Rain poured without end.
The courtyard was a battlefield. Bodies lay scattered, blood running across the cracked tiles. Thunder rumbled in the night sky, drowning out the cries of the dying.
Seo Joon staggered forward. His chest burned, blood leaking from the deep wound. His robes were soaked, sticking to his skin. Every step felt like dragging a mountain.
In front of him stood Seo Min-jae. His sworn brother. His confidant. The man he had protected again and again.
But tonight, Min-jae's sword dripped with his blood.
Seo Joon's lips trembled. "Why… Min-jae?"
Min-jae's face was calm. His eyes, once warm, were colder than steel.
"You were too soft, hyung. Too kind. People like you can't lead. The throne needs someone ruthless. Someone like me."
Seo Joon's mind spun. Memories flashed—him training Min-jae when they were young, sneaking food together as boys, swearing they would never betray each other.
He remembered Min-jae crying the night their father died, clinging to him. He remembered swearing to protect him.
And now, that same brother was the one who had driven a sword into his chest.
The rain beat harder, like drums of war. His loyal men screamed as Min-jae's soldiers cut them down one by one. The castle walls, once a symbol of strength, now burned in the distance.
Seo Joon gave a bitter laugh, his voice filled with despair. "So this is… how it ends."
His knees buckled. He collapsed onto the stone floor, blood pooling beneath him. His final sight was Min-jae's back, walking away without a trace of regret.
"…I curse you…" Seo Joon whispered as the world turned black.
____
Silence.
No rain.
No breath.
No sound.
Only endless darkness.
Seo Joon opened his eyes—or thought he did. There was nothing. No body, no ground, no sky. Just a void stretching forever. His form was only a faint light, a ghost of what he once was.
"…Where am I?" His voice echoed strangely, fading into nothing.
Then, a sound came. Cold. Mechanical. Not human.
> [Initializing…]
[User #0000 detected.]
[Welcome, Seo Joon.]
Seo Joon froze. The voice wasn't real. It was inside his head, yet everywhere at once.
"…Who are you? What is this place?" he demanded.
No answer came. Instead, glowing letters appeared before him, floating in the dark.
> [Cause of death: Betrayal.]
[Resentment: 94%]
[Despair: 87%]
[Hatred: 99%]
[Result: User qualifies for binding with the Forsaken System.]
"Forsaken… System?" Seo Joon whispered.
The letters shifted again.
> [Do you want to reincarnate? Y/N]
Seo Joon's soul trembled. Reincarnation? Another life?
Memories rushed back—his brother's smile as the sword struck, his people screaming, his kingdom falling.
"Yes," Seo Joon said. His voice was steady, sharp with rage. "Send me back. I don't care the price."
The void shuddered.
> [Acknowledged.]
[Warning: The Forsaken System does not grant power freely.]
[Your strength will come from pain.]
[Your growth will come from despair.]
[The greater your suffering, the stronger you become.]
Seo Joon clenched his fists. His soul burned. "Then let me suffer. Let me bleed. As long as I can kill him with my own hands, I accept."
The light around him shifted. Strange runes spun in the void, wrapping around his form like chains.
> [First Law: To gain strength, you must bleed.]
[Second Law: To ascend, you must suffer.]
[Third Law: Power exists only in despair.]
The runes seared into him. Pain unlike anything he had felt before ripped through his soul. Seo Joon screamed. His light-body convulsed, cracking, tearing apart.
> [Binding complete.]
[User Seo Joon—Forsaken Candidate, initialized.]
The void split open.
A blinding light swallowed him.
____
Seo Joon gasped. Air rushed into his lungs. His chest rose and fell. His eyes shot open.
He was alive.
The smell of damp wood filled his nose. He lay in a tiny hut with a leaking roof. Water dripped onto his face. His hands shook as he touched his chest. Smooth skin. No wound.
"…I'm alive?" His voice was weak, almost foreign.
He stumbled to a cracked bronze mirror on the wall. A stranger looked back. A thin boy, no older than sixteen. Black hair hung over sharp eyes. His frame was fragile, his skin pale.
"…So this is me now."
Before he could think further, the voice returned.
> [Synchronization complete.]
[Welcome to your second life.]
[Activating Tutorial…]
More glowing words appeared.
> [Quest: Survive the First Day.]
[Condition: Endure hunger and pain without collapsing.]
[Reward: +1 Stat Point.]
[Failure: -10 HP, -1 Vitality.]
Seo Joon frowned. "Endure hunger?"
As if on cue, his stomach twisted violently. A wave of pain shot through him. Hunger clawed at him like wild beasts. His body shook, weak and fragile.
He pressed his hand against his stomach, groaning. "So this is what you mean… The system feeds on suffering."
The system did not reply.
Seo Joon pushed himself up. His arms trembled, his legs nearly gave out, but he forced himself to move. He staggered toward the hut door, his breaths shallow.
"I will endure," he muttered. "I will bleed. I will suffer."
His eyes burned with fire.
"Because one day, Seo Min-jae… I will kill you with my own hands."
The door creaked open.
A cold wind rushed in. Outside stretched a vast world. Mountains covered in mist loomed in the distance. Forests echoed with strange beast cries. Villages dotted the land, smoke rising from chimneys.
Seo Joon's new life had begun.
The system pulsed one more time.
> [Welcome to the world of Aetherion.]
[Your suffering begins now.]
Seo Joon took his first step out of the hut. His second life had started.
And thus began the tale of the man chosen by the Forsaken System.
_____
To be continued....