"Sigh…"
Sitting on the floor, a young man with disheveled black hair leaned against the wall.
With fair skin and dark eyes, he stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket, sighing as he looked around the small room he was in.
It was a dimly lit room. The dirty floor was crawling with cockroaches, and the walls were covered in cracks and stains of strange colors.
A grate completely closed off one side of the room, blocking anyone from leaving while showing a small hallway with a light at the end, beckoning to freedom.
Well, that's what you'd expect from a cell.
From the corner of his eye, Kian noticed the only other presence in the room: a man huddled and lying in the corner.
He was facing the wall, his long, greasy hair spread out on the floor as a cockroach walked among it.
"What's up, kid? Did you lose something?" the man asked without looking at him.
"No. It's nothing, I'm sorry." Kian replied, looking away.
Sigh, another idiot.
From experience, I knew that angering this type of person would only bring more unnecessary pain.
And all he had to do was give them a reason to start a fight.
Hurry up and get on with it, I need to be home now.
Burying his head in his knees, he continued to count the minutes, hardly waiting for the moment when he could finally return home and fulfill his long-held dream.
He would become an awakened one, even today! But for that to happen, he needed to return home soon.
Come on, come on, come on.
"Hey kid, thought long enough?" a voice called from outside, the jingling of many keys singing to his ears in a fabulous melody.
Looking up, Kian found a middle-aged police officer with brown hair and a beard.
His dark circles stood out beneath his dark eyes, which gave him a stern look.
Feeling his heart race, he hurriedly stood up while barely containing the smile that threatened to form.
***
Back at his apartment, Kian was pacing back and forth in circles around the couch as he stared at the door, waiting for his future.
Looking at his cell phone, the time told him it was only 2:09 in the afternoon.
"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, returning the phone to his pocket.
Come on, get here soon.
His plan was quite simple: wake up and make money.
He would awaken, obtain the system, discover his class, hunt the monsters of the frontier.
Then he would become stronger and sell everything he could to get rich and have a better life.
Not that Kian's family was exactly poor or lived in squalor.
Sure, they managed to live well. Even though they didn't have luxuries, they never felt like they lacked anything.
But that wasn't what Kian wanted.
He wanted to be rich, have lots of money and be able to buy whatever he wanted while relaxing all day watching TV or playing games.
Damn, I've never even owned a video game!
He needed to buy one and spend all night playing while eating junk food. He had to.
"Damn, what's taking them so long?" He opened his phone again, checking the time.
It was 2:14, only five minutes had passed…
"Tsk!" complaining softly, he continued to pace around the table, unable to do anything but wait.
After what felt like years, three knocks echoed in room 109 as a smile filled Kian's face, he ran to the door.
"Good afternoon, good afternoon, Mr. Delivery Man, how can I help you?" Rubbing his hands together, Kian asked, staring hungrily at the small box the delivery man was holding.
"Uh, Kian Blackwood?" Feeling like he was facing a hungry, dangerous predator, the innocent worker just pulled out the delivery slip shakily.
"Yes, yes, it's me," he replied as he signed, extending his hands to receive the package,
"You must be tired from work, would you like a glass of water?"
"R-really? I actually—"
Grabbing the package, Kian ran back inside, leaving the confused delivery man outside.
Feeling as if he was carrying something extremely fragile, Kian went straight to his room, dropping the package on the bed.
Before locking her bedroom door, she couldn't help but notice a small yellow post-it note with a message on it.
'I left food in the fridge, don't forget to eat properly okay?'
"Don't worry, I'll eat very well from today onwards" with these words, he left while closing the door.
"Finally, the Awakening." Rubbing his hands together, Kian delicately opened the package, as if one wrong move would make it explode in his face.
It wasn't a big package, it was just a white box with the ARA symbol, a circle separated into four parts.
"A-ha, it really is official," he smiled as he looked at the symbol of the Agency as he opened the box.
It was only natural that it would be official, after all he spent a small fortune on it.
All your hard work over the past few years saving every penny has been for this very moment.
"Well, maybe it would have been cheaper if I bought it directly from ARA, but then I couldn't be an awakened," he muttered, opening the box.
Because he is still a minor, Kian would need authorization from his guardian, in addition to several psychological tests to become an awakened person.
And since Kian simply didn't want to wait any longer for the system, this only left him with the option of buying through a reliable parallel market.
In this case, the Red Butterfly.
"Which also means I'll be an irregular awakened from today on, practically a criminal," he sighed, throwing aside the book of warnings and instructions.
The box itself contained a large book of instructions and warnings, and a small glass case with a cosmic diamond.
Kian's eyes shone as he looked at the dark colored object, with several white dots connected to each other, similar to neurons.
Putting the manual aside, he sighed, looking at the small nucleus.
There was no other choice, this was the only path for him, the ideal.
It was the best route he could take, even if it was against the law.
"Well, whatever. Just don't get caught."
With trembling hands, he opened the small box, taking out the small diamond.
In his fingers it felt like it weighed a ton, and that even the slightest breath could disintegrate it.
Relax man, that's not a dandelion.
This was just the pinnacle of human invention: the core of an awakening, the origin of classes and skills, the so-called system.
Wait, what if I have a useless class?
He paused for a moment, staring at the core, feeling his dreams slowly slipping away from him.
"No, relax. Even if that's the case, there should still be something to be done. No class is useless." Shaking his head, Kian lowered his neck as he sighed.
"It's really simple, Kian, you can't go wrong. Just pinch the ends together and put them on. Really simple."
Slowly, he pressed the two ends of the diamond together, feeling his fingers sink in slightly before pressing the core into the back of his neck.
It was instantaneous.
"A-argh" grunting, he fell face down onto the bed as he writhed.
A thin, icy sensation took over, like thousands of tiny, thin tentacles penetrating the back of his neck and into his spine, traveling along his nerves throughout his body.
What the hell, what is this?
It wasn't exactly painful, but it was far from being comfortable.
Rolling over in bed as he felt the cold take over his entire body, suddenly his eyes felt heavy and his consciousness blurred.
Unable to even form a simple thought against it, he fell asleep.
***
"D-damn" waking up, the first thing he noticed was the pain in his stomach, which grunted in the darkness of the room.
As if someone had torn a hole in his belly, an overwhelming hunger took hold of him, urging him to eat something quickly.
"Hell, did that work?" rolling over in bed and feeling the clothes stick to my body, the sheets soaked with sweat.
Staring into the darkness, his heartbeat quickened as excitement took over.
Hunger was a positive sign, a symptom that all awakened people reported feeling after inserting the core.
However, there was an easier way to be sure.
"Status," he called, his voice echoing in the dark.
Then a blue interface flashed before his eyes, revealing various information.
And among them, your class.
"T-this is? Could it be legendary?"