The World After the Fall

Jaehwan's body became tense. It wasn't only because of Mulack's presence, but his words. 10 billion years? Had it really been that long?

'How am I even alive?'

Mulack began to scan Jaehwan's entire spirit with his eyes. It seemed as if he was looking deep into entire cells that comprised the spirit. Mulack's expression turned serious.

[Wait… what is this? Huh? Why are you still at the 5th step of Awakening? Still at the [Proof] step? You should have gotten to the 6th step [Edit] if you moved up the stream of the Fall of time…]

"…"

[You are still a 'being' but you still got here? Hey, Jaehwan. What happened inside the Fall?!]

Jaehwan did not answer. Instead, he pulled out the sword quietly and spoke.

"You awake?"

The sword spoke up.

[Yeah. I've been awake for a while now.]

"What do you think of this?"

[What do I think of what? Just do what we always used to do. I felt as bored as hell listening to him saying all that crap.]

"Yeah. I guess we don't need to listen anymore."

[You bet we don't.]

Jaehwan nodded. With the power of the [Fall] wielding the sword, [Parts] of the Three Ancient Gods began to take form in a bright light. Machina covered Jaehwan's entire body and the Eye of Geshtalt increased Jaehwan's world power as the Void Sword began to replicate itself in the air, trying to make an attack. But whatever Jaehwan did, Mulack didn't seem to be that interested.

[How can this be… how can a lesser being like that manage to come here…]

Mulack seemed to be in distress. Jaehwan thought this was the only chance. Without him knowing how strong Mulack was, attacking first seemed like only chance to claim victory.

The wave of the [Fall] swept across Panopticon.

It didn't unleash enough world power for Jaehwan to be satisfied with as he had been resting in the Fall of time for too long, but it was still much powerful than the Three Ancient Gods in their prime. The Eye of Geshtalt began to spin, Machina increased Jaehwan's defense, and the Void Sword exploded in blades.

And in the next moment...

Jaehwan felt the shock of being pounded throughout his entire body as he was thrown back. The entire space was pounding on him. Time was going slow to fast, back and forth.

'What is going on…!'

Beastlain began screaming. The sword was being destroyed. Wave of the [Fall] perished instantly, Machina was scrapped to pieces, the Eye of Geshtalt stopped spinning and lost its shine. The Void Sword cracked, evaporating into the air.

And then Mulack appeared through everything.

[It's a shame. I guess I'll have to wait for the next Big Brother then.]

As he looked at Mulack raising his hand, Jaehwan felt the feeling of facing a universe and that he was just dust. It was the first time he felt death so close. In the terrifying fear, Jaehwan begged to an unknown someone.

'Help me. Please help. Give me strength.'

But no voice came back. The space of Panopticon was eating away his spirit.

'It's being erased.' The time he had fought, his determination, will, precious memories… they were all fading away.

There were no words to describe this death. Jaehwan became afraid. But he still felt that he was 'alive'. He feared his death, but death only existed when there was life. It had been a long fight, but in the end, Jaehwan finally faced his existence.

'Yes, I will die. But I will die as a 'being'. I would rather die than become a Big Brother to…'

And at some point, it stopped. Jaehwan thought he finally had died. But he just thought if he had died. That wasn't possible if he really did.

Mulack was right in front of Jaehwan with his eyes opened in shock.

[…What is that?]

Mulack was glaring at the world protecting Jaehwan. A mysterious power was protecting his body. It was his unique world. But it was actually Jaehwan who wanted to ask the same question. He looked around and saw his unique world surrounding his entire body.

But how?

Even if he was at the [Proof] step, Mulack's power just wiped out the [Parts] of the Three Ancient Gods. But how could his unique world… Jaehwan then stopped at one point of the unique world. There were countless scribbles written. It looked a lot like Jaehwan's own writing, but it looked like someone else had written on it. It looked like a conversation, but it was actually a proof of extreme loneliness.

87 millionth year.

-HAHA Dammit. I'm done now. Next up, I'm counting on you.

-Yeah. Leave it to me.

125 millionth year.

-I feel like dying.

-Me too. Save me. Please.

-Ugh. How did the other guys do this?

-Hey, anyone who's going to come later, write down a novel or something so I can read it. Oh, wait. I won't be here then…

-You fellas are going wacko.

570 millionth year.

-I should've gotten laid with Sirwen back then… or Surha… no. I think Runald would've been good too…

-This one became mad after 2.3 million years! Look at what he said!

-Just think you're in the military again.

-F*ck you. There's no military service that lasts this long. I don't even know when I'll be done with this sh*t.

-Haha if you are reading this, you've gotten through 500 thousand years. Congrats.

1 billion, 530 million years.

-Who's next? I feel like I'm going crazy for 1 million years alone.

-1 million is where it gets serious, Pops.

-Rest in peace.