Upon realizing this, Kang Sihyun understood why this space appeared to be older than when the Irregulars first appeared in the human world ten years ago. This mural, seemingly drawn even before their appearance, was a record of sorts, akin to a buried civilization.
Swallowing his breath, Kang Sihyun walked further with Russ. The subsequent murals contained grim tales.
The giant monster was not satisfied with the offerings brought by its creations. At some point, it went on a rampage, indiscriminately devouring Irregulars. One by one, three, and not satisfied, it ascended to the surface, consuming everything in its path—trees, animals, and all Irregulars became its prey. Despite its greedy actions, the Irregulars continued to follow the great monster.
It was a terrible loyalty.
Then a divergence appeared. Since the path he and Hamin had taken was to the left, Kang Sihyun entered the left path with Russ. From there, the murals were familiar.
The Irregulars, rampaging across the world, were summoned by a robed figure. After being severely reprimanded, they were expelled. Other Irregulars followed the monster. They seemed to be confined in a dark, prison-like space, disappearing from the world.
The content of the murals, incomprehensible during his previous visit, now began to make sense to Kang Sihyun. He turned to Russ, who had yet to grasp what was happening, and explained his understanding of the murals.
"This tells the story of the Irregulars, an ancient one."
As he moistened his dry lips and pointed at the giant monster in the mural, he continued.
"This giant monster is the original Irregular, the beginning of all Irregulars. The entity that created this original Irregular locked it away because it caused too much chaos to handle, preventing it from emerging into the world. That's why the Irregulars, hidden away for some reason, tore through space during the Outbreak and reappeared."
The rifts were a manifestation of that phenomenon. Adding his interpretation, Russ narrowed his eyes and fell silent for a moment. Kang Sihyun, having reached the end of the murals, faced a gigantic door. Accompanied by a headache and dizziness, he grimaced.
"Kiddo, are you okay?"
As Kang Sihyun staggered, swallowing his groan, Russ gripped his frail arm, pulling him close for support and asked. Kang Sihyun felt the world spin as he lifted his head, noticing the inscriptions on the giant door, identical to those seen before.
Struggling to maintain consciousness, his vision blurred and then cleared repeatedly.
The door, inscribed with a language unknown to any nation, was now understood by Kang Sihyun to be the language of the Irregulars. He widened his eyes as the unreadable characters seemed to dance, morphing into familiar shapes. Surprised, Kang Sihyun looked at Russ, asking if he could read anything, but Russ only replied with ignorance.
It was Kang Sihyun alone who could read it.
Then another wave of headache struck.
"Ugh!"
Kang Sihyun bit his lip, leaning on Russ for a moment to catch his breath, facing the door. The characters reflected in his blue eyes began to take the shape of Korean words.
"…For the mother."
Carefully spoken, the gigantic door creaked open. This time, without fainting, Kang Sihyun looked at Russ, whose irises had turned to a golden-green.
Their differently colored eyes met in the silence. After exchanging glances in the quiet, Kang Sihyun and Russ nodded to each other and stepped towards the giant door.
Taking a deep breath, they entered a place similar to what Hamin had once described. It was vast, grand, and filled with an indescribable sense of oppression. The difference was the presence of three large eyes in the center of a massive wall. Kang Sihyun, feeling a splitting headache, pressed his forehead.
"What does all this mean?"
As Russ scrutinized the wall, filled with inscriptions, and murmured with a furrowed brow, Kang Sihyun followed his gaze. The words, wriggling like worms, rippled once.
Blood trickled from his nose.
"Kiddo!"
Startled, Russ quickly tended to Kang Sihyun's nosebleed. After wiping it off and asking if he was hurt, Kang Sihyun couldn't respond. He couldn't focus on Russ's voice. His blue eyes, shaking, absorbed the inscriptions on the wall.
'Sacrifices must be made to the mother.'
'Why has the world opened again? Are we not sinners?'
'We must reclaim the mother.'
'A revelation has been received. The one with the most cores hinders the mother's revival.'
'They must be killed.'
'They must be killed.'
'They must be killed.'
Kang Sihyun could read the densely packed inscriptions on the wall. Then, a piercing pain, as if his eyeballs were being plucked out, overwhelmed him.
"Cough!"
A groan escaped his lips, reddened more than before. Russ, more startled now, wrapped his thin shoulders as if to shield him from something and looked around.
"Why like this?"
Kang Sihyun had no strength to answer, feeling his eye pressure rise and tears mixed with blood streaming down. Yet, he couldn't stop reading the inscriptions on the wall.
The giant inscriptions above the three eyes transformed into a single word in English this time.
G, U…, L. …A.
'Gula.'
The moment he read the word, Kang Sihyun saw a hallucination of the three eyes in the mural flashing. That was when it happened.
'Screams!'
As the desperate screams pierced his ears, not just those of women but men and children as well, Kang Sihyun felt as if invisible blood splattered all around him.
Gasping for air, Kang Sihyun clutched at his violently throbbing heart, struggling not to collapse. Russ steadied his faltering form. Kang Sihyun looked at the mural with eyes wide in horror.
The three eyelids were lifted, causing chills to run down his spine.
It was those eyes.
The same eyes he had seen in the dream shown by Pia.
His mind was clouded. A chilling fear that tickled his instincts made Kang Sihyun's limbs tremble uncontrollably. Breathing became a chore. Russ bit his lip as Kang Sihyun convulsed.
He was displeased with this situation where the boy alone seemed to bear the weight of all truths. The helplessness Russ felt for the first time made him grimace as he gripped Kang Sihyun's shoulders. Kang Sihyun's blue eyes were unfocused.
"Kiddo, kiddo!"
"Ah, ...Ah, ...Ah."
"Kang Sihyun!"
The shout was sharp. Kang Sihyun, who could only flutter his lips in panic without uttering a word, snapped open his eyes at the reverberating voice. His blue eyes, wide and rigid for a moment, slowly rolled side to side. Finally seeing Russ clearly, Kang Sihyun gasped for air.
"What is, ...this?"
Even though it was happening to him, he couldn't grasp what had occurred. Noticing Kang Sihyun had regained his senses, Russ let out a long breath and gently cradled his cheek. The touch was full of concern and worry.
"I told you I don't want to hold a funeral, damn kiddo."
"...I'm sorry."
"Forget it. Tell me what you saw. What happened to cause such a fit?"
He urged Kang Sihyun to open up about the frustration. Kang Sihyun, still slightly numb, moved his stiff lips to share about Pia's ability and the dream she had shown him, leaving out not a single detail of what he had just experienced.
Nothing could be omitted.
He couldn't think of any other way to resolve the situation except to lay it all out to the one called the world's strongest.
Russ's face grew serious as he listened to Kang Sihyun's story, his expression hardening. Kang Sihyun looked at the man who seemed to have guessed something similar and continued the heavy silence before suddenly speaking.
"If the dream I had is another premonition shown by Pia, like the last time on the school trip."
"And if this mural, as you said, contains the actual stories and myths."
Russ caught the cautiously floated words. Their eyes met in the air.
If the mother written on the wall was the original Irregular, that monster, meaning Gula. If everything written on the wall was true, and the Irregulars targeted Kang Sihyun and Russ because they had the most cores.
It was unknown whether the original Irregular, Gula, who had swallowed everything and was banished from the world, was awakening.
Understanding this fact without uttering it aloud, Kang Sihyun and Russ bit their lips and hurriedly dashed out of the chieftain's chamber. They ascended the stairs in a rush, fearing a fall in their haste. Russ attempted to use his flight skill, but in this space, skills were rendered ineffective.
Grinding his teeth, they propelled their desperate sprint, filled with dread and unease, when suddenly,
The entire underground shook violently, as if on the verge of collapse. Seriously, as if it was truly about to come down.
It was a sign of collapse.
With increasing urgency, Kang Sihyun and Russ exerted all their strength to race up the stairs. A loud crash echoed from where they had escaped. The ground vibrated. The space was collapsing.
Just as they cleared the stairs, the ground beneath them gave way, forming a massive sinkhole. Russ quickly extracted Kang Sihyun from the underground, avoiding being caught in the collapse with a flight buff. Kang Sihyun exhaled heavily as the remnants of the chieftain's chamber were barely visible in the pitch-dark abyss.
It was a narrow escape.
Under other circumstances, they might have felt relieved at such a miraculous evasion, but there was no time for that now.
"Look at that...!"
Kang Sihyun, gazing at the sky, shouted upon spotting a giant fissure in the blue sky. At a glance, it was so faint it could hardly be seen, but the disaster he had seen in his dream began from that very crack. It was a precursor to the rift.
Russ muttered an English curse under his breath. Kang Sihyun, anxious, spoke up.
"Quickly, to the highest-rated high school... No, to the
Redem Guild's headquarters. Hurry!"
The influence to directly mobilize the Korean Awakeners Association lay not with the principal but with S-Class Ranker, Haehyuk. And currently, the urgent matter was not meeting the chairman but securing cooperation from high-ranking awakeners. The guild in Korea with the most high-ranking awakeners was Redem.
As they hastily changed course and Kang Sihyun grabbed Russ's forearm, he could feel the veins throbbing under his palm.
"I know, kiddo, without you saying."
Russ muttered lowly, almost like a curse, as he tightly embraced Kang Sihyun.
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