Chapter 265
Chapter 265
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 265
>Chapter Title: The Door to Nihility
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Thud…
Thud…
Kang Seol's heart pounded as if it had malfunctioned, beating wildly. It felt like it might burst right out of his chest any second.
“Ugh…”
“You okay?”
Thuuud…
Thuuuud…
The reverberations swelled and faded in waves.
— …Kang Seol, open the door.
“Ugh…”
His head rang so fiercely he couldn’t even pinpoint whose voice it was.
His body wasn’t normal.
Huuuh…
Kang Seol drew in a deep breath.
“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me it’s from that spar just now…”
“No, it’s not that…”
The echoes suddenly quieted.
He didn’t know what was happening, but at least he could breathe a sigh of relief.
“Haa…”
“You good now?”
Nod…
Kang Seol gave a small nod and pressed his hand to his chest.
‘What the hell…’
Right then.
THUUUUD—!
“Urk……”
“Hey, Kang Seol!”
Thud…
An immense shock hit Kang Seol’s chest, and he crumpled.
“His qi and blood are twisting! Lay him down!”
“Kang Seol!”
Beeeeeeep…
The sounds around him faded away.
Kang Seol’s consciousness sank deep, deep down.
* * *
Knock… Knock…
The deeper it plunged, the greater the pressure grew.
Kang Seol’s sinking consciousness slammed into intense pressure.
Creeeak…
“Ugh…”
“…Kang Seol.”
Clunk…
At the sound of someone calling him, Kang Seol barely managed to halt his fall into the abyss.
“Who’s there?”
“Who do you think?”
Only now could he instantly recognize the voice that had been calling him.
“Uru.”
“Good to know you haven’t forgotten me entirely.”
“Haha…”
A bespectacled spirit appeared before Kang Seol.
“I’ve found the key to Nihility.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And… Nihility is already complete.”
“…What?”
Uru and the other summons hadn’t been able to join Kang Seol yet because Nihility remained unfinished.
“Then why…”
“I also learned why it took so long.”
Slide…
Uru calmly adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
“The proper way to open the door to Nihility isn’t from inside here.”
“……”
“You’ve figured it out, right? In other words, you’re the one who has to open the door to Nihility, not me.”
Nihility.
To unlock that space—which offered tremendous efficiency for far beyond a mere familiar-training ground—required Kang Seol’s power, not Uru’s.
“It won’t be like with Karuna. Back then, forcibly linking it was pure luck. It won’t happen again.”
“But opening the door from this side… I can’t…”
I can’t do it.
“Why not?”
“Because… I…”
I’m not an Immortal.
I’m not that strong or wise.
Clunk. The thought hit him.
‘No… that’s not what I meant to say…’
Wasn’t it?
I…
“Open the door, Kang Seol. I’ll be waiting.”
“Wait—”
Ssssssh…
* * *
While he was unconscious, Kang Seol had been moved to a bed as close as possible to the incense burner.
Several needles were stuck into exposed areas of his skin.
“So, his body kept cooling down…”
“Ugh…”
“He’s awake!”
“Kang Seol!”
With Chiwoo’s support, Kang Seol sat up, propping himself on his elbows.
“Urgh… what happened…”
“You back with us? You just blacked out suddenly.”
“Oh…”
Once it seemed Kang Seol had fully regained his senses, Hye-myeong smiled.
“Hahaha! Well, that spar had to take its toll. You acted all calm, but pushing your body like that hurts. Next time, speak up if something’s off.”
“……”
Kang Seol didn’t have the energy to respond to Hye-myeong.
The night passed amid the commotion.
And with nearly two days left before entering the Watara ruins, everyone else was relaxed.
Everyone except Kang Seol.
“Grrrh…”
Kang Seol furrowed his brow, his face flushing red. He looked like someone desperate for the bathroom.
“Haa…”
Snap! The tension released.
— Open the door, Kang Seol. I’ll be waiting.
Uru’s words still echoed in his ears.
Uru had said he’d be waiting.
Probably meaning there was nothing more he could do.
‘So how do I open it?’
Even if he was told to open the door, he had no idea where it was, how to open it, or even if it truly existed.
— I heard this guy developed a habit of shitting his pants after fainting and waking up. Is it true?
— Hasn’t succeeded yet, but he’s trying hard.
— Hope he pulls it off. Oh, his face says he might’ve leaked a little!
— Praying for an easy delivery!
Oblivious to his inner turmoil, the viewers were treating Kang Seol’s efforts like some bizarre spectacle.
“…Karuna.”
— Yes, Master.
“You said you crossed a door to get here?”
— Yes, there was definitely a door.
No advisor could be better than someone with experience.
Kang Seol grilled Karuna on every detail of crossing from Nihility to here.
“What did the door look like exactly?”
— It was a bit narrow. So old and rickety that I worried it might shatter just pushing it open.
“Hmm…”
— Not sure if this describes it well, but… the door I came through didn’t seem like a regular entrance. More like an emergency one left just in case.
In short, Karuna’s door wasn’t the main route but a special path. Like a hidden route in games.
‘How the hell did Karuna find that door?’
Even Uru called it luck, so it must’ve been an absurdly low-probability, arduous path.
Karuna had forced his way through those odds to reach here.
If he’d failed, he might still be wandering Nihility.
Kang Seol couldn’t help but admire his loyalty and resolve.
— There… must be more doors.
Karuna added that line.
Kang Seol perked up.
“Why do you think that?”
— While wandering Nihility, I sensed it. A massive presence somewhere. I just couldn’t pinpoint the location.
“Hmm…”
There were definitely doors.
But could he open one?
‘With the Immortal, things fell into place so easily, I thought it’d be simple…’
Building Nihility firsthand had been anything but simple.
The words Kang Seol had tried to say to Uru in his trance.
‘I’m not an Immortal.’
He wasn’t.
He wasn’t as strong or wise as the Immortal who’d built it.
‘Still, that doesn’t mean there’s no way.’
There had to be a path.
“Grrrh…”
Kang Seol focused his mind again, steeling himself. The “door” probably wasn’t physical, so the answer lay in the mental realm.
— He’s pushing again!
— Here we go!
— Ikuzo! Smooth sails!
* * *
The second night.
“Haa…”
He’d concentrated from morning to evening, but saw no real progress.
Truthfully, it wasn’t cause for despair.
If he proceeded step by step like always, opening Nihility and finding Uru’s door would happen eventually.
‘No. Opening it that late could cause problems.’
Kang Seol knew what trial awaited Hye-myeong next.
And that he couldn’t help much as he was now.
‘Unless I recover at least some power, I can’t aid him, and the past will repeat.’
In the past, Hye-myeong overcame the crisis using the Wasteland Spirit. Since Kang Seol had come to reclaim it, he couldn’t rely on that method.
But being unable to help Hye-myeong now meant Hye-myeong would have no choice but to use the Wasteland Spirit again.
Kang Seol’s power was formidable, but the foe in this trial wouldn’t be affected much by it.
Hence his impatience.
Otherwise, he’d just repeat the past. He wouldn’t reclaim the Wasteland Spirit.
‘Still, time remains. I’ll keep at it.’
The threat to Hye-myeong would come later, after more time passed. Hye-myeong hadn’t awakened the golden idol’s power at all yet, so timing-wise, it fit.
It’d probably strike after several more trips in and out of the ruins.
‘Until then… damn it, may I open this door.’
As Kang Seol brooded, someone approached.
“Hahaha! Brother, what’s on your mind?”
It was Hye-myeong.
But the form of address was suspicious.
“Since when are we brothers?”
“Don’t you remember last night?”
“…Because of that?”
“What else? We greatly aided each other’s growth. Isn’t that brotherhood?”
Not wrong.
Kang Seol had shaken off his vague fear of the Tenth Word too.
Whoosh—!
“Here.”
“This is…”
A gourd flask.
Slosh…
“This smell… liquor?”
“You got it. Was saving it, but you treated us to meals, and to celebrate brotherhood.”
— Told you. This guy’s no monk. Bet he never shaved his head.
— Broken precepts! Defying rules on the path to truth!
Kang Seol didn’t drink much, nor did he guzzle whatever others offered.
But was Hye-myeong “others”? Brother—no, himself from another time.
Plus, he’d checked: nothing added. Just booze in the gourd.
Gulp…
Kang Seol wet his throat with the liquor.
“Good, right?”
“…Yeah, it is.”
The two men sat on a rock, gazing at the rising moon. The vast highland filled their chests.
“Like I said earlier, you seem full of worries?”
“Worries…”
Kang Seol chuckled.
“Always.”
Hye-myeong laughed heartily in response.
“Hahaha! Honestly, you’re the first man I’ve met as an equal.”
“……”
“Was that arrogant?”
Kang Seol hesitated.
‘Can’t influence Hye-myeong too much.’
If their meeting warped Hye-myeong’s path too far, events could spiral unpredictably.
What if Hye-myeong succeeded in Ascension?
Or failed and fell?
Gulp…
“Anyway, I can’t imagine what troubles a young guy like you—with such power—could have.”
Kang Seol’s mind blanked for a moment.
“If I were you, I’d have no worries. Hahaha!”
Being called a powerhouse by Hye-myeong—the legendary Tenth Word who’d challenge Ascension to become a god—felt odd.
“I mean…”
Hye-myeong shared his backstory.
His days cultivating in a small hermitage.
The persecuted Engan tribe, and even among them, the outcast orphan Mia came to him.
Mia had lost her eyes before her coming-of-age rite.
Such cases were rare, and when they happened, disaster usually struck the tribe. That’s why she was abandoned.
“I had to protect her.”
Hunters targeting the Engan raged, becoming a huge threat to the hermitage.
Hye-myeong took Mia and left.
“Getting this far was honestly luck. And obtaining this idol too.”
The golden idol still gleamed.
“Don’t you resent those who abandoned Mia?”
“Not at all. Not everyone can reach Nirvana. The path of Enlightenment is walked alone—sharing hardships can burden others.”
“You sound like a monk sometimes.”
“Hahaha! And you don’t look like an archaeologist at all. We’re even.”
“True.”
An inexplicable feeling welled in Kang Seol’s heart. Not melancholy or ennui.
Just a desire to confirm something.
“Hye-myeong.”
“Haha… Hearing my name called like that feels familiar. Aside from Mia, hardly anyone does.”
“What if someone decided most of your life? How’d you feel?”
“…Intriguing question.”
Kang Seol had shaped Hye-myeong’s entire life.
How would Hye-myeong take it?
“Dunno what I’d say, but I’d want to meet them.”
“…Who?”
“The one who decided my life.”
Hye-myeong sat right beside that person, oblivious. A dramatic scene. But it answered much for Kang Seol.
The talk with Hye-myeong illuminated his path like faint fireflies.
Might as well push further.
“A door.”
“…Huh?”
“There’s a door inside me.”
“Sounds crazy.”
“I need to open it, but don’t know how. You got ideas?”
“Hmm…”
Hye-myeong scratched his chin, then said,
“Can’t exactly crack your chest and yank out your heart, so it’s about cultivation.”
“Cultivation?”
“Yeah, mental cultivation.”
Hye-myeong’s view matched Kang Seol’s.
“That’s my specialty. Hey, wanna ask Watara?”
Slide…
Hye-myeong pulled out the golden idol.
“Why that?”
“You know about this place, right?”
“Roughly.”
“Then you know about Watara too.”
“Yeah.”
“Watara’s less a god, more a transcendent mental entity. An ancient being who cultivated to the mind’s limit.”
“You know your stuff.”
“Haha, the ruins are full of traces—pictures make it easy to grasp.”
Golden idol.
It housed Watara’s mental essence.
Watara sought nothing special.
He helped idol-bearers shed their shells and wished that power spread through the world.
Most excavated statues from ruins were grotesque, but this golden one held benevolent will.
“Watara, you heard Kang Seol’s dilemma? To open the door…”
— It has arrived.
“On my—”
Something no one expected happened.
The golden idol’s mouth opened, speaking.
Kang Seol, new to this, froze.
— The Great Evil has arrived. Prepare, ye of goodwill.
That instant.
Ruuuumble—!
The ruins’ door surged up abruptly.
Hye-myeong looked around wildly.
“Why… a day early…”
Kang Seol gazed skyward.
Rumble…
Storm clouds approached.
‘No way!’
Kang Seol’s hackles rose.
‘It’s him! No way…’
The evil he’d face after multiple ruin visits was here now.
‘Hye-myeong’s not ready!’
Only one choice.
“Hye-myeong! Run!”
“Huh?”
“Run! Hurry!”
The commotion had already woken the group, who stared confused at the manifested door.
“Inside!”
“What…”
“Seolhong!”
“Mia!”
At Kang Seol’s shout, Chiwoo swiftly scooped Seolhong and Mia, leaping into the ruins.
Perfect response.
Hye-myeong hesitated, turning back to Kang Seol.
“Kang Seol!”
“…It’s coming!”
Whiiiiiir…
A sensation like a meteor hurtling in.
The meteor struck Kang Seol in a flash.
“Kang Seol!”
[The Progenitor’s Bone devours the impact.]
[The Progenitor’s Bone is starving.]
[The Progenitor’s Bone digests all impact.]
Kang Seol flew back, Hye-myeong catching him. They tumbled through the door amid the shock.
Thuuuud…
The door that swallowed them vanished instantly.
“Huff… huff…”
“You okay? What the hell was that…”
Having withstood the blow, they halted in stunned silence.
The golden idol spoke again.
— The Great Evil has arrived. Do not let it be taken. Watara’s benevolent will, that power.
Kang Seol met the idol’s gaze.
It seemed to address him directly.
— Claim Watara’s legacy.
A message appeared for Kang Seol.
[Sudden adventure ‘Watara’s Legacy’ occurs.]
[This adventure is extremely dangerous.]
……