Beyond the Eternity

[ I Want To Be Lucky Just This Once ]

It was the golden skill card, representing Ryu Yeji's personal skill, « Grant Me This Single Fortune »

Skills were unique gifts bestowed upon Walkers by the Link system. However, personal skills belonged to a separate category from regular skills.

These were manifestations of the mind, born from an individual's intense desires and emotions. Each personal skill was unique, shaped by the wielder's deepest traits.

There were various ways a personal skill could be awakened:

It could emerge from trauma, overcoming a trial, personal growth, or even in a life-threatening situation.

Whatever the case may be, once an individual personal skill awakens, they would be stored in the Aether Sea (以太之海) and become part of their Existence (存在).

Ryu Yeji's personal skill had awakened during a life-threatening situation when a bomber planted an explosive in the train carriage. Combined with the series of misfortunes he had endured and his desperate wish to experience luck, even if just once, these intense emotions gave birth to his power.

An S-grade power that guaranteed his survival in any situation by momentarily raising his luck above the threshold, even if it defied logic.

Just like how he survived the explosion that destroyed the 3706 Train Carriage while still being inside. Like how he endured being swallowed whole by a Sea Serpent and lived for seven days before being spat out. Like how he narrowly escaped complete annihilation when the Hierophant group was massacred. Like how he survived being thrown into a coin farm, forced to become a clown for the Constellations. Like how he endured the brutal slaughter by the Demonic Wolves.

Any other person would have died. In fact, the people in those situations died, but Ryu Yeji survived thanks to the fleeting moments of supernatural luck.

Perhaps it was a blessing, perhaps It was a curse. Regardless, he would always survive while everyone else would perish.

[The skill « I Want To Be Lucky Just This Once » has activated.]

Flick!

A faint light shimmered before Ryu Yeji's eyes, and a tiny firefly appeared, softly illuminating the dim corridor.

The delicate creature hovered in the air, fluttering forward through the corridor. It paused, turning back as though urging Ryu Yeji to follow.

The firefly was the physical manifestation of his personal skill.

This same firefly had guided him to rare treasures like the [Classic Gentleman's Suit] and [Tempest Sword], skillfully avoiding deadly traps and nightmares far beyond his capabilities.

If it was leading him now, it could only mean one thing: There was a hidden treasure somewhere.

While he doubted the house contained anything extraordinary, perhaps he could at least salvage a fragment or two and retrieve some useful memories which may lead to the end of the investigation.

The sooner they cleared the Sixth Fable, the sooner he would be freed from this cursed house!

Without hesitation, Ryu Yeji trailed after the firefly, carefully masking his footsteps and staying alert to his surroundings.

A few minutes later, the firefly came to a halt in front of a door, illuminating the aged wood with its soft glow. Ryu Yeji stopped as well, glancing up at the firefly hovering above his head.

"Is this the place?"

Buzz! Buzz!

The firefly made a sound with its wings in confirmation.

Despite the confirmation, Ryu Yeji hesitated before entering the room. He turned his head, searching for Soo Jinyoung's location.

Fortunately, she wasn't far off. She had just entered the maidservant Rosa's room, which was nearby.

If he entered and the room turned out to be a trap or filled with enemies, he could quickly call out to her, and she would rush to his aid.

In such a case, I should be able to get out of the room quickly. I'm confident in my abilities to escape.

Ryu Yeji steadied his breathing before slowly turning the doorknob and pushing the door open.

As the door creaked, the dim interior of the room came into view. It was nothing more than an empty space with cold stone walls and a bare floor.

The room was utterly unremarkable.

Even the maid and servant quarters had been modestly designed—neither overly luxurious nor too plain. Perhaps the Lord of the manor had taken care to provide his servants with living spaces befitting their status and balanced comfort with practicality.

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Huh? What is that?

Ryu Yeji's attention was captured by something.

The room was engulfed in darkness, with no visible light source—not even a torch to illuminate the space. However, from the center of the room, a faint, flickering glow pulsed steadily.

He narrowed his gaze.

Upon closer inspection, the flickering light appeared to emanate from an orb-like object. However, it was far from an ordinary item. In fact, It seemed like an object from an otherworldly plane.

Strangely enough, Ryu Yeji was hit by a wave of familiarity.

Wait... Could that be what I think it is?

His eyes widened in surprise. It didn't even take him a moment before he identified that glowing item.

A Fragment.

Laugher emerged from Ryu Yeji's lips. "Ha ha! Isn't my luck good? Hey, Soo Jinyoung-ssi, I found a fragment in this...."

He trailed off mid-sentence.

His excited voice as the atmosphere grew unsettlingly quiet. The person he had called out to gave no response.

"Soo Jinyoung-ssi?"

No response.

"Soo Jinyoung-ssi..."

His vocie was notably louder. But that person didn't answer.

"Soo Jinyoung-ssi, why aren't you answering? If you're trying to scare me, it's not funny."

"...."

Ryu Yeji called out again, but there was no response. Frustrated, he stepped into maidservant Rosa's room to search for Soo Jinyoung, only to find it empty.

The details of the room barely registered in his mind.

The person he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

What the hell? Where did she go? I'm sure she entered this room. Did she somehow slip into another one? No, that's impossible. She didn't leave this room, so she couldn't have entered another.

His frown deepened as unease crept into his expression.

His composure was beginning to crack under the weight of the strange phenomenon, though it wasn't enough for panic to settle in just yet.

"All is well… All is well…" Ryu Yeji murmured to himself like a mantra, the words doing little to soothe his nerves.

Something felt off. He couldn't shake the nagging thought that he had walked into a trap, but he couldn't pinpoint when or how it had happened.

Was it when I opened the door?

The moment that thought crossed his mind...

Shff... shff...

An eerie sound echoed through the hallway, like the unsettling noise of something 'heavy' being dragged across the floor.

Ryu Yeji's heart froze. His body tensed as a primal dread washed over him. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned toward the source of the noise.

And then, he saw 'It'.

Lying on the floor, facing him from a distance, was a human body—or something that resembled one. It looked like a broken doll.

'It' had the appearance of an eight-year-old girl. Her wavy, waist-length raven hair was tied with a large crimson ribbon, and she wore a black dress over a white button-up shirt, complete with a ribbon at her neck.

She had delicate features that might have once been considered adorable—a face that could have earned compliments from doting adults.

But to Ryu Yeji, she was anything but cute.

In fact, cute was the farthest word from his mind.

Her skin was unnaturally pale, with a sickly, wax-like texture. Her eye sockets were empty, dark voids that seemed to devour light, and streams of blood cascaded down her cheeks like crimson tears. It was as though her eyes had been gouged out with cruel precision.

Shff... Shff...

That dreadful, wet scraping noise continued as she dragged herself forward.

Her legs were gone. Severed at the thighs, the stumps were ragged and dark, leaving a gruesome trail of coagulated blood behind her. She moved with agonizing slowness, pulling her mutilated body forward with thin, emaciated arms.

Despite her hollow eye sockets, it felt as though she was staring directly at him.

"?!"

Ryu Yeji froze in place.

His legs felt rooted to the ground, his body locked in a paralyzing grip of fear. His heart pounded wildly, then seemed to stop altogether as his mind spiraled into panic.

For one harrowing second, time itself stood still.

What the hell is that? How could she move with such injuries. No! That 'thing' is definitely not human! An evil spirit?

The legless girl made no acknowledgment of his thoughts. She continued her agonizing crawl forward, oblivious to the terror she instilled. Her movements were slow and mechanical, the sound of her broken body scraping the floor unbearably loud.

She paused briefly before lurching forward again.

The sight might have evoked sympathy in another world. Here, the overwhelming aura of dread suffocated any trace of pity.

If Ryu Yeji hadn't been consumed by fear, he might have recognized her as one of the characters etched into the memories of the House.

But something had gone horribly wrong. Whatever she had once been, she was now a twisted, pitiful creature—a shell of her former self.

Shff... Shff...

The girl crawled closer.

Tap!

Ryu Yeji instinctively stepped back.

Shff... Shff...

She inched forward again.

Tap!

Another step back.

Tap! Tap!

It became a macabre rhythm, the legless girl slowly closing the gap while Ryu Yeji retreated step by step.

Huh?

Something clicked in his mind, cutting through his haze of terror.

What am I doing? Can't I just fight back?

In the classic horror stories, retreat was the only option—fleeing from the supernatural, avoiding confrontation. But this wasn't a story.

This was his reality.

And unlike the powerless victims in those tales, Ryu Yeji had the strength to fight.

She's just a legless girl.

His fear began to give way to determination. His trembling hand steadied as he reached for the Tempest Sword. With a deep breath, he raised the blade and pointed it directly at his opponent.

He would not go down so easily.

"?"

The legless girl stopped crawling. She froze, her eyeless gaze fixed on him from a distance.

Ryu Yeji hesitated, confused.

Why did she suddenly stop? Is she preparing to attack? I'm getting Seriously bad vibes from this.

Despite holding the [Tempest Sword], he couldn't muster full confidence.

Just because he possessed an S-rank ability that enhanced his luck didn't mean he was skilled in combat. His abilities were average at best.

He had survived this long through a combination of supernatural luck and quick thinking, but that didn't make him invincible.

When faced with a threat beyond his limits, his instinct was always to run.

And that instinct screamed at him now.

Fuck this! I'm getting out of here!

Ryu Yeji took a hesitant step back, his body trembling with the weight of fear, his mind screaming at him to flee. He was preparing to pivot, to launch into a tremendous retreat.

However—

Whoosh!

The legless girl moved first.

It happened in a flash.

Her empty sockets seemed to narrow, exuding a chilling, predatory malice. In a grotesque burst of speed that defied her mutilated form, she hurled herself toward Ryu Yeji, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.

"!!"

Alarm bells blared inside Ryu Yeji's head, his instincts screaming louder than ever. He barely had time to react.

Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, his body moved on its own. His grip tightened around the [Tempest Sword], and with a desperate swing, he slashed at the lunging figure.

But that did only little.

The legless girl brushed the sword aside as if it was nothing more than a twig, utterly unfazed by the strike. In one smooth, fluid motion, her hands shot forward, plunging into his chest with the force of a blade sinking deep into soft flesh.

"Ahhh!!"

Ryu Yeji screamed in agony as he crumbled on the floor. His vision blurred. The pain from the girl's attack had nearly overwhelmed him.

But she wasn't done.

With a sickening twist, she yanked her hands free, tearing through his chest like paper, and then plunged them deep into his abdomen once again.

Blood sprayed from the wound, gushing from his torn flesh like a fountain, with his insides spilling out with each brutal thrust of her small hands. The sharp, tearing pain shot through him like lightning, and his stomach seemed to unravel as her fingers dug deeper.

Each pull shredded his body further, and the sensation of his organs being ripped apart was too much for him to process. His breath came in ragged gasps and his body trembled.

But there was nothing he could do.

The legless girl continued her relentless assault, stabbing into his stomach, tearing apart everything in her path, as if feeding on the very life force draining from him.

Ryu Yeji's mind began to dim, his senses fading, everything around him turning to swirling shadows. His vision blurred, and the edges of reality seemed to crumble.

Was this how it ended? Was this it?

Damnit! Am I... going to die like this?

The crushing weight of hopelessness pressed down on him. No room for mercy. No chance to fight back.

As if to seal his fate, the legless girl drew her hands back, and without warning, she mercilessly drove her fingers deep into his eyes with a powerful thrust.

"ARRRGGHHHH!!!"

The pain was unimaginable.

The burning, excruciating sensation of his eyes being gouged out was more than he could bear, with his vision completely vanishing under the pressure of her assault. The world went dark, and his screams echoed in the hollow void.

Then, silence.