Seoul, April 28th, 2025.
Rain pattered on the worn asphalt, filling potholes and running along the yellow street lines.Ryu Minjae adjusted his delivery helmet, swore under his breath, and checked the time on his cracked phone. Three minutes late already. His boss would chew him out again.
He gunned the scooter through the afternoon traffic, weaving between buses and cars, ignoring the blaring horns.
Then… the sky broke.
It didn't just darken — it shattered, like glass hit by a sledgehammer. Jagged black cracks spread across the blue, each one glowing faintly from the edges. People stopped mid-step. Drivers slammed brakes.
Something massive began to push through the largest crack, directly above the Han River. An obsidian door the size of an apartment block hung in the air, featureless except for a line of golden light running down its middle.
The line split. The Gate opened.
From the darkness beyond, things crawled out — some on too many legs, some dragging twisted wings, all with eyes like molten coals.
Sirens began to howl. Screams followed.
Minjae swore again and yanked his scooter into a narrow back alley. He had no intention of becoming some monster's lunch.
That's when he saw it — a glowing blue symbol, burning on the wet pavement. A perfect circle inscribed with unfamiliar runes, like some video game summoning spell.
It pulsed once, twice… then a voice echoed inside his head:
[Awakening Candidate Detected]Touch the Glyph to Begin the Trial.
"…Tch. What the hell is this, an ad?" he muttered, already backing away. The symbol flared brighter.
Something roared from the street behind him. Heavy claws scraped asphalt.
Minjae glanced over his shoulder — a wolf the size of a minivan was charging into the alley, its fur burning like embers.
His heart pounded. He didn't believe in magic, but faced with that thing…He stepped onto the glyph.
Light swallowed him whole.
[Awakening Successful]Class: ???Skill Acquired: Predator's Mark — Absorb the strength of your defeated foes.
Pain ripped through every muscle, like molten metal poured into his veins.When it stopped, his breath came fast and sharp — but his limbs felt different. Faster. Stronger.
The wolf leapt at him.He didn't run.
Later, he would remember this moment — the first Trial, the first kill.The day a useless college dropout became humanity's final hope.
But standing in that alley, drenched in rain and staring into the molten eyes of a monster, he didn't know that clearing the first Trial was just the beginning.
Because the System wasn't asking him to survive once.It was asking him to survive… one hundred times.