[Day 201 — Somewhere Between Gangwon and Gyeonggi Province]
The highway was silent, cracked in half by roots and old wreckage.Evelyn walked alone under a sky streaked with ash and starlight, the wind cold against her blood-stained coat. Every step echoed across the ghostly remains of a world still pretending to be alive.
Behind her, the faint green glow of the World Tree fragment pulsed at her chest like a second heartbeat.In her ears, the system whispered softly —
[Objective: Proceed South — Next Fragment Detected: Busan]
[Time Remaining: 578 Days]
She tightened her grip on her staff and glanced toward the east — the direction of Sanctum.Her lips curved faintly. "Stay alive, Min Jae."
The road ahead was long. The silence was heavy.And in that silence, the ghosts of her past began to stir.
[Flashback — 12 Years Ago]
Rain.
The kind that soaked everything until the world blurred.
She was fifteen, standing at the edge of an apartment parking lot, clutching a single bag — her entire life crammed into it: a school uniform, a second hand phone, and the cracked photo of her parents' wedding.
Her mother's voice still rang in her head.
"You'll be fine on your own for a while, right, Evelyn? Mommy's going to stay with Uncle Jihoon for now."
Uncle Jihoon. Her mother's "business partner."She'd stopped calling him that months ago.
Evelyn's reply had been small.
"It's okay, Mom. You don't have to explain."
Her mother had smiled like it was mercy. Then she was gone.
Three days later, her father came — clean suit, calm face, eyes distant.
He stood in the doorway, avoiding the piles of unpaid bills, the untouched instant noodles on the counter.
"Your mother wants a divorce," he said simply.
Evelyn nodded. "I know."
He hesitated. "I can take you with me."
Her heart fluttered for a moment — hope, fragile and cruel. But she saw it in his eyes: exhaustion, not affection. A man who had already left long before he walked out the door.
"No," she said softly. "You don't have to."
He blinked. "You're still a child."
"Then let me grow up faster."
He wanted to argue. But he didn't.He just gave her a bank envelope — and the same polite nod he gave to his subordinates.
When the door closed, she finally cried. Quietly, so the neighbors wouldn't hear.
[Years Later — High School, Seoul]
Evelyn worked three jobs: café waitress in the morning, convenience store clerk at night, and library assistant on weekends.
Her friends thought she was aloof. The teachers called her "disciplined."Only she knew the truth: she was tired.
Sometimes, she'd fall asleep during exams, face pressed to the paper, pen still moving.Sometimes she'd stare at the vending machine wondering if dinner was worth the coins in her pocket.
But every scholarship notice that arrived — every single one — she earned with trembling fingers and sleepless nights.
By nineteen, she'd secured a full scholarship to a university in Seoul.By twenty-one, she had already published a research paper on mana resonance — before mana even became part of the world's vocabulary.
By twenty-three, she stopped answering calls from either parent.
And by twenty-seven, the world ended.
[Meanwhile — Sanctum]
Min Jae stood among the rebuilt barricades, sweat streaking his face. The survivors worked in rhythm now, forming the first true guildless city — independent from the old order.
But he couldn't sleep. Not since the day the Golden Chain attacked.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Evelyn's vines, her light, the way she bled to protect children she barely knew.
He clenched his fists."Evelyn… where are you now?"
The system buzzed faintly.
[Incoming Transmission: Root bearer Channel — Signal Weak]
A soft, distorted voice filtered through.
"Keep Sanctum safe. Grow it. You'll need it when the next seed awakens."
Then silence.
Min Jae exhaled, eyes burning. "I will."
He turned toward the skyline — toward the rising storm of the new orders, the guild wars, the crumbling peace. He didn't know it yet, but Sanctum's survival would soon become the spark that united thousands.
[Epilogue — Between the Stars and the Soil]
Evelyn watched the stars fade into dawn.The seed glowed softly at her chest, humming in sync with her pulse.
She remembered her father's cold eyes. Her mother's laughter fading down the hallway. The years she'd spent alone — invisible, unwanted.And she smiled bitterly.
The world had broken her long before the monsters ever did.Now she would return the favor — but on her terms.
[Main Quest Updated: Awaken the Second Root — Location: Busan]
[Optional Objective: Confront the Shadow of Bloodline Park]
Evelyn rose, dusted off the frost from her coat, and started walking again — toward the south, toward the past she would one day face, and the future she was determined to build.