Grit was pressing into his cheek.
Kim Jiseok's eyes snapped open.
Dust motes danced in the shafts of dim light cutting through the high windows. Around him, heavy wooden crates lay splintered, and several cardboard boxes were scattered across the concrete floor.
'This place...'
He knew this suffocating smell of stale cardboard and industrial lubricant.
This was the logistics center in Incheon. The dead-end job he'd worked before, sweating for a pittance just to cover the rent on a moldy semi-basement studio and keep the debt collectors from banging on his door.
'No way.'
His heart hammered against his ribs.
"Hey! You crazy bastard! Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
The roar shattered his confusion.
Kim Jiseok looked up. A group of men in grime-stained PPE, hard hats, and neon-orange hi-vis vests were surrounding him. Their faces were twisted in varying degrees of annoyance and mockery.
It was this exact moment.
Something flickered in his peripheral vision.
Whoosh.
True to his memory, a dark-blue translucent window materialized in the air, hovering just inches from his nose.
[You have the potential to awaken.]
In the past, this window had been his undoing. He had been so startled by the sudden apparition that he'd scrambled backward, knocking over a towering stack of fragile labeled boxes and falling flat on his ass.
That stumble had been the green light for his slaughter.
Kim Jiseok looked at the man standing directly over him.
Park Sangho. The senior worker.
'Back then, this fucker beat the shit out of me even before the message popped up.'
He had started swinging the moment Kim Jiseok's back hit the floor.
"What are you staring at, you piece of shit? You think if you lie there like a corpse, the work will do itself?"
Park Sangho's face was beet-red, his eyes bulging.
"What's with that gaze, you fucker..."
Park Sangho drew his arm back and threw a heavy, telegraphed punch toward Kim Jiseok's face.
Grab.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh rang out.
Kim Jiseok didn't flinch. He caught the punch, his fingers locking around Park Sangho's wrist mid-air.
"...What?" Park Sangho blinked, stunned.
Kim Jiseok didn't give him a second to process. He tightened his grip and twisted.
CRACK.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
The sound of snapping finger bones was crisp. Kim Jiseok continued the twist, forcing the senior worker to his knees. Park Sangho screamed in agony, his face hitting the concrete as he clutched his mangled hand.
Kim Jiseok stood up slowly, looking down at the kneeling man. He didn't let go of the fingers and squeezed harder.
'Because of this guy...'
His internal monologue was a snarl filled with anger and resentment.
In the past, the other workers had joined in the beating because Kim Jiseok had knocked over the loads.
He was used as the scapegoat. The employer had known Kim Jiseok wasn't at fault, but Park Sangho was the owner's son—a disgusting, entitled nepo baby.
To protect his son's record, the owner had pinned the entire cost of the damaged goods on Kim Jiseok. It had added millions of won in debt to his name, ruining his life before the apocalypse even truly began.
"You... you crazy... Get him! Kill this bastard!" Park Sangho wheezed.
Three of the lackeys—workers who usually followed Park Sangho for extra cigarette money moved in.
The first one lunged, swinging a heavy wrench.
Kim Jiseok stepped into the man's space. The wrench swished past his ear. He drove a palm into the man's solar plexus.
Thud.
The air left the lackey's lungs in a violent spray of spit and he folded.
Before Kim Jiseok could reset, the second man's punch caught him square on the jaw.
Crack.
Kim Jiseok's head snapped to the side.
'Damn it.'
He spat a glob of blood onto the floor.
'Even though it's my body, it feels heavy to maneuver. The stats aren't there yet.'
His muscles were weak and his stamina was pathetic.
'But... it's still my body.'
The third and fourth lackeys rushed him simultaneously.
Kim Jiseok ducked a wide hook from the third man, using the momentum to sweep the second man's leg. As the second man stumbled, Kim Jiseok delivered a brutal elbow to the third man's floating ribs.
Snap.
He didn't stop. He grabbed the fourth man by the collar of his hi-vis vest, pulling him forward while driving a knee into his gut.
Bam! Bam!
Two hits. The man's eyes rolled back as he collapsed.
Kim Jiseok turned back to the second man trying to scramble up. He delivered a roundhouse kick that connected perfectly with the man's temple.
Thwack.
The three lackeys lay groaning or unconscious on the floor. They looked at Kim Jiseok with pure terror.
'Is this kid... a monster?'
'Was he secretly a martial arts trainee? How can he move like that?'
Park Sangho, still on his knees, was trembling. His face was a mask of snot and tears.
"You... you're dead! Do you know who my father is? He owns this entire company! You're fired! I'll sue you for everything you have!"
Kim Jiseok looked down at him as if he were a cockroach.
"I don't give a flying fuck."
"Matter of fact, I quit."
'It doesn't matter.'
He knew the truth. Within the hour, currency would become worthless. Titles would become jokes.
'The world is about to change.'
Kim Jiseok reached up and unbuckled the hard hat hanging from his neck by the straps. He flung it across Park Sangho's face.
Clang!
The plastic shell smashed into Park Sangho's face, breaking his nose.
Kim Jiseok then peeled off his sweaty, grime-covered hi-vis vest. He threw it on the ground in front of the three who were struggling to stay on their feet.
They flinched, moving back as the vest hit the floor.
Kim Jiseok walked toward the exit.
As he passed, his heavy work boot came down directly on the already broken hand of Park Sangho.
"ARRRRGH!"
Kim Jiseok didn't even look back.
Thirty minutes later.
Kim Jiseok was at a small, deserted park a few blocks away.
98... 99... 100.
He pushed himself up from the grass, his chest heaving. His arms were shaking.
'Training for a bit won't do much, but it'll help open up my lungs and increase stamina for the first trial.'
He looked at the sky.
Back then, humanity had been given a year to conquer the 100th floor but failed and apocalypse descended.
Thinking about it made him furious.
After all he did consider most of what lead to humanity's destruction was all because of his empathy.
He clenched his fists so hard his nails drew blood.
'I was the one who gave away the most powerful items and skills in the name of working together to clear floors and save humanity... Fuck.'
He cursed under his breath.
He dropped to the grass and hammered out sit-ups before sitting on a bench. He took out a water bottle and drank.
Suddenly—
RUMBLE.
An earthquake shook everything.
It was massive. In the distance, people began observing something coming out of the ground.
"What the hell?!"
"Look over there!"
Civilians in the park were shouting in shock. A colossal cylindrical structure protruded from the ground, piercing the sky so far up the top couldn't be seen.
Chaos erupted.
Car alarms and sirens could be heard minutes later. People were running, wondering what that thing was.
The earthquake hadn't stopped at a single tremor. It was a rhythmic, violent upheaval that felt as if the earth itself was retching.
In pockets of silence between the rumbles, the sound of millions of smartphones began to scream.
[Emergency Alert]
[Multiple high-magnitude earthquakes reported nationwide. Structural collapses confirmed in Seoul, Incheon, and Busan. Casualties are estimated to be extreme. Please evacuate to open spaces immediately.]
[Public Safety Announcement]
[Unidentified massive structures have breached the surface in all major metropolitan areas. Do not approach the structures. Martial law is being considered.]
The internet was a battlefield of refreshing tabs and failing servers. On global forums and social media, the feed was a chaotic blur of panicked uploads.
[Breaking] Massive black pillar spotted in Times Square. It's taller than the Burj Khalifa.
[Live] The Eiffel Tower has been pushed aside by a stone cylinder. Paris is in ruins.
[Thread] Is this the end? My house is gone. My family is trapped. What the hell are these towers?
The confusion didn't last long.
The sky, once a pale afternoon blue, began to thicken. It turned a heavy, suffocating gold, as if the atmosphere had been replaced by molten metal.
Then, a voice spoke.
It didn't come from a speaker or a screen. It resonated inside the marrow of every human bone.
[Ah, can you bugs hear me? Test, test.]
High above the clouds, a figure descended.
It was an Angel.
It had four wings that spanned the horizon, glowing with a light so fierce it forced the world to squint. Its hair was a river of silk-white, matching eyebrows that framed eyes devoid of pupils.
But as the light dimmed enough for the cameras to zoom in, the grace vanished.
The Angel's fingers ended in obsidian-sharp claws. When it parted its lips to speak, it's canines were vampiric fangs glistened. This wasn't a messenger of mercy.
[Ugh, look at you all. Scurrying around like ants in a flooded nest. Honestly, it's a bit pathetic.]
The Angel leaned back in the air as if lounging on an invisible sofa, its expression one of pure, playful disgust.
[Listen up, everyone! Your world was boring and truly, painfully dull. Just a stagnant pond of rotting water. So, the High Gods decided to give you a little project so they don't die of boredom watching you live your miserable lives.]
The Angel spread its wings, and the golden sky rippled.
[See those big black things? That's the Abyssal Tower. We've set up some trials inside just for you. You get to climb, you get to struggle... it'll be great entertainment. And hey, for the ones who don't die immediately, there are rewards even your tiny brains couldn't dream up.]
The Angel chuckled, a sound like glass breaking.
[You'll get 'Stats' to fix those fragile bodies of yours. Skill cards and items to grant you overwhelming strength and power. Oh, and if any of you actually manage to be interesting, a god might even look down and give you a Stigma. You'd get to be an 'Apostle.']
The Angel's face contorted into a terrifying, toothy grin.
[But try to keep it moving, okay? You have exactly 364 days to hit the 100th floor. If you're still stuck down here when the timer runs out... well, we'll just throw the whole planet away and start over. Have fun!]
Shortly after a timer appeared.
「Time left until humanity's destruction: [363 Days:23 Hours:59 Minutes:59 Seconds]」
Kim Jiseok stood in the park, his eyes narrowed as he watched the golden silhouette in the sky.
'This announcement is being made to everyone by multiple angels at the same time...'
He knew the script by heart. The global broadcast of the apocalypse.
Immediately, the digital world went into a meltdown. The sheer volume of traffic crashed major platforms before they could even stabilize.
└ Is this a joke? Which movie studio is doing this? The CGI is insane.
└ CGI? My house is literally under that thing. This isn't a movie, you idiot.
└ └ No way a building that big can come from the ground without a crater. It's a hologram.
└ It's a collective hallucination. Some kind of gas leak?
└ └ A gas leak that hit the whole planet at once? Use your brain.
└ I saw a blue window this morning. It said I had potential. I thought I was sleep-deprived.
└ └ Me too! I thought I was playing too many RPGs. It vanished after five minutes.
└ Is the government in on this? Why aren't the jets shooting that thing down?
└ └ My brother is in the Air Force. He said their systems won't even lock on. It's like the Angel isn't "there."
└ Do you guys really believe this? Path-etic. It's clearly a New World Order psyop.
└ Look at the Nutube link I just posted. This is real.
└ └ Link is dead. Everything is getting censored.
└ If it's real, we're all dead anyway. 100 floors in a year? We can't even fix a pothole in a year.
└ Where do we sign up? I want those skill cards.
└ └ Go to the tower then. I'll wait for the military to handle it.
└ Did he say 'Gods'? Which ones? I need to know who to pray to.
└ This is just a promotion for that new VR game, right? Right...?
└ └ A promotion that kills millions in earthquakes? Great marketing.
└ My phone has a countdown timer on the lock screen now. It won't go away.
└ └ 363 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes. We're actually dying.
└ I'm going. Better to die climbing than sit here waiting for the world to end.
└ └ └ Good luck, NPC. I'm staying in my bunker.
---
Kim Jiseok stood tall, his eyes fixed on the black tower.
Ping.
A window message popped up before Kim Jiseok.
[The balance of the world has been shifted.]
[Would you like to enter the Abyssal Tower?]