In the year 2019, strange phenomena began appearing all over the world.
They were called Rifts—cracks in reality that formed in places where suffering and death had once been overwhelming.
Hospitals where thousands had passed away.
Collapsed buildings buried under rubble.
Old battlefields soaked with forgotten blood.
And highways where endless accidents had claimed lives.
These locations became scars on the world itself.
From those scars, monsters emerged.
Creatures that did not belong to Earth crawled out of distorted space, bringing destruction wherever they appeared.
Entire streets vanished overnight. Sirens became part of everyday life. News channels ran nothing but Rift alerts and casualty reports.
At first, humanity stood helpless.
Guns failed. Tanks failed. Even missiles barely slowed the stronger monsters. Panic spread faster than the creatures themselves.
Governments declared emergency laws. Cities were divided into safe zones and forbidden zones.
Then… humans began to awaken.
Some people suddenly discovered their bodies had changed. They could lift impossible weights. Run faster than vehicles. Control fire, ice, lightning, or shadows. Others gained strange abilities—healing wounds, predicting danger, bending space, or summoning weapons out of nothingness.
These powers were called Skills.
Those who awakened were given a single title: Hunters.
Their duty was clear.
Enter Rifts.
Kill the monsters inside.
Close the tear in reality before it expanded.
Hunters became both soldiers and heroes. Some were worshipped. Some were feared. Some were hunted for their power.
Among them was a mid-ranked Hunter named Seung-hoo.
He wasn't famous.
He wasn't the strongest.
He didn't appear on billboards or news headlines.
But he was reliable.
He always answered calls.
He never abandoned his team.
And he always came back alive.
Seung-hoo specialized in lightning-based combat and short-range weapon skills. His fighting style was fast, aggressive, and precise. Blue sparks often danced around his blade when he fought, earning him the quiet nickname "Storm Cutter" among lower-ranked Hunters.
He worked with a small but tightly bonded team:
Hyun-woo, their calm and calculating mage who never wasted mana.
Joon-seok, their towering tank who stood like an iron wall and never retreated.
Seo-yeon, their swift and silent assassin whose blades moved faster than sound.
They had survived dozens of Rifts together.
Low-level nests.
Medium-class labyrinths.
Even a few near-fatal encounters.
Each mission had made them stronger. Each victory had built their trust. They joked between battles.
Shared meals after missions. Argued about tactics and music and food.
They believed they would keep fighting together for years.
Until that call came.
One rainy evening, Seung-hoo's communicator vibrated sharply against his wrist. The sound cut through the noise of traffic and thunder.
| [Emergency Rift Detected] |
| Location: Gyeonggi Highway |
| Cause: High casualty zone, multiple fatal accidents |
| Threat Level: B+ |
A Rift had opened on a highway known for deadly crashes.
The place was already sealed by the military. Traffic was frozen in every direction. Soldiers formed barricades while helicopters circled above.
Black mist spiraled above the asphalt like a wound torn open in the sky.
Seung-hoo tightened his gloves. Rain slid down his jacket as he stared at the swirling distortion.
"Let's clear this quickly," he said. "Before it spreads."
The team nodded without hesitation.
They stepped into the Rift together.
The world twisted.
The highway vanished, replaced by a storm-filled wasteland of broken metal and glowing electric clouds.
Crushed cars floated in the air like memories of the dead. Bent traffic signs drifted upside down. Thunder rolled endlessly above them. The smell of ozone burned their lungs.
Then they felt it.
A presence.
The ground trembled. The clouds split apart.
From the storm descended the boss monster.
A colossal Electric-type Dragon.
Its scales glowed with blue lightning. Wings spread wide enough to blot out the sky. Sparks crawled across its body like living veins of energy. Every movement sent thunder roaring across the battlefield.
Hyun-woo whispered in shock,
"…This is a final-stage boss."
Joon-seok clenched his shield.
"But this Rift shouldn't have one yet."
Seo-yeon drew her blades.
"We can't retreat now."
Seung-hoo raised his weapon.
"Then we fight."
The battle lasted two hours.
Lightning tore through the battlefield.
Spells collided with thunder.
Steel met scales.
Joon-seok stood in front, blocking waves of electric breath with his shield until cracks spread across its surface.
Hyun-woo burned through all his mana casting barrier after barrier, sweat dripping down his face as his hands shook.
Seo-yeon struck again and again at the dragon's wings, leaving deep wounds—but each strike cost her strength.
Seung-hoo fought like his life depended on it.
Because it did.
But the dragon was simply too strong.
One by one, they fell.
Joon-seok collapsed first, his shield shattered beside him.
Hyun-woo dropped next, his staff breaking in half.
Seo-yeon made one final leap… and never rose again.
At last, Seung-hoo stood alone.
His vision blurred.
His limbs trembled.
Every breath burned like fire.
The dragon roared in victory, though its body was covered in wounds and broken scales.
Seung-hoo fell to his knees.
He turned his head weakly and saw them.
Hyun-woo.
Joon-seok.
Seo-yeon.
They lay motionless across the shattered battlefield.
"…I'm sorry," he whispered.
The dragon lifted its head for a final strike.
But before it could move again, its own wounds caught up to it.
The great creature collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Dragon and Hunter lay still.
Silence filled the Rift.
Death claimed them both.
Then…
A strange mechanical sound echoed in the empty battlefield.
_______________________________________________
| [Ding! System Successfully Activated] |
|[ Cause of Activation: Death of Powerful
Individuals ]|
|[ Skill Activated: Max-Level Growth ]|
|[ Max-Level Growth ]|
Allows the user to grow infinitely in any chosen stat or skill.
|[ Side Effect ]|
continuously drains other stats unless stopped by the user.
________________________________________________
But Seung-hoo could not hear it.
He was already dead.
His soul drifted upward, away from the battlefield, away from pain, away from regret. Darkness surrounded him like an endless ocean.
Then suddenly—
A powerful force grabbed him.
Not gently.
Not kindly.
It dragged his soul back down.
Back into flesh.
Back into pain.
Seung-hoo gasped.
Air filled his lungs.
His eyes snapped open.
Bright white light blinded him.
He heard beeping machines. Voices. Footsteps.
He was lying in a hospital bed. Tubes were connected to his arms. His body felt weak, but alive.
"…What?" he whispered.
Memories flooded his mind.
The Rift.
The dragon.
His teammates' deaths.
His own death.
"I died…" he murmured.
A television was playing in the corner of the room. A news reporter's voice echoed softly:
"Breaking news—another Rift has appeared in Seoul today. Authorities warn civilians to evacuate immediately…"
Seung-hoo froze.
That broadcast.
He remembered it.
That same report.
That same voice.
That same day.
"…This was in 2024," he whispered.
His heart began to race.
He slowly turned his head toward the calendar on the wall.
June 3rd, 2024.
Two years before his death.
His hands trembled.
"I went back… in time?"
A faint blue screen appeared before his eyes.
_______________________________________________
| [ System Status: Active ] |
| [ Skill: Max-Level Growth ] |
________________________________________________
Seung-hoo stared at it in silence.
Outside the hospital window, sirens wailed in the distance. Another Rift alarm echoed across the city.
His teammates were still alive.
The catastrophic future had not happened yet.
The dragon had not appeared yet.
And now…
He had returned to the past with a skill that could grow infinitely.
Seung-hoo clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms as his breathing slowly steadied.
"This time…" he whispered, feeling lightning flicker faintly beneath his skin
"I won't lose them."