Chapter 154: The Nightmare on the Final Floor

In the silent space, only a single person’s breathing barely echoed. It was as if every object here were quietly watching him—there wasn’t even a hint of wind.

“……”

The enormous door radiated overwhelming grandeur. It was impossible to tell how long it had stood here; thick layers of dust clung to it everywhere.

The dry air made even breathing difficult. Because of that dryness, a scab that had barely formed split open again, and blood began to drip steadily down his arm.

Yu Hiro stared at the door with his eyes half closed. Then he lifted his head and looked up at the ceiling. Boundless darkness pooled across his vision.

It felt as though he might be pulled upward, defying gravity. The space—like a night sky without a single star—was one Yu Hiro had already passed through before.

He roughly shook the dust from his hair. The long shadow stretching beneath his feet wavered violently, still carrying the afterimage of battle.

This place was nothing but darkness. It felt like coming home, and yet at the same time, like standing in the very heart of enemy territory.

The Gate was openly wary of Yu Hiro—the outsider, the intruder.

This was truly the end. A place untouched by any trace of humanity—the final floor of the X Gate.

No one knew what lay inside. And Yu Hiro was no exception.

The reckless child who had charged into the entrance of the X Gate was gone. All that remained was someone with detached eyes, as if he had abandoned everything.

There was no room to retrace how he had come this far. He had already crossed the point of no return—he couldn’t go back, and he couldn’t stop.

Vengeance and anger no longer held meaning. Yu Hiro stood here for one reason alone: to blow up the X Gate.

His hand settled lightly on the door. In response, the door began to tremble violently, as if it might collapse at any moment.

Yu Hiro stood there unsupported, staring at the door like an emotionless machine.

Kugugugung—

The center of the door split with a cracking sound, slowly opening to either side. Through the narrow gap, a raging blizzard surged out.

The force of the storm was so strong that Yu Hiro staggered. By the time the door fully opened, the place where he stood was completely buried in snow.

Fine, icy pellets lashed painfully against his skin. His cheek, scratched by ice crystals, stung roughly. Yu Hiro stepped forward.

Crunch, crunch. Each step crushed the snow beneath his feet. Wearing only a single layer of clothing, his skin began to redden as if burned.

Once the sharp, numbing pain passed its peak, sensation disappeared entirely.

Towering walls of snow. Jagged rocks. Crystals jutting out everywhere. Yu Hiro swept his gaze around, quickly assessing the dungeon interior.

The dungeon was barren, like an ice age wasteland devoid of life. Yu Hiro checked the shadow at his feet.

The snow reflected light, so the shadow wasn’t deep—but it was usable. Against monsters adapted to this environment, frontal combat would be difficult, but not impossible.

He had endured dungeons of abyssal depths and molten lava before. Compared to those, a place with solid ground beneath his feet might actually be better.

Yu Hiro’s shadow stretched out, then with a sharp whoosh, coiled around a tall crystal.

KWA-CRASH!

With a splitting crack, the crystal shattered in two. As it hit the ground, a flurry of white snow exploded upward, completely obscuring his vision.

He had sent the first signal—monsters should appear soon. Yu Hiro adjusted his shoes and took a combat stance.

“……”

But no matter how much time passed, only the blizzard grew fiercer. There was no sign of life at all. Even monsters usually gave off some kind of presence.

Sensing something strange, Yu Hiro scanned the massive dungeon. An endless white plain stretched out, sky and ground indistinguishable, everything dyed pure white.

Of all the dungeons he had seen, this was unquestionably the largest.

Somewhere here, the Gate Core had to exist. And Yu Hiro’s goal was to destroy it.

The Gate seemed intent on freezing the intruder to death, showing no reaction whatsoever. In the end, Yu Hiro decided to search for the core himself.

He figured that if he got close enough, something would finally appear. He didn’t have the patience left to simply wait.

He wanted to end this horrific, tiresome life as quickly as possible—and erase this fundamentally broken world.

It was far too late to fix anything. There were no choices left.

With every breath, white vapor bloomed into the air.

Crushing frost underfoot, Yu Hiro stepped forward, one step at a time. From his shins up to his thighs, sensation was already gone.

The dull pain felt like phantom pain—and strangely, he welcomed it. It felt as though his death could be buried silently in this white snow, unnoticed by anyone.

After walking for a long time, he seemed to have reached the center of the dungeon. There stood a massive crystal, towering above all others—far more noble and majestic than anything he had seen on the way.

Inside the crystal, rising endlessly without a visible ceiling, something was glowing. Yu Hiro stared at it quietly, then became certain.

That was the Gate Core.

It was transparent like the crystal itself, making its exact shape hard to discern—but its distinctive glow gave it away.

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It took even more time to reach it. Yu Hiro raised his frozen hand and placed it against the crystal.

At the same time, his shadow morphed into a scythe-like shape and mercilessly began carving into the crystal. The thick, hardened surface barely scratched at first.

Only after striking it again and again did cracks finally begin to form, gouging deep along sharp trajectories.

Even then, the Gate remained utterly still. Not even when the upper pillar of crystal was severed with a thunderous crash did it react.

Yu Hiro reached out toward the now-exposed Gate Core. The instant he touched it, the white world turned black.

As if countless lights had been switched off at once, his vision was swallowed by darkness. Nothing had form. The silence was primordial, like before the beginning of everything.

Yu Hiro blinked. He was certain he was moving his body by will alone—but without any visual reference, even his senses felt false.

He looked down at where his hand should be. He tried moving his shadow.

Eyes open or closed, it was the same—nothing. His consciousness drifted into confusion.

Then, faint light began to seep in from somewhere, and blurred shapes slowly came into view.

Yu Hiro opened his eyes.

“Hiro.”

Standing before him was Yoo Ji-eun.

Yu Hiro remembered—why he was here, and how he had come to this place.

“Hiro?”

The gentle voice urged him again. Yu Hiro blinked slowly, waiting for his vision to fully return.

“…Yes.”

The answer slipped out in a soft, youthful voice. Startled, Yu Hiro touched his throat.

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable? Does your throat hurt?”

“No… it’s just…”

He still couldn’t get used to the young voice coming from his mouth. Yu Hiro looked around.

The familiar recovery room. Lab coats. It was as if he had returned to a moment in the past.

No—perhaps he truly had returned. He looked down at himself.

His hands were small. His body, too.

Yoo Ji-eun watched him with sad eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“…What?”

“I know this experiment was hard. If there’s anywhere that hurts, even a little, will you tell me?”

He didn’t feel any pain. And even if he did, Yu Hiro wouldn’t have said anything. Pain that once felt unbearable in middle school had long since become trivial.

He slowly shook his head.

“I’m glad. The next schedule is tight… I was hoping you could fully recover before going back in, but no matter how much I protest, changing the experiment date isn’t easy.”

“…Okay.”

“So I asked them to at least let you rest until then. There won’t be any other schedules for a while. You can come hang out in my office as much as you want… eat whatever you want. Until next Wednesday.”

He needed to know the date. When had he returned to?

Yu Hiro turned his gaze toward the wall, thinking of the calendar with the research institute logo that always hung in the recovery room.

Just as expected, it was hanging in the same place.

A day in September.

An autumn day when maple leaves fell outside the window—and the very year when flames burned even redder than those leaves.

Yu Hiro hurriedly cut off his thoughts and opened his mouth to ask what day it was.

But Yoo Ji-eun spoke first.

“Hiro… should we just leave? Run away together?”

Her eyes wavered with anxiety as she said it. Yu Hiro closed his mouth.

There wasn’t much time left until that day arrived.