Global Awakening: Only I Can Respawn

"I get you want to train me…" Hojin mumbled. "But why am I the one leading us—OUCH!"

The moment the words left his mouth, YuWon whacked him across the back with a stick.

"Less talking. More walking."

Hojin opened his mouth, probably to argue, but thought better of it. He grumbled quietly, rubbing his back as they moved on. YuWon trailed behind, his eyes fixed on Hojin as if analyzing him.

YuWon wanted to test Hojin's luck again. So far, every path Hojin chose was uneventful. A few stray monsters here and there, but nothing worth mentioning.

For someone with 999 luck, he sure sucks at finding treasures.

By treasures, YuWon meant stores or rare creatures—like named monsters or elites. But his primary concern was finding a store.

The items in the [Special Store] were impressive, sure, but sometimes the prices felt unreasonably high. That's why YuWon wanted to find traditional stores to get some supplies.

But his interest in finding a store wasn't purely practical.

All these damned eyes…

YuWon had given all the glory for slaying the basilisk to Soo-Ah, yet the annoying eyes of the gods have been following him since the quest ended.

Since he had Hojin with him, the number of observers following him had increased exponentially. It seemed every god watching was eager to see the so-called "Son of Luck" in action.

While YuWon was off clearing the quest, it seemed Hojin got contracted with the goddess of luck, Tyche. That's why the gods were following them excitedly.

"There… something is there."

Hojin pointed to the far right, drawing YuWon's gaze. He nodded. Something had to be there. The place looked too clean to not have something inside.

The surrounding area was a scene of chaos—shops ransacked, windows shattered, and debris scattered like a battlefield. Yet, an ordinary store remained unaffected by the carnage around. If any place screamed Safe Zone, it was that store.

"Alright, stay behind me," YuWon pushed Hojin back, handing him the stick. "Follow me."

As they headed towards the store, two people appeared before them. They wore mismatched armor made from scraps and wielded rusty, barely functional weapons, probably taken from a goblin.

"You cannot enter this place!" a man roared, holding the spear.

"This dungeon's ours! We claimed it, so turn around and—wait, what the hell are you doing?"

The men were still arguing, but they didn't notice when YuWon slipped past them and was busy looking inside the store. It was a dungeon, so obviously YuWon was interested in seeing what was going on inside.

But as YuWon attempted to step inside, an invisible barrier pushed him back. He frowned, pressing his hand against the barrier. Then it clicked.

Of course. The entry limit.

He recalled a similar situation from a dungeon he'd explored before. Each entrance had its limit, and it seemed someone had already used this one. If YuWon wanted to get inside, he'd need to find another way in.

"Ah… so this is a dungeon," YuWon scratched his head. "I've never seen one before, so I got a little excited. Sorry for causing any trouble. We'll leave now."

The guards exchanged glances before puffing out their chests, clearly emboldened by YuWon's words. In their eyes, they had intimidated YuWon—a clueless guy with no gear on him, unlike them, who had armor and weapons.

But Hojin knew better. He tugged lightly at YuWon's sleeve, urging him to move. He wasn't worried about the guards intimidating YuWon, but worried about what would happen if they said the wrong thing.

Hojin could already picture the scene of YuWon smashing their skulls in with his bare hands, as he did with Joon's guards back in the nightclub.

"It's fine… just don't go barging into other people's property," one guard said. "Not everyone is as lenient as us."

"Thank you, brothers."

YuWon politely smiled and walked away, leaving the guards basking in their imagined victory.

It wasn't until the store was well out of sight that Hojin let out a sigh of relief. For a moment back there, he had genuinely believed YuWon might snap and kill them over that comment.

But now, staring at YuWon's back, Hojin felt like the guy calmly walking ahead was different. YuWon almost felt like a stranger compared to the one who had stormed into a nightclub and left a trail of broken bodies.

He's not that bad after all…

Being kind by nature, Hojin wanted to tell YuWon he made the right decision.

"For a moment, I thought you would attack them," Hojin mumbled.

"Attack them? What for?" YuWon asked. "I'm not some mindless beast that lashes out at people without reason."

Hojin nearly choked on his words, wanting to refute that ridiculous claim, but he held his tongue. But one thing piqued his interest.

"No, I meant you let them have the dungeon—"

"Let them have the dungeon? When did I do that?"

YuWon stopped and turned to Hojin. The latter saw a malicious glint in YuWon's eyes and immediately retracted his thoughts from before. Any illusions he'd entertained about YuWon being a different person evaporated in an instant. No, he hadn't changed at all.

"Isn't there a saying?" YuWon smiled. "When one door closes, god opens another?"

Hojin realized what YuWon wanted. He was going inside the dungeon, but taking a different path, that's all.

As the protector of the "Son of Luck," who had worked so hard to find the dungeon, YuWon couldn't let anyone else take the treasures. It would be out of character for him to leave them alone.

But there was a problem. He couldn't access the [Special Store] with so many eyes watching. Pretending to stumble across the store's vending machine and use it discreetly might work, but he doubted the gods would fall for such a transparent ploy.

That left him with only one option.

I hate relying on that mole's skills, but there's no other way.

The disaster mole had an inherent skill, one that enabled him to look for anything he desired within a certain radius. Since they were so close to the dungeon, it was the perfect skill to look for another entrance.