Cheon Inho climbed the stairs at a brisk pace.

"Wait, take me with you!"

Anna Croft snapped out of it and followed after him.

There was no one who could stop Cheon Inho right now. Not Cheok Jun-gyeong, and not even the Commander-in-Chief of the Transcendent Alliance—everyone was tacitly allowing him. At this point, the best option was to at least keep an eye on what he was going to do.

"You… what is your objective?"

Even though she knew he wouldn’t answer, Anna Croft couldn’t help asking. But unexpectedly, Cheon Inho, who had been climbing, turned back with a faint smile.

"My objective is obvious, isn’t it?"

Cheon Inho’s objective.

Anna Croft thought for a moment, then said,

"You used to hate this <Star Stream>."

A man who hated the world of the stars in a different sense than Yoo Joonghyuk did. If he had any objective in this world, there could only be one.

"Are you planning to destroy this world?"

"Something like that."

"Why does it have to be that way? You already saw the end of the scenario, didn’t you? Why are you trying to drive even this worldline to ruin?"

"It’s because I saw the end once that I made this decision."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me put it like this. ‘There are things that are protected only if this world is destroyed.’"

Things that are protected only if the world is destroyed?

Anna Croft, looking confused, tilted her head and hurried after him. How long had they climbed like that? At last, the stairs ended, and a small door leading to the upper level appeared.

Without realizing it, Anna Croft swallowed.

There was no nameplate or explanation on the door. But even without being told, it was clear where this door led.

"Beyond this door is the ‘big house’?"

She remembered what the seniors of the Transcendent Alliance had told her.

The ‘big house.’ The place where the master of this Domain of Terror resided.

"That’s right."

"Have you ever met him?"

"Strictly speaking, this is my first time too."

Cheon Inho opened the door together with Anna Croft.

[Entering the ‘big house’.]

When the door opened, a vast field spread out inside. No matter how she looked at it, it was a quiet clearing deep in the mountains—exactly the kind of place a middle or high school would use as a camping site. If a place like this was the ‘big house,’ then the meaning of the word “house” seemed like it needed to be redefined.

"Hmm. So this was the ‘big house’."

"Do you know this place?"

"I’ve read about it, at least."

Cheon Inho exaggeratedly scrunched his face like he felt sorry for it, then laughed.

"To make a place like this his ‘house’… it must be that the memory of that picnic was very precious to him."

A picnic?

Before she could even ask what he meant, a dreadful cry rang out from the sky.

Gwooooooo.

Startled, she lifted her head—and there, a gigantic headless dragon was flying by. And it wasn’t the only one. There was also a three-tailed serpent-dragon, and there were enormous babies like the ones she’d seen in the apocalypse region of the Domain of Terror.

"My God."

No matter how she looked at it, Outer Gods on the level of natural-disaster-scale terror were roaming everywhere.

But the Outer Gods didn’t show any particular hostility even when they saw them. As if they knew the two of them were guests here.

Cheon Inho, too, looked over those Outer Gods with a calm expression, then began walking.

Was it ten steps, or twenty?

A single chair appeared in the distance across the field. The chair was facing away from them.

Cheon Inho stared at the chair quietly, then muttered.

"Of all places, the ‘Absolute Throne’ is here."

"Absolute Throne?"

"That is the ‘Absolute Throne’ that appeared in Korea. What’s interesting is… ‘he’ has never sat on that chair even once."

The moment he took another step, a fierce wind blew, and someone appeared in front of them.

A black shadow wearing a threatening helmet stood there. Looking at the shadow, Cheon Inho said,

"‘At the side of the King of Terror, there is an old warrior who protects him.’ So it was exactly as I heard."

The warrior nodded and spoke.

[Go back. You cannot meet the ‘King of Terror’.]

"Is that Kim Dokja’s intention? Or is it your own judgment?"

[Either one is fine. All that matters is that it’s my job not to let someone like you into the ‘house’.]

As if saying that if they wouldn’t listen, he’d force them, the shadow slammed his enormous fists together.

Cheon Inho lightly waved a hand, as if he had no intention of fighting.

"But he must be sad."

[Because of you.]

"Since I made him sad, I have the responsibility to soothe him."

[You can’t. Get lost.]

As the warrior’s slowly raised fist was about to come down, Cheon Inho quickly said,

"I have the continuation of the story I told him."

[I’ve heard all about how long your tongue is. Too bad, but it won’t work on me. Because—]

At that moment, a vibration rippled through the entire surrounding space, as if the whole area was lurching.

[The ‘King of Terror’ permits the meeting of the incarnations who cleared the ■■-grade terror ‘Sophist of Evil’.]

The startled warrior lifted his head and muttered.

[But…….]

After hesitating for a moment, the warrior turned toward the chair with a resentful look, then lowered his fist and stepped aside.

As if he couldn’t stand the sight of them, the warrior said without even looking at Cheon Inho.

[Damn it, go.]

As they passed him, Anna Croft asked,

"Who is that?"

"Someone from another worldline."

"Another worldline…."

"A worldline where the ‘scenario’ ended. He saw the end of the scenario and surpassed the status of a constellation. Just like I did."

When she looked back, the warrior was scribbling as if recording something in the air. As if °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° an invisible wall existed there.

"Is he also a ‘Recorder of Terror’?"

"No. Not everyone who clears the scenario becomes a ‘Recorder’."

After saying that much, Cheon Inho added shortly,

"Because the story he wants is already here."

The two of them passed the warrior and walked to where the chair was.

They stood side by side with the chair and looked out at the scenery the chair was facing.

A cliff that spread out below the field.

Beneath that massive cliff, countless screens of the ‘time stratum’ were spread out. It was a view that truly deserved to be called a “spectacle” of the time stratum.

Among them, the most eye-catching screen was showing a stratum Anna Croft knew well, too.

「[To use a real life to make an elaborate fake. How could you… ah, I see. You are.]」

The screen of the ‘40th turn’ where Anna Croft had been staying until just before this.

Cheon Inho, watching that screen silently, opened his mouth.

"Do you like that fable, ‘King of Terror’?"

Anna Croft, flustered, looked around. But there was no being anywhere that looked like the ‘King of Terror’.

Just as she was about to ask Cheon Inho who he was greeting, a hallucination occurred, like the light across the whole area went out and came back on. It felt like someone had turned off every light in a house, then switched them all on at once.

When she blinked through the intense dizziness, Anna Croft faced a shocking scene.

"What is this…."

The landscape had changed.

The ground she’d thought was a field was covered in soft tentacles, and the screens on the cliff had turned into gigantic eyeballs.

With a dizzying sensation, she slowly turned her head—and Anna realized that something was sitting on the ‘chair’. Her neck wouldn’t turn properly, as if she were being pinned down by sleep paralysis.

On the chair covered in tentacles, the ‘King of Terror’ was seated.

But it wasn’t shaped like a ‘person’. What sat on the chair was a small cocoon.

A cocoon that pulsed like a small heart.

When Anna Croft stared at the cocoon, the cocoon also stared back at Anna Croft.

The cocoon spoke.

「I love things that are discarded.」

Cheon Inho answered with a smile.

"I know."

「I love stories.」

"I know that too. That’s true of all Kim Dokjas."

「I hate sad things.」

"That’s a lie. In this universe, there is no Kim Dokja who loves sadness as much as you do."

「I hate sad things.」

"If even you hate sadness, then in this universe, there will be no Kim Dokja who will love sadness for you."

「I hate sad things.」

"Sometimes, you must want to see a fun story too. Are you curious about the ‘epilogue’ of the 40th turn? There’s a fairly fun story left. If you want, I can tell you."

The cocoon didn’t answer. It was an affirmative silence.

With a faint smile toward that ‘King of Terror’, Cheon Inho continued.

"But there is one condition."

「I hate sad things.」

"You who are more accustomed to sadness than any being in this universe."

「I hate sad things.」

"I know what your greatest sadness is. You confined yourself here because you hated the fighting between brothers. Isn’t that right?"

「I……」

A new screen rose on the cliff.

「I hate sad things.」

On the screen, two men in white coats were standing.

It was a face Anna Croft knew well.

"Kim Dokja?"

At that question, the two Kim Dokjas swung their swords at each other.

「[You haven’t forgotten, have you. You’re not 51% anymore.]」

「[You’re not the 49% I knew either.]」

「And the fight began.」

Anna Croft stared blankly at that screen.

Kim Dokja’s fable, split into three branches, was scattering into the universe.

「That day, the ‘King of Terror’ was born.」

She didn’t know exactly what this story was about, but Anna Croft instinctively realized a fact.

She was witnessing the truth of this world.

And a moment later, a man’s face appeared on the screen. There was filtering over it so she couldn’t see clearly, but it was a man in a white coat.

「“Second. Please. I need your help. If we’re going to end this fight, you have to help me.”」

The next moment, the screen changed, and a landscape of a pure white snowfield appeared.

There, the man in the white coat was speaking.

「“If you truly are my ‘older brother’, then you know that helping me is the right thing to do, don’t you?”」

A dreadful ringing filled the air.

Anna Croft reflexively covered her ears and collapsed to the ground.

The world was grieving. The Domain of Terror was screaming.

Cheon Inho listened to that scream without any visible disturbance. Blood streamed from both ears, and even so, Cheon Inho opened his mouth.

"I can resolve that sadness. Because now I, too, have gained the qualifications of ‘Kim Dokja’."

「Sadness」

"You don’t have to choose anything."

「Sadness」

"The dream you should have been allowed to dream, I will dream it for you instead."

Cheon Inho stepped one step closer to the chair and added with a smile,

"If you lend me your strength, this long fight will end. In the universe I dream of, the first, the second, the third, and concepts like 49% or 51% don’t matter."

The power of [Agitation] was surging across Cheon Inho’s entire body.

"Everything in this universe will be stained with equal ‘terror’. It will become a ‘big house’ filled only with the things you loved."

The intervals of the cocoon’s pulsing were growing faster and faster.

Anna Croft wanted to shout. She wanted to tell him to stop. But her mouth wouldn’t open.

"I will turn this entire universe into the 「Domain of Terror」."

At the moment [Agitation] reached its extreme, Cheon Inho reached out a hand toward the cocoon.

But the instant Cheon Inho’s fingertips touched the surface of the cocoon, a strong spark burst—and his hand was knocked away.

The ‘King of Terror’ had rejected him.

「No.」

"Why?"

「The story hasn’t ended yet.」

Startled, Cheon Inho turned his head—and at that moment, a fierce flash-wind tore past his head.

Golden hair being finely sheared through the air.

In the distance, a man Cheon Inho knew well was standing there.

"Cheon Inho."

That distinct, heavy low voice.

The moment he heard it, Cheon Inho couldn’t help laughing.

"I see. The most important ‘epilogue’ was still left."

Another incarnation who had carried out the main task of the 40th turn’s ‘time stratum’. Like Cheon Inho, a man who had earned the qualification to face the ‘King of Terror’ was standing there, aiming a spear.

"Did you choose that spear as your reward?"

The spear that had been with him at the end of the 40th turn, the ‘Yellow Heaven Moon Halberd’, shone brightly in Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand.

"But you know it, don’t you. Now, you can’t beat me."

The grade of fable began to bloom from Cheon Inho’s entire body. His true nature—the one that had brought Cheok Jun-gyeong down and made even the captains of the Transcendent Alliance tense—was being revealed.

"Because our ‘stage’ is already a fight with a decided outcome."

[Fable. ‘Tyrant King Slayer’ begins a story.]

Cheon Inho already had a record of defeating Yoo Joonghyuk in the 40th turn. And in a clash between transcendent beings, the power of 「Dramatization」 is absolutely decisive.

Even so, Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t retreat. Rather, the more Cheon Inho’s momentum rose, the more a bright fable bloomed across Yoo Joonghyuk’s entire body.

"If I were alone, maybe."

The instant Cheon Inho’s eyes narrowed in surprise, Yoo Joonghyuk pulled out half a dumpling from his clothes and took a bite.

"Good thing I saved half."

At the same time, pure white wings burst out from Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulder.

[Fable. ‘Demon King of Salvation’ begins a story.]