Under the bleeding grey skies of Seoul, Kang Seung-ho was learning the true meaning of extinction.
Cold rain hammered the narrow alley, each drop splashing against broken concrete like a countdown to the end. The stench of rusted iron and stagnant water clung to the air, seeping into Seung-ho's lungs with every ragged breath. His vision blurred, the world tilting as his body lay twisted against the wall, bones screaming in protest each time he tried to move.
Above him stood Lee Do-hyun.
A heavy combat boot slammed down on Seung-ho's hand.
Crack.
Pain exploded through his fingers, sharp and absolute, ripping a scream from his throat that drowned beneath the rain.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, maggot!" Do-hyun roared.
Seung-ho forced his eyes open. Through the haze, he saw the familiar uniform, clean and untouched—so different from his own torn clothes soaked with blood and rain. Do-hyun's face twisted with disgust, as if Seung-ho were something less than human.
"You're just a glitch in this school's system," Do-hyun continued, grinding his heel deeper into shattered bone. "And glitches?"
Another brutal kick slammed into Seung-ho's ribs.
"They get deleted."
Something inside Seung-ho cracked—far deeper than bone.
Was this it?
No friends. No justice. No one coming to help.
As darkness crept into the corners of his vision, memories surfaced unbidden: classrooms filled with laughter that never included him, teachers who looked away, hallways where whispers followed like shadows. He had endured it all, believing that if he just survived one more day, things might change.
They hadn't.
His heartbeat slowed.
The rain grew distant.
Then—
BZZZT.
A cold light pierced the darkness.
A translucent neon-blue screen flickered into existence before his fading eyes, its sharp glow completely out of place in the filthy alley.
[Synchronization with 'Absolute Ascension System' in progress…] [Status: Near Death] [Warning: Host vitality below minimum threshold]
Seung-ho's breath hitched.
A hallucination?
Or… something else?
The screen shifted, lines of text rearranging with mechanical precision.
[Do you wish to forge the 'Messenger's Contract'?] [Trade-off: Power in exchange for becoming the hand that reaps souls for 'Death'.] [Refusal will result in immediate termination.]
Termination.
So even death now spoke in system messages.
A bitter laugh bubbled in his chest, quickly turning into a cough that painted the ground red.
"So this… is how it ends," he murmured.
Above him, Do-hyun scoffed. "Muttering already? Pathetic."
The bully turned away, clearly bored, as if Seung-ho were already a corpse.
But Seung-ho's eyes were locked onto the screen.
Power.
Not revenge—no, something deeper.
Never kneeling again.
Never being erased.
With the last strength left in his body, he whispered:
"I… accept."
The moment the word left his lips—
The rain stopped.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
Every droplet froze in midair, suspended like shards of glass. A suffocating pressure descended upon the alley, so heavy it felt as though the world itself had been forced to hold its breath.
Footsteps echoed.
Slow.
Measured.
From the shadows emerged a man clad in a pitch-black suit, immaculate and untouched by rain or blood. His presence alone seemed to drain warmth from the air. His eyes were calm—too calm—like tombstones watching the living.
Park Jin-woo.
In the underworld, he was known by only one name.
Death.
Do-hyun turned, confusion flashing across his face. "Who the hell—"
He never finished the sentence.
Jin-woo's gaze passed over him as if he didn't exist.
Instead, it settled on Seung-ho.
The pain vanished.
Bones knit together with a sickening warmth. Torn flesh reformed, strength flooding back into Seung-ho's limbs—unnatural, overwhelming.
Jin-woo stepped closer.
"I heard your cry, little one," he said, his voice low and absolute, vibrating through Seung-ho's very soul. "The System has chosen you."
The neon-blue screen reappeared, glowing brighter than before.
Jin-woo extended a gloved hand.
"I will forge you," he continued. "Become my Messenger…"
The frozen rain shattered, cascading to the ground like broken glass.
"…and I will make the world kneel before your shadow."
Seung-ho clenched his fist as power surged through him.
This was not salvation.
It was ascension.
And death had just answered his call.