The light swallowed them whole.
No system map.
No mission marker.
No rules.
Jiwoon, Vera, and Kaelya stood in a world suspended in static — as if reality itself had frozen mid-code.
The sky above flickered between red and violet. The ground beneath their feet wasn't dirt… but memories, layered like glass.
Kaelya: "Where are we?"
Jiwoon: "Somewhere the system doesn't control."
[System Offline]
[Warning: Sensory sync unstable]
[Emotional feedback: Active]
Vera winced. "I can feel… everyone I've hurt."
Jiwoon: "It's using our sins against us."
He stepped forward. The ground shimmered beneath him — revealing his past self, back when he first activated the Sin System.
Young. Weak. Angry.
It pointed at him.
"You let us become this."
⸻
Jiwoon didn't flinch. "I did what I had to."
The image shattered.
Ahead, a staircase of light spiraled upward — twisting toward a massive obsidian heart floating in the sky, veins of code pumping out dark energy.
A voice whispered:
"Reaching the heart resets the system."
"But only one of you can ascend."
Kaelya and Vera turned to Jiwoon.
Kaelya: "You already know the answer, right?"
Vera: "Don't hold back."
Jiwoon nodded. "Let's finish this."
⸻
At the base of the heart, three avatars waited — alternate versions of Jiwoon, corrupted by past decisions:
Jiwoon the Tyrant
Jiwoon the Coward
Jiwoon the Empty
Each of them spoke in sync:
"You came to erase us. But we are still you."
Jiwoon summoned his weapons. His eyes burned gold.
"Then I'll erase what I no longer need."
The final trial… had begun.