Chapter 222

A space where time does not flow.

In a colorless world where neither beginning nor end could be known, Taewoon was spending a moment that felt like an eternity.

Even with his eyes closed, his vision did not shut. This was a place where physical sensory organs were meaningless. Wherever his consciousness reached was his field of vision, and wherever his thoughts extended was his location.

Floating upon that sea of strange sensations, Taewoon continuously accelerated his thoughts.

‘Black and white. Light and darkness. Existence and absence.’

The depth held within this space was far too vast to be explained by simple dichotomies.

He tried once more to pull out every fragment of memory to deduce a clue, but a fitting answer remained elusive.

“…….”

Did a correct answer even exist in the first place? Come to think of it, didn’t the very word ‘Transcendence’ possess a nature that rejected fixed answers?

Yet, an answer surely existed.

Taewoon felt it instinctively.

This space was not a prison designed to trap him. Nor was it merely a testing ground to advance to the next stage.

This place was simply a space as it was.

The chaos before all things were born, and the void that would remain after all stories ended. In other words, the very origin of the Theater of All Things.

‘Nothing… exists here.’

Taewoon murmured inwardly. But strictly speaking, that thought was wrong.

Though it appeared empty, infinite possibilities were constantly circulating within it as lines of light and planes of darkness. And caught within that perfect cycle were two binary elements: Taewoon and Kyurihi.

The reason Taewoon felt this was a space of void was ultimately because his own perception defined it as such.

‘I cannot define this place with the framework I possess.’

A human body, the instincts of a Hunter, and even the Authority that had stepped into the realm of gods were merely shells here.

He couldn’t even gauge how much time had passed.

Impatience crept in.

Perhaps Kyurihi had already found the answer? With the weight of her overwhelming years and knowledge, had she interpreted the laws of this space and vanished beyond, laughing at him?

Anxiety bloomed like black clouds, attempting to cloud Taewoon’s serene mind.

But Taewoon endured steadfastly. He steadied his wavering heart and sank back into deep contemplation.

‘What I need right now is neither sight nor sensation. To reach the answer, a more fundamental approach is required.’

Taewoon’s five senses and sixth sense had already far surpassed human limits, but relying on them did not seem to be the path toward the answer.

Do not be deceived by what is seen.

Do not listen to what is heard.

Do not blindly believe in what is felt.

Taewoon entered a process of thoroughly erasing himself.

Forgetting the ego, forgetting the physical body, and forgetting even the fact that he was Seo Taewoon, he sought to become merely a single point floating in this space.

It was while he was repeatedly meditating, contemplating, and slowly gauging the space itself from a more essential realm.

In Taewoon’s mental image, which was nearly becoming one with the space, a small yet massive ripple left a vivid trace.

‘…She moved.’

Taewoon slowly opened his eyes.

The other existence fallen into this space, Saint Kyurihi, had initiated some sort of action.

‘Has she already derived the answer?’

Breaking the meditation that had lasted for a very long time, Taewoon began to move toward the source of the ripple with calm steps.

Distance was meaningless. If there was only the will to go, a thousand-mile journey was but a single step.

After a moment, Taewoon reached the place where Kyurihi had stayed.

But Kyurihi was not there.

Instead, only the shocking traces she had left behind greeted Taewoon.

“…This is.”

Taewoon’s eyes narrowed.

In the middle of the black-and-white space, a single altar glowing with a foreign golden light stood tall.

It was not made of physical materials, but was a manifestation formed by forcibly clumping together the vast Magical Power and Divinity Kyurihi possessed, along with the knowledge and will she had accumulated over decades.

Atop the altar, a haphazardly broken rift in space was shimmering, opening its pitch-black maw.

A crack.

She had forcibly twisted the walls of this world, which had been perfectly closed, and punched a hole through them.

‘…A technique that is hard to believe even upon seeing it.’

Taewoon was impressed.

While he had tried to assimilate with the space by digging inward, Kyurihi had analyzed and dismantled this space thoroughly from the perspective of an outsider.

Then, using her own power, she had subdued the laws of this space and forcibly created an exit through the artificial methods of an altar and a Ritual.

This was, in effect, an act of direct collision with the system of the Theater of All Things.

A reckless act that would have led any ordinary being to annihilation before they could even attempt it.

However, Kyurihi possessed that level of ability, and the Theater of All Things could not be called an absolute divine power that was supreme and immutable.

The crack trembled unstably, looking precarious as if it might close at any moment, but the path leading beyond it was clearly open.

‘Did Kyurihi eventually head beyond the space?’

Taewoon also had no guess as to what lay beyond that space.

Whether it was a new world, or whether eternal annihilation awaited, or perhaps the stairs to true Transcendence that so many longed for.

‘…….’

Taewoon stood before the altar, lost in thought.

Now that things had turned out this way, should he follow Kyurihi into that crack before it was too late?

The path Kyurihi had opened had not yet closed. If he threw himself in now, he could chase after her.

Taewoon certainly felt that Kyurihi’s answer was not wrong. She had proven it in her own way. She had carved a path forward using only the abilities she had built up, and that had worked even here.

However.

‘…This cannot be called the absolute answer.’

At least, that was what Taewoon’s instinct whispered.

Kyurihi’s method was closer to a prison break—smashing through the wall to get out.

While it was certainly one answer, it was hard to see it as the result of realizing the true meaning held by this space.

Taewoon was someone who had spent more time within the Theater of All Things than anyone else, and was a being more closely connected to the Theater than anyone.

That was why he knew. This space was less a testing ground to prove oneself and more a place to suggest something fundamentally different.

Taewoon sank into agony once more.

Kyurihi had created a crack in the space and headed beyond it with the absolute power and ability she had built up, but Taewoon did not feel that this space was merely a wall to be overcome or a meaningless obstacle.

‘If Kyurihi did it, it’s not impossible for me.’

He could head into that crack right now to follow Kyurihi, or he could use his own method to somehow derive a similar result.

But the answer Taewoon wanted to present was not such a thing.

‘A space of void, a space of black and white, a space of eternity and a moment.’

Taewoon slowly turned his back to the altar.

The golden altar Kyurihi left behind was brilliant, but to Taewoon’s eyes, it looked somehow shabby. This was because it was ultimately nothing more than the trace of a struggle, unable to let go of what she possessed.

Taewoon gazed once more into the black-and-white void.

What had he seen here, what had he thought, and what had he felt?

‘It is empty… yet full.’

Suddenly, an absurd and dangerous thought occurred to Taewoon.

Generally speaking, there is no such answer.

No one would choose such a high-risk method.

A situation where it was uncertain if anything could be gained. A gamble where one could potentially lose everything built up until now and be trapped in eternal void.

Yet, Taewoon’s honest heart told him that this was his path.

“…….”

After a moment of hesitation and a period of contemplation deep enough to furrow his brow, Taewoon slowly sat down.

And he began to contemplate himself.

There were truly many things inside him.

The miscellaneous knowledge he had tenaciously gathered since his days as a bottom-tier Hunter, the instinctive senses gained while crossing the line of death countless times, the strange and powerful abilities obtained while Clearing the Theater, and even the transcendental Authority that had reached the realm of gods.

All of those were the components that made up the current Seo Taewoon.

‘…There is a lot.’

The weight he felt anew felt, paradoxically, like shackles holding him to this spot.

Kyurihi had smashed through the wall blocking her while carrying all of that, but Taewoon decided to choose a different way.

‘I let go.’

Taewoon lightly relaxed his body and mind once.

Then, contemplating his own mind and body, he began to let go of the things within one by one.

The first thing he sent away was Magical Power.

The brilliant energy of the Dawn Sun God that had pulsed strongly near his heart, and the Overlord Path energy of The Red Man that had flowed through his veins.

The two great Divinities had intertwined to become the pillars supporting Taewoon, but Taewoon let them flow away without lingering attachment.

Along with the sensation of light draining from his body, red and golden particles scattered around Taewoon.

They did not vanish into the air but seeped into the black-and-white space, adding new colors.

‘Next… techniques and knowledge.’

The secret arts of the Soul-Chasing Eight Ghost Spear, the pinnacle of spear techniques he had engraved into his body by swinging them tens of thousands of times, and the vast information gained while hunting Aberrations.

Those, too, fell away from Taewoon’s consciousness one by one.

The feeling of his mind being wiped white. The sense of loss from the martial arts he had honed his entire life was painful, but Taewoon did not stop.

‘Artifacts, and Cinema Skills.’

Keshatus, Barata, Mitra’s Wings. Reliable armaments that had shared life and death with him.

And the Red Wax Mask.

Finally, Taewoon caressed his face and took off the mask that had appeared in his hand, releasing it into the void.

It soon left Taewoon’s hand and scattered into a cluster of light, like a constellation.

Strangely, the moment he let them go, they became nothing and left Taewoon far too easily, and the brilliant majesty and overwhelming presence that had enveloped Taewoon vanished as if washed away.

The place where everything had been stripped away.

There was no longer a Holy Follower who hunted gods, nor the successor of The Red Man, nor the Master of the Theater of All Things.

Only a weak human, Seo Taewoon, who possessed nothing, remained alone.

‘…It’s empty.’

Taewoon looked down at his two hands.

He could feel no Magical Power, and no strength entered his muscles. A chilly cold touched his skin, and a slight tremor reached his fingertips.

Perfect helplessness.

Yet, he felt more full and light than ever before.

It felt as if he could fly anywhere.

Only at that point was Taewoon finally able to turn his answer, which had remained ambiguous, into something clear.

The path of Transcendence—it is a flapping of wings toward everything beyond the world, and a long journey of casting off one’s entire self and departing.

Kyurihi had smashed the wall while carrying her burdens, but Taewoon decided to let go of everything and escape the grand cycle of reincarnation.

The moment he presented his own answer, a change occurred.

The black-and-white lines that filled the space began to move as if dancing, gathering around Taewoon.

And everything Taewoon had let go of became a single point of light and landed softly on Taewoon’s palm.

A single Ticket.

The origin of causality, which was everything the current Taewoon possessed and the starting point of all things.

Tearing it without hesitation, Taewoon finally cast everything aside and began to leap into the realm beyond the space.