The smell of blood was sharp and metallic—like rusted iron baking under a cruel sun. It clung to Rael Kuro's lips as he lay in the middle of the shattered dungeon floor, his ribs cracked, and his mind drifting.
Around him were the corpses of his teammates. No, not teammates—tools discarded in pursuit of power. Slashed throats, caved skulls, scorched armor. All that remained of his D-rank party.
A shadow loomed over him. Boots splashed through blood as a figure stopped just beside his head.
> "You were always a burden, Rael," said Kain, the guild's team leader.
His voice held no remorse. Only cold efficiency.
Rael coughed up blood and glared weakly. "You… used us as bait…"
Kain knelt, dragging his blood-soaked sword along the ground lazily.
> "Of course. You're F-class trash. Your best use was softening the boss."
A chuckle.
> "Don't worry, your deaths will fund our promotion. The guild needs elites—not janitors."
With a final sneer, Kain stood and turned his back.
Rael's vision dimmed. A searing pain tore through his chest, then… silence.
And then—
> [SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED…]
[REBOOTING SUBJECT: RAEL KURO…]
[RESTORING BACKUP FILE… SAVE POINT: -5 YEARS]
[WARNING: DATA CORRUPTED. SYSTEM GLITCH PRESENT.]
[WELCOME, GLITCHWALKER.]
---
His eyes snapped open.
Breath slammed into his lungs as Rael sat up, drenched in sweat. His heart raced. The ceiling above him wasn't stone or marble. It was stained plaster, cracked and water-damaged.
He looked around, disoriented.
A broken fan spun lazily. The window rattled in its frame. A faint stench of mold clung to the air. His old apartment.
> This is… five years ago.
He stood slowly, touching his chest. No wound. No blood. Just his scrawny, underfed frame.
> I died. I saw it. I felt it. Then… the system…
A faint blue shimmer pulsed before his eyes.
> [SYSTEM ACTIVE.]
[WARNING: YOU ARE AN UNDEFINED ENTITY.]
[SYSTEM FUNCTIONS: UNSTABLE.]
A panel materialized, flickering like a broken hologram.
---
Name: Rael Kuro
Class: Undefined
Level: ???
Status: ERROR
Skills: Glitch Step (Unknown), Memory Loop (Passive), Stat Override (Locked)
Title: [Bug in the Code]
He stared in disbelief.
> This… isn't a normal system.
He was supposed to be an F-class cleaner—someone who barely qualified to carry potions. Yet now his class read "Undefined," and his level... was unreadable.
> "The system rebooted me. But it's broken. Or maybe... I'm broken."
A long silence followed.
Then he smiled.
A slow, twisted grin that had never touched his face before. Not in this world.
> "If the system is broken… I'll be the glitch that destroys it."
---
📍 [Metro City – Hunter Registry Office]
The line stretched out the door. Rael waited calmly, hands in his coat pockets, hood over his messy hair. Around him, young Awakened nervously clutched forms and cheered their future.
He didn't need to guess. Most of them would be corpses within a year.
> "Kuro, Rael," a bored receptionist called.
He stepped into the evaluation chamber. A crystalline orb hovered in the center of the room, pulsating with blue light.
"Place your hand," the technician yawned.
He did.
And the world screamed.
The orb shattered in a flash of red static. Shards of crystal flew in every direction. Sirens blared.
> [ERROR: HOST ENTITY NOT RECOGNIZED]
[CLASS: UNREADABLE]
[RANKING SYSTEM FAILURE…]
Everyone stared.
The technician stumbled backward. "Wh-what the hell are you?!"
Rael turned slowly, his voice calm.
> "A bug in your precious machine."
And with that, he walked out, ignoring the chaos behind him.
---
Outside, the city buzzed.
Holo-screens broadcast news about rising gate counts. Guilds offered flashy recruitment ads. Behind it all was a system that pretended it could measure human worth.
> They thought I was useless. That I'd stay a cleaner forever.
But he had five years.
Five years of knowledge. Five years of names, betrayals, dungeon bosses, and hidden items.
And this time, he had the power to bend the rules.
He clenched his fist.
> "Let's see how well the world functions when the glitch refuses to die."