Haejin Suho was not special.
Not in the normal sense at least. He was a young teenager, athletic, smart, friendly, but those qualities aren't the key to survival and success in this world.
It's magical power.
Oh yeah, I forgot.
Haejin Suho was the strongest being to ever exist.
Unfortunately, he hadn't awakened a single ability. Not a spark. Not a flicker. Nada.
Which is why, on the morning of the national Awakening Exam, he was far more concerned about his toast.
It was burnt.
Again.
He stared at it like it had personally betrayed him. "How is this level five on the dial? This is incineration."
He tried to poke it with a chopstick. The toast snapped in half with a sound like brittle bones. He ate it anyway.
Somewhere deep within his soul, four dormant skill trees stirred.
He burped.
"Ugh. I think I got food poisoning," he muttered, patting his stomach.
System Notification:[No skills detected. Please awaken at least one (1) skill tree before attempting to manifest indigestion.]
"Figures."
His mom called from the other room. "Haejin! Don't be late for the Awakening!"
"Yeah, yeah," he replied, pulling on his shoes and stepping outside.
The sky was annoyingly bright. The birds were doing that thing where they chirp way too confidently for 7 AM.
Haejin yawned.
"Hope I don't get a lame tree," he muttered, completely unaware that inside his soul was something that nobody would have ever foreseen.
He hummed a little tune as he walked toward the Awakening Center.
...
Haejin had messy black hair, which brought out his shinning purple eyes. He usually wore loose clothes for freedom of movement. Today, he wore a white shirt and flowy black pants. After a period of walking and humming, he came to his destination.
The Awakening Center looked like a high-tech cathedral—clean marble floors, glowing crystal panels, and giant monitors displaying rankings, magical aptitude stats, and live feeds from various testing rooms.
Students lined up in neat rows, murmuring anxiously. Some clenched their fists, trying to spark a flame or swirl a breeze. Others whispered about rare trees they hoped to unlock—things like [Flame Manipulation], [Beast Tamer], or the ultra-rare [Time Stitcher].
Haejin stood near the back of the line, lazily rocking on his heels, hands in his pockets.
"Next!" a woman in a white coat barked.
The kid in front of Haejin stepped forward. His hand glowed, and the Golden Skill Tree glowed in response. and a small screen appeared in front of the kid.
System Notification:Skill Tree Unlocked: [Iron Skin]Category: Defense TypeRank: C+
A round of polite clapping followed. The kid beamed.
Haejin's turn came. He stepped forward, hands still in his pockets.
"Place your hand on the tree," the woman said, barely glancing at him.
He obeyed, palm resting on the glowing tree mounted in the center of the room.
Nothing happened.
For one second.
Then—
CRACK.
The tree shook.
Then pulsed.
Then shattered.
A massive jolt of pressure swept through the chamber. Everyone staggered. Lights flickered. The monitor above the crystal froze mid-scan.
ERROR: Cannot process subject.ERROR: Skill Tree Limit Exceeded.ERROR: Internal logic overflow.Rebooting...
The examiner blinked. "W-What…?"
The console behind her sparked and let out a soft pop. A faint column of smoke rose from the back panel.
System Notification (visible only to Haejin and the woman):Awakening Incomplete. Potential exceeds processing capacity.Detected Skill Trees: 53Classification: UndefinedSpecial Notice: Subject is advised to contact a deity. Or run diagnostics on reality.
Haejin blinked. "Uh… so… did I pass?"
The woman stared at the destroyed remains of the Golden Tree.
"…Please step aside."
He stepped off the platform and casually walked over to the wall, hands still in his pockets, oblivious to the wide-eyed stares of every student in the room.
One kid whispered, "Bro… did he just break the system?"
Another nodded. "He didn't even flinch."
Haejin yawned. "Weird test. Probably a bug or something."
Haejin Suho was not special.
Excluding the fact that he had over 50 skill trees dormant in his soul.
...
In this world, magic isn't some random gift you get at birth. It's a system. A living, breathing network of paths, branches, and leaves inside your soul. Each path is called a Skill Tree—a unique line of magical potential, abilities, and growth.
Every person is born with at least one skill tree, sometimes more, sometimes less. When you awaken—usually during the national Awakening Exam—you unlock one tree. This tree defines what kind of magic you can use, how you fight, and how you survive.
For example, someone might unlock the Flame Manipulation tree, allowing them to summon fireballs and control heat. Another might awaken the Beast Tamer tree, granting the power to summon and command magical creatures.
Each tree has branches—smaller abilities and upgrades that grow as you level up. The farther you go, the stronger and more specialized your powers become.
Skill trees come with ranks—starting at E or D rank for beginners, climbing all the way to S, SS, or even godlike levels if you're lucky (or talented). That said, someone with a C-rank tree can very much become extremely powerful, it varies depending on the user.
But here's the catch: most people only have one skill tree.
Some rare individuals have two. Rarer still have three.
And then there's Haejin Suho.
Haejin has over fifty skill trees, each dormant and waiting deep inside him.
Which is… a bit of a problem for the rest of humanity.