Ji-Hoon lowered his gaze, the fight draining from his eyes. "…Forget it," he whispered. "I don't want to do this."
His jaw clenched. "But what other choice do I have?"
There was no path left. Surrender to death, or survive one week. If he endured, the divine light would heal him—and forge him into a Ranker.
A darker thought followed. "If I survive… the beasts will too. I'll be trapped in the same nightmare all over again."
"If you refuse the starlight's rebirth, you might still be healed," Layla replied, her tone chillingly practical. "But where is the guarantee you'll awaken as a Ranker? In this forest, weakness is a death sentence. It's safer to let the light remake you. You'll rise faster, stronger—able to conquer this place."
"But my memories…" Ji-Hoon's voice cracked. "The people I care about. If I forget them here… how will I find them again? They'll come for me. I know they will."
His face darkened with a sudden, desperate resolve. "…Wait. There might be another way. After the rebirth… can't you just tell me? Everything about who I was, what happened, how I ended up here?"
Layla's laugh was a soft, hollow sound. "You cling so tightly to a past you can't hold. But you're not wrong. If I narrate your life back to you after the light fades… it would be almost like remembering." She paused, as if conceding a point. "Very well. After you revive, I will tell you everything. Your past. This world. Your suffering."
Her voice grew heavy, presenting the last, grim alternative. "The only other path is to survive by consuming your own flesh. The pain would unravel your mind. And even then, Rankerhood is not guaranteed. The starlight rebirth is the only sure way."
Ji-Hoon's bitter laugh echoed in the silent valley. "So my choice is to lie here for a week, starving and bleeding, waiting to die? If I fail, I won't even have the strength to end it. I'll be a joke—neither alive nor properly dead." His eyes scanned the carnage below. "Maybe it's better to die now. Let the beasts finish it."
"Have you lost your mind?!" Layla's voice snapped like a whip. "Get up. Now. That smaller stone—jump onto it. Your body will remain there. When the heavenly wave descends, it will find you."
She fell silent. The flapping of crow wings was drawing nearer.
"If you stay, you die in minutes," she warned. "You must return to the crack between the stones. Where this started."
"How?" Ji-Hoon spat. "Will the crows carry me?"
"If they take even one limb, your chance drops to zero. If they flee the valley before the light comes, you're lost. You'd revive incomplete," she said, irritation fraying her words. "You've endured this much. Endure a little more. Move."
"So you really do want me dead," he muttered. "Fine. Watch."
Agony was a language his body now spoke fluently. Both arms were shattered, one leg a useless weight. Every shift sent lightning through his nerves. Yet his face was a mask of eerie calm. Pain had become his normal.
He tried to stand, placing weight on his single working leg. The moment his other foot brushed the ground, a raw scream tore from his throat. The world whited out.
"Stay down," Layla commanded.
"What then?" he gasped, tears of frustration mixing with blood. "Crawl?"
"Now he understands," she replied, a hint of grim approval in her tone. "Yes. Crawl."
And so he did. Using elbows and shoulders, he dragged his broken frame across the scorching stone. His bad leg scraped behind him, a numb anchor. He moved in agonizing increments—a shuddering pull, a frozen moment of trembling, then another pull.
Layla's voice was his only compass, pushing him through the haze.
The sun climbed, baking the rock and his skin with it. Morning bled into afternoon. He had traversed only a few meters.
Finally, he reached the edge.
Before him lay the narrow, dark crack that split the stone he stood on from the one he'd fallen from.
Ji-Hoon hovered on the brink of consciousness. Two days without food or water. Energy was a forgotten concept. The dark crevice below looked less like a pit and more like a promise of an end to suffering.
All emotion bled away—anger, fear, even hope. A vast, silent emptiness remained. Even Layla had gone quiet.
After a long moment, her voice returned, soft and final. "This crack… it might connect to the earth below. Or it might not. If it doesn't… you jump. The worst that happens is your last leg breaks."
A weak, breathy sound escaped Ji-Hoon—a ghost of a laugh. "Fine. I'll jump."
He dragged himself another inch toward the void.
"Wait," Layla said suddenly. "Why the hurry?"
"There's no going back," he breathed, his words barely audible. "No jumping across. This is the end."
He tilted his head up, seeking the sky one last time. "If I get a second chance, I'll live. If not… then I'll just sleep forever in the dark."
Layla offered no reply.
Ji-Hoon crawled the final distance. His torso lay on the stone, the rest of him hung over the emptiness. The setting sun painted the world in dying fire. The crack below was a maw of pure shadow.
He lifted his head.
He looked at the sun.
At the distant,uncaring mountains.
Then he whispered, to no one and everyone, "Bye."
With the last vestige of his will, he pushed forward.
And fell.
The darkness swallowed him whole. As he descended into the abyss, a faint, serene smile touched his broken lips.
I step into the dark—not to vanish, but to temper my will.
Like a mountain weathering eternity, I wait without regret.
When I return, I will not beg fate for mercy.
I will rise, steady and absolute, as the sun owes no one its light.
The sun vanished behind the horizon.
Silence reclaimed Star-Heaven Valley.
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