Anxiety surged up. If the “comments” I had just seen were true, something terrible was about to happen to Yoo Joonghyuk.

The martial artists escorting us seemed startled by Yoo Joonghyuk’s disappearance and hurriedly sent people to search the area.

“Yoo Joonghyuk!”

I called Yoo Joonghyuk’s name over and over.

Yoo Joonghyuk might die. No, maybe he had already died. If that happened—

“Yoo Joonghyuk?”

And after a moment, his head popped up through the crowd.

Appearing with one escorting martial artist, Yoo Joonghyuk was glaring at me with that characteristically sullen look in his eyes.

“What.”

“Hey, what are we supposed to do if you suddenly vanish like that!”

“There was a Murim dumpling shop nearby.”

Looking closely, I saw a small dumpling between his lips.

Seriously, for that?

“This place’s Murim dumplings inherit part of an orthodox recipe. It’s a shop I like.”

Come to think of it, even in the main work, there was a time Yoo Joonghyuk disappeared because of dumplings.

Every time he visited the martial world, Yoo Joonghyuk ate Murim dumplings probably because of his memories with the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.

Each time he swallowed one of those dumplings, he must have been constantly bringing back the memories of those days.

In short, that culinary ritual was a necessary procedure for Yoo Joonghyuk to live while remembering the previous round.

“Even if you stare like that, I’m not giving you any.”

“I’m not eating.”

I don’t know. Maybe he was just eating because he had to pack in eight meals.

Even the escorting martial artists seemed a bit surprised at little Yoo Joonghyuk’s appetite. I mean, he was stuffing two dumplings at a time into his mouth—understandable.

“Young Hero Yoo, it puts us in a bind if you disappear so suddenly.”

Just from the looks the security staff exchanged, it was obvious what they were thinking.

“Is that really the disciple of the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star?”

A little later, we arrived at Blue Dragon Castle Square. In the center of the square, a massive banner was fluttering with the words, “191st Round Horror Realm Expedition.”

[There is a ‘main scenario’ area nearby.]

The Namgung Family’s martial artists pointed toward the entrance to the venue.

“The Family Head is waiting inside.”

The inside of the event hall was already packed with people. Participants who had come to take part in the “Horror Realm Expedition.” And incarnations who had come to send them off or to watch.

“I hear this expedition’s leader is coming from the Namgung Family?”

“Then is the expedition leader Young Family Head Namgung Myeong?”

“That’s the rumor, but surely not? They wouldn’t send the family’s rising star to a scenario that’s a march to death……”

I heard something ominous, but I forced myself to ignore it. Either way, entering the “main scenario” came first right now.

We stepped toward the hall without hesitation. To be precise, we tried to.

[You cannot enter the relevant ‘venue.’]

What?

[You are an ‘Exile.’]
[You cannot enter the relevant venue without identity verification.]

It was a baffling message.

Not some other scenario, but the “Horror Realm Expedition” requires “identity verification”?

Maybe they had noticed the sparks running through my body. I saw the doorkeepers guarding the hall rushing over.

Luckily, the Namgung Family’s escorts stepped forward.

“Stand down. These are Namgung’s esteemed guests. There is an order from the Family Head to allow them to participate in the tournament!”

Even faced with the escorts’ warning, the doorkeepers did not back down easily.

“Even if he’s a guest of the Namgung Family, we cannot let an ‘Exile’ in. That’s the rule of the venue.”

It hit me anew how an Exile is treated inside a “scenario area.”

“Can Namgung guarantee that this person is not a heinous criminal?”

“Even if he were a criminal, you know that with permission from the Five Great Families he can participate in the ‘Horror Realm Expedition,’ don’t you?”

“If the person in question is an ‘Exile,’ that’s a bit different. For an Exile to drift all the way here—he’s by no means ordinary. What if he’s a great evil that has earned the constellations’ wrath?”

The doorkeepers, eyes blazing as they stared me down, showed no sign of yielding.

Meanwhile, a shout came from deeper inside the hall.

“The departure speech has begun!”

At this rate we were going to miss the entire sequence for joining the scenario.

I shot a quick glance at Yoo Joonghyuk.

—Go in first.
—Then you?
—I’ll find a way to get in somehow. You need to go in first and grasp the atmosphere inside the hall.

After a brief moment of thought, Yoo Joonghyuk nodded.

—Don’t be late.

The Namgung Family’s martial artists followed by giving me a silent bow and then disappeared into the hall with Yoo Joonghyuk.

One of them said this to me:

“I will inform the Family Head of the situation. Please wait just a moment.”

I nodded, but inside I felt something was off.

Could the Sovereign Sword Namgung Jinchun really have failed to foresee this situation?

From the start, the “Horror Realm Expedition” was an event he had planned together with the Five Great Families.

And he knew I was an “Exile,” yet he hadn’t preempted these entry restrictions?

A bad hunch came over me.

If the Sovereign Sword’s goal was to separate me from Yoo Joonghyuk?

[You are an ‘Exile.’]
[You cannot enter the relevant venue without identity verification.]

I shook my head.

Even if it was a trap, there was no helping it. The time I could endure even with the incarnation body the God of Faith repaired was not long. Running around now looking for some other “main scenario” would be a waste of time.

One way or another, I had to find a way to get into that hall.

“Is there a way for an Exile to go inside?”

At my question, the doorkeepers looked at each other awkwardly, then replied in a slightly sharp tone.

“If there is a constellation who will vouch for your identity, it’s possible.”

A constellation?

Judging by their faces, they clearly thought there was no way a constellation would vouch for an Exile like me.

A constellation’s guarantee, huh.

I lifted my gaze to the pale sky and tried to think of constellations who might help me. Some epithets came to mind, but I wasn’t sure they were watching me after I’d been expelled from the scenario.

Besides, most of those stars up there were in a state of hostility toward me. If they learned I was here, there would be more of them who would descend to kill me by any means necessary than would vouch for me.

But I couldn’t delay any longer.

Whether I used [Agitation] or pulled some other trick, I had to enter that hall.

Just as I firmed my resolve and was about to activate [Agitation]—

“Those people are—”

The entrance to the hall stirred. A crowd of martial artists had just begun to enter. From the look of it, they were martial artists from the Nine Schools and One Sect.

“This expedition should be interesting.”

“Could ‘he’ be joining the sortie?”

“Ho, settling a past score, is it. Well, it’s a chance to restore the prestige of a fallen sect.”

I watched the martial artists entering in resplendent robes. Judging by their attire, they looked like masters of the orthodox sects.

“It’s Shaolin!”

“Wudang is here too!”

Shaolin, Huashan, Wudang…… one by one, masters from sects I’d only heard about in rumors were entering the hall.

But at the end of the line, there was a man in a familiar sort of garb.

At first I didn’t recognize who he was. But after looking once, twice, three times, I had a vague idea.

The face was different, but it was unmistakable.

Above all, the fable inside me was testifying to who he was.

Right then, a middle-aged man who recognized me widened his eyes and opened his mouth.

“You are…….”

There he was.

In this desolate “First Murim,” the one and only star who could vouch for my identity.

*

[You have entered a new ‘main scenario’ area.]
[The ‘Exile penalty’ is removed.]
[A new ‘main scenario’ has arrived!]

At last, the air of a “scenario” had returned.

Feeling the crisp breath of the story, I was moved all over again. This was the feeling of being alive—the sensation of clearly setting my feet down and living inside a story.

I wanted to check the contents of the scenario at once, but first I had to express my thanks.

“Thank you very much.”

The tall middle-aged man waved his hand and wore a genial smile. The fable inside me reacted again.

[The fable, ‘Tenacious Murim Master,’ trembles with joy.]

Sensing the fable, the middle-aged man nodded as if I was praiseworthy.

“So you finally listen to what it says.”

“I received a lot of help.”

“Tenacious Murim Master” had once been this middle-aged man’s fable.

“It’s the first time we’ve met since Seoul Station.”

He was the former representative of Seoul Station and the constellation, the “Last Ark” of the Beggars’ Sect.

The Dragon-Head Ark, “Cheon Gae.”

[The constellation, ‘the Last Ark,’ shows delight toward you.]

What had happened at Seoul Station flashed across my mind like a panorama.

A star who had stepped down from the constellation’s seat and wanted to start the “scenario” all over again from the beginning.

That star had appeared before my eyes, along with his incarnation body.

“You look much more vigorous.”

“Thanks to you.”

He said that, but in truth, the level I felt from Cheon Gae was not what it once had been.

It was only natural.

Back then, Cheon Gae had been caught in the aftershocks of plausibility related to the “otherworldly divinities,” and he had paid a massive price.

“Seems you’ve been through a lot too, while I wasn’t looking.”

I answered with a wry smile.

Perhaps right now, Cheon Gae and I could understand each other better than anyone. In a sense, we were both “fallen stars.”

“Have you come to participate in this scenario as well, Ark?”

“You told me, didn’t you. To keep the Beggars’ Sect’s covenant. I’ve returned to the place where I have a covenant to keep.”

Cheon Gae, once among the very top masters of the “First Murim,” had been pushed out of the rivers and lakes after successive defeats by “Paradox’s Baekcheong” and the “Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.”

“I decided to rewrite the history of my heavens starting from here. In the world where I fell and fled.”

“That’s a big resolution.”

A decision only a star who acknowledged his own failure could make. Even so, his expression was brighter than ever.

“To understand my rivals, I think I first need to know the trials they overcame.”

“So that’s why you’re participating in the ‘Horror Realm Expedition.’”

Hearing his explanation, I understood why he had no choice but to take part in this expedition.

“The Horror Realm is both the cradle and the grave of transcendent seats.”

That “Horror Realm” was the only entrance in this martial world that led to the “dark dimension.”

And the transcendent seats known to the martial world were mostly natives of that “dark dimension.”

“Paradox’s Baekcheong Kirios Lordgraim, and the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star Namgung Minyeong, too.”

“That’s right. By the way, seeing as you made it all the way here, your situation must be rather tight too.”

Apparently, Cheon Gae had an inkling why I was participating in the “Horror Realm Expedition.”

“There are many constellations supporting you, including me.”

“I’m grateful for that.”

“Of course, there are even more constellations who want to kill you.”

I replied with a bitter smile.

“I’ve heard the rumors. That you defeated all of the Twelve Branches at the ‘Recycling Center.’”

“I think that’s a bit exaggerated.”

“I also heard that with nothing but your three-inch tongue you summoned otherworldly divinities and started a massive brawl with the constellations.”

Those “otherworldly divinities” were probably the <Kim Dokja Company> story.

But they hadn’t come because I called them—they just showed up.

“I also heard you punched a bunch of holes in the bellies of those stars obsessed with you.”

That wasn’t me either—that was the Stabbing Monster, Teacher Jaehwan……

“And that you made common cause with a naked man who shouts of destruction……”

Well, we did travel together, but……

“When I heard that after summoning archangels and demon kings you tried to recreate the ‘Holy Demon Great War’ and annihilate <Star Stream>…… I was truly shocked.”

Somehow the rumors were spreading in a strange way.