Hyun-Jae's eyes snapped open.
He sucked in a sharp breath and bolted upright, heart pounding violently against his ribs. White light flooded his vision, and the smell of disinfectant replaced smoke and ash.
"…Hah-!"
"Easy," a calm voice said. "You're awake."
Hyun-Jae blinked rapidly, his breathing slowing as the room came into focus. Pale curtains. A small bed. Cabinets filled with medical supplies.
The nurse's office.
His body felt heavy, every muscle sore, drained, aching like he'd been wrung dry. He lifted a hand and pressed it to his face, warm skin confirming what his eyes already told him.
School.
Not the ruins from years ago.
"…Right," he muttered.
He must've collapsed during training period again.
The nurse watched him carefully. "You pushed yourself too hard. Again. You were out for several minutes this time."
"Sorry," Hyun-Jae said automatically.
She sighed, clearly unconvinced he meant it. "I understand that you want to awaken by pushing your physical limits..."
"but some of us just won't and I don't want you to wasting your energy like this"
He nodded.
This wasn't new to him.
Passing out from exhaustion had happened more than once over the years, training too hard, ignoring limits, refusing to stop even when his body screamed at him to rest. Teachers had scolded him. Doctors had warned him.
None of it had changed anything.
Hyun-Jae swung his legs off the bed slowly, the lingering images from his dream still clinging stubbornly to his thoughts.
The grin.
The words.
Ten years.
"…I'm fine," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.
The nurse studied him for a moment, then shook her head. "Sit for a bit longer. I'll write you a note."
Hyun-Jae leaned back against the bed, staring at the ceiling.
It had been a dream.
He knew that.
And yet, his heart refused to calm, and his fists clenched on their own.
Because some dreams didn't feel like dreams at all.
They felt like memories.
---
The rest of the school day passed in a gray, static blur.
Hyun-Jae moved through the hallways like a ghost.
The voices of his classmates, their laughter, their petty dramas about exams and crushes, sounded like they were coming from the other side of a thick pane of glass.
He sat through his final lectures with his notebook open. The pages remained blank.
As he walked home, the sun began to dip behind the jagged skyline of the "healed" city.
He stopped at a crosswalk, his eyes drifting upward.
High above Seoul, the massive, translucent timer shimmered in the sky.
[ 30 Days : 14 Hours : 22 Minutes ]
One month left.
Ten years of waiting was finally coming to an end, and the world was vibrating with a desperate, frantic energy.
Revenge.
The word felt heavy in his mind. Almost foolish.
Even if he did manage to awaken in this final month, what would actually change?
He thought back to the beings from ten years ago. He thought about the "imitations" that had leveled cities without trying.
Even if I awaken now...
A cold, cynical clarity settled over him as he walked the streets.
Even if he became the strongest human on the planet, it wouldn't matter. He had seen what they were.
He wanted his revenge, but realistically? He wouldn't even be a speck of dust on their armor.
He passed a shop window and caught his reflection. Average. Tired. Ordinary.
"Maybe the nurse was right," he whispered.
His voice was swallowed by the rumble of a distant construction crane.
"Maybe I don't need to awaken. Because even if I do... I won't even make a dent."
The thought should have been crushing.
Instead, it felt like a strange sort of liberation. A hollow, dark kind of peace.
Hyun-Jae turned the corner toward his neighborhood, his mind still heavy with the thought of his own irrelevance.
Then he stopped.
In a narrow alleyway, tucked between two buildings that had been rebuilt only a few years ago, he saw three figures.
A woman was backed against a wall. Her hands were shaking as she handed over a thick wad of cash to the two men standing over her.
Despite the imminent threat of the Celestials, humanity had tried desperately to maintain a sense of normalcy. People still went to work; they still earned a living. Seeing a robbery like this wasn't supposed to be a common sight.
Hyun-Jae's first instinct was to keep walking.
It's not my problem.
He watched as the taller man took the money and stuffed it into his pocket. But they didn't move. They didn't leave.
Instead, the man stepped closer, a predatory look crossing his face. He reached out, his fingers brushing against the woman's hair as she tried to shrink away. They had the money, but they clearly had other ideas.
Hyun-Jae's body moved before his mind could catch up.
His hand dipped down, his fingers closing around a heavy, jagged rock from a pile of construction debris.
Clack.
He threw it with the precision he had spent years practicing.
The rock sailed through the air toward the man's head.
The man didn't even flinch. Without turning his body, his hand shot out, catching the stone mid-air with a sickening thud.
Hyun-Jae froze.
The man turned, his eyes locking onto Hyun-Jae. Slowly, he tightened his grip. The rock didn't just break, it was crushed into dust, trickling through his fingers like sand.
"Run!" Hyun-Jae shouted to the woman.
She didn't hesitate. Seizing the distraction, she bolted toward the street, her footsteps echoing frantically as she disappeared into the light of the main road.
The two men didn't chase her. They didn't care about the money anymore. They looked annoyed, furious that a brat had interrupted them.
Hyun-Jae turned to run, hoping to lead them away, but he didn't even make it three steps.
The second man was already there, blocking the exit. He had moved with a speed that no human should possess.
Hyun-Jae was cornered.
The two men stepped into the dim light. As they moved, the shadows shifted, revealing the skin of their necks.
Hyun-Jae's breath hitched.
Two distinct, black lines were etched into their skin.
Two marks.
His blood ran cold. He hadn't just picked a fight with common thugs.
He had picked a fight with two D-Ranks.
And for an unawakened like him, this wasn't just a mistake. It was a death sentence.
They closed the distance, their footsteps heavy and deliberate.
Hyun-Jae held up his hands, palms open.
"Look, she's gone," he said, his voice straining to stay steady. "You got the money too. Just let it go. There's no point in this."
They didn't listen. One of them let out a low, guttural chuckle that made the hair on the back of Hyun-Jae's neck stand up.
"The point is you interfered, kid," the man said.
Hyun-Jae realized then that words were useless. De-escalation didn't work on people who felt they were gods among men just because they had a couple of marks on their skin.
He had to fight and he had to throw the first blow.
Before the man could react, Hyun-Jae lunged forward. He threw a punch with every ounce of strength he had developed during his years of training.
Thud.
His fist connected with the man's jaw. It felt like hitting a brick wall, but the impact was enough to snap the man's head back.
Hyun-Jae didn't wait to see the damage. He spun around and bolted for the alley's exit.
He was fast. Faster than any normal student.
But he wasn't Awakened.
A hand caught the back of his collar, jerking him off his feet with terrifying force. He was slammed into the ground, the air rushing out of his lungs in a pained wheeze.
"You little brat!"
The first blow caught him in the ribs. The second in the stomach.
They began to beat him, their movements fueled by petty spite.
"Look at this," one of them laughed, slamming a boot into Hyun-Jae's side. "Ten years of warning, and you're still just... nothing. No marks. No power. Just a bug under my shoe."
"Why even bother?" the other mocked, grabbing Hyun-Jae by the hair and slamming his face into the dirt. "Did you think a hero's heart makes up for Etherea? You're just trash."
Hyun-Jae tasted copper and dirt. With every blow, his mind spiraled.
I'm so stupid, he thought, his vision blurring. Why did I stop? I knew I wasn't enough. I knew I couldn't make a dent, and yet I still acted like I could.
His years of training felt like a cruel joke. Thousands of push-ups, miles of running, all of it rendered meaningless by two lines on a thug's neck. He felt pathetic.
Yet, as the thugs continued, their mockery turned to a strange, flickering annoyance.
"Tch, why won't he just stay down?" the taller one muttered.
"He's took five hits that should have knocked him out," the other replied, his brow furrowing. "For an unawakened... he's abnormally sturdy. It's irritating."
They expected him to break. They expected him to beg.
But Hyun-Jae's fingers clawed at the dirt, finding another jagged stone. As one of the men leaned in to grab him again, Hyun-Jae swung with the last of his strength.
Slash.
The rock caught the man across the cheek, leaving a thin, red line.
"He cut me!" the man hissed, touching the blood. "This unawakened trash actually drew my blood!"
Hyun-Jae scrambled back, his legs shaking. The exit was right there. He was so close. Only five more meters. If he was only a little bit faster, just a fraction of a second, he would have made it.
They recovered instantly, their annoyance turning into a cold, murderous rage.
One of them tackled him, pinning him face-down against the cold, hard asphalt.
"Enough games," the man growled.
A sharp, sickening crack echoed through the alley.
Hyun-Jae's scream was muffled against the ground as he felt the bone in his arm snap. Then his leg. The pain was absolute, washing away his thoughts.
If I was just a little faster, he lamented, his consciousness slipping. If I had just awakened... I could have stood a chance. I wouldn't have been so... powerless.
He closed his eyes, the weight of his own failure finally crushing him.
Thump.
The pressure on his back vanished instantly.
A sharp wind whipped through the alley, carrying the scent of something cold and sharp.
Hyun-Jae forced his eyes open, his head lolling to the side.
The two D-Ranks were no longer standing. They were slumped against the brick walls, unconscious before they had even realized they were being attacked.
He looked up, his vision blurry and fading.
Perched on the edge of the building roof above him was a girl. She looked to be right around his age, her silhouette framed by the dim light of the city.
She didn't say a word. She simply looked down at the wreckage of the fight she had ended in a single heartbeat.
Hyun-Jae couldn't hold on any longer.
The darkness finally took him.