Yoon Seoyul placed his palm flat against the wall, his fingers splayed as if feeling for something beneath the surface. For a heartbeat, he stood motionless. A dense, invisible pressure rolled outward from him like a crashing wave, and a sharp crack split the wall. A jagged fracture burst across the pristine white surface, snaking upward to the ceiling like a bolt of lightning. Then, his fingers curled into a tight fist.
With a thunderous thud, he drove his hand forward.
The wall shattered beneath his knuckles, debris flying as a gaping hole caved inward—broken in a single, devastating blow. Dust and plaster rained down around him.
But he didn't stop there.
With mechanical precision, Yoon Seoyul raised his leg and delivered a swift, brutal kick beneath the hole he had just created. The lower section crumbled under the force, widening the gap into a roughly carved doorway large enough for them to pass through. Without a glance back, he stepped through the breach he had made, shards of wall crunching under his boots. The moment he was on the other side, he advanced toward the next wall without pause.
As he had guessed, Yoon Seoyul had used Unstoppable Charge to plow straight through the maze. The dungeon's walls, no matter how reinforced or enchanted, crumbled like paper against the sheer force of his relentless ability. Walking through the path of fractured stone and splintered debris—after demolishing nearly a dozen walls—the claustrophobic maze finally gave way.
They emerged into open air.
It was nighttime, but no moon or stars hung in the sky. The only source of light was a colossal circus tent, its massive structure striped in spiraling red and white. It pulsed faintly in the darkness like a living, breathing thing. The fabric shimmered under an invisible spotlight, casting warped shadows that danced along the ground.
Despite the destruction, Yoon Seoyul was as composed as ever, casually brushing dust from his clothes. Cheon Areum ran up to him, dusting his back where he couldn't reach. The main character has to look presentable for the boss stage.
"We might be out of here sooner than I thought."
Jin spoke from above, steadying his footing as he carefully helped Jun climb over the final shattered wall. With a firm grip and a reassuring nod, he guided his twin brother to solid ground on the other side.
Behind them, the last to descend was Feiyang. With barely a sound, she leapt down from the ledge—a drop roughly equivalent to three stair steps back on Earth. Her landing was smooth and controlled, like a cat's. Her gaze, however, didn't waver for a second. Those sharp eyes were locked onto the enormous glowing tent in the distance. The red and white swirls on its surface seemed to spin ever so slightly, hypnotic in their rhythm.
"This is making me uneasy. We already found the boss? Either this is one of those easy ones, or the boss is going to be a pain in the ass."
Feiyang sighed disapprovingly.
"Everyone is here, Master."
Kim Ryung nodded and reported, standing at his side again. Yoon Seoyul's narrowed eyes were fixed on the source of the illumination as he quietly began walking toward the tent.
The entrance yawned wide open, a gaping mouth beckoning them in. As they stepped inside, vivid lights spun overhead in dazzling patterns, casting a kaleidoscope of color across the tent's interior. It was like walking into another world.
A grand circus show was already in full swing.
Acrobats flipped midair from shimmering ribbons. A unicyclist juggled flaming pins on a tightrope. Animal-shaped puppets danced across the stage, animated by strings that moved on their own. All of it was happening simultaneously—choreographed chaos under the glowing spotlight.
The most unsettling part, however, was the crowd.
There wasn't one.
Not a single soul sat in the wide ring of plush red audience seats encircling the stage. Despite the strange emptiness, the performers—a horde of clowns in wildly different costumes—moved with unrestrained energy. Their painted smiles were exaggerated, stretched grotesquely across their faces, and their eyes glimmered with anything but joy.
They danced, tumbled, and spun as if the tent were full of roaring applause.
"Holy shit, Master—they're all A-Class!" Inho exclaimed.
But the very moment their last foot crossed the threshold of the tent, everything halted—like time itself had been cleaved in half.
The swirling lights stopped mid-spin.
The flames from the juggled pins froze in the air, suspended unnaturally.
The acrobats hung mid-flip, their bodies impossibly still, ribbons frozen like glass strands in midair.
Even the hauntingly cheerful music, once resounding from nowhere and everywhere, died in an instant.
Serenity settled uncomfortably.
Then, one by one, the clowns began to move.
Not their bodies—but their heads.
A slow, agonizing creak filled the silence as dozens of necks twisted toward the entrance. The motion was stiff, irregular—as if their heads were being turned by invisible gears grinding bone.
Every single performer now stared directly at them.
Unblinking.
Painted grins stretched too wide. Eyes gleaming with a hunger that had nothing to do with entertainment.
And they were truly starving.
The stillness shattered in a split second as the clowns charged, no longer performers but predators driven by insatiable hunger. Their painted faces split cruelly, jaws unhinging wider than humanly possible—gaping maws like those of monstrous hippos, lined with rows upon rows of jagged, needle-like teeth.
They didn't scream—they shrieked.
A warped chorus of laughter and growls filled the tent as the creatures rushed forward, arms flailing, mouths snapping, their eyes rolling back to reveal only whites. The swirls on their clothes blurred with motion, like spinning blood-red spirals.
Dozens of them lunged at once, clawed fingers outstretched, eager to rip through flesh and feast on warm bodies. Their movements were jerky and freakish, like broken marionettes moving too fast, their joints bending the wrong way, their feet making no sound as they stampeded. The air turned hot and sharp with the stench of rot and greasepaint.
*
Turns out, Yoon Seoyul was a far greater monster than the monstrosities they faced.
Without a flicker of hesitation, he charged into the chaos like a bullet shot from hell. One of the clowns leapt at him, jagged teeth wide—only for Yoon Seoyul's hand to plunge straight through its face, skull cracking under the sheer force. Flesh tore, bones snapped, and the painted skin peeled off like wet paper.
Eyes wide open.
Blood—thick, black, and oily—splattered across his face and chest, but it only made his eyes shine brighter. There was no mercy in his movements, no pause between kills. He grabbed one by its leg, swung it like a ragdoll into another, and the two exploded into chunks of meat and cloth.
He wasn't just fighting—he was butchering.
Limbs flew, heads rolled, and he kept tearing through them like a true berserker, every movement a storm of destruction. The ground became a slippery mess of blood and gore, and yet he moved through it unfazed.
In no time, every clown was taken care of.
The real problem was the ringleader, sitting on a throne-like chair atop a thousand-step staircase leading to it. He looked down at them, uninterested, leaning back in his seat and blinking occasionally. The only reason he could be that carefree was because—no matter how much they tried—they couldn't get to him.
Every time they attempted to reach the ringleader, setting foot on the grand staircase, something absurdly unfortunate would happen—as if fate itself was playing a prank on them.
The first time, Feiyang made it halfway up the stairs, in range to attack him—only for a trapdoor to open beneath her, swallowing her into a pit of rainbow-colored slime. She reemerged seconds later, drenched and gagging, face twisted in horror.
Kim Ryung tried next, only to be ambushed by a giant cream pie launched from an unseen cannon. It splattered across his entire face, knocking him back three steps and staining his clothes in sticky sugar and shame.
Even Yoon Seoyul wasn't spared. He barely took a step before a massive rubber chicken—yes, a rubber chicken—swung down from the ceiling and smacked him square in the jaw with enough force to actually make him stumble. He stood there, blinking in disbelief as the rubber toy squeaked mockingly.
"What are they doing?"
Inho lamented, sitting with Cheon Areum in the audience seats. The healers and Inho were seated here to stay safe, since all the other clowns were gone now. If they could get popcorn, Cheon Areum was sure Inho would be crunching on it right now.
Their situation wasn't good. Without Hwan's booster, Kim Ryung couldn't reach the boss, rendering him useless for now. Feiyang's range wasn't long enough—at most, she could only reach halfway up the stairs with her attacks. And Yoon Seoyul—a monster under human skin—was one to rip you apart with his hands.
"Hmm..."
Cheon Areum stared at the ringleader, who—noticing his gaze—locked eyes with him. He had tried to help them, unsuccessfully. It always happened out of nowhere every time, giving no chance to bend things to his will.
Cheon Areum got to his feet.
"Where are you going?"
Inho grabbed his arm and asked.
"I have an idea. Let me talk to them."
Inho hesitated before letting him go. Cheon Areum walked through the corpses leisurely, his face expressionless.
"Cheon Areum, what are you doing here? Go back—it's dangerous to be this close."
Yoon Seoyul blocked his way with an extended arm, his tone resolute.
"I can help."
"Areum, stay back. If you have something to say, I'll hear you out."
Kim Ryung crossed over, pulling him back before he could finish.
"I like you, Kim Ryung. Don't take this the wrong way."
Before he had finished speaking, they all felt energy surging from the ground—holding them in place.
"I decide who walks and who doesn't here."
An abyss-like fissure tore through the ground with a deafening snap, splitting the earth apart right before the base of the staircase.
"Cheon Areum!!"
Stepping closer to the edge, he turned around, grinning from ear to ear. His feet barely touched the ground.
"So rest assured, ladies and gentlemen the show is just about to begin."
With that, he let himself fall backward into the dark abyss.
[You have awakened the system.]