[Do you still wish to stay?]
Those words echoed in Kim Gyeong's mind.
Everything was out in the open now. There was no denying that C had lied to him for ten whole years.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been furious and perhaps resentful. Anyone would have been. No... a normal person would have hated the witch with all their heart.
A world of white.
No matter where one looked — left, right, above, or below — there was only the overwhelming dominance of that single color.
White without depth. White without texture. White without end.
There was no sky, yet no ceiling. No ground, yet no horizon. No landmarks to anchor the mind, no shadows to mark the passage of time.
Just emptiness.
An emptiness so absolute that it eroded the thought.
In such a place, ten years was not merely a span of time, it was a slow erosion of the self.
And yet…
Kim Gyeong exhaled softly.
If he were honest with himself, the resentment he expected to feel simply wasn't there.
He thought of the endless conversations. The pointless arguments. The quiet stretches of silence that had somehow felt companionable rather than oppressive.
He thought of C, of the way her voice shifted when she teased him, of the rare moments when her composure cracked, if only slightly.
This world was empty.
But it hadn't been lonely.
An existence was here, undeniably so. She stood before him even now. She had endured solitude for an unreasonable span of time, so long that even she no longer knew its length. Perhaps it stretched beyond measure. Perhaps it had long since lost meaning.
Her Ether Core had been sealed, and she had been cast into this white void. A prison without bars, without sound, without change.
Kim Gyeong didn't know. Perhaps she truly was guilty. Perhaps she had truly committed acts so unforgivable that even eternity seemed justified in the eyes of those who judged her.
But even so, it was too cruel.
Punishment was meant to correct, to atone, or at the very least to end, wasn't that the point? This was none of those things. This was erasure, slow and absolute. A sentence that demanded she remain here and wither away until even the concept of self dissolved.
For the rest of eternity.
The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Was this truly justice?
And more importantly,
Was he really supposed to leave her behind in a place like this?
'Ah.'
Kim Gyeong finally understood.
The reason why he felt conflicted. The reason his chest felt heavy. The reason his thoughts refused to settle. The reason the anger he should have felt never truly took shape.
It was not confusion. It was not pity alone either.
It was guilt.
He had spent ten years believing himself trapped. Ten years thinking of this place as a temporary misfortune, a detour he would eventually escape. Even at his most frustrated, there had always been an end in sight. A possibility of return. The hope of a future.
But for her, there was no such thing.
This was not a setback.
This was her entire existence.
The white world was not a place she was passing through. It was the place she had been abandoned to. While he counted years, trained, improved, and grew, she had simply endured. Day after day without change. Without progress. Without the assurance that anything would ever be different.
And yet she had smiled. Teased him. Argued with him over meaningless things. Listened to his complaints about work, about life, about the dreams he never chased.
She had shared his time.
No. She had given him hers.
Kim Gyeong slowly clenched his fingers.
He had called himself the victim of deception, but compared to her, what had he truly lost?
Ten years that had been filled with conversation and companionship.
What had she gained?
A brief reminder of what it meant to feel alive?
What a damn joke!
How did that hold a candle to what he had gained!? Could a person be satisfied with just living through the moments? That was what he had doing his entire life before entering this place!
This goddamn place that ate away at a person's Soul until there wasn't a single crumb left!
And he was supposed to leave her alone in this place?
How?
He looked at her again, really looked this time.
If he left, time would resume its meaningless crawl for her. The white would swallow everything again. The silence would return much heavier than before.
Because now she would remember.
She would remember warmth.
She would remember him.
'I see.'
Kim Gyeong exhaled, a faint, almost helpless sound escaping his lips.
So that was it.
He was not staying because he was brave.
He was not staying because he was foolish.
He was staying because leaving now would mean condemning her to a worse fate than solitude.
It would mean abandonment.
Slowly, he raised his head.
And when he spoke, his voice was quiet, yet filled with conviction.
"To answer your question, I'll say yes. Yes, C. I'm staying."
The witch blinked.
[What?]
Then she scowled. No, he was certain she was frowning.
[Seriously, is something wrong with you? How can you stay with someone who lied to you for ten whole years!? Are you really going to doom yourself for someone like that!?]
"I would. And it has nothing to do with you. I'm staying because of me."
[Staying because of yourself? What kind of nonsense are you spouting!? I knew it. You've really lost a few screws in that head of yours, haven't you?!]
"Maybe I have."
Kim Gyeong let out a short breath, almost a laugh. He looked around at the endless white, then back at her.
"But for the first time since I arrived here, I finally understand something."
His gaze didn't waver.
"If I leave now, I'll regret it. Whether you tricked or not have nothing to do with it and I'm not angry either. I'll regret it because I'd be walking away from something I chose for myself."
He clenched his fist.
"I spent my entire life doing what I was supposed to do. Studying because I had to. Working because I needed money. Enduring things because that was just how life worked."
His eyes softened.
"This is the first decision I've ever made that doesn't feel forced."
He met her gaze again.
"So yeah. I'm staying. And if that makes me crazy, then I'll own it. Ha! I doubt anyone would remain sane after staying in this place. So yeah, too bad for you. I have grown crazy enough to doom myself and spend with an eternity with you in this place!"
C hesitated for a long time, then trembed in silence. When she spoke again, her voice was tired:
[Gyeong, stop being foolish. I can't let you stay. If you do, you're definitely going to change from the current you. Putting it simply, your ego will wither to the point that you will become an entirely different person. Such a result is inevitable and I can't bear to see that happen. So go. Leave while you can.]
He gritted his teeth.
"...No."
Her tone turned sorrowful, almost desperate.
[Stop being stubborn and open the d■■n portal! Tch! This d■■n filtering again at a time like this...!]
Seeing her attempting to curse made a smile appear on his face. In the end, Kim Gyeong remained completely adamant in his decision.
"Don't wanna."
[So you have really made up your mind?]
"Yes. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do that can change my mind."
[I see.]
The Witch of Immortality remained silent for a moment, her gaze heavy with unspoken pain. Then she spoke a single word:
[Ensnare]
Kim Gyeong's eyes trembled.
Deep within the recesses of his spirit body, something stirred, taking root in his Ether Core.
Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, his hand moved of its own accord toward the black circle, beginning the sequence to activate it. First came [Fire], then [Metal], [Wood], [Earth], and finally, [Water].
All five elements of Universal Aether flowed seamlessly into the circle.
"...!"
He could do nothing but watch in horror as it unfolded before him, his soul immobilized, his body unresponsive.
"What the hell... what's happening?!"
[You really are hopeless.]
C let out a resigned sigh.
[I didn't think I would have to play this card, but it can't be helped. Look at what you've made me do. This is what happens when you're too stubborn.]
Stunned beyond measure, Kim Gyeong stared at her with a dumbfounded look.
"You… you were able to use ether this entire time!"
C's expression was almost teasing.
[Of course not, you big dummy. I can't use ether; my Ether Core is still sealed. I didn't lie about that.]
"Then why?! What does this mean? Why can't I move?!"
She smiled, and this time the darkness in her features shifted into something cruel. A wicked, cursed smile spread across her face, revealing a side of her he had rarely seen.
[It's simple, really. Have you forgotten? I'm still a witch, after all. Even with majority of my powers sealed, I can still pull a trick or two. For instance… taking control of your body.]
His eyes widened further, trembling with disbelief.
"You… you did something to me? No, that's impossible! How could you—?!"
Then, it hit him.
He suddenly remembered. Ten years ago, C had made brief contact with his body, forcefully awakening his Ether Core. That had been the moment he gained the ability to manipulate his own ether and the worldly Ki.
Could it all have been set in motion back then?
Kim Gyeong's mind raced, pieces snapping together with a clarity that left him both awed and horrified.
"You… you orchestrated all this… ten years ago? You set me up from the very beginning?"
[Set you up? Perhaps you could say that. I'm not as innocent as you think. If you knew about half of the things I have done, you would have been disgusted by the idea of staying close to me. Who knows? You might even try to kill me.]
"Don't give me that bullshit! Why the hell would you do something like this!? Why would you..."
He opened his mouth several times but no words came out.
Because the portal had opened.
"...!!"
Following that,
The white world fractured and light folded inward as the activated circle roared to life, its black lines blazing with prismatic intensity. The five elements surged, no longer gentle streams but violent torrents, spiraling upward and outward as if tearing a hole through reality.
Space warped.
Accompanying that change, a vortex of distorted ether blossomed above the circle, its core pitch-black, its edges rimmed with violent color.
Beyond it, Kim Gyeong caught fleeting glimpses of something else.
It filled his entire being with an indescribable terror.
"...No—!" he tried to shout, but no sound escaped his throat.
His body moved on its own, drawn steadily toward the glowing Gateway. Completely aganist his will.
Step. Step. Another step.
'Stop. Stop!'
But his body refused to obey, advancing relentlessly. A dull ache settled deep in the center of his mind, gnawing at him.
'Fuck, stop! Stop already, damn it!'
Despite his desperate protests, his body refused to cooperate with his efforts. From the corner of his eye, he caught C's expression.
It was no longer cruel or mocking. It was filled with sorrow.
'Stop it! Don't look at me with those eyes! I hate it! I don't want this! You damn witch! Stop! Let me go! Release me! Please, don't do this!'
He tried to scream, to shout, perhaps to curse her for what felt like the ultimate betrayal. But his voice remained trapped, his protest impotent.
Still, his body pressed on, crossing the threshold of the Gateway without pause. The scripts ignited, radiating an intense, almost blinding light.
His form began to glow as well, bathed in the searing luminescence.
'Goddamn it all!'
The ethereal radiance intensified, obscuring every detail of his human figure.
...And then, as abruptly as it had begun, it vanished, leaving behind only emptiness and the enveloping silence.
Just like that, he was gone.