To others, it was an event from hundreds of years ago.

But to the ancient tree, it was an immeasurable past that stretched far beyond counting.

Back then, the ancient tree still remembered the cries of a young man.

How desperate his cries were.

Coughing up blood as he gouged out his own eyes, His tears were as red as the blood of his child.

[How… how could this happen….]

The child, with once radiant golden hair now drenched in blood, continued to cry out as if demanding answers.

[What did we do wrong… What on earth did we do wrong!]

Holding the corpses of his friends, Watching the blood flow from the bodies of his family,

He kept calling out.

[Master….]

A heart-wrenching scream of resentment. A sobbing cry at the end of that despair.

The ancient tree had no answer to give.

[What should we do….]

The world was burning. The endless blue sea was stained with blood.

Even now, lives on this earth were fading one by one.

A blood catastrophe.

A blood catastrophe caused by one being, growing larger and erasing the world.

[Master….]

Where had it gone wrong?

Was it because the tree only wished for the children’s happiness and did not take action like the other masters?

The ancient tree did not know.

All it knew was that the child before it was weeping.

And it was so sorrowful.

All the tree could do was extend its branches and wipe away the tears.

[My child.]

At the sound of the call, the young man with golden hair lifted his head, but his gaze was empty, hollow beyond belief.

The world was collapsing, and the boy before him had already shattered.

[…Please, tell me. What did we do wrong?] [You have done nothing wrong.] [Then, why has the world turned out this way…!]

The Blood Demon, was that what it was called?

The being that tore through the sky expanded its domain as if to declare its presence.

The ancient tree understood.

Every life born on this earth was like its own child.

It shared its consciousness with them.

Yet, the tree did not understand the existence of the Blood Demon. This meant

The Blood Demon was not of this world. And the tree had a vague understanding of why that being had appeared.

Thirty, twenty years ago. Perhaps even earlier.

That was around the time when the tree had first sensed a change in this world, a world it thought would always remain the same.

From the rifts in the sky, beings from another world, not part of the lives the tree observed, had begun to emerge.

The tree believed this was the reason.

Originally, connecting with another world was against the natural order of things.

Once that violation of the natural law occurred in the tree’s world, the tree, as the master of this world,

had to bear the guilt.

If an anomaly occurred, it was the master's fault. The connection to another world carried a heavy price.

Who had caused it? What had gone wrong didn't matter.

There was sin in this land, and the ancient tree had to bear the punishment.

But.

[They have… all died.]

What the ancient tree could not endure was something else.

[The limbs of the children were severed.] [The parents of the children died with their heads cut off.]

The ancient tree believed all the lives on this earth were like its children.

Death, like a flow of time, was but a fleeting moment for the ancient tree, who had lived for countless years.

Whether they aged over time and met death, or whether they killed each other in battles,

it was the natural order and flow of the world.

The ancient tree simply swallowed its sorrow and blessed the birth of new life, believing it should not interfere.

Moreover, if the current rift meant that the tree must disappear and a new master should be born to restore the natural order,

the tree believed it could understand that as well.

[…It is sorrowful.]

Watching the child cry so mournfully, the ancient tree was filled with an indescribable emotion.

Soon, the being called the Blood Demon would come here.

Whether it had named itself the Blood Demon or whether the children had called it so was unclear,

but the tree could sense that such a being was approaching.

Rustle.

The branches stretched out and gently wrapped around the young man’s body. It was not for protection.

It was closer to an act of comfort, but whether the ancient tree’s touch could reach the young man was uncertain.

Even now, the ancient tree could feel the endless deaths of the children being born and raised in this world.

[How cruel this is….]

Truly, how cruel.

To erase so many lives, only to start anew, and to know that the tree could do nothing to stop it,

To simply remain rooted in the earth, watching the children die,

Is this the natural order?

To say the world desired this, was it not too sorrowful and cruel?

In the midst of this, the most painful part was

that there was nothing the tree could do.

Far in the distance, the red sky was closing in. Beneath the blood-colored sky,

he was coming.

To erase the ancient tree from this world and restore the order of the universe.

Watching the approaching darkness,

the ancient tree wondered. Is this really the way things should be?

It must be.

The order and laws set by the world were absolute, and the tree's place within that order was unchangeable.

The world existed, and so did the master. And because the master existed, life could be born.

The ancient tree’s existence had meaning only because the world existed. As it recalled each of these thoughts,

the ancient tree spoke to something, somewhere.

[I acknowledge it.]

It acknowledged that there was a problem with the world it was rooted in. It acknowledged that the anomaly which violated the natural law had appeared.

The tree would accept that all of this was its fault.

[But the children are innocent.]

Who was it speaking to? Perhaps no answer would come.

It was almost as if the ancient tree was talking to itself.

If there was sin,

it was the ancient tree's sin for holding the title of master, and yet loving the lives it had nurtured too much.

[…My child.]

The ancient tree whispered softly.

Through the branches surrounding the area, it sensed a presence.

[My child.] […Yes….]

The face of a young man who looked as if he had already been broken beyond repair, who had given up on everything, appeared clearly through the branches.

As it saw this, the ancient tree spoke.

[I will give you a choice.] [A… choice, you say?]

The roots buried deep in the ground trembled, and the branches began to shiver.

[You may choose to be swept away and disappear with everything as it is, or you may listen to another story and seek a chance.]

At the ancient tree’s words,

the young man’s eyes wavered. It seemed the meaning behind the word "chance" had reached him clearly.

Looking at that, the tree could already guess the young man’s choice, without needing to hear it spoken aloud.

Slowly, the tree extended its branches and stroked the young man’s head.

It couldn’t say this choice was the right one.

It was a choice that violated the natural order, a choice that disregarded the tree’s place and meaning in the world.

And so, the young man made his decision.

He accepted the chance.

No matter what it took,

if he was given a chance to escape this disaster, he would do anything.

Even if it shattered his soul, even if he faced great punishment,

he would do whatever it took. That was his answer.

Upon hearing that,

from the tree's highest branches, a single, pure white leaf gently fell.

[…My child, this is all I can give you.]

As the white leaves began to pile up on the ground, something that had been writhing to protect the tree

slid down its trunk and tightly wrapped around the young man’s body.

It was shaped like a serpent.

As the white leaves fell slowly, an anomaly began to occur in the ancient tree.

The roots that once held vitality began to wither, and the surrounding area began to distort and fall apart.

The world had noticed.

It had realized what the ancient tree intended to do. And as it sensed this, the ancient tree spoke.

[I will bear this as well….]

To turn back someone's time was to accumulate an immense burden.

Even if it was just a human's time being reversed,

violating the natural order was a grave sin.

The ancient tree felt bitter as it contemplated the punishment that awaited it.

[…My child.] [Master…. What is…] [May a small blessing be with you through the trials and tribulations you will face.]

The young man looked at the ancient tree as if asking what it meant,

but in that moment, the white leaves piled high on the ground began to whirl around him like a storm.

It was like a pure white whirlwind.

Rustle… crack.

As the young man was enveloped in the whirlwind, the ancient tree calmly endured the anomaly happening to itself.

It was not just death.

It was a punishment brought down for the master’s act of violating the natural order. As the tree felt the anomaly,

it slowly held its breath.

At that moment,

whoosh!

The whirlwind surged into the sky,

and before long, over the land of Sacheon, one man had returned to the body of a boy.

The boy looked around with confused eyes,

but the enormous ancient tree that should have been there was no longer present.

Moreover,
it was as if the world itself had forgotten the existence of the ancient tree,
as if it had never existed at all.

The world had become one where the ancient tree's existence
was erased, or perhaps, as though it had never been there in the first place.

The boy, now returned to his younger form,
stood bewildered,
looking for the tree that had once stood as a mighty presence,
but there was no trace of it left.

And so,
the world moved on,
with no memory of the tree that had sacrificed itself
to give one child a chance at life,
bearing the burden of that decision alone.

 
   ******************
   
   

As soon as I heard the story, I gasped.
It was the kind of story that demanded such a reaction.

“You’re saying… you were the master of the world I came from?”

The World Tree before me,
was saying it was supposed to be the master of our world.

[Yes. I was the master of that world.]
“The past tense, huh?”
[…I’ve since lost that right.]

It had lost its right.

‘Wasn’t it said that it was punished for sending someone back in time?’

The name that flashed through my mind was, of course, Yeon Ilcheon.

The heroes I met had mentioned him.
Even Yeon Ilcheon’s lingering consciousness spoke of how he had experienced regression.

Then.

Was the one who sent Yeon Ilcheon back in time this tree?
And as a punishment for causing the regression, it was sent to this place?

‘It was called a false world.’

They said nothing in this world was real.
The monsters pouring out from every direction were close to illusions, but...

The pain they inflicted was real.

And the bodies of those killed by the monsters didn’t disappear like illusions.

If I were to ask why this place is called a false world,

The World Tree itself had said so.
And after everything was over,

When I escaped this place and returned to the original world,
I saw that every person who had been transported with me survived. Not a single one was missing.

That was enough to make me believe this was indeed a false world.
If it weren’t, how could that be possible?

But the truth is...

‘Could it be a prison of some kind?’

Does that mean this place is where the World Tree was cast after committing a sin?

I know there are many magyeong (demonic realms) in the world.

Just among the ones recorded by the Murim Alliance, there are four,
And they manage the doors to those realms.

However, this place doesn’t belong to any of those four.

I was aware of several unknown magyeong realms like this one.

“…Then, are you saying that because you remain here, life in our world can continue?”

Whether or not that statement was true, I couldn’t tell.
But without realizing it, my tone had softened a bit.

Regardless of whether it was about being the master or not, I normally wouldn’t have cared to hold my tongue,

But the faint emotion I sensed from the World Tree held me back.
It felt strangely reminiscent of a mother’s presence.

It made it difficult to speak harshly.

‘How many years has it been since I felt something like this?’

Now, of all times, am I supposed to be feeling motherly affection?
It was ridiculous, considering my age.

Amidst these thoughts,
the World Tree spoke to me.

[That’s not it.]

I had asked whether the continuation of life was because the World Tree remained here,
but it denied it.

[Having lost my right, I no longer hold value as a master.]
“I don’t understand… Then.”

How is the world still functioning?
Is the Magyeong Gate really the problem?

The Blood Demon… Was he, as the World Tree mentioned,
a proxy sent to erase life?

‘Then what about the orb on the battlefield?’

In one section of the battlefield, within the Guga family’s territory,
there was an orb.

The beast inside me had called it a seed.
A tree and a seed.

That subtle connection made me uncomfortable.

‘Hey.’

As I thought of that, I tried to call the beast.

But ever since the disturbance with Shin Noya,
it hadn’t responded.
Neither had Shin Noya.

I raised my hand and swept my hair back from my forehead.

My head hurt.

I wanted to know the truth,
but I didn’t expect such a tangled mess of hidden stories.

When trying to solve a problem,
you must first find out where it began.

Only by finding the beginning

can you unravel the knotted thread.

But.

‘So, in the end, is this all because of the mess my ancestors left behind?’

If the problem is the rift,
then the one who opened the Magyeong Gate is to blame.

In the distant past,
my ancestor from the Guga family opened the Magyeong Gate.

Because of that, a rift formed in what is called the law of the world.

And to fix whatever was thrown out of balance, the Blood Demon appeared.

The master of the world when the Blood Demon appeared
was this World Tree.

For some unknown reason, the World Tree caused Yeon Ilcheon to regress.
And that raises a question.

“…Why was it Yeon Ilcheon?”

Gwon Cheolgeumwang was the greatest master of his time.
He was the leader of the strongest family back then.

Even from what Shin Noya said, I knew how powerful he was.
Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Why Yeon Ilcheon?

The reason for this doubt was simple.

Every hero I had met in the past,

Yeon Ilcheon,

Hwang A-bul-yeong,

Even Namgung Myeong,

They all sought out Shin Noya.
The mystery was why they acted as if Shin Noya was their last hope.

If Shin Noya was their hope,
Wouldn’t it have been better to regress Shin Noya instead?

That thought was embedded in my question.
The World Tree moved its branches and gestured toward me.

As if telling me to sit again.

[Child, I understand what you’re curious about, but I’m sorry to say, I don’t know much.]
“I’m just curious why Yeon Ilcheon was chosen to regress.”
[Yeon Ilcheon… Yes, that was his name.]

The World Tree’s words confirmed it.
The reason Yeon Ilcheon could regress was because of the World Tree before me.

And as punishment for that, it was confined here.

[A reason… a reason.]

Was there a special reason behind it?

[It’s complicated.]
“Complicated?”
[Yes, how could it not be? Finding the reason is no simple task.]

I tilted my head at the World Tree’s words.
What in the world was it talking about?

Is finding the reason really that difficult?