*He pointed at the title floating above Ran's name.*
"That **Vessel** thing—that's not a title. It's a death sentence."
*A beat of silence. Then Jinwoo stood up, shadows curling faintly at his feet like living smoke.*
"But if I could rebel against my Monarch…
So can you."
*Ran looked at jinwoo with hopefull eyes!*
*Sung Jinwoo looked down at Ran, his stoic expression faltering for just a moment as he caught the look in the boy's eyes.
Hope.
It tugged at his heart in a way he hadn't expected. He pushed aside the feeling for now, instead raising a brow at Ran.*
"But don't get your hopes up too quick!"
*He said gruffly, folding his arms across his chest.*
"Breaking free from a Monarch's control is easier said than done. It's not going to be easy. It's going to hurt like hell."
" I don't care I'm accustomed to pain "
*Ran clenched his fists and smiled, how bad could it be I'm long accustomed to pain, he smiled sheepishly.*
*Sung Jinwoo's eyes flickered—just for a second—with something like respect.*
"...Good."
*He stood straight, shadows pooling at his feet like ink in water. The air grew heavier, the temperature dropping as a faint chill settled around them.*
"Then let's see if you're ready."
*With a snap of his fingers, dozens of shadowy figures emerged from the ground—phantom warriors with glowing red eyes, their forms shifting like smoke. They knelt behind Jinwoo in perfect silence.*
"This isn't training," he said, voice low. "This is survival."
*He pointed at Ran.*
"Fight one. Win—or get broken."
*A pause.*
"No mercy. Not even for orphans."
Ran summoned a blade of light from his hand and Jinwoo felt something different.
Shadow exists in the absense of light and they cannot exist together, and the blade was far to lethal for him than any dagger that has ever slashed him.
Boy hold the blade with trembling hands looking at the shadows
*Sung Jinwoo watched as Ran materialized a blade of light, his eyes narrowing slightly at the faint feeling of something powerful and… wrong. Shadows and light weren't supposed to coexist. But here, they did.*
*The boy's trembling hands, the shaking of the blade—it was obvious Ran wasn't used to wielding something this strong.*
"Steady."
*Sung Jinwoo said. His voice was firm. Commanding.*
Ran clenched the sword even tighter
*Sung Jinwoo watched as Ran's grip tightened around the light blade, his knuckles white with tension.*
"You won't learn by just holding it tight. Use it."
*He snapped, crossing his arms. His voice was harsh, edged with impatience.*
The shadow lunged at the boy and he doged swiftly with a swift motion yet he was trembling
*Sung Jinwoo watched intently as Ran dodged the shadow warrior's lunge, his steps swift yet his trembling hands betraying his nerves.*
"Relax."
*He snapped. He wanted the boy to focus—to get rid of the fear. He had no interest in watching a trembling wreck.*
More shadow came and Ran tried to dodge but one of his hand was severed, sunjinwoo looked at him with concern running to check.
But then his eyed widened in a few breaths his arm was good as new
*Sung Jinwoo froze mid-step, eyes narrowing sharply as he watched Ran's severed hand—*regenerate* in seconds. Flesh, bone, even the veins—rewoven like threads pulled back into place by invisible hands.*
"Impossible..."
*He muttered under his breath—not pain-induced healing, not aura regeneration... This was something else. Something divine.*
He grabbed Ran by the collar and lifted him slightly off the ground.*
"That wasn't just healing."
His voice dropped to a growl.
"You're not just a vessel..."
*The shadows around him writhed uneasily.*
"...you're already *fusing* with it."
Ran's pupil shrunk
*Sung Jinwoo's sharp eyes took in the sight of Ran—the shrinking pupils, the look of realization dawning across his face.*
"You didn't know," Jinwoo's grip on the boy's collar tightened. "You had no *idea*, did you?"
*Something about this whole situation wasn't adding up. How could this boy—this Vessel—not even be aware of what was happening within his own body?*
One day I was thrown into a river by my friends and I found myself inside a gate I ran from the monsters some ate my limbs yet I still ran , and one day a blade of light manifested and I stared to kill them and found my way in Seol"
I'm sorry I didn't told you that
*Sung Jinwoo's expression darkened as Ran spoke, his grip loosening just slightly on the boy's collar. The image of Ran, fighting for his life in a Gate where he didn't belong, it was… unsettling. But there was more.*
"And the blade of light?"
*He said quietly. His eyes locked onto the boy's.*
"Where did that come from?"
I don't know I didn't see that in my inventory but it came from me within
"From... within you?"
*Sung Jinwoo's eyes narrowed. This was getting stranger by the moment. He let go of Ran's collar, taking a step back. Shadows curled beneath his feet—a sign of his mounting tension.*
"Show me your Status."
*He said, his eyes fixed on Ran, daring the boy to refuse. There were answers somewhere within the boy's stats. He was sure of it.*
Stats he whispered
Everything was same but there was something different when he looked at the quests and the penalties all of them were glitching and the penalties were the most blurry
His level was same but there was something different.
————————————————————
Gift: Divine Consisousness (SSS rank)
[ helps finding predetermined danger and helps player to understand and mirror each combat move he had seen in just a glance]
————————————————————
*Sung Jinwoo read over the boy's stats, his eyes scanning the info with a new intensity.*
"Divine... Conscious?"
*He repeated, his brow furrowing. "Helps finding predetermined danger? Understand and mirror each combat move he had seen?" His thoughts spun. Something about those abilities felt off.
Wrong.*
*His eyes flicked over Ran's glitching penalties. The boy was hiding something.*
"This isn't everything, is it?"
*His voice was low, almost a growl.*
" I..I don't know but there is a voice that says it his the hollow king.."
*Sung Jinwoo's eyes narrowed to slits as he processed that new information. A voice, claiming it was the "hollow king"? More pieces to the puzzle, but they still didn't fit together.*
"A voice. In your head."
*He said, his tone flat. He crossed his arms, the shadows around him restless.*
"How long has it been there?"
"Ever since I'm being born..I hear it and that seed of the Monarch of light wasn't there naturally "
*Sung Jinwoo's breath stilled.*
"Not... natural?"
*He took a slow step forward, eyes sharp as blades. The air thickened—his shadow writhed like a caged beast beneath him.*
"Then tell me,"
*his voice dropped to a whisper,*
"if the seed wasn't placed by fate... who *put it inside you?*"
*A beat. Then, quieter still:*
"And if that voice—the 'Hollow King'—has been there since birth… maybe you weren't born *into* this world."
*He locked eyes with Ran.*
"You were made for it."
It was me from the future..
*Sung Jinwoo stared at Ran, his eyes unblinking. 'From the future'. That was an answer—and yet it raised more questions than it provided answers.*
"You," he echoed, his voice low. "From the future."
*He let that sink in, his mind already racing with new theories, new possibilities.*
"And why?"
*He demanded. The shadows twisted around him, restless, as if reflecting his inner turmoil.*
"Why put a Monarch's seed inside yourself to send you back in time?"
Ran gritted his teeth
" So that I can kill him..but"
"But?"
*Sung Jinwoo pounced on that word like a predator on prey. There was more to this.*
"But what?" *He pressed, taking another slow step towards Ran. The air was thick with tension, his body coiled like a spring.*
"What are you not telling me?"
"There is a thing called mirage gate and I met a version of myself, he was in forest with tall trees but the forest was made of shadows deep an ancient, he was glowing and he didn't become the Monarch of light but the one who killed him , but he lost everything he became defiled and he wants me to do the same thing, Ran gritted his teeth
*Sung Jinwoo listened to the boy's words, his mind working furiously. Mirage gate. A forest made of shadows. Defiled.*
*It sounded like a twisted fairytale.*
*But there was an edge to Ran's voice—a note of warning, a fear he was trying to suppress.*
"Defiled," *he echoed, his eyes narrowing.* "What do you mean by that?"
*His shadows twisted, sensing the growing tension.*
He made the Monarch of light feel as if he had won but his soul was fighting and which lead to corruption in his soul and he became defiled he lost everything and his presese will only bring ruin to everything, calamities and death and decay will fall everywhere cause he killed the Monarch of light and lost all he had, his soul , his mind and himself, so he hind in the mirage gate like a ghost wearing human skin beyond time and space.
*Sung Jinwoo's eyes widened at the horrific picture Ran painted. The Monarch of light, defeated from within by a corrupted version of himself. A being beyond time and space, a ghost haunting the mirage gates, spreading ruin and decay.*
*He had fought demons, creatures from other dimensions, even monarchs themself. But this? This was something else entirely.*
*He let out a low breath, his mind racing with new possibilities.*
"And he wants you to follow in his footsteps?"