This voice..!
I looked back.
Huh..?
There was nothing... there was only the hospital room door from which I entered.
[ Where are you looking at? ]
Again..!
I looked back and... it was normal.
My mom was caressing my child form.
Huh..? Just what in the world is happening..?
I blinked... and the whole room started disappearing. No... It wasn't disappearing... the whole room was getting eaten... eaten by something... maybe it was The Void.
The whole room got eaten, and I was again back in the dark place... where I was before.
I'm back here, but what now?
[ You seem afraid... Why are you afraid? ]
Why wouldn't I be afraid..? The Void is literally the strongest person in the whole Endless Dream... Everyone is afraid of him... It's only the beginning of this dream, and I'm already in the presence of him... Just how unlucky am I?
I blinked again.
The moment I opened my eyes... my legs felt a surface where they could stand. The whole darkness was gone... instead, I was in a place that could be called heaven.
I looked down.
The surface was reflecting me... the whole sky... everything that was above it. This surface was a mirror itself.
I looked up at the sky.
The sky had a small amount of clouds... everything about this dimension was beautiful.
This whole world seemed to continue forever... there wasn't an end to it... just like this Endless Dream.
I was calm... I was calm over this sight...
Shut it... It's not a place where I need to stay calm... it's the only place in the whole Endless Dream or in this whole universe that is so close to actual heaven.
The Void was the one who created this place in order to resemble heaven in his own dimension... but he failed and left this place like this... Now this place is known as... "Void's Heaven" because it's an empty void with just heaven's atmosphere.
But why am I here..? If I'm here, then it means—
My eyes widened.
The Void is here too..!
I wasn't calm at all... at first, I was feeling calm, but the moment the thought of "The Void" entered my mind... I started sweating.
Calm down... Calm down... If I talk to him carefully, then maybe I can survive.
Then I remembered what I said to him before.
Umm... I literally said I would kill him. I'm dead.
I was crying over my stupid mistakes... until I heard something.
[ Calm... Peace... these are the words I love the most... I follow the most. ]
A calm voice... completely different than before. This voice was enough to put me at ease. All of my tension... gone.
Gulp.
[ I don't like panic... nor fights, especially— ]
My whole soul seemed to be breaking into multiple pieces just from hearing this voice.
It wasn't my soul. It was my courage.
My courage which I used to shout at The Void. My courage which I used to go against the demon king's wish.
My courage which I used to decide that I'll change this dream.
[ A person who dares to kill me ]
Living beings have multiple emotions, but if we break them into smaller pieces, then there will be only two emotions left.
The emotions at the basic level.
Love, hate, anger, sadness—every emotion has originated from these two emotions.
Fear and Courage.
At that moment, I was still. I wasn't sweating anymore. I wasn't gulping anymore. I didn't—
But what if we remove one emotion from these two?
Simple! That living being will crumble.
Have the courage to do anything anymore.
[ So what should I do with the person who dares to shout at me? ]
I saw. I saw my head getting cut off. No, I didn't see it. I felt it. I felt my head getting cut and falling to the ground.
Wait, is my head still intact to my neck?
[ Tell me, Kang Hong. ]
Can a person become deaf from fear?
Yes.
There was complete silence in my ears. I wasn't hearing anything.
What was this silence? What was this fear? Can it be called fear?
It was something beyond fear.
I lifted my left hand in order to touch my neck to make sure that my head was still intact.
Is it stupid to do this?
For most people, it would seem like he's stupid, but the one who's experiencing it would have a different answer.
How can fear affect us?
It'll make you forget how you feel, how you do things, and
How you survive.
I touched my neck.
It's still intact... I'm still living.
In the blink of an eye, someone teleported in front of me.
I saw. I saw the nightmare of this Endless Dream in front of me.
He was in his soul form... the color of his soul form was light blue... very light... beautiful long hair... eyes with long eyelashes. He was wearing a beautifully designed cloak with blue and white designs on it. He was a little taller than me. I was 6'1 but he seemed 6'2.
In chapter 1255, when the main protagonist and her team met The Void, their thoughts were...
Is this Void?
Woah, he's beautiful..!
He can't be an evil spirit...
There's no way he would be...
Someone's heart also raced after seeing him...
He started walking a bit toward me.
[ Seems like you didn't hear me ]
[ Or ]
He came closer and bent toward me.
He looked straight into my eyes.
[ Are you just scared? ]
***
The fate of my life changed when I started writing novels.
Do I regret writing?
Maybe yes.
I regret creating a beast who's far stronger than anyone. I regret making him the Strongest. I wish I could've written a weaker being. But I didn't.
If I knew that I would meet this being this early in my novel, Then I wish... I wish I had never written him.
I— I don't have the courage to speak with him.
He gave me an emotionless smile.
[ Weak. Extremely weak. You're the weakest person I've ever met in my life. ]
[ You don't have the courage to talk to me. Isn't that right? ]
He started walking away.
I need to talk to him.
[ Then don't you fear what will happen to you if you ig— ]
I need to do it.
I'll put my life on the line for this. I'll say what i said before!
"I'll kill you."
[ Hm? ]
He moved his face a little to look at me.
"Are you deaf? I said I'll kill you."
He smiled.
[ Hoh. To think a dreamer can exist who can say such things. You truly are interesting. ]
I wasn't crazy. I did what I thought was actually good.
Void has lived for 1,855 years. In these years, no one has dared to say anything to make him mad. Everyone showed fear towards him.
No one.
The Void wanted someone to say bad things about him in front of him. But no one dared to do so.
Because— There was fear. There was fear planted deep down in everyone's soul that they would die the moment they said something bad about him.
He only wanted a person who could say anything about him without showing fear.
I'll become that person.
Also, I knew that I would be killed if I talked gently with him.
"You heard me already. I'll kill you. I might not be able to kill you right now as I'm extremely weak, but it won't be the case in the future."
I pointed my finger toward me. "I'll kill you and become the strongest being in this endless dream."
[ Strongest... huh? World 567's endless dream just started and you already know that I'm the strongest. ]
Shit. I got careless.
No matter how much knowledge I have, I always do the stupidest things.
"That's right. I know that you're the strongest."
[ And how did you get that information? ]
"After I died, the system sent me here. In your presence for 10 minutes. It made me question one thing—why is the system sending me to the presence of the Void instead of to heaven or hell?"
[ And did you get the answer? ]
"I figured it out. There's an entity way stronger than anyone—even stronger than the system itself. Normally, after death, the system could send souls to heaven or hell. But it didn't do that with me. Instead, it sent me to this powerful being. It felt like the system was just a soldier, and its real job was to deliver souls to The Void—the true king."
The Void kinda looked interested in my theory.
"In simple words, the system was ordered to send the souls to someone else rather than to heaven or hell."
[ I like your way of thinking. ]
Now let me go!! It must have been 10 minutes since I came here. I don't know what might happen to me if I stay here more.
"Well then, I should take my lea—"
[ I guess I can chat with you a bit. You're... completely different than those lower beings. After all, I want to know how you broke out of the calmness I set up for the souls. ]
My blood froze. Wait, he knows about that?!
The Void loves peace. For peace, he used his skill "White Soul" on every one of his dimensions to make their environment peaceful.
That's why every being which enters those dimensions will feel at ease. Eventually, it will lead them to lowering their guard.
Making way for the Void to corrupt that soul and then devour it.
I was also supposed to feel calm so I could become corrupted and then get devoured by him, but I didn't act the way he wanted me to.
When I entered this dimension, he talked with the same skill that made me feel at ease. But he stopped using the skill and made me listen to his real voice.
Which means he didn't want to corrupt me. Instead, he wanted to kill my courage.
Then my fear.
After that, he would have devoured me.
A beautiful light blue round table and chair spawned in front of me.
[ Have a seat. ]
He noticed my uneasy looks.
[ Wait, are you by any chance thinking about the 10-minute timer? ]
Gulp.
"Huh?"
[ It won't work. In my dimension, even the system can't interfere. ]
I didn't look surprised. He was looking at me doubtfully.
[ Very strange. Your reaction is really different. It seems like you already knew that. ]
"No, I've already seen a lot. I can't be surprised by anything anymore."
If you think that he's being too polite... then you're right. He was being polite not only to me but to every being who meets him for the first time.
He makes them believe that The Void is a nice guy who respects everyone, but in reality...
He's always plotting something.
[ Hahaha, it makes sense. ]
I can't believe that this bastard can be this polite to me. In the original novel, he did the same. He lured everyone into believing that he wasn't an enemy, but eventually, he backstabbed all of them.
He's the least trustworthy person in this dream.
"I said I would kill you, but you're still being polite to me. Why?"
I sat down on the chair.
[ Well because— ]
He looked straight into my eyes.
Hm?
Gulp.
[ You're the first person who ever said that to me. It made me quite interested in you. ]
"So what'd you want to say?"
[ I'll get straight to the point. ]
Two cups of tea spawned on the table.
He picked up a cup and took a sip.
[ You're a precious dreamer. You're completely different from other dreamers, those sins, demon kings, and even the god. You're something else—something the entirety of beings would love to get their hands on. ]
I picked up the cup of tea.
[ So how about you let the strongest have you? ]
I took a sip.
And
[ That's why I want to make a contract with you. ]