The stench of antiseptic and stale urine was the first thing that assaulted him. Not the searing pain, not the dizzying confusion, but the sheer, overwhelming disgust of his surroundings. He lay sprawled on cold, grimy tiles, his cheek pressed against a surface that felt suspiciously damp. Every muscle screamed in protest, a symphony of aches and throbs that made him want to simply curl up and vanish.
But vanishing wasn't an option. Not anymore.
He forced his eyes open, blinking against the harsh fluorescent lights of what was unmistakably a public restroom. White tiles, a chipped mirror, graffiti on a stall door that read "F-RANK TRASH."
F-rank trash? The words triggered a phantom ache in his chest, a wave of alien despair that wasn't his own. He pushed himself up with a grunt, his body stiff and unresponsive, as if he'd been run over by a truck. Glancing down, he saw the cause: a kaleidoscope of bruises blooming across his pale skin, a dark, muddy boot print starkly visible on his uniform shirt.
This wasn't his body. And this certainly wasn't his life.
A searing headache lanced through his skull, and a torrent of images, smells, and sounds erupted in his mind, unbidden and overwhelming.
A small boy, alone on a playground, watching other kids with glowing hands conjure small flames.
A tired man, working late, his shoulders slumped as he came home to an empty house.
The jeers, the shoves, the mocking laughter in hallways.
"Look, it's Dohyun, the Plunderer! What's he going to plunder today? My lunch money?"
A timid girl with wide, worried eyes, offering a band-aid to a bruised face.
The dizzying disappointment of the Plunder skill activating, only for his mana to completely deplete, leaving him weaker than before.
Dohyun. The name echoed in his mind, not as a label, but as a summary of a life defined by humiliation. A seventeen-year-old boy from Korea, attending the prestigious Baekho Awakened Academy, a school for those with powers, a place where Hunters were born. But Dohyun wasn't a Hunter. He was a mockery. F-rank, with the weakest skill known to humanity – Plunder. An ability that drained more than it gave, leaving him a perpetual victim.
The memories concluded with the sickening crunch of bone, the fading consciousness as a fist connected with his jaw. The school toilets. His usual refuge, now his involuntary arrival point.
He took a shaky breath, the pain a dull throb now, replaced by a cold, unfamiliar resolve. "Pathetic," he muttered, the voice that emerged from his throat deeper, more resonant than the boy's memories suggested. "This body holds no weakness now."
As if in response, a translucent blue screen shimmered into existence before his eyes, almost blending with the chipped paint on the wall.
[ SYSTEM ]
Welcome, Awakened One.
User: Dohyun (Host Body)
Rank: F
Skill: Plunder (Unique, Unactivated)
Status:
Strength: 4 (F)
Agility: 5 (F)
Stamina: 3 (F)
Mana: 7 (F)
Perception: 6 (F)
Current Condition: Severely Bruised, Minor Concussion.
He stared at the screen, a flicker of something ancient and powerful stirring within him. A System. This wasn't some minor anomaly. This was an invitation. An opportunity. The weakness he had just witnessed, the lifetime of humiliation Dohyun had endured… it all felt like fuel.
He pushed off the wall completely, testing his legs. They wobbled, but he forced them steady. The reflection in the grimy mirror showed a lean, slightly built boy with messy black hair and surprisingly sharp eyes, currently clouded with a mix of pain and an unnerving, predatory intensity. A stark contrast to the timid, perpetually downcast expression he'd just absorbed from the memories.
He clenched his fists, feeling the subtle tremor in his limbs. F-rank. Plunder. Weakest Hunter. The words repeated, but now, they didn't bring despair. They ignited a cold, burning ambition.
This was not his world, but it would become his stage. The F-rank trash would rise. And he, the one who now inhabited this fragile shell, would ensure it. The old Dohyun's pain was merely a prelude. The new Dohyun would carve a legend.
A cold, precise smirk touched his lips. It was time to leave this latrine. The world was waiting to be plundered.
Next Chapter Tease: As Dohyun steps out of the bathroom, the familiar sneering face of Kim Min-jun blocks his path. But today, the bully will face an opponent unlike any he's ever tormented.