An Unchanging Apocalypse
Would the Post-Apocalyptic Earth world have changed alongside the transformed conditions of reality?
Or would it continue to persist like a simulation once created under specific conditions?
Or, even though the conditions of reality had changed, would it still fail to prevent the apocalypse due in over a decade, resulting in a similar situation?
The third possibility seems unlikely.
If that were the case, such a massive amount of Karma would not have flooded in and accumulated. At the very least, he must have delayed the apocalypse for a considerable period, which is why he had obtained such abundant Karma.
After securing the safe house through the Dream Illusion Formation, he played enough with Mu-yong, who had stayed obediently quiet while he worked. Only then did he lie down on the bed and activate his awakening ability.
Soon.
Regaining his senses in the waiting space, he checked on the unconscious Mu-yong and finished all preparations. Standing before the endlessly shifting door, he paused for a moment, wondering what kind of wind he should recall.
Let's head to that Post-Apocalyptic Earth first.
It would let him grasp his awakening ability more concretely than simply fixing the door while picturing the future Earth.
The last visit was back during the Initiation Stage.
Now that he had reached the Core Formation stage, many things would be different from then. Even if he arrived in the same world.
The moment he placed his hand on the door with that thought, its shape locked in place.
It was the exact same door, completely unchanged.
Even the rusted modern emergency fire-exit door with the silver letters reading “Post-Apocalyptic Earth” floating above it remained identical.
“Hmm……”
Could he keep visiting regardless of the changed reality? Or, despite judging the possibility low, had the apocalypse still not been prevented?
With a slightly heavier heart, he opened the door and stepped inside. The sight of a city abandoned for decades or more, utterly devoid of any trace of life, tightened his nerves.
Every trace of spiritual energy he sensed had been corrupted into ghostly energy—gloomy, cold, and carrying a property that continuously weakened the mind and stirred up fear.
He could not tell whether the planet had been terraformed or simply ravaged by merciless plunder.
It was time to find out, but first he could not ignore the part connected to that “Wonhee.”
Confirming whether Yeongwon High School still existed would tell him whether this world had ultimately met its apocalypse despite reality’s changes.
After all, in reality the school had already been taken over by another foundation and renamed.
Turning into a streak of purple light, he concealed his presence with Monghwan Yusim and moved swiftly. None of the countless ghosts caught by his divine sense noticed Han Yujin.
Fighting the suited ghost might hold some meaning, but…
It was hardly urgent. Learning now or later would do little beyond satisfying curiosity.
A short while later.
Standing before the vividly remembered Yeongwon High School, he could only nod silently.
No matter how reality has changed, this world seems to be maintained independently.
There was no chance the school in reality had reverted to its original name. It had belonged to a foundation run by a cult and drug syndicate, and he had recently driven the image of every cult containing the word “eternal” straight into the ground.
Whether it exists as one branch among countless possibilities, or whether the previous record of the door being fixed remains and the world is being reconstructed like a simulation…
He still could not tell.
At any rate, if this world was not linked to reality, the number of things he needed to investigate would shrink considerably.
He stared down at Yeongwon High School—a place he hesitated to even push his divine sense into—then suddenly shot off toward Beijing.
Ten or so minutes later.
After crossing a sea thick with rotting ghostly energy, he stopped at the outskirts of China’s capital without advancing any farther.
He had expected a scene similar to Korea’s, or at least one swarming with the Eternal Goddess Sect’s ghosts, but…
What the hell is this?
Only a colossal hole stretching nearly to the horizon existed. Ghostly energy erupting from within formed darkness imbued with abnormal power, blocking not only sight but even divine sense.
A hole of this size and depth would surely appear as a gaping wound even from space.
What exactly are they doing to the Earth?
Were they planning to use the entire planet as some kind of sacrifice? Would that even mean anything?
He might learn more about the Eternal Goddess Sect. Concealing his appearance and presence even more carefully, he circled the perimeter of the pit.
The circumference was so vast an ordinary person could not have walked it in days. Yet Han Yujin, a Core Formation investigator who had also mastered the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art, completed a full lap in no time.
Clang……!
Claaang……!
Occasionally, the sound of enormous metal clashing rose from inside. Even that noise, tainted by ghostly energy like a curse, sent chills down the spine the instant it was heard.
Even though he had already punished the man enough, fresh waves of contempt and irritation toward Li Haozi surged up.
To conspire with extraterrestrial ghosts and turn the Earth into this state.
The sight of humanity’s accumulated history and potential being utterly destroyed shook even him—someone who had never particularly felt any love for humankind—on an emotional level.
Whatever it is, this is still my hometown.
Even if this place was an independent world unaffected by reality, even if it was merely a future that would never be realized, he wanted to know what was happening.
Having gained no significant information from the outskirts, he eventually entered the darkness-filled interior. As he descended, the intensifying cold, the shrinking of his senses and divine sense, made him click his tongue.
If it’s this bad with my current strength, entry would have been impossible back in the Initiation or Dharma Soul stages.
With that thought, he ventured a little deeper.
Shhhhhhhk……!
At last the ghost race began to appear.
Yet their strength was far from ordinary.
The weakest were at late Dharma Soul stage, and the one patrolling with a dozen of them was at Core Formation.
What are they guarding against?
It was already a fully conquered world; the fact they were still wary of intrusion was suspicious.
Looking closer, they were not merely patrolling—they occasionally projected power into their surroundings to reinforce the darkness.
Their forms, barely visible as outlines buried in that darkness, were truly horrifying. It was not a question of whether he could win; they emitted an aura that instinctively triggered primal terror.
Fortunately, as he was no ordinary Core Formation investigator, he continued downward without being detected even under such adverse conditions.
Surprisingly, despite the ever-thickening and horrific darkness, a faint light began to appear from below. It was not that the darkness was thinning; the light was forcibly tearing through it.
What could it be?
Had something like this existed on Earth from the beginning, or was it a phenomenon created by some scheme of the ghost race?
As his curiosity deepened and the shape of the light cluster grew clearer, the guarding ghosts strengthening the darkness had reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Yet the reason Han Yujin remained undetected was obvious.
To the ghost race, the light cluster—which felt merely bright to him—seemed to act like a flashbang. Even the Nascent Soul stage ghosts showed greatly dulled senses.
Thanks to that, he could descend farther by hiding within the light.
One thing was certain: this light cluster was not the handiwork of the ghost race.
The pit’s darkness exists to suppress and conceal it.
Judging so, he kept moving until he finally reached the source and could observe the scene.
The light originated from a wide, flat, overall oval object slowly rotating at the center of the massive underground cavity, radiating brilliant radiance.
Around it, a triple-digit number of powerful ghosts projected power to suppress the light. The weakest were at late Core Formation, Nascent Soul stage ghosts were common, and there were more than ten entities with terrifying auras estimated to be at Soul Formation.
They all resembled humans yet were dyed pitch-black and strangely twisted, evoking irresistible horror.
In that instant.
As if sensing his gaze, several Soul Formation ghosts turned their eyes toward Han Yujin.
Despite the light filling the surroundings, a chill as though falling into an abyss washed over him. Thinking it might be coincidence, he quickly changed position, but their gazes did not waver.
Instead, even more Soul Formation ghosts fixed their eyes on him. His breath caught in his throat and cold paralyzed his senses.
They expressed no intent whatsoever. Even though a human had appeared in what was clearly a critical location, they revealed no emotion and simply continued staring.
Exactly as Wonhee had done back at Yeongwon High School.
The apostles didn’t feel like this…
The sense that conversation would be impossible made it even more terrifying. It was not simply encountering another species, but witnessing something that absolutely should not exist in the universe; his body trembled on its own.
Their gazes.
The mysterious feeling held within those jet-black pupils seemed to freeze even the thoughts in his head.
Just when it seemed he would be helplessly neutralized—
Clang—!!
The familiar sound of massive metal clashing that he had heard outside the pit shook the surroundings.
Claaang—!!
It came from the oval object, the source of the brilliant light. Each time the roar erupted, the light intensified and pushed all the ghosts back at once.
Regaining his senses, Han Yujin realized there was only one path to survival and immediately flew toward the oval object.
Suddenly.
As he flew, the object’s shape felt strangely familiar.
At first glance it looked like a giant mirror, yet a far stronger impression rose in his mind.
A door…?
The moment that thought surfaced.
An even greater sense of crisis exploded, and before he could react, a colossal jet-black “finger” appeared and crushed him in an instant.
It was a literal instant with no time to feel pain.
I’m dead.
He sighed inwardly and waited for the silver letters to appear in the darkened world.
What exactly killed me?
He did not know the owner of the finger. It did not seem as if one of the Soul Formation ghosts had acted, because he had seen the oval object erupt with roar and light, shoving them back.
Could a Body Integration stage ghost… or perhaps that goddess being herself have intervened?
Or maybe a Void Refinement stage ghost, half a step below Body Integration, had taken action.
As he continued that line of thought, he suddenly sensed something wrong.
The silver letters were not appearing.
…Why?
The bewilderment he felt the moment he realized it was the greatest he had experienced in his life.
Fortunately, right after that.
The surrounding darkness lifted on its own and all his senses returned to normal.
In a way he could not immediately comprehend, he was back at the exact spot where he had first set foot in this Post-Apocalyptic Earth world.
As if everything that had just happened had been nothing more than an illusion.
“…What the hell?”
Muttering reflexively, he first concealed his presence.
He needed to properly assess the situation once more.