The alarm didn't sound like a siren. It sounded like the world's heartbeat was skipping.
A low-frequency thrum resonated through the glass walls of my penthouse at the Azure Training Center. Far below, the city of Neo-Seoul was a grid of flickering neon and panicked movement. In the center of the commercial district, the sky didn't just tear; it shattered like a mirror hit by a sledgehammer.
[Ding! World Event Initialized: The First Great Gate has opened.] [Rank: S-Class (Disaster Level).] [Designation: The Maw of the Void.]
I stood by the window, a glass of expensive, "refunded" wine in my hand. The liquid was a deep crimson, matching the color of the lightning now arcing across the city skyline.
"Chairman, the helicopters are ready," my driver, now my Chief of Security, whispered from the doorway. He was still shaking. Every time he looked at me, he saw the man who had effortlessly suppressed the Hero of Light. "The Government... they are calling. They've been calling for twenty minutes. They want to know why the Hero hasn't left the building."
I turned away from the window, the Ring of the Usurper glowing a dull, predatory violet. "The Hero hasn't left because he's currently having a crisis of faith. It's hard to save the world when your holy toothpick won't turn on."
I walked toward the private elevator, my boots clicking rhythmically against the obsidian floor. I was now Level 45. My muscles were dense with mana, and my perception was so sharp that I could hear the panicked breathing of the thousands of people gathered at the gates of my facility below.
They were waiting for a miracle. I was waiting for a profit.
The Broken Idol
In the grand lobby of the Azure Center, the atmosphere was thick with the stench of desperation. Han-Seol, the "Chosen One," was standing in the center of a circle of cameras. He looked pathetic.
He was gripping the hilt of Excalibur with both hands, his knuckles white. He was whispering prayers, chanting the holy scripts I had once recited myself. But the sword remained a cold, gray slab of metal.
"Please!" a woman from the crowd cried out, reaching through the security line. "The monsters are coming out of the Rift! My children are in that district! Savior, why aren't you moving?"
Han-Seol looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "I... I am trying! The System... something is wrong with the mana flow! I just need more time!"
Princess Elara stood beside him, her face a mask of fury. She wasn't worried about the children; she was worried about the "Hero Brand" she had invested in. "Han-Seol, get it together! If you don't move now, the Alliance will revoke your status before the day is over!"
"He can't move."
My voice cut through the noise like a guillotine. The crowd parted instantly as I stepped off the elevator. I wasn't wearing armor. I was wearing a black silk suit that cost more than a mid-range Awakener's life insurance policy.
"The Hero is currently experiencing a 'service outage,'" I said, stopping a few feet from the golden boy. "It turns out the Gods don't like losers."
"You!" Han-Seol hissed, pointing the dead sword at me. "You did this! You stole the Light!"
"I didn't steal it," I said, leaning in. "I just failed to respect it. And the System gave me a 100x refund on that disrespect. Now, your sword belongs to the Void."
Suddenly, the lobby's main screens flickered. A live feed showed the first wave of monsters emerging from the Gate. They weren't goblins or orcs. They were Void Stalkers—beings made of living shadow that turned anything they touched into ash. The military's tanks were being dissolved like sugar in hot water.
[Ding! Quest Notification!] [The Alliance has issued an Emergency Request: 'Close the Maw'.] [Reward: 50,000,000 Credits, S-Rank Mana Stone, and 'Guardian of the City' Title.]
I looked at the screen, then at the Ring of the Usurper.
"The reward is a bit low, don't you think?" I asked the air.
The crowd stared at me in horror. "People are dying!" a reporter yelled. "How can you talk about money?"
"Because I'm the one who has to do the work," I replied. I looked at Han-Seol. "Hey, Hero. You want to save them, right? You want your Light back?"
Han-Seol nodded frantically. "Anything! Just... give me the power to stop those things!"
"Fine. I'll fail at being selfish today."
[Ding! Villainous Act: Fraudulent Charity.] [Offer: You will 'help' the Hero for a small fee.] [Result: FAILURE. (The Hero has no money left to give.)] [Calculating Refund...] [Refund Issued: 100x 'Contractual Binding'!]
A golden scroll appeared in the air between us. It wasn't made of light; it was made of chains.
"Sign this," I said. "It's a simple contract. I'll grant you a 'temporary' spark to fight the Void Stalkers. In exchange, you become my 'Associate.' Forever. Every bit of Experience you gain, every item you find, 99% of it goes to me. You'll be the face of the Hero, but you'll be my employee."
Han-Seol stared at the scroll. He saw the fine print. He saw the "Eternal Debt" clause. He looked at the screen, where a Void Stalker was about to crush a school bus.
"I... I sign," he whispered.
He pressed his thumb to the scroll. The chains glowed red and then vanished into his skin.
"Good boy," I said, patting his cheek. "Now, let's go fail at closing a Gate."
The helicopter ride to Sector 7 was silent, save for the rhythmic thrum of the blades and the distant, muffled screams of a city being devoured. Han-Seol sat across from me, his eyes fixed on his boots. A faint, pathetic flicker of light had returned to Excalibur—just enough to cut through skin, but nowhere near the sun-like radiance it once held.
He was a hollow shell, and he knew it. He was a "Hero" by permission of a "Villain."
"We're crossing the perimeter," the pilot shouted, his voice cracking. "The anti-air defenses are down! The Void Stalkers are... they're climbing the skyscrapers!"
I looked out the window. The district was a graveyard of twisted metal and gray ash. The 'Maw of the Void' sat in the center of the plaza like a bleeding wound in reality. Hundreds of shadow creatures were pouring out, their elongated limbs scale-less and oily.
"Drop the hatch," I commanded.
"What? We're at four thousand feet!" the pilot yelled.
I didn't answer. I stood up, the 'Ring of the Usurper' pulsing with an aggressive, hungry light. I looked at Han-Seol. "Try to keep up, Associate. Don't die on your first day; I haven't insured you yet."
I stepped out into the open air.
The Descent of the False God
Falling from four thousand feet usually meant death for a Level 45 Awakener. Even with high Agility, the terminal velocity would turn my bones into powder upon impact.
[Warning: High-Altitude Falling Detected.] [Estimated Survival Rate: 0.0%]
"I'm going to fail at landing safely," I whispered to the wind.
I didn't tuck my body. I didn't use a slow-fall spell. I spread my arms wide and accelerated toward the concrete plaza where the largest cluster of Void Stalkers was currently tearing apart a military barricade.
[Ding! Villainous Act: Reckless Endangerment of Self.] [Result: FATAL FAILURE. (Impact imminent.)] [Calculating Refund...] [Refund Issued: 100x 'Impact Kinetic Energy'!]
I hit the ground like a meteor.
The concrete didn't just crack; it turned into a liquid wave of stone and fire. The "Impact" was refunded and multiplied a hundredfold, turning my body into the epicenter of a tactical nuke. A shockwave of pure force erupted outward for three blocks in every direction.
The Void Stalkers in the plaza weren't just killed; they were vaporized instantly. The buildings surrounding the plaza had their windows blown inward, and the shadow-corrupted air was cleared in a single heartbeat.
I stood up in the center of a smoking crater, my suit completely untarnished by the dust.
[Experience Gained: 120,000] [Refunded Experience: 12,000,000!] [Level Up! Level 45 -> Level 58!]
Behind me, Han-Seol landed—much more traditionally, using a burst of light to slow his descent. He stumbled out of the dust, coughing, his eyes wide as he looked at the devastation I had caused just by landing.
"You... you just killed thousands of them," he stammered.
"I missed a few," I said, pointing toward the Maw.
From the black vortex, something much larger began to crawl out. It was the Void Sentinel. It stood fifty feet tall, a multi-limbed monstrosity with a hundred weeping eyes and a sword made of condensed gravity. Its presence alone caused the gravity in the plaza to fluctuate, making the rubble float into the air.
"That's an S-Rank Boss," Han-Seol said, his voice trembling. "We need a raid team. We need the Saintess and the High Mages!"
"We don't need anyone," I said, drawing The Traitor's Silence. "I'm going to fail at a stealth attack."
I began to walk toward the fifty-foot titan. I wasn't sneaking. I was whistling. I was stepping on crunchy glass. I was the most visible target in the city.
[Ding! Villainous Act: Attempted Stealth (Incompetent).] [Result: ABSURD FAILURE. (The Boss has spotted you. It is charging its Ultimate Attack.)] [Calculating Refund...]
The Void Sentinel roared, its hundred eyes locking onto me. It raised its gravity sword, the air around the blade turning into a black hole that sucked in cars and streetlights. It swung with the force to level a mountain.
[Refund Issued: 100x 'Perception Distortion'!]
To the Boss, I didn't just disappear. I became a trillion different versions of myself. Every eye of the sentinel saw a different Drake Vance in a different location. The creature became a frantic mess of twitching limbs, swinging its massive sword at shadows and air, completely unable to process which "me" was real.
I walked right between its massive, tree-trunk legs.
"Associate," I called out to Han-Seol, who was watching from the edge of the crater. "Go ahead. Stride in and take the killing blow. Show the cameras how 'heroic' you are."
"But... I can't even hit it! It's moving too fast!" Han-Seol cried.
"I said, strike," I commanded.
I used the 'Contractual Binding' to force his body forward. His legs moved against his will, sprinting toward the distracted beast. I reached out and touched the hilt of his gray Excalibur.
"I'll fail at buffing your sword," I muttered.
[Ding! Villainous Act: Sabotaging an Ally's Weapon.] [Result: FAILURE. (The 'sabotage' backfired.)] [Refund Issued: 100x 'Holy-Void Fusion'!]
Excalibur didn't turn gold. It turned a terrifying, abyssal black-purple. The light of the Hero and the darkness of my Refund merged into a blade of "Anti-Matter" that shrieked with the hunger of a dying star.
"Now," I whispered. "Cut it."
Han-Seol didn't have a choice. The golden chains of the contract pulled his arms back, his muscles screaming under the strain of a power his body wasn't ready to host. He swung the fused Excalibur—a blade of "Anti-Matter" that seemed to erase the very air it passed through.
The Void Sentinel didn't even have time to scream. The black-purple arc of the blade passed through its waist, and the fifty-foot monstrosity simply… ceased to be. There was no blood, no gore. Where the Boss had stood, there was now a perfect, silent vacuum. Then, the atmosphere rushed back in with a thunderous clap, shattering the remaining windows for miles.
[Ding! S-Rank Boss: 'Void Sentinel' has been defeated!] [The Hero 'Han-Seol' has earned: 500,000 EXP.] [The Hero 'Han-Seol' has found: 'Heart of the Void' (SSS-Rank Crafting Material).]
I felt the Ring of the Usurper grow burning hot on my finger.
[Ring of the Usurper Active: 99% Tax Applied.] [You have received: 495,000 EXP.] [You have received: 'Heart of the Void'.] [Refund Issued: 100x 'Loot Quality'!] [The 'Heart of the Void' has evolved into 'The Core of the Primordial Singularity'.]
I exhaled, a plume of mana-smoke escaping my lips. My level jumped again, settling at a staggering Level 68. In a single afternoon, I had surpassed the power level of most "Master" rank hunters who had trained for decades.
Han-Seol collapsed to his knees, his armor cracked and his breathing ragged. The black-purple glow of his sword faded back into a dull, useless gray. He looked up at me, tears of frustration and exhaustion streaming down his face.
"I did it..." he whispered, his voice trembling. "The Gate is closing."
"No," I said, looking at the swirling black vortex that was slowly shrinking. "I did it. You just held the tool."
I looked up. The news drones were swarming like locusts, their lenses zooming in on the "Hero" who had saved the city and the "Villain" standing over him. To the world, it looked like a scene of victory. To the people in power watching the live feeds, it looked like a nightmare.
The Negotiation
An hour later, the plaza was crawling with high-ranking officials. The Prime Minister of Neo-Seoul and the Chairman of the International Awakener Alliance arrived in armored transports, flanked by S-Rank bodyguards who looked at me with a mixture of terror and hatred.
"Mr. Vance," the Prime Minister said, stepping forward. He was a man used to being the most powerful person in the room. Right now, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. "We've seen the… footage. You have the Hero under contract? That is a violation of international humanitarian law."
"The Hero was dying," I said, cleaning a speck of dust off my sleeve. "I provided a service. I saved the city. If you want to talk about laws, let's talk about 'Right of Salvage.' I own this district now. Every scrap of Void-metal, every mana stone dropped by those monsters—it's mine."
"That's billions of credits worth of materials!" the Alliance Chairman shouted. "The world economy needs those resources to rebuild!"
"Then buy them from me," I replied. "At a 300% markup."
"You're a monster," the Chairman hissed.
"I'm a businessman who fails at being a martyr," I said, a dark grin spreading across my face.
[Ding! Villainous Act: War Profiteering/Monopolization.] [Result: FAILURE. (The Government is threatening to seize your assets by force.)] [Calculating Refund...] [Refund Issued: 100x 'Diplomatic Immunity'!] [System Note: The World's Laws now recognize 'Drake Vance' as a Sovereign City-State.]
The Prime Minister's phone buzzed. He looked at it, and his face turned the color of parchment. "The… the UN has just granted you sovereign status? How? That's impossible!"
"The System works in mysterious ways," I said.
I turned to Han-Seol, who was being loaded onto a stretcher by medics. "Rest up, Associate. We have another Gate opening in Sector 12 tomorrow. And don't forget—you still owe me for the sword repair."
The Saintess's Warning
As the crowds began to disperse and the military set up a perimeter around my "Sovereign District," a shadow detached itself from a ruined storefront.
Seraphina, the Saintess of the Sword, walked toward me. She had her hand on the hilt of her blade, but her eyes weren't full of the mindless worship the Hero received. They were sharp, analytical, and deeply pained.
"You're Han-Seol, aren't you?" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of distant sirens.
I froze for a fraction of a second, then relaxed. "The Hero is over there on the stretcher, Saintess. You should go pray for him."
"Don't lie to me," she said, stepping closer. Her silver hair was matted with ash. "I felt your soul when you struck that Boss. It's the same soul that died in the palace ten years ago. But it's… different. It's colder. Darker."
"The man you knew died," I said, turning to face her. The wind whipped my black coat around my legs. "He died believing in 'Light' and 'Justice.' He was a failure. I'm the refund."
"You're going to destroy the world you once swore to protect," she argued, her eyes shimmering with tears.
"No," I said, stepping into my waiting limousine. "I'm going to own it. And in a world owned by me, Seraphina... nobody gets to betray the people they love and get away with it."
I closed the door.
[Current Status:] Level: 68 Wealth: Infinite (Sovereign Status) Next Goal: The Hero's Coronation (And the first 100x Refund of a Kingdom).