Doors of the time stratum, covering the entire space and packed densely all the way up to the uppermost reaches of the sky.

I walked up to the closest door among them.

"Hey, Disciple. You can't go in. There's a guest ahead of you in there."

I stared at the door labeled [Regression 2-1]. The number in front, the "2", probably meant Yoo Joonghyuk's world regression number.

And the "1" in back was....

[The current scenario, 'Proving Your Worth', is in progress.]

A scenario number.

On the monitor hanging beside the door, a subway scene was being shown.

It was a scene I knew well.

―Kuaaaagh!

―Save me! Save me!

Inside the scenery of the First Scenario, repeating forever, a woman with cold-looking eyes was sitting.

Even without anyone telling me, I could tell. She was the "guest" of that world.

"That friend said that place fits her best."

"......"

"The stratum's difficulty itself is low, but it's the kind of place where the fatigue builds up, so it's an unusual personality."

According to Cheok Jun-gyeong, all the Transcendents entered the stratum they each chose, spent time there, repeated their training, and gained enlightenment.

Some Transcendents gained enlightenment by repeating the same action or scenario, and some raised their realm by experiencing overwhelming time.

"In my view, that friend is half-crazy. By now, she probably even forgot that she has to come back out again."

In reality, a few figures looked as if they had forgotten that they were going through a repeating scenario inside a time stratum.

For example, the Transcendent who went into [Regression 6-21] looked quite severe at a glance. Dull eyes with no strength in them, drool running down from the corner of the mouth. No matter how you looked at it, it was someone whose madness had flared up.

"If you don't keep your head on straight, you end up like that. In the end, that 'time stratum' is also a 'fable'."

"If I don't live the fable, the fable lives me."

At my answer, Cheok Jun-gyeong opened his eyes wide.

"Hooh, Disciple. You know some fairly plausible lines, too. That's something that the invincible snake who is unmatched in a single fist always said."

"Shouldn't we go save those people?"

"They won't want to be saved."

"Why not?"

"Even if it looks strange from the outside, even like that, they could be in the middle of gaining enlightenment in their own way."

Enlightenment? That? No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like they'd completely lost it.

"Who knows what's going on inside their heads."

Well, that might be true.

Even if they're drooling on the outside, on the inside, they might be leaping into a realm of powerful enlightenment.

If that was the case, then if I stuck my nose in and made a mess trying to save them, I'd just get cursed out later.

"And because the entry limit is one person, there are lots of cases where you can't go in at all. Like that stratum just now."

Looking closely, [6-21] had an entry limit of one person.

In other words, even if that person went crazy in there, it meant no one could save them.

"Going into a time stratum is all their own choice anyway. You don't need to look at them one by one and feel pity. If anything, that's an insult to them."

As I watched the Transcendent drooling in the darkness, I started to feel a little lonely.

People who threw away their entire lives for the sole purpose of becoming stronger.

What made my feelings even more complicated was the fact that the place where they threw their lives away was, of all things, this "time stratum".

Maybe all Transcendents were, in the end, a kind of Yoo Joonghyuk. Or people who wanted to become Yoo Joonghyuk.

"Can I go in too?"

"Looks like you're finally interested."

As if he'd expected it, Cheok Jun-gyeong snickered.

"But not yet. You haven't taken the 'horror compatibility' test."

"Horror compatibility?"

"As you can see, most of the people who go into a time stratum can't maintain their incarnation body. Well, there are exceptions, but. For example, it's an exception when there is an identical 'incarnation body' inside that 'stratum' too. Like that old man over there."

Where Cheok Jun-gyeong pointed was [Regression 16-59]. On the screen for that regression, a boy was shown, sitting in a lotus position inside hellfire and devoting himself to training.

I recognized who that boy was right away.

Ilgwonmujok Yoo Ho-seong.

The very person known as the master of the Paecheon Sword Saint.

In the main story, he'd been on the "Island of the Reincarnators", so in this regression, had he chosen to live in the Horror Domain?

Cheok Jun-gyeong continued.

"Anyway, depending on how high your horror compatibility is, the types of 'time strata' you can enter also change. Here, that's talent. No matter how powerful a Transcendent is, if their horror compatibility doesn't match, they can't enter."

"I see."

"The compatibility test is tomorrow. I'll tell you what you need to do then, so for today, go in and get some good rest."

I nodded, but even after Cheok Jun-gyeong left, I didn't leave right away, and I quietly looked up at the endless time strata.

I don't know why the "time stratum" came to exist. Still, there was one thing I could guess.

"Kim Dokja, you bastard...... just how much did you read?"

This world persists through Kim Dokja's "act of reading". If that's the case, then these many "time strata" could also be the results of what that Kim Dokja had "read".

For example, those abnormally fragmented memories—couldn't they be the resulting value of Kim Dokja rereading the world little by little, in the gaps between things?

Like opening up some page of a book and reading it whenever something came to mind, maybe Kim Dokja had read this world, and read it, and read it again.

Counting the number of doors with no end in sight, I thought.

Second Kim Dokja.

In this vast past of Yoo Joonghyuk, what are you looking for?

*

The next day, I took the "horror compatibility test". I didn't know why so many commander-level people had gathered for a mere rookie compatibility test, but among them, my masters were there too.

"We will see whether you have the qualifications for the Baekcheong Sect."

"That's pointless to check. Disciple! Ignore what this pretty boy parasite says!"

Kyrgios and Cheok Jun-gyeong, still bickering as always. And.

"You've come, Cheon Inho."

Anna Croft, who had been waiting at the location ahead of time, said brightly as she looked at me.

"Are you here to take that strange test, too?"

"Yeah. Well."

"What on earth are they testing?"

"......"

"If, depending on the test result, they kick us out of the Horror Domain......"

Anna Croft had betrayed her current nebula and fled all the way here. If she got driven out of the Transcendent Alliance right now, she'd have nowhere to go.

I looked at Anna for a moment, and then said this.

"Don't worry."

"How can you, in this situation......"

"You said it yourself. Your ability isn't just [Precognition]."

Certainly, compared to other named incarnations, Anna Croft was an incarnation specialized in "information warfare".

But that didn't mean she had no talent in other areas.

Anna Croft, who had been looking at me quietly, widened her eyes a little and then turned her head away.

"I didn't expect to hear that from you, but......"

I grinned.

Well, sometimes, even encouragement from a villain like me is helpful.

Seen this way, Anna Croft also has a somewhat cute side.

A little later, the general commander approached us.

"This old man is called the Despair Divine Physician."

The general commander of the Transcendent Alliance was that old man from before. In other words, the one who told me, "Welcome to the Transcendent Alliance."

Still, Despair Divine Physician....

That was a nickname I'd heard somewhere a lot.

"The test itself is simple. You just have to read the sentence that appears on the blank paper I give you."

The first to receive the paper was Anna Croft. It seemed that once the test started, a sentence would appear on that blank sheet.

From far away, Cheok Jun-gyeong waved his hand and shouted.

"Disciple, don't get too intimidated! Even reading just one word is impressive!"

"A rookie finally came in, so at least they should read one line."

"If you're a disciple of the Baekcheong Sect, you should be able to read two lines, too."

"Shut up, you pretty boy parasite."

Amid the noisy commanders, Anna's test started first.

"Ah."

Had a sentence appeared on the blank sheet?

A slight wrinkle formed between Anna's eyebrows.

The Despair Divine Physician asked.

"Can you read it?"

When Anna Croft nodded, a small stir rose among the Transcendents. It seemed that being able to read it at all was something impressive here.

Taking in a light breath, Anna Croft slowly opened her mouth.

"The sentence first written in the universe."

A clumsy pronunciation, like she was reading an unfamiliar foreign language.

Anna tilted her head a few times and then slowly finished.

"Was not the first sentence."

Then the paper shook lightly, and a dazzling ring of light flowed out and hovered above Anna's head for a moment. A brief silence passed. When Anna, burdened by the silence, slowly lifted her head, the general commander, the Despair Divine Physician, took a step closer and asked.

"Can you read the next part as well?"

Anna Croft lowered her head again and stared hard at the blank paper. One minute, two minutes. Time passed.

Soon Anna shook her head with an uncertain expression.

"No. I don't know."

"I see. You pass."

A small exclamation of admiration burst out among the Transcendents.

"That young friend is quite something."

"It's been a while since someone read the whole first sentence. When was the last time?"

"Didn't the Greatest Sword of Goryeo fail to read even a single sentence?"

"I read it too, you bastards."

It seemed that reading an entire "sentence" in the horror compatibility test was an extremely rare case.

"Reading the entire first sentence isn't easy...... at that level, you could throw her straight into even a disaster-grade horror, couldn't you?"

"Stop it. You're trying to grind up another rookie again?"

"That's how you grow, by crashing into things."

"Hey, you! Volunteer for District One!"

The one who calmed the noisy Transcendents this time, too, was the Despair Divine Physician.

"Now, now, quiet down. The test isn't over."

Then the Despair Divine Physician handed the blank paper to me.

Honestly, rather than getting nervous as I took it, I felt strangely excited.

What would be written here?

An item that didn't properly show up even in the main story, even in "Ways of Survival". Maybe this "blank paper" contained a hint about "Second Kim Dokja".

A little later, a sentence surfaced on the paper.

I stared closely at that sentence, then cautiously read the first sentence. It was the very same sentence that Anna Croft had read.

"The sentence first written in the universe was not the first sentence."

The moment I read the first sentence, a ring of light that flowed out of the paper hovered over my head.

Once again, exclamations of admiration came from around me.

"What the hell, he read it too?"

"As expected of my Disciple!"

I blankly stared down at the paper.

Anna Croft couldn't see the sentence after this.

Why? It's so clear.

"All sentences are nothing but momentary dreams, and the order of dreams is determined only by the one who dreams them."

Each time I added another sentence, the rings of light hovering above my head began to increase.

"Some dreams are short, and some dreams are long, and some dreams are deep, and some dreams are shallow. Some dreams are pitiable, and some dreams are great, and some dreams shall be sublime."

Before I knew it, the surroundings were swallowed by silence.

As if ringing that silence, I kept reading the story.

"Because all those dreams cannot become a single old dream, there shall ultimately be a place where the discarded dreams gather."

As I read, I realized little by little.

I see. This is.

"Beyond time and space, a very large house shall exist, unbound by the dokkaebis' rules. There, all dreams are free as horror. In the snowfield of an incomprehensible dream, the Great King of Horror shall smile a smile that is neither light nor darkness."

It's a story about the Horror Domain.

And.

"But because all stories have an ending, one day, those who seek to record the end of horror shall come."

A story about those who want to record that horror.

"The horror that has begun to be recorded shall return to fables again. It shall become a fixed story. It shall be written into history again."

The moment I read that far, someone muttered.

"Wait. Is it okay for him to keep reading that?"

"Disciple! Stop! If you end up reading even the last sentence—"

But it was already too late.

I couldn't take my eyes off the paper, and my mouth was functioning only to read the sentences on that paper.

"When that day comes, the boundary of sleep shall open, and the Great King of Horror shall descend. And only the one who defeats the Great King of Horror shall—"

Soon, I finally spoke the last sentence.

"At the boundary of dream and reality, he shall become the final storyteller who denies all records."

When I slowly lifted my head, I could see thirteen rings shining brightly above my head.

A legion of Transcendents, faces pale, spoke toward me.

"My god. There's someone who can read all that?"

"What the hell is that bastard's horror compatibility...."

"Damn it, Elder Cheongheo! Is that safe? If this goes wrong—"

And then, in the next moment, as if it had been waiting, a message rang out in my head.

[You have unlocked an unknown horror.]

It seemed this "paper" was also a kind of horror.

The problem was the message that followed after that.

[You have interpreted an end-of-the-world-grade horror, 'End Prophecy'.]

What grade?

[Interpretation Suggestion: Let the Horror Domain be ruined, Second Kim Dokja, open the door.]

[From now on, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the countdown of the 'apocalypse region' will begin.]