The air was thick with the metallic stench of blood and the sulfurous rot of the Abyss.
Han Jin leaned against the cold, damp wall of the dungeon, his breath coming in ragged, wet gasps. His left arm was gone, cauterized by a flame spell from a monster he couldn't even see. Around him, the bodies of his teammates lay scattered—decent people who had followed a pathetic E-rank hunter like him into a trap.
"So... this is it," Jin whispered, coughing up a mouthful of crimson. "The end of a loser's life."
For ten years, he had struggled in the shadows of the great S-rankers. While they moved like gods, Jin had barely survived as a 'carrier,' a human pack-mule for stronger hunters. He had been mocked, stepped on, and finally, abandoned.
The massive shadow of the Dungeon Boss, a Twin-Headed Ogre, loomed over him. Its clubs were stained with his friends' lives. As the Ogre raised its weapon for the final blow, Jin closed his eyes.
'If there is a God... just once... let me be the one who does the stepping.'
[CRITICAL ERROR DETECTED.]
A cold, crystalline voice shattered the silence of his mind.
[The World Laws have failed to process the death of 'Han Jin'.]
[Searching for a solution...]
[Glitch System found. Integrating...]
"What...?" Jin's eyes snapped open, but he wasn't in the dungeon anymore. He was surrounded by blinding white light and floating lines of green code.
[Temporal Rewind Initiated.]
[Host has been granted the 'Anomaly' status.]
[Welcome to the First Day, Sovereign.]
Suddenly, the light vanished.
A loud, piercing alarm blared in his ears. Jin flinched, falling off his seat. He felt cold, hard floorboards beneath him, not the blood-soaked stone of a dungeon.
He looked at his hands. Two hands. His left arm was back. He looked around. He was in a small, cramped apartment—his old apartment in Seoul. On the TV, a news reporter was speaking with a panicked voice:
"Breaking News: Mysterious portals, now being called 'Gates,' have appeared simultaneously in major cities across the globe. Citizens are advised to—"
Jin's heart hammered against his ribs. June 14th. The Day of Awakening.
He had returned ten years into the past.
[Ping!]
[System successfully synchronized.]
[Name: Han Jin]
[Level: 1]
[Unique Ability: Glitch (Rank: ?)]
[Current Effect: You can ignore one requirement of any skill or item.]
A predatory smile spread across Jin's face. This time, he wasn't a carrier. He was the bug in the system.