Episode 29: Fragment (5)
Gaon Academy’s campus is an artificially created island floating near the West Sea.
On Monday morning, most students were on their way to school.
— Weeeeeng!
At that moment, a piercing sound cut through the air.
The alarm had begun to blare.
Since Gaon was an artificial island, it was extremely rare for alarms to go off—because magical phenomena could not occur there.
Therefore, an alarm ringing at Gaon meant that a national-level emergency alert had been issued.
[Baekdu Mountain’s Heaven Lake: Large-scale Magical Disturbance Detected]
— Similar magical waves detected in the past in the United States and China…
— Massive number of monsters in Baekdu Mountain area have vanished… Over 72% of missing entities remain unaccounted for.
Gaon’s students checked the news in real time through their smart devices and holographic screens.
Excited and curious conversations buzzed through the classrooms.
Cheon Yeoul silently watched the news screen.
A jade-green pillar of mana was rising toward the sky.
She clasped her hands together and prayed earnestly.
“Please….”
Once more, may he rise again.
***
I opened my eyes.
The ceiling above me was still as high as ever. A massive cavern, so vast its end was impossible to gauge.
I had been here once before.
Returning now, memories I had forgotten resurfaced vividly.
At the far end of the cavern, a faint beam of light seeped in.
Stronger than before—yet still not enough to completely dispel the darkness.
Instinctively, I stepped toward that light.
And then—the stairs.
The path leading to the exit.
Someone still sat upon those steps.
He stood silently, watching me.
He neither spoke nor moved, but the aura emanating from him remained chilling and razor-sharp.
The last time we met, I had been unable to move my body properly.
This time was different.
At that moment—
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
He spoke.
His voice was calm.
“That’s good….”
“Who are you?”
I cut him off.
His face remained obscured, despite the growing light.
As if a black curtain had been drawn over him.
“I can’t tell you that…”
The silhouette in the darkness began to descend the steps slowly.
“…which is a shame.”
His presence pressed down on me.
A Named rank?
I quickly ran through the list of Named-class powerhouses in my mind.
‘I won’t lose.’
That was the conclusion I reached.
‘I… might even be stronger.’
He slowly drew his spear.
As he unsheathed it, the weapon let out a piercing, shrieking wail.
“Ugh.”
I grimaced and instinctively covered my ears.
The agonizing scream tore through my entire body.
“Can you hear this?”
He pointed at his spear and laughed.
Though I couldn’t see his face, I could tell he was smiling for some reason.
“A good sign.”
Slowly, he raised the tip of his spear and murmured,
“But… it’s still too early. There are a few more left.”
His form remained obscured.
“Just keep going like this. Honestly, I’d recommend letting go of your thoughts. Maybe even surrendering yourself to them… Ah, but that might be a bit dangerous.”
My vision expanded.
As if something was trying to shield me from an attack.
Fragment.
An ability possessed by Fragment—the expansion of vision.
And at that very moment—
I gripped the spear at my waist tightly.
This time, I could feel it.
He was charging toward me.
A silhouette closing in from the front.
No—
Not just the front.
Suddenly, my vision distorted.
In front, behind, from the sides—afterimages scattered in all directions.
Dozens of attack routes filling every inch of space.
There was no escape.
I was completely trapped.
Cadenaccio.
He executed a move that, in the game, was considered the highest-difficulty technique—effortlessly.
A flawless domination of space, a web of spear strikes with no openings.
“Watch closely.”
His voice reached me.
“At your level, just seeing this will be helpful.”
—Papapapak!
The sensation of the spear piercing my body.
The feeling of being slashed apart from every direction.
— …Stay strong.
My vision faded to black.
***
I woke up.
— Chirp, chirp.
I was lying in the bushes somewhere in Baekdu Mountain, staring up at the sky.
My mind was blank.
Above me, the clear sky stretched wide, leaves swaying gently in the wind.
And then—
====
[Authority: Fragment of Harmony]
① Pasa Hyeonjeong [(ç ´é‚ªé¡¯æ£) —Break what is false and reveal what is true.]
— Destroy what is corrupt.
② ???
③ ???
====
An unfamiliar system window.
Within it, a single entity had completely taken over the slot meant for my authority.
Fragment of Harmony.
I didn’t understand why.
I had definitely absorbed Fragment.
[Your class ability ‘Intuition’ resonates with the authority ‘Fragment of Harmony’ and evolves into Universal Perception (一體知覺).]
[Your trait ‘Whole Being(全人) resonates with the authority ‘Fragment of Harmony’ and evolves into ‘True Being. (眞人)’]
…
And many more.
A flood of growth notifications filled my vision, but rather than joy, I felt more confused than anything.
“Where… am I?”
I looked around.
A mountain cabin? No.
Feeling slightly out of breath, I realized the altitude was quite high.
Likely near Cheonji (the Heavenly Lake).
I wondered how I would get down, but it didn’t matter.
The Fragment of the past had been absorbed into me.
The Fragment of the present had disappeared.
The monsters of the present era would immediately weaken due to the disappearance of the energy emitted by the Fragment.
Or they would hide.
Either way, they were no longer a threat.
And Kang Arin…
She was nowhere to be seen.
Did that mean she hadn’t fallen with me?
It seemed our locations had become misaligned.
I recalled the last words I had heard from her.
— Honestly… I’m yours too.
A heat flared in my mind.
It was true that we had shared emotions over the past seven days.
And it was also true that she had a tendency to cherish those she considered her own.
But… was it really to that extent?
It had been deep, undeniably so…
I slowly closed my eyes and gathered my thoughts.
The death regression had disappeared.
Since then, the original storyline I knew had begun to derail more and more.
Major characters deviated from their original settings, and even their reactions had subtly shifted.
And above all—Fragment.
Only those chosen by the system could absorb a Fragment.
In other words, the possibility of me absorbing it had never existed in the first place.
Yet here I was, having absorbed it.
I lightly opened my hand, channeling mana through my fingertips.
Slowly, I opened my eyes to observe the color of my mana.
As always, it was a dull gray.
But within it, a faint jade-green glow shimmered—a clear sign that I had absorbed the Fragment.
Letting out a slow breath, I stood up.
Every plan I had made up to this point had lost its meaning.
I had to admit that I had been wrong.
“It’s time to make a new plan.”
At that moment, I made my decision.
***
Lotus Guild’s Team 2 had been stranded in Baekdu Mountain for two days.
Originally, they had been deployed as a reconnaissance team to investigate the area.
But their leader, Woo Janghoon, had let his greed complicate the situation.
“We continue exploring. Descending is a secondary priority.”
He had insisted on staying to analyze the released energy further, delaying their descent again and again.
As a result, their escape route had been completely cut off.
Their food supply had run out. Their stamina was depleting.
Even their distress signals were blocked by the energy radiating from Heaven Lake.
They were slowly becoming part of the mountain itself.
Some members’ gazes had begun to lose focus.
More and more of them looked at Woo Janghoon as if they wanted to tear him apart.
And then—
— Shwoooooosh!
At Heaven Lake in Baekdu Mountain,
A massive jade-green pillar of light shot up into the sky.
A colossal wave of mana surged outward, shaking the entire mountain.
At that very moment—
— Beep beep beep!
The radio crackled to life.
Woo Janghoon instinctively grabbed it.
“This is Team 2!”
It was a call from headquarters.
And the voice on the other end immediately shouted, without preamble—
“Hey! Do not even think about crawling down! Get up there right now! Head straight to Heaven Lake!”
“…What?”
“The monsters are all gone! Hurry up!”
The team members exchanged glances.
Then, all at once, they grabbed their gear and started running.
What they didn’t realize was that, while being chased by monsters, they had unknowingly made their way close to Heaven Lake.
As a result, they arrived there far faster than expected.
And there—
By the pristine waters of Heaven Lake—
A lone figure stood.
“Huh?”
An unconscious exclamation escaped Woo Janghun’s lips.
Just a few days ago, before their ascent up Baekdu Mountain, he had seen this kid at the terminal.
Back then, he had looked like an inexperienced rookie who couldn’t quite hide his youthful immaturity.
But now—
He was a completely different person.
His presence, his aura—everything about him had changed.
It was like looking at a sage who had attained enlightenment after a long period of ascetic training.
What the hell happened in just two days…?
Woo Janghoon was visibly shaken.
“Wow…”
A female team member behind him let out an involuntary murmur of admiration.
In contrast, the man standing at Heaven Lake, Jung Haein, instantly grasped the situation.
They got stranded.
One look at their haggard appearances made everything clear.
Their equipment was tattered, exhaustion was deeply etched into their faces,
And hunger and fatigue were evident in their expressions.
Jung Haein had come up to Heaven Lake to charge his watch via solar energy before descending.
It had been about two days since the day he first climbed Baekdu Mountain.
Which meant these people had been trapped here for two whole days.
Jung Haein silently observed them.
Woo Janghoon averted his gaze.
Then, Jung Haein let out a calm smile and spoke.
“Are you all alright?”
His voice carried an unmistakable sense of ease.
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