Staring at Jihu, Sora grinned and said, "Well, Darling. Don't you look like shit?"

Jihu didn't respond. In fact, he couldn't because of all the swelling on his face.

Seeing that, Sora laughed and then looked over at Jinhee. "I bet you're finally glad to relieve your stress on your Oppa, aren't you Baby Sis?"

Seonhwa coughed and then said, "Phrasing."

Sora tilted her head and said, "What? She's clearly a-" She paused and then said, "You know what? Let's not tempt things."

[Your sponsor, 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' is disappointed.]

[Your sponsor, 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' says a taboo romance is the best.]

[Your sponsor, 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' asks why you are ignoring her.]

[Your sponsor, 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' is sad.]

[Your sponsor...]

[The Archangel Gabriel apologizes for her colleague's antics. It seems being cooped up in her room has caused her personality to change quite a bit...]

[The Archangel Mikael is surprised that the system has been partially restored.]

[Demon-Like Judge of Fire says her personality is the same as it always was! And besides, what else can they do anyway with Paradise the way it is and <Redacted> preventing them from returning to <Redacted>?]

[ADMIN GULA: Apologies, Miss Jinhee. The system will go under maintenance for a short while.]

Jinhee resisted the urge to let out a deep sigh at the giant headache she got from reading all of those messages and the implications.

Well, it wasn't *just* from that.

Despite having the cheat <Ancient Dragon's Divinity (Twisted Kindness)> and all the cheat skills that came with it, activating <Judgment Time> took a toll on her body.

Probably because Oppa was bullshit.

Even though Jinhee *should* have been invincible, and even though she didn't *physically* get hurt from hitting him, apparently there was a heavy mental backlash for forcing injuries on a guy who wasn't supposed to be able to get hurt.

Who would have thought?

But whatever. It was done.

After Oppa completely bent the Tutorial and story setting in half and ripped it to shreds, Jinhee and the others were warped into an infinite void with glowing constellations floating in the distance.

A giant stained glass mural of an anime character holding a key served as a floor, preventing everyone from falling into the infinite void.

And as to who 'everyone' was...

"Well, congrats." Sora clapped her hands in a mocking applause and smiled. "Out of the 50 of you that managed to make it through that subway hell, you 48 insane idiots thought it was a good idea to willingly walk into death's cold embrace. Even so, half of you made it. I'm actually impressed. Then again..." She looked at a group of men and women dressed in sharp black suits, along with a group of men and women clearly comfortable with danger. "...Twenty of you were already briefed. I guess I should be more impressed with you last four." After saying that, Sora turned to look at a group of misfits standing off to the side from the others.

One was a slim young man who had a straightforward appearance and demeanor. Next to him was a burly man in his mid-thirties.

Standing apart from those two was a young man who was silently fuming, sending deathglares at Jinhee and the others. And then there was a woman who looked like she was anxious to run away as soon as she could.

Sora looked at the first two and said, "Park Woori and Yoo Yeolmu. Congratulations on passing the Tutorial without any outside help even while that Crazy Bastard made it hell on Earth."

"Mmmph!" Jihu let out a muffled sound and waved his hand as if to protest.

Jinhee clicked her tongue and kicked his shin.

"MMPH!"

"Shut up, Oppa."

Park Woori, the slim young man, rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Thank you, Miss Guide. But we didn't really do much..."

Yoo Yeolmu, the burly man, nodded and said, "Yeah. All we did was play dead and then pick off a few bugs that ran past... Really, we just got lucky."

Sora shrugged. "Luck can be a skill on its own." She stuck her thumb towards Jihu and said, "Ask that Crazy Bastard there who seemed to have a monopoly on it when it comes to women."

Jihu puffed his cheeks. And then he winced and flopped on the ground, massaging them. Of course, that only made the pain worse.

Seonhwa sighed and walked over to help him.

Seeing that, the already fuming young man exploded and jabbed a finger towards Sora. "You, Guide! How are you allowing that blatant cheating?! Isn't the Tutorial supposed to be fair?!"

The woman, seeing the young man speak up, gathered a bit of courage and then said, "Y-Yeah!" She pointed at Jinhee and said, "She's been helped the entire time! The organizations aren't supposed to be able to help here, right? The Tutorial is neutral!"

The young man nodded. And then he paused and glared at the people in suits. "And what's with those guys? 'Briefed?'" He spun back around to glare at Sora and said, "What the fuck do you mean they got briefed?!"

Sora blinked and stared at the young man.

The young man seemed to think he had a point and then puffed his chest out. "What? Got nothing to say? Just wait until-"

"Darling." Sora stepped forward and then held out her hand, grabbing the hilt of a sword that didn't exist. At the same time, she put on a bright smile. "...It's fine if we get rid of a few more people, right?"

Jihu jumped to his feet and glared at the young man and the woman. Well, attempted to glare. The moment he did, he winced again and rubbed his face before giving a puppy dog look to Jinhee.

Jinhee felt her face heat up and looked away in embarrassment.

...It wasn't her fault that it hurt that much, okay? Blame the fact that 'justice' wasn't letting Oppa off that easy...

But anyway...

Jinhee looked at the young man and the woman acting up in front of the Guide before clicking her tongue.

Did they not see how things ended up for the people who acted up in front of the Dokkaebi in the Tutorial?

"Did you forget the show I put on at the start of the Tutorial already?"

Jinhee blinked, wondering for a bit if she spoke out loud.

But she definitely didn't.

...Great minds think alike?

The young man flinched and then said, "S-So what?!" He crossed his arms and said, "We might be Contracted, but we have organizations! Don't think you can just-"

Before he finished talking, the air in front of him rippled.

Immediately after that, he crumpled to the ground with a 'plop.'

A 'plop' resulting from perfectly bisected halves of his body falling to the floor with a soft splatter.

The woman screamed.

But just for a split second.

The air rippled again and then she fell to the ground with a 'plop' as well.

Sora chucked her sword away, causing it to shatter into glass-like shards. After that, she brushed her hands and put on a bright smile. "Anyway! Now that the trash is taken care of..." She held out her hands and said, "You pass! Congratulations! Now, I normally would give you all a run-down on what your dispositions are and calculate all the points, but we don't have time because a certain SOMEONE decided to break everything. AGAIN."

Jihu waved a white flag in the air.

Jinhee blinked and then tilted her head. 'Wait. Where did he get that?'

Did Oppa have an item box too?

No, he definitely had one since he was a Regressor.

But wait-

Before Jinhee could finish her thoughts, Sora spoke up and said, "The gods said they'll send a system message with the info for you all later. For now, we need to hurry up before the other areas go on without us."

A giant golden portal opened up behind Sora. She turned around and then said, "Don't take long unless you want to get erased along with the last bits of the Tutorial." With that, she walked through the portal.

The surviving Contracted immediately followed her, clearly not wanting to risk anything else happening.

Seunghae sprinted after the crowd next, quickly followed by Seonhwa. Although the latter gave a hesitant look back at Jihu before leaving.

Jihu waved her off though.

And that left behind Jihu, Yuri, and Jinhee.

Yuri took a thoughtful look around the infinite void and said, "Hey, Jinhee. If we manage to survive the 'end', do you think we- J-Jinhee?!"

Before Yuri could finish her thought, Jinhee grabbed Yuri's arm and started walking towards the portal.

"W-Wait! But the lore! The looore!"

"Screw the lore. I'm not going to risk you somehow causing those guys to break the fourth wall when it's already non-existent in the story and crossover to the real world to show up at my doorsteps and demand compensation."

Jihu coughed.

Jinhee sent him a sharp glare.

Jihu shook his head and then gave her a thumbs up.

Jinhee rolled her eyes and said, "Let's just get out of this crazy mess already."

With that, the last three entered the golden portal and vanished.

The moment that they did, a human shaped shadow of an endless unknown darkness appeared upon the stained glass window.

<Secretive Plotter> looked down at the design for a moment and then muttered, "A far off memory like a scattered dream. A scattered dream like a far off memory..." He shifted his gaze and then looked off into the distance at a certain ancient constellation. "...I want to line the pieces up, yours and mine."

His words echoed in the infinite void.

And when they faded, so did that world.

xxx

[Yoo Seunghae]

[Level of Cognition]

Self-centered (Prioritizes own self over others) / Worried / Strong Supporter (Will exhaust all efforts for the good of those she supports)

[Seol Jinhee]

[Level of Cognition]

Exploitative (Actively seeks loopholes to exploit) / Thoughtful / Intuitive Rationale (Will intuitively perceive the truth. However, when the truth is too incredible, rationalizes to the closest reasonable answer.)

[Eun Yuri]

[Level of Cognition]

Brash (Reckless and scold-worthy) / Ecstatic / Sly (Plays dumb to hide impure motives)