Prologue: Ended At The Start

All men are born equal and free. This was what Mahatma Gandhi once said, and the world should have become a better place since then.

Clearly not, it was the complete opposite.

In the year 2035, the world started to change significantly after a huge asteroid, measuring a kilometre and a half wide and two kilometres long, landed in Cheongdam-Dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The asteroid was like nothing the world has ever seen before, crashing through towering, huge buildings as if they were sheets of thin paper, destroying almost the whole of Cheongdam-Dong.

From then on, people from all over the world started to rise as Conquerors who possess powers capable of shaking the Earth. Some people say the powers came from aliens that sent the asteroid to Earth, but no one actually knew the actual origin of the "Conqueror" powers other than being able to draw a link between the powers and the huge asteroid. Then, many companies were formed at that period of time, and those companies were specifically created for the sole purpose of conquering the Obelisks and attracting talented Conquerors---Conqueror Companies.

As more Conquerors appear, tower-like buildings have started to erect themselves all over the world, as if out of nothing but only just growing right out of the ground. The Conquerors gave the special, unknown towers a name and called them Obelisks.

Moving forward was just bad things and happenings, the world started to adopt a "dog-eat-dog" way of living as not even the country's military with the latest technology and weapons could subdue an individual with powers of the Conqueror. Everyone started to gain powers of the Conqueror slowly, and everyone fought to conquer Obelisks in order to get their rare treasures and their many out-of-the-world items. This threw the world into a magical mess.

Slowly, the world started to rotate and shift on a magical and mystical plane, even if one manages to finish University with a Master's Degree, it doesn't matter even a single bit if that person is unable to awaken Conqueror powers before they turn 20.

"And one of these powerless people living in a world overflowing with power...is me," Seunghyuk exclaimed with tears spinning in his eyes, threatening to release its grip and fall, then he started to slowly sing with a shaky voice," Hap-ppy Birthd-day to me...Happy birthday t-to me...Happy birt-"

Seunghyuk stopped himself as he coughed, bringing his Birthday song of sorrow to an abrupt stop. He looked emptily out his window of his apartment into the busy streets until his eyes fell on an Obelisk. He no longer tried to hold back his tears and let them drop silently. He merely sat there motionlessly, without uttering a word, watching the pathetic ember of flame on the tip of the candle flicker weakly, yet endlessly.

Sitting amidst all the mess in his small and cramped apartment, he celebrated his 20th birthday with hot tears flowing down his cheeks. Seunghyuk's life seemed to come to an end even before it actually starts.