The tremor was so faint, he almost missed it. Had he not stood still and focused intently, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
A ripple—barely visible—drew Cha Eui-sung’s gaze upward, his head lifting slowly.
His eyes wandered along a patch of space that felt subtly misaligned, off in a way he couldn’t quite explain, until they stopped at a spot near a small tree at the far edge of the clearing.
So there really is a dungeon here…
Nothing visible confirmed it. Even the wave that guided him was vague at best, barely more than a passing sensation.
He wondered if his brain had tricked him, so desperate to find the dungeon Moon Tae-young had hidden that it had simply fabricated the signs.
But according to his senses—enhanced by his skill—there was definitely an unnatural flow lingering about three meters above ground, precisely where his eyes had landed.
A shiver ran from the crown of his head down his spine. For the first time, Cha Eui-sung could feel the pulse of a dungeon.
Holy crap.
Was this what the System had been nudging him toward all along? Was it telling him to stop questioning and just see it for himself—the true nature of the dungeon?
If his guess was correct, there had to be a Gate there. If he entered through the portal, it would lead straight into the Demon King’s private dungeon.
He’d finally found it. A surge of deep satisfaction and elation rushed through him, and without realizing it, his fingertips began to tremble.
And no wonder—just the thought that this place might be connected to an Outer God made his soul feel like it was plummeting into an abyss.
A sapphire eye, blooming like a hallucination within a waking dream.
That strange error message that had called out to him.
Hoo…
He thought of the planet hovering beneath the violet sky, and the hair on his arms stood on end as chills crawled across his skin.
Only now did he fully grasp how much effort it had taken to get here.
Countless unspoken stories had accumulated within him, piling up like sediment, with no one to tell them to.
There were so many memories from his Regression that it felt like one day his body might just swell up and explode from the pressure.
Smirking at the absurdity of the thought, Cha Eui-sung took a few long breaths, trying to calm his nerves.
For now, he’d keep this discovery to himself. Wait for the right moment. Maybe he could use it to catch Moon Tae-young off guard, seize some leverage.
Or maybe, if things got truly desperate, he could use it like a joker card—something wild and unpredictable.
Still, neither option sat quite right with him. Maybe his Savior Gauge was too full—he felt too comfortable.
Just as he was turning to leave the clearing, still mulling it over—
Zzzr…
A sudden, inexplicable sensation grazed his neck.
Hm?
Something didn’t feel right. The sensation was even stranger than when he’d first confirmed the dungeon’s presence.
It was as if a magnet had latched onto his body—his feet wouldn’t budge.
He scratched the back of his ear, his eyes locked, hypnotized by a dungeon he still couldn’t even see.
It just felt… wrong. A ridiculous question popped into his head, uninvited.
Should I really just leave? I finally found the dungeon, and I’m not even going to get closer?
It was absurd. His rational mind immediately pushed back.
Touching something like this recklessly could cause serious trouble. Obviously, he had to be careful.
Still…
Is this really all there is to finding the dungeon? Isn’t this going way too smoothly?
Wouldn’t that be a good thing? Why go looking for trouble? It’s not like he was the kind of person to be picky about hot or cold water.
As he argued with himself, his thoughts spiraled into a mess. Cha Eui-sung bit down on his lip, confusion spreading across his face.
He felt like his brain had gone haywire. He didn’t even understand what the hell he was thinking anymore.
But still…
Life has never gone this easy on me before.
That sharp thought stabbed straight through the center of his chest, shaking his reason to its core.
In that moment, Cha Eui-sung felt like something had flipped inside him—like he’d tipped over into another state entirely.
His vision blurred just slightly.
This is…
Something was off. Had he really located the Demon King’s hideout with just a single skill?
His life never worked out that well. Even with the last dungeon, he’d dug through mountains of research until he was sick of it, and still hadn’t found a single useful lead.
So why had this gone so easily?
Cha Eui-sung stared into empty space for a long while, then, without thinking, took a step forward.
Crunch, crunch. The sound of dried leaves underfoot.
Two steps in, his nerves screamed in alarm.
Stop now. Don’t get any closer. Run, while you still can.
It was almost like a radar-level reaction—as if he’d triggered a threat he hadn’t even sensed yet.
He’d died twice already, so his instincts for this sort of thing were razor sharp. And yet, his body kept moving forward, unfazed.
If he jumped forward just a bit more, he might actually reach the Gate.
But just as he began to shift his weight onto his toes—
Ding!
A familiar alert chime rang out from somewhere, snapping Cha Eui-sung back to himself.
The System?
Was it about to give him a heads-up? Maybe it was congratulating him for locating the Demon King’s base? After all, when he first met Moon Tae-young, the System had informed him of his identity as the Demon King.
But no message appeared before his eyes. He opened his status window just in case, but there was nothing new there either.
Did I imagine it?
He frowned at the dungeon—and then—
Ding!
The exact same sound rang out again, this time louder, leaving no doubt it was real.
As if being struck in the head, he reflexively lifted his chin—his eyes peeled away from the dungeon without even meaning to.
Rustle!
The crisp sound of leaves underfoot yanked his senses back into place.
“….”
Only then did he realize he’d been standing in front of what he suspected was the Gate—wearing a dumb, vacant expression.
…Have I lost my mind?
Every hair on his body stood on end. The deranged thoughts that had gripped him just moments ago suddenly struck him as alien, terrifying.
As soon as Cha Eui-sung stumbled backward in alarm, the clearing shuddered violently, as though someone—or something—had grown furious.
He ducked instinctively, thinking it might be an earthquake—only to see the fallen leaves eerily still.
This wasn’t the earth shaking.
Zzzzt—
As realization struck, static flickered in the air like a Gate forming, and countless messages began to ripple across the distorted space.
[!ⴛ𐠃𝍨ⵁ⁇⑄Ⱋ⑁𐄛⑁!]
[!𐁛ꡌⵁ𝍥𝍦⁇Ⱋⴇ?]
[?⑄⑀⑃⁇⑂⑂⑅⑁]
Zzzzt—zzzzz!
[!𐄝ꡌⵁ𝍨𝍨!]
[!⑄⑃Ⱅ⁇Ⱋ⑁𐠃𐀢⑀!]
[!ⴛ𐠃𐁛ꡌⵁ𝍧𝍨⑄?]
[?⑀⑄⑅⁇⑄⑂]
[!ⴇⴛ𐠃𐠂𐄝𐄜Ⱐⴐ!]
[!𐄜𐠂……]
What… is this?
A torrent of incomprehensible symbols surged through the air. They shimmered faintly in translucent script, visible yet clearly not System messages.
It didn’t feel like something meant to guide anyone.
It felt more like an exposed nerve—like a hidden layer of reality had been peeled back by mistake.
What if the shell of the world had been sheared off in the exact shape of a Gate, revealing the raw data underneath? Would it look like this?
Zzzzt—zzt…
His autonomic nerves began to shut down from the surreal overload. Cha Eui-sung stared blankly as the gibberish continued to scroll across the void.
Drool slipped from his slightly parted lips, but he didn’t even notice.
Then, amidst the gibberish—he recognized something.
-Identify!—
“Ugh!”
It was from Episode 4. When the System had tried to explain too much.
He remembered the pitch-black window that had appeared before him—only to spark and vanish as if it’d overloaded.
Yes. These were the same characters.
Expression vacant, Cha Eui-sung stared into the twitching, error-filled static. He couldn’t read the flood of alien words, but somehow, he understood what was happening.
Slowly, ever so slowly…
This felt like a battle, written in an unrenderable language.
Entities clashing endlessly, consulting something—someone—in the process.
And this conversation, without a doubt, wasn’t meant for the user.
That realization hit him on a primal level.
“Heh… hehkk…”
His insides turned to ice, and terror flared through his mind like wildfire.
As he collapsed with a helpless groan, he felt a searing gaze sweep across his body from behind.
[!⑀⑃⑄⑄⑅⁇⑁‽!]
A pitch-black window blocked his vision. A crushing weight bore down on his chest like something was trying to collapse the space inside him.
All the streaming messages around him froze.
As if… they were watching him.
Fzzat!
A spark flashed—then the black window vanished.
Ding!
Once more, the familiar System notification chimed.
At last, a proper message window slid up in front of him.
[ⴛ? Ⱋⴇ?]
Huh? You’re not supposed to see this.
Zzzzt—zzzz…
Did you see that?
FWOOOM!
The letters surrounding him exploded in a single burst. The unsettling distortion in the air vanished all at once.
When he came to, Cha Eui-sung found himself seated in the empty clearing—as if he’d just woken from a dream.
“Haaah… haaaah…”
He exhaled raggedly. His own breath sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else.
His body trembled uncontrollably. His head felt like it was burning; his eyes felt like they were being gouged out.
Even though the strange phenomenon had ended, the suffocating pressure remained.
Hunched over, Cha Eui-sung wiped away a stream of blood trickling from his nose.
“……”
His mind was blank. He didn’t want to recall what he’d seen—what had happened. He was just lying there, consumed by that indescribable sensation.
―Ding-dong! Doodle-doot-doot!
Just then. An incongruously cheerful and chirpy melody rang through his ears.
―Ba-bam! Bababababam!
An over-the-top fanfare blared out after a brief delay.
Episode 4.5. Oh No, ░░—Wait, Is This a Call? A Telegram Mishap!
The Outer God has only one available proxy it can make contact through! And yet, despite the Demon King being alive and well, the intruder just won’t stop obsessing over someone else’s Hero…
Once again, the Outer God has lashed out in protest over the reward granted to the Hero!
In response, Dimension ░░ scrambled to ░░░ ░░ and sealed off the ░░ violation ░░.
The kingdom has urgently moved to block further access and filed the Outer God’s breach of contract with ░░ for immediate ░░░ review.
❤️