Ha Joon sat.
Alone.
The uncomfortable silence pressed in from all sides.
Not empty.
Not peaceful.
Just there.
Breathing.
Too loud.
Too uneven.
Each inhale scraped his throat.
Each exhale felt wrong.
Like his body was doing it wrong.
Like he'd forgotten how.
No footsteps.
No voice.
No movement.
Just—
Air moving in.
Air moving out.
And the sound of his own heartbeat.
Too loud.
Pounding in his ears.
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
---
Nothing.
Just darkness.
He reached for it.
The mana.
The crystal sitting in front of him, glowing faintly, pulsing with energy he couldn't touch.
Nothing.
Again.
*Why can't I feel it?*
The thought came unbidden.
He pushed it away.
*Focus.*
*Focus.*
*Focus—*
Eun Byol's scream echoed in his mind.
Sharp.
Raw.
He flinched.
*Stop.*
*Don't think about her.*
*Focus on your own problems.*
His jaw clenched.
His breathing quickened.
*Focus.*
But the scream wouldn't leave.
It looped.
Played again.
And again.
*Why did she scream like that?*
*What did she feel?*
*What am I supposed to feel?*
---
His back bent.
He straightened it.
It bent again.
Like his spine didn't believe in him anymore.
Like his body knew something his mind refused to accept.
He forced it straight.
Shoulders back.
Head balanced.
But the weight was unbearable.
His muscles twitched.
Small spasms in his shoulders.
In his thighs.
In his hands.
He tried to relax.
Couldn't.
His fingers curled.
Uncurled.
Curled again.
Without his permission.
---
A second passed.
Or maybe ten.
Or maybe—
No.
Too long.
Way too long.
Time felt wrong.
Stretched.
Distorted.
He didn't know how long he'd been sitting.
Minutes?
Hours?
The room gave no answers.
Just silence.
Just stillness.
Just him and the crystal and the impossible task.
---
*The Rot.*
His mother's face surfaced.
Pale skin.
Black veins spreading across her arms.
Her chest.
Her neck.
Everything but her face.
Pitch black.
Like death crawling through her.
Slow.
Inevitable.
She'd smiled at him.
Even then.
Even dying.
She'd smiled.
*"You'll be okay."*
Her voice.
Soft.
Weak.
Lying.
He hadn't been okay.
He wasn't okay.
He was sitting in a dungeon trying to sense something that didn't exist for him.
Trying to become something he wasn't.
Trying to survive in a world that didn't want him.
---
His breathing faltered.
Too fast now.
Too shallow.
He tried to slow it.
Couldn't.
His chest tightened.
His hands trembled.
*Focus.*
*Just focus.*
But on what?
The mana?
He couldn't feel it.
The darkness?
It gave him nothing.
The silence?
It was crushing him.
---
Something—
There.
He felt—
No.
Nothing.
Again.
He reached harder.
Pushed his mind toward the crystal.
Imagined pulling the energy in.
Imagined it flowing through him.
Into his stomach.
Into his core.
*Come on.*
*Please.*
Nothing.
Just emptiness.
Just failure.
---
*Is this worth it?*
The thought came cold.
Clear.
*Is this all going somewhere?*
*Or will I forever remain a failure?*
His jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached.
*No.*
*Stop.*
*Don't think like that.*
But the thought wouldn't leave.
It sat there.
Heavy.
Real.
*What if I can't do this?*
*What if I'm not enough?*
*What if Ash was wrong?*
---
Ash.
The thought of him.
A child sitting in his father's chair.
Dark eyes.
Endless.
*"I see greatness in you."*
Those words.
That voice.
That impossible certainty.
Ash had seen something.
Something Ha Joon couldn't see.
Something buried.
Something—
Pain.
Sudden.
Sharp.
Violent.
It exploded through his body like lightning, tearing through his chest, his stomach, his spine, burning everything in its path.
Ha Joon gasped.
His eyes shot open.
His body convulsed.
He fell.
Hit the floor.
Hard.
His limbs jerked.
Twitched.
Like a dead fish out of water.
His mouth opened.
No sound came out.
Just ragged gasping.
The pain didn't stop.
It grew.
Spread.
Consumed.
---
The door opened.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Chi-Long walked in.
She looked down at him.
At his body twitching on the floor.
At his eyes wide and unseeing.
At the foam gathering at the corner of his mouth.
She smiled.
Faint.
Almost imperceptible.
But there.
"Good."
Her voice was quiet.
Calm.
Satisfied.
She knelt beside him.
Placed one hand on his chest.
The convulsions slowed.
Then stopped.
Ha Joon lay there.
Gasping.
Shaking.
Alive.
Chi-Long stood.
Looked down at him one last time.
"You felt it."
She turned.
Walked toward the door.
Paused.
"Rest. Tomorrow, you absorb."
The door closed.
And Ha Joon lay on the cold stone floor.
Breathing.
Broken.
But different now.
He'd felt it.
The mana.
For just a moment.
Just a second.
But he'd felt it.
And that changed everything.