“This way.”

Jung Heewon and I entered the auction house together. In the auction plaza, faint remnants of sparks remained.

[The ‘Plausibility Compatibility Review’ is currently concluded.]

I remembered the last time I came in, when a ‘Plausibility Compatibility Review’ had occurred at the Recorders’ request.

“Sa, save…….”

Was there a fight here, too?

Stalls were scattered all over, and weapons and gear were strewn about.

Among the dead incarnations lying sprawled with their eyes closed, there were also incarnations lying there pretending to be dead, trying to launch an ambush.

“Keuheok.”

One assassin, cut down by Jung Heewon’s blade, died with his eyes rolling back.

“Don’t let your guard down.”

I nodded while watching Jung Heewon shake the blood off her sword.

「It’s no different from ‘Proof of Worth.’」

Maybe every ‘scenario’ was ultimately just a variation of ‘Proof of Worth.’

As long as we live inside this story, we have to prove ourselves forever, only to meet our end without proving anything at all.

And all those failures become a story.

“But why did we come here?”

“I wanted to check the value of my story once.”

We moved toward the center, picking up usable items here and there around the auction house. There was the thing I was looking for there.

「Settlement Scale」.

A device that appraised ‘components’ that came out of the apocalypse region and exchanged them for ‘D-coins.’ Since the ‘Plausibility Compatibility Review’ was over, the scale looked clean.

Leaving the confused Jung Heewon behind, I walked up to the scale. Once again, the pair of eyes that had sprouted on the scale stared at me. Meeting those eyes, I plucked a single strand of hair and placed it on top of the scale.

[The ap?pr?aisal res?ult for that com?pon?ent is? 10000 D-coins?]

The appraisal result was the same again. Jung Heewon, realizing late what I was trying to do, said.

“Dokja, right now, that.”

“Yes. Starting now, I’m going to exchange for D-coins.”

“Do you even know what that is? It’s obviously a suspicious device.”

Jung Heewon was right. I still didn’t know for sure what this ‘scale’ was connected to.

In fact, the scale-eyes that had checked my hair had been trembling ominously for a while now.

Not taking my eyes off those scale-eyes, I said.

“Right now, this is the only way.”

I immediately plucked out more hair.

“Aren’t you plucking way too much?”

A clump, ripped out at once.

Fortunately, Cheon Inho had thick hair, so pulling out a few dozen strands didn’t cause any problems.

I placed the hair directly on top of the scale.

[Appraising 255 components of the same type.]
[The tot?al of that com?pon?ent’s ap?pr?aisal res?ult is 2,550,000 D-coins?]

“We’ll have to pull out more.”

“How about just cutting it? If you do that, you’re pulling out the roots too.”

“Uh…….”

I hadn’t even thought that far.

“Turn around.”

Jung Heewon lightly smoothed my hair with one hand, then swung her chilly sword and snipped my hair off, chop chop. In an instant, the cut hair scattered through the air.

Jung Heewon nodded as if satisfied.

“Now it’s a bit cleaner.”

I gathered the hair with [Wind’s Path] and set it down on the Settlement Scale.

[Additionally appraising 1,408 components of different sizes.]

That was when faint sparks burst from the scale.

[Your actions affect your ‘Fate’.]

‘Unchanging One’ had said this.

Fates with uncertain definitions are difficult to modify, but there is a way to avoid them without modifying them.

And my plan used that sloppiness in [Fate].

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

When I first checked that [Fate], I recalled something I had said.

「“You don’t seem to know, but hair is originally precious.”」

The glittering hair began, literally, to be ‘settled.’ Tales scattering into light flowed, glug glug, into the scale’s mouth.

In the end, the # Nоvеlight # definition of ‘preciousness’ differs from person to person.

And in this <Star Stream>, the standard for that definition is grounded in the ‘tales’ a person has accumulated.

[You have lost your ‘precious thing’!]
[Your ‘Fate’ has reached a trigger for realization.]

At the same time, the Recorders’ messages rang out in the empty air.

[The ‘Horror Recorders’ who granted you ‘Fate’ suffer a major blow!]
[Some ‘Horror Recorders’ raise an objection to ‘Fate realization’!]
[The plausibility of <Star Stream> moves!]
[Your ‘Fate’ is only partially realized.]

So it ended up like this after all.

It was a pity.

Despite what I’d said in the past, ‘hair’ probably wasn’t a ‘truly precious thing’ to me.

Even so, just weakening [Fate]’s influence was enough of a result.

[Settlement is complete.]

But the moment I tried to take the D-coins placed before my eyes, I felt as if something, from beyond that distant universe inside the Settlement Scale’s mouth, was staring at me.

[Constellation, ‘Oldest Liberator,’ is looking at you.]

Startled, I lifted my head.

That just now was……

Tsutsutsutsut!

Maybe because I exchanged too many D-coins, an abnormality occurred in plausibility, and sparks swept in again.

[Some ‘Horror Recorders’ point out the plausibility of this incident.]
[The Administration Bureau does not respond to that request.]

But this region was a region where ‘Plausibility Compatibility Review’ had been completed. Another plausibility review wouldn’t begin under the same pretext anymore.

Even if a request came in, Bihyung would block it.

“There they are!”

A crowd was surging in from far away. Incarnations running in to take offerings from Jung Heewon and me.

Right in front of them, I openly procured D-coins.

[You have obtained a total of 10,040,600 D-coins.]

That was the amount in D-coins alone— if converted into actual coins, it was a scale too large to even guess at.

One by one, incarnations with eyes bulging stopped where they were.

“What…… how much is that?”

A large amount of wealth stirs up desire in people.

“No way—”

But when the scale surpasses what an ordinary human can even imagine, people feel awe rather than greed.

Not a hundred thousand, not a million, but ten million D-coins.

[Constellation, ‘First Heavenly Demon,’ is shocked by your wealth!]
[Constellation, ‘Emperor of Strength,’ shows greed for your wealth!]

Even as the constellations were shocked, the area fell into silence.

[Everyone inside the venue is temporarily overwhelmed by you.]

Even the Ascenders in the back of the mob were staring this way with blank, dazed faces.

I grinned and spoke to them.

“You came in huge numbers just to catch me.”

I summoned some of the D-coins onto my palm and lightly shook them.

“Do you want this that badly?”

I swung my arm with all my strength and scattered wealth worth 10,000 D-coins through the air. Watching the coins flutter down like snow, the incarnations gaped, blankly.

“P, pick it up!”

A few incarnations hurriedly reached their hands out toward the coins.

From atop the platform, I looked down at those incarnations and said.

“If you pick that up right now.”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Agitation Lv.???’, activates!]

“You’ll live your whole lives with your backs bent.”

The incarnations who had been reaching toward the floor hesitated and lifted their heads.

I continued, standing there as I deliberately let coins pour down and crushed them underfoot.

“You’ll never be able to escape that damn ‘coin.’”

Under [Agitation]’s influence, some incarnations’ shoulders trembled, and others lowered their heads.

And some incarnations pushed back fiercely.

“So what do you want us to do!”

“We don’t have any chance to ascend anyway! If we don’t at least gather coins—”

I nodded and took up that line.

“I know. You feel like you’re nothing.”

The Murim people who had been shouting one by one shut their mouths.

“To live in this damn city, you need a lot of coins. This world is every man for himself anyway. That’s what you’re all thinking.”

“That’s—”

“But is that really what you mean?”

A frightening silence sank over the crowd.

[Constellation, ‘First Heavenly Demon,’ listens closely to your words.]
[Constellation, ‘Emperor of Strength,’ listens closely to your words.]
[Constellation, ‘Last Ark,’ listens closely to your words.]
[Constellation, ‘Bodyguard of Jangpanpa,’ listens closely to your words.]

The incarnations, and even the stars watching the scenario live, were listening to me.

“This place isn’t the Demon Realm. It’s not Earth, and it isn’t <Asgard> or <Olympus>. This place is—”

I looked around the streets.

On the ruined streets, humans who no longer leaned on each other were standing tall.

“This place was once ‘Murim.’”

My brother named this place ‘New Murim Earth.’

“That’s before the companies showed up and cut down all the trees.”

A city born by bulldozing the forest.

A human foothold to reach the stars of an upper scenario.

“Remember why you gathered here. Was it to earn coins? Why did you choose ‘Murim’ specifically instead of another constellation’s context— was that really the reason?”

Even if not D-coins, you could gather coins anywhere.

But out of all those cities, they specifically chose ‘Murim’ and settled here.

「The incarnations who settled in Murim once dreamed similar dreams.」

A city with romance— learning martial arts, repeating cultivation, attaining enlightenment, reaching your own ultimate. That was Murim.

“So what? What do you want us to do now?”

An Ascender shouted.

“Just because you say that, what changes? This is already a city ruled by coins! A world ruled by nebulae, ruled by constellations! No matter how good you make it sound, that fact doesn’t change!”

“It can change.”

“Impossible! No human, against companies and constellations—”

That’s right. This is an impossible dream.

“Constellations, nebulae, companies. Are they really that great?”

Until just a few days ago, they were.

[Fable, ‘The One Who Witnessed the Truth of a Star,’ begins its story.]

A tale was being passed on.

A tale of a mere human breaking a star. A tale of bringing down that great <Lokapala> Agni, exposing the true nature of a star to the whole world, unfolded before our eyes.

“Ah, aaaaah—”

Someone groaned as they watched that tale.

“Huheok—”

Someone else was seized by fear.

Even so, everyone was reading the tale with eyes like they were being pulled in.

In the end, what moves people is a story. What makes them fight despair, what makes them endure at the cliff’s edge, was a story.

“Remember. You, too, had a time when you didn’t bend your back.”

Of course, I didn’t believe the incarnations would be persuaded by just this. Just like the residents of the Recycling Center, their emotion would only be a moment.

Even so, what I needed right now was that ‘moment.’

“Remember that you also had a moment when you didn’t kneel before the stars, and you didn’t despair even before overwhelming strength.”

If only I could make them recall, even for a moment, the forest they had lost.

“We already lost.”

And a voice spoke.

“What does Young Hero want us to do.”

It was a small but powerful voice, like an echo from a very old forest.

Every incarnation in the venue turned toward where the voice came from.

Surprisingly, it was the examiner who had pointed me out and run away earlier, standing there.

I looked down at the examiner for a moment, then said to the people.

“The ones who lost are you, not ‘Murim.’ So protect Murim’s ‘chivalry.’”

Chivalry. At those words, some people looked uncertain, and others cocked their heads.

Looking at them, I added.

“Protect the one who protected Murim’s chivalry to the very end, in your place.”

In that moment, everyone’s expression became similar.

At least one person, someone in this Murim who kept their own chivalry to the very end.

Everyone here knew that name.

“Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint.”

Someone murmured that, and someone else answered.

“Come to think of it, the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint is on the list too…….”

It wasn’t because of [Agitation]. Nostalgia for a very old Murim was spreading among the people like ripples.

“But even the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint lost to the constellations—”

“Back then, didn’t the constellations all gang up at once? Now one of them is gone. And we’ve got that Young Hero too.”

“If we can just rescue the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint right now…….”

Many of them had been saved by the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint. Some owed their lives, and some had attained enlightenment.

People who respected her, people who held her in awe, began to speak one by one.

“Where is the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint imprisoned?”

“Find the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint! We have to protect her!”

Then the Ascenders shouted as if to stop them.

“Everyone, get a grip! Right now you— krrrraaagh!”

Someone’s blade pierced out through the Ascender’s back.

“Find the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint!”

Jung Heewon and I pushed through the chaotic auction house and leapt up onto a nearby tall tower.

Watching the crowd in the auction house begin to move to find the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint, Jung Heewon asked.

“Do you think people really changed?”

Even then, seeing incarnations frantically picking up the D-coins the dead incarnation bodies had spilled, I answered.

“Would people change just from hearing a few words?”

You can’t change the essence of existence with just a single fable.

Existence is a collection of tales, and for a soul to change, it needs countless tales.

“They’re just getting swept up in a brief emotion and following along. Most of them are aiming for the offerings the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint has, or their goal is to steal the coins of dead incarnations and run.”

“Then why did you—”

“I wanted to give them a pretext. A pretext that they can still live as Murim people.”

If I used a stronger [Agitation], I might have been able to truly persuade them.

But the reason I ultimately didn’t was maybe because I also wanted to believe in the Murim ‘romance’ Namgung Myeong talked about.

[Constellation, ‘Emperor of Strength,’ savors Murim nostalgia.]
[Constellation, ‘First Heavenly Demon,’ reminisces about old Murim.]
[Constellation, ‘Last Ark,’ feels strong longing.]

The gazes of the constellations pouring out bright light in the sky all turned toward one place.

Checking the direction of that light from the top of the tower, Jung Heewon opened her mouth like she finally realized my intention.

“That’s what you were aiming for.”

I nodded.

I don’t really know whether there’s still ‘romance’ left in this Murim or not.

But what I did know for sure was that stars who still consume that ‘romance’ exist.

“Looks like the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint is over there.”

“It’s toward <Tamra Heavy Industries>.”

I activated [Wind’s Path] and moved there together with Jung Heewon.

As we moved, we kept running into people chanting the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s name.

“I guess there are still a lot of people who remember Master.”

“They have to.”

Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint Namgung Minyoung was the romance of this Murim itself.

The strongest Transcendent. Even with strength like that, a ruler of Murim who didn’t easily swing that strength.

“Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint! Save the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint!”

“There, that way!”

Once, Yoo Joonghyuk asked the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint something.

Even with power this strong, why don’t you rule Murim? If you stepped forward, couldn’t Murim be unified enough?

To that, the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint answered.

「“Disciple. If everyone must submit before only a single justice, then even if that were called chivalry, can you say it is right?”」

At last, we arrived at the main building of <Tamra Heavy Industries>, where the crowd had gathered.

“What is that……?”

Along with Jung Heewon’s question, a strong alarm was ringing in my head.

Leaves that completely covered the entire area, including the company’s main building. Under those leaves, the incarnation bodies that the constellations had possessed were rolling on the ground in a horrific state.

Stepping forward as if to shield Jung Heewon, I said.

“Heewon. Step back for a moment.”

Jung Heewon was glaring ahead with trembling eyes. She had probably realized what this ‘forest’ was.

「Can a single tree become a forest?」

The answer to that question was maybe right in front of my eyes now.

And for the first time, I thought about this scenario’s ‘offerings.’

The scenario must have arbitrarily measured the incarnations’ strength and assigned the number of ‘offerings.’

My number of offerings was 100. And Jung Heewon’s was 40.

And the Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint’s—

+

Heaven-Piercing Sword Saint Namgung Minyoung — 500.
+

A forest made from a single tree.

The moment I sensed the tales dwelling in that green shade, I had to accept reality.

「If a single justice becomes the ‘world’ itself, can it still be called justice?」

With a kugugugugu sound, I heard the forest in front of my eyes moving.

[An end-of-the-world-grade horror has appeared in ‘New Murim Earth’!]

The god who had protected Murim for a long time had become this world’s horror.