The ‘Horror Realm’ entrance I was aiming for was on the side of the ‘Great Hole’ where the outer god shark head (a name I gave it) had appeared.

【YouTroutHereGoldTeethYouTroutHereGoldTeethYouTroutHereGoldTeethYouTroutHereGoldTeethYouTroutHereGoldTeethYouTroutHereGoldTeeth】

The outer god’s head, having found me, began to vibrate unpleasantly. I didn’t realize it when I was hiding behind Teacher Jaehwan, but seeing an existence like this up close honestly made me feel like I was going to lose my mind.

Even so, I didn’t think I was going to die. Was it because tagging along with Teacher Jaehwan had made my guts swell up?

Or else,

[The fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name,’ reacts to your actions.]

[The fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name,’ begins its story as if displeased.]

Was it because this was ‘something Kim Dokja would do’?

Fierce blood flowed through the veins of my whole body, and courage I’d never had before welled up.

[The fable, ‘Demon King of Salvation,’ nods.]

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to die like Kim Dokja.

“I’m not dying, you bastard!”

[The fable, ‘Demon King of Salvation,’ tilts its head.]

Fangs poured out from inside the shark head’s mouth. The fangs that spilled out became Shark-Fang Soldiers in midair and rushed at me.

I swung the ‘Blade of Conviction’ at them. Like Kim Dokja once did, in the way he taught me, following the sword strike he had swung, I drew a stroke through the air.

Crunch!

The Shark-Fang Soldiers shattered.

Honestly, even if killing the outer god ‘shark head’ would be hard, wiping out these underling ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) bastards was something even I could do.

I’m one of the ‘Kim Dokjas,’ after all. Even if I still can’t manifest the full stature of the complete ‘Demon King of Salvation,’ I can use power comparable to a ‘Great Person–grade Constellation.’

Maybe the outer god noticed that, too, because it twisted its enormous maw.

Kududeuk.

Its mouth opened, and it began to slowly block the crack leading into the Horror Realm. By the time I realized it, its dense fangs were plugging every inch of the crack in the hole.

There was only one way.

I had to punch through.

Should I use [Bookmark]? But there’s a limit to who I can summon.

Who would I have to call to pierce that bastard’s maw and take me beyond the Horror Realm?

A few characters came to mind, but I wasn’t sure. No, actually, there was one person I was sure about.

For the record, that person right now was,

“Did you say your name was Kim Dokja.”

Standing right behind me. I could feel a sharp gaze sweeping over the [Baekcheong Qi] layered over ‘Blade of Conviction.’

“Are you Kyrgios’s disciple?”

“I’m a self-proclaimed disciple. Just like that bastard.”

I grinned and looked down. Little kid Yoo Joonghyuk, somehow using [Sky Treading] with an unskilled body, was leaping up here.

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star was looking at the same scene.

“Are you going to give me the right to talk about Murim now, too?”

I don’t know what ‘Murim’ is. But just because I don’t know Murim doesn’t mean I don’t know the people living in it.

“Run! Hurry!”

“This way! Everyone—”

I saw Cheon Gae, the Dragon-Head Branch Master, bleeding as he evacuated people, and behind him, I saw the Divine Doctor tending to the wounded.

Looking at the same scene, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star opened her mouth.

“Speak.”

“I’ll say it again. I don’t really know what Murim is.”

“Are you dodging the question?”

“Someone lost their sect here, and someone saved an exile who was dying here. All of it happened in a forest with the same name. But is that forest really the same place?”

“…….”

“In truth, everyone lives in different forests, and yet the people here all call their own forest ‘Murim.’”

Without answering, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star looked down. There were trees there. Not as many as before, but trees that were clearly trying to become a forest.

“So I don’t know Murim. Maybe I’ll never know what it is. Even so, the reason I’m trying to protect Murim is.”

I added while knocking away the blade of a Shark-Fang Soldier flying in.

“Because there are foolish people who, like me, don’t even know what ‘Murim’ is, yet still try to protect this place.”

For a moment, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star didn’t answer. It felt like she was looking at the outer god, and also looking at the people. Like she was looking at the forest, and also looking at the trees.

Maybe it felt like she wasn’t looking at anything at all, and maybe it felt like she was only looking at me.

“They are people who have nothing to do with you.”

“That’s why it’s even more of a problem. Because they’re about to die because of me.”

“Is that your chivalry?”

I hesitated. I’ve never thought about whether this is chivalry or not.

But that shark-head outer god followed my fable all the way here. So at the very least, I have an obligation to drag that bastard somewhere else.

“If even this rotten chivalry counts as chivalry, will you help me?”

At my question, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star didn’t answer. She answered with action instead.

With one step of a giant, I could feel Murim surge.

“Little star. Your chivalry is nothing but a fantasy.”

Heaven-Piercing qi was rippling from her sword.

[Pacheon Swordsmanship] is a realistic sword art.

Like stacking letters, making words, then stacking sentences again—swordsmanship made of sword lines that have been thoroughly verified, stroke by stroke.

A design created solely to tear apart the sky hung with those stars.

“So prove it yourself.”

The owner of that blueprint raised her sword to help me. Which meant that, at the very least, beyond the uncharted place I was heading toward, there was a scene she wanted to see.

“In the place where your ‘fear’ awaits.”

Just as I chose, she chose as well. To give this ‘Murim’ we agreed on at least one more chance.

“That sword was born to tear apart the sky hung with stars.”

The moment the solemn magic power of Heaven-Piercing dyed the sky like a sunset, lightning surged from her sword. The scattering sword-thunder carved up the nearby air, then shattered the outer god’s teeth and made a small hole past its cheek.

As if the wound hurt, the outer god twisted its body violently.

【There■ is no■! There■ is no■! There■ is no■! There■ is no■! There■ is no■! There■ is no■! There■ is no■! There■ is no■!】

As the head-splitting true words flooded the sky, I released my bearing with all my strength and gave the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star a final farewell.

“Thank you.”

The [Wind’s Path] I used at full power spread out before my eyes. Beyond the shattered outer god’s gums, the crack leading into the ‘Horror Realm’ was open.

From far away, Yoo Joonghyuk’s shout.

Feeling my vision distort little by little, I said.

―Don’t follow me. After just one day, your body recovers, doesn’t it.

―You bastard!

Even if Yoo Joonghyuk followed, he’d only get in the way. Yoo Joonghyuk himself knows that better than anyone. So this isn’t just for me—it’s for Yoo Joonghyuk, too.

―We’ll meet again soon.

Along with a fierce storm of air, I felt the crack suck me in.

[The connection of ‘Noon Tryst’ has been temporarily cut off.]

Soon, pitch-black darkness swallowed me.

[You have entered the ‘Horror Realm’.]

Finally.

I’m in.

In the Horror Realm.

*

The first thing that hit me the moment I entered the Horror Realm was a terrifying cold that felt like it could freeze even stray thoughts.

[‘Nameless Fear’ invades you.]

My breathing slowly began to choke off. My hands and feet trembled, and my head grew dizzy.

I realized the scenario had already begun. If I just stayed like this, I would definitely die.

But there was nothing I could do. Left, right, front, back, up, down. No matter where I looked, all I could see was pitch-black darkness. Only endless darkness. And a ‘me’ whose presence was slowly growing faint.

I started dry-heaving. Suddenly I couldn’t hear sound, and I couldn’t feel my breathing, either.

What existed there was only infinity. And. And.

【Universe】.

‘Annihilation Law’ describes this fear as follows.

“It was the cosmic terror humanity faced for the first time.”

As I already mentioned, ‘Annihilation Law’ didn’t contain detailed information about the Horror Realm.

But ‘detail’ is a somewhat relative concept.

To put it simply, in ‘Annihilation Law,’ the concept of ‘detail’ is written on the premise of “so that an ordinary human Kim Dokja can butcher an earthworm like Yoo Joonghyuk.”

So what that means is,

“In front of that great fear, what the ‘player’ who has just entered the Horror Realm must do is this.”

It means that ‘Annihilation Law’ at least contains basic mentions about the Horror Realm.

“Calmly inhale, and blink your eyes at a steady rhythm.”

I gulped down air in a panic. Once, twice, three times. As I inhaled like that, I blinked my eyes at a steady rhythm. Once, twice, three times.

Even if I couldn’t feel myself breathing, even if I couldn’t feel myself blinking, I trusted the sentence. Trusting only the sentence, I followed the instructions.

How many times did I repeat that?

At last, in the darkness, I felt my presence faintly being restored.

I exist. I exist here.

Here, I am thinking about ‘Annihilation Law.’

“Relax your eyes as if staring at something far away, and blink as if taking a photograph.”

I thought of a tiny planet blooming in the darkness. The planet where I was born. A pale blue dot. That dot is there. There are people there who think about me.

When I thought that, the fear began to fade little by little, and as the fear faded, my vision became even clearer.

As my vision became clearer, the universe I perceived began to narrow.

My world exists only as much as I see.

If I don’t exist, the world doesn’t exist either. No—maybe in places I can’t see, the world hasn’t been made yet.

At least, I believe so.

[A disaster-grade fear — ‘The universe is an infinitely expanding prison’ has been unlocked.]

[You interpreted the disaster-grade fear without issue.]

I let out a hoarse exhale. Sound returned, and I could feel my breathing.

[Interpretation Success!]

[Interpretation Suggestion: Perhaps the world is fiction newly made each time you blink.]

[The Horror Realm accepts your interpretation.]

+

[An interpretation reward is granted.]

The ‘fear’ that had been interpreted soon became a fable.

[You have obtained the fable fragment, ‘Fictionalization’.]

Holding that crude interpretation in my hands, I turned around, sweating coldly.

A faint path appeared beneath my feet, where until just now there had been nothing but pitch-black darkness.

[The ‘Main Scenario’ resumes.]

As if countless people had already traveled that road, large and small footprints were stamped black across the path.

[You have become an ‘Explorer at the Horror Realm’s Entrance’.]

I barely made it over one hump.

With this, I, too, had gained the qualifications to explore the ‘Horror Realm.’

[Additional scenario information is revealed.]

+

<Horror Realm Exploration Guidelines>

―To complete the Main Scenario, you must successfully complete the ‘Horror Realm exploration’.

―The Horror Realm is divided into the ‘Entrance Area’, ‘Mid Area’, and ‘End Area’.

―You are currently located in the Horror Realm’s ‘Entrance Area’.

―Your current exploration progress: 10%

―All ‘fears’ have interpretations. Find plausible interpretations to raise your fear exploration progress.

+

I had only interpreted one ‘fear,’ and yet my exploration progress rose by a full 10%.

To someone who doesn’t know anything, exploration might look pretty easy, but that isn’t actually the case.

The reason I could overcome the ‘first fear’ was because I already knew what that fear was.

According to the records, among the first hundred Murim people who crossed the Horror Realm, ninety-seven died immediately because they failed to overcome the first disaster-grade ‘fear.’

But it’s fine now because there’s a strategy, right?

That’s something you’d say because you don’t know the Horror Realm well.

For example, if I had to name one of the most dogshit things about the Horror Realm.

+

―Warning. One of the ‘Exploration Guidelines’ above is ‘false’.

+

It’s that here, you can’t even trust the contents of the ‘scenario.’