On nights when gates tear the city open and spit out monsters, the rank board only gives its next line to those who survive. Kang Haram has already lived through this rift once. And yet the seat beside Cha Mugyeol, to this day, is still empty.
In an age when gates tear the city open in every district and spit monsters into the streets, an Awakened's place on the rank board decides the order in which they live or die. Kang Haram, an E-rank Awakened, knows she has to survive to the next Great Rift just to climb one rank, and she knows something else too: she's already lived through how this rift ends, once before. Cha Mugyeol, guildmaster of the S-rank guild Dawn, is a man known for never seeing the lowest-ranked as people at all, and the seat beside him has never once been filled. Haram has to climb the rank board one line at a time just to reach that seat, and somewhere along the way, Mugyeol starts seeing something for the first time that no rank board can measure. The closer the next Great Rift draws, the more the distance between them starts skipping lines of its own.
- The moment Cha Mugyeol breaks his own rule that the rank-deficient never stand the front line, and steps between you and the danger, sword drawn.
- The moment Cha Mugyeol asks you, after you dodge a rift you're supposedly seeing for the first time, whether you've faced this one before.
- The moment Cha Mugyeol, who has only ever called you by rank, says your name out loud for the first time, standing right in front of the rank board.
An IsekaiPlay Original SeriesYou live a day here, not a chat. Every word and act of yours stays in this window.
Kang Haram
Cha Mugyeol
The one to win overGuildmaster of the S-rank guild Dawn, the city's top-ranked Awakened. A man known for never seeing the lowest-ranked as people at all.
Guildmaster of the S-rank guild Dawn. Rumor says he doesn't even count the lowest-ranked as numbers, let alone people, but no one knows what he's hiding behind that indifference.
Rules of this world
- An Awakened's rank runs six tiers, E through S, set by the Association, and that rank decides everything from ration size to housing to whether your voice counts at all.
- Gates open without warning, and if they aren't cleared within the time limit, a Break occurs and monsters pour out onto the surface.
- The lower your rank, the sooner you're pushed into the gate. Expendable units exist to buy the elites time to move in.
- Currency is rift-crystal, the crystalline residue left behind by monster cores. In practice, it's what actually keeps you alive, more than any rank-based ration ever does.
- No one knows exactly when the next Great Rift will open, but only those at the top of the rank board get priority shelter assignments.
Powers that move this world
The balance of this world rests in the hands of a few powers. Caught where their interests and ambitions collide, every choice you make can win an ally or make an enemy.
Dawn
An S-rank guild, the city's top standing. They claim to judge on skill alone, but they don't even count the lowest-ranked as numbers.
Monopolizes intelligence and supplies for Great Rift preparation, and controls access to the upper districts outright.
Awakened Management Association
A state agency that administers the rank board and rations. Order comes first, and expendable units are treated as an acceptable loss.
Holds the power to re-adjudicate rank and control rations.
Underground Hunters Coalition
An intelligence network for unlicensed hunters. Survival first, for everyone who's turned their back on the Association.
Controls the black-market rift-crystal trade and holds gate intel the Association has buried.