Tokyo was rotten.
The neon lights no longer hid the cracks. The colorful glow that had once symbolized progress now only reflected on the exhausted faces of a forgotten population. Zombie workers walked the sidewalks, ignoring each other, buried in their own worlds, their own private hells.
And among them was Yuto Kurogane.
He walked with his hands in his pockets, his hoodie soaked by the persistent drizzle. His headphones were unplugged. He used them only to shut out conversations. To avoid stares. To pretend he didn't exist.
It was easier this way.
In reality, he had long since ceased to exist.
Yuto was 22, but he felt twice as old. Temporary jobs, tiny apartments, instant meals. He was just another name in the crowd—and not even that. No one would notice him if he disappeared. No one would look for him. It was the kind of thought that followed him like a shadow.
On this particular night, however, he was determined to act.
Yuto Kurogane stood on top of an old building, staring into the abyss below.
"The world won't miss another piece of shit like me," he muttered, the unlit cigarette clamped between his cracked lips. He was ready to jump. To end the comedy of his life. No one would come looking for him. No one would notice his absence.
The rain was falling thicker, cold and sharp as needles. The wind howled between the concrete buildings, sweeping away any last trace of warmth.
Yuto stared at the dead city beneath his feet. Below, car headlights streaked the streets like fluorescent worms. Life went on, indifferent. Always indifferent.
He let out a silent laugh.
"How many have jumped from here, huh?"
No one answered.
He took a step forward. The edge of the building was uneven, with broken pieces of the parapet exposed, as if the concrete itself were tired of holding itself together.
**The leap was simple.**
It was just a matter of falling.
No goodbye letters. No apologies. He owed no one anything—and no one owed him anything.
He closed his eyes.
He felt the weight of his body lean forward.
For a second, he felt peace.
And then, he threw himself down.
He threw himself down.
The wind tore at his ears.
The city became a vertical blur, light and shadow mixing like ink in dirty water. His stomach rose to his throat. The world spun, distorted, almost beautiful. For the first time in years, Yuto felt something real.
**Freedom.**
The fall was fast. As fast as his racing heart. But there was no fear. Only a calm emptiness. A cold acceptance.
It was the end.
And then… time shattered.
A sharp crack, like glass being crushed inside your head.
Reality tore into absolute silence.
The approaching ground disappeared. The lights of Tokyo vanished. Gravity stopped. It was like falling into a nightmare made of black ink and living smoke.
And then the voice echoed.
Low.
Sharp.
Cruel.
> "You chose to die... But I choose you."
>
Yuto opened his eyes to the void.
There was no sky. No ground. Only a pulsing darkness that stretched on forever. As if he were inside the heart of something ancient and hungry.
He couldn't breathe. But he didn't need to.
A floating screen materialized in front of him. Red letters glowed like embers in the darkness:
**[Candidate identified: Yuto Kurogane]**
**[Level 1]**
**[Emotional State: Total Surrender — Critical Internal Entropy]**
**[Synchronization with the Execution System: 99.7%]**
**[Compatible Traits: Cynicism, Grudge, Untamed Spirit, Repressed Rage]**
**[Ideal Profile for: EXECUTOR]**
He tried to speak, scream, react—but his body wouldn't respond.
The voice returned, this time inside his skull:
> "In this new world, justice is a theater and the gods are the directors. You, Yuto Kurogane, will be the executioner who brings the show to a close."
>
> "You will judge the chosen. You will hunt down those who play at being gods. And you will kill them."
>
> "This is your destiny."
>
And then:
> [You have been summoned to: ERVANTH, THE BURNED WORLD]
>
>
> **[Class: END EXECUTOR]**
>
> **[Initial assignments granted]**
>
> **[System active. Dimensional transition process initiated.]**
>
Darkness swirled like a whirlpool, swallowing everything.
Yuto felt his body crumble and reassemble at the same time. It was as if every atom screamed in pain—and then forgot it existed. The feeling of falling returned, but this time it was inward. As if he were falling eternally toward his own ruin.
And then… **ground.**
His body collided with something hard, damp, and fetid. The air was hot, heavy, stifling like a feverish lung.
He opened his eyes and coughed.
He was lying on a **slime**-covered floor, surrounded by broken bones and putrid mud. The ceiling was low, rocky, and covered in greenish moss that gave off a sickly glow. The place stank of urine, dried blood, and death.
Yuto was… **naked**, except for strips of torn cloth that looked more like burial rags. There were marks on his skin—black tattoos that pulsed faintly, like living circuits.
And then he heard the sounds.
**Footsteps. Screams. Guttural laughter.**
He crawled toward a wall, dizzy, his stomach churning. He felt the wall breathe—or was he hallucinating? Then, from the corridor ahead, they emerged:
**Goblins.**
Four, then six. Small creatures with greenish, stinking skin, red eyes, and crooked teeth. Some carried rusty daggers, others makeshift spears. One of them dragged a still-fresh human arm.
Yuto froze.
His body wanted to run. Every instinct screamed: **Run, run now.**
But then a **red screen** opened before him:
> [Spawn Location: Nar'Khal Forbidden Dungeon – Floor 3]
>
>
> **[Recommended Level: 10+]**
>
> **[Yuto Kurogane Status: Level 1 – Vulnerable]**
>
> **[Estimated Survival: 2 minutes]**
>
> [Warning: Escape Not Recommended.]
>
Yuto limped to his feet, bracing himself against the living wall.
"What the hell?" he spat, the metallic taste invading his tongue. "I barely got here!"
The goblins saw him.
They screamed. They advanced.
Yuto turned and ran down the tunnel, stumbling, nearly slipping on dried blood. His heart was beating like a war drum. The panic was absolute.
He could barely see.
Screams. Laughter. Footsteps behind him. A goblin threw a rock—it hit him in the back. Another was already firing a crude arrow. It grazed his shoulder.
Yuto rounded a corner and fell.
Face first to the ground, slipping in a pool of blood. He tried to get up… but his leg wouldn't respond.
And then… the screen appeared again.
Bigger.
Redder.
> [Yuto Kurogane, you chose to run.]
> [Are you going to continue being a wretch?]
>
>
> **[Are you really going to repeat the same shit from your last life?]**
>
> [His life was trash. Cowardly. Useless. Weak.]
>
> [Are you going to waste this new chance by being the same shit you were before?]
>
> [Answer.]
>
**[Y/N]**
Yuto stared at it, panting, his face smeared with mud, sweat, and fear. Pain throbbed in his leg. The screams came closer.
He gritted his teeth.
Something inside him—ancient, buried, forgotten—**shivered**.
He remembered the cold of Tokyo.
The rooftop.
The silence.
That last feeling before the jump.
And he spat:
"Fuck you."
**[Registered answer: NO]**
— Damn, you could at least give me a weapon, right?
> [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]
>
>
> **[SHOW ME YOU'RE WORTHY OF MY WORLD, YOU SHIT.]**
>
> **[DIE LIKE A WORM OR KILL LIKE A MONSTER.]**
>
Yuto screamed in rage, kicking the ground.
The laughter in the voice dissolved into the darkness of the dungeon, but it still echoed inside Yuto's head like a drum of mockery.
The goblins surged around the bend in the tunnel like a tide of rot. Small, angry, thirsty. The first of them came running forward with a makeshift dagger—a piece of iron stuck in an animal bone.
**Yuto had no choice.**
No weapons. No skills. Not a damn thing.
Just **rage**.
He waited. He waited until the last second. As the goblin lunged forward with its blade raised, Yuto sidestepped, spinning with his own weight, and drove his elbow hard into the creature's temple.
Crack.
The sound was dry. Satisfying.
The goblin fell convulsing, the blade flying from his hand. Yuto tried to grab the weapon in midair—missed—but didn't stop. Another goblin was already coming up behind him. He turned with his fists clenched and landed a punch squarely on the creature's flattened nose. The impact stung his own fingers, but the creature screamed, stumbling back.
Yuto took advantage and kicked its knee hard, shattering the joint with a sickening crack. The creature fell screaming, but Yuto was already turning for the next one.
It was a dirty fight. Survival.**
A third goblin tried to impale him with a short spear. Yuto twisted, the tip ripping into his shoulder—but he grabbed the spear shaft and yanked the goblin with all his might, bringing the creature straight into the **headbutt** he unleashed with all the fury in his world.
The creature's skull cracked with the impact. Green blood trickled down Yuto's forehead. He spat, tasting iron and vomit.
The fourth goblin hesitated. Trembled.
Yuto **grinned**.
It was a crooked, cracked, almost **crazy** smile.
"So, you son of a bitch… are you going to face it or are you going to run like me?"
The goblin hissed in irritation and ran toward him.
But Yuto had already drawn the spear lying beside him. Not to use—not yet. He rolled to the side, dodging the attack, and planted the spear tip into the ground, the shaft pointing upward.
The goblin stumbled under its own momentum and impaled its face on the piece of wood.
The creature shuddered, convulsive spasms racking its limbs, before collapsing.
Silence
Yuto stood still for a second. Trembling. Breathing like a cornered animal.
Four. Four goblins killed by their own hands.
He looked at the bodies. At the blood. At his own body covered in wounds, cuts, and bruises. His shoulder throbbed. His leg barely held firm. But he was still standing.
Still—
CRACK.
Pain exploded in his back.
Like a fiery sting piercing through his bones.
Yuto gasped, his eyes widening.
He looked down and saw the rusty tip of a spear piercing his stomach, stained with blood and fresh viscera.
For a second, the world stopped.
The sound faded.
The smell of iron filled everything.
He fell to his knees, his fingers trembling, trying to touch the spear that jutted from his own body like a pole of humiliation.
"S-Son of a…"
A shrill laugh cut through the silence. A grotesque sound, like nails scraping against metal.
He turned his face over his shoulder with difficulty—and saw it.
A larger goblin. Different from the others. Taller, with human leather armor, necklaces made of teeth, and eyes glowing with a burning malice.
A Goblin Boss.
He pulled the spear hard, and Yuto felt the ripping of flesh, the slurping of fluids, the emptiness that settled in as blood gushed out.
Yuto fell to his side.
He shivered.
The floor was cold now. Or maybe it was him cooling down.
The screen flickered, distorted. Its image flickered, like a broken TV.
> [ALERT: Critical Internal Bleeding]
>
>
> [Status: Agony]
>
> [Latent Passive Ability: "Untamed Spirit" — 87% Activation]
>
> [Consciousness Deteriorating…]
>
> [Reaction: Fight or Die?]
>
**Yuto saw everything in a blur.**
The Goblin Boss approached, dragging his spear across the ground, the metallic sound echoing like a misshapen heartbeat, each step a reminder of impending doom.
But then… the familiar voice of the system echoed.
No longer neutral.
No longer cold.
But **mocking.**
> "Look at you. All fucked up. Bloodied. Dying like the trash you always were."
>
> "Congratulations, Yuto. You lasted longer than expected. Must be a personal best, huh?" >
> "So much hatred… so much posturing… and in the end, you'll die on your knees again. Just like in the previous world."
>
The screen flashed before his eyes, red letters glinting with mockery.
> [Status: ABSOLUTE AGONY]
>
>
> [Mobility: 9%]
>
> [Internal bleeding: IRREVERSIBLE]
>
> [Estimated survival: 17 seconds]
>
> *"You don't want to die?"*
>
> *"Lie."*
>
> *"You were born to fail. And even in a new world… you're still a waste of space."*
>
Yuto felt the blood seep through his stomach, hot, thick. The ground embraced him like a funeral shroud. The pain was already so intense that it was beginning to fade, replaced by a strange calm.
And for a moment, he believed it.
> "Maybe I should give up…"
>
> "Maybe I should just… let go."
>
> "End this once and for all."
>
> "This new world, this system, this damn promise of redemption—it's all a joke."
>
> "I'm tired. Tired of fighting, of pretending to matter. Tired of me."
>
> "…I want to die."
>
> "…but not now."
>
**A snap.**
A spark of something **primitive, dirty, and stubborn** inside him ignited.
Yuto clenched his fists. His eyes widened, filled with fury. His teeth gnashed.
**And he screamed.**
— **I REFUSE TO DIE!**
The screen shook.
> [Registered response: Total Rejection of Death]
>
>
> [Deviant behavior identified]
>
> [Condensing hidden attribute: Will to Annihilation]
>
> *"Well well... and isn't it that the trash still talks?"*
>
The system's voice now sounded as if it were **smiling**, sadistically, enjoying the suffering.
> "You're all broken, bleeding like a pig... and you think you can beat this boss like that?"
>
> "What are you going to get up for? To be impaled again?"
>
> "You think that just because you screamed that you want to live, the universe will give you a reward?" >
> "You may even REFUSE TO DIE…"
>
> "…but that doesn't mean you can WIN."
>
Yuto gritted his teeth. His leg trembled. The black tattoos pulsed like the beat of a war drum.
He began to rise, inch by inch, muscles trembling, blood streaming.
Every fiber of his body screamed no.
But his soul said: NOW.
"You want to see how long I can last, don't you?" he gasped. "Then watch, you son of a bitch… watch."
The screen flashed in response, distorting the system's laughter like radioactive static.
> [EMERGENCY ABILITY UNLOCKED]
>
>
> **[DEATH REJECTION: ACTIVE]**
>
> [Movement restored for a limited time: 30 seconds]
>
> [Status: CONTROLLED MADNESS INITIATED]
>
The Goblin Boss hesitated when he saw him standing.
Bleeding.
Limping.
But **standing**.
Yuto smiled.
"Let's dance, you piece of shit."