[SYSTEM OBSERVING CANDIDATE...]
Name: Kitae Kim
Status: Dormant
Bloodline: The Lion (Sealed)
Compatibility: 98.7%
Threshold Activation: Unmet
Error: Physical attributes below minimum standard. Awaiting trigger...
---
The fist came fast.
Kitae didn't even see it.
He just tasted rust and concrete, the back of his head bouncing off the alley wall. His legs gave out before he realized he'd been hit.
Another one landed in his gut.
A third cracked across his jaw.
Laughter followed.
"Where's your lion now, little cub?"
He curled around the pain, arms trembling, vision pulsing. The blood in his ears sounded like war drums… but distant, muted, pathetic.
They didn't even beat him out of hatred.
They beat him because it was routine.
---
Later, bleeding and half-conscious behind a trash bin, he saw the System Message flicker faintly across his vision again.
[Vital Signs Critical. Threat Level: Mild. Awakening Conditions Unfulfilled.]
[Recommendation: Seek strength or die forgotten.]
Kitae blinked. "The hell...?"
It vanished.
---
He dragged himself home.
The mirror in his bathroom didn't lie. Bruised, bloody, teeth clenched in useless rage.
He punched the sink.
Once. Twice.
Then sagged to the floor, whispering:
"Why doesn't anything awaken…?"
---
He wasn't just any kid.
Not completely.
There was a rumor passed around like a ghost story—about the Lion Lineage.
Old blood. Feral blood. Born from kings of underground arenas and exiled clans from centuries past.
But in Kitae, that blood slept. And everyone knew it.
> "Fake bloodline."
"Defective cub."
"Dead potential."
Only one person had ever said otherwise.
---
Cynthia.
She was the storm in silk.
Golden eyes. Steel posture. The strongest fighter at Guryong Academy by far—and she never needed to raise her voice to prove it.
Some claimed her lineage was Seraphim-tier—one of the few ever to bond both bloodline and system without breaking.
Kitae had crossed paths with her once after a fight.
He was bleeding on the ground, face swelling shut.
She didn't offer help.
Just stared down at him, bored.
> "You're not weak, Kim. You're restrained."
"Unlock it… or die pretending you're something you're not."
Then she walked off, like it hadn't meant anything.
But it did.
Kitae replayed it every night.
---
That evening, after stitching himself up, he sat on the roof and opened his cracked flip phone.
One old message sat there.
> [UNKNOWN]: "The Lion wakes at the edge. If you're still breathing, it's not time."
He stared at the moon.
Clenched his jaw.
And whispered—
> "Then I'll bleed until it is."
---
[SYSTEM LOGGED: Statement acknowledged.]
[Pain tolerance increasing...]
[Threshold progression: 12%]
[Continue suffering to unlock core.]
---