Prologue: The Absolute Being
I am the Absolute Being.
The one who first unified every corner of this world—the Eastern Continent of the Central Plains’ Moorim, the Western Continent of knights and mages, the Southern Continent where dragons roam free, and the Northern Continent where the great dragons make their nests.
Yet I am an outsider.
Forty years ago, I was pulled into the pages of a comic book I had borrowed from a bookstore. In a reality too vivid to dismiss as a dream, I fought with everything I had to return to my original world. I endured countless wars, crossed paths with the strongest of the strong, fought battle after battle, and watched precious people leave my side forever.
Time flowed on until forty years had passed. I had achieved everything—and still I could not go home. Even when the greatest mages of the Western Continent joined forces with the finest sorcerers of the East, they could not open a path to another world.
And now.
The moment the Demon God stood before me, instinct told me the truth.
Killing him would be the final chapter.
The sky was dyed crimson. Space itself twisted and warped around us.
“Kraaaagh!”
The Demon God, his entire arm from shoulder to fingertips severed, screamed toward the heavens.
“Why… just why?!”
Kwaaaaaah!
A colossal surge of power erupted from the enraged Demon God’s body.
“You already have everything in the world of Belhart! Why do you keep coming after me?! Did I not swear it? I would never touch your world!”
The Demon God roared, spitting blood. He had sworn upon the name of a god that he would never invade Belhart. So why did this man keep throwing himself at him, again and again?
“Look at yourself! Your body is already ruined beyond repair—you cannot survive this! Even if you somehow live, you’ll be nothing but a cripple!”
His left arm was already gone. His right eye was gone as well.
“Khack.”
The being standing before the screaming Demon God wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and fixed him with a cold stare.
The Absolute Being—Baek Do-ha.
“It doesn’t matter. Even if I lose every last scrap of my power, I have to bring this to an end.”
No one had told him. He simply knew, deep in his bones.
Only by killing this creature would the comic book reach its conclusion.
“What the hell do you mean by ‘conclusion’?!”
The Demon God bellowed, unable to grasp the meaning. From the moment they first clashed until now, the man had repeated that single word over and over. And still the Demon God had no idea what it meant.
“You fool. You achieved everything, and still you throw yourself toward death!”
He already knew exactly how Baek Do-ha had lived. Was it not a waste? After surviving endless wars and countless brushes with death, he had become the sole ruler of the world. If he had simply accepted the offer of non-aggression, he would not be dying like this.
“Achieved everything, you say…”
Do-ha’s eyes sank into icy stillness.
I never needed power. I never needed the throne of Belhart’s Absolute Being. All the strength I built up over the years? I don’t need that either.
I just want to go home… back to my family. Back to my grandfather’s side.
Power had made everything convenient. Overwhelming strength had banished every fear. Yet whenever he closed his eyes, the faces of his family flickered before him. As if someone had cast an illusion, his grandfather’s gentle smile appeared—and longing surged up without warning. It crushed the twin narcotics of power and strength and flooded every corner of his body.
Black blood welled up his throat and spilled over.
Every last drop of energy in his body was scattering like grains of sand. Fighting the Demon God had already pushed him past his limits. A human body challenging a god—this outcome was only natural.
His vision blurred.
This is the last one.
Do-ha shook his head hard, fighting the haze, and clenched his fist.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
There are things more precious to a person than money, power, strength, or even life itself.
“Or maybe… you simply have nothing truly precious, so you can’t understand what I feel.”
Do-ha looked at the Demon God and gave a thin, bitter smile.
“I’ll give you one last chance. Leave. If you go now, you’ll keep your life. You’ll be praised as the Absolute Being who defeated a god.”
The Demon God bit his lip and displayed his mutilated body.
“I have my own sins. Let these wounds serve as payment. I will also recall every last member of my cult and all my followers.”
“Kh… kuhuhuhu.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Forgiveness… from someone who’s still absorbing power from the demons?”
“……So you noticed.”
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
In an instant the Demon God’s expression vanished. Black energy swirled violently around him as he drained the life force of every demon still remaining across the land.
Do-ha swayed slightly and let out a long breath.
“Hoo…”
The Demon God’s power was climbing higher, yet he too had already hit his limit. Before this final battle, Do-ha had already annihilated most of the Demon God Cult that followed him. There was little left for the creature to absorb.
“Let’s finish this.”
Do-ha wrung out every remaining drop of strength.
Wooooong!
Kwaaaaaah!
As his final power exploded outward, a pure, radiant light bloomed from his body. Then he became a single streak of light and shot toward the Demon God.
“You bastard!”
The Demon God transformed into a black beam of light and charged as well. The two forces collided head-on.
Saaaaaah!
A fierce wind howled. Dust-covered comic book pages began to flutter open.
Shwaaaaaaah.
Tiny grains of light spilled from between the rustling pages and drifted gently down onto the bed.
Chzzzzzz.
The light particles settled, gathered, and slowly formed a human shape.
“Ugh…”
It was Baek Do-ha.
He opened his eyes slowly.
What… what the hell happened?
An unfamiliar ceiling filled his vision—covered in moss and mold, like some abandoned temple. In the center hung a structure he recognized yet had not seen in a very long time.
That’s… a light fixture?
He blinked several times, then carefully pushed himself upright. He had been fighting the Demon God—why was there suddenly a light fixture?
His hand bumped against something.
“Where…?”
He turned his head, frowning, and picked up the object beside him.
“No way…”
It was the comic book he had been pulled into—Volume 2 of Belhart.
He had borrowed it from Dream Books, opened the second volume to read it, and been sucked inside in a flash of blinding light.
“This is… my room.”
Holding the book, he scanned his surroundings. Moss, mold, and long trailing vines had hidden it at first, but there was no mistake. This was his room. The clothes he had sprayed with fabric freshener and hung up. The bag on the floor. The pay envelope on the desk. Even the phone by his pillow—everything was exactly as it had been the day he vanished.
What in the world is going on?
Had he really returned? Why was the room like this? It looked like the aftermath of an apocalypse—cracks running through the walls, broken windows, the entire interior choked with weeds and moss.
“Belhart, Volume 2…”
He flipped the book open, half-expecting to be pulled in again. Nothing happened.
“Blank pages…”
Nothing but empty white paper.
“What about Volume 1?”
He grabbed the first volume and opened it. His brow furrowed. The same. The vivid art style and story he remembered were gone—only blank pages remained. Volume 1 had opened with a spectacular, realistic illustration of the Eastern Continent’s Moorim warriors and the Western Continent’s knights and mages, and of the dragons of East and West beginning their war. Now it was as if the entire thing had been nothing but a dream.
“Ha… what the hell is this?”
Still unable to make sense of anything, Do-ha rose from the bed. He gripped the broken window frame and forced it open. A harsh, grinding screech of rusted metal filled the room, like someone screaming.
“…Did the world end or something?”
The view outside made his pupils tremble. Every building was cracked and crumbling. Cars lay blackened as if they had exploded. Skeletons littered the streets here and there.
“Grandfather!”
In a flash he launched himself toward the master bedroom. If the world had become this, what about his grandfather?
He slammed the door open.
“…Empty.”
He stared at the floor first, terrified he might find a body. Then something caught his eye through the window—a light far in the distance.
“What is that?”
He forced the window open again and peered out, tilting his head.
“That building way over there… looks fine?”
Fireworks were rising from the rooftop of a distant high-rise—not distress signals, but celebratory fireworks for fun.
Sensing something off, Do-ha turned and examined the room more carefully.
The clothes, the blankets… everything is exactly the way it was the day I disappeared.
The belongings in his own room were untouched as well.
Could it be that only Paju ended up like this?
If that were true, it would actually be a relief. The day he vanished, his grandfather had gone to Seoul on business. Do-ha remembered it clearly—it had been payday.
“He might have escaped this disaster.”
A long breath of relief finally left him. Nothing was certain yet, but if the entire world had not been reduced to ruins, the odds that his grandfather was still alive were high.
He started walking.
“First I need to confirm whether I’ve really returned to my original world… huh?”
Reaching for the phone in his room, he froze in mild shock.
What? His left arm was attached.
He checked further.
“My eye’s fine too.”
Only now, after fretting over his grandfather, did he realize his body was whole. He wiped the moss from the wall mirror and stared at his reflection.
“…Not a single injury.”
Every body part he had lost fighting the Demon God was restored. The only thing missing was the sky-shaking power he once wielded—it was completely gone.
“I’ll go outside and figure out what’s going on.”
He stuffed his phone and the pay envelope into his bag and stepped out of the building. The streetlights nearby were all shattered, leaving the area dim, but not pitch-black.
“I’ll head for that building over there.”
That should tell him why this place had become a wasteland.
A sudden gust of wind sent a flyer fluttering into his face. He narrowed his eyes.
“Martial law?”
He caught the paper and read the text printed on it.
Unknown monstrous lifeforms are attacking and harming people. All citizens are advised to evacuate immediately to safe locations.
Those who have manifested special powers…
“What is this?”
Do-ha’s brow furrowed as he finished reading.
Monstrous lifeforms? Special powers? What was all this supposed to mean?
Just then—
Rustle.
“Kyaaaak!”
While he was still staring at the flyer, a monstrous creature burst out of the villa’s flower bed and let out a shrieking cry.