It was deep within the night.
Jaemin was fast asleep.
A faint frown hung on his face, barely noticeable, but enough to show something wasn't right. His body lay still, but his mind wasn't resting.
Everything around him was black.
Everywhere.
Just endless void.
But then—step by step—each footfall warped the world. The blackness twisted, melted, and reshaped itself. Turning into solid stone. Sharpened edges. Cold air.
A cave.
Not just any cave. A familiar one.
Jaemin walked in further, slower now, cautious. His breath was low. Controlled.
Then he saw it.
The door.
That door.
The same metallic door he once found with Gyeongnim. The door was buried deep underground, ithe Rift, where he nearly died. The place they said he had been, "he was found" after the accident.
But why was he here again?
"Why am I here?"
He muttered.
He took a few more careful steps forward.
"And how?"
BZZZTTT!
The door lit up. The metallic surface gleamed red as a narrow beam of light shot outward, scanning from head to toe. The familiar, deadpan voice followed.
"Hold for your identity-scan…"
A few seconds passed.
Silence.
Same as last time.
Something in the registry is corrupted.
Jaemin scoffed.
"Pft."
He took a slow step backward.
THUD!
Without warning, the door began to shift.
The metal moved.
TCHUNK.
KRRRRK.
VRRRRR.
Layer upon layer of futuristic alloy began twisting. Sliding.
Opening in angles that shouldn't have existed. It unfolded like origami from another timeline.
The voice returned—Glitched, stuttering.
"Genetic identity confirmed. Entry authorised—greetings… {REDACTED}Please step inside—GLITCH—"
The red light disappeared.
The door fully opened.
Jaemin's eyes adjusted.
Inside… wasn't a chamber. It was a biome.
An enormous, elongated platform stretched into the distance, surrounded by lava. Bubbling. Burning. Alive. The heat was intense, but Jaemin couldn't feel it.
He stepped forward.
One step.
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Then another.
The walls were jagged. Blackened stone. Metallic veins pulsed faintly with energy running through them like blood vessels.
He walked.
Far down the platform, something moved.
But it was distant.
Unseen.
And all he could do was walk toward it.
As Jaemin took a few strides forward in slight shock, the biome began to ripple. The heat from the lava blurred and twisted the air until everything melted into darkness.
The stone platform vanished.
The ground beneath him warped.
Now—A land of pure violet darkness stretched infinitely in all directions. Not a single sound. No wind. No echo. No pulse. Only silence and the heavy void, as if the air itself had weight.
Eerie.
He stood there.
Alone.
Then—movement.
A figure.
A man, standing in the distance. Back turned. Long hair down to his shoulders, gently flowing in the unseen breeze. Strange sigils, glowing faint white, wrapped over his arms like shackles—or tattoos. And then—
He turned.
His eyes gleamed through the dark. A sharp violet-white light, almost familiar.
Jaemin's heart dropped.
"Is that… da—"
"HYUCK—!"
Jaemin shot up in his bed, gasping.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, one hand clutching his heart. His entire body was drenched in sweat. He whipped his head around the room, eyes wild, searching—
Nothing.
Just his apartment.
Still dark.
Still quiet.
His gaze hit the clock.
4:45 AM.
"It was a dream…"
He whispered.
He glanced at the A/C—Still running. Blasting cold air straight at him. And yet, his skin was burning with sweat.
"Why am I sweating…?"
He leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Still panting. Still shaken.
Then—
FWIUP–PING!
A blue screen blinked open in front of him.
Status:
Name: Han Jaemin
Level: 62
Status Effect: Null
Fatigue: 0 / 100
Valour Surge: 20,000 / 20,000
Title: Ascendant Arbiter
Verse: Overseer
HP: 120,000 / 130,000
XP: 87,000 / 90,000
Skillset:
1. Dash
2. Brute Strength
3. Healing
4. Super Jump
5. Flight
6. Master Swordsman
7. Dual Daggers
8. Binary Orbital Overload (Weapon Specific)
9. Phantom Grasp
10. Storm Call
11. Divine Winds
12. Thunderbolt
13. Shadow Walk
14. Wraith
15. Biome Burst (Available after reaching Lv. 65)
16. Core Override
17. Core Regeneration
He kept staring at the Title. Then the Verse.
"What does the verse even mean?"
He tapped it.
TING!
[Your Verse is linked with your Cores. With the retrieval of the Shadow Core and the ability to override dead cores, you have now gained the title "Overseer." Giving you power over them.]
"Hmm."
Jaemin hummed.
His eyes dropped.
Right below it—A locked title.
The criteria:
[Reach Level 100.]
[Gain the will of the beholder.]
Jaemin blinked.
"Who the hell is the beholder?"
"And what is he beholding?"
Nothing made sense. Why was everything suddenly getting so damn complicated?
He flicked his hand again.
FWIUP!
His rift opened—just like always. The dark grid spread across the air in front of him, scanning his aura.
TING!
[Eco Rift: A rift made out of the will of an entity. Contains tiers and valuable resources. May also contain: Genesis Registry]
His eyes widened.
"Genesis Registry…? What the hell is that now…"
Was it a skill? A relic? A person?
And what level did he need to be to even get access to that?
No answer.
Jaemin stood up. No hesitation.
Still barefoot, he changed out of his PJs, threw on a black tee and pants, tied his belt, and without wasting a second—stepped inside.
FWUIP–PING!
[You have now entered the Echo Rift.]
[Would you like to revert the rift to Original Code State?]
Jaemin stared at the prompt.
"Why is everything suddenly so complicated…"
"Yes."
The moment he spoke, the entire rift twisted.
The digital landscape trembled. It mutated.
Walls of data stripped back.
Cracks in the sky showed faint glimmers of light leaking through.
This time… the rift looked different. Smaller. More compact. Tighter corridors. Steam drifted across the floor. Shadowy platforms still floated in mid-air—but there was less of that vast emptiness.
Everything felt condensed. Focused. Personal.
And then he saw it.
Far off—at the end of the cracked path—
A faint light.
A tree.
Radiant. Glowing softly with a warm, golden hue, its roots dug into the digital void beneath it. The leaves shimmered like fireflies, light breathing with every second.
Jaemin's eyes didn't blink.
"That… wasn't there before."
His feet moved on their own.
A bright tree.
Jaemin narrowed his eyes.
"Looks like I have to get there after finishing the fight."
TING!
[New Main Quest Alert: A Gift From the Past.]
[Complete this quest by reaching Level 457 of the Rift.]
"EHEHE!!??"
His brain short-circuited for a second.
Level 457?
Was that a typo? Did the system get hacked?
He expected maybe 100. 120 if things got spicy.
But 457?
Just how long would that even take him?
He clicked his tongue.
"Tsk."
And then—
FWOOMP.
The shadows cracked. The floor rumbled. Black liquid seeped through the cracks in the digital ground.
TING!
[Abyssal Harbingers – Low Tier]
"Heh. A good warmup…"
No panic. Just that same calm voice of a hunter ready to feast.
Jaemin rolled his neck. His hands lit up with a dark-blue aura.
His Binary Stars materialised.
Even though he had newer, flashier weapons, these daggers felt like home.
Familiar. Fast. Precise. Deadly.
The blades clicked together, their edges humming with kinetic energy.
"That tree better be something good…"
WHOOSH!
He vanished—and in a breath, he reappeared in the middle of the Abyssal swarm.
Dust burst. Shadows howled. Daggers flashed.
CRACK!
One skull split.
SLASH! Two torsos carved.
BAM! An Abyssal slammed into the wall, twitching before evaporating.
His form was precise. Clean. Clinical. No wasted movement.
Like a blade dancing.
"457 floors, huh…"
He kicked off a wall, flipped mid-air, and landed a blow straight into another creature's neck.
POP.
Blood mist.
"Guess I'll start with one."
"And see how far this rabbit hole goes."
He smiled.
And kept slashing.
