"My Apostle."

I couldn't help but frown at the World Tree's words.

"Apostle?"

What does that mean? Apostle? Is it really talking to me?

"What do you mean by that?"
[I'm pleased to meet you like this.]

A strand of hope seemed to have seeped into the previously hollow and empty voice. The World Tree spoke to me as though it was genuinely happy.

'Why is everyone like this?'

Even as I heard that, my expression didn't change. It was the same for everyone.

Those who met me either spoke with a tone of excitement, interest, or a sense of welcoming, as if they were pleased by the change I brought.

'Damn it.'

None of that was pleasant to hear. If beings I didn't know were happy to see me, it meant I had something they wanted. I pushed those thoughts aside and asked the World Tree.

"Do you know who I am?"

Based on its reaction, I wondered if it knew I had regressed. The World Tree remained silent at first, but then—

Crack—

The branches began to move slowly in response.

[Apostle.]

"Why do you keep calling me an apostle? What does that even mean?"

[I do not know who you are, but you know me.]

Its words sparked my curiosity. The World Tree claimed not to know me, but that I knew it.

The latter part made sense, but the former did not.

It said it didn't know me, even though I apparently knew it?

"What do you mean by that?"

[It seems you have reversed time, Apostle.]

"...!"

I gasped at the World Tree's words. How did it figure that out?

'Was it lying when it said it didn't remember?'

It spoke so casually. My gaze wavered. Could this tree possibly have memories? Could it remember?

[Are you curious how I know this?]
"..."

[Do not be alarmed. I do not know how you lived your life in the past.]

"Then how do you know?"

Crack.

A tree root burst from the ground and pointed directly at me—more specifically, at my chest.

[Because I can feel the mark I left on you.]

After hearing what the World Tree said, I vaguely understood how it had recognized me.

'The mark from my past life.'

I ran my hand lightly across my chest, recalling the marks that tree had once left on me.

[I may not remember giving it to you, but that is undoubtedly my holy mark.]

The memory returned. I had accepted it to survive back then.

And—

"You've wrapped yourself in so many things."

Later, the Heavenly Demon had noticed it and mentioned it, and I had thought the Heavenly Demon erased it.

But apparently, it hadn’t been completely erased.

[Though it seems someone tried to remove it, the marks intertwined with your soul couldn't be erased.]

"...Are you reading my mind?"

[How could I, a mere old tree, do such a thing?]

Despite its words, it felt as if it was reading my thoughts. A deeply unsettling feeling.

"There's something I came to ask you."

I had to set this aside for now. There were too many questions I needed to ask. There was too much I needed to know.

The reason I had to come to this world was ultimately because I needed to meet this tree and ask it many things.

Would this ancient tree be able to answer my questions?

[Questions? What brings you to seek me?]

The voice echoed. Just like the first time I met it.

It was still a sound I couldn't get used to. I endured it and asked my question.

"Are you the one who made me regress?"

Turning back time to my past felt like a miracle, but I knew that miracles didn’t come easily to me.

Setting aside what Yeon Il-cheon had said about there being a reason for my regression...

If someone had intervened, the first one to suspect was this tree.

"Did you... save me and send me back to the past?"

Reversing time was almost impossible by normal standards. But if someone else had done it for me...

That someone wouldn't be an ordinary being.

At that moment, the tree in front of me certainly wasn't ordinary. It was the first entity I should suspect.

However—

[Apostle, I was not the one who did that.]

The World Tree denied responsibility.

[Reversing time burdens one's soul with unimaginable karma. Such an act is beyond the power of a mere ancient tree like me.]

"Ordinary trees don't talk, and they certainly don't grow this big either."

[Nevertheless, the miracle you experienced was not something I caused.]

I was about to ask how I could trust that, but I stopped myself. It would only lead to a pointless argument.

"So, it wasn't you who made me regress?"

[Indeed. I no longer possess such power. It's an impossible thing for me.]

No longer possesses such power? Does that mean it once did?

[Apostle.]

Suddenly, a breeze swept through.

[I do not know what happened to you.]

The sorrow in its voice was grating. It sounded as if it were mourning me, which I didn't appreciate.

"Why do you keep calling me 'Apostle'? What does that even mean?"

[You bear my mark, so it means that the past me or the future me chose you. Thus, you are my Apostle.]

"How do you know we'll meet in the future?"

[Did you not come here now to meet me sooner?]

"..."

[I am happy. I have waited for so long, and I have finally met the one to whom I could pass on my mark.]

So, a long wait, huh? That's what it said last time as well.

"And... what exactly are you?"

[Have I not told you already?]

It hadn’t told me much. Just how to return to the original world and how this world differed from the outside.

That was all.

'What more could I have heard? It disintegrated right after speaking.'

The World Tree had left me with a few words before disintegrating into dust, just like Jang Seon-yeon's body earlier.

The sight of that enormous tree dissolving into the wind was something I would never forget.

[I am Mu-a.]

"I already know that."

[I am the fifth World Tree to descend upon this world.]

[I am the master of this world.]

"The master, huh..."

No matter how I looked at it, this world was already ruined and decayed.

"Are you saying you're this world's god?"

[There was a time when I was called that. Judging by your questions, it seems I didn’t tell you much.]

"You didn’t have time to tell me. You disappeared right away."

[Disappeared... Yes, that is true.]

The World Tree’s response was melancholic, the sound of its voice like a chill creeping through my veins.

[I do not have much time left, it seems.]

"By any standard, you’ve still got plenty of time."

I recalled that a few years in this world equated to a single day in the outside world.

I had fallen into this world in my previous life when I was in my early twenties. By that calculation...

The World Tree should have had a countless amount of time left.

However—

[Time is fleeting for humans. What seems long to you is only a brief moment for me.]

It seemed like the World Tree wasn't pleased with its situation.

[Still, I am glad you, my Apostle, have found me.]

"Apostle, Apostle. Stop it. Why do you keep calling me that?"

I don't believe in gods. That time had long passed.

"You said I was the flame that would burn away the karma accumulated in the world."

Maybe not this world, but I knew that my world was entangled in a lot of things.

"I don’t know much."

Even after regressing, I was still ignorant of too many truths, and that was humiliating.

Trying to ignore everything and act like I could just sleep it off...

Made it feel like I was tangled up in some filthy truth.

Even if I wasn’t directly involved...

It felt unsettling knowing that people who didn’t deserve suffering were entangled in it.

"So, tell me where to start unraveling this mess. What do you know?"

[...]

The World Tree remained silent, an uncomfortable silence at that.

After a moment had passed—

Crack—

A tree root emerged from the ground and bent behind me, as if inviting me to sit.

[Take a seat.]

Hesitating briefly, I sat down.

[Apostle, do you know what it means to be a master?]

"Master?"

It was something the World Tree had mentioned before. It had called itself the master of this world.

[Yes, a master. A master is the essence of the world itself.]

"Could you explain that more clearly?"

[A master is the essence. The world exists because of the master, and the master exists because the world exists.]

"..."

[The difference is that while the world can exist without a master, the master’s disappearance doesn't cause the world to collapse.]

I couldn’t understand the meaning behind the World Tree’s words.

More importantly, I didn’t understand why it was bringing this up now.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

There were more pressing matters—regression, the Blood Demon, the Heavenly Demon...

And what Yeon Il-cheon had called the calamity, as well as the red sphere, the "seed" hidden deep in Guga’s territory...

I had so many questions. Why was it talking about this now?

[When I say I am the master of this world, I do not mean I am the master of the world itself.]

"Then... is there another meaning?"

[To be precise... I am the master of life.]

"Life?"

[Yes, life. The master of all life that dwells in this land. That is what it means to be the master of the world.]

"And... how does that relate to what we're talking about now?"

[What do you think happens when the master of the world disappears?]

Suddenly, a faint clarity emerged in my mind.

[When the master disappears, it means that all life will die.]

"...What?"

I swallowed hard at the World Tree’s words.

"What do you mean by that? All life will disappear?"

Forget about fate and destiny.

I couldn't grasp what it was saying.

In my previous life, the World Tree had disappeared after leaving its mark on me. Yet the creatures of this world hadn't vanished.

If what the World Tree said was true, then this was a contradiction.

Moreover...

'...In the first place, there's no master in the other world...!'

As I pieced things together, I looked at the World Tree with wide eyes.

The World Tree responded as if sensing my thoughts.

[Even if the master dies, the creatures living in that world do not immediately disappear. What happens is that no new life is born, and eventually, all living things will perish.]

"New life can no longer be born?"

[That is what would happen, normally.]

Master.

Master of the world. What a strange concept.

If a master is necessary for life to be born and for creatures to live...

"...Our world doesn’t have a master. So how is that possible?"

In the world I lived in, I had never heard of a master. If a master didn't exist...

Then no new life should have been able to be born. But the world was still functioning just fine.

Could there be a master I didn’t know about?

As I pondered that question—

[We call that a rift.]

The World Tree spoke again.

"A rift?"

[It is something that defies the natural order. A rift.]

In a world without a master, life continues to breathe and be born.

Was the world I lived in, then, functioning contrary to the natural order?

"Is that a problem?"

[If the master disappears, then it violates the natural order, and to correct that, a new master must be created.]

"A new master?"

[That is why I am called the fifth World Tree.]

Because it descended as the fifth master of this land.

That’s why it called itself the fifth World Tree.

"So, if we just wait for a new master to be born, then there’s no problem?"

Since a new master would eventually appear, it didn’t seem like there was any major issue. Right?

As I was thinking this—

[Apostle, I said that all life in this land belongs to the master.]

The World Tree seemed to be correcting me.

"So?"

[If a new master is to be born in a land without one, do you know what must happen first?]

As I frowned in confusion, the World Tree spoke again.

[First, all life breathing on that land must be erased. Only then can a new master be established.]

It was a truly horrifying idea.