Fallen Lightbringers' Return

"You—the hell are you laughing for? You got your brain stuffed during New Years' or something," A boy wearing a black shirt and hair dyed brown shouted.

"Shut the fuck up." Lee Dojin swiped his hand left. A simple move it was, but the outcome was not simple at all. His palm promptly hit the boy's neck and sent him flying. He tumbled a few meters until crashing into a garbage bin and in the end passing out.

Everyone abruptly stopped talking. They crooked their stiff necks towards the friend laying in the trash, bubbles foaming out his mouth.

Lee Dojin rubbed his hand. "That one was supposed to kill him," he said. "Guess I've turned a lot weaker than I thought. What an annoyance."

The guys were stunned by Lee Dojin's display. They could not comprehend what just happened.

"...Looks like you've gotten some balls lately." After some silence, a much bigger guy stepped up. In fact, he was the biggest of all. He had a buzzcut and was a head taller than everyone else. Lee Dojin was a bit surprised by the guys' bulging muscles underneath his tracksuit. What did they feed those kids to grow them this size? "Alright time for some private tutoring. You better bow." The guy cracked his knuckles.

"From fighting against Gods to fighting against bullies, and such stereotypical ones to boot." Lee Dojin shook his head and chuckled wryly. "What can I say, except that this is rather humiliating?" He then walked past these boys, ignoring them completely?"

"Look at this bastard." The big guy felt a vein pop on his forehead. With an angry face, he swung his fist down on Lee Dojin.

Lee Dojin turned his head, staring at the guy. "Who allowed you to touch me?" His expression was cold as ice, and when the guy saw his eyes, a cold shiver ran down his spine and he felt his sweat flow backward. But it was already too late.

Lee Dojin dodged the fist, the cross-countered with a left Hook, placed accurately at the attacker's chin. The guy's head snapped back and he felt like his whole brain had been rattled. "You know, I've hunted a lot of big guys like you before," he heard Lee Dojin whisper. And that was the last of his consciousness.

Lee Dojin grabbed the guy's wrists, and with the other hand, he rained down punches into his face. The guy's strength rapidly faded, first stumbling back, then falling to his knees, and in the end plopping onto the floor. Meanwhile, Lee Dojin continued pummeling him. Every time his fist flew, dark red blood sprayed on the ground, occasionally a tooth too, turning it into an avant-garde painting. The guy's nose had turned to mush, broken beyond repair. New wounds were hidden by even newer wounds. They'd swell, then explode again due to Lee Dojin's fists. At last, he had reached bone—and it shall break too, with Lee Dojin's knuckles.

"Nwo mhore... pweese," he begged, tears flowing out his blackened eyes. Then he faded out.

Lee Dojin still held the guy's wrist, though he had turned lifeless, and was thus rather heavy. "Committing murder... would be problematic before the apocalypse starts." He spat on the floor, then glanced at the other two guys. They showed no desire to join. No, rather, they were paler than a sheet of paper. "Well, guess you people got lucky, huh? I hope we don't see each other in 20 days, because I won't be this lenient at that time." He patted his pants and nonchalantly walked away. While doing so, he swung his fists—blood splattering away—and sang a song, "It's the end of the world as we know it~"

"That bastard Lee Dojin has gone crazy..."

Lee Dojin wasn't scared that the police could get involved. If they were this efficient, he'd not have been bullied in the first place. Rather, he cared about something else. Turning around the corner, he looked at his fist. Though it was hard to tell, due to the blood, he had scraped his knuckles and it hurt every time he closed his hand. "This body is useless. If it were the old me, he'd be headless from the first hit." He laughed at himself, for the first time, his canines showed. "Unarmed King, what a joke. Right now I'm just an Unarmed Idiot." He took a packet of chips out of his jacket and opened it. He grabbed a handful and shoved it all into his mouth. "Oh well."

Right now, he was heading towards a nearby mountain. He needed a space with as few people as possible. As he did, he kept stopping at fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to stuff himself full of the bad food his mother warned him about. If only she knew what the world would come to.

After taking numerous weird turns and walking the ill-advised paths, he had arrived at a hidden, yet open field. But that wasn't what mattered the most. Lee Dojin looked up. The sun, uninhibited by the clouds, shone the brightest here. For a second he even felt warm—and it was still winter.

Lee Dojin breathed out, calming his nerves. He put all the junk food away and started concentrating. Facing the sun, he shouted out loud, "Mirage, show me your world!" He stretched his arms out, waiting for any reaction.

Yes, that is all it took. No special ritual, no sacrifices, and no convoluted secret location. All it took was only this sentence. Like an Arabian cave that opened only with a magical sentence, the system would appear and open a whole new world for him. Really, as far as Lee Dojin knew, this discovery had been a pure coincidence by some random guy drunkenly babbling some words after watching a fantasy movie. This info then spread word by word, letting only the most elite know. And thus, a select few gained an upper hand before the game even began. How stupid; Yet, it fit the systems M.O. perfectly.

And with that, he had become part of the Mirage again. Still, to activate the Hidden Quest, another incantation was needed. Naturally, he knew that too, thus it was quite easy for him.

Out of a blue, a sudden message appeared in front of him.

[Hidden Quest activated.]

And with it, like an avalanche, messages kept appearing in front of him.

[Welcome, Warrior of Earth. You have been chosen. Whether you stumbled upon this randomly or knew beforehand is of little value. It is the Will of the Shadows that guided you here.

Soon, the world you have known to be true will be no more. It is inevitable, and no power can halt its process. Change is always meant to be. Only know, it will be of a much grander scale. Yet, we grant you a chance to thrive, giving you a quest before the beginning of all. Complete it, and you shall receive a great reward, fail, and you rest with the fallen warriors. Change is always meant to be. But that does not have to be a bad thing. Prove your worth, or be crushed by it.]

"Oh, how very interesting. So in the trailer, the system talks by itself. Usually, it uses a proxy. The only time I've seen this happening was at very special events." Lee Dojin rubbed his chin. "Looks like the trailer is a bit more peculiar than initially expected."

[The first step to fighting the world is by fighting yourself. Understand yourself and you will understand the world. A shadow walks in your footsteps, is it not the aptest to represent you?

Objective: Slay the spawning shadows.

Reward: Upgrade crystal.

Failure: Termination of the trailer.]

[Rank 6203/6203]

"Now that is more like it." Lee Dojin whistled. "But the best thing comes right after."

As if hearing Lee Dojin's words, a new message appeared, one much different from the others.

[Starting from now on, please choose your Affinity. Choose wisely. All your skills will be based upon your choice.]