It was a cold night.
A night so silent that even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
The slums, drenched in shadows, curled inward like a wounded beast. Crumbling walls, shattered street lamps, and narrow alleys told the same tired story—one of poverty, neglect, and people forgotten.
And in one of those corners, beneath the flickering light of a dying lamp, sat a child.
A small boy. Maybe six years old. Frail. Thin as a matchstick.
He wore nothing but a torn T-shirt, stained and threadbare, barely covering his shivering body. His lips were pale, his breathing ragged, and his black hair clung to his forehead like a wet rag.
But what struck the most—
Was his eyes.
Not teary. Not fearful.
Just… cold.
Eyes that had already given up.
People walked past him. Some hurried. Some wandered aimlessly. But none of them noticed.
Not even one.
He was invisible.
Until—
"Hey, boy..."
The voice was old. Rough like gravel, but calm.
The boy didn't flinch. Didn't react.
He simply turned his head and looked at the man kneeling in front of him.
An old man. Wrinkled, wearing a long coat and holding a worn-out bag of groceries.
He didn't smile.
He just stared.
And for a moment—
Two people who didn't belong to the world shared a silence the world couldn't hear.
And then—
I shot awake, gasping for air.
"Haaah… Huf… What kind of dream was that…"
My chest heaved. Sweat clung to my skin despite the cold morning.
For a second, it felt like I was back there—in that alley, six years old, freezing to death.
I sat up on my creaky bed and rubbed my face.
---
I'm Han Seojin.
A frail-looking twenty-year-old.
An orphan.
An extra character in life.
I live in a shoebox apartment in the edge of a dying neighborhood. One small room. Peeling walls. Leaky ceiling. Cracked tiles.
I own exactly four things:
A bed that squeaks when I breathe too hard.
A table stacked with old books and paper I don't read anymore.
An ancient fridge that hums like it wants to die.
And a dented closet for my second-hand clothes.
That's it. That's my world.
As for how I even got this room?
The old man from my dream.
Yeah, that wasn't just a dream.
That boy was me.
And the old man?
He really did take me in that night. No questions. No paperwork. Just... kindness.
He gave me a place to sleep, a name to answer to, and the first warm meal I'd ever tasted.
He died five years ago.
Left the house to me.
It's the only thing I've ever owned.
No friends. No family. No purpose.
Just four walls, cold memories, and a name the world doesn't recognize.
---
I work as a street cleaner.
Every morning, I sweep roads that people dirty without a second thought.
Every night, I return and do it again.
That's my routine.
Same streets. Same silence. Same emptiness.
Most days, I wonder if anyone would notice if I just disappeared.
Probably not.
But today was different.
I had a day off.
And I decided to go to the market.
Not for anything fancy. Just cheap vegetables, maybe a discount pack of rice if I got lucky.
But as I stepped outside and felt the chill brush against my face, I had no idea…
That today would change everything.
---
As I walked through the crowded alleyways, lost in thought, I remembered something stupid.
After the old man died, I used to pray.
Just once.
Just give me a chance.
Let me matter. Let me do something with my life.
Let someone see me.
Let me not die forgotten.
Of course, nothing ever happened.
So I stopped praying.
But that day…
Something did happen.
It began with the light.
Or rather, the lack of it.
Suddenly, the world dimmed—
As if someone turned down the brightness of the sun.
People looked up. Confused. Afraid.
And then we saw it.
A tower.
Floating in the sky. Massive. Dark. Endless.
Like it had always been there, hidden behind the clouds, waiting for us to finally notice it.
A cold silence spread across the city.
Then—
Screams.
System messages.
Blue windows popping up in front of people.
Words glowing with eerie light.
[Awakening System Initialized]
[Rank: C]
[Skill: Flame Spear Acquired]
[Title: Awakener – Welcome to the Tower.]
People all around me began to glow. Some fell to their knees. Others screamed with joy.
Their lives were changing.
And me?
My window appeared too.
[Awakening System Initialized]
[Rank: F]
[Skill: None]
[Title: None]
...
That was it.
That was my fate.
While others became heroes, hunters, guild leaders—
I became garbage.
Again.
---
That night, I didn't eat.
I sat on my bed, staring at the floor.
No anger. No crying. Just… emptiness.
I wasn't surprised.
I was just tired.
"If there really is a god," I whispered, "you're a bastard."
Because what kind of god gives one person the power to destroy cities,
And another person… nothing?
No second chance.
No retry.
No balance.
If you're really there—
I don't need you.
Just leave me alone.
---
Months passed.
The world changed.
Hunters rose. Guilds were formed. Cities were rebuilt into fortresses.
People climbed the Tower's floors, challenging monsters and collecting rewards.
But me?
I still swept the streets.
Still lived in the same room.
Still ate cheap bread and watched the news from a flickering TV.
[Today, RDX Guild—one of the top five in South Korea—was defeated on the sixth floor of the Tower.]
The sixth floor.
That's as far as anyone's gone.
Out of a hundred.
And in getting there, thousands have already died.
Why?
Why are people killing themselves to climb that Tower?
What's even at the top?
What if… we just stopped?
But no one ever asked that.
They just kept climbing.
And I just kept watching.
---
Until it happened.
The screen flickered.
My bread dropped from my hand.
A blue window appeared—
But this time, it wasn't like before.
[You have been chosen.]
[Activating... Monarch System.]
My heart stopped.
The air grew heavy.
My vision blurred.
And then, beneath the glowing letters of that strange, beautiful screen—
I saw it.
[Monarch System Activated.]
To be continue...