On a rainy night in Busan, a good-looking young boy with fair skin, black eyes, and black hair walked in a school uniform. Dark circles under his eyes showed he hadn't slept for many days. He walked like he was drunk, weak, and tired. In his hand, he carried a baseball bat stained with blood.
There was fire in his eyes—fire for revenge. But his face showed the opposite: disappointment. He walked, looking at the ground.
"Shit, they did it again. I knew they would. But why do I keep going to them for help?"
Saying this, the boy stopped walking and stood still in the middle of the road. He raised his head to the sky to feel the rain.
"My head is burning because of anger. I have to calm down."
He paused for some time. After calming down a bit, he said, "I should go to them again and ask for forgiveness. Ask them to find the culprit again. But will they forgive me for hitting them? After all, they're police. A normal civilian like me doesn't have the right to hit them. They might arrest me and put me in jail."
Then he looked at the sky again and thought, Should I give up?
As he thought this, memories of a lady and a boy around his age floated before him. Some tears dropped from his eyes, but no one saw them—they vanished with the rain. At the end of the memory, he clenched his fists.
"No, I can't give up. I have to take my revenge," he shouted. "I have to kill those who turned my life into hell."
As he looked at the sky to calm himself down, something happened. A shooting star appeared out of nowhere, moving from south to north.
He watched it and thought, Hah, when I was a child, Mom used to tell me that when you see a shooting star, you make a wish, and your wish will come true. Now I think how silly that is. I am in this position—did I want this?
He looked at the star again and shouted loudly, "Do you think I deserve this? Mom said if I make a wish when seeing you, then my wish will come true. Now I wish—can you turn my life a week earlier? Stop this. Can you give me some power for my revenge? I need power. My enemies are too strong. I cannot fight them."
As he said this, standing in the middle of the road, a truck came toward him. Suddenly, a light shone in his way. He understood what was about to happen, but the truck was so close that he couldn't dodge it.
He thought, Am I going to die without getting my revenge? He shouted, "No, I can't just die like this!"
Immediately, he threw the baseball bat. The bat directly hit the truck's tire. The truck turned and skidded, but still slipped toward him.
He closed his eyes and thought he was finished. But in the end, the truck flew to the side.
Hearing a noise, he opened his eyes and saw the truck on the side of the road.
He was very happy and shouted loudly, "Do you think you can run me over and send me to another world for a new life to calm me down? No, I'm not going to do that. I will not get isekai'd—I will have my revenge in this world."
Then silence remained for some time, only the sound of rain.
Suddenly, a sound came from the truck. The driver tried to open the door, but it was stuck and jammed because of the accident. That's why he couldn't open it.
The boy heard the sound and frowned. He found that the truck driver was stuck inside. He thought, Should I help him? He was going to kill me some time ago. But maybe he didn't do that intentionally. Maybe his truck's gear broke. So, I should help him escape.
Then he went there and started to pull the door. After some struggling, they finally opened it. The boy gave the driver a hand and said, "Hold my hand. I will pull you."
The driver looked at him and grabbed his hand. The boy pulled him with all his strength. Finally, the driver got out of the truck. They both sat on the street, tired.
After some time, the driver looked at him and said, "Thank you for saving me."
The boy looked at the driver. He was around 25, a normal Korean guy. But he had a strange mark on his hand. The boy kept looking at the tattoo. He thought, I think I saw this kind of tattoo somewhere.
But the driver said, "Hello, are you listening? I said thank you for saving me."
His thoughts broke.
"Oh, no problem. It's my fault. Your truck is broken now."
"Don't worry about that. It's not mine; it's the company's. And tell me, are you okay? Actually, my truck's brake failed some time ago, so I lost control."
The boy stood up and went close to the truck. Grabbing his baseball bat again, he said, "Don't worry about that. This kind of thing is regular for me now."
Saying this, he tried to leave the place.
But the driver looked confused after hearing this. He ran in front of him and said, "What do you mean by 'regular'?"
But the boy ignored him and continued walking, leaving the driver behind.
Then the driver silently came close to him. He took his hand behind his back. Suddenly, a knife dropped from nowhere and appeared in his hand. He came so close to the boy that there were only a few inches between them.
As the boy walked, he noticed a shadow behind him—someone following him. He sensed something.
Clack.
The driver stabbed the knife into his back. The boy groaned in pain and bent forward. He quickly tightened his grip on the baseball bat and spun his body with full force. Dharam! The bat smashed into the driver's head. His skull cracked, and he dropped to the ground—instantly unconscious.
"Huff… The driver was with them. Now that I think about it… that tattoo—I saw it on my enemy's hand. I should've been more careful."
He reached behind his back, grabbed the knife, and pulled it out.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuck!"
That hurt like hell.
Blood started pouring from his back like a fountain.
"I need to find a hospital fast… or I'll die from blood loss."
He tried to move forward, but suddenly, more men started showing up.
One came out from behind a tree, another from behind the truck, and one suddenly appeared behind him.
The boy was soaked but could still feel someone's presence at his back. He quickly swung his bat behind him without looking—but he missed. There was no one there.
But now, that same man was behind him again—standing upside down like a ghost.
The other two were also walking toward him.
The boy gripped his baseball bat tightly as the three men closed in.
One came from the left, one from the right, and one was still behind him—standing unnaturally, upside down like a ghost.
He didn't have time to think.
The man on the left charged first. The boy swung the bat hard—BAM!—and struck his leg. The man stumbled but didn't fall.
The second one came from the right, aiming a punch. The boy ducked and countered with a low sweep using the bat, knocking him off balance.
Just then, the one behind him—still moving like a shadow—appeared suddenly and grabbed the boy's shoulder. The boy elbowed him in the face and twisted out of his grip.
But they were fast. Too fast.
The one from the left jumped at him again. The boy blocked the attack with his bat, but the impact shook his arms.
Then it happened.
The man standing upside down landed silently in front of him. His hand began to shift—bones cracked, muscles stretched, and suddenly, his entire arm turned into steel.
The boy froze in shock.
"What… the hell?" he whispered.
The steel hand swung forward with terrifying force—CRACK!
It slammed into the boy's head.
His vision blurred instantly. Blood splattered from his forehead as he staggered back, nearly losing consciousness. His knees buckled. His hands shook. Blood poured from the knife wound in his back, and now from his head too.
He dropped to one knee, panting, trying to hold on.
The three men stood around him.
One of them said, "He's finished."
Seeing the boy's condition—drenched in blood, eyes barely open—they turned away.
"Let's leave. He won't survive this."
And just like that, they disappeared into the darkness, leaving him broken on the ground, rain falling over his blood-soaked body.
The boy's head was almost crushed, and blood was still pouring from his back. There was no chance he could survive.
He thought, Am I really going to die… without getting my revenge?
As his spirit faded, suddenly a massive air wave rushed past him. A second later, a glowing blue window appeared in front of his eyes, showing strange numbers and symbols:
12…443…00…D…C…A…S…
He stared in shock.
"Is this… a system window?"
The kind of system window we usually see in anime?
If a system has appeared… that means the chance for me to become powerful is finally open.
But then he laughed—loudly, bitterly.
"Haaahhhahahahahaha!"
So this is my destiny?
You give me power… but only when I'm already dying?
He shouted at the sky,
"What am I supposed to do with power now?! You want me to use this in another world?"
Suddenly, pain surged through his back.
"Aaaaaghhhh!"
He gritted his teeth.
"No. If I die here, I won't go to another world. I'll be reincarnated in this world again. And I'll still get my revenge."
His vision began to blur. Everything around him turned white and distorted.
So… the time has come…
He smiled.
What was that smile for?
Was it happiness? Sadness? Madness?
We don't know.
And then…
We begin to see what happened… seven days ago.
Scene shifts — to 7 days earlier.