The World after the Fall

Yoonhwan looked up. God?

There was a man with gray hair standing next to the Warden.

"Is it him? The one from the tower of a [Master]?"

"Yes. The [Nightmares] from the Union assured it."

The Warden smiled.

"He couldn't clear it, but he reached the 98th floor. He also got past all the traps that the Master installed there."

"Any others?"

"There's a woman. Just like this one, she too is from Mulack's 'Tower of Regret'… oh, there she is. She made it up to the 76th floor, I heard."

The Warden commented as he scrutinized the woman in the corner of the room, "76th, hmm? That's a bit disappointing."

"Yes, but she is a beauty. She might not be fit to be a fighter, but…"

The gray-haired man seemed to be thinking as he stared at the woman.

"Is that everyone? I thought there should be more."

"The Union didn't send any others. These two are the only ones who had problems with their memory-seals."

The man then nodded.

"Okay, I'll take them both."

"And the payment…"

"I'll pay with spirit stones."

The man then handed a few stones to the Warden. He counted the number and checked the quality, then smiled.

"That's about right."

As he opened the door, he spoke.

"Oh, and I know I've reminded you of this many times, but if word gets out that I sold these spirits before they are taken to the auction house…"

"Don't worry. It's not like this is the first time."

"Right, right. Of course."

As Yoonhwan and the woman walked out of the cell, the Warden locked the cell and disappeared into the darkness. Yoonhwan looked up to the gray-haired man.

"Let's go."

With that word, a light shone upon Yoonhwan's world.

His God was in front of him.

[I see. So, you want to save that 'friend'?]

That was the first thing Andersen asked as she peeked into a part of Jaehwan's memory. As he nodded, Andersen continued.

[Let me answer your initial question. There is no limit to the number of Followers. Including your friend, I can take as many Followers I want.]

Andersen then asked Jaehwan.

[Wait, where are you going?]

Jaehwan did not answer and began to move. However, there was no hesitation or fear in his walk. When Andersen realized where he was heading, she screamed,

[NO! DON'T DO THAT! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!]

She shouted frantically, but Jaehwan asked back grumpily, "Why?"

[You're going to destroy the prison, right?]

"No, I'm just going to destroy the front gate and save my friend."

[That's the same thing! We're done for if we do that. Vicegerents of high-ranking Gods will come right for us!]

If it under normal circumstances, Jaehwan wouldn't even care.

Vicegerents of high-ranking Gods?

Since when did Jaehwan care about such things? He didn't care about all those Generals. But this time, the one he was trying to stop wasn't going to give up easily.

[Did you forget what happened by being reckless like that in <Chaos>?]

Andersen began trying to logically persuade Jaehwan after reading bits of his many memories.

[You wasted three months because of that! If it wasn't for you being so reckless, you could've found a way to get into <Depth> within a month! And without attracting needless attention from the Lords.]

Jaehwan became silent for a moment. Was he that reckless?

[I think you are trying to do something to Big Brother, but if you act like what you're trying to do right now, you will die before even getting a glimpse of him. There are so many Vicegerents out there who are more powerful than Sameng Hoon.]

What she was saying wasn't a lie. She even showed a portion of her thousands of years of memory to Jaehwan.

[…See? Can you fight like them? Can you defeat them?]

As Jaehwan saw glimpses of the memories of those Vicegerents fighting in a war, he felt something different. He knew how powerful they were, but he couldn't feel anything. It seemed like the fights in this place had something more than just pure strength going on.

[So, you don't need to just bust in there if you're trying to save your friend. Don't do that.]

"How can I save him then?"

[We can use the auction house.]

Andresen then began to explain the auction house system of the <Depth>.

[Spirits fished out from <Caspion> are placed in the Detention Center until they are taken to the auction house in the city to be sold. Meaning, we don't have to do any illegal stuff. We can just go to the auction house and buy your friend.]

If the Warden just saw this and knew about what change this caused to the <Depths>, Andersen might have received the <Award of Gratitude - Caspion>.

"I see. Then we'll go to the auction house."

As things seemed to work out easier then he expected, Jaehwan felt a bit better.

Unfortunately, Jaehwan had no idea.

The trial that he was to face an hour later, was in some way, much worse than all of the trials he faced in <Chaos> combined.

And about an hour later, Jaehwan was standing in the entrance to the auction house, buttnaked.

"…F*ck."