CRASH
The wooden door exploded inward as armored boots kicked it off its hinges. Three soldiers poured into the cramped room, their spears already lowered and ready to strike.
"Captured them!" the lead soldier shouted over his shoulder. "Before they resist…"
Ilwoo's sword struck him across the head with the flat of the blade. The man's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the stone floor without finishing his sentence.
"Left side!" Jinhyuk called out, his dagger finding a gap in the second soldier's armor. It wasn't deep enough to kill, but the man gasped and doubled over, clutching his ribs.
The third soldier thrust his spear toward Ilwoo's chest. Ilwoo sidestepped, grabbed the weapon's shaft, and used the man's own momentum to slam him face-first into the wall. The satisfying "thunk" of skull meeting stone ended the fight in under ten seconds.
"Phew, it's hard to knock them out," Ilwoo said, checking their pulses. "At least we don't have to kill them."
"Speak for yourself," Jinhyuk muttered, wiping blood from his dagger.
His grip was steady now, too steady. Ilwoo glanced at him, unease flickering in his gaze, before the sound of boots stole his attention.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor outside. More soldiers, moving fast.
"Window?" Jinhyuk suggested.
"Three stories up over cobblestones. Forget it." Ilwoo grabbed his pack from beside the bed. "There's another way. Follow me."
They slipped out of the room, staying low. The castle's stone corridors made every sound louder: their breathing, their footsteps, and the distant shouts of soldiers searching nearby.
"This way," a gruff voice commanded from around the corner. "Check every room. They can't have gone far."
Ilwoo pressed himself against the cold stone wall and held up three fingers to Jinhyuk. Then two. Then one.
They rounded the corner at a dead sprint.
The first soldier turned just in time to have Ilwoo's shoulder slam into his gut. The hit lifted him off his feet and sent him crashing into his companions like a bowling ball smashing into pins.
"What the…" one of them started to say.
Jinhyuk's pommel strike to the back of his head cut off the question permanently. The boy moved like liquid now, all the awkwardness of youth burned away by weeks of life-or-death combat.
"Four down," Jinhyuk counted, stepping over the groaning soldiers. "How many more?"
"The whole army's probably moving by now." Ilwoo glanced down the crossing hallways ahead. Clear, for the moment. "Could be fifty. Maybe more."
"Great," Jinhyuk muttered.
"Could be worse. Could be a hundred."
They moved further inside the castle, staying away from the main hallways. Ilwoo moved with purpose, always turning just before the patrols might appear, slipping behind crumbling tapestries and shadowed doorways. With every pivot and hidden gap, he moved exactly as he remembered.
"There," he whispered, pointing to a patch of wall where the mortar had dulled to a dusty gray. "See the different colored mortar? That's the hidden door."
"How do you open it?"
"In the game, you moved this stone here, then that one there, and then..." The wall swung open with a grinding noise.
"Still works."
The space beyond yawned narrow and lightless, barely enough for a body to press through. Dust spiraled in the thin blade of light behind them, the air untouched for years.
"Where does this lead?" Jinhyuk asked.
"Kitchen storage, if the layout's the same. We can meet up with the others there."
They moved slowly through the passage for what felt like hours but was likely just minutes. Behind them, quiet shouting showed that the soldiers had found their unconscious comrades.
The passage opened into a small chamber filled with sacks of flour and barrels of ale. Voices carried through the wooden door, familiar voices arguing in hushed tones.
"I told you we should have left him behind."
"Shut up, Minji. He'll be here."
"Will he? Because right now it sounds like half the castle guard is looking for our 'fearless leader.'"
Ilwoo pushed the door open. "Your fearless leader is right here."
The relief on their faces was immediate and obvious. Hayeon actually sagged against a flour sack, her usual cocky grin replaced by something almost vulnerable.
"About time," she said, her voice rough. "We were starting to think you'd gotten yourselves killed."
"Not yet," Jinhyuk replied, squeezing through the doorway behind Ilwoo. "Though the day's still young."
Kim Donghyun stepped forward, staying calm despite the situation. "How many did you fight?"
"Seven. None of them is dead." Ilwoo counted heads: Hayeon, Kim, Minji… but one was missing.
"Where is Han Jisoo?"
"They caught him while we were escaping," Minji said. Her blonde hair was messy, and stress had etched lines around her eyes that hadn't been there just a week ago. "He couldn't move fast enough, so they grabbed him."
"Dead?" Jinhyuk asked, his tone quiet and even.
"No clue," Kim said, jaw stiff with tension.
"Then we have to leave him." The words felt cruel, but Ilwoo forced them out. He wanted to find him, to save him, but he hadn't expected him to be caught during the escape. With little choice, he said.
"We can't save him if we all get caught, or worse, killed."
"You are a cold-hearted person," Hayeon muttered. "But you're right. I hate that I agree with you."
"So what's the plan?" Minji asked. "Because hiding in a storage room isn't going to keep us safe for long."
Ilwoo moved to the far wall, running his hands along the stones until he found what he was looking for. Another hidden mechanism, nearly invisible unless you knew exactly where to look.
"There's a secret tunnel that leads outside the castle walls," he said, pressing a hidden switch. The wall creaked open, swinging inward to reveal a dark passage that dipped underground.
"It was the emergency way out for the castle's first builders."
"And you know about this because…?" Kim asked.
"Because I spent two years learning every trick and hidden path in this game world." The passage exhaled cool, stale air that smelled of earth and old stone. "Sometimes being a little obsessed helps."
They gathered their gear in silence, each person checking weapons and supplies with the careful focus of people who knew they might not get another chance.
"How long is this tunnel?" Hayeon asked, peering into the darkness.
"Maybe two miles. Comes out in the woods behind the castle, near the old quarry."
"Then what?"
Ilwoo paused. He'd been thinking about this since they escaped, going over every option and crossing them out one after another.
No matter what he chose, it all came down to the same thing, something none of them were going to like.
He exhaled slowly, eyes distant. "After that, we head for the Demon Realm."
The air thinned. Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
"Wait, what?" Minji blinked. Her shoulders stiffened. "Did you just say the Demon Realm?"
"You mean the place crawling with monsters that even top players can't survive?"
Hayeon's smirk vanished.
"That Demon Realm?"
"The one every map labels as a death trap?" Kim said.
"That's the place." Ilwoo headed down the tunnel, making sure the others followed or didn't get left behind.
"It's also the only spot in this world where human officials have absolutely no control."
"Because it's too dangerous for humans to survive there!" Minji's footsteps echoed behind him as she hurried to keep up.
"Dangerous, yes. Impossible, no." The tunnel was wider than the previous passage, carved from living rock by craftsmen who'd known their business. "In the original game, high-level players could survive in the outer regions if they were smart about it."
"We're not strong players," Jinhyuk pointed out. "At best, we're just okay."
"True. But we have something the game's original players didn't."
"What's that?" Kim asked.
"We know it's a game. We understand how it works. Most importantly, we know the Demon Realm follows different rules than the human kingdoms."
They moved through the dark, the flickering lights of the castle shrinking behind them like dying stars.
Their boots scraped stone, breaths shallow, and somewhere beyond the path, water dripped steadily, a slow, mocking rhythm.
"Explain," Hayeon said at last.
"The human kingdoms run on politics, ranks, and rules. The Demon Realm is about pure strength. No nobles, no guards, no laws. Just power against power."
"That sounds worse, not better," Minji said quietly.
"For regular people, maybe. But we're not regular anymore." Ilwoo's voice sounded confident, even though he wasn't sure inside.
"We're players in a game that's trying to kill us no matter what. At least in the Demon Realm, the rules are clear about that."
The tunnel began to slope upward, and fresher air carried the scent of pine trees and night-blooming flowers. They were almost out.
"There's something else," Kim said. "Something you're not telling us."
Ilwoo's steps slowed. The man's military training made him uncomfortably perceptive.
"The Demon Realm has resources we can't get anywhere else. Weapons, armor, and magical items that don't exist in the human lands. If we're going to survive what's coming, we need power that matches the threats we're facing."
"And what exactly is coming?" Hayeon asked.
The tunnel mouth appeared ahead, a circle of starlit sky framed by overhanging branches. Freedom, but also the beginning of a journey that would test everything they'd learned about survival.
"Integration completion," Ilwoo said quietly. "When the system finishes changing this world, the tutorial areas, the beginner zones, and the places where regular people can still live, they'll all turn into advanced-level zones."
They reached the tunnel exit and climbed out into a forest clearing. The castle loomed behind them, torches moving along its walls as guards continued their search. But here, under the stars, they were free.
"So we're heading into actual hell just to get ready for the real mess later," Hayeon said dryly.
"Your plans keep getting worse."
"Got a better idea?" Ilwoo asked, glancing around at everyone. "Because I'm all ears."
Nobody spoke.
"The Demon Realm it is," Kim said at last.
"How far?"
"Three days of tough travel through the Contested Lands. Maybe four if we take it slow."
"What do you mean by 'take it slow'?" Minji asked, eyes narrowing as she scanned the darkening trees ahead.
"I mean, not getting killed by the monsters between here and there."
"Right. Of course." She checked her weapons one more time, a habit she had developed. "Lead the way, fearless leader."
They set off into the forest, leaving the castle and its searching guards behind. Ahead lay wilderness, danger, and eventually a realm where demons walked openly and human law meant nothing.
But also ahead lay power, growth, and the kind of challenges that could forge them into something stronger than they'd ever imagined possible.
"You know," Hayeon said after they'd been walking for an hour, "normal people our age are worried about college applications and part-time jobs."
"Normal people don't have to worry about the world ending," Jinhyuk replied.
"Fair point."
They disappeared into the forest, six figures moving through shadows toward a destination that promised either death or transformation.
Behind them, a sharp clang pierced the still air as castle bells tolled a frantic alarm.
But they were already ghosts, vanishing into a world that had no interest in their former lives or limitations.