Black Tiger Rank

🖤 BLACK TIGER RANK 🖤

Episode 1 - Yes, I'm Ready

A boy was cutting dry wood with an axe in his hand. After several hours of hard work, he tied the wood into a bundle and carried it on his shoulder.

On his way home, his face was tired, but there was urgency in his steps.

When he reached outside his house, he put the wood down.

"Mother! I've brought the wood."

There was no response.

He went near the door.

"Mother?"

Still, there was silence.

"Sister! Where are you?"

There was no sound from inside the house.

The smile on his face slowly disappeared.

He stepped inside.

After walking a few steps, his eyes fell on the ground.

Blood.

He stopped right there.

His breathing became faster.

He slowly moved forward.

Then what he saw in front of him made the ground disappear beneath his feet.

His mother...

His sister...

And the rest of his family...

They were all lying on the ground.

For a few moments, he kept staring at them.

Then he fell to his knees.

"Mother..."

He tried to lift her.

"Mother, wake up... I've brought the wood."

There was no response.

Tears began to flow from his eyes.

"Sister... look, I'm back..."

His voice broke.

He kept crying for some time.

Then suddenly, a cold voice echoed through the room.

"If you want to avenge your family's death..."

He slowly turned around.

A mysterious figure was standing in the darkness.

"...and if you want to know who did this to them, you will have to come with me."

His tear-filled eyes now stared at the figure.

"Who are you?"

"That is not important."

"Then why do you want to take me with you?"

"Because you have nothing left to lose now."

There was silence in the room for a few moments.

Then came the question-

"Are you ready?"

He looked toward his family.

There was pain in his eyes.

But beneath that pain, a terrifying fire was now burning.

"Yes... I'm ready."

Suddenly, everything went black.

When his eyes opened, his house was no longer in front of him.

A vast forest surrounded him from all sides.

The sky looked strange.

Clouds were swirling above the distant mountains.

And from deep inside the forest came the roar of some enormous creature.

He sat up in panic.

"Where... where is this place?"

Just then, some people behind him started laughing.

"Hey, look! The new guy is here."

"What's his Rank?"

One person reached his hand toward him.

Glowing information appeared in the air.

RANK - 0

The laughter grew louder.

"0 Rank?"

"Even a small Beast from this forest could eat him."

Before he could understand anything, a punch struck him in the face.

He fell to the ground.

"Here, 0 Rank people have no value."

He tried to get up.

Another blow.

Then a third.

He fell to the ground.

Dirt covered his clothes.

The people standing around him continued laughing.

"Go! First learn how to save your own life."

One of them pushed him and knocked him to the ground again.

He remained there for a few moments.

Then, slowly, he began to rise with the support of his hands.

There was an injury on his face.

Humiliation in his eyes.

But what was most visible was-

anger.

He looked at the people standing in front of him.

Then he clenched his fists.

"If strength is everything in this world..."

He stood up with all his strength.

"...then I will gain strength."

The same fire that had been born after losing his family was burning in his eyes.

And from that very day, the true journey of Rank 0 began.