Step, step.

As Seo Jun-ho took a step into the blue oval Gate, the world around him changed. Everything—from the sights to even the air around him. 

“So it’s a graveyard.”

He had arrived at another world’s graveyard. Not only the dirt he stood on but also the trees and grass were not of Earth. 

Jun-ho closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths.

“Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…”

The air was unique and heavy, unlike any air he ever breathed on Earth. With every breath, he could feel his cells waking up. That sensation comforted Jun-ho. 

“…I must be going nuts, thinking this kind of place is cozy.”

After looking around his surroundings, Jun-ho said, “Gate info.” That brought up a holographic window, displaying a summary of the Gate. 

⟪Curse of Dawn⟫

Entry Requirements: Level 1 and below

Party Cap: 10 people

Clear Conditions: Survive until sunrise

Difficulty: Average

Hmm. It’s just like I researched, but this isn’t a hard condition at all.

It was a relatively simple condition: to survive until sunrise. Looking up at the sky, the sun was slowly setting. That was possible because time inside and outside of the Gate flowed differently. 

“I got here at the perfect time. I’m glad I did my research.”

Even while he was busy building up his body, Jun-ho did not slack off on researching this Gate. As a result, he found out that the party that entered early in the morning survived the longest. That’s why he purposely arrived at the Gate in the morning. 

“Parties that came in the afternoon probably struggled quite a bit.”

The moment a player clears their first Gate, they become level 2. In contrast, this Gate’s entry requirement was level 1 and below. That meant that everyone who entered this Gate were brand-new novices that had never entered a Gate before.

And if novices had to start fighting as soon as they arrived in a foreign environment…

Their loss was inevitable. They probably didn’t even get to fight at half their normal condition. 

“I wonder how many will appear.”

On the other hand, Jun-ho was perfectly prepared, ready to display more than 100% of his abilities. 

* * *

The sun fell, and complete darkness befell the graveyard. Jun-ho contemplated while staring at the starry sky. 

A ghastly aura.

A blood-chilling aura overflowed the graveyard. It was an aura that the undead normally radiated, and it was something that you could never forget if you ever experience it. 

“I hate this feeling. It feels like it’s sticking to my skin.”

Letting out a sigh, Jun-ho surveyed the graveyard with the help of the moonlight.

The ground bathed in moonlight started shaking. 

Crack, smash!

Dozens of hands started piercing through the dirt. 

“I had my doubts, but it really was zombies.”

Jun-ho unenthusiastically drew his sword. The moment one could easily kill a zombie was right now. 

“No, no. You don’t have to get up. Just stay the fuck dead.”

Stab, stab!

Jun-ho cleanly pierced the heads of the zombies that were crawling out from the ground. Zombies were known for being hard to kill, but even they couldn’t move if their brains were destroyed. 

…I can’t see exactly how many, but there’s quite a few of them.

It was during nighttime when humans lost a lot of visibility. That’s why most players disliked nights inside of Gates. However, no matter where you went, there was always an exception to the rule.

[Night has come. Hunter’s Night (A) has been activated.]

[All stats increase by 10%.]

[All your senses have been enhanced.]

That exception was Seo Jun-ho. A player who could win day or night. It was one of the reasons why he was called the Undefeated Player. 

“Ah. I can finally see properly.”

As part of  his enhanced senses, his vision also improved. The silhouettes that were only barely visible thanks to the moonlight became clear as day. 

“Damn. There’s a lot of ‘em.”

Looking at the dozens of corpses charging at him, Jun-ho smirked.

* * *

In the graveyard blessed by moonlight, an untimely party was ongoing. Except, unlike a normal party, there was neither exciting music nor fireworks. Instead, the sounds of zombie’s heads rolling was the symphony, and the blood spraying everywhere was the fireworks. 

– “Gu-uhhhh.”

– “Uuu-uhhhh.”

Dealing with zombies was not as easy as they made it seem to be in the movies. To start with, they were much faster than your average adult.

These guys don’t even bother defending themselves.

Zombies didn’t care about losing their arms or legs. Because they can’t feel any pain, they could focus all their strength on attacking. They’re the worst kind of monsters for a novice—inexperienced with killing—to face. 

“I feel bad for you guys. I’m a super-novice.”

The zombies’ attacks couldn’t even scrape Jun-ho. Zombies had a simple attack pattern, only knowing how to charge and bite. To Jun-ho, they were nothing more than moving punching bags. 

“This sword from the Association is pretty decent.”

Slash!

The swords that the Association provided to players were of higher quality than he expected. Thanks to that, it didn’t take much force to slice the zombies’ heads. 

Everytime the sword shined in the moonlight, a zombie’s head flew into the sky. 

But there really are a fuckton of them.

He counted at least 40 of them. Even the great Seo Jun-ho wouldn’t be able to avoid a bite if he was surrounded on all sides with no room to swing his sword. 

And if I get bit, it’ll be the end of me.

That’s why he did all he could to never let a zombie get behind him. 

Bang! Bang-bang!

As soon as 3 zombies passed by him, Jun-ho, without even looking at them, pulled the trigger on his monster-grade Glock 17. 

The zombies’ heads popped like water balloons. 

– “Gu-uuuuh.”

I’m glad I’m against zombies.

Starting with Orcs, you had to imbue your bullets with magic in order to pierce their hard skin. However, rotting corpses didn’t require magical bullets. That’s why experienced players weren’t afraid of zombies. Because they didn’t know fear, zombies made the ‘best soldiers,’ but they could never be the ‘best weapon’.

“To be the best weapon, you need to be able to kill any enemy.”

The moment zombies faced an opponent far stronger than them, their value disappeared. 

Like right now.

* * *

“Phew…”

Jun-ho glimpsed at his watch.

Three hours. That’s how long it’s been since the battle started. There were only four zombies remaining. 

“Come at me already. I just wanna go home and shower.”

– “Gu-uhhhhh.”

Did one of them understand him? A zombie with an incredibly stinky breath charged at him. Finding the stench unpleasant, Jun-ho placed the barrel of the gun directly onto his chin. 

“Make sure you brush properly in your next life.”

BANG!

Before even checking if the zombie died, he spun around with his sword. 

Slice!

– “Gu-uhh…”

– “Uh…?”

After cutting off the heads of two zombies in a clean horizontal line, the sword flew out of Jun-ho’s hand. 

Fwoosh! Thump!

The sword pierced through the zombie’s head—right between its brows—and the sword still had so much force left that it flew into a tree behind the zombie. The zombie with a hole in it’s head twitched a few times before flopping dead.

“Finally.”

After retrieving his sword from the tree, he wiped the blood off his weapon while looking around the now quiet graveyard.

If he hadn’t brought the pistol, things would have been quite the hassle. A horde of over 50 zombies continuously crept out of the ground at him. 

“…Hmm.”

Thinking that something was off, he pulled up the status window. The Gate hasn’t even been cleared yet, but he already leveled up twice. 

Coming to an Uncleared Gate was the right decision.

While he was patting himself on the back, he heard a voice from somewhere, “Is… Is someone there?”

The smile waned off Jun-ho’s face immediately. 

A voice?

It was a woman’s voice. A trembling voice, gasping for air, soon to be cut off anytime. And she was speaking Korean of all languages.

“Where are you!?”

“A-A person…? Here! I’m over here! Sob, sob, thank you so much…”

One could hear the strong conviction to survive in her voice. With the last of her breath, she kept notifying Jun-ho of her location.

“Is this where you’re at?”

“Yes, yes… I’m right below…”

A grave at the edge of the graveyard. The voice was coming from underground. 

“Give me a moment.”

Jun-ho started digging up the grave with his bare hands. He uncovered a dark brown coffin made of wood. 

“So you came inside the Gate two days ago with your friends?”

“Yes… We heard that we could make it big if we conquered an Uncleared Gate… Sob, sob.”

“Oh my, that was rash of you guys.”

Clicking his tongue, Jun-ho showed his remorse. 

“I can’t hear you well, so could I ask for you to yell really loudly?”

“Yell… Why?”

“Please just do this for me.”

After hesitating, the lady inside the coffin yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“That should be enough.”

Making a eureka face, he mumbled to himself. 

“So that’s where the head is.”

He quickly drew his pistol and indiscriminately fired in the direction of the voice. 

Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang!

After emptying an entire magazine, Jun-ho drew his sword as ‘something’ that was dripping blood crawled out from the battered coffin. 

– “Gu-ugh…How… did you know…?”

The wretched smelling monster appeared dejected. It couldn’t be helped. While facing hundreds of players for the last 7 years, not once did they discover its identity. 

Jun-ho pointed the tip of his sword at the head of the monster that was screaming in pain. 

“I don’t trust others easily, especially inside a Gate.”

Phugh!

The sword easily pierced the monster’s head like a knife through butter. Staring at the limp corpse, Jun-ho chortled. 

“There’s no way there’d be a survivor inside a Gate.”

As long as even a single player was alive, a closed Gate never opened up. Even if they were novices, the players that succumbed to this monster probably knew that as well. 

However, there was a stark difference between simply knowing something and always keeping it in mind.

After wiping out the zombie horde, Jun-ho knew something was off.

Fifty zombies is definitely a big threat, but it’s not something 10 players wouldn’t be able to handle.

However, the Gate hadn’t been cleared for a whopping 7 years. That was what put Jun-ho on alert.

It all adds up with the existence of the Tricker.

Trickers are much stronger than zombies, and they can even absorb the memories of the creatures they ate. The reason he was able to speak such fluent Korean is because of all the Korean players he devoured. 

“Pretty cunning for a monster. You even hid yourself inside a coffin to hide your stench.”

Unfortunately for the Tricker, he died without being able to put up any resistance because he was hiding in the coffin. 

Ding. A System message popped up.

[All hostile monsters have been killed.]

[You have achieved the clear conditions in a roundabout fashion.]

[You have successfully cleared ⟪Curse of Dawn⟫.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All your stats have increased by 2.]

[You have regained 4 Magic stats.]

The EXP gained from an Uncleared Gate was massive. On top of that, he also regained some of his lost stats. 

So I regain my lost stats every 5 levels? That’s not a lot but…

At least it was something. Jun-ho was satisfied that he got back some of the magic that he needed more than anything else, but it was clearly not enough for him. His eyes twinkled, wanting something more. 

“This isn’t all of it, right? That’d be pretty lackluster for an Uncleared Gate.”

With flawless timing, additional messages popped up as soon as he said that.