“Haah, goddamn it.”
Cha Eui-sung took the wheel just as the short day gave way to encroaching darkness.
He’d only meant to sleep off the buzz a little, but he hadn’t expected to completely doze off and wake up past 6 p.m.
By the time he arrived, it would be quite late. There was no urgent business pressing him, so he could’ve easily waited until morning.
Still, he forced himself to pack and hit the road. The route to Cheongseri was eerily quiet and dark.
Should’ve just stopped after a couple drinks.
Whatever had been eating at him, the booze had gone down far too easily. The more he drank, the more those tangled thoughts started to unravel, bit by bit.
He’d ended up drinking until his head throbbed. And not even alone—he’d made a complete fool of himself in front of someone.
Go Yeong-won, that bastard, had been more than happy to keep the side dishes coming via delivery, and by the time they were leaving, a couple more bottles—besides the green one they’d started with—were already empty.
At some point, Go Yeong-won had abandoned the seat across from him and sat right next to him instead. He’d claimed the air was too chilly since the heater wasn’t working and had draped his coat over him. That smug act had annoyed him so much, he’d just tossed the coat aside.
Yeah, that was a load of crap, the guy had muttered, and the ridiculousness of it all made Cha Eui-sung pause his spiraling thoughts for a moment.
Ugh, it reeks.
Just how much cologne had that man put on? Even after just brushing up against him for a bit, the scent had soaked into him.
Considering how dulled his nose must be after hours of exposure, his clothes were probably completely saturated with Go Yeong-won’s cologne by now.
Sure, by Awakened standards, it wasn’t overpowering to the point of hurting his nose, but still…
These shady bastards—always different from how they used to be.
Sniff. Cha Eui-sung twitched his nose in the car’s stale air before glancing over at the coat lying on the passenger seat. More precisely, he was thinking about The Silent Blade tucked inside it.
Yesterday, he’d checked the surrounding CCTV footage with Kim Jeong-baek’s help and stayed hyper-aware of anyone tailing him, so no one should’ve known what had gone down with Jang Myeong-tae.
He’d also had Jang Myeong-tae’s movements placed under surveillance, regularly checking whether there were any reports or contracts filed under his or his associates’ names.
When he woke up, Kim Jeong-baek had told him there hadn’t been a single suspicious move. Not even a hospital record. Which probably meant the bastard planned to hide the injury altogether.
The Silent Blade would never show up on Oh Se-dan’s radar. That thought, at least, gave him some peace of mind.
♪♬–
Cha Eui-sung let the radio music play for a while.
After a nap, the swirling mess of emotions in his head had mellowed into a gentle daze.
It was oddly comforting that he was headed for Cheongseri—not some shitty dungeon or one of Oh Se-dan’s zones.
Should I give him a heads-up?
That he was on his way down today. That he’d be arriving late tonight. If he told him now, Moon Tae-young would definitely wait for him.
He’d probably have the lights on in that half-cluttered house, sipping tea or coffee until Eui-sung walked in the door.
Cha Eui-sung imagined Moon Tae-young, draped in that purple blanket, holding a mug—and couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh.
He’d never actually seen him with that blanket, but still. It just felt right.
It was like he could already smell that familiar warmth in the air.
No… that would be nice too, but…
Cha Eui-sung tapped the corner of his mouth lightly with a finger before placing both hands calmly back on the steering wheel.
Letting him know in advance wouldn’t be a bad idea, but he kind of wanted to show up out of the blue—see the surprise on his face.
Even if Moon Tae-young greeted him with a calm “You’re back,” he wouldn’t be able to hide the joy in his voice.
He’d probably act casual, making him a cup of tea like it was nothing, subtly checking whether he was hurt anywhere, if he was feeling unwell—without saying a word about it.
Like he thought Eui-sung had come back dying of some terminal disease… that idiot.
Maybe I should milk it a little this time.
Regardless of the lingering guilt, being able to enjoy whatever rewards came his way was a skill in itself.
No matter how deep his internal conflicts ran, the mission had to be completed—and with it, the world kept turning. Whether it was for his own survival or someone else’s.
Cha Eui-sung pushed the car forward, obsessively conjuring up the image of Moon Tae-young’s warm smile.
With no traffic blocking the expressway, the wide open road felt like it was clearing his clogged-up thoughts.
For a brief moment, peace found a place in his heart.
Considering his mental state had been blown to hell twice over, peace was a rare thing—like a dry pebble on a rainy day.
He hoped this strange sense of contentment would last all the way to Cheongseri. But from experience, his peace never lasted long. It was always too short. Always incomplete.
BEEEEEEP!
Just as he passed the outskirts of Suwon, an emergency alert suddenly blared from his phone.
What the hell? He turned his eyes toward it—
—and snap.
The peaceful tune playing on the radio cut off.
A chilling silence flooded the inside of the car.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
―This is an emergency broadcast. Unstable phenomena are currently being observed simultaneously at Dungeon Gates across the country. Residents near dungeon-adjacent areas are advised to evacuate calmly to the nearest Bureau of Regulation building and follow instructions…
A chilling broadcast drifted through the radio.
When Cha Eui-sung looked out the window, he saw he wasn’t the only one hearing it—cars in the adjacent lane were gradually slowing down.
What the hell is this? What’s going on?
Was there even any incident at this time that would justify a disaster alert like this? And nationwide, at that—broadcast to both Hunters and civilians without distinction?
Cha Eui-sung bit his lip, mentally trying to recall the date.
So something’s happening again—something he hadn’t been told about. That good mood of his began to unravel.
BAAAAM! BA-BAM-BAM! BWOOOO!
“Jesus fucking Christ!”
A sudden, deafening fanfare exploded out of nowhere. Cha Eui-sung flinched hard, nearly yanking the wheel, heart pounding as he forced his eyes back to the road.
Did this damn thing even care whether he could focus enough to not crash?
In an instant, his vision flashed—shhk!—and a translucent system window unfolded right in front of his face.
Episode 5.5: Declaration of War
You’ve got to be shitting me.
It was an episode. And not just any episode—one of those damn point-fives, always appearing as a half-assed advance notice, this time with a downright ominous title…
Cha Eui-sung stared at the system window, eyes trembling without direction.
Thump.
His heart dropped like a stone.
***
Episode 5.5: Declaration of War
░░░ ░ ░░ ░░
░░ No, ░░░, no!
BEEEEEP—!
Episode 5.5: Declaration of War
At a time when the [Hero]’s achievements grow by the day, the scent of war that lingered over the Kingdom becomes grim reality. In response, the Kingdom musters every last ounce of strength to resist the invading serpent’s wrath… But in the wake of weakened surveillance, the hand of an Outer God reaches toward the quarantined [Demon King].
King: The Outer God’s proxy is, physically at least, still aligned with the Kingdom.
King: Though regulations ░░ had thus far limited interference from extra-dimensional entities…
King: Even with home field advantage, the disparity in class is simply too great to overcome!
King: The Kingdom was briefly shaken by a diversionary tactic that staked ░░░ ░ on the line, Hero!
Fzzzt. It felt like a fuse popped in his brain.
Cha Eui-sung barely managed to pull into a rest stop and slammed a hand against his aching forehead.
“Fuck, shit… goddamn it…”
His voice choked mid-curse and got stuck in his throat.
The system’s usual jumbled gibberish—its half-assed attempt at “explanation”—felt more ominous and infuriating than ever.
This episode had come out of nowhere, like a bolt from a perfectly clear sky. Cha Eui-sung was speechless.
“Jesus Christ…”
For the first time in a while, he was wide awake—like snapping out of a dream and being punched in the face by reality.
Suddenly, all of life’s trivial concerns felt meaningless. Every nerve in his body went on high alert for survival.
Despite the shock, his mind kicked into gear, spinning fast as it began breaking down the episode’s implications.
Barely a few minutes had passed before he muttered the one phrase he could piece together from the vague explanation:
Diversionary tactic…
The only thing dramatic enough for the System to drop an episode over was the Gate instability that had just triggered the disaster alert.
Could that have been the smokescreen for this so-called diversion?
If so, then the real goal of the Outer God was—
The quarantined Demon King?
Bang.
Even getting hit by a 40-ton truck would’ve hurt less.
Cha Eui-sung felt a dull, crushing impact somewhere deep in his core as he stared at the words Demon King on the screen.
The image of Moon Tae-young—so warm and vivid just moments ago—vanished like fog in the sun.
The cozy feeling that had wrapped around him completely blew away, replaced by a cold, creeping sense of dread.
Though interference from entities beyond dimensional bounds had been limited, the difference in class could not be overcome.
To sum up the System’s cryptic message: The Outer God hadn’t made a move on the Demon King until now, but that was just smoke and mirrors—there’d been a plan all along, and now everything had gone to shit.
“The Outer God—wasn’t that bastard just a puppet figure? Didn’t it not even have the authority to speak to its own proxy?”
He muttered the words like he was spitting glass, barely realizing they were out loud.
The edges of the system window glitched faintly, like it had taken a hit and hadn’t recovered.
If the System had a body, it looked like it had just come back from getting its ass handed to it. The translucent screen trembled visibly, enough to make him hesitate before saying anything more.
Then—pop!—a new message window flashed to life in front of him.
King: Any external entity capable of invading a world fundamentally possesses a level far beyond standard thresholds.
King: There isn’t a single ░░ in this universe dumb enough to start an unwinnable war based on some crude fantasy. If there were, I’d have absorbed them myself by now.
King: Ahem. I’ve handled things as best I could to prevent interference with your mission.
King: Keep filling the Gauge, as always. Even if it gets a little harder, nothing is impossible for the Hero!
For a message from a glitched-out screen, it was surprisingly well-structured. The System was clearly trying to reassure him—but that only made the whole thing feel eerily cold.
Instead of relaxing, Cha Eui-sung scanned the message carefully, raising an eyebrow.
He knew this bastard’s style by now—never outright lying, but always omitting just enough information to be dangerous.
After going through this bullshit so many times, it was only natural to wonder: What exactly was the System trying to hide now?
Mission…
The brain of a regressor who had already lived through this timeline three times wasn’t dead just yet.
Suddenly, a thought streaked across his mind.
Cha Eui-sung’s heart started pounding.
“You said the mission won’t be affected. So what about everything else that isn’t the mission?”
There was no immediate reply to the hesitant question.
It was like someone had sliced the air with a silent blade—an unnatural, stifling stillness settled around him.
“So when you say just keep filling the Gauge… do you mean as long as the mission is completed, everything else will be fine? Or are you telling me the only thing you care about is the Apocalypse and the damn Gauge?”
