“Run. Now.”Shin Yooseung yanked at my sleeve, her voice sharp with panic. Faint golden sparks flickered across her pupils.“Hurry!”She was right—Mr. Dansoo was dangerous now.“I won’t kill you. I won’t kill you.”[Constellation Tenacious Martial Elder urgently warns you.]Even a martial artist’s instinct said it clearly—if I faced him now, I’d die.“Mr. Dansoo! Please, wake up!”He didn’t respond. He just kept walking toward us—slow, heavy steps.“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”He wasn’t seeing me. His eye sockets were nothing but black voids curling inward.[Someone has activated a Trap Switch.][Dungeon Rearrangement schedule adjusted.][Rearrangement begins in 10 minutes.]Great—now the rearrangement time had been moved up.Probably the doing of those fleeing Seven Kings bastards.[The dungeon will soon be engulfed in flames.][Search for a Safe Zone.]The floor began to tremble lightly, heat brushing against my ankles. In five minutes, the whole area would be swallowed in fire.My thoughts went dark.Even if Yooseung and I escaped, what would happen to Mr. Dansoo?[Participants holding Star Jewels are immune to the flames caused by Rearrangement.]A breath of relief escaped me.He’d absorbed five Star Jewels. He would survive the flames—at least for now.“Mr. Dansoo.”Yooseung tugged at me again. I had to decide.“Mr. Dansoo… I’ll be back soon.”“Looking for someone.”The situation had changed.He was safe from the fire. We weren’t.Still deaf to my voice, he mouthed again:“No Jiyoon.”“Yes. You promised to find her, remember?”At her daughter’s name, his steps faltered for an instant.I clenched my fist and kept speaking.“I told you I’d find her. Remember?”His head moved slightly—whether in understanding or coincidence, I couldn’t tell.Swallowing back emotion, I grabbed Yooseung’s hand.“I’ll come back. I promise.”Then I ran.[Constellation Demonlike Judge of Fire mourns the tragedy of incarnation Lee Dansoo.][Constellation Maritime Messenger laments the cruelty of the scenario.][Constellation Bald Militia Leader wipes his head, roused by righteousness.]No. I would not let him die like this.[Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Goah supports your fight.]Mr. Dansoo didn’t follow.[Rearrangement begins in 8 minutes.]We immediately started searching for a Safe Zone. If I wanted to save him later, I had to survive first.While we scanned the tunnels, Yooseung spoke.“Mister.”“Yes?”“That man back there… was he someone close to you?”My mouth answered before I could think.“Yes.”Even I was surprised.Someone close.So that’s what he’d become to me.A small spark crackled from Yooseung’s body. I turned, startled, but she looked away quickly, her head bowed.“I see…”Her eyes glimmered briefly with gold.That golden gaze—what was it?Did the original Shin Yooseung have such an ability?I couldn’t recall. Gold eyes were something Yoo Joonghyuk had—the Eyes of the Sage.Come to think of it, where was Yoo Joonghyuk now? He should have rescued Yumia by now and started back from Gwanghwamun, but there was still no sign of him.[Rearrangement begins in 7 minutes.]Damn it—not the time to be thinking about Yoo Joonghyuk.Panic began to edge in. If I didn’t find shelter soon, I’d never see him again.But no matter how far we searched, there was no Safe Zone.The Extermination Method guide had said to bring incarnations with [Pathfinder] or [Maze Sense] traits for times like this.Neither of us had them.[Rearrangement begins in 6 minutes.]I quickly checked our collected stardust.[Current stardust: 314]Star Jewels granted immunity to the Rearrangement flames.If I gathered enough stardust to make one, maybe I could save Yooseung at least.The problem was, there was only one fast way to earn more.Kill other incarnations.[Rearrangement begins in 5 minutes.]Yooseung’s voice broke the silence.“Mister. Over there.”Down a side passage, faint light flickered.We sprinted toward it.[Safe Zone discovered.]Relief surged—but others were already there.“Well, look who it is again.”That familiar, exasperated tone—Gu Taesung, one of the Seven Kings.“Sorry, but there’s not enough room. Try somewhere else.”He was inside the Safe Zone with two subordinates.A glowing green circle about one square meter across—like the Green Zones from Chungmuro.Above it floated a line of text:[Occupancy Limit: 3/4]One slot left.There were five of us total.Meaning one person wouldn’t make it.Gu Taesung’s gaze shifted.“Hmm? Wait a second.”His eyes locked on Yooseung. I moved instinctively, shielding her. His lips twitched—he was using group chat. Then his face lit with recognition.“That kid. What’s her name?”He’d recognized her.“I have no obligation to tell you.”Gu Taesung smiled.“Bold words, given the situation.”[Rearrangement begins in 4 minutes.]Four minutes left.He seemed to make up his mind.“The kid can come in.”My mind went ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) blank for a heartbeat.That line—I’d heard it before.Gu Taesung chuckled, glancing at his men.“Didn’t that sound just like Yoo Joonghyuk?”“Yoo Joonghyuk? The Tyrant?”“No, never mind. You wouldn’t get it.”His expression sharpened as he turned back to me.“Kill him. Bring the kid.”His men lunged forward, weapons drawn.I met their charge with silence, then asked evenly:“Was it you? Did you do that to Mr. Dansoo?”The subordinates glanced at each other.“Mr. Dansoo? Who?”“The one looking for his daughter, maybe?”“Oh, the sacrifice.”Sacrifice.“Yeah, we fed him some jewels. Not really our fault though. He wanted them, we just gave ’em. Right?”“Right. People get greedy and—”The moment I heard that smug tone, something inside me snapped.[Blade of Conviction activated!]“What the—?”Light flared, cutting through the dark.Gu Taesung’s eyes widened. He recognized the relic immediately.“No way—”I didn’t wait. I swung.His men thrust their blades, but to me their movements were child’s play.[Constellation Tenacious Martial Elder stammers nervously.]With the tale of the Dragon Lord in my veins, their attacks were slow as toys.The azure blade of Baekcheong traced an arc—two clean cuts, two bodies falling without a sound.Gu Taesung had used that instant to prepare.[Incarnation Gu Taesung activates Weapon Polishing Lv.4.][Incarnation Gu Taesung activates Advanced Swordsmanship Lv.3.][Incarnation Gu Taesung activates Trait Effect: Dignity of the King.]His sponsor—the Founder of Hannam Commandery.Incarnation of King Gyeonhwon of Later Baekje.Even so, I felt perfectly calm.Not for a moment did I think I’d lose.“You… how do you have the Broken Conviction?”“Found it.”“What?”I pressed forward. The Dragon Lord’s Staff Techniques surged through the relic; mana from Circulating Delay flooded my limbs, releasing waves of Baekcheong aura.Gu Taesung reeled backward, shouting in disbelief.“Who are you? How can you—”Of course he couldn’t understand.There was no “character” like me in his script.[Incarnation Gu Taesung activates Tenacious Endurance Lv.3.]Still, he was one of the Seven Kings.The longer the fight dragged on, the more he adapted—thanks to that skill.If I let it continue, the balance would tip. I needed to end it.“You were imitating Yoo Joonghyuk earlier.”“What?”[Sub-skill Sentence Enhancement activated.][You may input an action to enhance.][Current Enhancement Level: 1.]Without hesitation, I typed:Cheon Inho used ‘Incitement.’[Exclusive Skill Incitement enhanced!][Incitement temporarily awakens.][You may incite yourself to emulate a chosen person.]I summoned the image of the third-round Yoo Joonghyuk Kim Dokja had met—the cold, relentless Tyrant.I knew I couldn’t truly be him.But Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was a long story, and among its countless Yoojung­hyuks, there was one I could quote.At last, the prince of the sleeping forest opened his eyes.Sensing the shift, Gu Taesung shouted, “Here! Everyone, kill him!”More incarnations poured from the tunnel—his backup, no doubt summoned through chat.He smirked again, thinking victory certain.I met his gaze and spoke.“I am—”His sword descended.“—the Yoo Joonghyuk of the Third Round, who slew the Apostles.”Shock widened his eyes. Electricity crawled along my skin; the world slowed.It felt like wearing clothes that didn’t fit—height slightly off, senses misaligned.Yoo Joonghyuk’s perception.Muscles constricted violently. Power surged beyond my limits.[Incitement activated!]Only third-round, early stage—yet even mimicking him strained every nerve.“Keep moving.”A voice echoed in my head—the Sword Saint of Rupture.“If you seek the Blade of Rupture, don’t crumble at this level.”Fragments of Yoo Joonghyuk’s memories.“If ten years aren’t enough, train for fifty. If fifty fail, then a hundred. Carve into flesh and spirit the kind of time no star can mock.”Of course.Even the third-round Yoo Joonghyuk had lived far longer than I could imagine.He’d already transcended humanity in the second round—trained a hundred years within a temporal rift.Blood burst from my nose with a hiss. My brain felt ready to explode, as if I’d stuffed a whole book into a single page.But I endured.I knew I couldn’t truly become him. Yet—For one fleeting moment,I understood who I was.My hand on the hilt felt alien, the grip unfamiliar—yet utterly natural.Like performing something I’d done millions of times before.“I am Yoo Joonghyuk.”Murderous rage boiled up. Hatred for sponsors. Resentment toward the constellations.The weight of worlds he couldn’t save dragged at my limbs.The curse of a regressor.He’d always lived bearing all that.I felt Yooseung’s eyes on my back.I didn’t turn.―Get down, Yooseung.She obeyed instinctively—just as my blade moved.[Constellation Founder of Hannam Commandery screams for his incarnation to dodge!]Too late.Because this strike—Was too natural.So perfect it was beautiful.The strike Kim Dokja remembered best—The flawless blade of Yoo Joonghyuk.

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