CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 47 : THE MEETINGS

We were back in the cafe.

The system UI appeared before all of us, glowing with eerie clarity like it was burned into the air itself.

Then another message followed, separate and cold:

[Top-Ranked Participant of Each District May Request an Audience with Faction Leaders]

→ Buk-gu, Ulsan Top Rank: SHIN YE-JUN

Do you wish to proceed?

It seems this new window only appeared to me. I was about to ask my mother to use her bloody eyes when suddenly I vanished.

Just blink and gone.

Seo-Yeon shot up. "Ye-Jun?!"

She looked around the café in panic, her grip tightening on Eun-ha.

"What just happened?" In-Ji asked, already reaching for her pistol.

"System warp," Mother muttered. Her voice was quiet, and her eyes were glowing red. "He chose to meet the leaders..."

"Alone?!" Ye-Rin snapped. "Why the hell would he go alone?!"

"He was the top-ranked player in Buk-gu," Mother replied. "Only one person gets the chance and it seems that he was taken away without his own will.

"You seem too calm", Hyun-tae spoke. Mother gave him a stare that says she is trying her best to stay calm and analyze the situation.

Mother’s eyes narrowed as she walked toward the window. "Everyone. Look."

They followed her gaze—and the world outside had changed.

The sky had turned a shade too deep for twilight.

And in it, they came.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of massive winged shapes filled the air.

Two armies colliding in the sky.

On one side Ravens, blacker than ink, their wings slicing the clouds like guillotines. Their bodies were long and jagged, like weapons.

Some had human limbs fused to their torsos. Others had glowing red eyes embedded in their feathers.

On the right: Owls, broader and slower—but eerily silent. Their eyes were like calculating. Even as they fought, they didn’t scream—they just watched.

And then they attacked.

A boom rippled through the air as the first raven speared through an owl, feathers scattering like falling knives.

Seconds later, a group of owls countered, their wings flashing like mirrors, disorienting the ravens mid-flight.

Hyun-tae cursed. "Don’t curse in front of the child." Boom boom interrupted.

Ye-Rin gripped her axe tightly."We need to go after Ye-Jun."

"And we go where?" Seo-Yeon snapped. "You saw it. He was taken."

"But what if they hurt him?" Ye-Rin spoke.

Eun-ha clung to Seo-Yeon, burying her face on her side. "Why are the sky monsters fighting...?"

No one answered her.

And in that moment, the system blinked again.

[Warning: You have not chosen a Faction.]

[Unaligned players are considered "Free Agents."]

[You will become visible to both factions in 12 hours.]

[Make your decision.]

Mother exhaled."They’re forcing our hand."

Seo-Yeon looked back at the others. Her face was calm, but her hands were trembling slightly where they held Eun-ha.

"We wait for Ye-Jun." Mother continued.

"And if he doesn’t come back in time?" Ye-Rin asked.

Motyer looked up at the sky.

"Then we make the decision without him".

"Don’t worry boiz, we have a literal dragon on our side" Hyun-tae spoke pointing at Volt, who was behind them all this time.

His three heads move in a nod as if pleased by Hyun-tae’s compliment. "I like this mortal".

After the sudden teleportation, I found myself in a golden palace.

The ceiling arched impossibly high above me, held up by black pillars made of bone—or something worse. Crows the size of wolves perched along the rafters, watching me in dead silence.

Then came the sound.

Feathers beating. Earth shaking. Power humming in the air like a predator’s growl.

And he descended.

The Raven King.

A towering beast of shadow and feathers, twenty feet tall, cloaked in a mantle of living wings. His large eye glowed like burning coal.

"You stand before Rakaroz, Sovereign of the Storm feather Lineage," he said, voice like thunder in a metal canyon. "Kneel! you imbecile."

As soon as he spoke those words, my legs gave out and I knelt before him. My body wasn’t listening to me anymore.

He didn’t need to brag—everything about him screamed power.

"Why have you come, human?"

"The system brought me here," I replied, trying not to sound like I was about to die in the next thirty seconds.

His beak clicked once. "So you are the apex of your kind in your district. Good. That means you’re worth the offer."

He spread his wings—and suddenly, I saw it.

RAKAROZ’S OFFER – RAVEN BLOOD PACT]

+5 Immediate Level Boost

Exclusive Skill Tree: Shadow Predator Lineage

Passive Perk: Urban Camouflage– Move unseen in ruins and cities

Trait: Predator’s Instinct – Mark nearby enemies through walls (Cooldown: 60 sec)

Weapon Drop: Talon Blades x2 – Shadow-drenched daggers that bleed through armor

Familiar Unlock: Ravenling Scout– A flying companion that tracks targets and relays tactical vision

Special: Raven Monarch Title – Gain Influence over lower-ranked Raven allies.

He didn’t stopped and continued showing me something more.

Me, leading a flock of shadowy beasts. Cities crumbling under my command. Wings on my back. A crown made of knives and black glass. Everyone behind me—my friends, my sister, Seo-Yeon—untouchable, protected by the power I held.

Tempting didn’t even begin to describe it.

"And what do you ask in return?" I said slowly.

he leaned in, eyes burning red like twin suns about to go supernova.

"Swear yourself to me, and this power will be yours. You will rise above insects. Above friends. Above humanity."

And that’s when I remembered her voice.

"Each side comes with its own rewards... and punishments. But I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon enough."

Sailor Moon’s warning echoed like a trap dressed in sugar.

"I need time," I said.

The Raven King froze. Then laughed.

It wasn’t a good laugh. It sounded like crows eating something still alive.

"You dare insult my patience?"

The floor trembled.

"You reject a crown... for hesitation?"

And then with a sweep of his arm, like flicking away dirt—

BOOM.

I was airborne, thrown out of the palace like a broken feather.

I opened my eyes and found myself standing in a forest that didn’t belong to time.

And then I heard him.

"I’ve been waiting for you."

The Owl King stood at the center of a moonlit grove, surrounded by stone pillars cracked with age and wisdom