Squid Game Deok Su

Once known as the Shadow Blade, the empire’s deadliest swordsman, Kael Voss was betrayed by the people he protected and left for dead. Ten years later, he returns under a new name, carrying a blade that should not exist. Hunted by the Blade Registry, hunted by old enemies, and hunted by the truth of his own past, Kael must decide whether to remain a ghost… or become the storm that ends an empire. Every swing of his sword writes a new legend. Every secret he uncovers cuts deeper than steel.

Kael Ardent was betrayed, framed as a traitor, and executed while the empire burned. Then he woke up years before it all began. Now he remembers everything — the secret alliances, the smiling enemies, and the man who orchestrated his fall. Armed with future knowledge and a mysterious power called the Echo, Kael is determined to rewrite history. But the more he interferes, the more the timeline shifts. Allies begin to doubt him. Enemies move sooner than they should. And someone else seems to remember pieces of the future. The war he died in wasn’t what he thought. To stop the empire’s collapse, Kael must outplay conspirators, expose the Council’s corruption, and confront the truth behind his rebirth. Because this time, if he fails… There won’t be another second chance.

Blurb Everyone received a countdown. Nobody knew what it meant. When the apocalypse descended upon Earth, Ethan Vale watched the world he knew collapse in a matter of hours. Monsters appeared. Cities fell. Millions disappeared. Then a timer appeared before his eyes. 100 DAYS. While other survivors watched their numbers fall toward zero, Ethan discovered something impossible. His timer could increase. Every evolved monster he killed gave him more time. Every additional hour gave him another chance to become stronger. For the first time, Ethan wasn't running from the apocalypse. He was progressing through it. But there was something wrong with his countdown. It wasn't counting down to his death. It was counting down to the next stage of the apocalypse. And when Ethan finally discovers what happens when the timer reaches zero, he realizes the monsters were never the real threat. Humanity is being tested. And something is waiting to see whether they fail.

Kaelen Vance was the crippled dishonor of the elite Vance Sword Clan—born with a shattered spirit core and reduced to a low-level servant. On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, his own stepbrother stabs him in the chest, framing him for treason and throwing his body into the abyss of the Abyssal Rift. Instead of death, Kaelen awakens the Abyssal Sovereign’s Grimoire—a primordial weapon system that feeds on dark spirit energy and converts every fatal blow into sword mastery. He returns under a shadow mask, armed with an ancient style long thought extinct. To his former family, he is dead trash. To the underworld, he is the masked executioner known as the Shadow Blade. He will scale the ranks from lowest outcast to invincible Sword Saint, cutting down corrupt patriarchs and corporate overlords until everyone who trampled him kneels.

Arcana High is known as the greatest magic academy in the Bluestar World. It is prestigious, disciplined, and supposedly safe. But when a group of ordinary teens accidentally breaks into the academy’s restricted library, they uncover something no student was ever meant to see: A living, ancient map that chooses them as its “Special Players.” From that moment on, their lives changed into a strange, game-like reality where hidden, forbidden regions appeared all around the Bluestar World. Monsters, Mutated Beasts, Zombies, and unknown monstrosities roam the world. Every basic spell evolves like a skill tree. And the map keeps issuing quests with one warning: “Level up… or die.” Forced to team up despite their clashing personalities, the teens must explore the world's hidden regions, unlock ancient magic, and complete trials that push them far beyond their limits. But the deeper they go, the more they realize: The map is just a trial ground for divine beings called the Naphil. Entities powerful enough to rewrite the structure of the Bluestar World. And now, they want to filter out the strong players from the weak. If humans can't level up fast enough, Arcana High won’t be the only thing that falls…The entire realm will.

Three children. One fire. A lifetime of scars. Jay and Chase Hamilton grew up side by side, brothers bound by laughter and games in the courtyard of their crumbling apartment complex. Anna Rivera, their neighbor, was the sparrow who trailed them everywhere — small, stubborn, determined never to be left behind. But one careless spark changed everything. The fire tore through their home, leaving ash and silence in its wake. Their mother never returned, and with her absence came unspoken blame. Chase carried the weight of believing she died for him. Jay took the guilt of failing to protect them both. Anna disappeared under whispers and shadows, her name cursed by neighbors who swore the fire had been her fault. Twenty-five years later, the past is still burning. Chase is now CEO of the family’s printing press, driven, distant, and ruthless. Jay is a photographer abroad, still chasing moments he can never hold onto. And Anna — under another name, rebuilt and unrecognizable — has risen quietly, her fate intertwined with theirs once more. But ash does not stay buried forever. When the truth resurfaces, it will test the fragile bonds of family, loyalty, and forgiveness. Ashes of Yesterday is a sweeping story of childhood lost, of wounds carried into adulthood, and of whether broken lives can ever be pieced back together when the fire never really died.

A global catastrophe struck, leaving the land ravaged and scarred. Food became desperately scarce, all manner of survival resources priceless beyond measure. Factions clashed in ceaseless wars across the land, and all social order crumbled. Kane, a young man, fought his way out of the desolate unplanned zone drenched in blood. He trekked alone through endless billowing yellow sand to seek survival in this territory. By a twist of fate, he met several companions who would stand by him through life and death. In a single resolute thought, he resolved to stop scraping by in ignominious survival. Rising up amid the chaotic age, he forged ahead through countless hardships with the aid of an Evolution System, embarking on an epic legend belonging to all survivors.

Ethan Reid was Earth's last defender when the Voidborne came. Now he's the last human male alive—and the most valuable prize in the galaxy. His DNA is universally compatible with alien species, making him the target of empresses, warriors, and matriarchs willing to start wars for breeding rights. But when an ancient cultivation system bonds with him, Ethan becomes more dangerous than rare genetics. He's a Reality Anchor, capable of wielding techniques that could stop the Voidborne from devouring existence itself. Bonded to four powerful alien women and hunted by every major faction, he's racing to master abilities that most cultivators spend lifetimes learning. The galaxy's plan was to cage him but they failed and now they wish they had killed him when they had the chance.

After surviving a deadly betrayal during a classified mission, elite Night Agent Ethan Vale becomes the most wanted man in the country. Hunted by his own agency and mysterious black-ops soldiers, Ethan uncovers Blackout Protocol, a secret operation capable of destroying governments and silencing anyone who learns the truth. With a dangerous hacker as his only ally and enemies hiding inside the system he once trusted, Ethan must stay alive long enough to expose the conspiracy before the country falls into darkness.

The protagonist is a Detective who was found in a love triangle and joined a family with a man of same age who was corrupt, power-hungry and a criminal. He used every evil action to achieve what he wants. This contrasted the protagonist who was just, patriotic and professional in his work. The enmity between the protagonist and the hard-hearted criminal begins during their youth whereas the protagonist lost his first love to the antagonist thereby creating a strong bond of enmity. That enmity nearly led the protagonist to his early death with deathly encounters