The first day of training dawned in the dungeon with a mood so tense, you could slice it with a butter knife. Or in this case, with a silver wolf's fang.
Byeol-ha, chipper as always, looked around at the bleary-eyed misfits he'd dragged into this. He clapped his hands, cheerful and evil.
"Alright! Time to toughen up! We're going to start small—"
The five hopefuls — Bitna, Eora, Seo-jin, Heechan, and Hwajin — leaned in. Hopeful. Innocent.
"—just a simple job. Kill a silver wolf."
Silence.
Then:
"...Excuse me???" Bitna blinked so hard her eyeballs nearly left her body.
"Silver wolf? Singular?" Eora squinted like she misheard due to brain trauma.
"They're endangered, right? Maybe we should just... report it?" Seo-jin suggested, half-joking and fully praying.
Heechan and Hwajin exchanged looks.
Hwajin whispered, "Are we... are we the wolves?"
"I think we're the endangered ones," Heechan muttered back, already calculating escape routes.
Byeol-ha looked unfazed. "C'mon. It's just one silver wolf. Big dog. Bitey. Very murdery. But you five are awakened now. This is the perfect bonding experience."
Bitna's eye twitched. "You want us to trauma-bond over a death match with a magical wolf?"
"Exactly!"
Eora pointed at her eye. "I just got my vision back. I'd like to use it for more than seeing my funeral."
Seo-jin looked ready to vomit. "You said training. This isn't training, this is psychological warfare."
Byeol-ha grinned. "Good. That's the spirit. Real dungeons don't come with beginner tutorials and adjustable difficulty sliders. You want power? You earn it."
And with that, he waved his hand and threw an invisibility cloak on himself, disappearing from view.
"Wait, are you leaving?!" Bitna shouted.
"No, I'm observing," his voice came from somewhere above. "For science. And comedy."
The group walked — no, shuffled — into the forested area of the dungeon, eyes darting around like panicked squirrels.
The air shifted.
There, by a rock, was a silver wolf. Sleek. Muscular. Fangs long enough to qualify as kitchen knives. It blinked once, elegantly.
Heechan screamed first. "It's looking at me! It's picking me!"
"It licked its lips!" Hwajin cried.
"Maybe it's just hungry," Seo-jin offered.
Eora side-eyed him. "You want to volunteer your arm as a snack?!"
Bitna shoved them all behind her. "Okay. Calm. If we run, we die faster. We just need a plan—"
The wolf growled.
Everyone ran.
"I told you this was a bad idea!" Seo-jin shouted as he leaped over a bush.
"You tell me that about everything!" Bitna screamed back, holding Hwajin under one arm like a sack of potatoes.
"I think I peed a little!" Heechan confessed mid-sprint.
"You think?!" Eora yelled.
Meanwhile, Byeol-ha hovered invisibly in the tree canopy above them, sipping tea from a summoned cup. "Hm. I rate this survival attempt a 3.5 out of 10. Graceful flailing, but no cohesion."
The wolf didn't chase too hard. It was having fun. You could tell because it barked like it was laughing.
"IT'S MOCKING US!" Bitna shouted, chucking a rock.
"Don't antagonize it!" Eora gasped.
"We are already antagonized!"
Eventually, after two full laps around the same dungeon grove, Byeol-ha floated down and said, "Okay, team huffle-flail, gather up."
They collapsed into a sad pile of sweaty limbs and betrayed dreams.
"Why would you send us against that thing?!" Bitna snapped.
"You have powers. Use them."
Seo-jin, hair sticking in every direction, muttered, "My powers are emotionally charged shadows. I need emotional stability first."
Hwajin raised a hand. "I tripped on my own aura."
Heechan looked like he aged five years. "I saw my ancestors waving at me."
Byeol-ha paced dramatically. "You're all missing the point. It's not about the wolf. It's about becoming people who can kill the wolf. You're gonna cry. You're gonna sweat. You might bleed. But in the end, you'll be proud."
Bitna threw a stick at him. "This speech sounds illegal."
He ducked. "Also! I arranged for your kind neighbor to take care of Tae-yang while we're in here."
Seo-jin blinked. "Wait. You left a comatosed person with a man whose idea of breakfast is 'ramen and prayer'?"
Byeol-ha pulled out a scroll. "I gave him a six-day ration supply and a list of emergency numbers, including the ramen hotline."
"...There's a ramen hotline?" Heechan asked.
"Yes. For emotionally fragile single uncles."
After a short rest, the five lined up again. They were shaking, sure. But something had changed.
A little fire in their eyes.
Bitna tied her hair back. "Let's do this. If I die, avenge me."
Seo-jin adjusted his collar. "I'll avenge you emotionally."
Eora cracked her knuckles. "No running this time."
Heechan held up a rock. "I brought a rock."
Hwajin looked at the rock. "Is it magical?"
"No. But it makes me feel brave."
Byeol-ha, watching them from the tree, smiled.
Now the training had really begun.