[Day 412 — Haven Guild Headquarters, Former Seoul District 11]
The sound of hammering filled the air — rhythmic, steady, human.What used to be a ruin was now alive with movement: tents replaced by walls, scavenged wood turned into homes. The Haven Guild had grown from a band of survivors into the largest independent community in Korea.
At its center stood Min Jae, the Berserker who had once been a kindergarten teacher.He looked nothing like the man he used to be — his once-soft eyes now hard with sleepless resolve, his aura thick with mana that burned like tempered steel.
He stood over a table covered in maps and reports, guild leaders crowding around him.
"The Church of Dawn has taken the Yeouido district.""They're conscripting awakeners 'in the name of salvation.'""They claim Saintess Lee Ara is building a 'Holy Fortress' to prepare for the next wave."
Min Jae listened silently, jaw tight.
Then he said, "And the government?"
"Still holed up in the southern military base," his lieutenant replied. "Evelyn's father—"He stopped mid-sentence.They all knew what the name Park Seongjin meant.
"Continue," Min Jae said flatly.
"They're recognizing the Church as an official order now. The Saintess's power has stabilized several southern regions. People trust her more than they trust the army."
Min Jae exhaled slowly."So faith replaces law."
[Meanwhile — Yeouido, Church of Dawn Citadel]
The once-financial district had become a city of white banners.Broken skyscrapers were wrapped in silk, their steel bones adorned with shimmering sigils of light.At the heart of it all — a cathedral grown from living mana crystals.
Saintess Lee Ara knelt before the altar, her silver hair glowing faintly in the reflected light of a dozen hovering relics.
The system hummed softly in her mind.
[Passive Skill Activated: Grace of Dawn — All ailments within 10m cured.]
Around her, priests whispered prayers — not to God, but to the System itself.The world had changed, and faith followed data.
A young priest approached her."Your Holiness, the Haven Guild refuses our alliance again. They say they don't want to be ruled by faith."
Ara looked up, her expression gentle. "Faith isn't rule," she said softly. "It's a choice."
"But what if their choice endangers others?"
She hesitated.That was the first time she had no answer.
[Back to Haven — Same Night]
Min Jae stood on the balcony overlooking the sleeping settlement.Children played by the fires. Farmers traded vegetables for mana shards. Laughter echoed through the narrow streets.
This was what he and Evelyn had built — a place for the unaffiliated.
But now?Even that dream was slipping away.
The world had started dividing itself — not by race or wealth, but by belief.
The strong joined guilds.The lost found religion.The desperate clung to anyone who promised safety.
And Min Jae was losing people every day to the Church of Dawn.
He turned to his deputy. "How many left this week?"
"Seventy-two," came the reply. "Mostly civilians. Some low-level awakeners. They think the Saintess can stop the next wave."
Min Jae's expression hardened."She can't."
"How do you know?"
He looked at the distant sky where the faint outline of the World Clock shimmered again, counting down from 552 days.
"Because the one who could stop it is gone."
[Saintess POV — Later That Week]
Ara walked through the sleeping halls of her citadel.The air shimmered faintly with light, but she could still feel the unease beneath it — the quiet fear of her followers.
She paused by a window overlooking the ruins of the Han River. The water glowed faintly under the moonlight.
"I didn't ask for this," she whispered.
[System Notice: You are chosen because you believed.]
"Believed?" she murmured. "I only wanted to help people."
But the system didn't reply.
[The Meeting — Haven Outskirts]
Rumors spread that the Saintess herself was visiting the neutral zone near Gwangmyeong.Min Jae didn't believe them — until he saw her convoy arrive under banners of light.
Dozens of armored templars surrounded a single carriage.The crowd fell silent as Saintess Lee Ara stepped out.
She was smaller than he expected. Softer.Her aura was gentle, but it made the air hum like sunlight after rain.
She walked straight toward him.
"Guild Leader Min Jae," she said with a bow. "You protect many who can't defend themselves. That's a kind of holiness, too."
He crossed his arms. "Don't mistake responsibility for sainthood."
A faint smile touched her lips. "Then we're similar."
They spoke for hours, away from the crowd — about the coming wave, the scattered guilds, the strange way the system had begun changing its patterns.
Ara confided in him quietly, "The system speaks sometimes. It calls someone 'Rootbearer.' Every time it says that name, it cuts off my connection."
Min Jae's heart stopped. "...Rootbearer?"
She nodded. "Do you know who that is?"
He didn't answer.
When dawn came, she offered him her hand. "Join us, Min Jae. The Church needs people like you. We can unify Korea before the next wave."
He looked at her — this young woman burdened by divinity she never asked for — and saw both truth and danger.
"I can't kneel to light," he said softly. "Not when I've already bled for hope."
[Aftermath — Two Paths Diverge]
When the Saintess returned to Yeouido, her priests declared her meeting with the Berserker a "blessing of peace."But those who were there knew better — it was a fragile ceasefire between two visions of humanity.
Within days, the Church began recruiting aggressively, claiming to "sanctify" the unaligned awakeners.In response, Min Jae reorganized Haven into a defensive coalition — not just a guild, but a refuge for anyone refusing allegiance.
The world began to shift again.
The Order of Dawn spread faith like wildfire.
The Government Alliance fortified the south, hoarding relics.
The Foreign Adventurers arrived — American mechanists, British paladins, Japanese hunters — drawn by the rumor of the erased goddess.
And beneath it all, the System itself began whispering strange updates no one understood.
[Event Triggered: Root Protocol — Phase 2 Initiating...]
[Ten Seeds. One Root. The erased shall rise.]
[Epilogue — Min Jae's Reflection]
That night, as the rain fell over the rebuilt walls of Haven, Min Jae sat alone in his quarters.
He turned on his interface and scrolled through the global rankings again.
Jinwoo Han
Lucia Greaves
Aurelio Kane
Min Jae
Lee Ara
Park Seongjin
—
A blank line beneath them.
No number. No name. Just empty space.
He whispered into the silence, "Evelyn… why did you disappear?"
Outside, the storm crackled.And far away, in a forgotten corner of Busan, the earth stirred — faint roots glowing beneath the rubble.
The world was preparing again.And this time, even the Saintess's light might not be enough.