Valkyrie's Shadow - Chapter 4Before the Storm: Act 8,

30-year-old Jo Minjoon has always wanted to become a chef. He started his culinary career late in life, however, and is currently chopping onions at a restaurant. Regretting his life choices, he wishes he could go back to change it all and falls asleep. Meanwhile, someone out there is willing to give him another chance and send him back in time. How will he use the new powers he obtained from this mysterious being?

Lao Chen was just an old, underpaid security guard in a rundown apartment complex, living a miserable life under a stingy, ungrateful boss.His wife left him, his daughter wanted nothing to do with him, and poverty was his only constant companion.In the end, death came in the form of a drunk driver, leaving him broken and forgotten on the cold pavement.But fate wasn’t done with him. In his final moments, he prayed—desperate, pleading to any deity who would listen.And someone did.The God of Wealth and Love took pity on his wasted life and granted him a second chance.Wake up again as Zhao Yiming, a 25-year-old gambler and alcoholic drowning in debt with nothing but a good face and a strong body to his name, he was given the Affinity Money Maker System—a mysterious power that let him gain wealth and influence by forming relationships, whether as lovers, friends, or even enemies.Before he knew it, he had stumbled his way into unimaginable riches.But things never go as planned. One moment of recklessness—one affair with the wrong woman—led to an unexpected murder.Now, the system has thrown him onto a new path: The Villain Route. With a negative perk that keeps the police off his trail but tightens the noose around his future, Zhao Yiming is faced with an impossible choice.Will he claw his way to the top and become the billionaire he was meant to be? Or will his second life end behind bars, just as tragic as his first?

He died doing what he loved—on the basketball court, surrounded by cheers, chasing a dream that never came true.But fate—or perhaps the Basketball God—gave him one more shot.When Dirgantara Renji, a washed-out benchwarmer with a decade of struggle behind him, suddenly wakes up as his 15-year-old self, he’s confused, overwhelmed... and determined. This isn’t just a second chance at life—it’s a second chance at the dream he refused to let die.Now in 2009, armed with a mysterious System, years of experience, and a deep hunger to prove himself, Dirga is ready to carve a new path. But this time, things are different. New faces. New choices. And hidden talents he never met in his past life.Will he finally rise from the shadows to become the basketball legend he was meant to be?

If the gods no longer bestow their mercy, then let us kindle bonfires, carry great swords, become skeletons, or heroes of legend.