Eui-jae helped Sa-young up, the latter having been thrown harder and sprawled on the floor. Sa-young ground his teeth.
"That... damn bastard."
"Hey, forget it. Thanks to him, we made it inside, didn't we?"
"Haa…"
Sa-young ran a frustrated hand through his messy hair. Eui-jae slipped an arm around his waist, supporting him as they surveyed their surroundings.
Everything was white. There was no ceiling, no walls, just an endless expanse of white stretching in all directions. The only color was white.
Eui-jae tried to strike the ground with his spear. The pristine surface didn't even scratch.
"Weird. Last time I destroyed one its eyes... it didn't look like this."
"Well... guess we just need to move forward. Don't turn around, just keep going straight ahead."
Eui-jae nodded and began to walk. Each step felt strange. The ground was neither solid nor soft, nor did it move. It was like walking through air.
No matter how long they walked, the scenery didn't change. As far as they could tell, they seemed to be walking in the same place.
Then, with sudden resolve, Eui-jae spoke, his voice firm.
"Sa-young."
"No."
"...What?"
Eui-jae blinked, bewildered. Sa-young didn't even look at him, as if he'd merely stated an obvious fact.
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"If it's something weird, don't say it. Just stay quiet, Eui-jae."
"Listen. We can't just keep walking until we collapse."
"And your point?"
"If this place is connected to the Apocalypse, then there's gotta be a solid barrier somewhere, right?"
"Mm-hm."
"Then let's break it."
Sa-young finally turned his violet eyes toward him, narrowing them slightly. Eui-jae jerked his chin toward their surroundings.
"Who knows? Maybe it's just an illusion. And if we make enough noise, maybe the Apocalypse will notice us, buying the people outside some time."
"Ah... not a bad theory. So you want to fight the Apocalypse now? Confident you can win?"
"Not really."
"...At least you mentally prepared yourself?"
"Nope."
"..."
"I've never been ready for anything, honestly. I'm a coward. If I wait until I'm ready, it's always too late."
Eui-jae grinned.
"So now I just act first and think later."
Sa-young let out a short, incredulous laugh. He shook his head slowly. A man like a rubber ball, impossible to predict, never still, always charging forward.
"You really are..."
"What? You got a problem with that?"
"No."
Sa-young's lips curved into a faint smile. He leaned closer, eyes glinting softly.
"Just realizing... that's probably why I like you."
"Wh-what?!"
"You said we're gonna wreck things, right? Come here."
Sa-young grabbed Eui-jae's arm and pulled him close against his chest. Then, he reached out into the air. From his blackened fingertips, dark liquid began to drip… drip... drip…, onto the white floor.
In seconds, the black poison spread outward, filling every inch of the space except the small circle where they stood. Sa-young's brow furrowed as his long fingers danced through the air, striking invisible keys like a pianist. Each motion made the poison spread faster.
Soon, the entire field of view was swallowed by Sa-young's toxin. Eui-jae, still held close to Sa-young, poked the blackened floor with his spear.
"Huh?"
Unlike before, when it hadn't left a mark, the spear sank right in.
Sa-young muttered, watching the spear slowly descend like a harpoon piercing water.
"Looks like the floor's gone."
"What do you think, should we jump in?"
"...You really are hopeless."
Sa-young sighed, shaking his head. He tugged the arm around his waist tighter, pressing Eui-jae's face into his chest.
"Take a deep breath. And whatever happens, don't lift your head. Not until I say so."
Eui-jae nodded.
Sa-young wrapped both arms around his head and waist, then leapt into the sea of poison.
Splash!
Whether his eyes were open or closed, there was nothing but darkness. It felt like sinking in a shipwreck into the deep abyss. Only the warmth of their contact proved that it was still reality.
They sank endlessly, breath held until their lungs burned.
How far down had they gone?
Eui-jae felt the chest he leaned against shudder as Sa-young coughed, air bubbles rising. He was running out of breath.
Without hesitation, Eui-jae reached out, cupped Sa-young's cheeks and pressed their lips together.
Their shared breath passed between them.
And then,
FLASH.
The world went white.
THUD.
The long fall was over. Eui-jae broke the kiss and lightly slapped Sa-young's cheek.
"Hey, Sa-young! Wake up, you okay?!"
A cough.
The body beneath him jerked, spitting water. Sa-young rubbed his face with an irritated groan.
"Ugh... I'm fine, stop hitting me."
"Thank god. Thought you passed out."
"Passed out, my ass..."
Eui-jae sat up, then helped Sa-young to his feet.
They'd arrived at another place, completely different from before. A sealed chamber, no doors or exits. Every inch of the walls and floor was scarred with gouges, scratches, and brown stains.
"...Someone fought here."
"Eui-jae. Look."
Sa-young pointed toward the center of the room. Floating in midair was a sphere, faintly glowing. Like the walls around it, it was frayed, covered in cracks and dents, as though it could crumble with a single touch.
Eui-jae stared silently.
A desert of memories.
A path beaten by countless footsteps.
A rift that could only open with the help of others.
And now,
The fragile, crumbling core of the Apocalypse.
All traces of desperate struggle and failure.
Even if they failed… If they refused to give up until the very end… Then maybe none of it had been meaningless.
"Sa-young."
"Yeah, Eui-jae."
They approached the core. It was no bigger than a human face.
"This tiny thing... is the source of the apocalypse?"
Eui-jae laughed faintly.
Sa-young gazed at it, the soft white light scattering across his pale skin.
"It was probably bigger once. So big that no human would even dream of touching it. Like the sun in the sky."
"..."
"But... someone must've kept fighting to destroy it."
"People like us."
"Mm... though maybe 'lunatics' would be more accurate. No sane person would try this."
Their eyes met. Both smiled. Then, together, they reached toward the core.
At that moment,
[Welcome, Cha Eui-jae, the first Awakened of Planet Earth.]
pure white system window appeared before them.
"...A system window? Here?"
Their hands froze just short of touching the core. The message blinked again.
[Congratulations. You have overcome countless trials and reached the Source of the Apocalypse.]
[Would you like to destroy the Source of the Apocalypse?]
[Yes] [No]
Eui-jae glanced at Sa-young beside him. Sa-young merely nodded, eyes calm, as if entrusting everything to him.
Eui-jae inhaled deeply and pressed Yes.
Another message appeared. This time, the letters were red.
Warning.
[Warning]
[Destroying the Source of the Apocalypse will also erase the System.]
[Caution! The System here includes not only Awakeners, but also all phenomena that emerged with it: Rifts, Dungeons, Gates, Monsters, and everything tied to the System's existence.]
[Do you still wish to erase it all?]
[Yes] [No]
"...Wait. Erasing the System?"
Eui-jae's hand hovered.
The entire world now operated under the laws of the System, Awakeners, Hunters, Rifts, Dungeons, Gates, Monsters, Mana Stones, Guilds, Status Windows.
All of it.
If the System vanished, what would remain?
Sa-young tilted his head, murmuring,
"Well... first, our powers would disappear. The world would change too. Maybe it'd go back to how it was before the Rifts ever opened. No Management Bureau, no Guilds, no Awakeners."
He smiled crookedly.
"Hah... unemployment crisis incoming."
"..."
"Kinda funny, though. Jung Bin, me, we'd both end up jobless. Guess you'd have to feed me."
He chuckled softly, almost amused.
If the System perished, the world would face another great upheaval. Could people who'd grown used to power go back to normal lives? Could humanity adjust to a life without abilities, without magic stones, without monsters? Factories, machines, corporations, entire economies ran on System-born technology.
And all of that now rested in Eui-jae's hands.
Sa-young's voice broke through the silence.
"Having second thoughts?"
"Not exactly. Just... wondering what it'd be like without power."
Eui-jae hesitated, glancing at Sa-young.
"If your powers vanish... won't you start getting sick again?"
"Probably not. My illness came from monster venom. If the monsters and the System disappear together, that poison won't be eating away at me anymore."
"..."
"So, do what you want. Your call."
The Apocalypse existed because of the System.
The System existed because of the Apocalypse.
Two unknown forces, intertwined since the beginning.
Someone had to break the chain.
"...We didn't come this far to back down now."
Eui-jae pressed [Yes] again.
The system window flared blood-red. Letters deepened, then cracked, one after another.
The room turned crimson.
SKRRRRT
A horrible noise filled the air, like static tearing through reality.
[■■ species' origin and ■ shall be des●troyed ■■]
[This sel■ction cannot be rev●rsed.]
[No]
[No]