Beyond the Eternity

Two days passed like a fleeting chill breeze of the night.

... Whispering, lingering, yet powerless against the relentless flow of time.

The sky remained a sullen grey, smothered by thick fog, while the moon flickered like a restless shadow. Since ancient times, the moon had always carried magic, women, and death.

Now, as it withered into a gaping void of darkness, it became a gateway to a far greater mystery.

The Abyss.

The source of all corruption. The devourer of lifelines.

Soo Jinyoung gazed at the darkened sky, her thoughts adrift in quiet solitude.

A part of her wished she could soar into the heavens, seize that cursed moon with her own hands, and flatten it into nothingness. But she only frowned, knowing the futility of such thoughts.

She had long since come to hate that moon. It was a constant reminder of every failure and mistake that haunted her past 'regenerations'.

Destroying it would bring no salvation. Not while <Link> still existed.

It was nothing more than a plot device driving the story toward the desired progression.

The true enemy lay beyond.

The god dwelling at the pinnacle of this worldview.

And it was its neck she sought to sever.

'Maybe, this time...'

Her eyes closed, sealing away the flood of painful memories. When she opened them again, the expected system message appeared.

[You have cleared the Sub Narrative 'Daily Activities'.]

[You have consistently passed the three daily requirements without failure for each day.]

[You have gained 4,000 coins as compensation.]

Soo Jinyoung swept her gaze across the vicinity.

Survivors and Walkers stood side by side, gathered at Dongdaemun-gu Station. Since they were already in Dongdaemun, rallying at the station had been easy.

Her gaze landed on a few familiar figures.

The Hanged Man, Hwang Dowon.

The Sun, Han Taeyang.

The Justice, Yoo Hyewon.

The Outcast King, Park Yewon.

Among them, only the Seoul Kings held her interest. The rest, though stronger than the average survivor, failed to capture her attention.

They were gathered here for one singular reason.

「 The announcement of the Seventh Story had appeared. 」

Kukuk!

In the once-empty space, Aurora appeared like a summoned video character, floating gracefully with her wings.

She was a fairy, roughly the size of a grown man's forearm. Dressed in an elegant black dress, her dark-pink hair was styled into playful pigtails, framing a face that radiated innocence.

If one were to compare her to something, they might call her a delicate flower, a pure and fragile lily.

But those who knew her… thought otherwise.

Because Aurora's personality was anything but delicate.

That little creature was a cruel trickster with a twisted sense of humor. Her antics had earned her only one comparison.

A Dokkaebi.

Yes, she was nothing less than a mischievous little demon in fairy's clothing.

Wearing an excited smile, Aurora curled her lips and addressed the walkers below.

[Hello, everyone~ How are you guys doing? Did you lads miss me? Haha! Just kidding! Did you enjoy the coin event? I hope you hunted some fucking monsters, otherwise, it would have been a complete waste, don't you think?]

Silence.

Nobody said anything.

The survivors stared at her with deadpan expressions.

Their faces practically screamed their thoughts: We are not impressed.

Of course, this didn't escape the cheeky fairy.

Aurora frowned. What was with those dull looks?

She narrowed her eyes.

[What the hell? You guys look awful. Did you eat something sour or what? You all have the eyes of a rotten fish.]

Then—

"Can you stop with the theatrics and announce the next Narrative? Even the constellations don't like this kind of delay."

A deep, rough voice emerged from the crowd.

The speaker was The Sun, Han Taeyang. Fierce and impatient, he had little tolerance for the fairy's antics.

Naturally, like everyone else, he had been waiting for the start of the Seventh Story for two whole months. Why would he care about small talk?

However—

[Oh? What's this? Am I boring you?]

Aurora tilted her head, but her smile did not leave her lips.

It was an eerie smile.

[I thought I'd be nice since I've been away for a while. But I don't like your voice. Should I blow up your head?]

The air grew heavy.

Han Taeyang blinked, then immediately backtracked with a fake smile.

"No, no, please continue. How could I be so rude? Of course, it's necessary to create a light atmosphere."

At the same time, he muttered under his nose.

This goddamn fairy. I'd almost forgotten how ridiculously unreasonable she is.

What he thought and what he said were two completely different things.

In the end, it was meaningless.

Even as one of Seoul's Kings, even with the power of "The Sun", he still valued his life.

Given how absurdly unpredictable the fairy was, surviving for two whole months only to have his head explode right before the Narrative even began would be a complete disaster.

The fairy was an entity that could kill without hesitation, without reason, and without a shred of morality.

Yes, this was the kind of being she was.

So of course he backtracked.

He didn't want his head to explode.

Flapping her wings, Aurora huffed, clicked her tongue, and muttered under her breath.

[Coward.]

It had been a while since she last blew up someone's head.

She cleared her throat with a theatrical cough.

[Since all of you have been waiting, I'll just get straight to the point. Geez… you boring people.]

Then, she finally passed along the information everyone had been waiting for.

[The Seventh Story will start on this day. But this time, it's different from the previous Story.]

[Unlike the Sixth Story, where only a single group could participate, multiple groups will take part in this Narrative. However, participation is limited to five groups, each consisting of five or six people. The maximum is six]

[I'll leave the selection to you, but you only have five minutes before the transfer begins, so don't— Eh? What?]

For some reason, the fairy suddenly stopped speaking.

Her expression crumpled into a frown, and her usual playful demeanor vanished in an instant. The shift was so abrupt that the survivors below instinctively tensed, and exchanged wary glances.

Aurora's lips parted slightly as if she had more to say, but no words came. Her dark-pink eyes flickered, scanning something unseen.

The silence stretched.

A creeping sense of unease settled over the crowd.

Then—

[…What the hell?]@@novelbin@@

Aurora muttered under her breath, her wings halting mid-flap.

The survivors stiffened.

A few seconds later, she dropped the bombshell.

[An emergency alteration has occurred in the requirements.]

Emergency alteration?

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Before anyone could process her words, Aurora continued.

[The number of groups allowed to participate in the narrative has been reduced from five to four.]

"What?!"

The survivors exclaimed at once.

"Didn't you just say it was five? Why is it suddenly four now?"

Aurora exhaled and rubbed her temples as if annoyed.

[It'd be easier if you saw it for yourself.]

Then, without another word, she gestured toward the sky.

A screen flickered into existence in the empty air. The image of an unfamiliar cityscape filled the display. It didn't take long for the survivors to realize what they were looking at. It was the main stage of the upcoming story.

But something was strange.

「 Hey, chuunibyou. Are you sure this is the right place? You nabbed the suspect without even checking the evidence. 」

「 Why would I need to check the evidence again? This man is obviously the killer. And quit calling me that, you damn sunfish bastard! 」

「 Tch. You guys are too noisy. 」

The screen displayed a group of five individuals.

Three men. Two women.

A young man with moppy white hair and crimson eyes, clad in a pristine white jacket. A black-haired man draped in a long black coat. A bespectacled man in a white lab coat. A woman with dyed pink hair. And another woman, so painfully plain in appearance that she almost seemed out of place.

They looked like detectives investigating a supernatural case, interrogating a suspect, piecing together a mystery.

But the real issue wasn't what they were doing.

It was who they were.

Someone finally blurted out. "What? There's already a group there?"

Aurora muttered under her breath.

[Yes. As you can see, those people somehow managed to enter the story ahead of schedule. Dammit. Is this an 'error' in the narrative? That planetary system's density should be impossible to penetrate, so how...?]

Her fingers drifted to her lips as she absentmindedly chewed the tip of her nail. It was a nervous habit that only surfaced when she was genuinely anxious.

Then, she let out a heavy sigh.

[Now, because of this, I will have to leave a single group slot empty to make everything fair.]

"You can't do that! Then who the hell is going?"

Predictably, the people who weren't even eligible were the most upset.

Amidst the growing murmurs, Soo Jinyoung stood stared at the screen. Her frown deepened as her eyes landed on the man in the black coat.

It was a stupid face that she couldn't forget even if she tried.

Sohn Jaewon.

A deep, burning emotion surged within her.

Hate.

That man... she loathed him with every fiber of her being. Even after experiencing multiple regenerations, the intensity of her hatred never wavered.

What the hell is that bastard doing there?

She had been wondering why she hadn't seen his ugly face among the survivors.

So he was already inside the story.

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But how?

He didn't have any teleportation skills. No, even if he did, it wouldn't be enough. The world boundary wasn't something that could be breached so easily.

Did he receive help from another lackey?

Her fists clenched at the thought.

This is troublesome. And that man...

Her gaze shifted to the white-haired chuunibyou. She narrowed her eyes and felt like she had seen that person before somewhere.

Wasn't he the one that with Kim Jakga at that time?

It didn't take long before she recognised him, at least, to an extent.

Wasn't his name Park Joonhyuk?

Her information about him was lacking, but that could be remedied.

Soo Jinyoung swept her gaze across the crowd in search of someone.

Seconds later, she spotted the main faces of the group known as Night Management.

Angelica Thompson. Lee Jongho. Lee Suhye. Kim Hyunwoo. Jung Yunhee. Yoo Jinsung. Yoo Rin. Kuro Kagura. Kuro Miyuki.

They were all there.

But something felt off.

She couldn't find the one person she was looking for.

In fact, apart from those who had already entered the narrative, he was the only Seoul King absent.

Her brows furrowed.

Without hesitation, Soo Jinyoung left her comfortable standing spot and approached the group.

Someone must have sensed her approach because they swung their head toward her.

Angelica Thompson.

Soon, the rest of the group took notice of her approach, and slowly turned their heads one by one.

But their expressions were strange.

They seemed to be nervous or somewhat anxious. This was evident in their body posture and the way her eyes darted around here and there.

Why were they acting like this?

Soo Jinyoung stopped in front of them, wasting no time. She asked the question that had been on her mind.

"Where is Kim Jakga?"

"Well, th-that..." Angelica hesitated with a faltering voice.

Soo Jinyoung's frown deepened. "Is something wrong? Why isn't Kim Jakga here? Doesn't he know the Seventh Story is about to start?"

"..."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the group.

Angelica averted her gaze, unable to meet Soo Jinyoung's eyes.

At the same time, the rest of the group did the same, shifting awkwardly as if they had been expecting this very question. Their expressions all carried the same hesitation and unease.

An uneasy premonition twisted in her gut. Just as she was about to demand an explanation, Angelica finally spoke.

"...Well, that's the problem. We don't know where he is."