Beyond the Eternity

Aurora spoke directly into my mind using private communication. From the tone of her voice, it seemed like the matter was something serious.

'What happened? Were you called to the Buseau?'

[Yes. From what I heard, it seemed like the boundary between dimensions was broken for a little. Were you the one responsible for that?]

'What? Do you think I'm responsible for such a thing?'

[Of course not. That's what I told them. you? 'Administrator, please listen to me. Kim Jakga is a hard working person but he can never do such a thing even if he trained for a million years'. But it's difficult to convince when I can't access your fucking status window!!

What kind of skills do you even have? Even if I'm just a lackey at the moment, I'm still confident in my abilities.]

She spoke in a confident yet arrogant manner.

I felt a vein popping on my forehead. This stupid fairy must have said something bad about me to Administrators. I wished there was a way to deliver punishment without consequence.

I sighed and calmed down my mind. She was probably messing with me. Even so, it was rather unpleasant.

On the good note, it seems she cannot access my status window which means nobody including the walkers and constellations can access my private information.

'So am I in trouble?'

[No, not really. The dimensional boundary was not exactly broken. In fact, it's almost impossible for that thing to break completely. It seems a small hole opened on the boundary and closed. It is almost trival since nothing big came out but the Administration Buseau are still concerned that a hole appeared in the first place.]

It was as I expected. I already had plans to make use of those 'guys' but it would be troublesome if they appeared in the early stages.

[In any case, the Administration Buseau has determined that a newbie like you can't be responsible for such a thing. However, things will become troublesome in the future.]

'What? What do you mean by that?'

There was no response after that. That stupid fairy, what did she leave without explaining anything?

A sense of premonition emerged and there was unease in my heart. Soon after that, something appeared infront of me. A system interface?

[Rewards will be given out depending on performance.]

[10,000 coins has been given as compensation for clearing the hidden stage.]

[You have earned 20,000 coins as compensation for killing the grade 5 demonic species.]

Fortunately, the reward messages began flying in and I received a huge amount of coins. 30,000 coins for stage clearance and 50,000 coins from the sponsorship of the constellations.

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A total of 80,000 coins. But something was wrong. Since I killed a grade 5 demon in the early stages, I was expecting to receive up to 100,000 coins but I only received 30,000 coins?

My unease became more apparent as another sentence appeared infront of me.

[Due to the decision of the Administration Buseau, the difficulty level of the nightmare will be adjusted.]

What? A difficulty adjustment?

[The time limit of the fourth nightmare has been significantly reduced.]

[There are 24 hours left until the end of the nightmare.]

[All group representatives and members who haven't obtained 100 points within the next 24 hours will face nightmare penalty.]

24 hours? Was this the decision of the Administration Buseau? Why did they come to such a decision? Was it because of the dimensional boundary? Or was it because of something else?

Such questions rampaged about and my mind instantly became chaotic. How long did I stay like this?

I snapped out of my reverie and I saw Lee Dokho looking at my face with a stupid expression.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I was wondering what our next move will be. But you seem to be thinking about something."

"Yes, there's something on my mind."

"Yes?"

"How did the apostles gather together?"

I found it odd—less than two weeks had passed since the nightmare began, yet these people were already functioning smoothly as a group.

How did they become aware of each other's existence?

In the midst of chaos, it's difficult for a large group to come together, and it's unlikely they knew each other before the tragedy. Someone must have brought them together, and that same person must be behind this entire event.

I opened my mouth again, "You said someone helped you in the first trial, right? How did he gather the apostles?"

"About that, we parted ways after the first trial."

"You parted ways?"

"That's right. After the third trial, he came to the station where I was. He requested me to join his ranks. The odd thing was that it happened simultaneously in different places."

"Different places? How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure. The other people also thought the same. It's hard to believe it was the same person. In any case, we gathered because of that person and became known as the Apostles."

"So that person is the 'King of the Apostles?"

"Yes, but he hated being called that name. He likes to be called another name?"

"Another name?"

"He claims to be a true follower. A person who has read the entire ancient texts from the beginning to the end. Such a person refers to himself as a true apostle of the given end."

A true apostle?

"Of course, everyone was skeptical. Why would he refer to himself by such a title? We couldn't come to a conclusion. He said he has read the entire volumes of the prophecy but he doesn't look like a passionate follower if you ask me. He looks like the kind of guy that likes making fun of others if anything or a cringe character you can find in a novel..."

The more he continued speaking, the more my mind wandered. If this mysterious fellow was someone that has read the novel to the end, wouldn't that make him the final reader or the last one to drop off?

If that was the case, then... I see. I understand now.

"Huh? Soo Jinyoung-nim, where are you going?"

I walked away from Lee Dokho and began inspecting the dead bodies one by one. Most were burned to ashes, while others were destroyed beyond recognition. In such a state, checking them seemed pointless.

Still, I searched for any clues or signs of life. If the person who organized this event to reap all the benefits was the true reader, they would likely be nearby, possibly even within the vicinity.

How long have I been doing this? The party members were looking at me while I continued my search. I didn't have the time to look at their face but I could feel their confused gazes.

Then, finally...

"Hmm..."

I stopped at a particular body. The body belonged to a thin man with light hair. I recognised him as No. 888. His back was torn by the scythe and his skin was burned.

Without a doubt, this person was definitely dead. Even so, I opened my mouth and addressed the corpse.

"Hey, how long are you going to pretend?"

Of course, there was no answer. A dead man couldn't talk. I bet the party members must be giving me weird looks. However, I was sure.

This person was not dead. No, this person was never alive to begin with. I've seen alot of dead bodies so I know this was not one of them.

How many seconds passed? I was standing, looking at the corpse of No. 888 as if I was crazy.

At that moment, something ridiculous happened.

"You bastard! How did you know?"

The corpse of No. 888 started talking to me.

"Waaack! A talking head!"

Kagura screamed and jumped away like a frightened cat. The other party members became shocked as they looked this way.

No. 888 looked up at me and a smug expression was formed on his lips.

Talking while the body was destroyed. Such a phenomenon would be considered impossible according to common sense. However, the world was now a place where skills and magic existed so such common sense was completely thrown out the window.

Even then, there are only a few skills that could grant life after death. To begin with, those skills were extremely rare in Song of Nightmares. A few examples include the Resurrection King or King of Sacrifice attribute.

But even with those attributes, it wasn't possible to survive in a state where the body was destoryed.

Besides, there was no blood from the cut back which means this body was not a real body just like the one we found on the 9th floor of the library dungeon.

A puppet. To be precise, a puppet body. It made sense according to the information I received from Lee Dokho.

A man who revealed himself to all apostles simultaneously and called himself a true follower. In addition, he didn't die when he was killed or when the body was destoryed and there was no blood when he was cut.

"The Devil. I see. You are the holder of the Devil card, aren't you?"

I was right. No, that was the only way. This person was a puppet controlled by the main man from somewhere else.

No. 888 laughed. I wondered if my words were funny.

"Look at you. You're more smarter than I thought. I wasn't expecting anyone to figure it out this early. Who are you exactly? You seem like someone who has read past volume one but I haven't heard of someone like you before."

What?

My eyes widened. This person, he knew I was not the real Soo Jinyoung. Perhaps that was the case, but it seems he doesn't knows my real identity.

How much does he know? He was a strange person that claims to have read Song of Nightmares to the end. His previous actions makes that statement convincing enough. He was able to gather the apostles during the chaos and planned this event to clear out those who got off early. More importantly, he is a mastermind who managed to hide his identity in such a situation.

Who the hell was this person? I had no Intel on this man which made him more frightening than Soo Jinyoung or even Sung Jaewon.

...Wait a minute

My mind wandered towards an unknown direction and I titled my head. Someone that has read the entire 'Song of Nightmares' from the beginning to the end apart from me.

Wasn't there used to be someone like that? To be specific, someone that used to bother me who used Song of the Fall as inspiration to create my own story. A dedicated reader that couldn't accept his favourite novel was used by another to create their own story.

I looked at No. 888 and slowly opened my mouth. "Was it possible... Are you perhaps Dragonslayer99?"