"Wield their power!"
A blast of dramatic music rang through Han's earbuds as he walked through the dimly lit sidewalk, hoodie pulled up, phone in hand. The street was mostly empty, only the quiet hum of distant cars and flickering streetlights keeping him company. The anime he was watching was loud in his ears—some overpowered swordsman yelling mid-battle. He didn't care. It was background noise. Familiar noise.
He took a sip from the half-flat cola he bought from a vending machine five minutes ago. It was warm. Gross. But he kept drinking anyway.
He sighed.
*How pathetic am I?*
It was a thought that popped up more often these days.
Ten years ago, the world had changed forever.
That was when magic arrived.
No one knew exactly how. One day, the sky tore open in rips of light, and what came through shattered everything people thought they knew. Portals, called dungeons, opened randomly across the globe. From them poured monsters—dragons, golems, creatures of nightmares and fantasy. Chaos followed.
But humanity changed too.
Some people awakened magic. No warning, no pattern. Kids, teens, adults. Fireballs, super strength, telekinesis, healing, taming beasts. Everyone got something different. People were ranked based on their power—F being the weakest, SSS the strongest. There were S-rankers who could flatten buildings. Even F-rankers could make a decent living if they had useful skills.
Everyone awakened magic between the ages of 12 and 14. It just… happened.
Han? Nothing. Not a spark. Not even a flicker.
He was 19 now. A college student. It was safe to say that he wasn't going to awaken anything anytime.
So he studied. He worked hard. Took extra classes, stayed up late cramming formulas and theories.
He'd graduate and join a factory. Not a fancy one. Probably an energy refinement plant or a gate-sealing unit. Long hours. Crappy pay. But hey, he wouldn't die.
"Yay me," he mumbled, finishing off the last of his cola.
His sister Yana, on the other hand, was A-rank.
She awakened at 13. She was a swordsman, or woman. At 15, she shattered a reinforced steel dummy during a test. Got scouted by one of the national guilds before her first high school exam.
She never let Han forget it.
Neither did the rest of the family.
They didn't hate him. That would've been easier. They just… didn't see him. Like he was a ghost. A disappointing background character who didn't even have a gimmick.
Han turned the corner and stuffed his phone into his pocket. The anime was still running in the background, but he couldn't focus. The air felt heavy tonight. Not cold, but weirdly thick. He shook the feeling off and took another few steps.
Then he paused. A feeling was creeping into the air around him.
Sparks of light danced a few meters in front of him. Faint, like static at first. Then brighter. A low hum began to build. The air rippled.
*No… no way.*
A circular shape began forming above the asphalt. Glyphs—floating ancient-looking runes—spun around the edges. Electricity snapped and arced across the sidewalk. The temperature dropped several degrees. Han's breath misted.
A portal. A dungeon portal. And it was opening right in front of him.
He took a step back, eyes wide. He couldn't believe it.
"Dungeon break!"