People say, "If you keep fighting, you'll surely win one day."
For me, that line is nothing but a bedtime story for fools. No matter how much I fought, life kept punching harder.
Under the old bridge, rain poured like the sky itself had given up. Kai lay flat on the cold ground, staring blankly upward. Rainwater washed over his bruised face, dragging trails of blood toward the river as if wiping away something unimportant.
A group of boys stood around him, their silhouettes distorted by the flashing headlights from above. One of them burst into laughter—shrill, broken, completely unhinged.
"It's all your fault we lost the fight today," he snarled and slammed his foot onto Kai's face as if crushing a bug.
Pain exploded across Kai's skull, but he didn't scream. He didn't have the strength to.
Another boy joined in, kicking his ribs like they were kicking a football.
"Hey Boss!" one shouted. "You wanna wash your hands a bit?"
They weren't talking to Kai.
They were talking to the young man sitting under the bridge—white shirt, white hair, cigarette dangling at the edge of his lips. Fang. Their freshly appointed Boss.
Fang didn't even turn. He sat slouched on a metal folding chair, eyes lifeless, posture lazy, as if the rain, the beating, the world—none of it mattered enough to look at.
The boys exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"What's with this guy… acting all superior after just a week."
"He thinks he's above us all."
"Hey, Yun, what do you think?" someone asked the one pressing Kai's face to the ground.
Yun's expression darkened. "He was appointed by Big Brother, so we can't touch him. But Doom Day's coming. If I win…" A cold smile flickered. "I'll pay him back ten times."
He kicked Kai again, annoyed the boy still had a pulse.
That was when Fang finally moved.
He stood abruptly, crushing his cigarette under his spotless white shoe. Without sparing anyone a single glance, he walked away. T, his silent shadow, instantly opened an umbrella to shield Fang's silver hair from even a single raindrop.
"Boss," T said softly, "shouldn't you talk to them?"
A slow smirk curled on Fang's lips. "They're trash. The only reason they breathe is because of Grandpa. If it were up to me, their graves would be growing wildflowers by now."
And they left—just like that.
The boys followed, leaving Kai alone under the rain like discarded garbage.
But honestly, nothing was new.
This was Kai's life.
Being stepped on, mocked, ignored, crushed.
He was always the worm under everyone's shoe, praying to survive until the next sunrise.
But today… something snapped.
His ribs felt shattered.
His left arm was dead weight.
His right eye was swollen shut.
And somewhere deep inside—something whispered that this was the last limit his body could take.
Then—
[Body condition meets all criteria.]
[System installation commencing.]
[Installation complete.]
[Congratulations, Host: Ability Unlocked — Rewind Time: 3 Seconds.]
[Please enjoy your powers.]
The mechanical voice echoed inside his skull.
System? Ability?
He was in too much pain to understand.
Darkness swallowed his consciousness.
---
Kai woke up in his room.
The same cracked walls, the same sagging ceiling, the same worn-out bed that smelled faintly of old rain and dried tears. A rickety chair sat beside him, and Lili occupied it with red, swollen eyes. She must've cried the entire night again.
Kai tried to sit up—
A fiery pain stabbed through his body.
"Are you crazy?!" Lili screamed, voice trembling. "The doctor said you almost died! Do you want to finish the job yourself?!"
Kai sank back down, breath shaking.
This is my life… worse than a stray dog's.
"Where's Mom…" he whispered.
Lili hesitated. That alone was enough of an answer.
She'd gone again.
To that place.
To earn money for his treatment.
His fingers clenched the bedsheet. His heartbeat pounded with a familiar bitterness.
Dad died when he was three.
Mom remarried a monster.
And when the monster needed money… she had to sell herself.
His eyes burned, but no tears came. They never did anymore.
"I want to sleep. Please… just leave me."
Lili opened her mouth, but closed it again and left the room silently.
Kai closed his eyes. He wanted to cry, scream, break… but he'd become too numb. Even sadness refused to stay with him.
"Why… why does it have to be like this?" he choked softly.
Then—
A memory hit him.
Rain.
Blood.
A woman crying.
"Only if I wasn't born…"
He drifted off until—
CRASH!
Glass shattered violently.
Kai's eyes flew open.
His stepfather stood in the doorway, a broken wine bottle stabbed deep into his mother's stomach. Blood drenched the floor. His mother staggered but looked at him… still trying to smile.
His whole world collapsed.
"Mom—!"
Adrenaline burst through him. Kai pushed off the bed—
His body gave out, and he crashed to the floor.
And then—
Time froze.
The world stopped breathing.
Blood hung mid-air like dark red crystals.
His mother's body froze mid-fall.
His stepfather's twisted face froze in hatred.
A message appeared in front of him:
[Rewind time by 3 seconds? Y/N]
5… 4…
"What… what is this…?" Kai whispered. "Time… stopped? This… this is real?"
He didn't have time to think.
His shaking thumb pressed YES.
The world snapped back.
He was standing again, three seconds before the stabbing. His mother's legs trembled. His stepfather's hand raised the bottle.
"Time… rewind…" Kai muttered.
A chance.
The smallest sliver of hope.
Three seconds that could rewrite everything.
Without thinking, driven only by terror and rage, Kai grabbed the kitchen knife lying near his bedside and plunged it into his stepfather's stomach.
"—!!"
The man's face twisted from anger to pure shock. His body collapsed, blood pooling beneath him.
His mother gasped, eyes wide. "K… what did you—"
"YOU BRAT!" the man shrieked weakly. "Trying to kill me?!"
Kai stumbled back, trembling violently.
He didn't understand anything—not the system, not the power—nothing.
But his mother…
She was alive.
For the first time in his life, Kai changed something.
This was the first step.
The smallest spark in a dead boy's life.
And it all began…
With three seconds.