The stars above Seoul glimmered faintly through the haze of city lights, casting a dim glow over a bustling metropolis that never seemed to sleep. Beneath that sky, Jin Wook lay on his hospital bed, his face pale and worn. Only the steady beep of the heart monitor punctuated the silence in the sterile room.
He was nineteen—a university student with a promising future—but none of that mattered now. Not since the fall.
The leap from his family's apartment balcony wasn't an accident. He couldn't explain why he had done it; a storm had raged inside him, pushing him over the edge. Now, as his body lay still, his mind was anything but.
Suddenly, a searing pain surged through his skull. It felt as if his head was splitting open. His breath hitched, and his fingers clawed at the sheets.
Then, it came—memories, vivid and wild, rushing through him like a flood breaking free of its dam.
He wasn't Jin Wook anymore.
The scenes unfolded in his mind: a noble courtyard bathed in sunlight, a stern but loving father, a smiling little sister with mischief in her eyes. Then, betrayal. The cold, mocking voices of men in power, the smirks of traitors, the final cries of his family as their lives were snuffed out.
Kang Joon. That was who he had been. A boy who had witnessed horrors, a man forged in vengeance, and, finally, a warrior who had lost everything.
He remembered it all: the jade stone glowing in his hand, the fiery resolve that carried him to the peak of mortal strength, the blood-stained path of revenge. He had brought an empire to its knees, but it hadn't been enough to save those he loved.
And now, he was here, in this strange new life.
His fists clenched as a single thought took hold.
"I failed them once. I won't fail again."
The heart monitor beeped faster as Jin Wook opened his eyes. The pain was gone, but the fire remained—a quiet, simmering rage and a determination sharper than any blade.
This was a second chance, a new life. But the echoes of his past were far from over. Kang Joon's story hadn't ended—it had only just begun.