Chapter 395

Chapter 395
## Chapter 395: The World of ‘Me’

—

“Word is that the Empire’s battalions are marching toward Labyrinth City.”

“The Black King has also smashed through the southern lines and entered the central continent.”

“White King, what is your command?”

Kramdel.

The White King, listening to the urgent dispatches from his four Juyeoks, tightened his expression.

The movements of the Empire and the Black King—the two forces he had been monitoring with the utmost caution—had finally begun.

However, their intended target was baffling.

Labyrinth City.

“…The fifth Juyeok has already perished.”

The moment the White King spoke, the air in the room grew heavy.

“…You mean *that* fifth Juyeok?”

“That insane crow is actually…!”

“Hooo…”

The remaining Juyeoks exhaled in collective shock, unable to process the news.

The mad crow who served as the fifth Juyeok.

That freakish entity was gone?

He was the type of person who felt as though he would persist even if his body were ground to dust.

A presence so sinister it had once even cast a shadow of threat over the White King himself.

‘I witnessed it with my own eyes when my spirit merged with the Druid of the Golden Rule.’

There was no room for error; the master of Labyrinth City, the fifth Juyeok, had met his end.

The White King had verified this truth within the depths of the Dungeon of the World Tree.

The Druid of the Golden Rule.

It appeared the fifth Juyeok had been consumed by that man.

To be certain, he had searched for any lingering essence of the fifth Juyeok’s life, but the crow had vanished from existence as if he had turned to vapor.

Not a single footprint or shadow remained.

This confirmed that his senses and the visions he experienced were accurate.

But….

*Grind!*

The White King gnashed his teeth in frustration.

He had intended to settle the score for the fifth Juyeok, who had once bared his fangs, yet he had been utterly thwarted.

That individual was the Druid of the Golden Rule, yet he carried a localized abyss darker than any shadow.

The White King had attempted to swallow that man’s soul in retaliation, only to find himself nearly consumed by the very target he attacked.

And yet, despite the opening, the Druid of the Golden Rule chose not to devour him.

‘He granted me mercy. It is a bitter pill to swallow… but had the Druid of the Golden Rule truly desired it, he could have wiped me from existence right then.’

He could have extinguished not just his physical form, but his very soul.

In the glimpses of the future the White King possessed, he saw nothing but his own inevitable demise.

However, for reasons unknown, the Druid of the Golden Rule spared the White King after the latter had struck the first blow.

Following that encounter, the White King abandoned his pursuit of the man’s life.

He had come to recognize the staggering chasm between their respective powers.

…He could conceive of no strategy to slay a titan where the extremes of light and dark lived in such harmony.

To continue would be nothing short of suicide.

…If he did not relent, the entire Northern region would be wiped off the map.

“I will not permit the city of the fifth Juyeok to fall.”

Though he couldn’t resolve the debt or the lingering resentment in a traditional way, this was the ultimate resolution the White King reached.

He would, at the very least, safeguard the city that belonged to the fifth Juyeok.

He would uphold his original decree.

The statement that an assault on Labyrinth City was an assault on his own person.

Furthermore, he could not remain passive while the Black King made his move.

The White King whispered under his breath.

“Mobilize everyone. The season for the hunt has arrived.”

The White King’s personal host of 10,000 marched into Labyrinth City.

The sight of such a grand army was enough to stun any observer, yet the White King was far from the only powerhouse to arrive at Labyrinth City.

A contingent of 500 elves under the command of Auril,

The Giant of Evil Destruction accompanied by 20 Star Guardians,

The Ancient Phoenix Al Raum followed by his brood,

The Guardian of Light backed by a multitude of statues,

The mythic druid Albino and the ten Pavilion Lords,

Kasim leading the Knights of Radiance,

And even the Knights of the Round Table soaring on the backs of Fairy Dragons!

“…What exactly am I seeing?”

“Is this a hallucination…?”

The Executors stared in disbelief.

They were members of the Death God Cult and were well-acquainted with the staggering might the Empire could wield.

…But the assembly before them was easily a match for the Empire’s glory.

Yet, logically, this was a gathering that should have been impossible.

Were these not legendary figures and monsters scattered across the world with no common threads?

For such diverse races and factions to unite under one banner.

It was an anomaly without precedent in recorded history.

Moreover, any single one of these groups possessed the strength to topple a significant kingdom on their own.

And here, nearly ten such forces stood side-by-side.

“…Why are all of you gathered in Labyrinth City?”

The White King questioned, his brow furrowed in confusion.

They had been competitors within the Dungeon of the World Tree, but he couldn’t fathom why they had all congregated in the fifth Juyeok’s domain.

In response, Kasim moved to the front.

“I am the one who summoned them. We are here to safeguard the Druid of the Golden Rule.”

“……? The Druid of the Golden Rule is present here?”

“Yes. If ‘The First Flame’ atop that altar is extinguished, the Druid of the Golden Rule will pass away.”

Kasim gestured toward ‘The First Flame’ which flickered vibrantly in the heart of the great palace.

That fire was the singular tether keeping the Druid of the Golden Rule tethered to the living world.

The White King remained deeply skeptical.

“Hold on. What is the link between the fifth Juyeok and the Druid of the Golden Rule?”

“I am told their connection is exceptionally profound.”

“What…?”

“Because of that, he predicted you would arrive of your own volition even without an invitation.”

The White King’s thoughts spiraled into further complexity.

The aura and the distinct essence of the fifth Juyeok that he had sensed coming from the Druid of the Golden Rule.

Could all of those sensations be tied back to that ‘flame’?

He wasn’t sure how to define an ‘exceptionally profound connection,’ but if a man was willing to deposit a flame containing his very life force in the city of the fifth Juyeok, that spoke volumes.

So… perhaps.

“…Is the fifth Juyeok still among us?”

…The notion that the fifth Juyeok had died might have been a complete miscalculation.

“He lives, through that ‘flame’.”

Hudson provided the answer when the White King asked.

Yet, this explanation was equally cryptic.

“Did you not just say ‘The First Flame’ is the lifeblood of the Druid of the Golden Rule?”

“That is the case.”

“But the fifth Juyeok is also kept alive by ‘The First Flame’?”

“Indeed. Explaining the mechanics is difficult, but it remains the absolute truth.”

“……”

The White King felt a headache pulsing behind his eyes.

Common sense offered no bridge to cross this gap of information.

The First Flame within Labyrinth City.

The Druid of the Golden Rule had intentionally placed his own metaphorical heart in this location, and the fifth Juyeok was sustained by that very same fire.

This could only mean one thing….

“Are you saying… the fifth Juyeok… *is* the Druid of the Golden Rule?”

The White King asked, his voice laced with intense skepticism.

He could find no other logical path to take.

But was it even plausible?

The fifth Juyeok.

That ominous, death-scented Corpse Crow.

The creature that was a vessel for pure darkness was, in reality, the Druid of the Golden Rule!

It was nonsensical.

The Druid of the Golden Rule was a titan among legends, a being of nearly infinite power.

The sheer scale of his soul had nearly obliterated the White King.

And such a being had served as a Juyeok in the guise of a scavanging bird?

For what possible goal?

No matter how much he tried to justify it, there was simply no rational motivation.

‘It’s impossible. There is no way that could be true.’

Even as he said it, the White King shook his head internally at the absurdity of the thought.

He was the man who had attempted to arrange a union between the crow and his daughter, Aria.

Though the engagement failed, it meant he had scrutinized the crow closely.

The fifth Juyeok and the druid were night and day.

They could never be the same person.

Finally, Hudson spoke.

“Yes.”

“……”

Ha.

The White King went silent, closing his eyes tightly.

For the first time in his long life, he felt truly blindsided by a revelation.

…After struggling to regain his composure.

The White King reflected.

‘So that explains it… why the scent was so unmistakable.’

If they were truly the same individual, then their spiritual scent would naturally be identical.

But who would ever look upon the Druid of the Golden Rule and see the fifth Juyeok?

Their looks, their temperaments, their presence, and their very bearing were completely opposite.

Furthermore, the fifth Juyeok was a ‘Corpse Crow’.

A Corpse Crow!

A bird that survives on the rot of the dead and a druid who stands as the protector of life could never be categorized together.

However… looking back.

‘There is no way a common Corpse Crow could have performed those miracles.’

He began to move from a state of total denial toward one of acceptance.

The fifth Juyeok’s entrance onto the world stage had been nothing short of miraculous.

Had he not scaled the ‘Tower of Mysteries’ to its peak—a feat the White King himself had failed to do?

He had conquered the Abyssal Labyrinth solo and was a presence dangerous enough to make even the King’s blood run cold.

If the explanation was that he was the Druid of the Golden Rule all along, then it finally started to make sense.

‘Did he mask his true self and suppress his power?’

Yet, a question remained.

Why go through such an elaborate charade?

“If the fifth Juyeok is indeed the Druid of the Golden Rule… why would he ever agree to be a Juyeok?”

“He mentioned a task in the North that required his absolute attention. It would likely have been problematic for him to move freely in that region in his true form.”

“Don’t tell me……”

The White King’s voice turned somber.

A sudden, chilling realization hit him.

The reason the Druid of the Golden Rule went through the trouble of playing the fifth Juyeok and lingering in the North.

‘Was he evaluates me?’

Could it be that, from the very start, everything was a trial for him, the White King?

The return of the tooth that Wilhelm had stolen and the act of saving him in the Dungeon of the World Tree—was it all part of a test?

‘He could have ended me at any moment….’

At that thought, the White King felt the hair on his neck stand up.

The fifth Juyeok had approached him with a calculated intent from day one.

To judge him.

With the underlying threat of execution should he fail the evaluation.

That was the source of the persistent dread he had felt whenever the fifth Juyeok was near.

In that instant.

He mentally reviewed every interaction he had ever had with the fifth Juyeok.

He searched for any slight or conflict that might have sparked a catastrophe.

“……”

…It turned out there weren’t many pleasant memories between them.

*Gulp!*

Thinking back on his past behavior, the White King found himself swallowing hard in nervous realization.

When my eyes opened, I was met by a world of pure, blinding white.

A limitless horizon with no detectable boundary.

And before me, a vast field of collapsed stone walls.

The moment I saw it, the location was clear.

‘Inside of me.’

This was a realm that manifested my internal being, my very soul.

It was the space beyond the threshold that the Blood Demon King and the Primordial Heavenly Demon had crossed.

Perhaps this was what lay beyond death.

Confronting the core of one’s own spirit might be the final act of dying.

I moved slowly toward the shattered and ruined masonry.

The debris was so far gone it could hardly be identified as ‘walls’ anymore.

*Clink.*

*Clink.*

I began to stack the stones once more, piece by piece.

Of course, I had no blueprint of what these structures looked like before the collapse.

I was a stranger to this world.

But if I was already gone, it’s not like I had a busy schedule, right?

‘Calmly. One step at a time.’

I let out a soft laugh and started shaping the wall according to my own whims.

There was no clock to race against.

Quite the opposite; it had been an eternity since I felt this unburdened.

Honestly, I couldn’t recall the last time I had enjoyed such genuine peace.

I’m fairly certain I felt something like this back when I was just playing games.

‘What was that game I used to play….’

But was it truly just a game?

The details are slipping away.

I recall putting my heart and soul into it.

To realize a dream.

‘What was that dream?’

Did I even have one?

Was the person known as Park Hyunmyeong just someone who drifted where the tide took him?

A man who had no real talent for anything other than digital worlds.

‘…This is actually enjoyable.’

Whatever.

It didn’t matter in the present.

Since I was already dead.

Furthermore, stacking these bricks to rebuild the wall was surprisingly entertaining.

As the structure began to take form, it became harder to label it a wall.

This… what was I actually building?

In fact, was it even supposed to be a wall?

For some reason, it didn’t feel like one.

Then again, since I was the one with the bricks, I could make whatever I wanted.

Fine. I’ll start over.

I knocked down the progress I had made and began assembling the bricks into an entirely different configuration.

-……

And from somewhere in the distance.

A massive eye was observing me.

It looked as though it were completely baffled by my actions.