Kael woke with a sharp gasp. The stink of rust and rotten trash hit him before his eyes even focused. When he finally blinked, he found himself sprawled in the middle of a junkyard alley. Broken chairs, dented cans, and the sour smell of spoiled food closed in on him like a heavy blanket. His long-sleeved white shirt was stained brown and gray from the dirt he had been lying on.
He coughed and pressed a hand to his throat. "It hurts. My neck." His fingers moved carefully over the tender skin, the way someone might check for bruises after being strangled.
Then the thought hit him straight and cold.
"Wait. Hold on." His breathing quickened. He grabbed at his shoulders and tugged at the fabric, searching for bullet holes or blood or anything that made sense. There was nothing. Not a scratch.
"What the hell?" His voice cracked. "I blew everything up. I should be dead."
He looked down at his arms and froze. They were thin. Not just slim, but frail. The muscle he had trained for years was gone. His chest was flat, his whole frame light like a gust of wind could knock him over. His jaw tightened as the truth crawled up his spine.
"Did I transmigrate? But where is this place?"
His knees wobbled as he pushed himself toward the end of the alley. Each step scraped against the gravel. His body felt weightless and weak, like someone had drained him dry. He reached the wall and leaned on it while the outside sounds poured in.
Car horns. Engines rumbling. People shouting. Police sirens screaming. The noise hit him inside the skull, sharp enough to make him wince.
"Argh. Damn it." He clenched his teeth and tried to push through the headache, but the pain only pulsed harder. Then his stomach growled, long and hungry, as if to remind him that things could always get worse.
He staggered forward until he reached a parked car. He braced one hand on the hood and stared at the side mirror.
The reflection made his stomach drop.
The face was his… but somehow not the one he remembered.
His hair, a strange blend of black and white, stayed short and tightly curled, clinging to his forehead as if the sweat refused to let it go. He still got his fair complexion.
His cheekbones stood out more sharply now, giving his face a tired, haunted look. His jaw, once firm from years of military drills, looked slimmer, almost fragile. And his eyes, those were the most unsettling part. They were ocean-blue, clear and bright, almost too bright for the worn-out body they belonged to.
Everything about him looked thinner, weaker, like life had drained him bit by bit. This was nothing like the soldier who once carried weapons as if they weighed nothing.
"This is me?" he whispered. He sounded like he was already tired of being confused.
Through the city noise, new voices slid in. They were close and focused, not random chatter.
"You can do this," a rough voice said, like a street coach pushing someone into danger.
A woman answered, shaky and unsure. "But look at him. He is wearing the Tiger Guild restaurant uniform. They only hire hunters. They do not take normal people."
Kael frowned. The word hit him strangely hard. "A hunter?" He touched his chest again, unsure why the idea made his nerves stir. "This body. Is it a hunter?"
He turned, eyes scanning the shadows, but the alley gave nothing back.
"You got this, dear. Remember your practice," a man whispered. He sounded older and desperate. "If we miss this chance, we might starve tonight. We have to move fast before the cops show up."
His voice shifted, firmer this time. "Do not be afraid. That skinny guy looks like an E rank at best. Look at how he walks. You are a D rank mage. Just do your part. I will handle the rest."
Kael's stomach tightened. He picked up his pace even though the street around him looked empty. A cold ache pricked his chest. He had no idea what these strangers were planning or even where he was.
Then his body locked in place.
His arms froze. His legs stiffened. His breath hitched.
"What the hell? Why can't I move?" Panic slipped into his voice before he could swallow it back.
A man stepped out from the shadows. Mid-forties. Calm. Steady. The kind of calm that never meant anything good.
"Hey. What the hell do you want?" Kael snapped. His voice shot up in pure reflex. "Don't come near me. I am dangerous. I will wipe you out with a snap of my fingers!"
The man didn't even blink. He ignored the threat like it was a child trying to roar. He went straight for Kael's pockets and grabbed a worn wallet. He opened it and flipped through the contents with greedy fingers. Nothing valuable. He searched the rest of Kael's clothes just in case.
Kael kept shouting and barking out warnings, but his body stayed frozen and his voice sounded weak even to himself. The thief tucked the wallet into his jacket and ran. His footsteps faded down the street until there was nothing left but silence.
Something slipped from the wallet and fluttered to the ground.
"Hey! Get back here!" Kael yelled. "Thief! Somebody stop him!" His throat burned with the effort, but the night answered with nothing.
Then his body relaxed all at once and he stumbled forward, gasping.
"What just happened?" His voice shook with anger. "Did I just get robbed? By a civilian?" He rubbed at his arms, still shivering with leftover fear. "And that was not normal. That was magic. He locked my body."
He looked down at the ground and saw the small photo that had dropped. He slowly picked it up. It showed a young girl. Her face hit him with a strange weight. Something about her felt close.
Then a sharp pain stabbed through his skull. Not a normal headache but a violent rush that blinded him for a moment.
Memories slammed into him.
A hospital room. The steady beep of a machine. A doctor's voice, tired and grim. "Only an S rank healer could save her now. The cost…"
The pain faded, leaving a heavy chill in his chest.
His sister. She was out there. She needed him. Seven days left.
Kael stood straight, pale but burning inside.
Now he knew who he was. And he knew exactly what he had to face.
A soft chime rang inside Kael's skull.
"Ding…"
He flinched and looked around, half-expecting another thief to crawl out of the shadows. Instead, a glowing blue screen floated right in front of his eyes like a stubborn piece of hologram stuck in place.
Kael rubbed his face with both hands and blinked hard. "Am I in some kind of RPG game or what? What is this mess?"
The screen flickered and rearranged itself.
[HOST STATUS]
[Name: Kael Yorkshire]
[Rank: E]
[Title: Weakest Hunter]
[Class: Pending…]
[Level: 10 (47%)]
[HP: 100 / 100]
[MP: 100 / 100]
[Fatigue: 60%]
[ATTRIBUTES]
[Strength: 21%]
[Agility: 12%]
[Vitality: 10%]
[Intelligence: 15%]
[Sense: 30%]
[SKILLS]
[Active Skills: None]
[Passive Skills: Echo Dominion (Lv. 2)]
[Description: Detects sounds, footsteps, and heartbeats up to 30 meters away.]
[Unique Skills: None]
Kael stared at the display like it had just insulted his entire bloodline. His jaw tightened until it clicked.
"You have got to be kidding me. These stats are trash."
A rough laugh escaped him, halfway between humor and a dying cough. "Weakest Hunter? What kind of bargain-bin system did I get saddled with? At least give me something cool. I do not know, a fireball, a sword skill, a discount coupon… anything."
The screen, unbothered, stayed bright and silent.
He pushed a hand through his black-and-white curls and tried to steady himself. Complaining would not change a thing, and it would not help the one thing that mattered. His sister's face rose in his mind, fragile and pale in that hospital bed. His chest pulled tight, sharper than any wound.
"I need money. Fast. Without it…" His throat locked for a second. "No. I am not losing her."
He pushed himself upright. The movement made his thin legs wobble, and for a moment he looked like he might fold back into the dirt. His breath trembled, his ribs sharp under his shirt. The hunger gnawed at him, angry and deep.
Memories rushed through him. This body's last moments. Hands around his neck. The cold panic. The lackeys of a B rank mage laughing as the world darkened. A humiliating death for someone who had once died on his own terms.
Kael's fingers curled into fists. "Not again."
The street around him felt too tight and too loud all of a sudden. Somewhere a dog barked like it had a personal grudge. His skill picked up every sound and pushed them into his skull.
He shut his eyes for a moment and focused. From the scraps of memory he now carried, his apartment was close. A small place, not much, but it had a bed and a door he could lock. That alone made it feel like a treasure.
Right now he needed rest. He needed food. He needed quiet. Tomorrow, he would go to the hospital.
The system hovered silently beside him like a strange, glowing reminder that nothing in this world cared about his comfort.
Kael let out a tired sigh. "This world is weird. This body is useless. And I am starving."
He took one shaky step forward, ready to face whatever waited for him next, even if it was just the walk home.