The sidewalk felt like it was made of quicksand. Every step I took felt like a personal insult from the universe.
[Current Stamina: 7/100]
[Warning: Physical collapse imminent. Recommendation: Keep moving, you lazy sack of meat.]
"Oh, shut the hell up," I wheezed, wiping a mixture of sweat and Seoul smog from my forehead.
The sun was beating down with a sadistic intensity, reflecting off the glass skyscrapers that defined the Gangnam district. This part of the city was a playground for the Awakened. I watched a guy in a tailored suit leap from a third-story balcony, landing gracefully on the pavement before sprinting off at forty miles per hour. A group of girls laughed as one of them summoned a small, swirling vortex of water to cool their drinks.
They were part of the new world. I was just the guy walking home because a golden screen threatened to sting my ear.
I should have just taken the sting, I thought bitterly. At least I'd be sitting on a bus right now.
I turned into a narrow alleyway—a shortcut I knew that cut through the older, more derelict part of the district. The skyscrapers gave way to cramped brick buildings and tangled power lines. Here, the air was cooler, smelling of spicy rice cakes and rotting trash.
"Hey, Zero."
I stopped. My heart did a slow, heavy thud against my ribs.
Leaning against a rusted fire escape was a girl I didn't recognize. She wasn't wearing a school uniform. She was dressed in leather pants that looked like they'd been painted on and a cropped black hoodie. Her hair was a shock of silver, falling over eyes that were the color of bruised violets.
She was beautiful in a way that felt dangerous—like a sharp blade dipped in honey.
"You look like you're about to die," she said, her voice a low, melodic purr. "And honestly? That would be a waste of a very interesting soul."
I leaned against the opposite wall, my breath coming in shallow gasps. "If you're... here to rob me... you're out of luck. My bank account has... six dollars and a half-eaten coupon."
She laughed, a sound like glass wind chimes. She straightened up and walked toward me. She didn't walk; she prowled. As she got closer, I smelled something intoxicating—sandalwood and something metallic, like blood on a cold wind.
She stopped inches away from me. I could feel the heat radiating off her body. She was tall, her violet eyes level with mine. She reached out, her fingers—tipped with black-painted nails—tracing the line of my jaw.
"I don't want your money, Raven Desmerk," she whispered. The way she said my name felt like a physical touch. "I want to know what a 'Zero' is doing with the scent of the World-Soul all over him."
My skin prickled where she touched me. It wasn't just attraction; it was a primal alarm bell. "Who are you?"
"A fan of the underdog," she said, leaning in closer. Her lips were a breath away from my ear. "My name is Lilith. And you should probably start running, Raven. Because the man in the black SUV doesn't have my... refined taste."
She bit the lobe of my ear—lightly, just enough to make me jump—and then pushed off me, vanishing back into the shadows of the fire escape with a speed that made my head spin.
[Stamina: 4/100]
[Warning: Heart rate elevated. Adrenaline spike detected. Lilith's Rank: UNKNOWN.]
"Great," I choked out, clutching my chest. "Now I'm being stalked by a hot psychopath."
I didn't have time to process the "spiciness" of the encounter. The sound of tires screeching echoed from the entrance of the alley. A black SUV slammed to a halt, blocking the exit.
Two men stepped out. They weren't wearing school uniforms. They wore tactical gear, their faces hidden behind matte-black masks. But it was their eyes that gave them away. They glowed with a sickly, artificial green light—the mark of a "Troop" empowered by a God.
"Target identified," the one on the left said. His voice was distorted, sounding more like a machine than a man. "The Anomaly. Eliminate him and retrieve the Core."
"Hey, listen," I said, raising my hands. My legs were shaking so violently I thought I'd fall over before they even touched me. "I think you have the wrong guy. I'm just a lazy high schooler. Ask anyone. I'm literally the least important person in this city."
The man didn't respond. He simply raised a hand. A sphere of green energy gathered in his palm, crackling with a sound that made the hair on my arms stand up.
"Shit."
I turned and bolted. Or, I tried to. In my state, it was more of a desperate stumble.
[Stamina: 3/100]
The first blast hit the brick wall beside my head, showering me with debris. I dove behind a stack of wooden crates, my lungs screaming for air that wouldn't come.
"System! Help!" I hissed. "Do something! Give me a shield! A gun! A very large rock!"
[Negative. The King must earn his throne.]
[Objective Update: Reach 0 Stamina to activate Emergency Protocol.]
"You want me to... die?" I coughed, tasting copper in the back of my throat. "That's your plan?"
Another blast shattered the crates. I was thrown backward, my back slamming into a dumpster. Pain flared through my spine, white and blinding.
The two men were walking toward me now, their footsteps slow and rhythmic. They weren't in a hurry. To them, I was a bug in a jar.
"The God of Greed sends his regards," the leader said. He reached down, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and lifting me off the ground with one hand.
I kicked, I clawed, but it was like hitting a statue. My vision was fading into a grey haze. The world was shrinking down to the glowing green eyes of my executioner.
"Die, Zero."
He squeezed my throat. The air was cut off. I felt the familiar weight of the world—the pressure of my sisters, the disappointment of my father, the mockery of my peers—all of it crushing down on me one last time.
I'm tired, I thought. I'm so damn tired of being the one on the floor.
I gave one final, desperate surge of effort, twisting my body and driving my elbow into the man's throat. It did nothing to him, but it cost me everything I had left.
[Stamina: 1/100]
[Stamina: 0/100]
[Condition Met: Absolute Zero.]
The world didn't go dark. It went cold.
The hand around my throat was still there, but I couldn't feel the pain anymore. I couldn't feel the heat of the sun or the sweat on my skin. Everything became still. Silent.
The man with the green eyes paused. He frowned, his grip tightening. "What is—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
My hand, which had been hanging limply at my side, moved. It wasn't the slow, clumsy movement of Raven Desmerk. It was a blur of cold precision.
I grabbed the man's wrist.
There was a sound like a frozen lake cracking in mid-winter. The man's tactical gauntlet shattered. His bones followed a microsecond later. He let out a strangled cry, dropping me, but I didn't fall.
I landed on the balls of my feet, my posture perfectly straight, my head tilted slightly to the side.
If Raven Desmerk was a flickering candle, this thing—this persona—was a glacier.
I looked up. My eyes, usually a dull, bored brown, were now a piercing, crystalline gold.
"The God of Greed," I said. My voice wasn't my own. it was deeper, resonant, carrying the weight of a thousand fallen empires. "He always did have a poor eye for quality."
The second assassin froze, his energy sphere flickering. "What... what are you?"
I didn't answer. I didn't need to.
I stepped forward. I didn't run; I simply existed in a different space. In the blink of an eye, I was standing in front of him. I drove my palm into his chest.
There was no explosion. No flashy light. Just a dull thud.
The man's eyes went wide. A frost began to spread across his chest, turning his tactical vest white. He stumbled back, his breath coming out in a puff of freezing mist, before he collapsed into a heap of shivering, frozen meat.
The leader, clutching his broken wrist, tried to scramble back toward the SUV. "Anomaly! The Anomaly is active! Requesting—"
I appeared beside him, my hand hovering over his head.
"Tell your master," I whispered, the air around us beginning to crackle with a power that wasn't Mana, but something much older. "The Playground is closed. And I am the one who holds the keys."
I flicked my fingers.
The man was sent flying, crashing through the windshield of the SUV and out the other side. He didn't get up.
I stood in the center of the alley, surrounded by the wreckage of the "Troops." I felt... magnificent. For the first time in my life, I wasn't the disgrace. I wasn't the trash.
I was the King.
But then, the purple screen flickered in front of my gold eyes.
[Absolute Zero Duration: 10 Seconds Remaining.]
[Warning: Backlash will be severe.]
I looked toward the fire escape. Lilith was still there, perched on a railing, her violet eyes wide with a mixture of shock and intense, hungry curiosity.
"Well, well," she whispered, her voice reaching me even through the cold. "A King in a Zero's skin. This is going to be so much fun."
I wanted to say something—to threaten her, or maybe to ask why she was looking at me like I was a five-course meal—but the cold was receding.
The gold in my eyes faded. My back hit the brick wall. My lungs remembered how to burn.
"Oh... crap," I managed to groan.
And then, the world finally did go black.
[Quest: The Long Road Home — FAILED.]
[Reason: Host lost consciousness 1.2 miles from destination.]
[Penalty: 'The Sting' will be administered upon awakening.]
[Hidden Objective: First Blood — COMPLETED.]
[Reward: +10 Strength, +5 Agility, Skill Unlocked: 'Monarch's Cold Breath'.]