「Even if there is no forest, a tree still grows. No matter how much that tree grows, no one will call that tree a forest, though.」
—Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint Namgung Minyoung.

*

Leaving Gyeong Sein with Namgung Myeong, we ran straight across the streets of ‘New Murim Earth’.

We could see incarnations locked in bloody fights all over Cheongryong Fortress.

“There! Chase them!”

Murim people chasing an incarnation who had made it onto the ‘Offering Holders List.’

“No! It’s not me!”

“Kuaaaaargh!”

“That bastard just stole my offerings!”

‘New Murim Earth’ had truly become a living hell.

[Many stars feel exhilaration at the incarnations’ struggle.]
[Constellation, ‘First Heavenly Demon,’ shakes its head as if pathetic.]
[Constellation, ‘Emperor of Strength,’ is happy that Murim has gotten lively for the first time in a while.]

Stars that had appeared from somewhere were watching all of it.

「Even though it was already the 70s scenario, the scene in front of my eyes was no different from the subway of the first scenario.」

To live, to climb to a higher scenario, they harmed each other. They killed someone who had been a companion until just before, and killed someone who had given them a favor. They robbed someone they’d greeted with a smile, and drove a blade into the back of someone they had respected.

“Uaaaargh! Stop chasing me! Don’t come! I said don’t come!”

Among them, there was also a familiar face.

The man who had evaluated me when I first entered ‘New Murim Earth.’

If I remembered right, he was Grade 2 Examiner ‘Jeon Yeongwoo.’

[An incarnation with 5 offerings is approaching.]

He, too, seemed to be an incarnation who had made it onto the ‘Offering Holders List.’

“Kill him!”

The examiner, with an arrow stuck in his thigh, stumbled as he tried to move and then toppled over. A magic-infused arrow flew in without missing the chance.

“Hiiik!”

The examiner hurriedly ducked, protecting his head.

Kagakang!

The flying arrow was knocked away by the sword I swung. The incarnations who spotted me from afar halted, wary.

I extended a hand toward the fallen examiner and asked.

“Are you alright?”

“Y, you are……?”

I had once received a small help from him. Of course, his purpose had been to sell me off to another company, but still, he was someone who had clearly shown kindness to me when I was a newcomer.

“There! There’s a guy here with 100 offerings!”

Instead of taking my hand, the examiner pointed at me and shouted at the top of his lungs. Then he got up and, limping, began to run away.

I watched his back for a moment.

「The Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint must have been watching this kind of ‘forest’ for a long time.」

People who, to protect their own roots, didn’t hesitate to dry up and kill another tree’s roots.

And the place where the roots of those trees tangled together was Murim, ruled by the law of the strong being honored.

“Wait, 100 offerings?”

The incarnations who found me late shuffled toward me, hesitant.

“And there’s a 40-count one next to him.”

“That person is—”

Jung Heewon let out a light sigh and put on the broken skull mask.

A beat later, cries of shock spread.

“My god, it’s the Radiant Sword Emperor!”

“Huaaaargh!”

“It’s the Ascender killer!”

Before Jung Heewon could even raise her momentum, the incarnations all turned tail and ran at once.

Jung Heewon shook her head at them and added.

“Dokja, you’re the same as ever.”

“What do you mean?”

“Trusting people way too easily. From now on, look at people properly before you stick your hand out.”

Jung Heewon said, looking at my hand that was wandering through empty air.

“Not everyone in this world has value worth saving. Sometimes, when I look at you, it feels like you want to save everyone.”

Not everyone has value worth saving. I didn’t know how Jung Heewon had arrived at that answer. Still, that answer made me a little sad.

「Incarnations who proved their worth through long scenarios gathered here.」

Incarnations who proved their worth in the first scenario, and finally made it all the way to the 70th scenario.

Surely they, and we as well, struggled desperately to survive and made it here.

「What, back then, did we even prove in order to survive?」

Did we even prove anything in the first place?

And what did my brother want me to see and feel here?

Kugugugugu!

Explosions continued all around the city.

The places the booms were coming from were about five in total.

They were probably where the companies’ main buildings were.

I turned to Jung Heewon and asked.

“Do you know where the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint was imprisoned?”

“I only know it’s somewhere underground of one of the companies.”

Jung Heewon had been searching ‘New Murim Earth’ all this time to save the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint. But even Jung Heewon seemed unable to find the exact location of the imprisonment.

I recalled the list of companies that currently represented ‘New Murim Earth.’

If it was enough to imprison °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° a powerhouse like the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint, it would definitely be one of those companies.

“There were constellations that faced my master back then.”

Jung Heewon said, recalling those memories.

“Flame of Purification Agni. Almighty Sun Apollo. Terminator of War Vidar.”

Agni of <Veda> and Apollo of <Olympus>, and even Vidar of <Asgard>. Coincidentally, they were all constellations who had descended here to meet the Kim Dokja of the snowfield.

The unusual part was that <Asgard>, which Vidar belonged to, didn’t have any subcontract company here.

“Owner of Baekrokdam.”

Owner of Baekrokdam of <Tamra>. That one, too, was a bastard who had eaten the Kim Dokja of the snowfield’s tale.

Of course, not every constellation was like that.

“White Flame Dragon of Sighs.”

A constellation presumed to belong to <Black Cloud>. And—

“There was also a guy called ‘Drinking Evil Spirit.’”

Drinking Evil Spirit.

It never appeared in the main story, but if my memory was right, it was a constellation belonging to <Baekyo>.

“Then one of the groups those constellations belong to is the culprit.”

“It’s not Baekyo Heritage or the Black Cloud Foundation. I already checked those two thoroughly.”

I looked over the places where the booms were coming from, one by one.

Since the explosion zones were limited, going to each of them in order would be one way.

But right now, I had the brand of [Fate] stamped on me. If I chose the route wrong, the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint could get hit first by the Ascenders’ combined assault.

I looked up at the empty air and spoke in my mind.

‘Unchanging One. You’re listening, right?’

Unchanging One.

It was a Recorder I had met recently when entering the ‘Records Repository.’

Originally a Recorder who wrote <Veda>’s records, but now, due to a contract with me, it had become my ‘assistant Recorder.’

[Horror Recorder, ‘Unchanging One,’ responds to your call.]

As if it had been listening, it replied immediately.

I picked out a few questions I needed right now and asked.

‘Do you know who the bastards are who put [Fate] on me?’

‘Unchanging One’ seemed to hesitate for a moment, then answered in sentences in the empty air.

「Residual Light Archives.」

Residual Light Archives?

「A record group made by lower Recorders gathering together.」
「Just like the ‘Black Ledger Archive Society,’ they have participated in the Demon King of Salvation’s ‘Fate Records’ before.」

From the explanation, they seemed like bastards similar to that ‘Recorder group’ that blocked me last time.

If that was the case, there was no need to hesitate any longer.

‘I’ll rewrite [Fate] right now.’

Meeting the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint while carrying [Fate] was a risk, so I immediately manifested the Recorder’s authority. But—

Tsutsutsutsut!

The moment I tried to lay a hand on the [Fate] they had written, strong sparks wrapped around my hand.

A backlash I couldn’t even compare to when I modified [Fate] before.

It was strange.

It should be [Fate] granted by a bunch of ‘lower Recorders.’

[Horror Recorder, ‘Unchanging One,’ says it does not recommend modifying fate.]

‘Why?’

[Horror Recorder, ‘Unchanging One,’ says that fates with inaccurate definitions and weak compulsion can be difficult to modify.]

I looked over the sentence of [Fate] I had received again.

「Kim Dokja of ‘New Murim Earth’ will lose his ‘precious thing.’」

Just like ‘Unchanging One’ said, there were interpretive uncertainties in this [Fate].

「One, can it clearly specify me as the target of that [Fate]?」

People called me Kim Dokja, but in truth, this body I was possessing was not ‘Kim Dokja.’

Then was it really correct that this [Fate] was operating with me as its target?

「Two, what is the standard for ‘precious thing,’ anyway?」

[Fate] wasn’t even properly defining whether the ‘precious thing’ was a person, an object, or even something conceptual.

[Horror Recorder, ‘Unchanging One,’ says there is no need to modify this ‘Fate.’]

I understood what it meant.

A [Fate] with an uncertain definition was difficult to modify, but there was a way to avoid it without modifying it.

That was probably what ‘Unchanging One’ wanted to say.

Nodding, I asked the second question.

‘Do you also know about the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s imprisonment area?’

As if it had prepared an answer in advance, a sentence immediately floated up.

「The possibility is extremely high that he is imprisoned underground of <Olympus Technology> or <Tamra Heavy Industries>.」
「Both companies possess an underground prison that confines ‘horror.’」

<Olympus Technology> and <Tamra Heavy Industries>.

It was a shame that the location wasn’t clearly pinned down, but it was a huge gain just to have the options reduced to two.

‘Good. Stand by until I call you again.’

[Horror Recorder, ‘Unchanging One,’ receives your order.]

I quickly relayed the information I’d found out to Jung Heewon.

Jung Heewon looked surprised at how I found it out, but instead of asking about it, she said this.

“Olympus Technology is west of Cheongryong Fortress. Tamra Heavy Industries is southeast.”

Two choices. In the end, we had to pick one side first.

But unfortunately, before we chose, those who chose us first arrived.

“Is that the Radiant Sword Emperor?”

“Hit them! We’re first!”

Ascenders and incarnations from each company.

“It’s going differently than what you predicted, Namgung Myeong.”

Namgung Myeong said that Murim people who confirmed our strength would avoid us. But it seemed not everyone was like that.

“There’s no way those guys hurt Agni!”

“Even if that’s true, they’re injured. If we hit them together, there’s nothing to fear!”

Company incarnations surged in with shouts. A crowd that easily reached the hundreds— it was truly enormous.

There were probably people behind them who had incited the incarnations.

I fixed my eyes on the five Ascenders at the rear of the crowd, leading the incarnations while watching the situation.

Watching that, Jung Heewon drew her sword and said.

“Dokja, go first. I’ll follow soon. Those guys are enough for me alone.”

The moment I saw Jung Heewon’s back, the message of fate echoed in my head.

「Kim Dokja of ‘New Murim Earth’ will lose his ‘precious thing.’」

I shook my head and stood at her side.

“No. This time, we’ll move together.”

“Even if you say that—”

“I know you’re not in a state where you can fight properly yet.”

Jung Heewon was strong. But her injuries from the fight with Agni weren’t fully healed. And if the opponents were Ascenders— and that many of them— the odds weren’t good.

“That’s the same for you too.”

Jung Heewon understood my condition precisely as well. In truth, I was also not in a state where I could exert a powerful status like when I faced Agni.

‘King of Terror’ mode had already been used once, so I couldn’t use it for a while, and I could use ‘Demon King of Salvation’ mode, but I had to save it.

If I spent everything I had here, I wouldn’t be able to save the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint.

“So we have to move together.”

“What?”

“Follow me.”

I grabbed Jung Heewon’s arm and started running.

“Where are we going? This way is…….”

The direction I was running wasn’t west, where <Olympus Technology> was, nor southeast, where <Tamra Heavy Industries> was.

“Whether we go west or southeast, more incarnations than that will be waiting for us. No matter how strong we’ve become, we can’t fight all of Murim.”

“So you have a trick?”

“Why do you think they’re chasing us?”

After thinking for a moment, Jung Heewon answered.

“Because of the offerings, right?”

Offerings. The core of this ‘scenario,’ and the sacrifices needed for ascension.

I answered with a faint smile.

“The offerings we have total 140. And the offerings needed for the altar’s ritual are 30.”

“Ah……?”

“Isn’t it strange? Even if they take every offering we have, only four incarnations can ascend at best. That means not all of them can ascend.”

“Then why are those people……?”

The moment her question fell, an Ascender’s shout rang from the rear of the formation.

“I’ll pay 3,000 D-coins to whoever takes the Radiant Sword Emperor’s head first!”

At the Ascender’s declaration, the incarnations’ morale surged, and they sped up even more as they chased us.

Jung Heewon, realizing something late, opened her mouth.

“Don’t tell me—”

“That’s right.”

The ‘offerings’ given were limited, and not everyone could ascend through this main scenario.

No, in the first place, not everyone wanted ‘ascension.’ Even if you got stronger and went to an upper scenario, at best you’d still just be a dragon’s tail there.

In this city, there were also those who gave up on ascension and instead chose to become the owner of this ruined forest.

“After all the Ascenders leave, who do you think will rule this place?”

Jung Heewon answered with a hardened expression.

“The ones with the most D-coins.”

[Constellation, ‘White Flame Dragon of Sighs,’ nods.]
[Constellation, ‘Drinking Evil Spirit,’ watches your movements.]
[Constellation, ‘Almighty Sun,’ glares at you.]

I nodded, looking at the stars shining indifferently.

Jung Heewon asked again.

“Then what do we do? To stop them—”

“It’s simple. We respond the exact same way they are.”

“They’re companies. No matter how rich you are, Dokja, you can’t have more coins than them.”

Seeing the road toward the ‘auction house’ drawing near in the distance, I opened my mouth.

“Normally, that would be true.”

This city was a place made from my brother’s flesh and blood. And so, the most ‘valuable thing’ here was already decided.

“But in this ‘city,’ it’s different.”

Maybe, like Namgung Myeong said, even this Murim had reached a time when a wind of change would blow once.

However, that change would probably be a little different from what Namgung Myeong thought.