“Ugh! I nodded off!”
Geonwoo let out a shout—not quite a scream—as he jolted awake.
“What the heck, what happened?!”
The door swung open as his younger sister, Sora, came in.
“Nah. It’s nothing.”
Geonwoo looked around.
White walls, a yellow desk and chair, a brown blanket cabinet.
The same scene he saw every morning.
A system message echoed in his head.
[Mission: Eliminate the Mutant.]
[Reward: Tomorrow]
Just like always, another unchanging day.
Geonwoo let out a long sigh.
“Phew. So even falling asleep isn’t allowed, huh.”
He tried recalling his last memory.
He had been listening carefully to Director Chun Jaesung’s advice about special abilities.
Then, just as a flood of complicated words came pouring out of Chun’s mouth and Geonwoo’s eyes had briefly shut—
A system message had popped into his mind.
[You did not meet the conditions.]
‘…So even dozing off is a failure? Harsh.’
“What, were you dreaming or something?”
Seeing that nothing seemed wrong, Sora looked uninterested and turned to leave. But then, glancing back at him with a puzzled expression, she asked:
“Oppa, have you been working out lately?”
“What??”
Geonwoo was genuinely shocked.
Sora’s reaction wasn’t the usual.
‘Don’t tell me… the reset is over?!’
He hurriedly pulled out his phone to check the date.
[Tuesday, September 1st, 2020 | 07:00 AM]
“…Nope. So much for that.”
It was still the same reset day.
“Oppa, get up for a sec.”
“Ugh, why?”
Geonwoo sat up in bed half-heartedly in response to Sora.
Then he noticed something… different.
“Huh? W-Wait… this feeling?”
A strange power was flowing through his whole body.
He turned to the full-length mirror nearby.
Even though he could see clearly, he wasn’t wearing his glasses.
And with that crisp, clear vision—he saw a muscular version of himself reflected in the mirror.
Focusing on the energy inside, he noticed blue light surging and swirling around him.
“Holy crap.”
Geonwoo was still in an awakened state.
* * *
From the early morning, the household exploded into chaos.
After poking and prodding at Geonwoo for a good while and realizing that his awakening wasn’t a dream or misunderstanding, Sora immediately grabbed the phone.
Having an Awakened person in the family was a huge deal.
Even Geonwoo’s difficult acceptance into Core Factory had been considered a major honor—this, though, was on a whole other level.
“Hello? Mom! MOM!!”
“Oppa awakened! Yeah, I said he did!”
It was a loud morning.
“Oppa! Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Mom?”
Geonwoo took the phone.
“Hello?”
– Son! Is it true? You really became an Ability User?!
“Yeah, Mom. I awakened.”
– Really? Are you sure?
“I’m telling the truth.”
– …Thank you, son.
“Huh? What are you thanking me for all of a sudden?”
Geonwoo asked, caught off guard by the sudden shift in tone.
– You’ve done well, my son… You always had to struggle because of useless parents like us. Thank you for growing up this well.”
On the other side of the call, his mother’s voice was trembling with emotion.
Geonwoo held back the tears suddenly rising up and replied quietly.
“Nothing to thank me for. Just say congratulations.”
– Alright. Congratulations. And thank you, my son.”
“I’ll start making a lot of money now… I’ll send you plenty of allowance too, Mom.”
It had been a long time since Geonwoo had called her “Mom.”
– No, we’re fine… Just take good care of your sister. Sora’s in her final year now, she must be going through a lot. And you know well enough how hard job hunting is.”
“Yeah… I know.”
Geonwoo nodded heavily.
– Geonwoo, it’s Dad.
“Yes, Dad.”
His father had apparently taken the phone. Unlike his emotional mother, his voice was as blunt and steady as ever.
– I hear monster hunting pays well, but it’s a dangerous job.
“Yes…”
– Money’s important, but don’t take unnecessary risks. Keep yourself safe.
More than praise, it was Geonwoo’s safety his father cared about.
“There are healing-type Users, so even if I get hurt, I recover fast. Dad.”
– Just because you heal fast doesn’t mean you should throw yourself into danger. A man’s body is his biggest asset.
“…Yes, sir. I’ll remember that.”
– Good. Try to come home sometime soon, alright?
“Yeah… I’ll try.”
Geonwoo’s voice dropped.
Trapped in a single repeating day, going all the way back to the countryside to see his parents would only be possible once this endless curse was broken.
It wasn’t an easy promise.
After the emotional phone call, Geonwoo sat at a now-extravagant breakfast and began to think seriously about his situation.
‘Why do I still have magic power left after a reset?’
He recalled the new system messages.
[Would you like to extract the Core?]
[Would you like to absorb the Core?]
Up until now, messages only appeared at the start or end of a day.
‘If the ultimate purpose of this time loop is to clear the mission, then maybe these other messages are clues or tips to help achieve that goal.’
Thinking about it that way made Geonwoo scoff.
‘If I needed to do this, they should’ve told me from the beginning! Would it kill the system to just add one more line in the mission message?!’
His past struggles now felt painfully unfair.
‘But now, things are different. The situation has changed.’
Geonwoo looked down at the blue energy moving across his palm and smiled.
One way or another, he had finally gotten a lead on how to end this cursed mission.
‘The fact that the Core’s magic still works inside me… means I can absorb it repeatedly in future resets.’
He recalled Director Chun Jaesung’s words.
‘It’s a shame there’s only one Core in the lab. Even if you awaken, it’s gonna be tough. Mutants of the same tier are way stronger than Ability Users.’
That meant he could still get hurt fighting one.
‘Dying is fine. But getting hurt? That’s just a net loss for me.’
After dying so many times, death itself didn’t scare him anymore.
What really sucked was getting injured halfway through.
With his priorities changed, Geonwoo’s strategy changed too.
‘I’ll keep resetting and absorbing Cores until I’m strong enough to defeat the mutant without taking a single hit. Then I’ll clear the mission.’
But suddenly, a new desire began to form in his heart…
There were ranks even among Ability Users.
While individual differences in combat sense and experience obviously existed, the main criteria for ranking Ability Users was their mana capacity.
The higher the mana, the stronger the power of the ability.
An Ability User’s rank went from F-grade to A-grade, and then S-grade, and even within the same grade, individuals with more experience or unique techniques could be classified as BB-grade, CC-grade, and so on.
‘What rank am I right now? And how strong can I get?’
Geonwoo felt it was time to verify that for himself.
If things went as planned, becoming an S-rank Ability User in just a day wasn’t out of reach.
“But oppa…”
While Geonwoo was planning out his next steps, Sora suddenly spoke up at the breakfast table, hesitating slightly.
“What?”
“I actually had something I wanted to tell you today…”
Geonwoo responded as he saw Sora squirming awkwardly.
“Ah, right. Dad said something to me.”
“Huh?”
“Now that I’m awakened as an Ability User, if some weird loser starts following you around saying he likes you, I should beat the crap out of him.”
“……”
“Especially if he talks about marriage before you even graduate or get a job. He said I should stomp him flat. Not you, obviously. The guy.”
“……”
“So, what did you want to say?”
“…Nothing. I’ll just focus hard on job hunting, oppa.”
“Good. That’s my sister.”
Geonwoo patted Sora’s head affectionately.
“Make sure you find a guy with real power—like mine.”
“……”
Not just any power—Ability User power.
Geonwoo booked a taxi and headed for Gate Keeper to get his mana level tested.
In every country, Ability Users were managed by a government agency called Gate Keeper.
Aside from acting as a “gatekeeper,” the agency also provided services like mana measurement, issued Ability User IDs for gate access, handled taxes, and various administrative duties.
That said, they didn’t impose any particular restrictions or social obligations on Ability Users.
It was more about having a list prepared, just in case there was an incident involving gates or monsters.
This registry could also impact a nation’s global standing.
After all, the number and strength of Ability Users directly reflected a country’s military and economic potential.
“Sir, we’ve arrived.”
Gate Keeper HQ was close to Core Factory’s main office—in Gangnam.
As Geonwoo stepped out of the taxi, another one pulled up right in front of the building.
And someone familiar stepped out.
Geonwoo frowned.
“Oh? Park Geonwoo?”
It was none other than Choi Woosik, his workplace senior.
Choi Woosik approached him first, full of smug arrogance.
“Yo! Park Geonwoo, are you trying to get yourself fired or what? What time do you call this? You should be at work! What the hell are you doing here?”
“Choi Woosik…”
Come to think of it, Woosik had probably awakened today too—so it made sense they’d run into each other here.
Geonwoo finally understood why he hadn’t shown up at work until after lunch.
“The hell did you just say to me?! Think you can talk informally just cause we’re not in the office?! You think we’re still friends or something? You dare speak like that to your superior?!”
Geonwoo calmly asked:
“You really hate me that much, huh?”
“I said, stop talking down to me!”
Choi Woosik growled. Geonwoo just shook his head.
They had been decent friends back in middle school, but since reuniting at work, Woosik had become a totally different person.
‘He was always a bit annoying, but why does he hate me so openly now?’
Geonwoo still had no idea.
“Anyway, I’ve got important business here. You, on the other hand, should get your ass back to the office.”
Woosik waved him off like a pesky fly, grinning from ear to ear, and turned toward the building entrance.
“Huh? Why are you following me? You not leaving?”
Seeing Geonwoo walking behind him, Woosik scowled.
“Do you even know where you are, you punk?”
He grabbed Geonwoo’s arm roughly.
But no matter how hard he tugged or pushed, Geonwoo didn’t budge an inch.
Feeling the dense muscle through his grip, Woosik’s expression flickered with surprise.
‘What the… was he always this strong?’
Woosik, having awakened as an Projection-type Ability User, was no match for Geonwoo in terms of strength.
Geonwoo, awakened as a Reinforcement-type, had roughly double the physical strength of an average adult male.
In contrast, Projection-types, regardless of mana level, didn’t differ much from normal humans physically.
They could only project mana outside the body in the form of attacks.
Without a word, Geonwoo turned and walked toward the mana assessment room.
Arguing with Woosik would be a waste of time.
After all, everything would reset tomorrow.
Inside the testing room, a female staff member approached him.
“You are here for a mana test? Please take a number and wait over here.”
After taking a ticket, Geonwoo looked around.
He’d expected some high-tech equipment for mana measurement.
But was soon disappointed.
No cutting-edge systems—just a platform in the center of the room with a black orb embedded in it.
That was it.
Not even many people were there.
‘Did not many awaken this time? Or maybe I just got here early.’
“What the hell are you? Don’t tell me… you awakened too? No way, right? No way in hell.”
‘God, he’s annoying. Should I knock him out again like last time? I could probably do it with one hit now.’
Just then, it was Woosik’s turn.
He stood before the platform, clearly excited.
Geonwoo, seeing this process for the first time, watched closely.
“Place your hand on the orb and inject your mana. You should instinctively know how to, since you’ve awakened.”
‘So that’s the mana meter? This thing determines my rank?’
Woosik’s eyes burned with anticipation.
Unlike Geonwoo, Woosik had experience at Core Factory and knew the basics about Ability Users.
‘Your grade depends on your internal mana pool. Higher grades mean better government benefits—and more money.’
Determined, Woosik slammed his hand onto the orb and pushed all his mana into it.
“Hraaaah!”
Flash!
Blue energy surged from his hand into the orb.
The black orb started to glow blue.
But Woosik was misunderstanding something important.
No matter how much mana he poured in, the grade was already predetermined.
The orb simply measured the mana already inside the person—not how much they could push into it.
A few moments later, after pushing himself to near exhaustion, Woosik finally stopped.
The staff member sighed, like she’d seen this before.
Some newbies always wasted effort like this.
She glanced at the monitor beside the platform and said:
“Mana Level: 250. D-Rank. Congratulations.”
“D-RANK!!”
Woosik shouted with joy, even as his legs trembled.
Everyone in the room looked at him with envy.
“Starting at D-rank? That’s talent.”
“Damn. Lucky bastard. I only got E-rank.”
Most people started at E-rank after awakening.
They’d then build up mana through monster hunting and slowly climb the ranks.
Getting D-rank right off the bat was a big deal.
“Haha! Of course. This is me we’re talking about!”
Woosik, thrilled, looked around—and spotted Geonwoo again.
“Hey! Park Geon…”
“Is it my turn now?”
“Yes, please step forward and place your hand on the orb.”
“……”
Without even looking at Woosik, Geonwoo calmly placed his hand on the orb.
And then, a system message echoed through his head.
[Absorb]
