In a park.
A young man lay sprawled on the ground, the fresh marks of punches clearly visible on his face.
He showed no expression of pain, as things like this were already common in his life. Yet even so, something could be seen in his eyes—something that had been held back for a long time, finally cracking.
However, Kayen did not explode in anger. He only ask a single question, quietly.
"Why has my life turned out like this?"
Kayen's desire was simple.
A peaceful life.
But achieving that was incredibly difficult.
First, because the debts of his deceased parents had been passed on to him.
Second, the monsters that once existed only in fictional stories had appeared and begun attacking Earth fifteen years ago.
And just like in those stories, humans awakened a superhuman ability called Essence.
However, to obtain Essence, one had to complete a trial known as the Divine Trial.
That trial was no joke. Many people wished to enter and pass it so they could escape their fate. But only 3% of those who attempted it succeeded. The rest failed—and failure meant death.
Kayen knew this.
But he also knew another bitter truth.
For someone who had nothing and no one, and who only wished to live peacefully, there was only one way.
To obtain Essence—meaning to face and survive the Divine Trial.
Yet even to enter the Divine Trial, one had to be extremely lucky or extremely unlucky, because a person first had to be chosen before they could attempt it.
And the conditions for being chosen were unknown.
So one needed either incredible luck or incredible misfortune.
"Hahaha."
Kayen let out a short laugh. He laughed at the reality that if he wanted a peaceful life, he had to walk a path filled with conflict.
Slowly, Kayen pushed himself up from the ground. He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and looked up at the star-filled sky.
As he stared for a moment, his past came flooding back to him.
His parents had died when he was only eight years old—leaving behind a mountain of debt that still wrapped tightly around his life.
The debt was so enormous that Kayen wasn't even sure he could repay it in a lifetime.
He took a deep breath.
But as he inhaled, a sharp pain stabbed into his chest.
"*Sigh* You want me to pay off the debt, but you make things worse so I can't even earn money."
After saying that, Kayen left the park. He didn't go to the hospital, but headed straight for his home.
The distance was short—only two hundred meters from the park. But in Kayen's current condition, the walk felt endlessly long.
And after ten minutes of walking, Kayen finally arrived in front of his home.
Though calling it a home was generous.
It was more like a shack.
The building was made of wooden boards of different colors, like scraps from many toys pieced together to form a new one.
The door was nothing more than a thick plank, and it wasn't large enough to fully cover the doorway.
That left fairly large gaps at the top and sides.
To block them, Kayen used a piece of cloth to cover the openings.
The wind could still enter, of course, but at least it reduced the cold enough to keep him from freezing.
The door had no handle, only a hole about the size of four fingers.
The shack looked like it could collapse at any moment, yet despite the six years since Kayen had first built it, it still stood.
Of course, it had shown signs of collapse several times—but each time, Kayen repaired it before it happened.
Kayen stepped closer to the door.
But when he was just one step away—
A voice echoed, neither male nor female.
["Congratulations. You have been chosen to undertake the Divine Trial."]
Hearing the voice so close to him, Kayen looked around.
There was no one there but himself, meaning the voice was inside his head.
"Am I so desperate for a peaceful life that I've started hearing things?"
Kayen didn't know whether the voice spoke the truth or was merely an illusion. The government had never clearly explained anything about the Divine Trial to the public.
Then the voice spoke again.
["Transferring to the Divine Trial in ten…"]
The voice began counting down.
Even after hearing it, Kayen was still wondering whether this was real or not.
When the count reached one—before he could figure out the truth—
A golden light burst from below and enveloped him.
And in a single instant, Kayen, who had been standing in front of his door—
Was gone.
Only a pair of footprints remained in the dirt, proof that someone had once stood there.