The Nihilos: Trash Player Who Rewrote Reality

The countdown finally hit 00:00:00.

And then...

The sky opened.

Not torn. Not shattered.

Opened—like a stage curtain revealing an audience of watching gods.

Above every city, every mountain, and every ocean, celestial circles shimmered across the clouds.

Golden runes spun. Stars blinked unnaturally.

Gods, both forgotten and feared, awakened from the veil between realms.

---

> [GLOBAL ALERT — VESSEL SELECTION INITIATED]

[All Humans Now Eligible for Divine Contract]

[Non-Players May Awaken]

[New Category Registered: Awakened]

---

All across the world, chaos bloomed.

People who never touched a capsule, never wielded a sword, suddenly fell to their knees—screaming, crying, convulsing—as divine brands burned onto their bodies.

Their eyes lit with myth, their voices echoed ancient tongues, and powers surged through ordinary veins.

Governments couldn't contain it.

EvoCore couldn't explain it.

New groups formed instantly, unregulated, unaffiliated with the Player Association.

> They called themselves the Awakened.

And a new organization appeared overnight in Seoul, Korea:

"The Awakened Front."

It had no known founder. No known backers.

But it had a leader.

---

In a quiet district in Korea, amid the sirens and screams, a lone man stood atop a traditional tiled rooftop.

He looked no older than thirty—barefoot, long black hair tied behind him, shirtless beneath a simple martial coat. His presence bent the air around him.

He raised his hand and parted the clouds above Seoul.

He did not flinch as gods looked down.

Instead—

He smiled.

> "So it begins. You've started choosing... but I've already surpassed your thrones."

The gods paused. Even they felt it:

This man wasn't chosen.

He wasn't a vessel.

He was something else.

A being who climbed without contract, who shattered limitations through sheer cultivation, who once ruled an entire Murim world as the Heavenly Demon.

Now, he stood at the border of the new divine war.

> "Name?" a nearby Awakened recruit asked, trembling from their first vision.

The man turned, his voice soft—yet felt like thunder behind stillness.

> "Lee Woo Kang.

Heavenly Demon.

Omnipotent by effort, not favor."

The earth beneath him cracked in reverence.

The sky no longer looked down.

It looked equal.

And far away, deep within the merged Nihilos core, Raven's system blared a silent anomaly warning:

> [UNREGISTERED ENTITY DETECTED: CLASS - TRANSCENDENT DEMON GOD]

[NOTE: Subject not bound by game, code, or law]

And the gods themselves whispered:

> "A god... born of fists and fury."

Two days later, amidst global chaos and rising panic about the Awakened, a formal encrypted request arrived at EvoCore's Tokyo headquarters.

It wasn't from a guild.

Not from a nation.

Not from any known digital system.

> [Appointment Request: Lee Woo Kang — Awakened Front Leader]

Purpose: Personal Dialogue. Recipient: Raven.]

The EvoCore officials panicked. Some wanted to decline.

Raven didn't hesitate.

> "Tell him I accept. Tomorrow. 10 a.m."

---

The next morning, the EvoCore skyline shimmered. A black car with no license plate, no driver, pulled up to the private floor.

Raven stood at the center of the quiet meeting hall, arms crossed.

The door opened.

Lee Woo Kang entered calmly, barefoot, dressed in a simple martial robe that somehow looked more regal than a king's mantle. His steps made no sound.

They stood silently.

Finally, Raven spoke.

Eyes calm but sharp.

> "Have we met before?"

Kang Woo didn't answer right away. He took a seat, hands folded, and stared not at Raven—but through him.

> "Not in this life.

But we are... the same."

Raven frowned. "The same?"

> "Same kind of soul," Kang Woo said. "Same kind of fracture. Bad past life. Carried pain beyond death."

Raven tensed slightly.

> "What do you mean, past life?"

Lee Woo Kang closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, something else flickered behind them.

> "I know you know what I mean.

I can feel him inside you."

A pause. The air thickened.

> "That system—Nihilos.

It's not a curse. It's a return."

Raven's mind flashed. A brief vision—of the void. Of that throne of static. Of the forgotten god.

> "Who is he?" Raven asked quietly.

Kang Woo stood. "I won't interfere. Your path isn't mine. But I'll say this: when the moment comes—when the world asks you to forget what you were—"

He looked directly at Raven.

> "Remember."

Raven stepped forward. "Wait. What are you saying? What's coming?"

Kang Woo turned, already walking away.

> "I'll help you once.

Only once.

Then it's up to you."

And without another word, he exited the chamber.

No guards stopped him.

No cameras tracked him.

His presence left no data.

Raven stood alone.

Heart racing.

Mind clouded.

> "Help me… with what?"

He stared at his own reflection in the mirrored glass.

The system didn't speak.

But deep inside, something pulsed.

Something ancient.

Watching.

Listening.

Waiting.