The air in the eastern corridor of the Lorenzio Palace felt cold.
To the average servant, it was merely a drafty hallway, but to Yoo Joonghyuk, whose senses had been honed through enough, the "Spatial Lag" was as visible as a crack in a mirror.
The frames of reality were stuttering.
A dust mote would fall, freeze for a micro-second, and then reappear three inches to the left.
It was a symptom of the Demon Realm Gate's instability—the friction between the logic of the Star Stream and the laws of this reconstructed Arunheim.
Yoo Joonghyuk ignored the metaphysical glitching.
He had a task.
He was currently crouched before a basalt wall, holding a bucket of grey water and a rag that had seen better centuries. To any onlooker, he was simply a very muscular, very brooding janitor. But his [Sage's Eye] was active, flickering with a suppressed golden light.
He wasn't just wiping away soot.
He was wiping away the "Lag."
Every time Joonghyuk's hand moved in a circular motion, he wasn't just applying soap; he was reorganizing the mana particles embedded in the stone.
He used the mop handle to press against the "knots" in the spatial fabric.
Swish. Scrub. Click.
With every pass of the transcendental rag, the stuttering in the air smoothed out. The "Stories" of the wall were being polished until they flowed linearly again.
"What an absurd sight," a voice rang out, sharp enough to cut through the heavy atmosphere. "I came to investigate a temporal anomaly, and I find a peasant attempting to 'clean' the fourth dimension."
Joonghyuk didn't look back.
Arrogant, high-pitched with the confidence of a god, and vibrating with an amount of mana that made the burlap tunic itch against his skin.
Shimurin.
The Grand Magician of Arunheim.
The "One Closest to the Truth."
She stood at the end of the hallway, her tattered robes billowing despite the lack of wind.
Her messy, long hair seemed to defy gravity, and her eyes—sharp and predatory—were fixed not on Joonghyuk's face, but on his hands.
"Stop," she commanded. "You are interfering with the resonance of this sector. Do you have any idea what happens when a fool meddles with spatial coordinates?"
Joonghyuk finally stood up, his height casting a long shadow over the damp floor.
He wrung out the rag into the rusted bucket.
"The space was inefficient," he said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "I made it orderly."
Shimurin's eyebrows shot up.
Her expression transitioned from irritation to genuine, murderous intrigue. She saw it now—the way the mana around the "janitor" didn't just move; it obeyed.
"Orderly? A custodian speaks of spatial entropy?" She sneered, her fingers beginning to trace a complex rune in the air. "Let's see how orderly your internal organs are when they're shifted three feet to the left."
Without another word, Shimurin snapped her fingers.
[The Grand Magician Shimurin has cast 'Absolute Spatial Shackle'!]
Violet chains of pure geometric force erupted from the floor, winding around Joonghyuk's ankles and wrists with the speed of thought. They weren't physical chains; they were "locks" placed on his coordinates in the universe.
If he moved, the space around him would tear him apart.
Joonghyuk didn't panic. He didn't even drop his mop.
He looked at the chains and then at the arrogant woman.
He reached deep into the core of his soul, tapping into the 1% output allowed by the Gate.
[Giant Story 'Torch That Swallowed the Myth' is flickering!]
A heat that didn't belong to the physical world began to emanate from Joonghyuk. A heat of the Sun.
The wet wool of his mop began to steam, then glow with a faint, embers-red light.
He swung the mop—not like a tool, but like the blade that had slain constellations.
Clang!
The mop hit the spatial shackles. The "Story" of the fire that consumed myths began to burn through the "Logic" of Shimurin's magic.
The violet chains hissed, turned grey, and crumbled into ash.
Shimurin actually took a step back, her eyes widening.
Joonghyuk pointed the damp, steaming mop at her throat.
Suddenly, the world turned blue.
[The hidden scenario has arrived!]
===
Category: Hidden
Difficulty: SSS
Summary: 'Shimurin' is a magician who studies interdimensional migration. Disillusioned with secular society, she abhors humans. You have caught her eye with a power she cannot categorize.
Clear Conditions: Persuade Shimurin to stay in the Republic OR survive Shimurin's "Examination."
Time Limit: —
Reward: Reacquisition of the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword].
Failure: Probable death.
===
Joonghyuk's eyes narrowed at the reward.
His sword.
The Gate was finally offering him a way back to his full status.
Shimurin didn't wait for him to read the screen.
She smiled—a terrifying, predatory baring of teeth.
"You are far more interesting than the other three I picked up. I think I'll take you to a place where I can dissect that 'orderly' soul of yours."
"Wait—" Joonghyuk started.
Snap.
The world folded in on itself.
The transition was violent.
One moment, Joonghyuk was in a palace corridor; the next, he was standing in the middle of a room that redefined the word "chaos."
It was a laboratory that looked like a hurricane had hit a library and then someone had tried to fix it using only glue and madness.
Hundreds of scrolls were piled into leaning towers; strange, glowing organs floated in jars of murky fluid; and the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and discarded magical reagents.
Joonghyuk's first instinct wasn't to fight. It was to recoil in horror.
"This place..." Joonghyuk whispered, his voice trembling with a different kind of rage. "It's filthy. The dust density is over 40%."
"Shut up, specimen," Shimurin said, tossing her robes onto a pile of what looked like dragon scales. "I have guests. Don't mind them."
Joonghyuk looked around the room.
In the corner, sitting on a pile of books and looking like she wanted to evaporate, was Fors Wall.
She looked incredibly stressed, her fingers twitching over a spectral notebook. Underneath her coat, something was bulging—a huge, snow-white rabbit with bright red eyes was peeking out from her collar, munching on a piece of carrot.
"Yoo... Joonghyuk-ssi?" Fors whispered, using Korean honorifics, her voice cracking. "You too? Why are you... why are you holding a mop?"
"Don't ask him, Fors. It's obviously a fetish," another voice drawled.
Joonghyuk turned his head.
Sitting on a high stool, spinning a dagger between her fingers, was Han Sooyoung.
She looked remarkably comfortable, though her eyes were sharp and calculating.
On a nearby sofa, Harin was fast asleep, her breathing deep and even despite the magical tension in the room.
Joonghyuk growled. "Explain."
"It's simple, oh Supreme Janitor," Han Sooyoung smirked, gesturing to Fors. "Fors over here was playing hero, trying to escort our sleeping beauty Harin over the mountains. I was playing 'Bandit King'—you know, acting is important for stats. We ran into each other, had a little scuffle, and then she showed up." She pointed a thumb at Shimurin. "She decided we were 'interesting anomalies' and 'invited' us here to help with her research into returning home. Apparently, we're all stuck until we provide enough... What did she call that?
"Source," Fors said.
"Right... Source, for her spells."
Shimurin walked to the center of the room, ignoring the banter.
She looked at Joonghyuk.
"Now. Show me. That fire. That 'Story.' Attack me with everything you have. If you survive for a minute, I won't turn you into a frog."
Joonghyuk didn't hesitate.
He moved. Even with 4 Strength, the concept of the strike was absolute.
The mop handle cut through the air with a whistle.
Shimurin didn't move her hands.
She simply whispered, "Reverse Vector."
The air in front of Joonghyuk turned into a solid wall. The momentum of his strike was redirected back into his own arms.
He spun mid-air, landing heavily on his feet, only for the floor to turn into quicksand.
"Gravity X10," Shimurin added.
Joonghyuk was slammed into the floor.
The "Rejective Force" of the Gate screamed as it tried to crush him under the Magician's will.
He was being overwhelmed—not by strength, but by the sheer, arrogant authority of a native master of this world.
'I wonder if she's stronger than that 10-star mage Yoo Yeonha always talked about.'
"Not bad," Shimurin said, looking down at him as he struggled to rise. "You have the 'Weight' of a king, but the body of a peasant. You claim to be from another world, yet you cannot even bypass a simple gravity well. How can a mere janitor help me cross the Universe?"
Joonghyuk gritted his teeth.
He looked at the filth on the floor near his face.
He looked at the arrogant magician.
He realized that to "Persuade" her, he couldn't use a mop or a sword.
He had to use the one thing that defined the Star Stream.
He had to show her the Audience.
Joonghyuk forced himself onto one knee, his muscles bulging under the burlap. He looked up at Shimurin and smiled—a cold, terrifying expression that made Han Sooyoung stop spinning her dagger.
"You want to see the Truth?" Joonghyuk asked.
He looked at the empty air beside him. "Biyoo."
Ba-at!
With a soft, white flash, a small, fluffy fur ball appeared.
It had tiny horns and big, sparkling eyes.
It floated near Joonghyuk's shoulder, letting out a cheerful chirp.
Shimurin froze. Her vision sparked.
She couldn't see Biyoo as a creature; she saw her as a bridge.
A literal hole in the fabric of the universe.
"What... is that thing?" Shimurin whispered, her arrogance wavering for the first time.
"It is a Channel," Joonghyuk said.
[A new 'Channel' has been opened in the Arunheim!]
[Channel #BY-9158]
[The Constellations are flocking to the unexpected broadcast!]
Messages began to flood the air, visible even to Shimurin.
[Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is gasping at Yoo Joonghyuk's outfit!]
[Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is rolling on the floor laughing!]
[Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is watching your 'Cleaning' with interest.]
[Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' wants to give you a pair of new shoes]
...
But it didn't stop there.
[True God 'Evernight Goddess' is curiously observing the 'Janitor's' destiny.]
[Outer Deity 'Circle of Inevitability' is mildly amused by the poetic irony of the situation.]
[True God 'Lord of Storms' wants to know why you aren't using a boat.]
Shimurin backed away, her hands trembling as she tried to read the signatures of the entities joining the channel.
"You... you are not a janitor," she breathed, her voice filled with awe and terror.
Joonghyuk stood up, brushing the magical dust off his tunic. He looked at the last message appearing in the air.
[■■ 'The Last Witness of the Unwritten End' has joined the channel!]
'Who's this guy, I don't remember such a modifier.'
"Your laboratory is a disgrace to the logic of the universe," Joonghyuk said, pointing his mop at a pile of rotted scrolls.
He stepped toward a shelf covered in 500 years of grime.
"I am going to clean this room."
[Acting Rate as 'Janitor' has reached 50%!]
[■■ 'The Last Witness of the Unwritten End' has sponsored you for 1 coin!]