CHAPTER 1
Beep—.
A red light spread from the measuring band wrapped around Sang-hyuk’s wrist.
[Awakening conditions have not been met.]
Kim Seo-yoon’s hand stopped.
She removed the resonance pads attached to Sang-hyuk’s arm one by one.
The edges of the pads, which had been reapplied countless times, were worn down.
“The waveform came up a little late.”
“Let’s increase the stimulus intensity and try just once more—”
“Noona.”
Sang-hyuk rose from the examination table.
“This is already the seventh time today.”
Kim Seo-yoon fell silent.
The same results were lined up across the examination screen in front of her.
When she swiped upward, records stretching back several years appeared, differing only in their dates.
One of the shelves in the corner of the examination room was also filled with boxes.
Each box was marked with Sang-hyuk’s name and the date of his examination.
The writing on the lowest box had blurred so badly that it was barely legible.
[Name] Kim Sang-hyuk
[Classification] Conditional Awakened
[Trait Name] ???
[Trait Hierarchy] ???
[Status] Awakening conditions have not been met.
The Infinite Tower had chosen Sang-hyuk.
And yet, his trait remained locked.
A player who had to discover the conditions before he could gain his power.
The world called people like that Conditional Awakened.
Sang-hyuk had spent years searching for the conditions that would unlock his awakening.
Kim Seo-yoon had remained by his side, repeating the tests countless times.
As the results piled up, fewer and fewer families came to the testing room, but she alone never left.
“Let’s take a short break and try again.”
“You can stop.”
“No.”
Kim Seo-yoon threw away the old pads and tore open a new package.
“There’s definitely something there.”
“Your status window is different from that of ordinary Conditional Awakened.”
Vroooom—!
Just then, a low vibration cut her off.
The ceiling lights went out, and red emergency lights came on.
The screens covering the walls of the examination room all lit up at once.
[Beginning the settlement of the Republic of Korea’s National Achievement.]
[National Stability Requirement] 1,500,000
[Current National Achievement Points] 480,000
[Insufficient Points] 1,020,000
As the final line appeared, the air inside the examination room froze.
A commotion spread through the hallway, and researchers crowded around the open doorway.
After the Infinite Tower appeared, National Achievement had effectively become a survival score.
Reality would crack open by however much the required amount was not met.
Korea had fallen short every time.
But this time, even the number of digits was different from before.
[The insufficient points exceed 1,000,000.]
[The conditions for opening a Catastrophe-Class Rift have been met.]
The sky over Seoul displayed on the screen split apart.
At first, it was nothing more than a thin black line.
The line stretched open along the Han River, and blood-red lightning poured out from within.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The windows of the high-rise buildings burst like waves.
The roads heaved upward, causing the vehicles traveling along them to crash into one another.
The moment the people on the screen looked up, a gigantic hand descended from inside the split sky.
Boom!
This time, the impact struck outside the screen.
The walls of the underground research facility shook, and ceiling panels rained down onto the floor.
Kim Seo-yoon grabbed Sang-hyuk’s arm.
“Let’s get out.”
The two of them ran into the hallway.
The testing facility beyond the emergency door had already gone dark.
A large equipment crate blocking the entrance was knocked over by the vibrations.
Prototype devices shaped like wrist guards rolled across the floor.
[Ilseong Mass-Production Magic Defense Module]
[First Field Suitability Verification: Unsuitable]
Layers of red sealing stickers covered the box.
After the Player Era began, Ilseong had always been one step behind.
They had money and factories, but they had failed to produce equipment that players could trust and use inside the Tower.
Even their final attempt at developing defensive equipment had failed verification.
The sealed testing facility was the result.
Then Kim Seo-yoon’s phone rang.
[Incoming Video Call: Kim Do-hyun]
Kim Seo-yoon answered the call.
On the screen, Kim Do-hyun was dressed in a suit covered in dust as he directed the employees to evacuate.
– Seo-yoon, get the people underground out through the north exit.
“Where are you, Father?”
– The main building.
At that moment, the screen split in two as Kim Sang-joon joined the call.
Blood running from his forehead had soaked one of his eyebrows.
– The west gate has collapsed.
– I’ll divert the transport vehicles through the underground passage.
– Check the remaining people first.
Kim Do-hyun put an injured employee onto the elevator before looking back at the camera.
– What about Sang-hyuk?
“He’s with me.”
– Put him on the non-combatant transport vehicle first.
Sang-hyuk silently opened the hand he had been clenching.
Deep nail marks were embedded in his palm.
Non-combatant.
That was the label attached to him because he had been chosen but had failed to gain any power.
Kim Seo-yoon immediately grabbed Sang-hyuk’s wrist and ran outside the research building.
Outside was a chaotic mess of smoke and people.
One side of the parking lot had collapsed, and the injured were being carried out on doors that had been torn off their hinges.
Kim Seo-yoon brought Sang-hyuk to the front of the transport vehicle.
“Get in.”
“You come with me, too.”
A groan came from beneath the collapsed exterior wall.
A researcher whose leg was pinned beneath a steel pillar was reaching out a hand.
Kim Seo-yoon’s gaze turned toward him.
“I’ll get that person out first.”
“Noona.”
“I’ll catch up soon.”
Kim Seo-yoon pushed Sang-hyuk into the vehicle and ran toward the trapped researcher.
The transport vehicle’s doors closed.
The moment Sang-hyuk grabbed the handle, the ground directly behind the vehicle split wide open.
Boom!
The transport vehicle was thrown high into the air.
The driver immediately stepped on the accelerator.
As the transport vehicle escaped the parking lot, the collapsing exterior wall blocked Sang-hyuk’s view of Kim Seo-yoon.
Sang-hyuk pulled out his phone and immediately called Kim Seo-yoon.
The ringing continued for a long time.
It was the same when he called again.
He tried Kim Do-hyun and Kim Sang-joon one after another, but neither of them answered either.
Then, belatedly, a voice message from Kim Seo-yoon arrived.
Her voice came through in broken fragments amid explosions and static.
– Sang-hyuk.
– I’m sorry I couldn’t find your awakening conditions in the end.
Static continued for a long time.
– Even so, your trait definitely isn’t ordinary.
– So don’t give up.
– No matter what happens, survive.
The message ended there.
Sang-hyuk squeezed his eyes shut.
His tightly clenched fists trembled.
He felt suffocated, as though he could no longer breathe.
Meanwhile, when the transport vehicle emerged aboveground, he saw Seoul engulfed in flames.
Even the glass walls of the distant Ilseong headquarters were being consumed by fire.
The Ilseong insignia at the top of the building flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The moment the lights went completely dark, the upper floors of the main building collapsed into the smoke.
Sang-hyuk opened his status window again.
[Trait Name] ???
[Trait Hierarchy] ???
[Status] Awakening conditions have not been met.
Even as Korea crumbled, that one line remained unchanged.
—
Three years later.
Clank.
The iron gates of a Japanese refugee camp locked shut.
Those who had received their rations sat on the cafeteria floor.
A yellowed band was wrapped around Sang-hyuk’s wrist.
[Nationality] Republic of Korea
[Status] Refugee
[Classification] Non-combatant
The opening match of the Dimension League was being broadcast on the large screen at the front of the cafeteria.
It was the day when the eight-year preparation period humanity had received from the Infinite Tower came to an end.
The world’s elite players stood in the arena on the screen.
Familiar information appeared above the man at the front.
[Representative of Planet Earth]
[First Throne] <Changcheon>
[World Ranking No. 1]
[Lv. 102]
Gasps of excitement erupted throughout the cafeteria.
“Changcheon is out.”
“The First Throne came out personally.”
“We can hold out this time.”
“All Sixteen Thrones and the ranked players from every country are here, too.”
“We can win.”
Korea had fallen, but the world’s great powers were still standing.
At the forefront stood powerful figures whom Sang-hyuk could never have reached even if he devoted his entire life to the pursuit.
People believed they would protect humanity.
The Korean mother and child sitting beside Sang-hyuk believed the same.
The mother divided the bread she had received and handed the larger piece to her child, but the child could not take his eyes off the screen.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“If those people win, can we go home, too?”
The mother’s hand stopped for a moment as she held out the bread.
Then she gently stroked the child’s head and forced a smile.
“Yes.”
“If they win, we can go back.”
Only then did the child take the bread.
At that moment, a roar erupted from the screen.
As Changcheon raised his sword, the Thrones and elite players from every country standing behind him raised their weapons in unison.
It was the strongest force humanity could put forward.
Changcheon kicked off the ground at the front and swung his sword.
Blue light erupted from the blade and swallowed half of the arena.
Opposite him, a giant in a black helmet raised a long sword.
The giant swung his sword once from where he stood.
Slash!
The blue light that had swallowed the arena split in half and vanished.
Changcheon’s sword was cut cleanly in two along with it.
A beat later, his armor split open and blood gushed out.
Changcheon’s body, cleaved in two, fell to the arena floor.
The cheers inside the cafeteria died.
The strongest man in the world had been killed with a single stroke.
The Thrones and ranked players from every country who rushed forward were no different.
Every time the giant swung his sword, the players’ bodies and equipment were cleaved apart together.
Even the counterattacks they desperately unleashed failed to leave so much as a scratch on his armor.
When the last ranked player fell, red letters covered the screen.
「The Dimension League opening match has ended.」
「Planet Earth has been defeated.」
「The dominion of the defeated civilization belongs to the victorious dimension.」
The child’s hands trembled around the bread.
The mother pulled the child into her arms, but this time she could not say anything.
It wasn’t only Korea that had been weak.
Korea had simply fallen first.
And the moment the final sentence on the screen disappeared.
Boom!
The refugee camp’s iron gate bent inward.
Before the people could even rise from their seats, a second impact struck.
Boom!
Thick gray fingers pushed through the gap in the gate.
Two enormous hands seized the doors and tore them apart from both sides, ripping the thick iron plates like paper.
The players standing guard unleashed their skills at the creature.
Crash!
Flames and blades engulfed the giant’s body, but not even a scratch appeared on its gray skin.
The nearly three-meter-tall giant ducked as it passed through the torn gate.
Yellowed fangs showed between its ash-gray lips.
「The occupation of the Japanese Archipelago has begun.」
「Ruling Race: <Gigant Orc>」
That day, the end of humanity began.
—
Eight months later.
A small hand reached across the worktable.
A mana stone no bigger than a thumbnail rolled into Sang-hyuk’s basket.
[48/50]
The number changed to 48.
Sang-hyuk picked up the mana stone and placed it in the adjacent basket.
“Fill yours first.”
The gaunt child moved only his lips as he smiled.
It was the child who had asked at the Japanese refugee camp if they could go home.
A shackle thicker than the child’s arm was fastened around his wrist.
Three months ago, the child’s mother had been carried out of the worksite on a stretcher and never returned.
Since that day, Sang-hyuk had always divided his ration of bread in two and placed the larger piece in front of the child.
Sometimes, the child would hold out a mana stone as if trying to repay that debt.
Clank.
Clank.
A mine cart loaded with ore was dragged along by chains.
Every time its wheels passed over the grooves in the floor, black stone dust spilled out.
Hundreds of humans were lying facedown in the underground cavern, picking blue mana stones from piles of ore and placing them into their respective baskets.
No one straightened their backs.
It was because of the footsteps moving between the worktables.
Thump.
Thump.
Every time the gray feet pressed against the floor, the surfaces of the water bowls trembled, and the metal ring attached to the end of a leather whip scraped across the stone floor.
A <Gigant Orc> overseer.
It took the creature seven minutes to make one round.
Sang-hyuk had memorized even the intervals between its footsteps and the direction in which its whip dragged across the floor.
There was only one reason Sang-hyuk, who wasn’t even a player, had managed to survive here for eight months.
Never raise his head.
Never stop his hands.
Never interfere in other people’s business.
Always choose the option with the highest chance of survival.
That was why, this time as well, Sang-hyuk kept his head lowered and placed the final mana stone into his basket.
[50/50]
He had completed today’s quota.
For a brief moment, he felt relieved and even a little proud that he had survived another day.
Then, a sound came from beside him.
Rattle.
The mana stone slipped from the child’s hand and fell beneath the worktable.
The child reached blindly into the air several times as though trying to grab it.
But the small body, which had already been forced to work night shifts for days, had reached its limit.
Soon, the child’s eyelids closed, and his body tilted forward.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
The bell announcing the end of work rang.
At the same time, metal covers dropped over every basket, and the quantities collected were finalized as they stood.
[Daily quota not met]
[Number of offenders: 1]
[Number subject to collective ration deduction: 10]
The overseer’s footsteps stopped.
“Grrrk.”
The creature turned around and walked over, checking the numbers above each basket one by one.
Eventually, the gray feet stopped in front of the child.
[49/50]
The child belatedly opened his eyes.
He groped beneath the worktable, but the mana stone he had dropped was nowhere to be seen.
“One of you failed to fill your quota.”
“Looks like ten of you will go hungry.”
The overseer unwound its whip.
Dark red blood had dried between the metal rings.
It was a whip that even adults could not withstand for three strikes.
The people around them stepped back one by one.
No one made eye contact with the child.
Sang-hyuk did not move either.
If he stepped forward for no reason, he would only die a pointless death here.
The overseer would make an example of him as well.
If he stayed still, he could receive his ration today and survive until tomorrow.
The child, on the other hand, was already too weak.
Even if he got through this, how many more days could he possibly last?
The calculation was complete.
He already knew the answer.
The overseer raised the arm holding the whip.
The child did not even beg for his life.
He merely curled up on the floor and covered his head with both arms.
The shackle around the child’s wrist struck his cheek.
Tap.
Then, the mana stone slipped from Sang-hyuk’s hand.
‘Damn it.’
Sang-hyuk’s foot moved forward.
And then he shoved the child’s shoulder.
The moment the small body rolled beside the pile of ore, the whip lashed across Sang-hyuk’s left shoulder.
Crack!
The metal rings tore through his work clothes and dug into his flesh, while the force drove his knee into the floor.
“Guh…!”
When the overseer yanked the whip back, the embedded metal rings tore away flesh as they came free.
“A bug protecting another bug.”
The giant foot pressed down on Sang-hyuk’s chest.
Crack!
His ribs bent inward.
Blood that had surged all the way up his throat spilled from his mouth.
Sang-hyuk tried to push himself up with his elbow, but he could not summon any strength into his arm.
It was the price he paid for breaking the rules he had followed for eight months.
Just as the overseer raised its foot again.
At the edge of Sang-hyuk’s vision, an elderly worker moved.
He grabbed the child by the collar and dragged him behind the pile of ore.
The child’s small feet disappeared into the darkness.
The child had survived.
‘…Good enough, then.’
The enormous foot that had lifted up came crashing down on Sang-hyuk’s chest again.
The sound of bones breaking echoed inside his body.
This time, he could not even scream.
As his vision blurred, the image of the collapsing Ilseong headquarters surfaced in his mind.
The moments when contact with his family had been severed one by one and the sight of the First Throne, the representative of Earth, being cleaved in half flashed through his mind in succession.
Every time, Sang-hyuk had done nothing but watch.
But at the very end, he had managed to protect one small child.
The overseer’s foot rose again.
This time, it was above Sang-hyuk’s head.
‘Like this….’
Just as Sang-hyuk gave up on everything and was about to close his eyes.
[Awakening conditions have been met.]
His fading vision stopped.
Sang-hyuk wondered if he had seen it wrong.
For years, the sentence embedded in his status window had always been the same.
[Awakening conditions have not been met.]
But not now.
A completely different sentence was clearly floating before his eyes.
[Awakening conditions have been met.]
‘Now?’
He had no idea why he had met the conditions at this exact moment, right before death.
Soon, new letters appeared.
[Trait Name] <Heart of the Apocalypse Demon Dragon>
Awakening.
It was the moment he had waited for so long.
But of all times, it had happened right before his death.
Even amid the excruciating pain, a hollow laugh escaped him.
‘Infinite Tower… you bastard.’
It felt as though it was mocking him right up until the very last moment.
At that instant.
His slowing heart contracted violently.
Thump.
Hot blood instantly surged throughout his entire body.
Blackness began spreading from the edges of his vision.
「Special Benefit Activated.」
The orc’s foot was already descending right in front of him.
But a new sentence appeared before it could reach him.
「Reversing time.」
The descending foot stopped in midair and then rose again.
The blood on the floor rose into red droplets and flowed back into Sang-hyuk’s mouth and wounds.
The torn wound on his shoulder closed, and his crushed ribs returned to their original positions.
Even the mine cart that had moved away rattled backward into its original position.
The black stone dust scattered across the floor rose into the air and was sucked back into the mine cart.
Even as everything moved backward, Sang-hyuk’s heart continued to beat powerfully.
The world.
Began to rewind.
