The line I remember most from the description of Kyrgios Loadgraim, the Paradoxical Baekcheong, is this.

「In the beginning is a single point; the smallest is the greatest.」

There’s also this.

「The strongest small person in the world.」

Do you see what keeps repeating?

Right.

「Small.」

That was Kyrgios’s alpha and omega—his core element.

A transcendent from Peace Land, where only small people live. An existence that even overcame that complex about “smallness” and reached an especially great enlightenment.

That was the Kyrgios I knew.

Then what the hell was I supposed to call the man in front of my eyes right now?

“Disaster-grade horror…… the Paradoxical Baekcheong?”

“Cheon Inho, have you really lost your mind?”

No matter what Anna Croft said, I had no intention of taking back what I’d already said.

Because there was no way to explain that as anything other than a “horror.”

If the smallest is the greatest, then how was I supposed to interpret a Kyrgios who had gotten a little…… no, a lot bigger? Did that mean he’d become a little less great?

Of course, even if he became a little less great, our master—who was still great—was walking toward me with his uniquely lofty steps, light and gentle.

―Live long enough and you really do see all kinds of weird things.

Leaving Kim Dokja, who was running his mouth at a true master, behind, I finally faced Kyrgios, who had arrived right in front of me. For some reason, it was a moment that made me tense.

At Seoul Station, while dealing with the dragon-headed ark of the Open Faction, I had pretended to be Kyrgios’s disciple and invoked the name of the Baekcheong Sect.

Maybe, like Cheok Jun-gyeong, there was a chance Kyrgios knew me, too.

If I moved my tongue wrong even once, I’d be done for—but even so, the only thing I could play with was my damned tongue.

“The Paradoxical Baekcheong, Kyrgios Loadgraim. Is that you?”

“Who are you?”

“Yes, sir. I am……”

What do I say?

Do I say Kim Dokja, after all?

While I hesitated, Kyrgios asked again.

“How do you know that martial art?”

Come to think of it, I was still running [Baekcheong Sword Aura].

It was too late to deactivate the skill, and at this point, the only way forward was the “Kim Dokja method.”

“My greetings were late. This outsider disciple of the Baekcheong Sect greets an elder of the sect.”

Kyrgios stared down at me for a moment, then said,

“The Baekcheong Sect has already been destroyed.”

“I know. I learned under the last survivor of the Baekcheong Sect.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie.

I really had learned from someone who mastered [Baekcheong Sword Aura] as a secret manual.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Sect Leader. I always thought I’d properly greet you someday, and it’s an honor to meet you like this.”

I thought I was being reasonably polite, but Kyrgios’s reaction was strange.

When I glanced to the side, a few people who had appeared with Kyrgios were whispering among themselves.

“The First Squad captain is still popular.”

“Again with Kyrgios?”

“I told you. There are always a lot of guys trying to become that guy’s disciple.”

A lot of people trying to become his disciple?

―Oh, no.

The moment I heard Kim Dokja’s voice, a chill ran up my spine.

I was an idiot. How had I not thought of that?

―Looks like they were here too.

The readers of this world possessed different people in different places. If so, wouldn’t it be natural that there were readers who possessed people near Kyrgios, too?

“Could it be that your name is also ‘Kim Dokja’?”

I gave a bitter smile.

The one fortunate thing was that unlike the other Kim Dokjas, I had a way to prove myself.

“You are the first to have mastered [Baekcheong Sword Aura].”

Thinking about it, that was only natural.

In this world line, the only ones who had mastered [Baekcheong Sword Aura] were me and Literature Girl 64—Cha Yerim.

―Thanks to Ms. Yerim, we survived.

Hearing her name after so long made a pointless longing rise up.

Was Ms. Yerim doing well? What happened to Killer King? What about Ms. Jieun-yu or Mr. Dansu? And Gyeongsein, too……

A voice from behind cut my brief thoughts short.

“Kyrgios. That’s enough.”

There was a man walking over with his upper body bare from afar. It was Cheok Jun-gyeong, the Greatest Sword of Goryeo, who had been locked in a desperate fight with the Dream Eater until just a moment ago.

“That pale little brat is my disciple. Don’t you dare set your sights on him.”

“My disciple?”

At Kyrgios’s suspicion-filled question, Cheok Jun-gyeong thumped his own chest again.

“That’s right. He is this body’s disciple. From the look of your reaction, it seems you’ve recognized that brat’s talent too.”

“……”

“But you’re too late. He has inherited my sword forms.”

The two men’s gazes tangled subtly in the air. Just as I was thinking, what kind of farce is this now, a booming roar rang out in the distance.

Kugugugugu!

Ten transcendents were launching a joint attack around the Dream Eater.

At minimum, power on the level of “Master of the Spear” or higher.

When they gathered and unleashed their combined techniques, even that powerful Otherworldly Divinity was staggering back.

It was an unbelievable sight.

No matter how strong transcendents were, they could drive back the Dream Eater?

“Tsk tsk, that’s not how you cut.”

“……”

“Hey! Rookie from Squad Two! You have to thrust faster! Do you want to get stuck in a time stratum for another hundred years?”

“……”

“No, that’s not how you use it!”

At some point, a small old man standing right beside me was lecturing them. To me, it was just incredible martial art, but in the old man’s eyes it must have looked completely unsatisfactory.

After adding a few comments to the transcendents’ joint attack for a while, the old man suddenly turned toward me.

“Hm? Who are you?”

“Ah, I’m—”

“Are you a rookie?”

The old man’s wheezy laugh felt familiar ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ somehow.

How should I put it—like someone who had long since transcended this world’s “scenario.”

The old man swept his deep gaze over me and let out a faint admiration.

“There aren’t many rookies who made it up here alone. You’re pretty capable, kid. What’s your name?”

“Kim Dokja.”

At my words, the old man smiled with a strange, unreadable expression.

“That’s a strange name. I like guys with strange names.”

For a moment, something like longing flickered across the old man’s face as he said it.

Then, from far away, with a rumbling sound, I saw the Dream Eater retreat.

When I saw Kyrgios and Cheok Jun-gyeong standing at the center of them, my heart started pounding for no reason.

Maybe there are still a lot of stories in this world that I don’t know.

People who, in human bodies, do what even stars can’t do.

Watching them, the old man said,

“Kim Dokja. Welcome to the Transcendent Alliance.”

*

Transcendent Alliance.

“No, wait!”

Before I knew it, I’d been grabbed by the transcendents and dragged straight to the industrial complex.

That building I’d thought was Kim Dokja’s “Big House” was, unbelievably, their base.

[Disaster-grade horror, ‘Horror Ward’ has been admitted.]

They even dragged me straight into a hospital room and started transfusing me with fable packs.

Looking at Anna Croft, who was admitted right alongside me, I asked,

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“Do I look fine to you?”

“I have no idea what’s going on.”

It seemed like this was a situation even Anna Croft’s [Precognition] hadn’t shown her. It looked like she kept trying to activate [Precognition] again and again, but things weren’t going smoothly.

Maybe that was only natural.

If I was right, we were extremely close to the “Second Kim Dokja” right now.

So this is what you meant by “Big House,” Kim Dokja.

“What do you think their purpose is in capturing us?”

“Who knows. Unless they mistook us for ‘horrors’……”

Just then my smartphone buzzed, and when I checked it, the guide had been updated.

+

* A portion of this document has been modified by SVRP.
SVRP. PW ???.

Calamity-grade horror—Transcendent Alliance

An alliance of transcendents residing in the apocalypse region. An organization formed by a gathering of super-strong individuals, each comparable to a constellation.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

It is said that several especially powerful transcendents are called “captains,” and each individually possesses a danger rating corresponding to “calamity-grade.”

Head Captain, ■■■■ ■■
Captain of Squad Zero, ■■■■ ■■■.
Captain of Squad One, Kyrgios Loadgraim, the Paradoxical Baekcheong.
Captain of Squad Two, Namgung Minyeong, the Heaven-Shattering Sword Saint.
Captain of Squad Three, Cheok Jun-gyeong, the Greatest Sword of Goryeo.

……

In every regression where this organization appears, it has been observed that they were annihilated while fighting a “Great Old Existence.”

+

Reading the guide’s description, I was honestly shocked.

There were two reasons I was shocked.

One was that, in that horrible “apocalypse region,” familiar people I knew were alive.

And the other was that they would eventually be annihilated by a “Great Old Existence.”

A Great Old Existence. A few names of Otherworldly Divinities flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t figure out what kind of existence they would fight and be wiped out by.

[Disaster-grade horror, ‘Horror Ward’ effect activates.]

My eyes kept sliding shut.

[All injuries you have sustained are restored.]

So this must be the effect of this hospital room.

In my head, I heard someone screaming several times. I couldn’t tell whether it was my scream, Anna’s scream, or someone else’s.

By the time I opened my eyes again, it was already morning.

The one who greeted me was a huge man.

“Up? Disciple.”

Cheok Jun-gyeong was there, grinning and showing his teeth.

*

Following Cheok Jun-gyeong, I was given a tour of this and that around the Transcendent Alliance.

From what I could tell, the Transcendent Alliance only used the first floor of the “industrial complex.”

In an uncharacteristically kind tone, Cheok Jun-gyeong explained in detail things like the sleeping room, bathrooms, and training room.

“And starting today, you’re the youngest of Squad Three.”

“Um, Master.”

“What is it?”

“I never said I was joining the Transcendent Alliance.”

I couldn’t understand it. All that happened to me over the last full day was getting forcibly admitted to a ward.

And then the moment I got discharged, I was forcibly made a member of the Transcendent Alliance?

Maybe my reaction surprised him, because Cheok Jun-gyeong’s lips twitched slightly.

“Disciple. Didn’t you come here because you wanted to become a transcendent?”

“That part is true.”

Becoming a transcendent was the only way for me to get stronger right now.

But I hadn’t come here to become a transcendent and get myself killed. I didn’t know when a Great Old Existence would attack, but if I stayed here, it was only a matter of time before I died together with them.

“If you work hard here, you can become a transcendent. Like this body.”

“Aren’t you a constellation, Master?”

“When you’re as strong as me, that concept doesn’t matter.”

I decided to interpret the situation as positively as I could.

Either way, I had to find the “Second Kim Dokja” here, and this was one of the safer places in the apocalypse region.

A Great Old Existence is going to attack? No. Before it attacks, couldn’t I just run?

And more than anything—

“Now, that right there.”

In this place, you could use the “time stratum” that I’d only heard about.

“That’s the famous ‘time stratum.’”

Inside a space wider than a sports field, small doors were packed tightly along all four sides. In front of each door was a small monitor, and the rapidly flowing scenes on those monitors seemed like footage filmed inside the time stratum.

In one monitor, an incarnation was exploring the edge of darkness, and in another, an incarnation was falling off a bridge forever. I could even see a constellation imprisoned in the underworld’s prison, Tartarus.

Each one was writhing, repeating a different place, a different time.

I could also see the numbers attached to each monitor.

Regression 2-2. Regression 4-11. Regression 5-33. Regression 6-77……

“What are these numbers?”

“Ah, that.”

Cheok Jun-gyeong scratched his cheek and answered.

“Maybe it’s the order the time strata were created in. I don’t know the details either.”

I checked the scenes on the monitors and fell silent.

In one sense, Cheok Jun-gyeong’s guess was right, and in another sense, it wasn’t.

And only I understood what those “regressions” were.

That’s right. Those time strata were—

「All of Yoo Joonghyuk’s ‘regression’ turns.」