[You have died.]
It's over, huh?
My soul form's eyes closed right after seeing the message. My soul form began fading in the darkness. The world I had built over these past years started drifting away from me. I was leaving this world.
My soul form was entering a different world, but before that could happen, I was pulled back into the dream with a strong force.
"Haa... Haa..."
I suddenly woke up and began panting. That force felt like it could easily shred a normal human body.
I looked in front of me. I was shocked by the sight. Every single orc in the room had been massacred and scattered around the room. Pools of blood, orc skin, their teeth embedded in the walls. I felt like I would vomit at any second.
Just who in the world did all this? Didn't I die? Wasn't my body being eaten by the orcs?
My body was still intact, and my tattered cloak and everything else looked fine too, yet there was something that didn't look the same.
"...My arm?"
My right arm now had black designs on it. They were beautiful, like something carved by a professional tattoo artist. But these designs didn't look like a tattoo at all.
Suddenly, a different presence filled the room. It felt like this presence had been suppressed until now, but now it was released.
My mind went blank as I felt this presence. My pupils seemed hollow, and the link between my dreamer self and my physical self seemed to be broken.
I wasn't in my physical form. I was in my dreamer form, so of course, there was a link holding both of them together. If that link is broken, you wouldn't be able to do anything. You wouldn't be able to wake from the dream, nor would you be able to live the dream. This was exactly what was happening to me.
My link reattached, and I gained consciousness again. I gasped and bowed down to grasp the situation. But this time, the presence was gone. It felt like the presence was now surrounding a physical body.
That someone could be the one behind the massacre of these orcs. I slowly raised my head and started to gaze at the legs of someone who was walking toward me.
My head rose more, and I was able to see more of that person. Murim clothes, long light blue hair, and a beautiful face.
"...V-Void?"
It was the disaster of the Endless Dream, Void.
...
Void stopped at a distance, looking down at me. He observed the massacred bodies of the dead orcs.
[They were easy to kill.]
I fake laughed at his voice and taunted, "Haha, everything is easy for you."
Void looked disturbed by my words.
[Easy? When did things become easy for me?]
"..."
[Nothing was easy for me, yet I climbed the ranks and became the strongest. And now here you are, my vessel, supposed to be strong, struggling against such lower ranks.]
He said it in disappointment. Void was disappointed in his vessel.
"I-I tried my best."
Void's gaze didn't flicker at all. He was still looking at me emotionlessly. It was hard to figure out what he was thinking.
He opened his mouth slowly.
[Was that your best?]
What is my best? Was I actually trying? Can I re—
[At one point, I was confused if you knew the future or not.]
My entire thought process stopped the moment I heard him say this. Void was confused if I was really someone with knowledge of the future.
Sweat started running down my body.
What could make him think that? Did I trigger something? I was doing everything fine, then what happened?!
I opened my mouth, gasping.
"Haa... Haa... tell me properly."
[It's simple. Your actions made me doubt your knowledge.]
I still couldn't understand what he meant, or I didn't want to understand his words. I didn't want to accept the reality.
"My actions are just like those of a normal dreamer. I just try to survive."
[A normal dreamer, huh?]
I was sweating, and my heartbeat was increasing drastically. I was struggling to breathe as the oxygen level in the dungeon decreased drastically.
[How can you say you're a normal dreamer when you have something a normal dreamer doesn't have?]
This guy...! What in the world does he want to say?
I always wanted to deny this feeling inside me, but can I deny it any longer?
Maybe no.
Void took a few steps forward and touched my forehead with his finger.
[You know the future, yet you try to act like a normal dreamer.]
"Get to the point already. I can't understand what you're trying to say."
[I can already see that.]
I couldn't escape his questions anymore. I couldn't escape my feelings anymore. I needed to accept this.
[Are you afraid that they'll find out about your identity?]
"Kinda."
[Then what's the point of the knowledge you have?]
"I-I just want to try my best without relying on my knowledge."
I kept ignoring the feeling.
[You'll do it even if it leads you to your death.]
"Ahaha, I'm not sure about that."
[You just did that. You avoided the knowledge and risked your life.]
[You would have died if I hadn't activated my skill 'Delusion' on you. You probably know what that is, right?]
I gulped. "Yeah."
Delusion is a skill that makes someone believe their delusion has become reality. They see their delusion and fall into a coma for eternity.
They will only wake up once they're given a deep shock. In my case, I saw the delusion of my body being torn apart by the orcs. But in reality, it was all Void's doing. He was protecting me the whole time.
I'm indebted to him.
[See? You used your knowledge. Why are you so scared of it? Just use it peacefully and survive. There's no point in having this knowledge if you don't use it.]
A screen popped up, and he pointed at the screen.
[You'll end up like them if you don't use it.]
The screen was showing the dead bodies of people getting massacred by the dungeon guardians.
[You don't want that, do you?]
It wasn't a question of whether I wanted that or not. It was a question of whether I could overcome this feeling or not.
The feeling of guilt. The guilt that grew stronger the more I killed the dungeon guardians.
I could hear them saying.
「He's back. First the novel, now he wants to ruin us.」
「Can't you just leave us alone?」
「Don't kill me! I want to live!」
Of course, these were just thoughts created by the guilt inside me. This guilt wouldn't let me move forward.
Whenever I used my knowledge, the guilt came and always said.
「Cheater」
「The others are working hard, yet you're relying on this knowledge.」
「For how long are you going to use easy methods?」
I kept ignoring these feelings before, but since I entered the hunting ground, I couldn't ignore them anymore. They grew stronger and stood in front of me like a wall.
A wall of my work.
I want to ignore this feeling! I want to suppress it! But I'm scared. I'm scared of suppressing my own feelings. How can I use my knowledge when others are doing everything by themselves without knowing the future?
Void opened his mouth again.
[Who's saying using your knowledge is a crime? Use it as much as you want.]
[Just don't stop trying to survive.]
Void stood behind the wall of my work, like he wanted me to break it.
That's right. In the end, everything that matters is survival.
My survival is far more important than any guilt.
Then why?
Why are my hands still trembling?
Void seemed to understand me better than anyone and spoke again to shake the wall.
[Everyone has their own means to survive. Some have weapons. Some have teammates. Some have skills. You also have your means to survive.]
The darkness in my pupils seemed to fade slowly but surely.
"W-What's my means of survival?"
Void smiled gently. I never knew that this guy, the final boss who broke Anna apart, could smile like this.
The absolute evil opened his mouth.
[It's your story, Kang Hong. The story you wrote. That's the means of your survival.]
Void stepped forward and caressed my hair like a father.
[Use your knowledge and survive. You wrote that thing, so you must be smart. You can do it.]
Tears dropped from my eyes as I gently touched his hand over my head.
His hand was soft and contained kindness.
Is this really the Absolute Evil, Void?
"H-How do you know I wrote that book?"
Void was still smiling gently. I couldn't see it as he stood in front of me, caressing my hair.
[I can read your mind. Stupid.]
I laughed. I laughed at my stupidity. Why was I even trying to hide it from him? He could hear my thoughts, yet I tried to hide the truth. I'm really stupid.
Suddenly, the story I had written over these past years felt kind of happy and energetic. The story, which contained nothing but blood, was now changing because the one rewriting the story is the writer himself.
He got on his knees and looked straight into my eyes. I stared at him, surprised.
I saw the emotionless Void smiling. Not that evil smile. But a gentle smile.
Just how lucky am I to be in this Endless Dream?
He hugged me while closing his eyes.
[It must've been hard, Kang Hong.]
Tears dropped more from my eyes as I could feel his heart beating. The one who was considered a cold, dead devil by everyone was smiling and hugging a lower being.
Could such a sight really happen in Desired End?
Of course not.
I hugged him back harder.
"What do you want me to do? Survive or struggle?"
I knew what he was going to say.
If it was the Void from my novel, he would have said
"Die in my hands"
or
"Struggle, you weakling."
But it was the Void I met. Someone totally different from the Void in Desired End.
[Survive by using your knowledge.]
I knew it.
***
Void was standing in front of me. He had stopped smiling, but he was showing normal emotions. It was easy to tell if he was sad or happy.
He was satisfied.
I wiped my tears and stood up.
I looked straight into his eyes. I didn't even know what kind of face I was making at that moment.
[Well then, I'll go and see your new journey?]
I slightly looked down and gathered my thoughts. The wall hadn't disappeared yet, but I could feel it slowly breaking, bit by bit.
"Did you see the things written in my novel too?"
He closed and opened his eyes.
[Nope, they got filtered. It was frustrating at first, but I got used to it. I only heard some words that weren't filtered. Those words were "I'm the author of this endless dream"]
I felt relieved by his words.
I wanted to say something to end this conversation, but I couldn't find the right words.
"I won't disappoint you anymore. I'll show you the best story."
The Void looked at me like he was expecting me to say that. He waved his hand slowly, and his body started turning to dust. He was leaving.
It was the perfect time to say this.
"Void."
He looked at me.
"Were you having fun until now? Watching me struggle?"
He took some time to answer. Maybe he couldn't find the right words or didn't want to say anything.
If this were the Void from Desired End, he would've said something like "It was boring" or "I slept."
But we were talking about the Void of reality now.
He opened his mouth.
[It wasn't fun. It was painful. Yet, I've never seen someone so desperate to survive.]
He smiled.
[It was the second-best story I've ever seen. The first one is the story you're going to write now.]
With those words, his body turned to dust, and I was left alone in the room. I was smiling. Smiling at his words.
"Son of a bitch. I never knew you could make a face like that."
The Void of Desired End had been cold and emotionless. It was still the same here, but I knew something for sure.
The Void, which everyone feared so much, was showing favor toward me, a lower being.
Not in the Desired End I wrote.
But in the world I was writing now.
This world was...
After The End.