Those words echoed in Jiwoon's head as the chains on the phantom Kirin-Dragon rattled—each link a piece of a memory he hadn't yet remembered. He stood atop the broken tower, but it felt like the world beneath him had started to crack.
Suddenly, the sky rippled.
Not visually.
But conceptually.
Like reality itself had paused… and then blinked.
[System Notice: External Override Detected]
[You are being summoned.]
The Forbidden Interface
Jiwoon was pulled—not physically, but mentally—into a realm between code and consciousness. A white space without end, filled with slowly falling feathers and glitching halos.
A throne floated at the center.
It was empty.
But a voice filled the void.
"Welcome, Jiwoon. Or should I say… Subject 000."
"Who are you?" Jiwoon asked.
The voice was neither male nor female—neither mechanical nor divine. It was everything and nothing.
"I am what they erased.
I am the Architect of Sin."
The Secret of the Original System
The voice revealed the truth:
The Sin System was not created to punish the guilty…
…It was built to control the pure.
"Purity is unpredictable.
Compassion cannot be measured.
So they created sin, to give everything a weight."
The Architect had been cast out by the High System Council for trying to free people from the metrics of sin.
Jiwoon narrowed his eyes.
"Why tell me this now?"
"Because you're about to reach the boundary.
Beyond that, the system cannot protect you.
But neither can it stop you."
A Sin-Forged Gift
A floating shard appeared before Jiwoon.
[You have obtained: Fragment of the Forgotten Code]
– This item allows limited rewriting of system parameters once per arc.
"Break their laws," the Architect whispered.
"But know… breaking them comes with a price."
Return to a Shattered Base
Jiwoon opened his eyes.
Mira, Eri, and the remaining members of the Null Order surrounded him. But something was wrong.
The tower was in ruins.
The sky was… bleeding.
[Alert: Divine Inquisition Unit Approaching]
And hovering in the distance, riding a dragon made of light—
A new enemy appeared.
Name: Lunaris Daeva
Title: Celestial Warden of Purity
"You've tainted too many paths," Lunaris declared.
"Now, you face judgment."
Jiwoon gritted his teeth and drew Nyxfang.
"Then judge me."