Debt-Collector of the Apocalypse

CHAPTER 2: The Accelerated Clock

"Hey, Min-jae? Are you done with Section C?"

Yoo Seo-ah didn't look up from her clipboard. She clicked her pen—click, click—the sound crisp and rhythmic in the quiet aisle. 

She was Nineteen years old, a part-time student working to pay her tuition, she had no idea how little time she had left.

In the original timeline, her story ended as an uncredited statistic, a mangled corpse that served as the catalyst for Team Leader Park's Awakening.

However, while still looking through the violet lens of the Scavenger's Sightglass, Min-jae saw something else entirely.

A localized temporal disaster.

The crimson fractures spreading across the concrete floor had widened, their jagged edges pulsing like bleeding veins. Dark energy seeped from them into Seo-ah's shadow, while the air around her ankles warped like a heat mirage. Beneath the familiar smells of dust and industrial oil, he caught a faint stench of rotten sulfur and wet fur.

"Drop the clipboard, Seo-ah."

His voice was flat and devoid of panic. Panic was a luxury reserved for people who expected to survive by screaming.

Seo-ah finally looked up, her brow furrowing. "What? But Team Leader Park said we have to finish this batch before—"

"Now."

Min-jae closed the distance between them in three long strides. He didn't wait for her to comply. He simply grabbed her upper arm—her skin was warm, a sharp contrast to the freezing, static-heavy air bleeding from the floor—and yanked her backward.

CRACK.

The concrete floor didn't just split; it shattered outward like brittle ice. A jagged fissure three feet wide tore through the exact spot where Seo-ah had been standing a few seconds ago. Her plastic clipboard fell directly into the gap, vanishing into a pitch-black void that didn't seem to have a bottom.

"Ah—!" Seo-ah stumbled, her sneakers slipping on the loose gravel. She hit the floor hard, staring at the abyss in total shock. 

"The... the foundation? Did a pipe burst?"

"Stay down and cover your ears," Min-jae commanded.

He didn't look at her. His focus was entirely on the tear in reality. The red lines through his monocle were screaming, flashing a violent, blinding crimson.

[Warning: Localized Dimensional Integration Imminent.]

[Rift Type: F-Rank Sub-Space Pocket.]

[Expected Entity: Abyssal Scout.]

[Time remaining: 45 seconds.]

Five hours early, 

Min-jae's jaws tightened. 

The universe isn't following the old script. Did my regression or the siphoning of the Focus Node accelerated the synchronization?

If an F-rank rift opened fully in an unawakened world, it wouldn't just kill Seo-ah; it would collapse the entire western wing of the logistics center. The seismic shock would trigger early rifts across the city, turning Incheon into a slaughterhouse before anyone had a chance to receive the System's introductory prompt.

He had 5.0003 Cosmic Units left in his current pool. Not enough to manifest a weapon. Not enough to pull out his S-rank obsidian dagger.

He needed more energy, and he needed it from a living source.

Min-jae turned his head toward the end of the aisle. The heavy, dragging footsteps of Team Leader Park were echoing down the concrete corridor.

"What the hell was that noise?!" Park bellowed, rounding the corner with his flashlight raised. 

"Did you idiots knock over a pallet? I swear to God, if you damaged the electronic shipments—"

Park froze. His flashlight beam hit the jagged, smoking tear in the center of the aisle. 

He saw Seo-ah crying on the floor, and he saw Min-jae standing over her, wearing a bizarre, glowing violet monocle.

"What... what is that?" Park’s voice dropped an octave, the bluster draining from his face as the sulfurous stench hit his nostrils. His survival instinct, the same cowardly trait that would define his future, instantly spiked. He took a step back. "Is that a gas leak? We need to get out. I'm calling the manager."

"Team Leader Park," Min-jae said, stepping over the fissure. His movement was slow, deliberate, like a predator cornering a wounded animal. "You remember the contract we signed during onboarding? The one about liabilities?"

"What are you talking about, you psycho? Move!" Park turned to bolt.

Min-jae lunged. He didn't use an elegant martial arts move; he used the raw, dirty leverage of a man who had wrestled mutated goblins in muddy trenches. He slammed his shoulder into Park’s heavy midsection, driving the older man against a steel structural pillar.

Oof! Park gasped, the wind completely knocked out of him. The clipboard clattered to the floor. "Kang... what the fuck—"

Min-jae’s left hand shot out, pinning Park’s throat against the steel beam. With his right hand, he adjusted the dial on his monocle.

"Don't worry," Min-jae whispered, his face inches from Park’s terrified, sweating face. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm just auditing your accounts."

Siphon.

Through the monocle, Min-jae saw it clearly: a dense, swirling cloud of murky gray energy locked deep within Park's chest. It was the raw, unawakened potential of The Cowardly Executioner—the cosmic seed that the System would have activated tonight through Park's upcoming act of betrayal.

The monocle flared. A cold, microscopic vacuum pulled at Park's chest.

"Gah... Ahhhh!" Park’s eyes rolled back, his body going completely rigid. He didn't bleed, but his skin instantly lost its ruddy complexion, turning a dull, pasty gray. The sheer terror in his soul acted like a conductor, allowing Min-jae to drain the latent cosmic mana out of him like water from a sponge.

[Siphon Successful.]

[You have extracted 35 Cosmic Units from an Unawakened Target.]

[Target Status: Permanent 'Ordinary' Restriction applied. Target can no longer Awaken Class: The Cowardly Executioner.]

[Total Energy: 40.0003 Units.]

Min-jae released his grip. Park collapsed into a heap at the base of the pillar, unconscious, his breathing shallow but stable. He was safe. He would survive the night as nothing more than a normal, frightened civilian. His dark future had been liquidated.

"Min-jae... what are you doing?!" Seo-ah screamed from behind him, her voice cracking with terror.

A low, guttural click vibrated from the center of the fissure.

Min-jae didn't answer her. He turned back to the rift. Two grey, hairless arms tipped with long, sickle-like claws hooked onto the edges of the concrete floor. A head shaped like a distorted, eyeless canine began to squeeze its way out of the dark void, its maw dripping with acidic, black saliva that hissed as it touched the floor.

An Abyssal Hound Scout.

Min-jae focused his mind on the dark window of his interface.

"Manifest," Min-jae commanded internally. "Rank-E: The Iron-Biter's Wire-Trap."

[30 Cosmic Units Consumed.]

[Manifesting item...]

A heavy spool of jagged, barbed steel wire studded with faint blue runes materialized directly into Min-jae's hands. The metal was freezing, biting into his bare palms, but he didn't blink.

The hound let out a high-pitched, echoing shriek and leaped from the pit, its jaws snapping directly toward Min-jae’s throat.