Thirteen Years Ago...
A man found a strange object In the middle of the road, it was emitting dark aura, the man looked at the object from ten feet away, "man, this looked like my wife's toys hahaha, there's also a little button here hahaha," The man said laughing. He throws the device at a distance, the device landed and the strange button hit a rock activating the device, he continued walking.
But as he was just about to walk, the spacetime suddenly distorted and a giant rift appeared in front of him, "Hell nahh man, what the fuck is this?!" The man said confused and scared.
But then, a giant horn like creature holding a giant axe appeared from the crack, "WHAT TH—" He shouted but was cut in half before he even finished.
A lone driver, heading home from a late shift, slammed on his brakes when he spotted the rift from a distance. He grabbed his phone nervously.
"Uh… there's a giant strange looking thing in the middle of the road," he told the police dispatcher, glancing uneasily at the light.
As he was just about to drive away, the monster jumped and landed on the top of his car crushing it.
More monsters appeared and terrorize the city, normal weapons are useless against these monster, they completely destroyed the city and from that day on, more rift appeared all over the world.
Earth was in complete ruin. But then, people with special ability appeared and fought off the monsters, tho they were not able to completely eradicate them, they were able to take back 40% of their territory in the entire world.
The people who gained special abilities were then called "awakened."
That day, the world changed forever.
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The Present Day…
"Ugh… such a hassle. Why do we even have to do this?" grumbled a girl with blonde hair and sharp blue eyes, kicking a small rock across the dirt.
"This is a mission, Minji," replied a man with black hair and piercing yellow eyes, adjusting the straps on his tactical vest. "We don't have a choice, so we should just clear this gate and go back."
Minji huffed, crossing her arms. "Tch, you make it sound so simple. Still… dying isn't exactly on my to-do list."
"Then stop complaining and focus," he said with a faint smirk. "We move in five minutes."
"Fine, fine," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "But if this goes wrong, I'm blaming you, Woo-jin."
Woo-jin gave a short laugh, but his expression quickly hardened as he turned toward the back of the group. A quiet figure stood apart from them, clutching her gear tightly.
"Hey, Shi-eun," Woo-jin barked, walking toward her. "What're you doing just standing there?!"
Shi-eun flinched, her eyes darting to the ground. "I-I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'll be there in a sec."
Before she could move, another teammate with orange hair and smug blue eyes stepped forward, grinning.
"Hah! Look at her—always spacing out. No wonder we have to clean up her messes," Minji sneered.
Shi-eun's fingers trembled as she gripped the strap of her bag, but she said nothing.
Woo-jin stepped closer, his voice dropping to a cold tone. "You'd better not slow us down again, Shi-eun. We don't need another liability."
Shi-eun swallowed hard, nodding weakly. "I-I understand… Woo-jin."
The group laughed and walked off, their voices fading into the sound of rustling leaves.
Shi-eun stood there a moment longer, the laughter echoing in her ears. Her yellow eyes dimmed, the faint spark of life inside her flickering out beneath the weight of humiliation.
Five minutes later, Woo-jin's voice cut through the air.
"Alright, Move out!"
The team walked toward the gate, boots crunching against the dirt.
The gate loomed before them—its surface rippling like liquid glass, humming with unstable energy.
One by one, they stepped through the gate.
In an instant, the world twisted. The light around them flickered and faded, replaced by damp, cold air. Their footsteps echoed softly off stone walls.
They were in a cave.
The ground was uneven, slick with moisture. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping water that echoed into the distance.
A faint mist lingered in the air, glowing slightly from the blue light seeping through cracks in the walls.
Their breaths came out as pale clouds.
Shi-eun walked quietly at the back, the weight of the supplies pressing down on her shoulders. The faint sound of her steps followed the group.
Then, from deeper inside the cave, came a low growl.
Woo-jin raised a hand, signaling the others to stop. The group fell silent.
Only the faint dripping of water and their shallow breathing could be heard.
Suddenly, a sharp hiss broke the silence.
Green figures emerged from the shadows—small, twisted shapes with glowing red eyes and jagged teeth.
"A goblin!" someone shouted.
"Get into formation!" Woo-jin barked, unsheathing his blade.
Shiiiing! The metallic ring echoed through the cave.
The hunters moved quickly, forming a defensive formation. The air filled with the sound of footsteps, grunts, and the scrape of steel.
"Kill the goblins!" Woo-jin commanded.
The hunters rushed forward, cutting down the goblins with ease. The cave echoed with the wet sound of steel slicing through flesh and the faint cries of dying monsters. Within minutes, the last goblin fell to the ground with a dull thud, its red eyes dimming into nothingness.
"Wow," one of the hunters said, wiping blood off his blade. "That was easier than I expected. Didn't think this mission would be such a breeze."
Woo-jin sheathed his sword and scanned the cave, his expression calm but sharp. "Don't let your guard down. Low-level gates can still be unpredictable."
Minji smirked, leaning casually against a rock. "Relax, Captain. If there were more of them, they would've shown up by now."
"Still," Woo-jin said, his tone stern, "stay alert. We'll finish collecting the materials and move forward."
Shi-eun quietly moved forward, kneeling beside the fallen goblins. She pulled small crystal shards from their bodies—mana stones—carefully placing each one into her pouch. Her hands trembled slightly, but she worked quickly, trying not to draw attention.
"Hurry up," one of the hunters called out impatiently. "We don't have all day, you know."
Shi-eun flinched but didn't respond. She simply nodded and continued her task.
Woo-jin's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he turned away. "Once she's done, we move deeper," he ordered.
A tense silence settled as Shi-eun finished gathering the materials. The group pressed on, deeper into the cave, unaware that shadows were moving in the distance—watching them.
As they ventured deeper, the air grew heavier, colder. Then one of the hunters froze mid-step.
"Guys… look at this," he said, pointing at the wall. "There's blood on the floor—and on the walls too."
Everyone gathered around. Thick streaks of dark red trailed along the stone, still glistening under the faint blue light.
Woo-jin crouched down, running his gloved fingers through a small puddle. "It's still warm," he muttered. "This blood is fresh. Whatever did this is close."
Minji wrinkled her nose. "Ugh… great. Just what we needed."
"Stay sharp," Woo-jin ordered, standing and tightening his grip on his sword. "We're moving forward. Eyes open and weapons ready."
The group pressed on, their footsteps echoing softly through the winding tunnel. The deeper they went, the stronger the stench of blood became—thick and metallic, clinging to the air.
But there were no corpses, no monsters, nothing.
A tense silence settled over them. Even the faint dripping of water seemed to have stopped.
"This doesn't feel right," one of the hunters whispered.
Woo-jin didn't answer. His eyes narrowed, scanning the cave. "Keep moving," he said quietly. "We'll find out soon enough what happened here."
As they were just about to move, a tall, black, human-like creature appeared before them.
"What's that?" one of them asked, pointing his flashlight toward the creature.
The creature began walking toward them.
"It's a fucking void walker!!" Woo-jin shouted.
"What!? But I thought Void Walk—" one of them shouted.
Before he could finish, his head was severed.
There was no sound. No visible movement. One moment he was standing there—then his body collapsed, blood erupting from the cleanly cut stump of his neck.
The Void Walker still stood where it had been.
Blood splattered across the cave walls. The team froze for a heartbeat—then panic erupted.
Void Walkers—monsters capable of tearing through space and time—were among the rarest and most feared entities to ever emerge from a gate. Towering over four meters tall, their bodies were completely black, absorbing light instead of reflecting it, making them appear like walking shadows. Their movements were silent and unnaturally fast, as if they existed in multiple places at once.
They possessed the ability to manipulate dimensional rifts, and their attacks ignored space and time entirely. Anyone who encountered a Void Walker never returned alive. Only one person had ever managed to escape an encounter with one—and his name was Kang Jiyun.