Beeeep―.
Red light spread from the measuring ring wrapped around Sang-hyeok’s wrist.
[Manifestation Condition not met.]
Kim Seo-yoon’s hand stopped.
She peeled the response pads off Sang-hyeok’s arm one by one.
The pads had been reapplied so many times that their corners were worn down.
“The waveform rose a little late. Let’s increase the stimulation intensity and try just once more―”
“Noona.”
Sang-hyeok sat up from the measuring table.
“This is already the seventh time today.”
Kim Seo-yoon closed her mouth.
The same result lined the test screen in front of her.
When she scrolled upward, records with nothing but the dates changed continued back several years.
A shelf on one side of the measuring room was also packed with boxes.
Each one was labeled with Sang-hyeok’s name and the date of his test.
The writing on the bottommost box had bled so badly that it was difficult even to make out.
[Name] Kim Sang-hyeok
[Classification] Conditional Awakened
[Trait Name] ???
[Trait Tier] ???
[Status] Manifestation Condition not met.
The Infinite Tower had chosen Sang-hyeok.
And yet his Trait had never opened.
A player who could gain power only after finding the required condition.
The world called people like that Conditional Awakened.
For years, Sang-hyeok had searched for his Manifestation Condition.
Kim Seo-yoon had stayed beside him, repeating test after test.
As the failed results piled up, fewer members of the family came to the measuring room, but she alone never left.
“Let’s rest for a little while and try again.”
“You can stop.”
“No.”
Kim Seo-yoon threw away the worn pads and tore open a new package.
“There’s definitely something. Your status window is different from that of an ordinary Conditional Awakened.”
VMMMMMM―!
At that moment, a low vibration cut off her words.
The ceiling lights went out, and red emergency lights came on.
The screens covering the walls of the measuring room all switched on at once.
[Commencing Republic of Korea national achievement settlement.]
[National stability requirement] 1,500,000
[Current national achievement points] 480,000
[Deficit points] 1,020,000
When the final line appeared, the air inside the measuring room froze.
A commotion spread through the hallway as well, and researchers crowded toward the open door.
After the Infinite Tower appeared, national achievements had become survival scores.
Rifts opened in reality according to however far a nation fell short of the requirement.
Korea was short every time.
This time, even the scale of the number was different from before.
[Deficit points have exceeded 1,000,000.]
[Destruction-grade Rift opening conditions fulfilled.]
The Seoul sky shown on the screen split apart.
At first, it was only a thin black line.
The line stretched open along the Han River, and blood-red lightning poured out from within.
RUMBLE―!
The windows of high-rise buildings burst like waves.
As the road heaved upward, moving vehicles crashed into one another.
The moment the people on the screen looked up, an enormous hand descended from inside the split sky.
KRAAAASH!
This time, the impact came from outside the screen.
The walls of the underground research wing shook, and ceiling panels rained down onto the floor.
Kim Seo-yoon grabbed Sang-hyeok’s arm.
“Let’s get out.”
The two of them ran into the hallway.
Beyond the emergency door, the testing wing was already dark.
An equipment case blocking the entrance toppled over from the vibration.
Wrist-guard-shaped prototypes rolled across the floor.
[Ilseong Standard Mana Defense Module]
[First Field Suitability Verification: Unsuitable]
Red seal stickers had been layered all over the case.
Ever since the age of players began, Ilseong had always been one step behind.
It had money and factories, but it had failed to make equipment that players could trust and use inside the Tower.
Even the defensive equipment it had pushed through as a last resort had failed verification.
The shuttered testing wing was the result.
Just then, Kim Seo-yoon’s phone rang.
[Incoming Video Call: Kim Do-hyun]
Kim Seo-yoon answered.
On the screen, Kim Do-hyun, dressed in a suit coated with dust, was directing the evacuation of the employees.
– Seo-yoon. Get the underground personnel out through the northern exit.
“Where are you, Father?”
– The main building.
At that moment, the screen split in two as Kim Sang-jun joined the call.
Blood running from his forehead had soaked one eyebrow.
– The west gate has collapsed. I’ll reroute the transport vehicles through the underground passage.
– Check the remaining people first.
On the screen, Kim Do-hyun put an injured employee into the elevator before looking back into the camera.
– What about Sang-hyeok?
“He’s with me.”
– Put him on a noncombatant transport first.
Sang-hyeok silently opened the hand he had been clenching.
Deep nail marks remained in his palm.
Noncombatant.
That was the label attached to someone who had been chosen but had never obtained power.
Kim Seo-yoon immediately grabbed Sang-hyeok by the wrist and ran out of the research wing.
Outside, smoke and people were tangled together.
One side of the parking lot had sunk in, and the injured were being carried out on ripped-off doors.
Kim Seo-yoon took Sang-hyeok all the way to a transport vehicle.
“Get in.”
“You come with me, Noona.”
A groan came from beneath the collapsed outer wall.
A researcher whose leg was pinned under a steel pillar was reaching out a hand.
Kim Seo-yoon’s gaze turned that way.
“I’ll just get that person out and go.”
“Noona.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
Kim Seo-yoon shoved Sang-hyeok into the vehicle and ran toward the trapped researcher.
The transport door closed.
The moment Sang-hyeok grabbed the handle, the parking lot floor split wide open directly behind the vehicle.
BOOM!
The transport jolted violently upward.
The driver immediately slammed on the accelerator.
As the vehicle sped out of the parking lot, the collapsing outer wall hid Kim Seo-yoon from view.
Sang-hyeok pulled out his phone and immediately called her.
Only the ringing tone continued endlessly.
He called again, with the same result.
He tried Kim Do-hyun and Kim Sang-jun in turn as well, but neither of them answered.
Then, belatedly, a voice message from Kim Seo-yoon arrived.
Her voice came through in broken fragments between explosions and static.
– Sang-hyeok. I’m sorry I never managed to find your Awakening Condition in the end.
Static continued for a long time.
– But your Trait is definitely not ordinary.
– So don’t give up. Survive, no matter what happens.
The message ended there.
Sang-hyeok squeezed his eyes shut.
Both of his tightly clenched fists trembled.
His chest felt unbearably tight, as though he could not breathe.
Meanwhile, as the transport reached the surface, burning Seoul came into view.
Flames were spreading across the glass walls of Ilseong Headquarters in the distance as well.
The Ilseong mark at the top of the building flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Immediately after the light went out completely, the upper floors of the main building collapsed into the smoke.
Sang-hyeok opened his status window again.
[Trait Name] ???
[Trait Tier] ???
[Status] Manifestation Condition not met.
Even as Korea collapsed, that one line did not change.
***
Three years later.
Clank.
The iron door of a refugee camp in Japan locked shut.
The people who had received rations sat pressed together on the cafeteria floor.
A yellowed band was wrapped around Sang-hyeok’s wrist.
[Nationality] Republic of Korea
[Status] Refugee
[Classification] Noncombatant
The opening match of the Dimension League was being broadcast on the large screen at the front of the cafeteria.
It was the day the eight-year preparation period the Infinite Tower had given humanity came to an end.
The elite players of every nation stood in the arena on the screen.
Familiar information appeared above the man at their head.
[Planet Earth Representative]
[First Seat] <Azure Sky>
[World Rank 1]
[Lv.102]
Gasps broke out throughout the cafeteria.
“Azure Sky is here.”
“The First Seat came in person. We can hold out this time.”
“The Sixteen Heavenly Seats and the rankers from every country are all gathered. We can win.”
Korea had fallen, but the great powers of the world still remained standing.
At their head were monsters of strength Sang-hyeok could never have reached even if he had devoted his entire life to it.
People believed those players would protect humanity.
The Korean mother and child sitting beside Sang-hyeok believed the same.
The mother split her ration bread in two and offered the larger piece to the child, but the child could not take their eyes off the screen.
“Mom.”
“Yeah?”
“If those people win, can we go home too?”
The mother’s hand stopped for a moment with the bread still extended.
Then she stroked the child’s hair and forced a smile.
“Yeah. If they win, we can go back.”
Only then did the child take the bread.
At that exact moment, cheers erupted from the screen.
Azure Sky raised his sword, and the Heavenly Seats and the elites of each nation behind him raised their weapons at the same time.
It was the strongest force humanity could bring to bear.
Azure Sky kicked off the ground at the front and swung his sword.
Blue light erupting from the blade swallowed half the arena.
Across from him, a huge figure in a black helmet raised a long blade.
The bastard swung it once from where he stood.
SLASH!
The blue light swallowing the arena split in half and went out.
Azure Sky’s sword was cut in two with it.
A beat later, his armor split open and blood burst out.
Azure Sky’s bisected body fell to the arena floor.
The cheers inside the cafeteria died.
The strongest man in the world had died in a single stroke.
The Heavenly Seats and rankers from every nation who charged after him fared no differently.
Each time the giant swung his blade, the rankers’ bodies and equipment were split apart together.
Even the counterattacks they barely managed to unleash could not leave a single scratch on the bastard’s armor.
When the final ranker fell, red letters covered the screen.
「The Dimension League opening match has ended.」
「Planet Earth has been defeated.」
「Sovereignty over the defeated civilization is assigned to the victorious dimension.」
The child’s hand trembled around the bread.
The mother pulled the child into her arms, but this time she could not say anything.
Korea had not been the only weak one.
Korea had merely fallen first.
And the moment the final sentence disappeared from the screen.
THUD!
The camp’s iron door bent inward.
Before the people could even rise, a second impact came.
BOOM!
Thick gray fingers forced their way through the gap in the door.
Two enormous hands seized the door panels and pulled them apart, tearing the thick iron plates like paper.
The players standing guard poured their skills into the creature.
KABOOOM!
Flames and blades engulfed the giant’s body, but they did not leave so much as a scratch on its gray skin.
The nearly three-meter-tall giant ducked as it stepped through the torn doorway.
Yellow fangs showed between its ash-gray lips.
「Occupation of the Japanese archipelago begins.」
「Ruling Race: <Gigant Orc>」
That day, the end of humanity began.
***
Eight months later.
A small hand reached across the worktable.
A mana stone the size of a thumbnail rolled into Sang-hyeok’s basket.
[48/50]
The number changed to 48.
Sang-hyeok picked up the mana stone and put it back into the basket beside him.
“Fill yours first.”
The gaunt child smiled with only a slight movement of the lips.
It was the same child who had asked in the Japanese refugee camp whether they would ever be able to go home.
A shackle thicker than the child’s arm was fastened around their wrist.
Three months earlier, the child’s mother had been carried out of the worksite on a stretcher and never returned.
From that day on, Sang-hyeok had split his ration bread in two and always placed the larger half in front of the child.
Sometimes the child tried to repay the debt by offering him a single mana stone.
Clank. Clank.
A minecart loaded with ore was dragged away by chains.
Black stone dust spilled out each time the wheels passed over the grooves in the floor.
Hundreds of humans were bent over in the underground cavern, picking blue mana stones from piles of ore and placing them into their own baskets.
No one straightened their back.
It was because of the footsteps moving between the worktables.
Thud. Thud.
Each time a gray foot pressed against the floor, the surfaces of the water bowls trembled, while the iron rings fixed to the end of a leather whip scraped across the stone.
A <Gigant Orc> overseer.
It took the bastard seven minutes to complete one circuit.
Sang-hyeok had memorized even the intervals between its footsteps and the direction in which the whip dragged along the floor.
The way Sang-hyeok, who was not even a player, had survived here for eight months was simple.
Do not raise your head.
Do not stop your hands.
Do not meddle in other people’s business.
Choose only the option most likely to keep you alive.
That was why Sang-hyeok kept his head lowered this time as well and placed the final mana stone into his basket.
[50/50]
He had filled his quota for the day.
For a brief moment, he felt relief and a small sense of achievement at having survived another day.
Then he heard something roll beside him.
Clatter.
A mana stone slipped from the child’s hand and fell beneath the worktable.
The child groped at the air a couple of times as though trying to catch it.
But the small body, which had been dragged away for night work for days on end, had already reached its limit.
The child’s eyelids closed, and their body tipped forward.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell announcing the end of work rang.
At the same time, iron covers dropped over each basket, locking in the amount collected.
[Today’s quota not met]
[Number short: 1]
[Collective ration deduction target: 10 people]
The overseer’s footsteps stopped.
“Grrrk.”
The bastard turned and walked over, checking the numbers above the baskets one by one.
At last, its gray feet stopped in front of the child.
[49/50]
The child belatedly opened their eyes.
They felt around under the worktable, but the mana stone they had dropped was nowhere to be seen.
“One bastard failed to fill the quota, so ten bastards will starve.”
The overseer uncoiled its whip.
Dark, dried blood was caked between the iron rings.
Even adults could not endure three blows from that whip.
The people nearby took one step back.
No one met the child’s eyes.
Sang-hyeok did not move either.
If he stepped in here for no reason, he would die like a dog.
The overseer would make an example of him as well.
If he stayed still, he would receive his ration today and might survive until tomorrow.
The child, on the other hand, was already too weak.
Even if they survived this, how many more days could they possibly endure?
The calculation was finished.
He already knew the answer.
The overseer raised the arm holding the whip.
The child did not even beg to be spared.
They merely curled up on the floor and covered their head with both arms.
The shackle around the child’s wrist struck their cheek.
Tap.
At that moment, a mana stone fell from Sang-hyeok’s hand.
‘Damn it.’
Sang-hyeok stepped forward.
Then he shoved the child by the shoulder.
The instant the small body rolled beside the pile of ore, the whip lashed across Sang-hyeok’s left shoulder.
CRACK!
The iron rings tore through his work clothes and dug into his flesh, and the impact drove his knee into the floor.
“Ghh……!”
The overseer yanked the whip back, and the embedded iron rings tore chunks of flesh loose as they came free.
“A bug shielding another bug.”
A massive foot pressed down on Sang-hyeok’s chest.
CRUNCH!
His ribs bent inward.
Blood surged all the way up his throat and spilled from his mouth.
Sang-hyeok tried to push himself up with his elbows, but there was no strength in his arms.
This was the price for breaking, with his own hands, the rules he had kept for eight months.
The moment the overseer raised its foot again.
An old worker moved at the edge of Sang-hyeok’s vision.
The man grabbed the child by the collar and dragged them behind the pile of ore.
The child’s small feet vanished into the darkness.
The child had survived.
‘……Good, then.’
The enormous raised foot came down on Sang-hyeok’s chest again.
The sound of bones breaking rang through his body.
This time, he could not even scream.
Through his fading vision, he saw Ilseong Headquarters collapsing again.
The moments when contact with his family had been lost one by one, and the sight of the First Seat—the representative of Earth—being cut in half, flashed past in turn.
Each time, Sang-hyeok had only watched.
At least in his final moment, he had managed to protect one small child.
The overseer’s foot rose again.
This time, it was above Sang-hyeok’s head.
‘So this is it……’
Just as Sang-hyeok, having given up on everything, was about to close his eyes.
[Manifestation Condition met.]
His fading vision stopped.
Sang-hyeok thought he had seen it wrong.
For years, the sentence embedded in his status window had always been the same.
[Manifestation Condition not met.]
But not now.
A clearly different sentence floated before his eyes.
[Manifestation Condition met.]
‘Now, of all times?’
He could not understand why the condition had been fulfilled only now, just before his death.
Soon, new letters appeared.
[Trait Name] <Heart of the Apocalyptic Demon Dragon>
Awakening.
It was the moment he had waited for so desperately.
But for it to happen right before he died.
Even through the terrible pain, a hollow laugh slipped out.
‘Infinite Tower…… you bastard.’
It felt as though the Tower were mocking him until the very end.
At that moment.
His failing heart contracted violently.
THUD.
Hot blood raced through his entire body in an instant.
Black light spread inward from the edges of his vision.
「A special privilege activates.」
The orc’s foot was already descending right in front of his face.
But before it could land, a new sentence appeared.
「Time reverses.」
The descending foot stopped in midair, then began moving upward again.
The blood on the floor rose into red droplets and returned to Sang-hyeok’s mouth and wounds.
The torn wound on his shoulder closed, and his crushed ribs returned to their proper places.
The minecart that had moved away rattled backward to its original position.
Even the black stone dust scattered across the floor rose into the air and was sucked back into the cart.
While everything else moved in reverse, only Sang-hyeok’s heart continued beating powerfully forward.
The world.
Began to rewind.