"My back is killing me."
"Bear with it. You'll get paid soon. Just keep cleaning."
A mix of young and old men moved through the long corridor of a grim, stone chamber. Debris filled the corners. At the center lay the corpse of a two-horned, boar-like giant, its massive body slumped in a pool of darkened blood.
Three men worked directly on the carcass, carving out horns, peeling hide, prying loose teeth, and slicing away thick sheets of skin. The rest swept rubble aside and searched for stray materials that might fetch a few extra bills.
"Kids these days… no grit at all. Back in my day—"
The younger workers exchanged tired glances. Old Man Geoff had started another one of his legendary speeches.
One of the younger men scraping at the stone floor harder than the rest was Nero. Sweat ran down his temple. His clothes were smeared with grime and dried blood, and his arms ached from hours of work.
Nero never imagined this would be his life.
He used to think he had a future in sports. Basketball. Football. He had talent, discipline, drive. But when the Dungeon Impact happened, dreams like that sank beneath the weight of a new world. Nobody cared about stadium lights anymore. Now, people pay to watch two Awakened clash with real weapons and real blood.
And so here he was. One of the many unseen backbones of the industry known as Dungeon Diving.
It all began fifteen years ago.
The day had been ordinary. Sunny. Warm. Forgettable.
Then enormous black monoliths struck the earth.
No satellites detected them. No observatories tracked their descent. It was as if they simply appeared from the void itself.
They were made of an unknown material, harder than anything humanity had ever encountered. Unbreakable. Untouched.
As scientists scrambled to study them, the world was greeted with something far worse.
Rifts opened across the nation. If left unattended, they destabilized and tore wider, allowing monsters straight from fantasy to invade our reality.
Yet humanity was not completely forsaken.
People began to awaken talents.
Some gained extraordinary abilities, ranked high, and destined to stand at the front lines against the invaders. Others received talents so trivial they bordered on mockery. Enhanced laundry folding. Perfect memory for grocery lists. The spectrum was endless.
Within months, the hierarchy of the world shifted.
Those with powerful talents rose like celebrities, like presidents, like gods. They built guilds, gathered teams, and carved out authority. Dungeons became property. Stronger rifts were bought and claimed. Even government-controlled rifts were tightly regulated.
The Heavenly Awakened Association, the global authority for dungeon divers, maintained only one public dungeon.
It was called The Lobby.
The name fit. Repetitive terrain. Basic monsters. Open to all.
The Lobby was infinite. It never closed. Low-level creatures respawned endlessly. For many, it was a symbol of hope. A place where dreams could be chased.
But talent never changed.
Training could make a person stronger. That much was true.
An F-Rank could improve. Grow tougher. Hit harder.
But they could never touch the pinnacle.
An S-Rank, on the other hand, gained far more from the same effort. Their ceiling was higher. Their growth explosive. The difference was unfair and absolute.
Nero's talent was called [Shop Keep].
It allowed him to open a small portal to a pocket dimension roughly the size of a large packing box. He was not shopping. It was simply storage.
It did nothing else.
It was F-Rank. The lowest tier possible.
Still, Nero made use of it. He became one of the lead cleaners on jobs like this, storing harvested materials safely and holding onto valuables for others. Food. Drinks. Tools.
Reliable. Convenient.
"Here you go, kid."
An older man tossed an envelope at Nero's chest.
Another day finished.
Nero opened it and counted the cash inside. It was barely enough for two months of rent.
He did not complain.
He had a feeling a promotion was coming.
When he returned home, he pushed open the door to their small apartment. His younger sister lay sprawled across the couch, watching television.
"It's late. What did I say about running up the electricity bill?"
"Well… my show was on. What was I supposed to do?"
He chuckled despite himself.
"Whatever. Just don't stay up too late. And turn everything off when you leave the living room."
"I'll try."
It had been this way for years.
Their father died when they were young. Their mother left not long after. They had nearly been separated more times than he cared to remember, but somehow they stayed together.
Nero worked for her.
No matter how hard things got, he would never trade this life away if it meant losing her.
In his room, he tossed the envelope onto his desk and collapsed onto his bed with a long sigh. His feet throbbed. His back burned.
"How long can I keep doing this?"
"I'm still young. I have dreams too. I want friends. I want dates. I want something more than this."
He stared at the ceiling.
"Stuck like a cog in a machine."
He let out a quiet laugh.
"It would make a killer movie. Maybe."
Sitting up, he exhaled slowly.
"Shopkeeper."
A small portal opened before him. Dark and stable.
He reached in and pulled out a small gemstone.
"I feel like a thief. I didn't kill a single beast, yet I took something that wasn't mine."
His expression hardened.
'No. Who cares? In this world, you take what you can. The powerful would have done the same in my place.'
Suddenly, the portal flickered.
Black lightning crackled across its surface. The edges warped. Its size shifted erratically. The darkness inside began to swirl with a misty crimson.
"W-What the hell?"
This was not a red rift.
The rim fractured like glass, faint sparks racing along the swirling crimson interior.
"What happened to Shop Keep?"
Nero swallowed and cautiously reached toward it.
His hand passed through.
When he pulled it back, it was unharmed.
But the air beyond felt warmer. Almost hot.
"That's… not normal."
He stood slowly, heart pounding.
He drew in a breath.
"I might be an idiot for this, but…"
Nero leaned forward and pushed his head through the rift.
On the other side was his city.
Or what remained of it.
The skyline was shattered. Buildings lay in ruin. The clouds were a suffocating gray, and both sky and earth glowed in shades of crimson. Fires raged across the landscape. The air shimmered with heat.
It was an apocalypse.
"What am I looking at…?"
A voice echoed in his mind.
[You have made contact with #####!]
[Connecting to server… %]
[Binding host… %]
[Granting ownership… %]
[Welcome, Ruler of Hell.]