The world returned in fragments. Pain came first—dull, deep-rooted, like someone had carved out his insides and filled them with broken glass. Then the sterile scent of antiseptic. A humming light above. Yoon Taesung blinked once, twice, then slowly turned his head.
White ceiling. IV drip. Quiet beeping.
He was alive.
A dull ache throbbed beneath his sternum where Virex's claw had struck. He remembered the Rift—its dark soil, its yawning silence—and the monster who had called him kin.
"You smell like the Rift… like me."
Taesung sat up slowly. The room spun. Pain lanced through his back and legs. Bandages crisscrossed his body, some stained pink at the edges. He took a breath—and regretted it immediately. His lungs burned.
The door opened with a soft click.
Nam Doohyuk stepped in, arms crossed. He looked like he hadn't slept in a day, armor peeled off and slung over his shoulder. His eyes were stormy.
"You're awake," he said, voice low. "Good. Wasn't sure you'd make it."
Taesung didn't answer. He didn't need to.
"You fought it alone," Doohyuk continued. "Jung Hyejin said she felt something… ancient. Said it wasn't just a Rift boss." He frowned. "What the hell was that thing?"
Taesung looked down at his hands. They were trembling.
"I don't know," he muttered. "It was… different."
There was a pause.
"You're lucky," Doohyuk said. "If it wanted you dead, you'd be a corpse right now."
Then he left, leaving only silence and the distant beep of the monitor behind.
—
Later, a Guild healer came in. A young woman with white robes and tired eyes. She carried a tablet and a look of concern.
"Yoon Taesung-ssi," she said cautiously, "your vitals are… unusual."
He raised an eyebrow. She hesitated, then showed him the screen.
"You're healing too fast. Some of your internal tissues restructured overnight. Your mana flow has shifted—there's a secondary circuit developing along your spinal column."
Taesung didn't answer.
"It's like your body's… adapting to something. Or evolving."
She seemed afraid to say more.
When she left, Taesung pulled the blanket tighter over himself. Something inside him pulsed in agreement—like a quiet instinct stirring.
He wasn't just healing.
He was changing.
—
That night, he dreamed.
He stood in a land made of ash and bone. The sky was a black canvas, torn with crimson lightning. A massive, twisted tree rose in the distance—its roots coiled through corpses, its branches skeletal and vast.
From its base, a voice echoed.
"Kin."
Taesung turned, but no one was there.
Then something moved—huge, monstrous—and he woke in a cold sweat, heart hammering.
His palm burned.
A mark glowed faintly near his wrist. Not from the fight. Not from the healer.
It was shaped like a fang.
—
In another wing of the Guild building, Seong Jinhwan leaned against a glass wall, arms crossed.
"I want a full report," he said coldly. "From everyone who entered that Rift."
Across from him sat three senior Guild officials and a figure he hadn't seen in months—Oh Jaemin, the former Director.
Grey streaks cut through Jaemin's hair, but his eyes were sharp. He studied the Rift signature printouts in silence, tapping one finger against the data pad.
"This energy profile," Jaemin said finally, "matches the anomaly recorded seven years ago. Rift Site 39."
The room fell silent.
"That site was sealed," one of the executives muttered. "There was no survivor—"
"One," Jaemin interrupted. "There was one. His name's been redacted from all official records."
Seong Jinhwan's gaze darkened.
"And now Taesung shows signs of the same energy," Jaemin said. "He didn't defeat that creature. He survived it. That means something."
Someone else leaned forward. "And if it means he's becoming something else? A Rift-corrupted? You saw the results. That mana pattern isn't human."
A tense pause.
"We monitor him," Jinhwan said flatly. "He's too valuable to discard. If it gets worse…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
—
Elsewhere, alarms flared.
A Rift site marked C-112—once dormant—lit up crimson on the Silver Lions' internal systems. Energy levels rising. Radiation breach.
But something was off.
No monster activity. No resonance tremors. Just a steady signal, pulsing like a heartbeat.
And then—across the monitors—a ghost signature appeared.
[ENTITY CLASS: UNKNOWN]
ENERGY MATCH: 71% — VIREX PRESENCE]
The technician paled.
"It's back."
—
Taesung stood before the mirror in his quarters. The light was dim. Shadows clung to the walls.
He undid the bandages around his torso. A deep scar ran across his chest, curved like a crescent moon. He touched it—flinched.
The mirror fogged slightly with his breath.
Then, for the briefest moment—his reflection didn't follow.
His own eyes stared back at him.
But they glowed faintly blue.
He blinked. It was gone.
A whisper rose in his ears. Not from the room. Not from this world.
"Ashes will call ashes. The gate stirs."
He closed his eyes.
And somewhere, in the distance, something began to watch.