The dim glow of reddish torches flickered along the endless corridor of the ancient dungeon, reflecting off damp stone walls and the crimson blood streaming across the floor. Yoon's heart pounded so hard, it felt like the pulse would infect his entire body and echo through the ruins of this place—where he, a pathetic F-rank hunter, might as well have never existed. There was no room for the weak here—and he knew that better than anyone.
They had laughed at him from the beginning: the seasoned veterans from the "Fangs of Light" guild threw him into the first squad like garbage. Just as I thought, the squad leader smirked inwardly, not a single drop of useful blood, not an ounce of worth.
Broken armor, a burnt vein pulsing on his forehead, skin rubbed raw to the point of bleeding, and the stench of stale air—this was his execution long before the final monster's claws tore into his chest. But he didn't beg for mercy. He only wished for one chance to prove he wasn't just a number in a rank chart.
And in that moment, when a demon beast's sharp fang sank into Yoon's neck, pure darkness spread through his mind—like a black sea devouring his consciousness.
"Suffer," he whispered through the ripping pain.
The pain became a song—the final swan song of his old life.
"That's it. A useless life. A useless skill. The end."
And that would've been the truth—until the world trembled...
He found himself in a void—no weight, no form, no sound. Only the faint echo of his own breathing, returning from far, far away. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above—just an endless abyss glowing with a soft violet light.
A voice rose from within, like the echoes of a grim choir:
"System 'Blooming' activated. Regression Cycle No. 1."
His mind flooded with a torrent of numbers and symbols, fragments of words, and graphic icons. A sequence of pop-up windows flashed before his eyes: "Strength ×10," "Intelligence ×10," "Endurance ×10"… With every passing second, the storm compressed, gaining shape and weight.
"Select one passive skill."
A button appeared on an invisible panel: "Greed." Through a pale, faded light barrier, text emerged:
"On kill — chance to steal experience and a random skill. Base chance: 5%."
He reached out—not with his body, but with his will.
"Greed," he whispered. "I choose you."
A quiet click… and the world exploded in fresh pain—the pain of reprogramming, as every cell in his body was reshaped anew.
Yoon opened his eyes to see the ceiling of his old apartment in Seoul. Evening wind whistled sharply through the window, and in the distance, holographic ads buzzed in the air.
"Twenty years old," he muttered, listening to the rhythm of his own breath. "The day I first awakened."
He sat up on the bed with a jerk. His whole body buzzed from the transfer—from the finest thread inside him to his fingertips. The faint scar on his left cheek still felt fresh—as if he'd only just passed out yesterday.
"I've gone back forty years," Yoon whispered, raising his hand as if to test reality. "But this time…"
His eyes gleamed with a steely light as the system's inner panel surfaced in his mind's eye:
Name: Kim Yeon WooAge: 20 (Regression: I)Rank: FLevel: 1Unspent Attribute Points: 10
Strength: 1Agility: 1Endurance: 1Intelligence: 1Perception: 1
Skills:● Greed (Passive, Level 1)
Before he could fully process the interface, a sudden wave of foresight surged into his mind: one year from now, the "Blood Labyrinth" dungeon would open access to a B-rank artifact; ten years later, a special quota would grant unique skills; one month from now, a group of elite hunters would arrive in their sector…
"I know everything," he whispered, "and I won't be anyone's pawn again."
A rush of adrenaline shot through his veins. He leapt to his feet and strode to the mirror. Reflected was a young man with a predatory gaze, a half-smile on his lips, and a scar that gave him a dangerous edge.
"From this day on, the real countdown begins," he said softly. "Let everyone who laughed at me taste my greed."
A moment later, he melted into the flow of Seoul's streets, where neon banners invited hunters to test their strength in various raids. But this time, Kim Yeon Woo wasn't walking toward glory—he was hunting power, blood, and everything the skill Greed could steal.
His new path had just begun.
And the silence of the night city dissolved beneath the sound of his confident steps.