The first emergency session lasted seven minutes.
The second lasted three hours.
By the third, no one was pretending this was a temporary crisis anymore.
Screens lined the circular chamber, each displaying different feeds dungeon emergence sites, casualty graphs, live footage of monster encounters, and scrolling system logs that no one in the room fully understood.
At the center sat the Interim Security Council.
Military brass. Intelligence heads. Corporate liaisons who insisted they were observers.
They were lying.
"Another unauthorized raid," a general snapped, slamming his palm onto the table. "Third one today. Civilian casualties are up twenty percent."
"Because you locked the perimeter," a woman in a tailored suit replied coolly. "People don't stop being desperate just because you tell them to wait."
The general glared. "This isn't about desperation. It's about control."
That word lingered.
Control.
A projection shifted, highlighting a red zone over the city.
[DUNGEON SITE: DESIGNATION H-07]
[STATUS: ACTIVE | MULTI-FLOOR CONFIRMED]
[BEHAVIOR: ADAPTIVE]
"This dungeon," an intelligence analyst said carefully, "has rejected two heavy assault attempts. It responds aggressively to high firepower and massed personnel."
"So we send in specialists," the woman said. "Contractors. Smaller teams. Privately funded."
A murmur of agreement rippled through the room.
The general's jaw tightened. "You want to sell access to a hostile alien structure."
"I want to regulate it," she corrected. "Exclusive dungeon contracts. Licensed teams. Corporate liability."
"And profit," someone muttered.
She smiled thinly. "That too."
Another screen flickered to life grainy footage from inside the dungeon. Tactical overlays. Clean movements. Minimal noise.
A single figure at the center of it all.
"Pause," the analyst said.
The image froze on Rin mid-command, one hand raised, eyes focused on something no camera could see.
"Who is that?" the general asked.
"No record," the analyst replied. "Civilian. No prior service. No registered high-tier skills."
The woman leaned forward. "Then why is he leading?"
The analyst hesitated. "Because every team he's with survives longer than statistical models predict."
Silence followed.
"Pull his data," the general ordered.
"We tried," the analyst said. "The Life System logs around him are… inconsistent."
"In what way?"
"As if the system itself isn't sure what permissions he has."
That got everyone's attention.
Across the city, construction crews worked through the night.
Concrete barriers rose. Sensor towers were installed. Automated turrets locked onto dungeon entrances not to fire, but to contain.
They called them Dungeon Zones.
Safe corridors for civilians. Controlled access points. Heavily monitored kill-boxes designed to keep monsters in and people out.
On paper, it was efficient.
In practice
"Monster surge!" a soldier shouted as alarms blared.
The dungeon reacted instantly to the perimeter tightening. Walls pulsed. Spawn rates spiked.
[Dungeon Behavior Update Containment Pressure Detected]
[Adaptive Response Escalation Initiated]
Inside the dungeon, Rin felt it.
A low vibration through the stone.
Not anger.
Resistance.
"They're poking it," Rin muttered.
Lena looked at him sharply. "Who?"
"Everyone outside," he said. "And the dungeon doesn't like being fenced in."
Far above, in a secure government facility, a final vote was cast.
Motion passed.
Exclusive Dungeon Rights Approved (Trial Phase)
Authorized Parties Corporate & Military Joint Ventures
The woman in the suit stood, satisfied. "We move first. We move fast. We don't let independent actors set the rules."
The general didn't look convinced.
"Be careful," he said. "If these things are alive… or thinking…"
He glanced at the frozen image of Rin on the screen.
"Then we may already be behind."
Back inside the dungeon, a new message flickered across Rin's vision.
[Dungeon State Shift Detected]
[External Interference Increasing]
[Floor Parameters Updating…]
Rin clenched his jaw.
The game board was expanding.
And for the first time, the fight wasn't just against monsters
but against the people who thought they could own the dungeon.
"Move," Rin said quietly. "Next floor. Now."
The stone trembled as if in agreement.
Somewhere deep within the system's architecture, multiple interests converged on a single variable.
RIN STATUS: UNREGISTERED | ANOMALOUS | ACTIVE
The selection had begun.