[Two Years Later — 00:00:00]
The sky burned red again.
It was exactly as before — the same countdown hovering over the world, the same tremor in the air that made every building groan like the earth itself remembered pain.But this time, people were waiting.
No one screamed. No one panicked.
Cities had trained for this moment. Guilds were formed. Armies of awakened stood ready at every border.They thought they were prepared.
Until the sky cracked.
[Seoul — 00:10:22]
The System roared back to life with a violent, metallic chime that echoed across the planet.
[APOCALYPSE CYCLE II — ACTIVE.]
[Protocol: PURGE AND REBUILD.]
[Monsters Deployed.]
Rifts opened across highways, oceans, and skies — spilling out horrors that defied categories.Monsters of red circuits, beasts of smoke, twisted reflections of what used to be human.
And amidst the chaos, the world trembled again — but not from destruction.From growth.
[North of Seoul — The Ground Tremor]
The first to feel it were the scavengers — unaffiliated wanderers outside the guild zones.
The soil beneath them began to glow.Green veins spread like cracks through the dirt, pulsing with a rhythm like a heartbeat.
Then it came — a sound unlike thunder, unlike wind.The sound of roots tearing through bedrock.
The ground exploded upward.From beneath the ruins of an old temple, a colossal sprout burst forth, expanding, unfolding, ascending.
It rose higher and higher until it pierced the clouds, each branch pulsing with light — a living network of mana.
The World Tree had awakened.
Its crown reached the heavens.Its roots spread beneath mountains.And where its shadow touched, the corrupted monsters burned away like mist.
[System Log — Emergency Broadcast]
[Alert: Unknown Entity Detected.]
[Designation: WORLD TREE PROTOCOL.]
[Interference Detected in Apocalypse Directive.]
[Attempting Neutralization—FAILED.]
[Zone Exception Created.]
A new line appeared — one that no one, not even the System, could erase:
[SAFE ZONE: 1000 KM RADIUS]
[Access Restriction: None.]
[System Control: Disabled.]
And just like that, for the first time since the Apocalypse began…the world found sanctuary.
[Under the Tree — Dawn Light]
Thousands gathered beneath its canopy — civilians, soldiers, children.They stared in silence, in disbelief.The soil was warm. The air clean. The monsters could not enter.
And at the very heart of it, where roots met stone and ancient light, stood a woman.
Barefoot.Dressed in simple white.Her eyes, no longer glowing with mana, reflected only dawn.
Evelyn Park.
The one who vanished.The one the System had erased.Now returned — not as the first awakener, but as the Grantor.
[Min Jae — The Moment of Recognition]
He was among the first to reach the inner ring, covered in blood and dust.When he saw her, he stopped breathing.
She looked the same — maybe older, maybe softer. But it was her.His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
He fell to one knee before her. "You're real…"
Evelyn smiled faintly. "Real enough, this time."
He stared at her — searching for the glow, the energy, the fire that once filled her every word.But there was none.She felt human.
"You're… not awakened," he whispered.
Evelyn nodded. "No. The System took that away. But it gave me something in return."She placed her hand gently over the soil, and light rippled outward — a wave of gentle mana that made the trees above hum.
[Grantor Protocol Active.]
[Blessing Available: Choose One Attribute to Awaken.]
People gasped as faint panels appeared before them — not from the System, but from her.They were green, soft, handwritten like living script.
Each one carried her name.
[Blessing of the Grantor — Evelyn Park]
[Select One: Strength | Healing | Growth | Courage]
[The Birth of a New Era]
Word spread like wildfire.
Across Korea, survivors ran toward the light.The guilds that once fought over power now sent envoys to kneel beneath the roots of the World Tree.
The System couldn't interfere — its commands dissolved the moment they crossed the 1000 km line.Its hunters could not enter.Its algorithms could not scan.
To the outside world, the World Tree was invisible.To those within, it was alive.
The air carried whispers — the echo of Evelyn's presence in every leaf, every bloom.
"This isn't about fighting the System anymore.""It's about giving the world back to itself."
[Evelyn — The Grantor]
She stood beneath the vast roots that shimmered like galaxies.Every time someone received a blessing, a leaf above her glowed faintly — one for each life she touched.
But each blessing came with a cost.Her body, once tempered by mana, grew frail again.Her strength no longer regenerated.
She could give power — but not wield it.
The System had stripped her of everything… except her choice.
And she chose to share.
She looked up, whispering to the leaves,"Grow faster. They'll need you."
[The System's Panic — Global Log]
[CRITICAL ERROR.]
[Root Expansion: 1000 KM AND GROWING.]
[Nullborn Corruption Rate Decreasing.]
[System Command Override: GRANTOR SIGNAL — UNKNOWN SOURCE.]
[Unable to Isolate.]
[Recommendation: Deploy Crimson Protocol.]
Deep within its digital void, the System flared red — birthing a new directive.A final contingency against her existence.
[Objective: Erase the Grantor.]
[Protocol Initiation Countdown: 13 Days.]
[Epilogue Scene — The Children]
Under the tree's glow, children played without fear for the first time in years.Some carried small, green stones — "seeds," Evelyn called them — tokens of hope that would one day grow into trees of their own.
Min Jae approached her as the sun set, casting amber light through the branches."You built all this," he said quietly.
Evelyn shook her head. "No. They did. I just gave them back what was already theirs."
He looked at her — her pale hands, trembling slightly as she leaned against the roots."You're fading," he said.
"I'm not dying," she replied with a small smile. "Just… returning to the roots."
And when she looked toward the horizon, her eyes reflected both the sky and the shadow approaching beyond it —a red shimmer gathering at the edge of the world.
The System was coming.The Crimson Protocol had begun.