He stared way too deep into the light figure. The light figure's actual light started waving...
He knew that the light shadow was like a barking puppy. A weak and fragile dog will bark before someone even approaches it. The light… the heavenly figure—it's all screaming greatness that never existed.
He saw right through the delusion. Although delusion was never fake in a world where delusion has control over everything... it only has personal delusion. This world treats delusion into different aspects.
The light figure's delusion was nothing. Delusion gets stronger as more people benefit from it. This one delusion only protects the light figure.
That's why this delusion has boundaries. Once someone sees through the delusion... the light figure's delusion will shatter into its world...
The Etherlamentia.
He said, "Enough... I see through it..." His face had a blank expression. Nothing to be amazed of. He was standing straight, confronting the delusion.
On the other hand, the light figure's light melted off a weakling body. The wimp expression exceeded the limits of the greatness of the light.
The fragile-looking man froze with disbelief as he saw the man staring at him. The fragile man kept checking himself again and again. His reality shamed him, yet he was astonished.
The man's eyes were a pure reflection of hell to the fragile-looking man...
The two men had a stare that lasted less than a second.
The reality is that the mesmerizing view, the ground-breaking scene, and everything around it was nothing more than an illusion.
Outside the soul-realm, the gods had no privilege. They were gods inside the soul-realm.
Any existence... the result of creation of God has a nightmare—they are the gods themselves, the angel numbers.
The guidanceer feared being exposed. He feared being punished. As he fell down on the ground in despair, he noticed that Pathless was staring straight at him with a calm and relaxed face.
The guidanceer stood up, trying to speak. His voice shook; his anchor was frozen...
He tried to nervously smile while still standing up, as if he was holding his legs with his hands.
The man said with a straight tone and face, "No more delusions. I didn't come with the intent of hurting you... nor exposing you."
As the one who created the world, as the failed and fake author of the novel, he knew that the Guidanceer—who was actually acting like an angelic being—was nothing but a useless man trying not to die.
The man said with a relaxed tone, "Say… tell me, what are you going to grant me? Huh? You definitely are the one following 7777: The Veil Unbroken — God of Prophecy. Such a god can hide your blessings and push its limits outside Etherlamenthia."
Although he looked confident, he was also serious about what he was saying—unlike the Guidanceer, who was drenched in thoughts and swallowed by fear.
Confused by what was going on, the Guidanceer shouted,
"What are you talking about? Tell me—who are you?"
The man sat down on the ground, relaxing. As he said, "What can you do about it... I mean, I already know a lot. I know you can kill me, and no, I'm not denying it—you are strong, you can use the essence of delusion. But what can you do to me? I mean, I can't die now. I didn't manifest a real form, plus I'm already dead. Even if you shadow-tag me from the world... that means you will face consequences. Let's say your reason is me knowing too much and you exposing too much... so I'm fine with it. Either I live or I fade from existence. But remember, if I fade from existence, you will as well. So I'm just saying—let's not get on each other's negative side."
The Guidanceer said, "Wha.. what do you want?"
The man closed his eyes and let the silence flow—peace and calmness. A second later, he raised his hand and said, "Proceed with what you were going to do first."
The Guidanceer, still showered by fear, approached the man. He put his hands on his head.
The Guidanceer's hand glowed with golden light, creating a ball of light right above the man's head. The light suddenly cascaded over the man's head. The man closed his eyes and absorbed the light raining over him. The second the light entered his head, the man opened his eyes.
His vision blurred. Aside from the unified dark-blue color, he saw a glitching screen right in front of his face.
He stood up slowly, covering his eyes with his wrist. He waited a couple of seconds until the effect vanished.
At the same time, the Guidanceer—scared and terrified—was whispering in his head, "What am I doing... what's going on? I'm just doing my job, right...? May God protect me. Please, dear God... please, I want to return to my children... please..."
Right after a while, the man said, "Now let's get real. Show me the rising screen."
Complete astonishment was written all over the Guidanceer's face. Flabbergasted, I would say. He had no words; he cleared his throat, eyes wide.
"The rising what?—"
He couldn't speak even after clearing his throat. Fidgeting, he raised his hand and patted his cheeks.
"Who are you really? What is your game? Why are you here? What do you want? I'm an innocent man—please leave me alone. I want to return alive, please..."
The man said with a blank expression and straight tone, "Listen. I only need three things from you, and I promise I will help you get back alive.
I know life has been hard; it's hard to think rationally. No god will be able to see what happens in here, and you will only meet them at the last minute before your fate—whether returning or dying—gets decided.
I know deep in your heart you're wishing to return alive.
I can make that dream come true. Just believe in me. I'm asking you politely and respectfully for a reason. Get it together and gamble—since I know it's a win-win for you. The truth is that no matter what you do, you won't be accused of anything. The system is completely random."
The man, full of hope, said, "I still can't believe in you, but I may gamble safely."
So much had happened to the point that the Guidanceer just accepted going with the vibe of the man. The man's knowledge alone was a disaster to reality, let alone delusion.
The man sat down again and said,
"Give me a name first."
The Guidanceer extended his hand upon hearing the man's first desire. A dozen red screens flashed all over the entrance. Variations of red—from dim to bright—surrounded the man.
The Guidanceer called out to the system, tapping twice with his index finger on the empty air. The Guidanceer's eyes scrolled like a jackpot machine.
Every soul is guided by a path, whether it's the four karmic gods—14, 16, and 19—or the rest of the twenty gods (000, 0000...). They will be chosen by one of the gods.
But this was a different case. He had no path, no god backing him. The Guidanceer's will began to break apart. His eyes wavered, and the system ignored the man. Each god rejected him in a matter of seconds. He found the man's name nowhere to belong.
The Guidanceer said, "You're selfless... bold."
The man stared with no hesitation, no expectation whatsoever. His body relaxed, his tone simple and plain as he asked, "What do you mean—selfless and bold?"
The Guidanceer, still shocked by such unfair treatment from the gods, blamed his eyes, searching each screen.
Lost in thought, he said, "There is no way... how? How could this happen? I swear I've never seen anything like this."
The Guidanceer crawled back into searching. The man sat even more comfortably and said, "Take your time."
Half an hour later, the Guidanceer said, "This has never happened before. I'm sorry. The myth gods and even the ancient gods have rejected you."
The man didn't show any sign of regret—not even a glimpse of sadness. He raised his head high and said, "What about the angel gods?"
The Guidanceer smiled and said, "Yes... I forgot how dumbfounded I can be sometimes."
He searched a new blue screen and saw his life path. Eventually, he figured out that he doesn't have any angel number supporting him.
His eyes almost fell out, opened as wide as his mouth.
"No way... no living being can live without them. I understand you are from another world, but the moment you died—the moment you came here—it should have already been decided which angel god would have chosen you. It seems to me you are not chosen by anyone."
The man stood up and said, "So you're telling me I'm a fraud or some kind of mistake."
"No... you're not."
As he walked up to the Guidanceer, he took his hands out of his pockets and said, "Maybe the gods made a mistake this time."
The Guidanceer said, "Clearly no. They don't make mistakes. They won't, and they can't."
The man patted the Guidanceer's shoulder and said, "So there's nothing to be afraid of. It's not usually normal, but it doesn't mean it doesn't have the possibility to happen. Relax and give me a name already."
The Guidanceer, shocked by the man's response, said, "Su.. sure... su...uure..."
He took out a white screen from the blue one, sliding it out fashionably. He placed his hand and said, "NAME."
Numbers started ticking like a clock—each number from one to one thousand one hundred fifty.
All of them were divided into different groups. Each number lined up under the alphabets of participants.
[Greek list corrected only for grammar—structure preserved]
Each of these are participants who have already been given a name. The Guidanceer noticed that the man was the last one and that each squad rejected him.
So he had to create another squad, not led by any god—just like an email login for the purpose of only logging in.
The automatic regeneration of the profile of the Pathless soul finished.
The 23rd squad—ruled by no one—was named after the alphabet 'Psi Ψ' (pronounced as the English word 'sigh').
Each squad has a prime. Each participant would have a name made out of their order and their letter in the squad.
But in the man's case, he was the only one in his squad. That's why he ended up as 'PSI PRIME'.
AND HIS NAME... PSI (PRONOUNCED AS 'SIGH').
Nevertheless, the fact that his life in Etherlamenthia would be hell without a god backing his squad. Time and space would be his greatest enemy—and above all, he would be completely lonely.
The Guidanceer shook his head and wrote the name:
"Psi."
...
"So I wrote the name Psi."
---
Upon hearing it, Pathless responded with a cold gaze. As for the fact that he didn't even know why he had no path, he already realized he would live in endless pain.
PSI said, "Good. Now I'm the prime. I'm going to move alone. I have the privilege to enter Etherlamenthia. Finally, I can use a system."
The Guidanceer felt awkward about the system, thinking to himself, 'Did he know about the system as well? Now I'm really confused.'
He cleared his throat, smiled at PSI, and replied, "Yes... the system. Systems are distributed to participants at the beginning of the divine show, so you will have to wait on that."
PSI said, "I'm not asking about the obvious. I'm asking you to give me your replica of the Guidanceer's system."
"Why though? Why...? And no—how? I don't know how." His nervous smile kicked in; he was more open than a dish menu.
PSI said with a relaxed tone, "Relax. Breathe in and out. It's part of the plan. Whether you give me the replica or not, nothing's going to change—and no one will know. Not to mention, we will be in touch so I can make sure you get promoted, even rebooted. So stop this wishy-washy act. I'm trying to pay you back here."
The Guidanceer felt conflicted, yet he never questioned PSI's words. He accepted it, thinking it might benefit him—even if it doesn't. No one could know about it because it's a replica system.
He said to himself, 'It will all work out perfectly. As long as the original exists, the replica won't activate. In other words, I'm being protected.'
The Guidanceer smirked with a microexpression, then abruptly changed his face into a fake smile and said, "But be careful. I'm not going to be responsible from here on out."
PSI took off his coat. His hands were full of scars that carried the weight of a miserable life.
He put his coat on his shoulders and looked at the Guidanceer. The Guidanceer felt something was off but said, "I entrusted everything to you. Please don't fail me, PSI!"
PSI stared back and asked, "What's your name?"
"It's Jack. It's Jack Johnson."
"I won't fail you, Mr. Johnson."
The Guidanceer bid his farewell. He opened the portal by unzipping reality; everything before their eyes shredded like paper, splitting into two.
The Guidanceer declared,
"You are the last participant and, above all, an extra. So be sure not to join any path. If you have to go—go alone."
Then he struck PSI's chest with a flying bird that looked exactly like a paper bird. That was how they planted the system inside.
"Finally... I, PSI, will join Etherlamenthia — 'The Divine Show.'"