[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 389

At that moment.

The Demon Realm, crafted as an imitation of the Divine Realm.

Logos, unable to contain his rage, went on a rampage, wildly destroying the dimensions under his control.

“……”

The Gods in charge of those dimensions prostrated themselves, not daring to lift their heads.

"Logos, don’t you think that’s enough?"

It was none other than Harmagedon who tried to stop him.

Harmagedon, who had shown no movement since sealing Tenebris, had suddenly come to see Logos.

“Shut up! Those damned bastards dare to oppose me?!”

"You know it too. They’re planning to capture us and imprison us in the Abyss."

"Those pathetic things? Have they learned nothing from their previous failure?"

"Still, the real issue is why the Divine Realm was opened in the first place."

Harmagedon had witnessed everything through the divine artifact he had bestowed upon Escanon.

And he also confirmed that it was the Archangel Uriel who had subdued Escanon.

So who in the world opened the Divine Realm where they were?

“Are you seriously suggesting a human opened the Divine Realm?”

“Then who else would it be?”

"...Are you sure?"

“Yes.”

Harmagedon had been keeping an eye on a certain human through Escanon.

That human had displayed a string of feats far beyond what any human should be capable of.

And now, that very human had suddenly opened the Divine Realm—right before Uriel emerged, cutting off all communication.

Afterward, Escanon was captured by Uriel and stripped entirely of his authority over Earth and the New World.

“This is hopeless. Looks like they’re planning to use that dimension as a foothold to hunt us down.”

“That won’t be easy. They can’t enter the Demon Realm.”

Because they are sacred beings, they cannot step foot into the Demon Realm, which seethes with demonic energy.

Originally, the Demon Realm was a prison devoid of demonic energy. But they had twisted the divine power they received and created a new power.

A power only they could wield—beings who were reborn with the strength to oppose the gods.

This power grew by destroying dimensions and stealing the souls within them.

Their ultimate goal: to seize control of the Divine Realm and ascend as rulers.

“So they’re using the human to take the lead.”

“Seems that way.”

The fact that the Divine Realm was opened meant that their power had somehow taken root in a human.

“Then we’ll need to ensure that human never finds Tenebris.”

Tenebris.

Once, they had believed he shared the same purpose.

But when it was revealed that he was a spy sent by the Divine Realm, they ruthlessly punished and sealed him.

Originally, the plan had been to erase him completely, but he had deliberately abandoned the power of the Divine Realm and walked the same path as them—so erasure ultimately failed.

They had agreed to postpone his destruction to a later time, but thanks to Tenebris’s preemptive preparations, the sealing location kept changing.

Moreover, he had completely erased his presence, making him impossible to track.

“No, wait. Wouldn’t it be even better if we do find him?”

"Why?"

"We can’t find him right now. But what if he reaches out to the human first?"

“…Ah! Then we could easily capture Tenebris.”

"Exactly."

"Hmm. Then for now, we should prepare for the possibility that the human crosses over."

* * *

At the same time.

Jeong-hoon arrived underground.

A heavy iron gate sealed off the area. Beyond it, a grown man lay collapsed, bound in restraints.

===

[NPC Info]

- Nickname: Ross

- Level: 330

- Occupation: Android Factory Apprentice Staff

===

He was indeed the Ross Theo had been looking for.

Jeong-hoon bent the iron bars by force and stepped inside.

‘Looks like he hasn’t eaten in days.’

The man was completely exhausted, likely from not even drinking water properly.

Jeong-hoon used Divine Healing on him.

Color quickly returned to Ross’s face, and his closed eyes suddenly snapped open.

“Uh…?”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Wh-Who are you?”

“I came at Mr. Theo’s request. We were contacted after you failed to return for a while.”

“Ah… I see.”

[Unable to sever—requires level 450 or higher.]

The rope binding Ross.

It was specially crafted—if your level was too low, you couldn’t even break it.

‘Ah, so this is what people meant when they said they got stuck on Atlas’s first quest?’

The quest triggered by the message from the station guide:

“This is absurd…”

“Why even bother helping if this is how it goes?”

“What are we supposed to do if we can’t break it because of our level? lol”

“This is nonsense… don’t ever start this quest.”

Most players couldn’t break the rope due to level restrictions.

Because of that, users often warned each other not to accept messages from the station in the first place.

Of course, none of that applied to Jeong-hoon.

He easily tore through the rope and helped Ross to his feet.

“More importantly, how did you end up like this?”

“Sigh… It’s that damned Lafaro.”

“Lafaro?”

Lafaro was the owner of the lab.

But why would the owner restrain Ross, who was just delivering something?

"Yes. That guy was researching a new type of android—an extremely destructive one."

"A destructive one?"

"Yes. Will you come with me?"

Ahead of Ross stood not another iron gate, but a tightly sealed door.

The door couldn’t be forced open—it required a password to enter.

Ross entered the code and the door opened.

"How did you know the password?"

"Ah, whenever I came to deliver supplies, Lafaro was almost always absent. So I’d just enter the password myself and leave the goods inside."

"Really?"

"Yes. Anyway, let’s go in."

Jeong-hoon nodded and followed Ross inside.

Contrary to the outer structure, which looked like it could collapse at any moment, the underground facility was highly advanced and running in pristine condition.

But just then—gunfire erupted, and a barrage of bullets flew toward Jeong-hoon.

Tatatatatatang!

[Activating Barrier of Light.]

Jeong-hoon swiftly cast Barrier of Light, blocking the incoming bullets.

Not a single shot left a scratch on the barrier. Watching this, Ross’s pupils trembled violently.

“Th-this can’t be real…”

"Hey, you."

Jeong-hoon cast a sharp glance at Ross.

Ross’s shoulders flinched.

“W-what is it…?”

“How many people have you lured in like this?”

“…Huh?”

“I didn’t expect you to fake malnutrition too.”

In truth, Jeong-hoon had started suspecting Ross from the moment he entered the password.

A mere apprentice staffer knowing the lab’s password?

That alone was suspicious enough.

As if his deception had been seen through, Ross’s character data slowly began to shift.

===

[NPC Info]

- Nickname: Lafaro

- Level: 330

- Occupation: Android Developer

===

So it wasn’t Ross—it was Lafaro.

Then what happened to the real Ross Theo was looking for?

“You catch on quicker than I expected.”

"Meanwhile, you’re completely oblivious."

“…What?”

Lafaro’s face twisted in annoyance, his pride clearly wounded.

"The trap you triggered? It didn’t affect me at all. And do you know what that means?"

“……”

"Where’s the real Ross?"

"Oh, that clueless guy? Naturally, he became my precious nutrient source."

As Lafaro spoke, an android robot dashed toward Jeong-hoon and lunged at him.

Jeong-hoon threw a punch, slamming it directly into the robot’s face.

Kwaaaang!

Overwhelmed by the sheer damage, the robot couldn’t withstand the hit and exploded on the spot.

"Don’t tell me that robot was what you were talking about?"

“Uh…”

Lafaro was at a loss for words.

The robot Jeong-hoon had just destroyed was Level 1,500.

Even Lafaro, who was Level 1,200 himself, figured that was far beyond what Jeong-hoon could handle. He expected at least a drawn-out fight—but it ended in a single blow.

“My masterpiece… defeated this easily…?”

He was stunned.

“Well then… is it your turn now?”

But he had no time to be stunned.

The monster that obliterated his Level 1,500 robot in one hit was now walking toward him.

Lafaro backed away in panic, but his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

“I-I’m sorry…!”

At this point, survival was his only goal.

Driven by that desperation, he pressed his forehead to the ground.

“So, where exactly is Ross?”

“T-that is…”

Lafaro fidgeted, trying to avoid answering.

“You said he became ‘nutrients,’ didn’t you? Does that mean you killed him?”

“……”

His silence was as good as a confession.

Jeong-hoon let out a sigh and followed up.

“Why did you kill him?”

“I-I used him as a test subject…”

“A test subject?”

Lafaro’s experiments were horrifying.

While developing androids, he eventually succeeded in building a single advanced model.

But to complete it, he needed something: human mana.

Specifically, a heart brimming with mana.

And at just the right time, a promising human appeared.

So Lafaro killed him for the sake of his experiment, extracted his heart, and used it to create the Level 1,500 robot.

That same robot was effortlessly destroyed by Jeong-hoon.

“I-I must’ve lost my mind…”

“I’ll give you two choices.”

“Choices…?”

“Do you want to die here by my hand—or go to the city and confess your crimes?”

If it weren’t for the quest, Jeong-hoon would’ve killed him on the spot and walked away.

But after Lafaro’s confession, a quest marker blinked above his head.

Theo’s request to find out what happened to Ross had now been resolved—and the quest was complete.

[General Quest: Confession]

Condition: Subdue Lafaro

Reward: 10,000,000 EXP + Random Item Box

Description: Force Lafaro to confess his crimes.

The next stage of the quest was to escort Lafaro to the city and make him publicly confess his wrongdoing.

“I-I’ll confess!”

Apparently not ready to die, Lafaro gave in and agreed to confess without resistance.

‘Unbelievable. He doesn’t want to die, yet he had no problem killing someone else?’

‘Trash. It might be better to torture him until he begs for death instead.’

Mukho and Anima were furious.

‘That’s not my concern.’

Jeong-hoon’s role was simply to hand over the criminal, Lafaro.

* * *

At that moment.

Theo was outside, smoking one cigarette after another.

Sigh… maybe I shouldn’t have sent him?

Ross had only joined four months ago.

But he learned quickly, worked hard, and had won Theo’s full trust.

Despite his young age, Ross never shied away from dirty or difficult jobs. Theo had grown quite fond of him and taught him personally.

Then came the day he assigned Ross to deliver coils to Lafaro’s lab—and now, nearly two weeks had passed with no sign of his return.

"Oh, the coils arrived just fine."

The shipment had been successfully delivered—so why hadn’t Ross come back?

That answer would only be revealed when the Outsider returned.

"D-died? What do you mean?"

"Just what I said. This man killed him—for an experiment."

"Haha, no way. Mr. Lafaro would never do something like that."

Theo looked at Lafaro in disbelief.

As if to confirm the truth, he stared at him intently.

Lafaro, trembling, gave a slight nod.

“Y-yes… it’s true… I killed him…”

"You threatened him, didn’t you?! Mr. Lafaro would never kill someone!”

Even after the confession, Theo couldn’t believe it.

"That’s why I brought Ross’s body. Open it."

“Y-yes…”

When the Outsider returned, Lafaro had been carrying a coffin.

He opened it.

Inside lay the lifeless body of Ross, cold and still.

“R-Ross!”

Theo rushed forward and checked him.

But Ross, long since dead, gave no reply.

“It’s likely been two weeks since he died. Do you still not believe me now?”

Only after seeing the corpse did Theo finally accept Jeong-hoon’s words.

He glared at Lafaro with murderous rage and asked:

“…Mr. Lafaro, why did you kill him?”

“I-I’m sorry… I must’ve lost my mind for a moment, because of the experiment… kuh!”

Lafaro tried to explain in a trembling voice, but he couldn’t finish his sentence.

"An experiment? Are you seriously saying you killed someone for an experiment?! Huh?!"

Theo roared in anger as he grabbed Lafaro by the collar.

“What the hell, Theo?!”

“Why’s the guy who went for a smoke yelling like that?!”

“Wait… what…?”

“Ross…?”

Hearing the commotion, people from inside the factory began to file out one by one.

When they saw Ross’s cold, lifeless body, they were struck speechless.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]