Creak — creak —

Ha Gangwoo stood on the chair and tied the rope. A burning pain stabbed through his knuckles.

‘I can’t do a single thing right.’

Ha Gangwoo frowned.

Two fingers on his right hand had been long severed; one eye had burst from the shock, making it hard to judge distances.

‘Annoying.’

Ha Gangwoo ground his teeth.

He hated himself more and more for failing to handle even this simple task.

Gwaaaaagh-

After a ten-minute struggle, just as he finally tied the rope tight.

Wooong-

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

[The maintenance fee for your precious Hope has not been received. Please deposit 10 million won by February 20. Failure to do so will result in the disposal of your precious Hope.]

It was a message from the Hope Repository.

‘Disposal, huh…’

A chill crept over Ha Gangwoo’s face.

The word ‘Hope’ in the message referred to his dead sister. This was hardly a pleasant message.

‘Do whatever you want.’

Ha Gangwoo flung his phone to the floor.

When he was about to throw away his own life anyway, what did his sister’s corpse matter?

Ha Gangwoo grabbed the rope he had struggled so hard to tie with both hands.

‘That damn money…’

He hated this world that only cared about money, money, money.

And in the end, it was because he didn’t have that money that he was doing this.

“Hoo…”

He let out a long sigh, then looped the rope around his neck.

One step now — just one step — and he could escape this godforsaken hell.

He thought that and tried to take a step. But for some reason, his foot wouldn’t lift easily.

“What a pathetic piece of shit…”

Ha Gangwoo’s face crumpled violently.

To come all the way to the very end and still hesitate—he truly hated himself down to the last moment.

‘What did I do so wrong?’

Before dying, Ha Gangwoo let the past flicker through his mind one last time.

His parents had died in the Gate disaster. That was what they told him. He grew up in an orphanage.

The only thing that set him apart from the other orphans was that he had a sibling—flesh and blood.

Living with his only blood relative, he had just one wish.

[Let’s live an ordinary life.]

He wanted what everyone else had: a normal job, a lover, save up money to buy a house—just that kind of plain, ordinary life.

But that wish had become a dream he could never achieve.

[Oppa!! Wake up. Huh?! You’re not sick, are you? Don’t work the night shift today—come home early!!! Got it?]

That last day, his younger sister Ha Jiyeon had placed a hand on his forehead and said that.

[Modern medicine seems like it won’t be enough… But… a Healer might…]

And that day. His sister lay on a hospital bed and never opened her eyes again.

An incurable disease of unknown cause.

There was only one way: find an S-Rank Healer.

So Ha Gangwoo went to find one.

That Healer stood there, a high-end sports car and a woman at his side, grinning smugly.

[Why should I save your sister?? I’ve got a line of people willing to pay ten billion just for treatment, you know?]

The S-Rank Healer, Yoon Jeonghyuk.

A miracle man who could turn an eighty-year-old hunched grandmother into a twenty-year-old’s body. He spoke.

Ha Gangwoo couldn’t say a word. He didn’t have ten billion, nor the eloquence to sway the Healer.

[Then get lost. Know your place—if trash gets sick, it’s natural for it to die. A lower life-form wasting my time.]

Ha Gangwoo knelt on the floor, looking up at him, and thought.

‘Trash… Just how damn great is he…’

He had never wasted a single day of his life.

From high school, part-time jobs were a given; right after graduation, he threw himself into the workforce. He lived so hard that he wondered if he could’ve done better even if he went back to those days.

So this bastard—who only got lucky with one Awakening—dared to act like he was some superior species and look down on his sister and him?

Rage surged up.

“Ten billion. If I bring it, will you treat her?”

He thought that measly ten billion was money he could scrape together if he just tried hard enough.

[Puhahahaha!]

The Healer’s face twisted into a contemptuous grin.

[See, this is why lower life-forms don’t know their place. Do you even have a hundred million? Yeah, fine—bring me ten billion, and I’ll drop everything to treat her right away. Go ahead and try! But I guarantee you won’t make it.]

With that sneer, the Healer Yoon Jeonghyuk took his woman and disappeared into his house.

Ha Gangwoo knelt on the ice-cold floor and made a vow.

‘I’ll get it no matter what. By any means necessary, I’ll get it!!!’

And so Ha Gangwoo’s challenge began.

Time passed.

In the end,

his younger sibling died.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t scrape together one billion won.

He had been complacent. Incompetent. The real him.

[See? Lower life-forms never know their place.]

‘Lower life-form…’

That’s what he was.

No matter how he thrashed or what means he used, he couldn’t gather it.

When that brutal realization of his station finally sank in, no hope remained in sight.

Ha Gangwoo let out a bitter smile.

His body no longer trembled.

Because his mind was fully made up.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just as he was about to kick the chair away, a thunderous pounding on the iron door filled the room.

Ha Gangwoo’s gaze shifted toward the door.

A shout came from the other side.

“You son of a bitch!!! I know you’re in there!! Open up!!!”

Ha Gangwoo knew that voice all too well.

The man who had caved in his right eye, the man who had cut off his fingers.

Loan-shark boss Kim Ducheol — it was his voice.

‘Just die already…’

He had no more attachments left.

Only the desire to escape this wretched, endless pain.

Ha Gangwoo kicked the chair.

The stool that had held him up clattered away, and just as his body, unable to resist gravity, dropped toward the floor—

Creeeak—the rope began to tighten around his neck.

A choked feeling caught in his throat as his airway compressed.

“Ghk… ghk…”

The pain was searing. But that was it. Compared to the despair and agony when his sibling died, this was a drop in the bucket.

“Ghk…. g…h…k”

And after a moment, that pain began to slowly fade.

Strength drained from his body; his eyes were open, but his vision dimmed.

Bam!!

The sound of the door bursting open reached him. A face he never wanted to see again came into view.

‘Of all the faces to see at the end…’

To the very last, his life couldn’t help but be a goddamn joke.

“You crazy bastard!! Think you can go quietly?!! Get down here now!!”

That voice he loathed hammered against his eardrums.

“……”

His vision bled completely black.

And so Ha Gangwoo died.

No — he thought he died.

In that moment.

Ding-

[You have Awakened.]

[Synchronization begins.]

….

…

..

.

Ha Gangwoo was reborn.

***

A dazzling light burst through the gloomy room.

Whoosh!!

A massive radiance spread around Ha Gangwoo, enveloping his entire body.

The three men who had smashed the door open shielded their eyes from the intense glare, their faces twisting in a scowl.

“What the fuck! What’s this all of a sudden!!”

In that instant, the rope that had been coiled around Ha Gangwoo’s neck snapped.

Shhhhh-

Ha Gangwoo’s body slowly descended to the floor.

Ha Gangwoo dropped to his knees and stared up at the ceiling.

‘A—wake—ning.’

White light engulfed him, gathering in halos around his battered body.

His hollowed-out eyes filled with radiance. Light coalesced at his severed fingers, shaping them back into form.

And then—

[Synchronization complete.]

The system tone rang out, and every shred of pain vanished from his body.

The miracle he’d only heard of in stories—the blessing of Awakening—had come to Ha Gangwoo.

He frowned, spreading his hands open to look at them. The fingers that had been cut off, the flesh that had been torn away—all of it was whole again.

‘Why now… of all times…’

An Awakening, now, when he’d abandoned everything—even himself. He couldn’t tell if he should laugh or weep.

[Please select your Trait Catalog.]

Whoosh—

Like ten thousand flower petals scattering on the wind, a storm of cards whirled around Ha Gangwoo.

He stayed on his knees, tilting his head up to watch them.

‘The Catalog…’

Grit—

His teeth ground involuntarily. Blood seeped from his gums where he clenched his jaw.

‘What a fucking joke.’

Rage flooded him. Irritation surged.

Hadn’t he already decided to throw his life away? To kill himself?

Having given up on everything, this chance arriving now was nothing but infuriating.

And then—a face surfaced in his mind.

‘Kim Ducheol…’

The loan-shark boss, Kim Ducheol. That man’s face swam into his vision.

Gangwoo’s eyes narrowed.

Moments ago, he’d had no will to live. But now, seeing Ducheol’s face—something he wanted to do took root.

‘Revenge.’

He wanted to pay back that bastard—the one who’d cut off his fingers and gouged out his eyes—in the exact same coin.

“Let’s see just how impressive this ability is.”

Gangwoo’s hand reached for the Catalog.

Ding—

[Trait Catalog selected.]

As soon as he chose a card, the rest of the swirling cards and the one in his hand vanished with a pop.

[Trait Catalog selection complete.]

[Trait Catalog has been moved to Inventory.]

[A new message has arrived.]

Amid the jumble of system tones, a holographic window blazing with [!!!] appeared in his field of vision.

But all Gangwoo could see was one man’s face.

His eyes shimmered with fury.

The healer who had mocked him. Kim Ducheol, who’d cut off his fingers and beaten him senseless.

Every single one of them pissed him off.

‘I’ll pay it all back.’

He didn’t know how great a blessing Awakening was supposed to be. But he wanted to repay everything.

Thud—

Gangwoo walked toward Kim Ducheol and his crew.

They flinched!

Kim Ducheol’s men recoiled, startled by the look in Gangwoo’s eyes as they stumbled backward.

Watching them, Gangwoo clenched both fists.

“First, I need to settle the debt I owe.”