[ THE TIME IS NOW FROZEN, YOU CAN MOVE FREELY FOR TEN MINUTES OR LESS. ]
"...What...?" Yeon Yujun looks around him, the
'Damn it... I used it at the wrong time.' Yeon Yujun shakes his head, and Pouch continues to stand still at his shoulder.
"Pubu!!"
'I have the chance to get my weapon from that crazy man!'
Yeon Yujun quickly turns, running toward the masked rabbit, Eunho, who has the
Everything feels so unreal, as time has stopped. It feels like everything's fake to Yeon Yujun.
"Bubu!!"
He grabs the
He's always connected to his weapon, even after all these years.
The day his weapon was manifested... It was brutal. The day he will never forget.
***
Twenty-one years ago, when the world was still a mess and the <"Messenger"> hit the world.
He was the first awakener of South Korea, yet... people had no idea who he was or what he was capable of.
"Huff...!"
Yeon Yujun had hidden for two years with the skill granted by the system, as if it had noticed his desire to go unrecognized by others.
He was just ten years old at the time.
Yeon Yujun walks through the apocalypse-like landscape, slinging a heavy backpack filled with basic necessities found by a dumpster and a few pieces of trash he refused to throw away. Everything was still fresh from the unexpected disaster, but everyone who had awakened was trying to restore everything.
It was nothing like the world he used to live in. What was the point?
Everything ended when his parents died, leaving him alone with the burden of powers he still did not understand how to use.
He was all alone in this messed-up world.
While buried in his thoughts, Yeon Yujun looked up and saw a drooling beast before him—much bigger than him, with a grotesque and disturbing appearance.
"AHH!" he quickly backed away from the creature, but he didn't run just yet.
'Running might only alert the monster,' he thought as he stepped onto a car key on the ground, causing the nearby car to beep. He didn't expect that cars would still work around this time… Who knew?!
"No..!" the monster instantly snapped and roared as it charged toward the young Yeon Yujun.
Yeon Yujun hurriedly thought of a way to escape. He grabbed his backpack and dumped out everything inside, which landed on the ground with a loud thud.
His purple eyes immediately shifted to a rusted knife he had picked up days ago.
'I—if I'm right... hurting myself might give me powers,' he thought, grabbing the knife with no hesitation and stabbing it into his wrist. He let out a sharp, painful scream as he dragged the knife across his skin—
GUSHHHH...
All the blood that escaped painted the ground, and when the monster sensed something wet beneath it, it paused in confusion, then...
— FWOOOOOOSH!
The monster was consumed by flames in an instant, and all Yeon Yujun could do was watch while the wound on his wrist gradually healed and disappeared.
Before he noticed, the rusted blade in his hand was instantly consumed by an unknown force, transforming into golden rays of light.
"H-huh...?" The teary-eyed Yeon Yujun watched the blade glow with a comforting light in his grip.
The glowing blade slowly reshaped into a larger form—a rusted knife turned into a radiant new sword.
[ THE STAR SYSTEM GAZES UPON YOU. ]
A hologram screen appeared in front of him as he now held a seemingly powerful and unfamiliar weapon in trembling hands.
Before Yeon Yujun could react further, another screen appeared.
[ YOU HAVE OBTAINED (???). DO YOU WISH TO RENAME THE WEAPON? ]
Yeon Yujun looked at the weapon and nodded at the prompt as it directed him to the naming system menu.
"I want... to name it something scary..." he muttered, stopping his hand from trembling.
"I want a name that will scare the monsters away."
The system automatically registered his request and popped up a new screen.
[ YOUR WEAPON WILL BE RENAMED AS
Yeon Yujun confirmed, and the screen disappeared.
"What... am I going to do with this?" he asked himself, glancing at the ashes that used to be the monster.
As he was about to continue exploring the area, still shocked, the weapon suddenly glowed again, though less intensely this time. A small, fluffy creature crawled out of the blade unharmed, looking sleepy and exhausted as it climbed onto his backpack pouch.
"A... creature?" he murmured.
Many unusual things had happened in a single day, and the eight year old boy could barely process it all.
"It... crawled into my pouch," he whispered, hesitant to check the unusual creature. Instead, he continued his journey across the ruined landscape with his unfamiliar sword and this unexpected companion.
Yeon Yujun couldn't help but feel his loneliness diminish just a bit.
"I'm naming you, Pouch."
***
"BUBU!!" Pouch squirms from his shoulder, as if worried about what could possibly happen once they get the weapon.
But Yeon Yujun can't think about that right now; he has to get the weapon from Eunho.
Yeon Yujun quickly snatches the weapon from Eunho's grip once he's got the
"Huh!?"
[ THE TIME IS NOW UNFROZEN. ]
'How did it resume so quickly when I had the weapon!?'
Then a screen appears in front of him before time can fully resume—
[ USER'S GOAL IS NOW FULFILLED. RESUMING TIME NOW… ]
'T-that quick!?'
Yeon Yujun instantly switches the
Once the time has fully resumed and everything is back to normal, Eunho looks at his hand, confused, then at Yeon Yujun who stands in front of him.
"T-The sword! Where's the sword?!" Eunho panics beneath the rabbit mask.
"And I was just thinking the same thing!" Yeon Yujun hits Eunho with the
— BOOOOOOM!
Song Dohyun looks up from the loud noise in confusion, gripping his weapon tightly, about to strike the mist creature, but it disappears as if Eunho's skill had been canceled.
"Huh?" Song Dohyun stares at the scene before shifting his gaze back to the wolf, Seo Hwigeon, and the
"We're here!" Woo Taehwa rushes inside with Chae Yuna, while Gim Haesung and Ki Yeonbom assess the surroundings.
"Is everyone alright!?" Chae Yuna yells to Song Dohyun, Seo Hwigeon, and Yeon Yujun.
Gim Haesung sniffs the air, her fox senses heightened by the heavy atmosphere and debris of the auction hall, "Why is it that whenever we come to help, we're always late!? What a bummer…"
Then Ki Yeonbom immediately contacts the military awakeners and others to handle the situation.
Seo Hwigeon shifts back to his human form, still wearing his wolf mask as if he didn't remove it earlier when transforming.
"We're fine, a terrorist tried to steal the weapon, and…" he turns, looking toward Yeon Yujun, where Eunho lies unconscious from the force of the earlier impact, bleeding, and Song Dohyun remains confused.
"I think one of his minions got away and took the
"Seriously!? The weapon needs to be found!" Woo Taehwa sighs, starting to heal minor bruises and cuts on Seo Hwigeon's exposed arms and torso.
"Bubu…" Pouch yawns and crawls down from Yeon Yujun's shoulder into his pocket to make itself small and rest.
Yeon Yujun smiles softly before he realizes it, looking up to see Song Dohyun watching him—
Out of everyone he could look at, it's him.
"You're pretty strong for a newbie," Song Dohyun says, composing himself before he makes himself look like a fool, brushing dust off his clothes and retrieving his sword into his inventory.
Yeon Yujun awkwardly nods at his words, "I… guess so,"
With that, Song Dohyun turns to walk away from the scene as if arranging for someone to arrive at the museum now that he knows the weapon has been compromised.
That look on Song Dohyun's face… It all says he's annoyed that the only weakness he knew in Yeon Yujun is gone. The
Yeon Yujun couldn't help but feel a sense of pride from it.
"Are you okay?" Seo Hwigeon approached Yeon Yujun from behind, his hand instinctively resting on his shoulder as if comfortable with the gesture.
However, Yeon Yujun had no time to react or even notice Seo Hwigeon's touch. He simply nodded, whispering softly, "I'm fine, I got the sword now," as if sharing a secret too sensitive for anyone else to hear.
The masked man beside him could only nod and chuckle softly. "I promised I'd be the one to get it for you," he said, "but it seems you've managed to do that yourself." Seo Hwigeon then raised his hand and began to walk away.
"I'm cold. I'll put on some clothes."
Yeon Yujun watched Seo Hwigeon as he moved away, engaged in conversation with other
Before he could do anything else, Ki Yeonbom approached, casting a suspicious look and nodding toward a quiet corner.
"I need to talk to you about something important."
Yeon Yujun's grey eyes widened in confusion—why would the most cautious and reserved member seek him out now?
Inside, he could hear the distant commotion—the arrivals of other awakeners inspecting the scene and taking Eunho away for questioning, possibly even for imprisonment.
'That's just what he deserved, isn't it?'
He nodded softly in agreement. "Okay," he said, bracing himself for whatever was coming.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be that bad… right? But Yeon Yujun's assumption proved wrong.
Once they were far from the others, Ki Yeonbom fixed him with a piercing gaze, as if he was about to unravel the greatest mystery of all.
"You're "Eight"... aren't you?"
And at that moment, it became clear—things were about to get even more complicated.
'Someone smart enough connected the dots.'