Somewhere far beyond the reach of ordinary reality…
Five figures sat around a circular stone table.
The place they were in did not look like a normal location.
The sky above them was empty—no stars, no sun, no moon. Just a vast endless darkness stretching forever.
The ground beneath them wasn't soil or stone.
It looked more like fragments of broken space, floating and reforming constantly.
Even the air felt unnatural.
Like reality itself had been stitched together poorly.
The five men sitting there were even stranger.
They were tall.
Too tall.
Each one looked nearly three meters in height, their bodies thin and elongated like shadows stretched unnaturally.
Their eyes glowed faintly.
Their presence felt… wrong.
Four of them were talking.
The fifth one was silent.
Watching.
Observing.
And slowly… a familiar smile formed on his face.
The same smile that had appeared in the forest when Null collapsed after killing the king.
One of the tall figures spoke first.
"The kingdom incident… was unexpected."
Another nodded.
"A single anomaly disrupted the entire magic network of that region."
"The boy called Null," a third one said. "His existence interferes with system rules."
A fourth leaned forward slightly.
"And the other one… Leo."
"Yes," the first figure replied. "His origin cannot be traced within the world system."
Silence followed.
Then the second figure spoke again.
"That means both of them are irregularities."
The third one narrowed his glowing eyes.
"Viruses."
The fourth one added coldly,
"Errors within the system."
Their voices sounded strange.
Not quite human.
Almost mechanical.
Like something pretending to sound human.
Finally, they all turned toward the fifth man.
The silent one.
Their leader.
He had not spoken a single word yet.
But the strange smile still lingered on his face.
The others waited patiently.
Then he finally spoke.
"…Let's test them."
His voice was calm.
Almost amused.
The other four nodded immediately.
"As you command."
Meanwhile…
Far away in the real world…
Null and Leo continued walking through the forest.
The air was quiet.
Too quiet.
They had been walking for hours, searching for another settlement or village.
Null looked tired, but he kept moving.
Leo stretched his arms lazily while walking beside him.
"You know," Leo said casually, "after that whole castle incident…"
"…we're probably the most wanted people in the kingdom."
Null didn't answer.
He already knew that.
The death of a king would never go unnoticed.
Still, he kept walking.
Because stopping meant thinking.
And thinking meant remembering.
The slums.
The bodies.
His mother.
Leo glanced at him but didn't say anything.
Suddenly—
The wind stopped.
Null's footsteps slowed.
"…Leo."
"Yeah."
"You feel that?"
Leo nodded.
"Yep."
Before they could react—
Five massive figures appeared around them.
Not walking.
Not arriving.
They simply existed there suddenly.
Standing in a perfect circle around Null and Leo.
Null immediately felt something strange.
These men…
They were tall.
Too tall.
Each of them looked nearly three meters in height.
Their bodies were thin but strangely proportioned.
And their glowing eyes stared down at the two boys like observers examining insects.
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"…Okay."
"That's definitely weird."
One of the tall figures stepped forward slightly.
"Be pleased."
His voice echoed strangely.
"The creator of this world itself wishes to meet you."
Null frowned.
"…What?"
Leo stepped slightly closer to Null instinctively.
Inside the two-meter Axiom field.
Another one of the tall men spoke.
"You are a virus within our system."
He pointed at Null.
"You."
Then he pointed at Leo.
"Are an unidentified file."
A third one continued calmly.
"One deletes files."
"Another exists without registration."
The fourth one tilted his head.
"You are not part of our system."
Silence filled the forest.
Null didn't understand anything they were saying.
But Leo's expression had changed.
He stepped forward slightly.
"…System?"
He laughed lightly.
"You're trying way too hard to sound mysterious."
The tall figures did not react.
Leo continued.
"You keep talking about systems, files, viruses…"
He shrugged.
"But guess what?"
"This isn't your computer."
Leo pointed toward the ground.
"This is reality."
He pointed at Null.
"And we're real."
The tall figures remained completely still.
Finally, the silent fifth man stepped forward.
The leader.
The same faint smile rested on his face.
"Then…"
"…enjoy your reality."
He raised his hand slowly.
And outside the two-meter Axiom radius—
Reality disappeared.
Not destroyed.
Not broken.
Simply erased.
The forest vanished.
The ground vanished.
The sky vanished.
Everything outside Null's two-meter space turned into an endless white void.
There was nothing.
No ground.
No air.
No gravity.
Just pure emptiness.
Null's eyes widened in panic.
"…Leo."
Leo looked around calmly.
"Yeah… this is definitely not normal."
The five tall figures now stood outside the Axiom field, floating within the endless void.
"You see?" one of them said.
"Outside your anomaly zone…"
"We control everything."
Null's breathing became heavier.
If the Axiom field disappeared…
He would fall into nothing.
Leo suddenly spoke.
"Null."
"…What?"
"Try something."
"What?"
Leo pointed toward the void outside the Axiom boundary.
"Step out."
Null stared at him like he was crazy.
"…That's suicide."
"Just trust me."
For a moment, Null hesitated.
Then he slowly extended his foot beyond the two-meter boundary.
The moment his foot touched the void—
A piece of land formed beneath it.
Solid ground.
Null blinked.
"…What?"
He took another step.
Another piece of land appeared.
Then another.
And another.
Every step he took created ground beneath his feet.
Like reality itself was being forced to exist.
The tall figures froze.
"That's impossible."
"He is reconstructing physical logic."
"The void cannot maintain stability near him."
Null continued walking.
And the void began cracking.
Small fractures appeared in the endless white space.
Then more.
Then hundreds.
Reality was breaking their trap.
Suddenly—
The void shattered completely.
The forest returned.
The sky returned.
Everything snapped back into place.
The five tall figures disappeared instantly.
Far away…
Back in the strange void dimension…
Four of the tall men stood up in shock.
"That should have been impossible!"
"The containment void collapsed!"
"The system rejected our overwrite!"
They looked toward their leader.
The fifth man.
But he had not moved.
He remained seated.
Still smiling.
"…Interesting."
The others stared at him.
"You predicted this?"
He leaned back slightly in his chair.
"I didn't predict it."
He chuckled softly.
"I wanted to see it."
His glowing eyes narrowed slightly.
"I want to observe them more."
Meanwhile…
Back in the forest…
Null and Leo stood silently.
The strange encounter had ended.
But neither of them fully understood what had just happened.
After a long walk, the trees finally began to thin.
And in the distance…
They saw buildings.
A village.
At the entrance gate stood a wooden sign.
ATHER CITY
Leo scratched his head.
"Well…"
"…this is awkward."
Null looked at him.
"What?"
Leo sighed.
"We might be the most wanted people in the entire kingdom."
Null stared at the village entrance.
Then stepped forward anyway.
"Let's go."
Leo followed him.
But the moment they entered the city—
Everything was about to change.