The World after the Fall

How can he speak like a typical villain so seriously?

It was enough to laugh at, but Surha couldn't laugh.

"Hey- what do you think a 'world' is?"

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Just answer me."

"You mean the unique world? That is because of.."

"No-no. I'm not talking about… Never mind."

Surha shook her head. She could see that Chunghuh did recognize what Surha had asked, but the old man was just pretending that he didn't understand the question. She and Chunghuh were both 4th stage Awakener. There was one fact that all Awakeners realized after reaching the 4th step.

The 'world' they saw until now was only part of an iceberg.

The being that became a [God] went and found a new way to perceive things. Unlike the 3rd step where you could just realize the 'truth' of the <System>, 4th step Awakeners were allowed to face the world itself.

Countless information came from all parts of the world.

All this information filled their minds. [Gods] were excited by the flood of information that they had not known until then. They realize that become a [God], and they feel that they are almighty all-knowing. However, they soon feel despair toward the sea of information.

It is because they realize that they can never control the information.

[Gods] then are confused and become corrupt from the influx of information. Some go crazy while some choose to make the decision.

They choose to close their eyes and ears, and refuse to take in the information.

This was called [Seclusion].

It wasn't considered bad since it was necessary to keep the ego. The Gods who fall in [Seclusion] give up on feeling the giant 'World'. Instead, they choose to stay within the small world they created and live while growing the world.

This 'small world' that the Gods created were called the following.

-Unique World.

Surha remembered the world full of corpses and the giant eye of Asura. Jaehwan's unique world.

It was a world that made her feel uneasy every time she thought about it. No other unique world contained such a hideous thing, especially the eye. She looked up to the sky. It was the eye that did not exist in her sky. She knew what that eye was supposed to mean.

'He can see <Big Brother>.'

As far as Surha knew, the only one who could <Big Brother>'s presence was only one existence out of the entire <Depth>. The Master of Rupture. He had told her once before.

-Surha, fight your [Seclusion]. If you succeed, you will see the 'truth'.

But, Jaehwan was able to see <Big Brother>.

It meant he also succeeded in fighting his [Seclusion].

Yoo Surha was curious.

What was the world like after getting out of [Seclusion]? The world that looked directly into the terrifying <Big Brother> — was that world still one of many [Unique Worlds] out there? No. Maybe that world is…

It was Chunghuh's voice that brought her back from her thoughts.

"Hey girl, isn't that the place?"

There was an old antique shop at the corner of the street that seemed to specialize in old [Parts] that nobody visited.

"OH! That's it! It's there!"

They walked over to the shop right away.

As they opened the door, an old man with a long mustache appeared.

"What brings you here?"

"Hey- It's me. I'm here for some information."

"What brings you here?"

"…It's me. Didn't you hear?"

"Ugh… gosh." Surha sighed and began speaking the following phrase: "So, we will be the slaves of the freedom, the blade of the rights, and the measurement of the equality."

With that, the light within the building went out and the windows were covered with blinds.

Slave of the Freedom.

Blade of the Rights.

Measurement of the Equality.

These were the metaphors that symbolized the organization. Of course, there were other names that directed this organization. The Anti-Cultivation Group, or the Worst Terrorist Group in history and such… but it was the name that was more famous than all of those nicknames.

[Rupture]

This was the 5th regional office of the worst terrorist group, [Rupture], of the <Great Lands>.

The old man who appeared through the darkness was not an ordinary old man. His face and shape had been changed entirely to that of a middle-aged man. It seemed he had the [Setting] to change his physical appearance. Surha ranted, "Hey, do we really need to go through this every time?"

"It's the rule. So, who's he?"

"He's with me. He's not with [Rupture] but… he's kind of [Rupture]? Or an Ex-[Rupture]…? Don't worry about him and just show me the list."

"Here."

The man then handed over a 10-inch sized machine. It was the machine that showed information that [Rupture] gathered recently, in order of importance. Surha spoke as she scrolled down on the list.

"Hmm… what's this? There are Lost Ones rampaging at <Caspion>?"

"There's word that the Followers of the Ancient Gods are gathering at the Hatchnold Auction House. I heard that a [Part] of an Ancient God is up for bidding in the auction house…"

"What? Really?"

Surha frowned at the information.

"Hah- Machina? There's no way that it can appear at an auction house. It smells fishy… but I'll pass on the information for now. What else?"

"Next is about an Awakener."

"Awakener?"

Chunghuh and Surha's face brightened. It just might be the information they were looking for. The man continued, "There's information about an old man with the nickname 'Perverted Guru' making mess in the East. I think he killed a few Vicegerents of middle-grade Gods while leading a pirate group called [Bringer of the Fall]… it's a big issue out there."

Surha and Chunghuh's expressions turned weird at the news.

"I heard the Perverted Guru uses a very unusual unique world. What was it called… Kangho… or was it Joong…"

"Isn't it 'Moorim'?"

"Hmph, maybe it was."

Surha was barely holding back from laughing and Chunghuh's nose widened as he fought back the urge to laugh.

"Anyway, you should watch out for him too. I heard he's quite the Awakener. He's really interested in beautiful Vicegerents apparently."

"Perverted Guru… yeah- of course. I will for sure," Surha answered as she glanced and Chunghuh, in which he coughed uncomfortably. "So- any other news?"

"Nope."

"I see…"

Surha became disappointed, but that's when the machine sounded an alarm, followed by a new message.

"Oh, I guess we have a new one. There's a fight happening in the Hatchnold Auction House."

"The place with the Machina? What happened?"

"Five Vicegerents of a high-ranking God and 12 mid-ranking Gods have been killed."

"What? Five from the high-rankers?"

Vicegerents of high-ranking Gods weren't easily matched. They were powerful individuals within <Depth>.

"That's close to a war. Did they fight against each other?"

"No. They were killed by a man."

"What- what kind of mad man does that in a…"

In that moment, Yoo Surha stopped speaking and Chunghuh also looked at Surha. Surha leaned closer to the table and asked.

"D-do you have a video of it?"

"…Here."

Soon, a hologram screen showed a man. The video quality was not good enough to see the face, but two things were certain. One was that the man was naked with only a coat on him, and another was that he was 'stabbing'.

-AAAAARGGH!

Vicegerents were being flown away through the vicious world power storm. As they heard the sound, Chunghuh was making a face as if he had been waiting for that sound in a long time.

Within the chaos of the video, there was a man, bare naked under his coat.

It was certain. It was the mad man. It was the mad man that they were desperately looking for the past two years. Chunghuh and Surha shook in excitement.

The man they were looking for was in the video.

"It's him, right?"

"Yeah. I knew he'd do something like that."

"Of course."

Both of them quickly jumped out of the building. Because they were too excited, they did not realize who sent the information to the regional office.

-Master of Rupture

The regional office master narrowed his eyes as he looked at who sent the video.

"So, it's the Master who sent this? Hah… I guess things aren't going to end quietly this time."