After the dungeon cleanup was completed, Park Gil-seon finally got in touch—and her appearance was nothing short of a wreck.
Beyond the screen of the video call, the background was filled with the sounds of explosions and battle. A deafening hum, like exhaust, intermingled with human screams. Gunfire pierced through the eardrums.
Amid all that chaos, Park Gil-seon was laughing heartily, one arm missing and wrapped in bandages. Lee Myung-won recoiled in shock.
“Guildmaster!”
— Ah, these kids. You both look like you’ve seen a ghost. I’m fine. My ears might fall off from all the noise, though.
“What the—what is this… what happened…?”
— Just what you see. Some weird guy dressed in white showed up, cast something, and made the dungeon go berserk. I got like this trying to contain it. There were so many monsters spilling out that even two arms weren’t enough—and it’s a shame one got lopped off!
“Is this really the time to joke about that?!”
Lee Myung-won looked like he could faint at any moment. I wasn’t much better myself. We both knew how strong Park Gil-seon was.
She was one of the final figures who had stood against Baek Tae-beom, the antagonist in The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World. Someone who didn’t even falter in a one-on-one fight against him. And now she’d lost an arm?
Just then, a child popped up from inside Park Gil-seon’s cloak. She spoke in English, but it was easy enough to understand.
— Grandma! Who are these people?
— Grandma’s comrades.
— Whoa, hi there!
Lee Myung-won couldn’t respond for a moment. I instantly understood the situation.
‘She lost her arm saving that child.’
Park Gil-seon playfully pinched the child’s cheek and shook her gently before turning to the camera with a wide grin.
— Anyway, I’ll finish wrapping things up and get back to you.
“Wait, Guildmaster.”
I called out just as Park Gil-seon moved to end the call. Her golden eyes shifted to me.
“What about the boss monster? Was it handled?”
— Hm? Oh, it ran away.
“It ran away?”
— I didn’t catch a clear look at it, but it was some enormous serpent-like thing. It burrowed into the ground and vanished in an instant. We couldn’t track it down.
Cold sweat trickled down my neck. My face went pale. I could feel it in my gut—something had gone terribly wrong.
A massive snake-like thing?
Park Gil-seon saw my expression shift and her own face darkened, sensing that this was no ordinary matter.
No way.
“Choi Ga-hyeon-ssi?”
“…What happened to the white-clad person who made the dungeon go berserk?”
Her face stiffened as she answered.
— It was a man in white. He exploded on the spot—completely obliterated. Not even his clothes were left behind.
“Lee Myung-won-ssi, what’s Jin Ha-yoon’s GPS signal say?”
“…No response.”
I bit my lower lip. My head was spinning. I saw Gye Tae-in’s corpse being covered with a white cloth, then rubbed my face and exhaled slowly. My hands felt as cold as a corpse.
“Jörmungandr…”
I barely managed to speak the name aloud.
“Kang Si-hoo definitely woke up another one.”
***
The day of destruction in Norse mythology. The end of the world. The Twilight of the Gods. A dreadful chill and eternal darkness descend upon the earth, the dead crawl out of Hel, and the sky splits in two.
Then, the invaders arrive. Loki, now free, and his children bring about the end of the world. Jörmungandr raises a tidal wave, Naglfar is set loose, and the giants charge in.
Odin is devoured whole by Fenrir. Thor perishes in battle against Jörmungandr. Hel arrives, riding Naglfar. Unbound, Loki brings forth a legion from Hel.
Afterward, the sun turns black, the earth sinks into the sea, flames reach the sky—and even Yggdrasil, the origin of the world, burns. Everything ends in destruction.
Currently, Angrboda has undone the bindings that kept Hel and Jörmungandr in check, using Kang Si-hoo to do so. The details are unclear, but she’s leveraging that power through the children.
What Angrboda desires is the reenactment of Ragnarök. She doesn’t see herself as just a Constellation written into myth—but as a true god. That’s what drives her madness. And more Constellations are beginning to follow her lead.
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: What did you just say?]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: He just asked where Loki is right now.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Not that he’d cooperate in a mess like this.]
[CH. Private / Horseback Herald: Amazingly enough, Father Odin is currently sealing Loki himself.]
[CH. Private / Horseback Herald: This wasn’t Loki’s doing.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Goddammit! Then you’re saying this whole clusterfuck was planned solo?]
[CH. Private / Free Wind: Ga-hyeon, your language is getting rough.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: How could it not be? Then what about Thor? What the hell is he doing?!]
[CH. Private / Horseback Herald: Ga-hyeon. Not every Constellation is on board with this situation.]
[CH. Private / Horseback Herald: Thor said such an age would never come. He’s probably eating right now.]
[CH. Private / One Who Guides the Dead: And even if we wanted to help… there are positions where we simply can’t, Ga-hyeon.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: The mutt speaks the truth. It’s not for nothing that we have Contractors, or that Angrboda chose pawns to act in her place. There are limits to what we Constellations can interfere in.]
I knew all of that. I did. But everything was going to hell anyway, wasn’t it? My lips ached from how hard I was chewing them.
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Sorry for taking it out on you.]
I lifted my head.
It was just a regular living room—Baek Tae-beom’s living room. If it weren’t for the others sitting on the couch, it would’ve been a completely ordinary day.
“…That’s how it is.”
After recounting the details about the apocalypse, Lee Myung-won took a sip of water. The first to break the silence was Blue Star.
“Lee Myung-won-ssi, are you kidding me?”
He shot up and slammed the table. His expression was one of utter disbelief as he shoved his sky-blue bangs back with a sharp voice.
“You said it was important, so I ditched a stage performance for this. And what? The world is ending? The sun’s going black? The Age of Wolves is coming? What kind of bullshit is this?!”
Oh Kwon-hyuk nodded with arms crossed.
“So what you’re saying is, that thing we saw back there was one of the terrifying evils trying to destroy the world?”
“Well, close enough, but…”
“I did think something was off, but this? This was related to the end of the world? Why are you only telling us now?”
“Because you wouldn’t have believed me.”
“Of course I wouldn’t! Who would believe that crap?!”
Oh Kwon-hyuk gave a silent nod.
Yoo Ji-won chimed in with his usual cheerful voice.
“But it actually sounds super convincing, though? Streamers who cover end-of-the-world theories would love this.”
“It’s not a theory. It’s the truth.”
At Lee Myung-won’s words, Lim Chang-joo spoke with a darkened expression.
“So there’s a faction of Constellations trying to bring about the world’s end… and one of them created a dungeon like the one we saw today.”
“Excuse me, Association Hunter—do you actually believe that?”
At Blue Star’s question, Lim Chang-joo sighed.
“We just went through a dungeon so absurd it defies explanation. It’s hard to believe something like that—where someone has to die for an escape—is naturally occurring. There had to be outside interference.”
“A dungeon where someone must die to escape?”
Aquila tilted her head in confusion.
“Is that even possible?”
“It clearly happened. A Constellation must’ve been involved. Hunter Blue Star, please just sit down for now.”
“I’m still not convinced, Lee Myung-won-ssi.”
“What more would it take for you to believe me? That the person you fought was the Guildmaster of Gongmyeong?”
“I already knew that!”
“Then do you know what Gongmyeong is really planning? Be smart. Are you here to throw a tantrum, or do you understand what really matters right now?”
Oh Kwon-hyuk nodded in agreement. Blue Star slapped him on the back.
“Whose side are you even on?”
Meanwhile, Baek Tae-beom came out carrying a tray with tea. Everyone looked at him a bit strangely—he was wearing an apron, after all.
He said politely, “What are you staring at?”
“…This is seriously weird.”
He even placed a slice of cheesecake in front of me. The teacups he handed to the others were random and mismatched, a stark contrast to the special attention he gave me.
Baek Tae-beom leaned in and whispered softly in my ear.
“If anyone starts shit, call me first.”
His sweet demeanor was so unsettling that Blue Star looked downright spooked.
“This wasn’t even the main thing you wanted to show us, was it?”
Lee Myung-won cleared his throat briefly.
“Anyway, we have proof.”
As Baek Tae-beom turned back toward the kitchen, Lee Myung-won rested a hand on my shoulder.
“Right here—Choi Ga-hyeon is that proof.”
“So what, you think just shoving Ga-hyeon in front of me is gonna make me cave, Lee Myung-won-ssi?”
“That’s not what I mean. Choi Ga-hyeon can communicate directly with other Constellations.”
“…What?”
Everyone stared at me in stunned silence. I nodded.
“Lee Myung-won is telling the truth.”
“Wait, communicate? You can talk to them?”
Oh Kwon-hyuk furrowed his brows. Yoo Ji-won gave a disbelieving laugh.
“There’s no way something like that is possible.”
“Then can you communicate with my Constellation right now?”
Lim Chang-joo asked.
I shook my head.
“With yours, Lim Chang-joo-ssi, I can’t. Not at the moment.”
“Why not?”
“…We didn’t exchange contact info.”
“…What?”
