After that day, my nickname became "End". And it made sense, because starting the next day, a count began to appear above my head.

[Time Remaining: 28 days 3 hours]

No matter how I looked at it, this was that.

In 28 days and 3 hours, this "Horror Domain apocalypse region" would be destroyed.

"Hey, I heard that bastard ended the Horror Domain?"

And of all people, I was the lunatic who had pressed the destruction button.

"Is it true you unlocked an end-of-the-world-grade horror?"

"Wow, you really live long enough to see anything. That paper got fully read?"

But I'm wronged too. How was I supposed to know? I just like reading.

I only read because I'm Kim Dokja too.

"Then is that paper unusable now?"

"What reward did he get? If he interpreted it, a reward should've come out too."

A reward. Of course I got a reward.

[You have acquired a fable fragment, 'Murim Dumpling Recipe'.]

Honestly, I couldn't help thinking, is this really the reward for interpreting an "end-of-the-world-grade fable"?

Then, on the other hand, I thought it might be a precious fable fragment. As far as I knew, that recipe was supposed to have been lost now.

Later, when I meet Yoo Joonghyuk, I should give it to that bastard.

"Mr. Kim Jong-eon."

I turned around, wondering what punk had come looking to pick a fight again, and Anna Croft was standing in front of me holding two cups of coffee. It was a fresh sight.

"Yes, Ms. Kim Anna."

"It looks like you have time to spare."

Now openly picking a fight, Kim Anna handed me the coffee.

The taste of coffee in the Horror Domain was far more bitter than the coffee I knew.

Of course it would be.

This was "horror coffee". A black liquid with a bizarre setting attached, that said drinking it temporarily increased your immunity to horror.

"Yeah, I've got so much free time I feel like my head is going to burst. Is the work bearable?"

Before I knew it, it had been three days since I entered the Horror Domain. In those three days, Kim Anna, who had entered District One, had already been deployed into five "time strata".

"Yes. It was better than I expected."

She was still a rookie, so she hadn't been deployed into a time stratum alone yet, but lately, Anna Croft's performance was a topic inside this quiet "apocalypse region".

Especially because her [Precognition] had worked accurately in some time strata, among the Transcendents, the fame of the "Prophet" was flaring up again, you could say.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself. Like you finally got hired at the company you always wanted."

"That's a misunderstanding."

Anna Croft hurriedly hardened her expression and added.

"But, Cheon Inho. You still haven't been deployed to any mission."

"Me, well, that's because I'm so outstanding."

Before I even got deployed into a time stratum, I'd gone and unlocked an "end-of-the-world-grade horror", so from the Transcendents' perspective, there was no way they'd be pleased with me. If they deployed me wrong and I ended up unlocking another "end-of-the-world-grade horror", that would be a big problem.

So the reason I was stuck in the cafeteria was basically a kind of confinement. The fate of a rookie who caused an accident as soon as he joined the company.

Let me say it again, I'm wronged too.

Was it like I did it because I wanted to?

And the company I wanted to get hired at wasn't <Transcendent Alliance>, it was <Kim Dokja Company>.

"Our captain asks about you a lot."

If it was District One's captain, that would be Kyrgios Loadgraim.

"So did you tell him I'm the worst villain you know?"

I threw it out as a joke to get a laugh, but unexpectedly, Anna's reply was serious.

"I told him you're someone who keeps breaking the common sense of the 'future' that I was certain of."

For a moment, I didn't know what to say, and I just fiddled with my coffee cup. It seemed Anna Croft really was paying attention to me.

"So pull yourself together. You don't intend to let this 'apocalypse region' be destroyed like this, do you?"

I nodded.

"I don't intend that either. The problem is that there aren't enough hints about what I have to do to stop the end."

Ever since I'd entered the "Transcendent Alliance", contact with First Kim Dokja had also been cut off, so it wasn't like I could call and ask anything.

Well... it wasn't like I had absolutely no clues to interpret, either.

「When that day comes, the boundary of sleep shall open, and the Great King of Horror shall descend.」

The "Great King of Horror" the End Prophecy talked about, if my guess was right, referred to "Second Kim Dokja".

How did I know?

「In the snowfield of an incomprehensible dream, the Great King of Horror shall smile a smile that is neither light nor darkness.」

"A smile that is neither light nor darkness."

No matter how you looked at it, it was an expression pointing to "Watcher of Light and Darkness", Second Kim Dokja's epithet.

My question started here.

Then why does "Second Kim Dokja" appear in the prophecy as the "Great King of Horror"? And why does the prophecy describe his descent as an "End Prophecy"?

It was all questions.

Does the world flip upside down just from Second Kim Dokja showing up?

"Isn't it a little strange?"

I asked back in an indifferent tone.

"What's strange?"

"If that prophecy is certain, then in exactly 28 days, this 'apocalypse region' will be destroyed."

"That's right."

"That's what's strange."

"Meaning what?"

"Even though the countdown to the end has started, look at those people."

I looked toward where Kim Anna indicated. Transcendents with faces full of laughter were lining up, putting dumplings onto their plates. In a way, it was a rare sight. To think that the rulers of an entire world, people even constellations couldn't carelessly touch, were lining up to get dumplings handed out.

Cheok Jun-gyeong was even shouting in a boisterous voice, "Boss! This dumpling here is smaller than the others!"

"It seems the dumplings are good."

"Cheon Inho. Do those look like people facing the end to you?"

"Those people are Transcendents."

"Even if they're Transcendents, it's an end-of-the-world-grade horror. I asked the captain, and he said that up until now, the end-of-the-world-grade horrors that have appeared have never been properly resolved."

They'd never been resolved?

"He said the only thing you can do with an end-of-the-world-grade horror is accept it. That's why it's 'End', and why it's a horror no one can avoid."

If not some other Kyrgios but the Kyrgios who'd grown that tall said that, it felt like it had to be true.

"Then why are they laughing like that?"

At my question, the clever Ms. Kim Anna looked at me with a pathetic gaze.

"That seems like something you need to figure out."

"Why. Help me out a little."

"Even my [Precognition] can't see it. But...."

Thankfully, our Ms. Kim Anna looked like she had something in mind.

Looking at the steam rising in the cafeteria district, Kim Anna slowly opened her mouth.

"When I look at them, for some reason, it feels like they've already experienced 'destruction' once."

Listening to Anna's words, I blankly stared at the backs of the Transcendents.

Among them were Cheok Jun-gyeong, the Greatest Sword of Goryeo, even more rough than in my memories, and Kyrgios, who'd grown far too big compared to my memories.

And besides them, I could also see the general commander, the Despair Divine Physician Cheongheo, watching them from a distance, and the vice-captains of District Zero and District One standing by his side.

I stared at them for a moment, then said this.

"That's good advice."

"Yes?"

People who had already experienced "destruction" once.

Toward Anna Croft, whose eyes had turned round, I smiled like Kim Dokja and added.

"It seems I've found a lead."

*

Deep on the first floor of the industrial complex where the Transcendent Alliance was stationed, there was a "Room of the Time Strata".

The very room Cheok Jun-gyeong had guided me to the first time.

The vice-captain of District Zero, who happened to be guarding the room, greeted me.

"Rookie. You're here again."

"Yes."

"There is no 'resolution assignment' to give you today either."

"It's fine. I'm just here to look around."

In the Transcendent Alliance, there were "resolution assignments" every week.

For example, it felt like this.

「Exterminate the calamity-grade horror, 'The One Who Walks Backward', that appeared in [Regression 2-16] (incomplete).」

「Exterminate the disaster-grade horror, 'The One Who Eats Dragons', that appeared in [Regression 22-14] (currently in progress).」

「Exterminate the disaster-level natural disaster-grade horror, 'Founder of the Absolute Throne', that appeared in [Regression 124-24] (currently on hold).」

According to the Transcendents, these assignments were a kind of earthquake that occurred in the "time strata".

Otherworldly divinities, Outer Gods, or horrors that had been drifting around <Star Stream> would wander looking for a place to hide, parasitize a "time stratum", and from there, problems would begin to occur across the entire stratum.

The Transcendents of the Transcendent Alliance took on the role of managing the "time strata" by removing those strange phenomena.

―KuoOOOOO!

On the screen, Cheok Jun-gyeong was shown cutting off the head of "The One Who Eats Dragons". It was a refreshingly bold swordsmanship befitting the Greatest Sword of Goryeo.

―A bastard that drank a bellyful of dragon blood. Everyone, bring out the alcohol. Today, we're making and drinking dragon-fire liquor!

Because I belonged to District Three, I should ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ have been on that hunt together originally. But after the "end-of-the-world-grade horror" incident, I had been restricted from entering time strata, and thanks to that, all I could do was watch other strata here.

Well, it couldn't be helped. If the Transcendents said no, it wasn't like I could force my way into a stratum.

So what was it that I'd been doing over the past few days?

"Are you going to watch another recording again?"

"Yes."

"Watching that won't make you stronger."

"I just find it kind of interesting."

In this "Room of the Time Strata", it wasn't only the "time strata" currently in progress that you could watch.

In other words, you could also view incidents from "time strata" that had already been resolved.

For example, what I picked was,

「Exterminate the disaster-level natural disaster-grade horror, 'Descending Darkness', that appeared in [Regression 42-16] (complete).」

Descending Darkness. It was the name of an Outer God I didn't really know. But I knew very well who had exterminated it.

Baekcheong swordsmanship unfolding dazzlingly on the screen. As expected, no matter how many times you saw it, it was chilling skill.

"Huh? Rookie! You're watching our captain's video?"

At the noisy sound, I turned around and familiar faces were standing there.

District One's vice-captain, and the general commander—"Despair Divine Physician Cheongheo".

"Yes. It happened to be in the viewing list, so I was watching it."

At my answer, District One's vice-captain brightened and asked.

"Our captain is crazy strong, right?"

"He's insanely strong."

"The captain says your name a lot these days too. How did you even bewitch our captain?"

I looked up at the chattering boy's face. Even though he looked like a boy on the outside, District One's vice-captain was also a Transcendent who had lived a very long time.

The boy's name was Ryu-nad.

Because he always fought naked, he was called the "Naked Saint".

"You mustn't trouble the rookie, Ryu-nad."

The one who cut in was the vice-captain of District Zero, who had been guarding the room the whole time.

At that, Ryu-nad frowned and muttered.

"Uncle Carlton is only uptight with me."

"That's not true. According to Article 1, Clause 8 of the Transcendent Alliance Residency Act...."

The one whose mouth started reciting laws in a stream was Carlton Xavier.

Because of the distinctive silvery aura that shone across his entire body every time he fought, he was called "Silver Restraint".

"You're looking at a good fable."

Instead of the two of them chatting, the one who spoke to me was the old man.

The general commander of the Transcendent Alliance.

Despair Divine Physician Cheongheo.

The old man said to be stronger than anyone else inside this "Transcendent Alliance".

At first I didn't know, but now I'm starting to realize little by little. Just standing next to him made my stomach feel like it was churning.

This old man was definitely strong. So strong that maybe he could even contend with myth-grade constellations.

"Kyrgios is an excellent captain. If you use his video as reference, you'll definitely have a lot to learn."

"Honestly, it's a little unfamiliar. The Captain Kyrgios I knew wasn't that big."

"Ah, that has a bit of a story."

"What story?"

At my question, Cheongheo stared at me. As if my inner thoughts were written inside my pupils.

"So I can tell you, but did you really come here because you're curious about that?"

As expected, he wasn't an ordinary old man.

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

"No. There's something I want to ask you, General Commander."

"I thought so."

Cheongheo fell silent for a moment. I also kept silent for a moment and followed Cheongheo's gaze. We looked up at the time strata piled up into the distance for a while.

"Is the world inside those strata perhaps a different 'worldline'?"

"Once, it might have been, but now it's not. Now, that's literally a 'stratum'. A slice cut out of events that have already passed."

As if he knew what I was worried about, Cheongheo added.

"It means that even if we change something in there, actual history won't change. Well, there are occasionally special strata, but."

"It's like a novel that's already completed."

"Something like that."

What did Second Kim Dokja want to find in these countless completed worlds?

Maybe it wasn't that he wanted to find something, but that he couldn't accept that this world was completed.

So he was clinging to events that had already ended, and causing earthquakes over and over.

"I also know a completed novel already."

Thinking that, I slowly opened my mouth.

"That novel begins with a massive tower appearing in the sky. People climb the tower to survive. While climbing that tower, without even knowing that they're being reassigned as merchandise."

The moment I brought up the story, the surroundings went quiet.

In a quiet voice, I continued.

"The protagonist of that novel is a man who has been thrusting for a very long time. A human who did more thrusts than anyone else in the world, until he became thrusting itself."

Did silence have colors? The moment the word "thrusting" came out, I felt like the silence of the three people simultaneously turned into the same color.

When that color had spread enough, Ryu-nad asked.

"Rookie, you know who we are, right?"

I nodded.

As he said, in fact, I already knew who Ryu-nad was.

The Carlton standing there, and Cheongheo staring at me right now, too.

And yet the reason I hadn't greeted them like I knew them from the start was, maybe because I was afraid of something.

But now I had to accept it.

"You all are."

Characters from 『The World After the Fall』, the story Gyeonhyeong-hyung and I wrote—

"People who came from a world that has already been destroyed."

They were the comrades of "Teacher Jaehwan" whom I'd met before coming to the Horror Domain.