The Shadow of Neo-Seoul
In Neo-Seoul, society is starkly divided. The city's upper echelons are inhabited by the Hwarang, an elite class who wield Ki, a powerful life energy that grants them extraordinary abilities. Below, in the sprawling, forgotten slums, live the Mugwi, a powerless and oppressed population.
The story follows Min-jun, a young Mugwi who lives to protect his little sister, Seulgi. When a routine Hwarang raid turns deadly, Min-jun's world is shattered, and a dormant, dark energy within him awakens. This power, which he calls The Shadow, allows him to absorb the Hwarang's Ki and turn it against them. Feared by both Hwarang and Mugwi alike, Min-jun becomes a fugitive, a symbol of defiance, and a direct threat to the established order.
His desperate struggle for survival forces him into an unlikely alliance with Hye-jin, a high-ranking Hwarang tactician who, disillusioned with her people's cruelty, betrays her clan to protect him. Together, they form the core of a growing rebellion. With the help of Kaito, a brilliant, exiled Hwarang scientist, and Jae-min, a passionate Mugwi leader, they create a resistance that combines old-world courage with new-world technology.
The rebellion escalates into a full-scale war against Grandmaster Jin, the Hwarang's serene but ruthless leader, and his cunning hunter, Jina. What begins as a personal quest to protect his sister becomes a battle for the soul of the city. Min-jun must learn to control his terrifying power, confront the moral compromises of leadership, and ultimately face a final, personal choice: to fight with rage and destroy his enemies, or to fight with hope and build a new, better world.