Hwangmyoungho Mansion, Eunho's annex.

Hwangho, disguised as Hwang Yuho, slowly moved his spoon and ate the Udo peanut ice cream.

Heukho finished two bowls and glanced at Hwangho.

The Ho Clan had recently been frequently traveling to Jeju Island, but Heukho had been unable to go.

There was no role for Heukho in the grand operation they were preparing for.

Heukho had volunteered to take on the messenger role assigned to Jeokho, saying, "I can escape well even in the evil darkness!" but everyone disagreed.

Feeling disappointed, Heukho decided to cheer himself up by eating the ice cream that Jo Yi-shin had gifted, which could only be found in Jeju. He also didn’t want to eat alone, so he decided to share it with Hwangho’s clone.

‘Hwangho’s been quiet since earlier. I think he’s in a fight. If I were there, I could at least hide and watch, even if I couldn’t fight alongside him.’

Hwangho’s eyes, which had been vacant, suddenly regained their sharpness.

He seemed to have regained enough focus to turn his attention to his clone.

Just as Heukho had expected, Hwangho had just finished a battle with those targeting the Yang clan.

Heukho hesitated but decided to speak up.

“Hwangho, is it good? It would taste better with the peanut cookie on top.”

“It’s fine. I’ll get more.”

“It tastes better because it was brought by him.”

“Understood. I’ll pass the message to Jo Yi-shin.”

Hwangho’s words made Heukho’s face brighten.

Heukho, using the ice cream as an excuse, subtly expressed his desire to meet Jo Yi-shin, and Hwangho, almost instinctively, understood and agreed.

At that moment, Hwangho suddenly turned his head sharply and gazed down the hallway.

Walking towards them with a cane was Unsa.

‘Huh?’

Hwangho’s expression darkened upon ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) seeing Unsa.

Recently, Unsa had been helping Eunho with something, and it seemed to be taking a toll on him, as his health had worsened and he had become less mobile.

Hwangho was deeply concerned about Unsa.

‘When I asked if I could help, Unsa refused.’

—No, Heukho. This is something I have to do. Finally, I have something I can do for my friends. Please don’t take that away from me.

Unsa had refused Heukho’s offer with a firm, sorrowful tone.

Hearing such words, Heukho couldn’t argue anymore. He didn’t know what Unsa was doing, nor why he couldn’t allow Heukho to take his place.

But what Heukho did know was that Hwangho was also deeply troubled by it, so he didn’t press further. Instead, Heukho tried to lift his spirits by sharing what little he had with his friends.

“Unsa, are you awake? Want to have some?”

“If it’s from Heukho, I’ll eat anything.”

Hwangho looked at Unsa, whose face was gaunt and indifferent.

He couldn’t help but keep glancing at Unsa’s hands, remembering how Unsa had used the brazier that Eunho and Ungnyeo had made, causing him to feel uneasy.

The pain Unsa endured while being treated by Yu Sang-hee and the traces of it on his body lingered in Hwangho’s mind.

It wasn’t that the pain had left his thoughts—rather, it was the deep sadness that kept resurfacing.

At that moment, as Unsa sat down, Hwangho hid his emotions and spoke.

“You can’t eat something cold on an empty stomach right after waking up. I’ll prepare it.”

“I’ll help!”

“Sit with Unsa and wait. If you help me, Unsa will offer to help as well.”

While Hwangho used his clone to prepare the soup, he, as his true self, dealt with the amount of sleep.

The amount of sleep had caused a ruckus, claiming they needed to save the student, but after hearing Hwangho’s reassurance, they calmed down.

Listening to Hwangho, the amount of sleep seemed to have realized that it could only make people sleep and that it was powerless to intervene when the ones who had fallen asleep were targeted by invisibility items or abilities.

“Are the Ho Clan going to handle everything? If so, I’ll go home. Introduce the benefactor later.”

“What are you talking about? There’s still work to do.”

At Hwangho’s words, a small, weak protest escaped from the lips of the Ho Clan.

They were right. The Yang Clan was in tatters.

In their attempt to save the amount of sleep, they had thrown away valuable treasures, including the Ho Clan’s precious belongings. Some of the Yang Clan had even gotten injured while briefly leaving the barrier.

The amount of sleep was dressed in bloody clothes, with a throat that had almost been slashed, its neck sewn up. It was no time to assign more tasks.

The Yang Clan murmured quietly, trying to lower their voices, as they stamped their feet anxiously. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

‘Chief, we need to get out of here quickly. The tigers are right on us, and it’s too dangerous outside.’

‘If the Ho Clan is going to help us, shouldn’t they also fix the house and treat us? We’d be even more grateful then...’

‘Some of the barrier’s components are broken. When will they be fixed? What if the nightmare comes now?’

‘Right now, I’m more scared of the people who tried to kill us. I’m thankful to the tigers who saved us, but they’re powerful and terrifying too.’

They wanted to escape with the amount of sleep, but they had no choice but to hold back, fearing the wrath of Hwangho and Cheongho.

Meanwhile, Cheongho was physically knocking out the remaining enemies with punches, which only made the situation even more terrifying.

The Yang Clan, worried that the amount of sleep might face Cheongho’s wrath, rushed to help the chief, gathering around the map and dividing the areas to investigate.

However, the one who took the most responsibility was the amount of sleep.

“Hmm, something’s wrong.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It was visible earlier, but now it’s completely covered in a strange, unsettling darkness. I can’t see anything.”

Hwangho and Cheongho exchanged looks after hearing the amount of sleep’s words.

Indeed, as the amount of sleep had said, Hallasan was vast, and it was impossible to assign powerful players to every area.

However, the place the amount of sleep indicated, where nothing could be seen, was where a significant force had gathered.

In the area where they had placed the legendary warriors—Yeom Bang-yeol, Chokryong, and the Red Lion—the dark, corrupt shadows had spread.

Despite spending the entire day reviewing the screen, reading the text, and redoing the replay, it was impossible to fully experience and feel what my playable character had felt and experienced in the final moments.

In "Plmago," you could assign characters to go on missions, but even if you played in first-person perspective, you could never fully understand what your character was experiencing or feeling.

But now, I could understand what Yeom Jun-yeol had endured at the end in Plmago.

Had I inhaled the rampage-inducing agent in the air? Every time I breathed, it felt like heat was spreading throughout my entire body.

Flare!

The uncontrollable special power surged out of my body, transforming into flames.

The back of my hand, visible beyond the crow mask, was covered in scales and flames.

The sensation of blood boiling, skin burning, and transforming was excruciating, and I could feel my special power trying to break free from my control. It was painful to focus my mental energy to keep it in check.

My veins and my mind seemed to burn together.

And everything burned turned to ash, swirling around my body, assaulting my senses, and corrupting my reason.

Yet, my mind was filled with cold fury.

‘The shadowy figure made Yeom Jun-yeol experience this, and Yeom Jun-yeol endured it.’

No, Yeom Jun-yeol must have gone through something worse than me.

He had endured the rampage-inducing agent three times, but I could only estimate that I had been injected with a single dose.

The anger within me was cold, and I couldn’t quell the heat of the rampage.

I tried to calm the rampage by embracing various thoughts and emotions one by one.

But nothing worked.

After completing the experiment, I decided to use my last resort.

‘The only way to overcome this is to think about something “shining.”’

‘Shining’ was a rather abstract term, but it was intuitive and easy to understand.

If you asked someone in a painful and confusing moment to think about something shining, they would quickly imagine something.

It could be the moment they shone the brightest, the warm light of family, a dazzling memory, or the stars that gave courage even as faint light across a screen.

Just as the spiritual world I had seen in the past, shaped by the mysterious “Compositional Heart,” was filled with stars, there was so much shining within me.

The rampage, which had driven my mind and body into the darkness, eventually began to subside.

‘I still have more to test.’

Right now, my methods were somewhat off-course.

The one who should have arrived was nowhere to be seen, and the evil darkness had spread unexpectedly far.

Even so, I decided to do what I had to do.

I decided to mimic Yeom Jun-yeol’s actions during the Dream Auction.

“You tried to make me rampage, but this is all you’ve got?”

No matter how polite and dignified Yeom Jun-yeol was, he wouldn’t be kind to the assassins who cornered his friends and targeted him.

And when the moment came to fight, Yeom Jun-yeol would fight with everything he had.

I spoke provocatively.

“Try again.”

The shadowy figure would try to make Yeom Jun-yeol rampage again.

The real rampage of Yeom Jun-yeol would fail.

So, they would try to make me rampage once more.

Flare!

As expected, there was a response from the special power around me.

The rampage-inducing agent was released once more.

Unlike last time when it was directly injected, it seemed they had improved the method, as I was aware and cautious and inhaled it in a vaporized form, though it still had an effect.

‘This area was examined last time, but I couldn’t find it. Either it was undetectable by ordinary abilities or it was recently installed.’

Responding to the provocation, the enemy used an item, and I immediately traced the flow of special powers, finding a dispersal nozzle installed on the ground.

This was something I could never have done while rampaging or just overcoming the rampage.

I raised my finger to point out the dispersal nozzle to the enemies, but I didn’t burn or destroy it with Yeom Jun-yeol’s flame techniques.

Lastly, I had something else I wanted to test.

The rampaging energy spread across my body once again.