As Hajin walked toward the loot exchange counter at the Hunter Association, the atmosphere felt like just another day.
Other hunters were chatting, some complaining about how little they earned from their hunts, while others boasted about the rare drops they got.
Hajin stayed silent, handing over the monster crystals and some equipment he took from the dungeon earlier.
"The total is four million five hundred thousand won. Please sign here," said the female staff behind the counter.
Hajin nodded, took the pen, and signed the document. But before he could grab his money, the ground suddenly trembled violently.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed through the air, followed by the screams of people. The glass walls of the Hunter Association building shook before cracking and shattering into countless pieces.
People scrambled in panic, some falling to the ground as the tremors intensified.
"What the hell is happening?! An earthquake?"
But this wasn't a normal earthquake. Hajin turned toward the window, and his eyes widened. In the distance, right in the middle of the city, the streets were splitting apart.
Not just small cracks, massive fissures stretched across entire districts, gaping open like the jaws of a monster waking from an ancient slumber.
And from within that abyss, something crawled out.
A gigantic hand covered in black scales, its razor-sharp claws glistening under the sun.
Then came its head glowing red eyes and a maw full of jagged fangs dripping with thick, black fluid. This wasn't some dungeon monster. This was something far worse.
One of the hunters near the entrance screamed in horror.
"I-It's a dragon! A fucking dragon just appeared in the middle of the city!"
Before anyone could even process that, explosions rang out from all directions. From beneath the earth, more monsters emerged not just in Korea, but across the entire world. On the giant screen outside the building, an emergency broadcast played, showing live footage from different countries.
Tokyo was being wrecked by a colossal spider spewing acid onto skyscrapers. New York was being torn apart by massive golems taller than the buildings around them. In London, dozens of wyverns flew low, incinerating the city with their fiery breath.
The world was on the brink of apocalypse.
Hajin quickly opened his System Window, checking the new skill he had just obtained. But instead of his skill list, something else popped up.
[Chat Room]
His heartbeat quickened. He immediately opened the tab. And just as he expected, the gods were laughing in the chat.
[Zeus: HAHAHA! FINALLY, THE FUN BEGINS!]
[Odin: This is gonna be one hell of a show.]
[Anubis: Humans running around like ants. So fucking hilarious.]
[Hades: You guys really love chaos, huh?]
[Thor: I wanna see which human takes down the first giant.]
Hajin clenched his fists. They knew. Hell, they were the ones behind all of this. He quickly typed.
[??? : This isn't a game. This is a fucking massacre.]
Silence.
[Loki: Oh? Who's this?]
[Zeus: ...? There hasn't been a new god recently.]
[Hades: …Is this a system bug?]
Hajin smirked. No one knew who he was, and that was his biggest advantage.
[???: Just an observer. And honestly? You guys are like a bunch of bored kids breaking their own toys.]
[Loki: Hahaha! You got balls. I like that.]
[Odin: Doesn't matter who you are. The event has already started. As always, the strong will survive, and the weak will perish.]
Hajin closed the chat and turned back to the burning city. Fires raged everywhere, monsters rampaged, and hunters were trying their best to fight back but they were getting overwhelmed.
"I can't just stand here and watch."
Without hesitation, Hajin activated Shadow Step, leaping onto the rooftop, staring down at the rampaging dragon below. He reopened his System Window.
Skills:
[Edit Parameter (Lv. 2)]
[Reinforce (Lv. 1)]
[Reality Override (Lv. 1)]
[Shadow Step (Lv. 1)]
[Administrator (Lv. 1)]
[Weaken (Lv. 1)]
With Reality Override and Edit Parameter, he could create new skills. And right now, he needed something to deal with this shitshow.
His fingers moved quickly, as if typing lines of code. Words formed in front of him:
"Define Skill: Dragon Slayer (Lv. 1)"
Instantly, the system accepted his command. A blue light enveloped his body, and a pitch-black sword materialized in his hand.
[Dragon Slayer (Lv. 1) has been added to your skill list.]
Hajin looked down at the massive dragon below, which had just devoured a hunter and was now smashing cars with its tail.
"Well then," he muttered. "Let's test out this new skill."
With a cold smirk, Hajin leaped into the battlefield.
For a moment, he floated mid-air before his body shot downward like a meteor. The Dragon Slayer in his grip pulsed with a deep crimson glow, reacting to the presence of the rampaging dragon.
BOOM!
The ground quaked as Hajin landed on the beast's back. The dragon roared in fury, thrashing its body to shake him off but he was already prepared.
Using Shadow Step, he moved in a blur, leaping onto the dragon's head and driving his sword right between its glowing red eyes.
GRRAAAAAHHHH!
Black blood sprayed everywhere. The dragon desperately tried to pull the sword out of its skull, but its body was already growing weaker. Dragon Slayer wasn't an ordinary weapon. It was a skill Hajin had just created with Reality Override a skill that directly targeted its existence.
"How strong are you compared to the script I just wrote?" Hajin whispered, pulling his sword out before slashing downward.
The dragon's head split in two. Thick black blood mixed with foul-smelling mucus splattered across the ground as the massive corpse crashed to the earth.
The impact was so powerful it shattered windows across nearby buildings.
Silence.
The hunters who had been struggling moments ago now stared at the scene in shock.
A single man a completely unknown hunter had just killed a dragon in seconds.
"Who… Who the hell is that?" someone muttered.
"Is he a rank S?"
"Rank S? Are you stupid? Not even rank S could do something like that in one hit!"
Hajin ignored their stares. He looked at his own hands, still feeling the residual energy from the skill he just used. Something was different. Dragon Slayer wasn't just some basic skill.
It was like… an absolute command. If he wrote a skill with precise enough details, the system seemed to have no choice but to obey.
Interesting.
Before he could analyze further, his System Window opened on its own.
[Chat Room]
[Loki: Oi, oi, oi. Now this is getting interesting!]
[Odin: A human just killed a King-class dragon in one strike?]
[Zeus: HAH! I LIKE THIS ONE!]
[Anubis: …Something's wrong. The system shouldn't allow this.]
[Hades: Someone's messing with the rules we set.]
Hajin grinned. They were starting to catch on.
[???: What's wrong? Don't like it when your toys die too fast?]
[Loki: Oh, I'm actually loving this! But I gotta ask… Who the hell are you?]
He closed the chat before they could reply. No point in sticking around. The gods were starting to sense something was off, but they still didn't know that he was the cause.
For now, that was enough.
However, before Hajin could rest, another explosion echoed through the city. He turned his head toward the city center, where a swirling black portal spun at a terrifying speed.
Unlike a normal dungeon gate, this portal was unstable.
"What the hell is this now?"
From within the portal, a massive creature emerged its body resembling a giant slime. Its eyes glowed with an eerie purple light, and the aura around it was so intense that the ground beneath it started melting.
A notification popped up in front of Hajin.
[WARNING: ENTITY FROM BEYOND DETECTED]
[NAME: THE VOID KING]
[DANGER LEVEL: ???]
"...Shit."
Standing on top of a half-destroyed building, Hajin stared at the monster that had just stepped out of the violently swirling black portal.
The Void King.
The creature had no definite shape its body looked like a mass of black liquid constantly shifting, sometimes forming what resembled hands, faces, or even weapons.
Its glowing purple eyes seemed to pierce through dimensions, radiating an aura even more terrifying than the Corrupted Knight or the dragon he had just slain.
But before Hajin could step forward to confront the monster, his mind drifted back to a few hours ago, just before he left the dungeon.
At that time, Hajin was sitting cross-legged on the ground, deep within the dungeon that was supposed to be empty after he slaughtered the Corrupted Knight.
With his system window open in front of him, he stared at the flickering skills [Edit Parameter (Lv. 2)] and [Reality Override (Lv. 1)].
"I need to make sure this system can't track me completely," he muttered.
Ever since he realized that the system could be manipulated like a computer program, Hajin knew there were still limits he needed to overcome.
If he could edit his stats and skills, then it was possible that some kind of surveillance system was monitoring these changes.
And if there was surveillance, then the gods would eventually notice.
Hajin began typing code in his mind, tinkering with [Edit Parameter] to test its limits. But every time he tried to remove the surveillance directly, a warning notification popped up.
[Unauthorized Modification Detected]
"So I can't just delete it?"
Hajin rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment before trying a different approach.
"What if I don't delete it… but redirect it?"
Using [Reality Override], he started rewriting the system's functions not to erase the surveillance but to create fake records.
In computer terms, it was like creating a "shadow log," where the system would still see his activity, but the recorded data would be false, showing nothing significant.
After several attempts, the notification finally changed.
[System Log Updated]
[User Activity: NORMAL]
A grin formed on Hajin's lips.
"I just made the system lie to itself."
With this, every time he used [Reality Override] or [Edit Parameter], the system wouldn't record the actual changes.
That meant he could do impossible shit like creating new skills or buffing himself in battle—without leaving any traces for the gods to find.
Back in the present, Hajin clenched his fists, feeling the raw power surging through his body. Thanks to the bypass he created, none of the gods knew that he had rewritten the rules of the game itself.
And now, he stood before the Void King something that, apparently, wasn't part of their plans.
The creature moved its shadowy head, staring directly at Hajin.
"…A human?"
Its voice was like an echo from the void itself not a normal sound, but something that stabbed directly into the consciousness.
"You are not part of this fate."
Hajin smirked.
"I've heard that a lot."
The Void King didn't wait. From its swirling body, dozens of arms formed into black spears, all launching at Hajin in an instant.
FWOOOSH!
But before they could reach him, Hajin activated [Shadow Step] and vanished from sight.
BOOM!
The spears crashed into the ground, creating a massive crater in the middle of the city. Buildings around them collapsed instantly from the shockwave.
Hajin reappeared mid-air, right above the Void King.
"If I could kill a dragon in one shot…"
He raised his hand, and lines of system code began spinning in his mind.
"…Let's see if I can write your death too!"
[Reality Override – EXE: Death Condition]
In an instant, the code flowed through the system, attempting to erase the Void King's existence from this world.
But…
ERROR: ENTITY EXCEEDS SYSTEM LIMITS.
The Void King stared at Hajin then smiled.
"I am not bound by the same rules as you."
Before Hajin could react, the Void King's arm morphed into massive spikes and slammed into him.
BOOOM!
Hajin was sent flying through multiple buildings before crashing hard into the ground. Blood trickled from his forehead.
"...Shit. That's the first time my attack completely failed."
The Void King stepped forward, each of its movements creating cracks in the ground.
"Interesting. Human, you are not just part of this game… You are a mistake."
Wiping the blood from his lips, Hajin smirked.
"If I'm a mistake… then I'll be the mistake that fucking kills you."
The dark sky grew even more ominous. Thunder roared above, creating a surge of energy so immense that the earth itself trembled.
Then, from the shattered sky, a voice echoed.
"Void King… A failed creature that should not exist. I will erase you from this world."
Hajin looked up, his eyes locking onto the figure standing atop the storm clouds.
Surrounded by golden lightning, radiating an aura so powerful the air itself felt heavy Zeus.
One of the highest-ranking gods in the group chat.
For the first time, the Void King, who had been rampaging wildly, sensed a presence far greater than its own. The massive shadow-like entity turned its gaze upward, letting out a furious roar.
But before it could even move, the sky rumbled once more.
BOOM!
A divine spear of lightning descended from the heavens, moving at an impossible speed.
The Void King barely had time to raise its arms before the attack struck.
ZRAAAK!
The lightning exploded within the Void King's body, sending blinding light across the entire city an energy so destructive that it burned and disintegrated everything in its path. The Void King let out one final roar before its body shattered into particles of light, vanishing into nothingness.
Silence.
The wind, which had been howling moments ago, suddenly stopped as if time itself had frozen for a brief moment.
Zeus, still floating in the air, looked down at the world beneath him with an indifferent expression. He lowered his hand, still crackling with residual lightning.
"The event must proceed as planned," he muttered before disappearing.
Hajin, still lying on the ground, let out a deep breath.
"Fuck… So this is the power of the gods?"
His body still trembled not from fear, but from the realization of just how vast the power gap was between humans and gods.
But at the same time, his mind was racing.
If Zeus could erase the Void King that easily…
Was the system really impossible to destroy?