The Fall Between Worlds
The plunge from one world into another.
That unfathomable drop.
Like a fish hooked through the gut, eyes glazed as it swallows the bait, he was dragged along by an irresistible force.
After being swept away for what felt like an eternity—
—in an instant, this place became reality. His wandering consciousness settled back into his body.
“Hah!”
Startled like a child jolted awake from a growth-spurt dream, Jin snapped back to his senses.
He immediately patted his chest. The first thing he checked was whether the body that had taken a penetrating wound was still intact.
“Whoa, shit—no, that crazy bastard, seriously.”
Relief washed over him at the sight of his perfectly unharmed body, followed by irritation, then a hollow laugh.
Three pairs of eyes blinked as they watched the entire process in stunned silence.
“What the hell’s wrong with him all of a sudden?”
“…Did the spell fail?”
“What’s he saying? There’s no way Jin would fail.”
Katrina shot Bagmar a sidelong glance.
Of course, she had been just as worried about Jin’s condition deep down.
After reciting the incantation, when he had remained frozen in place for so long, she had nearly shaken him awake despite knowing she shouldn’t.
Naturally, none of the three knew that reciting the Eternal Dawn’s incantation was actually the spell that opened the way to Prision’s domain.
So what else could they do? They could only stare blankly at the person involved—Jin.
That was when it happened.
“Huh? Uh, uhh?”
At Jin’s clearly flustered mutter, Broph—who had been holding his breath—carefully spoke up.
“What’s wrong? Why? Did something not work right?”
Jin pressed a finger to his lips. With a serious expression that said “quiet for a moment,” he began channeling mana while staring intently at the blueprint in his other hand.
Mana bubbled up gently. The incantation took shape in his mind. And then—
Whoosh.
The fleeting currents of power tousled everyone’s hair.
“Whoa!”
Katrina and Bagmar managed to keep their balance. Broph staggered so badly that if Jin hadn’t grabbed his wrist, he might have fallen flat on his back.
As the fierce storm of mana slowly subsided along with the papers fluttering in the air—
Katrina was the first to grasp the situation. Her eyes widened.
“Jin, don’t tell me…?”
Naturally, the two engineers’ gazes began darting between Katrina and Jin.
Supporting Broph, Jin scratched the back of his head. With an irritated face, he muttered,
“It blocked it. Damn it.”
Today, Jin’s inner world was peaceful as usual.
The door creaked open and someone appeared.
Wrapped in a destructive aura. A hot-tempered impression that screamed “this one’s got a short fuse.”
Within those vivid violet eyes, lightning cracked across the sky like a whip, thunder roaring endlessly. This must be what Indra—the god of thunder and war—felt like.
The first to claim a spot and cross his arms, radiating arrogant confidence.
Gwanggeuk.
As the first resident of the inner world and the power that had breathed alongside Jin the longest, he carried an attitude that said “I’m the one who made this, so nothing can stop me.”
The next moment, another presence emerged from a slowly opening door.
A round halo floated behind its head. Winged baby angels blowing trumpets accompanied it.
Sanctity.
Its holy yet somehow boisterous entrance caused a crack to form on Gwanggeuk’s brow.
Prrrp-prrp-prrp—
One baby angel, oblivious, blew its trumpet right next to Gwanggeuk and was startled into fleeing by the lightning that suddenly surged up.
Sanctity patted the angel that flew into its arms, looking thoroughly displeased.
While the two settled into positions far apart and continued their strange battle of nerves—
Creak.
The final presence appeared from the last door to open.
A warm energy that comforted the soul gently washed over them, and the expressions of the two powers that had been glaring at each other softened at the same time.
To Gwanggeuk, it was a comrade and friend who shared the same radiant lineage.
To Sanctity, it was the partner who had once kindled a glorious flame together.
Blaze shook its head with a look that said “you two were fighting again, weren’t you?”
Then it plopped down between the two powers and took on the role of mediator.
Finally gathered in one space, the three residents naturally turned their gazes somewhere.
Far away, at the edge of the inner world.
In a corner that even their eyes had never reached, there was a single closed door.
It had originally been like a spare room.
A cramped, insignificant space compared to the three powerful presences—left neglected, receiving no one’s attention.
But now—
From that firmly locked place, a chilling energy was slowly seeping out through the gap in the door.
In other words, something had taken root in the inner world.
Naturally, the expressions of the previous residents hardened.
Proper etiquette demanded that the youngest greet them first. Yet this one hadn’t even shown its face—how rude.
These three powers remembered the days when they had been crammed together so tightly. The worst environment where even shifting one’s hips meant bumping shoulders. They felt sorry for their master, but they had fought tooth and nail more than once or twice.
To them, an unknown power that had comfortably settled into the inner world—even if it was just a spare room—was so unpleasant that even Gwanggeuk and Sanctity, who usually had a strained relationship, found themselves in agreement.
Finally, Sanctity shot to its feet.
Still, as the youngest here, it would handle this itself. With that feeling, it strode toward the door.
While the baby angels blew their trumpets—prrp-prrp-prrp—around it.
Knock, knock, knock.
A polite knock gently rapped on the door.
Patient waiting. But the door didn’t move an inch. So it knocked again—knock, knock, knock.
While Gwanggeuk and Blaze watched from afar—
How much time had passed?
Still no response from beyond the door. Sanctity’s eyebrow twitched. Its previously wrinkle-free brow trembled slightly.
The index finger, folded in a polite gesture, slowly lowered. Before long, a clenched fist was pounding—thud, thud, thud. Still not enough, so it brought its foot into it—bang, bang, bang.
Still not opening?!
And so Sanctity declared:
You must respect me. I am the blessing the sun god bestowed upon this land, the light, the true power that defeated the wicked alongside the Holy King a thousand years ago and comforted those who prayed until the very end. I am also the symbol of faith and a living witness to history, having watched the changing history of humanity within the sacred relics of the cathedral through the long years. Even today, together with my new master, I kindle the sacred flame—
That was when it happened.
Someone appeared behind Sanctity, who was reciting that long speech. Blaze, who had at some point placed a hand on its shoulder, shook its head as if to say “that’s enough.”
While comforting the still-furious Sanctity and stepping back together—
Crackle, crackle-crackle!!
Gwanggeuk, who had already ignited Jajeon, strode forward and clenched its fist.
The most destructive power—most like its master in that it reacted first in moments that required force—slammed into the door without hesitation.
BOOM────!!!
With a massive vibration that shook the inner world, the door that had stubbornly held out fell off its hinges—
A chilling energy rushed in, making all three powers furrow their brows.
A quiet space. In the middle of a small place devoid of warmth, something had coiled up.
What is that? What is that?
Peeking out from behind Gwanggeuk’s shoulder as it stood blocking the doorway, Sanctity and Blaze craned their heads.
Their gazes naturally converged on one spot.
And what was revealed—!
What the hell is this?
Jin furrowed his brow.
It was because of the unfamiliar power that had nested in a corner of his inner world.
When he discovered something quietly hiding in the corner as if veiled, he had been so surprised.
Why had he immediately refused Bingbaek’s offer to lend him the Ice Age?
If one more thing came in here, it would be total chaos! My heart would explode!
…That had been the reason.
Even if they were the Gwang brothers and Sanctity who had sworn an oath of brotherhood through the unity of mind and body at the late stage of the 2nd rank, that was only possible because they had endured the cramped spare-room living. In reality, the inner world simply didn’t have enough space to accept others.
It was a completely different problem from having abundant mana.
What good was a 10-terabyte SSD when the CPU and GPU usage were already maxed out with just Gwanggeuk, Blaze, and Sanctity? (Though it wasn’t a perfect analogy.)
Anyway.
Had the three residents of the inner world also noticed this crisis?
Without Jin needing to intervene, the visions that naturally roamed the inner world began to assess the uninvited guest on their own.
When Gwanggeuk, unable to stand the frustration, forcefully lifted the veil—
All that was there was a strange oval-shaped object standing alone.
Jin was simply bewildered.
Although it hadn’t led to the worst-case scenario of a power with presence rivaling the other visions plunging the inner world into crisis, the current situation wasn’t positive either.
What on earth is this?
Its purpose completely unknown, Jin’s eyes narrowed.
The only thing he could guess was the contract with that spirit called Prision.
In truth, it wasn’t even a contract.
A verbal agreement with no mutual consent? Not even a recording? This was basically fraud.
Moreover, that bastard Prision had rendered even the incantation Jin had worked so hard to obtain completely useless.
More precisely, it was like the other side had slammed the shutter down. Thanks to that, even if he wanted to go back, he couldn’t.
He had felt so sorry about it.
When Broph and Bagmar asked what was wrong, he had thought he would die from embarrassment.
However, upon realizing that the Eternal Dawn was the product of a contract between the former head of the Marjie family and a powerful spirit, the two engineers simply wore expressions of enlightenment.
Surprisingly, they seemed to have cautiously predicted this situation ever since they had caught a clue about phase magic.
After all, phase magic was said to be the domain of spirits and summoners, a difficult path—
So perhaps the Eternal Dawn, which used it, also had a birth story intertwined with beings from another dimension.
And now, having learned the truth, Broph and Bagmar reacted with relief.
But Jin couldn’t help feeling sorry.
No—had they known it would turn out like this?
Prision, whom he had believed would save the Marjie family, had suddenly made a one-sided contract with him and disappeared.
The whereabouts of the vanished Eternal Dawn were mysterious. Someone was targeting the family, even bringing in corporations.
And that wasn’t all.
“Everything we’ve been able to find out so far was thanks to you—”
The smiling face of Katrina, who had said “Thank you so much all this time,” kept circling in his mind for some reason.
“Agh, damn it.”
With a rough kick at the blanket, Jin sat up in bed. Leaning his back against the headboard, he reached out and pulled the curtain aside.
It was fully night.
The darkness outside the window had grown even deeper, quietly swallowing everything.
In the sensation that cold air was seeping in, the massive building visible in the distance lay submerged in darkness without a single brilliant light. That was probably Nibraks.
While quietly repeating the name in his mind, the wind cutting between the skyscrapers scratched against the window.
The sound wasn’t loud, but the rough flow that made the glass tremble was transmitted through his fingertips.
Suddenly, Jin’s expression darkened.
Is it really over?
Now that he had realized it was impossible to recreate the Eternal Dawn, what could a solo whose specialty was fighting even do?
Try to find the original even now?
When experts who had been doing that for 700 years had already erected such tall buildings?
Jin’s nose wrinkled slightly.
He didn’t feel the slightest regret about wasting 55,000 experience points, but it left a bad taste in his mouth that he couldn’t help the family head and his wife, and their daughter, who no longer felt like strangers.
And so Jin made a resolution in his heart.
No matter how things ended, he would keep his promise to stay by their side until the very end.
Of course, that promise had been with himself from the beginning, not with others.
Anyway.
So what now?
His interest shifted back to the inner world once more.
The oval object that had appeared after making the contract with Prision.
Since it had taken root in the inner world, its usage was probably similar to the other visions. That natural assumption caused mana to flow.
Whoosh.
The pure power flowing through the perfectly formed circuit entered the oval object.
A moment later—
Surprisingly, a familiar voice came from within.
[You kept me waiting quite a while.]
“Prision?”
[I received it well. As expected of one blessed by mana. Such pure mana.]
“Hey, you bastard. What are you doing in there?”
[Another monkey-like question. Have you already forgotten? We made a contract.]
“That was you unilaterally—”
Swallowing the curse that rose to his throat, Jin slowly exhaled. His voice lowered as he continued.
“…Anyway, fine. So what exactly is this contract?”
[Simple. If you channel mana here, I will guide a spirit suitable for the mana you provide. Of course, I need to eat too, so I’ll take a commission.]
“……”
[No need to be surprised. And it’s not a bad deal for you either. Honestly, your spirit affinity is completely abysmal. I’ve never seen someone with such poor talent.]
Prision’s tone carried a hint of laughter.
[By nature, you’re incompatible with spirits. Even if you trained your whole life, you probably wouldn’t have been able to summon even the lowest-grade spirit. But not anymore. I’ll personally act as your intermediary.]
At the unexpected words, Jin’s brow twitched.
So it was like a spirit-world linker? He spent mana, paid a commission, and got a suitable spirit summoned?
After quickly making his judgment, Jin spoke again.
“How much commission are you skimming?”
[Hmm, there’s something called a budget. Considering the trouble of connecting your inner world with my domain and various other factors, about fifty percent?]
“What? That’s straight-up robbery.”
Even a loan shark wouldn’t go this far. At the vicious condition, Jin’s eyes widened.
[That’s how these contracts work. If you want to blame someone, blame your own pathetic talent.]
“You bastard, that’s because I didn’t light up any stars!”
[…?]
“No, forget it. Anyway, if you ate the mana, send that spirit over. At least let me check.”
[Ah, of course. It’s already being prepared……]
Suddenly, Prision’s voice faded.
“What?”
[Wait, what is this—no, it’s impossible.]
Despite telling Jin not to be surprised, it was Prision whose own voice began to tremble.
The next moment—
A completely bewildered voice spoke.
[Your true name… wasn’t it Jin Evernight?]