when alone at home. That day was no different from usual.

We ate patbingsu together while watching a movie we had downloaded in advance.

“Ga Young, make sure you go home before it gets too late. And both of you must eat a proper meal, okay?”

As the movie was ending, the ajumma checked the time and stood up.

“Yes, have a safe trip home.”

The ajumma always left precisely at 9 PM. She had weekends off.

In contrast, my father and brother rarely rested at home, even on holidays.

Originally, we used to go on short trips together on weekends, as father insisted on spending time with family. But that promise had long since vanished.

We focused back on the movie for a while, and soon the ending credits were rolling.

“Let’s watch the next one.”

“Don’t you need to go home, unni?”

Unni started the next movie as if this had been her plan all along.

“It’s fine. Tomorrow’s a holiday. I’ll just sleep over.”

“Did you tell your father?”

“I can tell him tomorrow. He probably won’t even notice I didn’t come home.”

Given her father’s high position, he was too busy with work to pay attention to the household.

I used to just accept it, but that day, those words somehow felt lonely. It overlapped with my own situation.

Would our family members not notice now if I left the house late at night?

They might not even know where I sleep or what I eat…

Even though I knew why they were busy, that fact still made me feel dejected.

Ga Young unni must have sensed my dampened mood, as she tilted her head and looked closely at my face.

“I’m fine. It’s nice to be free, you know.”

“I don’t know… It feels so strange for the house to be so quiet…”

Will I end up thinking like that later too? For now, the reality that has befallen our family still feels overwhelming to me.

“You’ll be okay too. I come over all the time, don’t I?”

Come to think of it, unni had been visiting more frequently since my brother awakened. Even though she no longer had group tutoring sessions with my brother at our house.

“Have you been coming over often lately because of me, unni?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s for my own sake. I don’t like being alone either.”

“…”

“When people in similar situations stick together, it’s less lonely. That’s why I like being with you, Bom.”

At that time, opening my heart to Ga Young unni was inevitable. Talking to someone who has experienced the same situation is truly more comforting than clumsy sympathy.

With unni, it was a perfect match.

“I… like being with you too, unni.”

“I’m glad.”

Unni became the only person I could open up to, and I grew to rely on and trust her a lot.

Even if my brother was late for appointments or stood me up, I no longer felt lonely. Because I had unni.

The fact that unni was an ordinary person with no interest in or reason to enter dungeons gave me a deep sense of security.

Then came the day my brother suddenly went missing.

‘I really can’t communicate with dad. I warned him so many times, but it still ended up like this.’

After having an argument with my father, I went to find unni with a face swollen from crying.

“What is this…?”

An unknown energy was surging near unni’s house. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt suffocating, as if an enormous gravity was pressing down.

Unable to approach, I stepped back. The neighborhood residents also seemed to feel the invisible pressure, lingering and whispering among themselves.

“What’s happening here?”

“I heard the Association Chairman’s daughter went berserk. My son is a hunter, and he says this level of magical power must be quite high-ranked.”

Berserk?

Occasionally, when hunters become emotionally agitated, their mana can be released haphazardly. That’s called going berserk.

But unni… had awakened?

Bang!

Just then, a loud explosion came from the direction of unni’s front door. In an instant, the interior was exposed, revealing the situation inside.

“If you don’t send Reconnaissance Team 7, I’ll just die right here!”

Unni was glaring at her father with a terrifying intensity.

“I’ll send them! Daddy was wrong. Please stop. You can find Tae Rim yourself, can’t you?”

At those words, unni’s mana gradually subsided. Then she immediately collapsed.

As it turned out, unni had awakened a year after my brother. She had immediately wanted to help my brother search for our mother, but her father opposed it.

Her father, being the Association Chairman and one of the world’s top production-class hunters, was very wealthy. He didn’t want his daughter to unnecessarily put herself in danger when she didn’t have to, and this crisis occurred because he forcibly tried to stop her.

Unni had to spend some time in the hospital after overexerting her magical power. When I visited her, the first thing she said was that she was sorry.

“It’s okay. You had your reasons too, unni.”

“Unni will find both your mom and your brother. It’s okay now. I’ll bring them all back.”

“Yeah, thank you.”

I was so grateful and thankful. And empty.

It felt like everyone was racing ahead of me while I couldn’t even leave the starting line.

The anxiety that unni might also enter a dungeon and not return was great, but the sense of loss from realizing she wasn’t the same as me after all hit me the hardest.

After that, unni became busy like my brother, and I moved out to live on my own.

Unni contacted me occasionally, but I often deliberately avoided her. My gratitude towards her was overshadowed by my inferiority complex and eventually turned into uncomfortable feelings.

Even though I knew it wasn’t right, I became unable to fully accept her kindness.

* * *

“Why are you here?”

“What about you, unni? Why are you here?”

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yeah… Are you really Ga Young unni?”

“You can’t recognize me even looking at me? Your father has been searching everywhere for you! You left without a word and then nothing! Huh? Why are you inside a dungeon without any fear!”

Ga Young unni slapped my back repeatedly. I had asked because I thought she might be a doppelganger monster or something, but seeing her immediately start smacking me, it seemed she really was Ga Young unni.

“Well, there are circumstances. I was trying to get out too. But…”

“But?”

I’m not sure where to start explaining. The situation was so sudden that my thoughts were all jumbled.

“…Did you awaken by any chance?”

When I hesitated, unni carefully asked.

“Yeah… I was forcibly warped as soon as I awakened.”

I explained the situation roughly as I remembered it. Unni tried to interject a few times but eventually nodded with a serious expression, seemingly deciding it wasn’t entirely unbelievable.

“I see… But what did you awaken as? What rank?”

Usually asking about class or rank is considered rude among hunters, but I felt I could tell unni.

“F rank.”

“And your class?”

“Well…”

But even though I could tell her, I didn’t think she would believe me…

“What is it, tell me. Is it combat-type?”

“No, not that…”

Knowing Ga Young unni’s personality, she would keep pressing if I didn’t say.

“…Campground owner.”

“What?”

“Camping… ground owner.”

She furrowed her brow slightly and then made a triangle shape with her hand. The small tents at Spring Campground were exactly that triangular shape.

“Yes, that. I have my campground in this dungeon. If you go there, you get buffs, and it acts as a shelter, so it’s safe.”

“Shelter…?”

“Yeah. That’s my skill.”

As the explanation continued, the crease between Ga Young unni’s brows deepened. She then grabbed my hands tightly and said seriously.

“Did you hit your head when you fell into the dungeon? Sometimes when the warp spell goes wrong, it can cause mental issues. No, let’s get out first and have you examined. The Center Director is so worried about you.”

“Wait, unni. I can’t leave. I’m stuck in this dungeon until I reach level 10.”

“What are you talking about now?”

“Senior Ga Young. Who is this person?”

As unni was about to drag me away, she hesitated when the man with her looked at me and asked.

“Uh… someone I know.”

The man had white hair and white eyes. Like Hunter Ma Jin Woo, his hair and eye color seemed to have changed due to magical influence.

With a white robe on top of that, he stood out, all white. He looked as if he was standing alone in the middle of a snowy field.

Judging by how he called her senior, he seemed to be a member of the same team as unni, likely Reconnaissance Team 7 led by my father.

“Is she from the Association? I’ve never seen her before.”

Because our family relationships had always been kept secret, unni tried to brush it off, but he kept pressing insistently.

I was hurriedly trying to find another excuse when-

“This person is not from the Association.”

This time, Hunter Chae Dong Hwa spoke up.

“Hunter Moon Ga Young, do you know Yu Bom?”

I was so glad to see him that I hadn’t paid attention to Hunter Chae Dong Hwa. A brief look of confusion flashed across unni’s face before she suddenly snapped.

“What about you, Hunter Chae Dong Hwa? Why are you with our Bom?”

Unni grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her. She had a wary look in her eyes, as if trying to protect me from Hunter Chae Dong Hwa.