50 Years Ago — The Day the Towers Rose (2009)
No one knew where they came from.
Across every major capital city—from New York to Beijing, Moscow to Tokyo, Paris to Seoul they erupted from the earth like divine punishment. Jet-black structures, hundreds of meters tall, covered in glowing blue runes no one could read.
The world called them Towers.
The governments called them a threat.
Within 24 hours, nuclear missiles were launched at three of the towers. All failed. The explosions evaporated against an invisible barrier. Satellites lost signal near them. Entire teams of soldiers and scientists disappeared without a trace.
Then, came the first Crack.
A rupture in reality itself—like space had been torn open by invisible claws. From it came monsters: creatures with fangs longer than swords, skin harder than tanks, eyes that melted sanity.
Guns didn't work. Bombs didn't work.
Nothing worked.
But then... they returned.
The people who had vanished inside the Tower came back—transformed. Glowing veins. Eyes lit with power. Moving faster than bullets. Tearing monsters apart with bare hands or blades made of flame, ice, or shadow.
The world called them: Hunters.
The System named them: Awakeners.
That's how humanity survived.
But surviving wasn't winning.
Because the Towers weren't just spawning monsters.
They were watching.
And every Hunter who entered knew one universal truth:
To achieve peace, someone must clear all 100 floors of the Tower.
But even now, no one has cleared the first.
Because the monster guarding it—has never been seen.
Because no one who enters... ever returns.
....
Present Day — Seoul, South Korea
Capital Tower Entrance, Yongsan District
The tower in Seoul stood like a monument to fear, surrounded by ten-meter-high barriers, shimmering with mana fields. But today, there was excitement. A crowd of thousands had gathered outside the main gate—civilians, news crews, Hunter fans, and livestreamers all pressed behind the barricades.
They weren't here for a fight.
They were here for a show.
"Look! It's them!! The Peace Guild!!"
Flashes of cameras exploded like fireworks as armored vehicles pulled up to the staging ground. A line of elite hunters stepped out. Each one carried a unique presence—sharp, dangerous, beautiful.
But none more than their leader.
Ryu Gaon, South Korea's most powerful hunter.
SSS-Rank, lightning elementalist, world-ranked idol, and the man many called the "Golden Commander."
Among the crowd, a woman in a sleek red blazer pushed through to the front, mic in one hand, camera drone following above.
"This is Han Soo-yeon, reporting live from Yongsan Tower Entrance!" she beamed.
"I'm here with the Peace Guild as they prepare to enter the first floor for the first time in fifty years!"
She jogged up to Gaon, holding out the mic.
"Sir, will you kindly answer me—is it true that you and your team are going to challenge the first floor boss today?"
Ryu Gaon turned to her, smiling like a pop star.
"Yes. We're entering the Tower. I plan to bring peace to South Korea... and erase the monster that's haunted our world for decades."
Soo-yeon's eyes sparkled. "It's amazing to hear that from someone as respected as you, a world-class SSS-Rank Hunter."
Gaon smirked, camera lights catching the gleam in his teeth.
"We'll finish what others couldn't."
"Would you like to say something to your fans watching from all over the world?"
He turned to the camera, raising one hand in a practiced, confident gesture.
"To all my fans believe in us. Believe in—"
The ground shook.
Everyone froze.
The Tower—the indestructible Tower—began to rumble.
From its base, a deep, metallic groan echoed like a thousand walls shifting at once.
Then, in full view of the crowd...
The entire bottom floor of the Tower began to sink.
Not collapse.
It Sink As if it were retreating. Folding inward.
A massive roar vibrated in the air—too low to hear with ears, but loud enough to be felt in bones.
The crowd screamed.
Soo-yeon's mic hit the ground.
Thud.
The Tower had never made a sound like that before.
The air was thick with dust and static. Reporters screamed into microphones. Camera drones jittered in the sky, struggling to focus as the ground trembled. Civilians were screaming, recording on phones, livestreams flooding with emojis and panic.
"It's sinking!"
"The first floor is collapsing!"
"What is that sound?!"
No one could explain what they were seeing.
The Tower—unchanged for fifty years—was folding inward, as if the foundation itself were vanishing. A vibration hummed beneath the skin of every living thing nearby. Some people cried. Others knelt and prayed.
But Ryu Gaon of the Peace Guild stood still.
Expression locked.
He knew what this meant.
Someone cleared the floor and it wasn't him.
His fists clenched. Lightning sparked at his knuckles.
"Was it the Paladin Guild from the States? Unicorn Guild? Phoenix Guild ?"
He didn't know.
But he was going to find out.
In a flash of blue electricity, he vanished—lightning step cutting through the crowd like a thunderbolt as the military rushed to contain the chaos.
A Few Blocks Away...
Han Soo-yeon slammed the door of her beat-up red hatchback and cursed under her breath.
Her livestream crew had been forced to retreat. The police pushed everyone out as the tower started shifting. She sat back in the driver's seat, rubbing her forehead, trying to process what she'd seen.
"What the hell just happened? The Tower's never moved. It's not supposed to move."
She sighed. Her heels were killing her. She was supposed to be doing a high-profile interview. Now she was sitting in a busted car in a side alley like a failed MeTuber.
Then, she saw him.
A young man, maybe early twenties, barefoot, covered in dust. Completely naked.
He walked awkwardly down the alley, eyes blank like he'd just woken up from a long dream. His skin was gray with dirt. Hair messy. He didn't seem to notice or care that he was completely exposed to the world.
She blinked.
Then laughed.
"Okay... clearly my brain's gone. That has to be a pervert."
But still... something felt off. Her instincts, honed over years in warzones and monster attack zones, were screaming that this wasn't normal.
She stepped out of the car and jogged after him.
She found him squatting in front of a car with the hood up, staring at it like it was some kind of alien animal.
"Hey! HEY! You—pervert!" she shouted, pointing at him.
The boy slowly turned around.
His eyes were black not pitch black, just... empty, like he hadn't decided what to feel yet.
His voice came out quiet, confused.
"...Pervert?"
"What the hell are you doing walking around naked in the middle of the day?! Are you high? Drunk? Mentally unstable?"
He tilted his head like a curious dog.
"Who... are you?"
That threw her off for a second.
"I'm the one asking the questions! Who are you?"
The boy slowly raised a hand and pointed to himself.
"Me?"
"Yes, you! What's your name?"
He blinked once.
Looked down.
Thought for a moment, then said:
"My name is... Han Joon-seok."
Soo-yeon frowned.
That name was on the missing F-rank list from the Serpent Guild. He'd been one of the nobodies sent into the Tower last week.
No way.
"Okay... Han Joon-seok. Why the hell are you naked?"
He looked down at his body.
Then shrugged.
"Clothes were... devoured."
Her jaw dropped.
"What?"
She pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled. "Whatever. You're either insane or... the world's most polite lunatic."
"Come on," she said, walking back to her car. "Let me take you home before you get arrested."
He nodded obediently and followed.