Chapter 1.2

The weak beam illuminated nothing but a bumpy path.

“I don’t see anything over there. How about your side?”

“It’s clear over here too, Unnie. You can speak comfortably.”^[1]

“It’s okay. Uh, um…”

It felt weird to call her ‘student’, but I didn’t know her name, so I had no way to address her.

“You can speak casually.”

I hesitated and mumbled vaguely.

“Okay, Unnie. I’ll speak casually then!”

There wasn’t even time to be impressed by the high school student’s sociability, casually dropping honorifics moments after we met.

I had to keep scanning the dungeon to find an exit or a Safe Zone.

There was probably a path ahead if we kept going where the flashlight pointed.

I gave the student a small hand gesture to follow.

Without a word, she understood and trailed right behind me.

The faint vibrating noise and rough terrain were enough to wear someone out quickly.

Fortunately, we soon found a Safe Zone.

The space inside the wall glowed with a bluish light, nearly white, brighter than anywhere else, yet the light didn’t leak outside the path.

“This is a Safe Zone.”

“Ah! Is this that dungeon?! The one that the attention‑seeking streamer streamed from?”

“That’s right. Don’t go inside though. In case a monster shows up, we’ll need somewhere to hide, so let’s just rest here at the entrance.”

“Okay.”

Feeling safe now, the high school student relaxed and handed me a small jelly pouch drink.^[2]

“Sugar boost.”

“Thanks.”

I quietly took it and pushed other thoughts aside. It was hard to tell whether this was a dungeon or a field trip.

It was strange how no monsters had shown up yet. It made me wonder if someone else had already entered before us.

“…Are you okay?”

In the still silence, I offered a weak attempt at comfort that the student might not have expected.

Even if she hadn’t seen a monster yet, just falling into a place this narrow and weird could easily be terrifying.

Honestly, if I hadn’t seen the system window the moment I entered the dungeon, I probably would’ve been scared, wandering around crying.

Compared to that, the student looked fine on the outside, but inside she could be a total mess.

In times like this, shouldn’t I, who is supposedly an adult, step up?

That was the virtue I’d been taught.

“Hmm?”

…She’s enjoying that jelly drink an awful lot.

Well, at least she looks okay for now. That’s a relief.

“Unnie, are you used to this kind of situation?”

“No, it’s my first dungeon, but… something surprising happened…”

“Ah! Like winning the lottery or something??”

“No, a window popped up saying I’d Awakened.”

“Whoa, amazing! That’s even better than winning the lottery. I heard it’s super hard to Awaken without some kind of divine intervention like in those web novels! They say you absolutely have to get swept up in a dungeon and go through something intense. Was it like that for you?”

“Well… it wasn’t anything that insane, but I did go through something.”

What happened this morning could definitely count as intense.

“Unnie, then can you go bam! bam! in this dungeon? I kinda wanted to skip school, but not like this.”

“Um… I don’t think my skill is an offensive one.”

An unconfident answer slipped out.

Affection View? Affection Measurement? Can those even be considered skills?

Where could I even use a skill and trait only useful in a dating sim game?

I didn’t even know how to use the skill in the first place…

Ding!

The Affection View (S) window is now open at all times.

Would you like to activate the skill Affection Measurement (S) on the nearest target?

[ Yes / No ]

The system window opened on its own.

I hid my confusion and quietly pressed ‘Yes.’

[ ??? – Affection Level: 10 ]

Affection level 10? What does a 10 mean? And who is this ????

The closest target is displayed first.

[ Affection Level 0–30: Human‑level affection

Affection Level 31–100: Romantic affection

Affection Level 101+: Love ]

What? Affection? Was the affection really that kind of affection?

The confusion only lasted a moment. I started thinking of how I could use this skill to get out of the dungeon.

…There isn’t one, is there?

How am I supposed to get out of a dungeon with just affection measurements/rankings/ratings?

Was I supposed to somehow hope for human‑level affection from monsters?

Honestly, it’s kind of revolting. The monsters I’d seen in videos were all grotesque.

So grotesque, I never wanted to run into one, let alone try to win over their affection.

There are rumors that the higher the dungeon level, the more human‑like the monsters become, but this dungeon clearly wasn’t one of those.

All it has is a flashy rank and a useless skill. I despaired for a moment.

Ding—!

A lifeform has been detected nearby.

Calculating affection level

[ ??? – Affection Level: 10 ]

[ ???? – Affection Level: ‑100 ]

Affection level –100?

How do you even get a negative? Is there someone who hates me this much?

I stood up, alarmed.

At that moment, I got goosebumps all over my body.

Warning lights went off in my head, sending signals to run away somewhere immediately.

A wave of fear crashed over me, the kind that felt like death was near. I immediately threw the high schooler into the Safe Zone.

“Unnie?!”

“Shhh…!”

I shoved in the high schooler’s feet and crammed my own body inside too.

Bwooooo—

You have acquired a new skill.

[ Lifeform Detection (A) ]

[ Awakened: Baek Youngha

Rank: S

Trait: Affection View (S)

Title:

Skill: Affection Measurement (S), Lifeform Detection (A) ]

T/N:

^[1] ↩

“말 편하게 하세요” literally means “please speak comfortably,” but culturally, it invites someone to speak informally using 반말 (banmal) instead of formal 존댓말 (jondaetmal), signaling a shift to a more casual or equal relationship.

^[2] ↩

A jelly pouch is a popular choice for a quick sugar boost and a snack, especially those with fruity flavors.