Alex was bewildered.
The crimson error window had cracked.
Not flickered. Not disappeared.
It had cracked like a sheet of glass, countless fractures spreading across its surface until the entire interface seemed ready to shatter.
For several seconds, he forgot everything else.
His pain. His sister. The strange heat surging through his body.
He could only stare at the impossible sight before him.
Then—
Silence.
The red light vanished.
The room fell quiet.
Even the faint hum of the refrigerator in the next room seemed to disappear. Alex could no longer hear the distant traffic outside his window. It was as if the entire world had stopped breathing.
He swallowed.
"Is it over?"
His voice sounded strangely small.
No notification answered him.
No new error appeared.
The broken crimson window remained suspended in front of him, its fractured surface glowing faintly.
Alex cautiously extended his hand.
His fingers passed through it.
The moment he touched the interface, the fragments trembled.
A golden light seeped through the cracks.
Alex's eyes widened.
Before he could pull his hand back, the entire window exploded into countless particles of light.
They rushed toward him.
"What—?!"
The particles entered his body.
A terrible sensation erupted from within his chest.
THUMP!
Alex staggered.
His heart slammed against his ribs as if something had struck it from the inside.
He gasped, clutching his chest.
Then the pain came.
It started deep within his bones, spreading through his arms, legs, and spine. Every muscle in his body tightened at once. His lungs seemed to shrink, and the air he desperately tried to inhale refused to reach them.
His knees buckled.
He collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud.
"Ah—!"
A scream tried to escape his throat, but it died in his mouth.
He couldn't breathe properly.
He couldn't think.
The pain was unlike anything he had experienced before.
Even during his worst illnesses, when fever had consumed his body and he had spent entire nights trembling beneath blankets, there had always been something familiar about the suffering.
This was different.
It felt as though something was reaching into every corner of his body, searching for something buried deep within him.
Something that had been there since birth.
Something that did not want to be found.
Alex curled onto his side, his fingers digging into the floorboards.
His vision blurred.
The old wooden planks beneath his cheek were cold. He clung to that sensation, desperately trying to focus on something other than the agony tearing through him.
What's happening to me?
He wanted to call for help.
But there was nobody to call.
His sister was in the hospital.
His parents were gone.
And he was alone in the small apartment where he had spent eighteen years trying to survive.
A bitter thought crossed his mind.
So this is how it ends?
He had imagined dying before.
Not in detail. He had never wanted to think too deeply about it.
But when a person spent their entire life sick, surrounded by hospitals and medicine, the possibility eventually became difficult to ignore.
Sometimes, late at night, he wondered whether he would live long enough to see his twentieth birthday.
Sometimes, he wondered whether his sister would be forced to watch him die after spending her entire youth trying to keep him alive.
Those thoughts had always frightened him.
Now, with his body convulsing against the floor, fear was all he could feel.
"No…"
The word barely escaped his lips.
He didn't want to die.
Not now.
Not when his sister was waiting for him.
He had promised her.
He had promised that once he became a Hunter, he would take care of everything.
He would pay her medical bills.
He would buy her proper food.
He would find a way to bring her back.
He couldn't leave her alone.
"Please…"
His fingers scraped weakly against the floor.
"Not yet…"
Then another notification appeared.
It floated above his blurred vision, glowing with a gentle golden light.
[Title Effect Activated: The One Who Defied Fate.]
Alex could barely read the words.
His eyelids trembled.
[The title has recognized the host's struggle against a fate imposed since birth.]
[The influence of the negative trait, Curse of Illness, is being suppressed.]
The pain intensified for one brief moment.
Then something changed.
The crushing pressure in his chest loosened slightly.
The sensation was so sudden that Alex almost mistook it for another symptom.
He dragged in a breath.
It hurt.
But the air entered his lungs.
He inhaled again.
The pressure eased a little further.
His body still felt as though it were being torn apart from the inside, yet something that had burdened him for eighteen years was finally weakening.
The title was working.
He didn't know why.
He didn't understand how.
But for the first time in his life, he felt the invisible weight that had always accompanied his existence begin to lift.
Another notification appeared.
[Negative Trait Suppression in Progress.]
[Trait: Curse of Illness.]
[Current influence: Severe.]
[Title effect has weakened the trait's influence.]
Alex tried to focus on the words.
He really did.
He wanted to understand what was happening.
He wanted to memorize every detail so that, if he survived, he could figure out how to repeat the process.
But his mind was growing distant.
His body was simply too weak.
Whatever force had entered him, whatever change was occurring within his body, it demanded more than he could endure.
He had spent eighteen years struggling to walk long distances.
He could barely climb a flight of stairs without feeling exhausted.
Even standing for several minutes could leave him dizzy.
And now something was attempting to change the very condition that had shaped his entire life.
His body could not keep up.
Alex's fingers loosened.
His eyes slowly closed.
The last thing he saw was another golden notification.
[The host's physical condition has reached its current limit.]
Then darkness swallowed him.
He lost consciousness before he could read anything else.
---
The System did not stop.
While Alex lay motionless on the floor, notifications continued appearing above his unconscious body.
One after another, they formed in the silent room.
[Emergency Analysis Initiated.]
[The host possesses a unique ability that has not been successfully registered.]
[Abnormal interaction detected between the host's negative trait, unique ability, and the title The One Who Defied Fate.]
A pause followed.
Then another message appeared.
[The Akashic Record has authorized a corrective intervention.]
The golden light that had surrounded Alex returned.
It spread across his body, passing through his skin like a warm current.
For several moments, nothing happened.
Then the light concentrated around his chest.
Something dark seemed to emerge from within him.
It was not a physical substance.
It resembled a tangled mass of black threads, each one twisted around the others. The threads clung to his body as if they had roots buried deep within his existence.
The golden light touched them.
The threads recoiled.
They tightened violently, resisting the intrusion.
[Warning: The negative trait has become deeply integrated with the host's physical condition.]
[Complete removal is currently impossible.]
The golden light pulsed.
[Applying title effect.]
The black threads began to loosen.
One by one, their hold weakened.
Some threads snapped and dissolved into nothingness.
Others retreated deeper into Alex's body, their influence diminished but not entirely gone.
Finally, the golden light withdrew.
The dark mass had become noticeably smaller.
[Negative Trait Altered.]
[Curse of Illness → Ill.]
[The host's negative trait has been downgraded.]
[Complete removal is impossible under the host's current conditions.]
[The title The One Who Defied Fate will continue to suppress the influence of the negative trait.]
The notifications remained suspended in the air.
Then a new message appeared.
[Player Awakening Process Resuming.]
[Unique Ability Registration: Extract.]
[Error: The original ability cannot be registered in its current state.]
For several seconds, the System remained silent.
[Attempting reconstruction.]
[Reconstruction failed.]
[Consulting the Akashic Record.]
A golden symbol appeared above Alex.
The same intricate circular pattern that had appeared when the crimson window shattered.
Countless lines connected within the symbol, forming a structure that seemed to stretch far beyond the boundaries of the room.
The symbol rotated.
Once.
Twice.
Then a notification appeared.
[The Akashic Record has identified the cause of the awakening error.]
[The host's unique ability possesses an incomplete and unstable structure.]
[The host's recent achievement has fulfilled the conditions for evolution.]
[Unique Ability Evolution Initiated.]
A brilliant light erupted from the symbol.
[Extract → Infinite Extraction.]
The room trembled.
The new name remained suspended above Alex's unconscious body.
Then the next notification appeared.
[Unique ability successfully registered.]
The golden symbol began to fade.
But before it vanished completely, the System issued one final message.
[Hidden Talent Detected.]
[The host has fulfilled the awakening conditions for a dormant talent.]
[Random Multiplier is activating.]
The notification remained for a moment.
Then a new line appeared.
[Determining multiplier...]
The System paused.
The symbols on the interface changed rapidly.
[100×]
The value flickered.
[500×]
Another pause.
[1000×]
Then
[10000x]
The number stopped changing.
[Multiplier determined: 10000×.]
[Congratulations! The host has awakened the talent: 10000× Random Multiplier!]
A golden flash illuminated the room.
The talent's information unfolded before the System.
[Talent: 10000× Random Multiplier]
[Rank: Unclassified]
[Effect: Randomly amplifies an eligible target or reward by 10000× when its activation conditions are met.]
[Additional details are currently unavailable.]
The notification disappeared.
For the first time since Alex's awakening had begun, the room became completely still.
Alex remained unconscious on the floor.
He knew nothing of the title that had weakened his curse.
He knew nothing of the unique ability that had evolved beyond its original form.
He knew nothing of the talent that had just appeared in his status.
He didn't know that the System had finally accepted him as a Player.
He didn't know that his life had changed.
All he knew was darkness.
And for the first time in eighteen years, even in that darkness, his body was not fighting quite so desperately to remain alive.
-----