Chapter 79: In Bellen Village**
It was a blurry image. He knew intuitively that it wasn't his own.

'A memory from its flame?'

A fragment of the Sky God's Black Flame. What Jinwoo had absorbed was not simply power or energy. It was a piece of the soul, the foundation of a being's existence.

So, seeing a memory or two wasn't surprising.

'The sky… it looks refreshing.'

The scene unfolding before Jinwoo was the image of a vast, open sky. Befitting the name "Sky God," it was incredibly beautiful and blue. The clouds scattered here and there seemed like beautiful sculptures decorating the heavens.

It wasn't just the scenery; emotions were also transmitted. Under this sky, the being was joyous. It was enjoying a freedom that no one could stop, that no one could bind.

In that freedom, it trained itself to its heart's content and sought enlightenment. It was a pure joy to focus solely on elevating its own level.

But that joy did not last long.

Bewilderment. Anger. Hatred.

At a certain point, those emotions began to seep in.

—This sky is fabricated.

It had attained too deep an enlightenment. It, who had been a cut above the rest, a crane among chickens, did not die and return to nature like its brethren, but continued to seek enlightenment.

Thanks to that, it found out. The sky they enjoyed was, in fact, man-made, and it was never a free being.

It was merely a shackled existence, permitted freedom only under this sky.

The moment it realized that, a fierce anger enveloped it. It decided to leave the sky. To overcome this sky that was like a ceiling, and to rule over it itself.

He could hear someone's placating voice. Was it one of his kin, or another being?

The voice did not reach him. He could only hear the sound, not the content. Engulfed in such immense anger and hatred, he could not comprehend the words.

Thanks to that, Jinwoo couldn't hear it either. Finishing his meditation, he let out a breath, huu, and settled his energy.

'It's stabilized a bit.'

Thanks to the long meditation, the flame he had taken from the Sky God was considerably more stable. It had stopped rampaging and was now quietly submissive.

All that was left was to dye this black color blue. That task also seemed like it would take quite some time.

'I won't be able to show her any cartoons for a while.'

Imagining the God of Moonlight Forest whining made him chuckle. But it couldn't be helped. Digesting this flame was the priority right now.

And so, Jinwoo secluded himself in his home, spending over a week solely in meditation.

—Yes, that's right. It was my first time meeting that friend, Kang Jinwoo, and he fought incredibly well. He was almost single-handedly responsible for destroying the core of the Erosion this time.

On the TV screen, Shin Do-woong was talking.

It seemed to be a current affairs program discussing the Erosion with a panel of experts, and it appeared this recent incident was the main topic.

—It's true. He and I were tasked with breaking through the monsters to the core, and while we broke through together, he destroyed the core by himself. I was tied down by the enemy and couldn't even help properly.

He was laying on the praise so thick that Jinwoo himself felt embarrassed. He had turned on the TV out of curiosity because he heard Shin Do-woong would be on, but if he’d known this was coming, he wouldn't have watched.

He picked up the remote to change the channel, but caught his last words.

—I can't just stay as I am, either. I was greatly inspired.

He said it with a spirited voice. An earnestness could be felt in his tone.

Ma Doo-sik and Chartia had retired from active duty and no longer entered Gates, but Shin Do-woong was an S-class Hunter who still frequently went into them. You could say he was the only one among Seoul's S-class.

He was still thirsty for growth. Jinwoo could understand that feeling.

In any case, he changed the channel. Beep, beep. After flipping through a few channels, he passed a children's channel. The animation that the God of Moonlight Forest liked was currently airing.

'Come to think of it, I haven't shown her anything recently, but she's been quiet, huh?'

Jinwoo changed the channel back to the children's channel. He watched it for about three minutes, but there was no reaction as usual.

Normally, a message like, 'The God of Moonlight Forest immediately takes a seat,' or 'The God of Moonlight Forest cannot take her eyes off the screen,' would have appeared.

‘She must be busy with something,’ Jinwoo thought.

No matter how childish she acted, she wasn’t a real child. She was the World Tree, a being that supported an entire world. It was entirely possible she had important matters to attend to.

Finding himself alone for the first time in a while, he suddenly felt like having a drink. He wasn’t a heavy drinker, but he had a craving for a solitary beer.

Jinwoo had several bottles of expensive liquor at home, gifts from various people, but he left them untouched. Instead, he went to the supermarket and bought a few cans of beer.

He’d eaten a lot of meat lately, so he was in the mood for fish. He took a couple of fish out of his inventory; he still had some left from his time in the Spirit Realm.

He also wanted some soup, so he cut the fish into pieces and cooked up a spicy fish stew, or maeuntang. He followed the recipe precisely, and after tasting the bubbling broth, he found it was quite good. It was definitely more delicious than the first time he’d tried to make it.

“Alright.”

He brought the table of food and drinks to the living room and turned on the TV, searching for a decent drama. He took a spoonful of the broth, savoring the cool yet spicy flavor, and then cracked open a can.

Pssssht—

The cold, condensation-covered beer felt like it was clearing his throat. The refreshing taste was even more pronounced after the spicy soup.

Pleased with the dinner he had made for himself, Jinwoo finished off the spicy stew along with his beer.

The drama he’d put on was boring, so he changed the channel. As he flipped through movies and variety shows, he eventually found himself watching the same children's channel as before.

He had eaten about half of the stew, and the number of empty cans had grown. Feeling pleasantly full, Jinwoo rested his chin on his hand and stared blankly at the children's cartoon.

It wasn't particularly entertaining, but it felt... comforting. It had become such a part of his daily life recently that not watching it felt strange.

After relaxing for a while, he cleaned up the table. He crushed the cans before throwing them away and conveniently stored the leftover stew in his inventory. He planned to add ramen noodles and boil it again for breakfast tomorrow.

It was nice to relax by himself for the first time in a while. Feeling content, he washed up and went to bed. He wasn't particularly drunk, just in a good mood.

At the same time, however, he also felt a bit lonely. Had he gotten too used to her company in such a short time? It might have felt short, but their connection went back to the 3rd Floor—no, even further, to when they first met in Belen Village. It had been quite a long time.

‘I don’t know.’

Jinwoo pushed the complicated thoughts aside and tried to sleep. He was someone who could sleep soundly on rocks or sand, so falling asleep in a soft bed was instantaneous.

Even then, there was still no response from the God of the Moonlight Forest.

The next morning, he went out to the yard to stretch. The yard, decorated by Chartia, wasn't extravagant but had a simple charm. It was certainly much better than the yard he’d had before.

After a thorough stretching session on the green lawn, he took out the leftover spicy stew from yesterday and heated it up. He added ramen noodles and a little bit of ramen soup powder. Tasting it midway, he found it a bit salty and added some water.

Perhaps because the morning air was so refreshing, he felt like eating outside. He took the well-cooked stew and a heated instant rice packet to a small table in the yard and finished his meal.

He savored the morning air, feeling satisfyingly full. Just then, his phone rang.

‘Mayor Ma Doo-sik?’

The call was from Ma Doo-sik. A call this early in the morning must mean it was urgent.

“Is this about Jeju Island?”

Had they gathered information already, even though it had only been a little over a week? Puzzled, he answered the phone, but it wasn't about Jeju Island.

— It’s not good. I have a bad feeling.

“What’s wrong?”

— The portal to the 3rd Floor is reportedly blocked.

What?

— The Hunters who entered the most recent Gate returned much faster than usual. I heard they were aiming for the 3rd or 4th Floors, but they couldn't ascend to the 3rd, so they were forced to stay on the 2nd Floor before coming back.

“You can’t cross from the 2nd Floor to the 3rd?”

— That's right. They said the red portal found on the 2nd Floor isn’t working. And I should have mentioned this sooner, but… the Hunters who crossed into the 3rd Floor a while back haven't returned either.

Some groups had returned early, but in the last few days, no one had come back at all.

Ma Doo-sik hadn’t thought it was a serious problem at first, since it had only been a few days. But with the report this morning that the 3rd Floor was inaccessible, only ominous thoughts came to mind.

“Is it just our Hunters?”

— From what I’ve heard in urgent communications, most other countries are in a similar situation. We'll need to investigate more thoroughly to grasp the full extent of the situation, of course.

Although he was choosing his words carefully due to the uncertainty, Jinwoo clearly understood what Ma Doo-sik was trying to say.

The bottom line was that, in the past few days, the path to the 3rd Floor had been completely sealed. Ascending from the 2nd to the 3rd, and returning from the 3rd to Earth—both were blocked.

‘There must still be a lot of Hunters on the 3rd Floor.’

When Jinwoo had last been there, the place was teeming with countless Hunters. It was chaotic, with a wide range of ranks from B-class to S-class. The God of War had even incited them to open a fighting arena.

‘Mahiri probably hasn't returned yet either.’

She had promised to contact him as soon as she returned, but he hadn't heard anything. That meant Mahiri was still on the 3rd Floor.

And that entire Floor was now completely sealed off? A dimension with that many Hunters remaining had been isolated, cut off from Earth. Even thinking about it simply, it was a massive crisis.

It was a crisis for those who were trapped, and for Earth, which had lost a significant portion of its fighting force in an instant.

— For now, we are investigating the matter. I will let you know if there are any developments.

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

— Not at all. I'll be in touch.

Ma Doo-sik seemed incredibly busy, as he relayed the information quickly and hung up.

He was probably already in back-to-back meetings with the Bureau and trying to communicate with other countries. It was even possible that Ma Doo-sik himself would enter the 2nd Floor to check the red portal.

In any case, there was nothing Jinwoo could do. He had wanted to re-enter the 3rd Floor, but it wasn't an urgent matter, so there was no need to be anxious. All he could do was calmly wait for the results of the investigation by Ma Doo-sik and the Bureau.

‘But why…’

Why was the path to the 3rd Floor blocked? Not just the way in, but the way out as well.

All sorts of mysterious things happened inside Gates, so nothing was truly surprising. But this was a first.

No matter how mysterious a Gate was, it had always followed one rule: it never stopped those who wished to ascend, and it never stopped those who wished to return.

This was the first time there had ever been a problem with the blue and red portals.

‘Could the fact that I can't contact the God of the Moonlight Forest be related to this?’

The timing matched perfectly. He wasn't sure of the exact moment he lost contact, as he had been in a trance-like state of meditation to digest the Sky God's flame.

But at most, it had been a week, and there was no doubt the connection had been severed within that time.

‘If I could still contact her, I could have asked her what was happening on the 3rd Floor.’

But that path was blocked. Communication was cut off. It could be the result of some mysterious phenomenon, but it felt like the work of someone's intention.

If the communication blackout was indeed intentional, it meant that the isolation of the 3rd Floor itself was caused by someone.

He didn't know the culprit, but there were many suspects. It had to be one of the many gods on the 3rd Floor.

‘It’s all just speculation for now…’

At this point, nothing was certain. With no way to get information from the 3rd Floor, there was nothing Jinwoo could know.

Just then.

—Kiing?

Something came to mind. It was his memory of meeting the World Tree in Belen Village.