‘It’s over.’

The pair thought as they looked up at the slope.

It was obvious what would happen next.

He would fall, be crushed, and be trampled to death.

And then what? What would happen to Seol Jihu once he revived at the starting point?

Just as their thoughts reached this point, the pair set out in opposite directions. Black Seol Jihu headed for the peak, while Baek Haeju ran towards the starting point at the bottom of the slope.

However.

‘…’

Seol Jihu’s face remained calm throughout. With his eyes half-closed, he seemed surprisingly serene for a bomb that was about to explode.

It was because he was used to this.

It didn’t hurt. He still felt pain, but the pain was so familiar that he didn’t feel the need to squirm.

Death didn’t scare him. He had already died many times, and there was no reason this one would be any different.

His head was empty, devoid of any thought, as though everything had been scooped out.

Nonetheless, Seol Jihu knew— no, he sensed that the boulder had just hit his temple, that his palms had slipped, and that he was in the process of falling.

Right, this time wasn’t any different. He would die just like he’d done thousands of times before.

But even if he inevitably died, there was something he wanted to do.

Let’s go. Let’s go.

Let’s just take one more step.

Let’s advance further even if it’s only by a single step.

From his body that was devoid of all else, only his will remained, screaming at the top of its lungs.

He wasn’t seeing. He wasn’t thinking. Now, he wasn’t even perceiving.

And the moment he let himself go to the last bit of consciousness that remained in his body, Seol Jihu forgot about himself.

He had fallen into a trance.

And so, the will to climb led Seol Jihu to move forward.

It wasn’t anything difficult. After all, he had repeated this motion hundreds of thousands or even millions of times.

Going beyond the...