Beyond the Eternity

The sound of heavy footsteps. A parasitic human was crossing through the darkness while making a strange cry.

The right arm of its host had been severed, with blood gushing out like a fountain. Yet, there was no pain. As a parasite, \'It\' wasn\'t capable of feeling pain or any human emotion. At least, It was not supposed to.

Yet, for the first time in its short existence, It felt \'fear\'.

It was trying to escape that thing. That monster.

All parasites were fragments of the existence known as the \'Faceless One\'. Therefore, they only has the same goal and purpose— find humans, kill humans and spread itself using humans as a vessel. \'It\' had stayed true to order engraved in its existence and attacked all humans it came across. But this time, it had encountered a being that etched the fear of \'death\' into its very being.

That thing wasn\'t human. It was wearing the skin of a human, but it was an entirely different sort of being altogether. No,m matter how many parasites surrounded that person, no matter how many wounds were inflicted, that person continued to brandish their sword without letting out a single cry or scream. No human was capable of such impossibility.

Time was running out for the parasite. If it didn\'t find a new host soon, the current one would bleed out, and \'It\' would die along with the host.

Driven by desperation and a primal instinct it had never known before, the parasitic human fled. It ran for survival, away from the terror that now consumed it.

As it stumbled through the darkness, a voice rang out like a blade slicing through the silence.

"So this is where you ran off to, huh? You really love to make things difficult. Do you have any idea how long it took me to track you down, you annoying rat?"

The parasitic human froze. Slowly, its head turned, and there she stood— the monster it had been fleeing from.

The figure had a female appearance, short hair matted with blood. She wore a leather jacket over a turtleneck, bloodstains covering her jeans. Her demeanor resembled that of someone one might encounter at a rundown train station—ordinary and painfully unassuming. Yet, despite her appearance, the parasite felt an overwhelming pressure It couldn\'t fandom coming from that high school-like girl.

Her eyes glowed in the darkness— deep, crimson, purgatory.

Those were the eyes of a Demon Slayer

"Hmmmm... What\'s this? Why you\'re looking at me like that?"

Jung Yunhee tilted her head like a lost innocent girl.

"From what I\'ve seen, you parasites don\'t feel pain, no matter how many times I cut you up like some mindless zombie. So, why did you run this time, I wonder?"

She approached slowly, with blood dripping down from her Katana. Obviously, that blood did not belong to her. She had hunted down the parasites relentlessly, leaving only one survivor. Now, she was here to claim her final prey like an angel of death.

The parasitic human staggered backward and let out a guttural scream towards Jung Yunhee. It was incoherent—an unintelligible mix of sounds, perhaps a curse, or simply a primal cry of desperation, like a trapped animal lashing out in fear.

"Oh."

Jung Yunhee only smiled. It was a cruel yet elongated smile that had discovered the parasite\'s weakness.

"Don\'t tell me you\'re actually scared?"

Those were the last words \'It\' heard before it felt a chilling sensation across its neck.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I noticed I was facing the sky. The sky above was still that deep, blood-red color that had plagued the Earth ever since Song of Nightmares became reality.

No sunrise, no clouds. Just the endless, oppressive crimson light that reminded me constantly that this wasn\'t the world I once knew.

Wasn\'t I keeping guard? When did I fall asleep? Or was it fatigue from the fight with the disaster?

And yet, this was my current reality. A world born from fiction, where the rules of the old world no longer applied.

Wait a minute...

It was only then that I realized I had dozed off while on watch. How could I have fallen asleep? With my current stamina, I should have been able to stay alert throughout the night without a problem.

No matter how I looked at it, it didn\'t make sense that I\'d dozed off while keeping watch. With my stamina stats, I should have easily stayed awake the whole night.

... Ah, that\'s right.

The memory hit me like a slap. The Joker (0)

I sat up, clutching my head, as the reality of the current situation hit me like a ton of bricks. My stamina, my strength, my agility—all of it were gone. The Joker\'s penalty had wiped everything clean. No matter how high my stats had been before, now I was practically human again.

Damn, this really sucks. On the bright side, I have enough coins to restore my stats to their previous levels. But I\'m not rushing into that just yet. I need to think ahead—there\'s no telling what the future Fables will bring, and they\'re impossible to predict. Still, staying like this puts me at a serious disadvantage.

There was a possibility that I could be attacked while I was at my weakest. If I don\'t raise my stats, I would be killed one-sidedly in such a scenario. But then, there\'s also the issue of the Fifth Fable to consider.

"Sigh... Guess I\'ll have to wait a little longer."

"Oh, Jakga, you\'re awake?"

I turned my head and saw Angelica sitting besides me, eating. She must have woken up before me and taken over the watch.

Embarrassing. I was the one supposed to keeping guard, yet she had ended up watching me instead.

I tried to shake it off and greeted her. "Ah, Angell. When did you wake up?"

"A few hours ago. I saw you sleeping, so I decided to keep watch."

"I see. Sorry for being useless. Where is Park Joonhyuk?"

"... Park Joonhyuk?" Angelica tilted her head in confusion. Ah, right. She hadn\'t been properly introduced to him yet.

How should I describe Park Joonhyuk?

"You know, that guy with white hair that looks like a typical manga villain."

Yes. That was the perfect description. If he heard what I said, I\'m sure he would be upset. But that was the truth.

She blinked a few times before her face lit up with recognition.

"Oh, that guy. He left a while ago and told me to let you know he\'ll be handling things on his own for now on."

Handling things on his own, was it? I see. Our contract only lasted until the end of the Fourth Fable. It was a temporary agreement formed to hunt the Disaster of Storms, and now that it\'s over, so was the contract.

Park Joonhyuk had no reason to stay with me any longer because it won\'t benefit him in the long run. That was the kind of person he was.

With a sigh, I pulled out my smartphone and opened the notepad. Instinctively, my fingers move to type.

It was the habit of an author to write and my name was Kim Jakga.

I began with a sentence.

「 7:00 am. Sunday, January 21st. 」

It was three weeks after the fall and I\'ve managed to see another day.

At the start of January 2024 which was supposed to be a new year for humanity, Earth was plunged into the events of Song of Nightmare, a novel written by an author whose real name remained unknown. The world fell into disorder—some perished, others succumbed to despair, while a few celebrated the dawn of a new world. It was even surprising that a local writer like me managed to survive.

Even so, I was still alive, able to breathe, move, touch, hear, and feel. Not just me, the survivors of the new world were only alive because of the miracle of humanity.

I fought, deceived, killed and saved people with these hands. I did those things over and over again in a repeated manner up to this point.

I was not special. I was not a hero or any sort of chosen one.

I was just another survivor in this chaotic world, doing what I could to stay alive. How did I manage to survive? I don\'t know. The answer couldn\'t be found in the source of this tragedy, Song of Nightmares.

Perhaps the author of the novel would know the answer. Or maybe he was already dead.

Either way...

"!?"

Before I could finish that sentence, I covered my smartphone phone. It was because Angelica was peeking over my shoulder.

"What are you writing?"

"It\'s nothing." I placed my smartphone inside my pocket. "By the way, have you finished eating?"

"I finished a while ago."

"Good. Then let\'s start moving."

"Already? It seems like you already have a plan."

"I suppose you could say that. We\'ll find the other and wait for the next Fable."

"T-That..."

Her face stiffened for a moment. She seemed to have something to say but held back, conflicted. I knew exactly what was on her mind, but I had no desire to discuss it so I changed the subject.

"By the way, Angell, make sure not to overuse your authority in the future."

"Is it because I passed out? I\'m sorry if I was a burden."

"No. That\'s not it."

Incarnations of the constellations were different from players. Naturally, It was a given that Incarnations were more powerful because they were strengthened by the divine protections granted by their guiding constellations. But the problem was the aftereffect itself.

Incarnations gradually transformed into fragments of their guiding constellations, adopting their personalities and egos over time. You gain overwhelming power and lose yourself in the process.

That was the price of becoming an Incarnation.

"From now onwards, make sure to use your divine protection as moderate as possible."

Gilgamesh was one of the oldest constellations, rivaled only by the gods of renowned mythologies like Zeus, Odin, and Poseidon. If Angelica recklessly continued to wield his power, the identity known as \'Angelica Thompson\' might eventually disappear.

Even so, Angelica only smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but I already knew."

I was shocked. "You already knew? Then why did you..."

"Do you remember what I told you when you joined the literature club?"

I paused as I recalled that memory. Her words echoed faintly in my mind.

「 Writing is a form of release, a way to make sense of chaos. 」

At the time, I hadn\'t thought much of it. I simply nodded along, too absorbed in my own writing to pay attention to hers. But now, her words held a weight I hadn\'t realized before.

"Yes... I remember."

Her smile remained calm, almost serene. "That\'s how I view my role as an Incarnation. The power I wield is my own way of making sense of this nightmare. Even if I lose myself in the end, it\'ll be worth it if I can bring order to this chaos."

"Do you think everything will be fine if you get stronger?"

"I suppose. if I can give people a reason to hope, then I don\'t mind getting a little stronger."

Her words left me silent for a moment. To her, this was more than just a survival game—it was a way to grasp at some form of normality. I couldn\'t blame her. In fact, reading and writing were simply another way to cope with the chaos.

Park Joonhyuk who was a reader must have felt the same way. Maybe he had his own way of coping with everything—that\'s probably why he couldn\'t bring himself to trust others.

But Angelica was not a reader. Therefore...

"...Even so," I began softly, "don\'t lose yourself too soon. The world still needs people like Angelica Thompson."

It was the readers\' duty to shoulder the burden.

She chuckled at my words, but the sadness in her eyes told me she understood what I meant. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to her.