The sky was the color of blood, and the sun descended slowly toward the horizon, as if bidding the world farewell with a sad face hiding behind thick clouds. Warm orange light slipped through broken windows, drawing threads of longing across crumbling walls, filled with old graffiti and forgotten memories.
On the fifth floor of an abandoned building on the city's outskirts stood "Rin."
A seventeen-year-old boy in clothes faded with dust and neglect, his black hair fluttering in the wind, his ash-colored eyes reflecting nothing but emptiness. The fingers of his right hand clung to the edge of the roof, the wind slapping his face as if reminding him he was still alive… but he did not respond.
He stood silent, staring down.
Just one step—and everything would end.
The faint sound of the city below seemed to come from another world that did not belong to him. Even the sunset, that scene which makes poets weep, was for him nothing more than a symbolic ending… perfect for the end of a human like him.
**
"Do you know the feeling of being invisible? Of living among people who do not notice you even when you scream in front of them? I am the son of a man who never paid attention to me, and the grandson of a man who wished I had never been born."
**
His shoulders trembled, but not from the cold… from the weight of memory.
He closed his eyes and began speaking to himself in a low voice, almost a whisper:
"My grandfather… used to look at me like I was a stain. He always said: you are a black spot in the family's history. And my father? He never called me by my name. He never celebrated me. Only money, meetings, and my older brother… that perfect one they see as the heir of glory."
He laughed — a short, sad laugh.
"A family that owns everything… except a person."
He opened his eyes slowly and looked again into the abyss.
"I am nobody to anyone… and no one will notice if I disappear."
**
He lifted his foot and placed it over the edge while the wind tore at the hem of his shirt. Everything was silent… as if the world was holding its breath in that final moment.
**
"Goodbye… life I never had."
**
And at the moment he was about to leap into the void…
a strange deep voice reached him:
"Is this your choice, Rin?"
He froze.
His breath quickened. He opened his eyes swiftly and turned behind him.
There — in the shadows — something stood that did not resemble a human.
**
A tall being, cloaked in darkness, faceless… only two black eyes glowing in the dusk. Its voice was a mixture of calm and force… a voice like the whole universe whispering to you.
Rin asked with a trembling voice:
"Who… who are you?"
The creature stepped forward without a sound.
"That does not matter, Rin. What matters is that I am here… because you have reached your end."
**
Silence fell between them.
Then suddenly, with no movement from the creature… a transparent digital window appeared before Rin, like a glass panel hanging in the air, glowing with a faint red light.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Hello, host.
The "Death System" has been activated.
✦ Every soul you kill grants you points. ✦ If you kill a victim who had previously killed others, you will receive all the souls they took, and their points.
How to kill: say "Die." ✦ Conditions: – You must be less than 5 feet away. – You must have touched the victim's body at least twice.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Rin stared at the window, unblinking, as if his brain tried to absorb what it saw.
He whispered in a broken voice:
"What is this…?"
The creature moved closer and stood right in front of him, and said:
"This is your last chance, Rin… to understand, to hurt, or to change everything. This world does not spare the weak… but you are no longer weak now."
**
Rin did not reply.
He continued staring at the window… then at the ground… then at the sky.
And in his eyes… a single tear.
But it did not fall.
**
"Can I really… get something back? Even if only my dignity?"
**
He pulled his foot back from the edge.
He turned slowly… his eyes still floating between astonishment, fear, curiosity… and perhaps… a little hope.
—At that moment, Rin stood silently before the glowing digital window, and a faint, unfamiliar smile spread across his face. It was not a smile of joy, but a mixture of irony, relief, and quiet madness.
"This is nice…" "Another chance, then?"
He lifted his head toward the dark being and asked, with genuine curiosity this time:
"Am I the only one who has this system?"
The answer came without delay.
"No. There are a million people around the world who have it. But they are spread across all countries; some have begun, and some are still afraid of the first step. But the game has begun, Rin… and the question now is: will you remain a spectator? Or will you become one of the hunters?"
Rin was silent for seconds.
Then he looked at his palms… as if they now held something new.
"I was about to disappear from this world… but it seems I now have a bigger role in it than I thought."
He turned toward the staircase leading down. His steps were quiet, slow… but heavy. As if each step ended an old version of him.
**
An hour later, Rin stood before the gate of an opulent mansion, surrounded by trees and marble sculptures, guarded by security columns and advanced cameras.
The guards at the gate bowed silently and opened the way without asking questions. In their eyes, he was "the quiet son of the family who bothers no one." No one knew what had changed since the last time he entered that mansion.
**
Rin entered the palace hall; the floor shone like a mirror and crystalline light danced on the high ceiling. But he did not look at anything.
He climbed the stairs with silent steps until he reached his room… that dark room he had not changed since childhood. No pictures. No decoration. No identity.
**
He sat on his bed and pulled out his phone.
He opened the news app.
On the screen, headlines flashed in red:
Breaking: Mysterious deaths strike the world
More than 297,000 deaths in just 48 hours
Governments fail to explain… causes unknown
No trace of any known virus or weapon
Rin froze.
Then he muttered:
"They've started, it seems."
He lifted his head, his eyes glowing faintly, and said:
"If the world has begun… I won't lag behind."
**
He left his room and headed to the east wing of the mansion. There, where his grandfather kept his secrets, a huge desk usually locked, but Rin always knew where the key was hidden: behind the oil portrait of the great-grandfather.
He opened the door and entered.
The office smelled of old books and a mix of expensive masculine cologne and burned tobacco.
He approached the large iron safe behind the desk and entered the code he had heard repeatedly as a child.
(7 – 4 – 2 – 9)
The safe opened slowly, and he took out a small booklet covered in dark leather.
He opened the booklet.
It was full of drawings, names, and contact numbers… all of them hitmen, disguised under code names. Each killer had a record, a style, and a preferred place of work.
Rin laughed.
"You killed by legal means, grandfather… and now I will kill by a new law."
**
He chose one of the killers; his code name: "The Crow."
He called the encrypted number. The phone rang twice only, then a voice came:
"Who calls the Crow?"
Rin answered in a calm voice:
"Client… interested. I want a personal meeting."
A sound of smoke being drawn from a cigarette was heard, then:
"The place?"
"Old train station — ten o'clock."
**
The hours passed slowly.
At exactly ten, Rin was there, standing under a half-broken lamppost.
A tall man came, wearing a leather coat, his eyes sharp as if they belonged to a predator. He approached and said:
"You called the Crow?"
Rin smiled and extended his hand for a handshake.
The killer gripped it hard; Rin intentionally touched the killer's shoulder — a prolonged touch that he fixed with his other hand.
Then he whispered:
"I want you to kill as many people as you can, I don't care about their names. The more the number… the bigger the sum."
The killer laughed a rough laugh:
"Alright, boy… money talks, and I listen."
**
Within less than two hours, the news spread:
Massacre in the suburbs — nineteen killed by an unknown man — police chase a killer wearing a leather coat
Rin watched the news from a dark room in one of the mansion's lower floors. His eyes glowed with blue light from the screen, and a smile of victory spread across his mouth.
"Wonderful…"
**
The next day, the killer returned to the old abandoned mansion where Rin had promised to pay him in cash.
He ran toward him like a dog returning to its master, stained with blood and eager for the reward.
"I carried out what you asked… where's the money?"
Rin smiled and stepped toward him calmly.
He looked into his eyes… then whispered in a low voice:
"Die."
**
In an instant, the killer's breath stopped. His body froze, then he fell like a wooden puppet.
The digital window appeared again:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Execution successful
✦ You have killed a victim who owned 36 souls ✦ 36 points have been added to your account
Notes: your system is active
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Rin stood over the corpse.
He took a piece of gum from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and began to chew calmly.
Then he said in a low voice:
"The countdown has begun."