A suffocating presence filled the room.
Their bodies moved on their own, no longer under their control. Sweat dripped from her brow, soaking her clothes. He was the same — trembling, drenched, breath unsteady.
Step by step, their legs dragged them toward the throne.
And then, without warning, their knees buckled. Forced to bow.
That's when the pressure grew violent.
Bones creaked. Organs twisted. It felt like something unseen was trying to crush them from the inside out. Their vision blurred from the pain—until, suddenly, everything stopped.
Silence. Breath.
And then—
The corpse of the king moved.
It lifted itself from the throne, bones cracking, and descended the steps one by one. Each step released waves of nauseating energy. The air thickened. Even breathing felt like it scorched their lungs, like fire was crawling through their veins, burning up their minds from the inside.
"Shit!" thought Yu, panic surging through his chest. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
But before he could even think again, the king stood before them.
Yu tried to lift his head, to face the figure—but the moment his eyes moved, a force slammed his skull into the floor.
CRACK.
The ground shattered beneath him. Blood pooled like a river. His body went limp—unconscious in an instant.
Beside him, she trembled. Barely able to speak through the crushing pressure that weighed on her chest like a mountain.
"T-Thee… Guardian of the Throne…" she gasped, her voice cracking. Her knees buckled, lips dry. "We, b-below your title… dared to enter t'room. For this, we accept… this punishment."
The king's glowing green eyes locked onto her—silent and unblinking.
Then, slowly, he turned.
He ascended the steps once more, his back now facing them. Just before he sat down, a deep, hollow voice echoed across the chamber:
"Thee… are a generous… and polite person. But for thy friend's insolence—death shall await."
And in that instant—
POP. POP. POP.
The heads of every person present exploded, like overripe fruit.
Silence followed. Deafening. Absolute.
The silence didn't last long.
A slow, wet drip echoed across the stone floor. Blood trickled from the shattered heads of the now-lifeless figures, forming a pool beneath the throne. The air was thick with iron, death, and something else—rot. A stench so strong it felt like it was clawing its way into her lungs.
She didn't dare move.
Yu's body was still beside her, unmoving. His face buried in the cold stone, blood seeping from the cracks in his skull.
She tried to breathe—once, twice. Her lungs refused. Her heart pounded louder than the silence, deafening in her ears.
"You can't speak. You can't plead. You can't run."
Those weren't her thoughts.
A voice had entered her head.
Ancient. Calm. And not human.
"Kneel and remember. Or rise and perish."
Her lips quivered.
"What does that mean…?"
But again, not a moment to answer. The King sat back on his throne, one leg folding over the other. His hands didn't move. His face was still lifeless. A corpse? No—something worse. Something that had pretended to be dead to test them.
His green eyes dimmed slightly.
And suddenly, the pressure vanished.
Like a switch flipped, the crushing aura dissipated, as if it had never been there.
She collapsed to her hands, gasping in breath after breath. Her fingers dug into the bloody floor, searching for strength that wasn't there.
Yu groaned.
He was still alive. Barely.
But the King said nothing else. No gesture. No warning.
Just silence.
A door creaked open behind them. Not the one they came through.
A new one.
Darkness beyond it. A hallway, humming with a strange light—almost… alive.
A test.
A choice.
Or a sentence.
She looked toward Yu, still unconscious.
And realized—
They had just survived the audience.
Now came the judgment.