After the accident the academy had suspended classes to mourn the fallen. News spread fast—dozens of elite students wiped out in seconds. The survivors spoke in terrified fragments: a colossal figure, a barrier, a flash of light… and a boy who disappeared.
Teacher Baek, now recovering in a mana-isolation ward, made a request from his hospital bed.
> "Check on Jihoon," he told his colleague. "There's more to that boy than we realized…"
---
Jihoon lay motionless on his bed, staring at the cracked ceiling. The faint pain from his fingernail—the one he'd sacrificed—still pulsed.
A presence loomed in the shadows of his room. The same being from before—the Nethrak.
"You're still here…" Jihoon muttered.
The creature grinned. "Of course. I won the deal, remember?"
Jihoon sat up. "Where are the others? Last time… the room was full of you things."
"They lost." The Nethrak chuckled, echoing with a rumble. "I made the first deal. Temporary, yes. But I'm linked to you now. And until you die, no other Nethrak can interfere."
He stepped into the dim light. His form was clearer now—burning eyes, twisted armor-like skin, half-real, half-smoke.
"The others were cowards. They feared the Titans. I took the risk… followed you into the Hollow Realm… and won the prize."
Jihoon's eyes narrowed. "What are the Titans? And what the hell are you?"
The Nethrak's grin widened.
> "Such answers come with a price."
Jihoon clenched his fists. "Fine. I'll sacrifice… half of my mana for the truth."
The being blinked, visibly surprised. "You surprise me, Eye Wielder. I thought you would hesitate. Very well. Offer accepted."
Jihoon felt a sudden drain—a sharp cold tearing through his core. The system window flickered:
---
[Mana reduced by 50%]
[Nethrak Pact: Memory Unlock Granted]
---
The creature began to speak.
> "We are the Nethrak. One of countless races from the Hollow Realm. But we were different. Special. We can do anything—but only through sacrifice."
He circled Jihoon slowly.
> "For eons, we lived in balance. Until one among us declared: Why sacrifice alone when we can make the world sacrifice for us?
He united the strong. Convinced the weak. And enslaved the rest."
> "We began conquering the Hollow Realm. One world at a time. Until we met them… the Titans."
Jihoon held his breath.
> "They were not just powerful—they were the law. Pillars of the Hollow Realm. We fought them. We sacrificed half our race to gain power.
And we nearly won."
> "But the Titans opened a gate. Brought more of their kind from beyond the veil. And in the end, we had nothing left to give."
> "So we gave up our leader. Our hope. And still, we lost."
> "They didn't kill us. That would be mercy. They imprisoned us… in a prison called the Cube."
Jihoon saw it—images flashing in his mind. A compressed realm of infinite suffering, where Nethrak screamed in silence.
> "We gathered mana for millennia. Waiting. Until a new war distracted the Titans. One world rose to rebel… and we used the last of our stored mana to escape."
> "But this realm, the human realm… it rejected us. We became ghosts. Unable to interact, unless summoned. But to be summoned, one must see us."
> "And none could. For years, we waited. Then… you came."
Jihoon stared into the burning eyes of the Nethrak.
> "You—the Eye Wielder. You can see us. Touch us. Bind us."
> "And the first Nethrak to make a deal with you…"
The creature smiled.
"...becomes king of our kind."
---
The air grew heavier. Jihoon's vision swam.
A new system window blinked open:
---
[Nethrak Pact: Phase 1 Complete]
[Unique Skill: Eye of the Unknown – Evolution 27%]
[Temporary Pact Rank: C]
---
Blood dripped from his finger. Jihoon stared down, chest rising and falling.
"I don't know what I've gotten myself into," he whispered.
The Nethrak's form flickered like a shadow caught in fire.
> "This is only the beginning."