The darkness reorganized itself.
Klein Moretti's eyes snapped open, but the vision that greeted him was not the cold stone of the Tower's first floor. Instead, he found himself lying on a floor of polished mahogany, surrounded by a silence so profound it felt like a physical weight.
His head throbbed with the rhythmic pulse. Every time his heart beat, his vision flickered between the soot-stained streets and the silver-white static of the Star Stream.
He tried to sit up, but his limbs glitched. His left hand momentarily transformed into a cluster of transparent tentacles before snapping back into a gloved human hand.
[Synchronization Rate: 42%... ERROR... 89%... 12%...]
Klein let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Despite the pain, he felt a surge of relief.
The maddening ravings—the whispers of Celestial Worthy, previous owner of Sefirah Castle, 'His' will that somehow was further awakened by something Amon gave —had gone silent.
"Hi!"
'I've jinxed it,' he thought, using a phrase he had picked up from a certain Reader.
The voice didn't come from his mind. It was high, youthful, and carried a tone of casual curiosity.
Klein craned his neck, ignoring the way his cervical vertebrae seemed to skip a frame.
Sitting atop a nearby bookshelf, his legs swaying back and forth with rhythmic nonchalance, was a teenager. He wore a slightly oversized fedora and a waistcoat that looked too formal for his age.
"You're the new 'Life and Death Companion,' aren't you?" the boy asked, tilting his head. "You're much more... squirmy than the other one."
Klein stared at the boy.
He was inside the Fourth Wall.
Outside the Wall's Library, within the tangible reality of the Tower, Kim Dokja stood alone.
The illusory teeth of the Fourth Wall had retracted after "consuming" Klein's fracturing body to stabilize it within the Library.
Dokja stared at the empty space where his friend had been, then looked up at the spiraling, impossible architecture above him.
[A new 'Main Scenario' has been assigned!]
===
< Main Scenario ???– The Forge of Miracles >
Category: Main
Difficulty: Indeterminable
Clear Conditions: Reach the top of the Tower and claim your 'Personal Miracle'.
Time Limit: None.
Reward: A 'Miracle' tailored to your Story.
Failure: To become a permanent 'Archived History' within the Tower.
===
Dokja gripped his sword hilt.
['Reading Comprehension' is activated!]
[Attribute 'Scenario Interpreteur' is active!]
He understood the nature of this place now.
If the Tower of Wish was the quintessence of human greed—a vertical climb fueled by what people wanted, the place where all the Wishes throughout the history accumulated—then the Tower of Miracle was something far more dangerous.
It was a forge of Possibility.
The Tower analyzed the "Story" of the individual who entered it and created a path that led to the one thing that should be impossible for them. For a Reader who always watched from the sidelines, the Tower would force him to become the center. For a man who lived by logic, the Tower would demand a leap of faith.
Dokja began to climb.
At least now he needn't worry about the madman with a monocle, and can recover after an exhausting battle against Outer Deities.
Strangely, the floors felt like a fever dream of his own past.
The 1st Floor was a replica of a Seoul subway car, the air smelling of rust and ozone.
The 5th Floor required him to protect a white flag while traversing a landscape of crumbling skyscrapers.
The 10th Floor plunged him into absolute darkness, where he had to fight enemies he couldn't see, relying only on the "Text" of memories he received.
Between the trials, when the silence of the Tower grew too heavy, Dokja would pull up a small holographic screen. He couldn't contact his Nebula directly, but he could spectate.
He watched the Demon Realm Gate through Biyoo's erratic stream.
He saw Shin Yoosung's desperate face as she was fighting poachers.
"Don't give up yet," he whispered to the screen, spending a few thousand coins to trigger an indirect message.
[■■ 'The Last Witness of the Unwritten End' encourages his Incarnation!]
[■■ 'The Last Witness of the Unwritten End' has sponsored 50,000 coins!]
He even managed to send a message to Yoo Joonghyuk, purely for his own amusement.
[Are you sure you want to sponsor Incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk' for 1 coin?]
Dokja pressed the button [YES] happily.
Watching the angry pulse of Joonghyuk's eyebrow was the only thing that kept Dokja's sanity intact as he ascended.
He felt like a real Swindler.
His potion was fully digested.
Dokja felt translucent barrier inside Fourth Wall shatter releasing Sequence 7 potion.
[Attribute 'Swindler' has evolved!]
[You cannot activate the 'Attribute Window'. ]
'Of course I can't.'
By the 25th floor, the environment shifted into a high-density residential area. It looked exactly like Seoul again—specifically, the Chungmuro district.
Dokja walked through the streets, feeling a sense of profound displacement. He rounded a corner and saw a massive banner draped over an entrance:
He blinked.
"What is this?"
He stepped inside.
The venue was packed with people.
There were cardboard cutouts of himself, Yoo Joonghyuk, and Han Sooyoung. Fans were dressed in white coats, holding prop swords and toy insects.
Dokja sat down at a back table, his heart hammering.
He felt like he had walked into a hallucination.
"Great coat, man," a voice said beside him.
A young man sat there, nursing a soda.
He introduced himself as Lee Hakhyun.
"The gray coat and red armor is a bold choice," Lee Hakhyun said, eyeing Dokja's gear. "It's a bit too realistic, though. Most people go for the white coat version. You'd probably place in the top 10 of the cosplay competition if you just loosened up a bit."
Dokja felt a hysterical laugh bubble up in his throat.
'I'm going to place in the top 10 of my own cosplay competition? What an honor.'
Dokja couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'll try my best," Dokja managed to say.
Suddenly, the air chilled.
Lee Hakhyun's face began to ripple like water.
Probability sparks, silver and jagged, danced across his features.
To the other "fans" in the room, everything looked normal.
"What's happening?"
Lee Hakhyun didn't answer.
Dokja pointed his [Unbroken Faith] at Lee Hakhyun.
The face shifted. The kind expression melted away, replaced by the sharp, manipulative features of...
A familiar face.
His blue fox-like eyes pierced Dokja with a Status ordinary person or NPC shouldn't have.
Lee Hakhyun's hair turned lighter and lighter until it reached shade of dark blonde.
...Cheon Inho.
The "Cheon Inho" phantom smiled.
[A foreign 'Status' is invading the Stage!]
['One Who Rewrites Eternity' is observing your reaction.]
[Constellation 'Watcher of Light and Darkness' looks at you!]
Dokja froze.
That was his old modifier.
Before he had forcefully merged the opposites of his soul in the Tower of Wish to become 'The Last Witness of the Unwritten End', he had been the Watcher.
[Constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' looks at you!]
[Constellation 'King of Fear' looks at you!]
A massive suction force erupted from the center of the room.
The banquet hall dissolved into a swirling vortex of ink and teeth.
[Story 'Heir to the Eternal Name' begins its storytelling!]
Dokja's Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint activated automatically, but it was inverted. He wasn't looking at a character; he was being read.
===
< Main Scenario #■■ – Fear Realm Expedition >
Category: Main
Difficulty: ???
Clear Conditions: Explore the Fear Realm and return after completing the exploration level.
*[Fear Realm Exploration Guidelines.]
○To complete the main scenario, you must successfully complete 'Fear Realm Exploration'.
○Fear Realm's sections are divided into 'Entry Area', 'Middle Area', and 'End Area'.
You are currently located in the 'Middle Area' of Fear Realm.
○Your Current Exploration Level: 50%
○There is an interpretation for every 'Fear'.
○Find a probable interpretation and increase your Fear Realm Exploration Level.
Warning: One of the 'Exploration Guidelines' above is 'false'.
===
Dokja felt his consciousness being pulled toward the abyss of the Fear Realm, but just as the shadows touched his skin, a bell chimed.
The Tower of Miracle itself groaned.
[Tower of Miracle is rejecting the 'Censored Logic'.]
[Tower Curator apologizes for the narrative interference.]
With a violent pop, the Fear Realm vanished.
The banquet, the phantoms, and Cheon Inho were wiped away.
[Welcome to the 26th floor, 'Akutagawa'.]
Dokja was slammed back onto the wooden floor of the 26th floor.
He was panting, his narrative core burning with a cold, lingering dread.
[The 'Fragment of a Censored World' has been recorded in your 'Story'.]
"What the hell even was that?!" Dokja cursed out loud, his voice echoing off the wooden walls.
Lee Hakhyun?
Cheon Inho?
His own modifiers?
What is it even supposed to mean?
He sighed and checked the message again.
[The 'Fragment of a Censored World' has been recorded in your 'Story'.]
He had seen that message once before, when he, Hajin and Klein first landed in the Demon Realm after escaping Termiboros.
Dokja sat up.
"I need to get stronger," Dokja whispered to the empty air of the Tower.