When I woke up, the city was eerily quiet. My head throbbed from last night's drinking. Outside my window, the blue gates shimmered in the morning light. Somehow… I had slept through the evacuation alarm that was still ringing on my phone.
Shit.
I panicked, yanking on my jacket. The hunters—those who were supposed to be clearing the gates—were nowhere to be seen.
Just as I stepped outside, a deafening crash echoed through the city. A massive shockwave shattered the windows around me.
And then I saw them.
Tens of minotaurs—mythical creatures with the bodies of men and the heads of bulls—rushing through the streets.
Gates—a phenomenon that had appeared three years ago—had changed the world. Monsters poured out of them relentlessly. I wanted to believe it was a nightmare, but screams and chaos all around told me otherwise. People ran in every direction, some crushed beneath the monsters' feet, others… consumed.
Just when it seemed all hope for humanity was lost, hunters appeared. Humans with supernatural powers, like characters from a fantasy game. Each hunter had a unique ability, ranked differently. When awakened, their powers could challenge the monsters.
The battle for survival had begun.
Three years had passed since that first disaster. Humanity had adapted to this new reality. Monster bodies became sources of research, crafting materials, and magical energy. Weapons and armor powered by mana cores harvested from monsters had become commonplace, giving hunters a fighting chance against the ever-growing threat. Life had changed… but survival had become possible.
Hunters are ranked from S-rank to E-rank. Once awakened, it is impossible to rank up again. No second chances. No one has ever done it.
My name? Kang Jun Ho. As for me… I wasn't awakened. Still stuck in the same 9-to-5 blue-collar job, I had long since stopped hoping that I would ever awaken. It seems impossible now.
That was why I drank with my co-worker every month—to blow off some steam. Little did I know that this would happen today.
As the minotaurs swarmed the streets, I ran as fast as I could. But compared to their monstrous strides, I was barely keeping up—ten of my steps for every twenty of theirs.
Glass and debris rained around me. Screams pierced the air. My lungs burned, my legs threatened to give out, but I couldn't stop. I had to survive.
But when I glanced back, the minotaur was already right behind me.
Too close.
Its massive shadow swallowed me whole. The monster raised its axe high above its head, muscles bulging as it swung down without hesitation.
I froze.
In that moment, staring death in the eye, my life flashed before me. Everything went dark.
Kang Jun Ho: Is this it…? After all that struggling through life…
No power. No second chance.
Only silence.