A/N

Hello readers! I'm excited to release my first work as an author! Of course, I am going to make a lot of mistakes, whether it be grammar, spelling, etc. (I think I might have used too many commas?) Anyway, If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to leave a review and I'll read it as soon as I can! Before this chapter starts, I want to warn you that this was HEAVILY based on the manhwa Solo Leveling, so please put up with it and warn me if you think the ideas I put in here are bordering plagiarism. With that said, please enjoy my first story!

Chapter One: Resurrection

The flames crackle. The sounds of women and children screaming echo through the streets, now devoid of life. The sound of the buildings around me crumbling. The sound of those monsters, the Nomu, growing nearer. They're all drowned out by the ringing in my ears. Live… live… LIVE! Only a single thought dominates my mind as I run forward, past the bodies of pro heroes and civilians alike as I attempt to survive this awful nightmare. I almost convinced myself that I'd just wake up in bed, get ready for a miserable day at work, and everything would be fine.

But then I remember a man who thought the same thing, just before he jumped out of the office window. That man, who was now lying splattered on the pavement, was my evil and abusive boss who worked me to near death every day. And now the dreams, ideals, memories, the entire existence of that horrible man is burned onto one single image in my brain, a single image of a body in a pool of blood. That's all he is now. I don't want to end up like that. I turn down an alleyway to escape the death that has caught the people near me and come out onto a main street. The sky is blanketed in black smoke, the horizon a fiery orange.

Crashed cars litter the street and rubble from all the chaos of the fight. Whatever pro heroes who haven't died are slowly being picked off, one by one. And then, I spotted her. A young girl, probably no more than eight years old, is clutching a teddy bear in her left hand while trying to shake her parent awake with her other hand. Either she doesn't realize her father is dead, or she doesn't want to. I was caught off guard by this sight and momentarily stopped moving, only to see a Nomu come up behind her to finish off the last of her bloodline.

She turns around, thick streams of tears coming out of her eyes, screaming in both fear and despair. And before I even had time to process the situation, my foot was already pushing off the pavement. My body moved on its own, the instinct of survival long gone as I sought to protect the child in front of me. I pushed her out of the way as hard as I could, just barely grazing the Nomu's fist as it got stuck in the wall of a building. But that's all it took. I'm comforting the girl, telling her it'll be alright, and then she looks at me and screams.

On the ground behind her is my arm, still leaking blood. The adrenaline in my body kept me from feeling the pain, but not that I'd noticed it, it hurt like hell. The Nomu is free and getting ready to chase us, so I lead the little girl into the alleyway and through a fence, closing and barricading the door behind her. "What are you doing mister?!" the girl yells as I turn away from her. Mustering all of the fake courage I can, I wave her off and tell her to run away before stepping back out onto the main street with one goal: distraction.

The number of Nomus in the street has escalated, from only one being stuck in the wall to eight or ten getting ready to pummel me. I have to protect that little girl! With that, I find myself running in circles trying to outpace the chasing Nomu. Their snarls combined with the sound of them crashing into cars and buildings around me cause the adrenaline to pump harder, fueling my every movement. But adrenaline can only get me so far as my weak body gives out on me, my legs buckling underneath me and sending me to the pavement with a hard crash.

Within a single second, the Nomu are already on top of me, punching and stomping on me relentlessly. I'm already dead to rights, and yet they don't kill me, almost like their only goal is to cause suffering. Blood spews out of my mouth, drowning out my screams. Bloody tears escape from my eyes as my vision finally begins to fade. And then, I hear a woman yell out from somewhere to my right. "HEY SHIT HEADS! PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!", the woman yells.

Suddenly, a flash of white kicks the Nomu off of me and into a nearby building, causing the apartment complex to collapse. The woman approached me with a grim look on her face. It takes all my energy to turn my eyes to look at her, but it's worth it. One of my favorite heroes, the rabbit hero: Mirko. Her beautiful, light brown skin clashed against her white outfit and white hair, her usual smug grin replaced by a mix of sadness and anger. The tips of her rabbit ears are practically resting on the top of her head, showing her sadness.

"I was fighting Nomu when a girl came running up to me, yelling about some man who saved her. Was that you?" I tried to speak, but the words died in my dry mouth, so I just nodded my head weakly. "You did good. You were too weak to take on the Nomu, and yet you still saved that girl. You should be proud." Mirko looked away in shame at the sight of me coughing up blood. All of a sudden, pleas for help echoed through the streets, a group of survivors yelling desperately for salvation. Mirko's ears shot up at the sound before she looked down at me.

"Go… be a… hero," I said weakly. She nodded before a look of anger and determination appeared on her face as she jumped away. And then, I was alone. Dying in a puddle of my blood in the street like roadkill. A pathetic ending fitting the pathetic life I lived. Being born quirkless in a world of superpowers means you don't get many chances to rise on the social ladder. Years of bullying from everyone around me made me weak and insecure. My dreams of being a hero died when I entered that office building for an interview. My days were spent at my desk, mindlessly typing away at my keyboard while my asshole boss yelled at me constantly.

Time seemed to slow down in that instant as memories from my life began to play in front of me like a movie. Memories of being bullied in school, the adults turning a blind eye because of my quirklessness. Whenever I would come home, my mom would be there waiting for me. And every day she would burst out crying and hugging me when she saw the bruises on my body and face. I have a distinct memory of my mother breaking down in the kitchen when she thought I had already left for school. Seeing her love and sadness gave me mixed emotions, but what happened next nearly broke me completely.

What I saw next was the memory of my mother's final words the night before she slipped into a coma. She said to me: "Katsu… I love you so, so much. Live on for me, okay?" Whenever a loved one dies in a movie, the protagonist gets to say one last final goodbye before they die, but I didn't get that. She died the next week in her coma. After that, I kind of just shuffled through life. I wasn't particularly smart, or athletic, so I ended up barely getting through school.

I got a job in an office I hated, worked for a manager who worked me to death every day, and went home to an empty, cramped, dark apartment, devoid of any love. I spent my life depressed and isolated from everyone, and that's how I'll die. Sad, and alone. With no achievements to my name, or anyone who would even bother to go to my funeral, if anyone even finds my body. As my vision finally fades, I prepare myself for death and finally stop breathing.

Thump… thump…. thump….. The rhythm of my heart begins to slow down. My breathing stops and my eyes shut. My body is left without enough energy to even close my mouth. 'What the hell… what is this crap? What was… it all for?' A tear begins to stream down my face, my vision all but gone by this point. 'I didn't do anything with my life. All I did was just stumble my way through, half dead. Huh. My soul has been dead for a long time now.' A sudden thought comes to my mind, and the tears begin to flow even harder. 'Who is even gonna show up… to my funeral?'

It was over. My disgustingly empty existence was finally going to end. And then, something appeared before me. It shone no light, and yet, looking back on it now, it was the brightest thing in the world. A blue box, with a message for me. A delusion before death? Perhaps my mind was finally succumbing to death?

The secret quest has been completed. The reward for completing this quest is a job change. Current job: None. Your heart will stop beating in 0.3 seconds. Would you like to accept the job change?

Underneath the strange message were two boxes, one with yes and the other with no. I decided to humor my near-death delusion and accepted the offer. The words disappeared, being replaced by new words, although I would never see them.

Congratulations on gaining the system! Activating the first quest…

With that, the box disappears, and I'm alone. Floating in a dark void. And then, I lay my soul to rest, and pray I have a quirk in my next life…

—-

A/N

And… finished! I know this chapter was short, I was testing the waters/ setting up for the real story. I have no idea how long future chapters will be, but I'll try to make them long enough for the wait. Also, I should probably warn you that I'm going to take "creative liberties" with the story like major events that happen (UA Festival, Hosu, etc.) and with the relationships between characters depending on how I'm feeling that day. Once again, please leave a review if you have any comments or suggestions. I'm also open to ideas for how to make the story better. And with that, please enjoy the rest of your day, readers!

A/N TWO (Written after Chapter 11 was published)

Hey readers! One, thank you so much for enjoying the series thus far. Second, I've decided to revise the first chapter. Nothing much new, just a small conversation at the end there. Keep reading, and have a wonderful rest of your day!