[This person is currently in a region where connection is impossible.]

I blinked stupidly. A region where connection is impossible?

[There are unread messages left in ‘Midday Rendezvous’.]

The fact that there were unread messages left meant that the function of ‘Midday Rendezvous’ was still being maintained normally. Which meant, Yoo Joonghyuk was paying coins to maintain this connection in my place.

That’s kind of touching?

[There are ??? missed messages.]
[The current usage fee for ‘Midday Rendezvous’ is partially overdue.]

Huh?

[The current usage fee is overdue by 32 days.]
[To check missed messages, pay the overdue usage fee.]

No, this bastard, he didn’t pay it all?

I hesitated for a moment, then paid the fee. It wasn’t years’ worth, it was only 32 days overdue, so this much was worth paying. More than anything, there might be an important message.

[Payment of the overdue fees is complete.]

I immediately checked the messages.

[The message is damaged and cannot be read.]

I didn’t know why, but the damage state of the message was severe. Come to think of it, something similar had happened even in the main story. What did Kim Dokja do back then?

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ activates!]

Right. In the main story, Kim Dokja borrowed the power of [Fourth Wall] to decode damaged messages. Then should I use the same method?

[Someone in ‘Fourth Wall’ says they can interpret the message.]

If it was someone in [Fourth Wall], then it was probably the ‘Demon King of Salvation’. Or the ‘King of Terror’? Or maybe the little Kim Dokjas?

Either way, it didn’t matter. Right now, figuring out the message content came first.

‘Interpret it.’

The moment I answered, I felt [Fourth Wall] squirm. And a little later, the interpreted message rose on the smartphone screen.

「S t u p i d i d i o t .」

That was the first message.

「S t u p i d i d i o t .」

Again?

Well, sure. If it was Yoo Joonghyuk, that could happen. We’d parted like that in the apocalypse region, so he might have been mad at me.

「S t u p i d i d i o t .」

I stared at the screen for a moment. This feels like someone is interpreting it maliciously on purpose. If you think about it, wasn’t Kim Dokja’s kind a master of ‘misunderstanding Yoo Joonghyuk’ from a long time ago?

I kept reading the interpreted messages.

「A r e y o u a l i v e ? ?」

「I a m ? n o w ? G e u m ? o W o n’ s」

「Y o u r ? n a m e ? i s」

Unfortunately, the restored messages made it impossible to properly confirm the content.

Among them, the one that was at least somewhat intact was…

「N e b u l a W a r」

The nebulae went to war?

Is that what it meant?

「? ? c o i n ? ?」

This sounded like there was something related to coins. Could it be connected to that thing called ‘D-Coins’?

「B e c a r e f u l o f K i m D o k j a」

That was Yoo Joonghyuk’s last message.

Be careful of Kim Dokja.

I read the messages over and over. It didn’t look like there was some clue hidden in it, like reading vertically or an anagram.

Then did it really mean to be careful?

…There’s no way.

Above all, Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn’t spend coins just to leave a message this simple.

“Benefactor. We’ve arrived.”

While I was lost in thought, the entrance of the swirling portal had already come right up close. If I went beyond that, the scenery of <First Murim> would appear.

No, <First Murim> was destroyed, so would a different scenery come out?

Namgung Myeong, who had been watching my mood for a moment, asked.

“Would it be alright if I asked you a few things before we cross the portal?”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“What stage of ‘Transcendent-type’ have you reached?”

I wondered why he was suddenly asking that, but thinking about it, Namgung Myeong thought I belonged to the ‘Transcendent Alliance’.

“Um, well… if I’m being strict, I’m not a Transcendent. I couldn’t break through Transcendent-type Stage 1.”

In ‘Ways of Survival’, a few conditions for achieving transcendence appear. For example, reaching 100 in overall stats, or ‘forgetting’ a skill whose proficiency has reached its limit…

“You haven’t achieved transcendence?”

“Yes. It just happened that way. So I got looked down on a lot.”

In fact, when I had just entered the apocalypse region, my goal was to achieve ‘transcendence’. Something like what Cheok Jun-gyeong, the Greatest Sword of Goryeo, had done—integrating a Transcendent’s incarnation body and a constellation’s soul into a single being.

As I passed through time strata, my incarnation body was refined with precision, and I did get fairly close to Transcendent-type Stage 1.

But that was all, and in the end, I couldn’t achieve transcendence.

Cheongheo, the overall commander of the Transcendent Alliance, said this to me, who couldn’t awaken the Transcendent-type.

「“Transcendence can only be achieved by forgetting what you have, but it seems you have something you must not forget.”」

Something I must not forget.

「“It might be that ‘transcendence’ alone isn’t the answer to reaching ‘after the end’. The struggle to remember everything might also be another possibility for cultivation.”」

When I relayed that story exactly as it was to the Han Sooyoung of the 1,863rd round, Han Sooyoung said this.

「“You’re Kim Dokja.”」

As if asking why I was thinking so complicatedly, Han Sooyoung clicked her tongue and added,

「“If you achieve ‘transcendence’ in your current state, your level might actually drop. You know that transcendence is a realm reached by investigating and training ‘a single tale’ for an immeasurably long time, right?”」

「“I know.”」

「“If you do that, your understanding of a single tale deepens, but your overall worldview becomes narrow. You have to become strong in a different way from the other Transcendents. In other words, a reader has a reader’s life.”」

For as long as I stayed in the 1,863rd round, I obsessed over that ‘Kim Dokja way’ together with Han Sooyoung.

Of course, Namgung Myeong, who had no way of knowing such inner secrets, wore a somewhat darkened expression.

“I see. So you’re not a Transcendent…”

“Are you disappointed?”

After thinking briefly, Namgung Myeong shook his head and smiled faintly.

“No. Rather, I think it’s fortunate.”

Rather, fortunate?

“If you were a real Transcendent, your position would have become quite awkward in ‘New Murim Earth’.”

New Murim Earth. That seemed to be the new name of <First Murim>.

“New Murim Earth doesn’t welcome Transcendents.”

It was strange.

Whether it was ‘New Murim’ or ‘Old Murim’, if that place was ‘Murim’, there was no reason to cold-shoulder Transcendents. A Transcendent could contend with low-ranking great-figure-grade constellations just by reaching Transcendent-type Stage 1.

As if knowing my question, Namgung Myeong spoke again.

“Transcendents who returned from the apocalypse region are a headache to the corporations. Transcendents who are used to the laws of ‘Old Murim’ try to destroy the system instead of adapting to ‘New Murim’.”

“I’ve been wanting to ask since earlier, but what exactly is this ‘corporation’?”

“You know about the Nine Sects and One Gang, and the Five Great Clans, right?”

“Yes. I’ve heard of them.”

The Nine Sects and One Gang, and the Five Great Clans. The Namgung Clan that Namgung Myeong belonged to was also one of the ‘Five Great Clans’.

“If the Murim of the past moved by the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans, the present-day New Murim moves by ‘corporations’.”

“So it’s like a kind of ‘sect’.”

“It’s similar, but a little different. You’ll understand when you see it for yourself…”

I felt like I could roughly guess what kind of place ‘New Murim’ was. The fact that they used the word ‘corporation’ instead of ‘sect’ made it feel like a worldview similar to the ‘modern Murim’ I once started writing and then abandoned.

“I recommend that you join a ‘corporation’ if possible. Once you enter the city, you’ll automatically be put on the screening platform, and after that, the screening officer will tell you in detail.”

I was about to ask what a screening platform even was, when the portal opened and a desolate desert appeared. In the center of the desert, a massive moving walkway had been installed.

We got onto the moving walkway.

“That city you can see far over there is ‘New Murim Earth’.”

The city’s exterior was hidden behind a grayish smog, as if it had been hit by a sandstorm, so it wasn’t clearly visible. Come to think of it, it was strange that there was a desert zone here.

A dry, devastated land. Environmental pollution in that Murim—if the Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint saw it, it would have been something to rage about.

While «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» I was clicking my tongue inwardly, people began gathering one by one through other branches of the moving walkway.

Among them, I saw one person waving this way.

“Oh, Namgung Myeong. You made it back safely again.”

“Hwang Minhyeok.”

I examined the man called Hwang Minhyeok. Clothing quite different from Namgung Myeong’s. On his chest was written ‘Tamla Heavy Industries’.

Is that the name of a corporation?

Looking again, there was also something written on Namgung Myeong’s back. There was too much dust on it to read well, though.

After checking Namgung Myeong’s complexion, Hwang Minhyeok asked again.

“But where’d your team go, and why are you coming alone?”

“We met a wave.”

“A wave? Don’t tell me the team got wiped out?”

“Thirty-two died, including Divine Spear Master Eon Gisoo and the inspector.”

“Eon Gisoo, fine, but the inspector dies? You, don’t tell me—”

Toward Hwang Minhyeok, who was glaring, Namgung Myeong waved his hands.

“I didn’t kill him. The inspector tried to force an entry into the mid-region, and died and collapsed.”

“Hmph. You don’t need to make excuses to me. The audit team will figure out the detailed circumstances. By the way, who is the incarnation behind you?”

“Ah, this person is…”

Before Namgung Myeong could finish introducing me, the moving walkway’s speed began to slow.

[Soon, you will enter ‘New Murim Earth’!]
[You have entered a new scenario region!]

At the same time, I saw my body turn semi-transparent.

Namgung Myeong urgently shouted toward me.

“Benefactor, I’ll see you again later. And please remember! At the screening platform, you must choose a corporation! If you don’t choose…!”

Namgung Myeong’s figure disappeared, and I began to be transmitted somewhere. From the feel of it, it seemed like I was about to be summoned to that place called the ‘screening platform’ starting now.

In the dazzling scenery flowing past at high speed, there was a message rising before my eyes like a subway advertisement.

[Tamla Heavy Industries.]
—With the bones of forgotten gods, forging a new world.

Tamla Heavy Industries. The name that had been written on the back of that guy called ‘Hwang Minhyeok’ earlier. So that was indeed a corporation name.

The advertisement kept appearing.

[Scripture Biotech.]
—A living scripture, rewriting humans.

It seemed like the first was the corporation’s name, and the second was a slogan.

[Hundred-Demon Heritage.]
—Industrializing the uncanny, arming tradition.

Namgung Myeong’s words about choosing an affiliated corporation began to make sense little by little.

Is it like choosing a backer?

It seemed this ‘scenario region’ was a system where you join one ‘corporation’ and proceed.

In the end, to enter this region, it meant you had to choose one of these corporations.

[Olympos Technology.]
[Black Cloud Foundation.]

…

But watching the corporation names pass by, they all looked like predatory corporations.

Olympos Technology? If I entered a place like that, I felt like they’d strip me of all my tales and make me live as a slave terminal incarnation for 200 years.

Maybe each corporation had different ad time, because the corporations in the back skimmed by quickly in a form that only introduced the name.

It was then.

…Huh?

That corporation skimmed by ‘very quickly’.

But I definitely saw it clearly. That ‘corporation’ was, without a doubt—

—Only we know the end of this world.

It was a company I knew very well.