The streets of the lower district stank of despair. The air was heavy with the scent of rotting food, sewage, and desperation. Jin Seo Ryun trudged through the narrow alleyways, clutching a bundle of cloth barely large enough to cover his thin frame. His footsteps echoed faintly, the sound swallowed by the distant roars of laughter and celebration from the upper districts where the Harmonics—the powerful elite—lived in luxury.
Jin's stomach growled loudly, but he ignored it. Hunger was a constant companion, one that he had grown so used to that it felt more like a dull ache now. He adjusted the bag slung over his shoulder, filled with scraps of food he had scavenged from the dumpsters near the market. Today had been a lucky day—he'd found a half-eaten loaf of bread.
Lucky. The word tasted bitter in his mouth. What kind of life was it where moldy bread felt like winning the lottery?
"Hey! You!"
Jin froze. He didn't need to look to know who it was. The rough, mocking tone belonged to Hyun Tae Joon, a young Harmonic who had made it his life's mission to torment those weaker than him—especially Jin.
"Did you think you'd sneak by without saying hello?" Tae Joon smirked, his friends—other low-ranking Harmonics—snickering behind him. Their ornate clothing and polished weapons stood in stark contrast to Jin's tattered rags.
"I… I didn't mean to," Jin stammered, clutching the strap of his bag tightly.
Tae Joon stepped closer, his hand crackling with faint energy. A small display of his power, nothing serious—yet. "You didn't mean to what? Disrespect me by walking past without bowing? Or insult me by existing?"
The laughter behind him grew louder, and Jin's face burned with humiliation. He wanted to run, to hide, but his legs refused to move.
"Let's see what you've got there." Tae Joon snatched the bag from Jin's hands and dumped its contents onto the ground. The loaf of bread tumbled out, landing in the dirt.
"Oh, how cute. The beggar found himself a feast," Tae Joon sneered, stomping on the bread with his boot until it was unrecognizable.
Jin's fists clenched, his nails digging into his palms. He wanted to fight back, to scream, but what was the point? Tae Joon was a Harmonic, born with abilities Jin could never dream of having. To challenge him would be suicide.
"What's the matter? Not going to pick it up?" Tae Joon taunted.
Jin bent down, his hands shaking as he gathered the ruined bread. The laughter above him felt like knives stabbing into his back.
"Pathetic," Tae Joon spat. "People like you shouldn't even exist. You're just a waste of space."
That night, Jin sat in his cramped apartment—a single room with peeling walls and a leaking ceiling. The bread sat untouched on the table. He stared at it, his appetite gone.
He thought about his parents, who had died when he was young, leaving him to fend for himself. He thought about the countless nights he had gone to bed hungry, the beatings he had endured, the looks of disgust he received daily.
He thought about how powerless he was.
The sound of heavy boots outside his door jolted him from his thoughts. Before he could react, the door burst open, and two armored guards stormed in.
"Jin Seo Ryun?" one of them barked.
"Yes?" Jin replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You're under arrest for theft and treason against the Harmonics."
"What? I didn't—"
The guards didn't let him finish. One of them struck him across the face, and everything went black.
Jin woke to the sound of a roaring crowd. His head throbbed, and his vision blurred as he tried to take in his surroundings. He was in a large, circular pit, surrounded by towering walls. Above him, hundreds of spectators—most of them Harmonics—watched with eager anticipation.
He tried to stand, but his legs wobbled beneath him. That was when he noticed the chains around his wrists and ankles.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" a voice boomed. "Tonight, we bring you a special treat—a worthless ordinary who dared to disrespect our great society!"
The crowd erupted in cheers and laughter.
"To atone for his crimes, he will face the Abyssal!"
Jin's blood turned to ice. The Abyssal. He had heard stories about the creatures that lived in the Abyss—a dark, endless chasm said to be a remnant of the old world. No one who entered the Abyss ever came back.
A massive gate on the other side of the pit began to creak open. The crowd fell silent in anticipation.
From the darkness emerged a creature unlike anything Jin had ever seen. Its body was twisted and grotesque, a mass of sinew and bone that seemed to writhe and shift with every movement. Its eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light, and its mouth was filled with jagged teeth that dripped with black ichor.
Jin's heart pounded in his chest as the creature let out a deafening roar.
"Fight, worm!" Tae Joon's voice rang out from the crowd. "Show us you're worth something!"
The chains around Jin's wrists and ankles fell away, but his legs refused to move. He was frozen in place, paralyzed by fear.
The Abyssal lunged at him, its claws slashing through the air. Jin dove to the side just in time, the creature's attack missing him by inches. He scrambled to his feet and ran, his mind racing.
There was no way he could fight this thing. He didn't have any weapons, any powers—he didn't even have the strength to outrun it.
The Abyssal struck again, its claws tearing through Jin's back. He cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, blood pooling beneath him.
The crowd roared with approval.
Jin gasped for air, his vision fading. This was it. This was how he would die. Alone, powerless, and ridiculed.
As the Abyssal's claws came down for the final blow, Jin closed his eyes.
Jin woke with a gasp, his body jerking upright. He was in his apartment, the familiar peeling walls and leaking ceiling greeting him.
His hand shot to his chest, expecting to feel the wound from the Abyssal's claws, but there was nothing. Not even a scratch.
"How…?" he whispered, his voice trembling. "How am I alive?"
A soft chime echoed in the room, and Jin froze.
[System Activation Complete.]
[Welcome to the Ascension System.]
A glowing screen appeared before him, filled with text he couldn't yet comprehend.
"What… what is this?"
The screen blinked again, and a single line of text appeared.
[Do you wish to ascend?]