"Phew, is that the last of today's trash?"
After tossing all the burnable junk into the incinerator, I sank beneath the tree and stared up at the sky.
It wasn't the familiar blue sky we always looked at—it was walled in by what looked like a thin, translucent barrier.
"...Hah."
I wondered if the world outside was still okay.
My thoughts drifted to my daughter—or rather, my daughters—whom I hadn't seen in so long.
I worried whether the kids were safe and sound.
"Ah, Captain. Good work burning the trash."
"Thanks, Mei."
I drank the water Mei handed me and rose to my feet.
The place we stood now was the main estate.
Or, more precisely, it looked exactly like the main estate we knew—but wasn't.
"What on earth is this space?" I muttered.
Everything looked identical to our home, yet none of the others were here—only Aunt and me, and those who witnessed it up close.
We were the only ones who existed in this place.
"...No signs of it breaking, either."
The most bizarre thing was this barrier.
It stretched only over the estate, but not even a Super Saiyan God could shatter it.
Aunt, who matched me in power and had unleashed her full strength, hadn't left so much as a crack.
A simple veil that could withstand two god-tier forces.
Even when the rest joined forces, there wasn't a hint of a fracture.
At first, we were thrown off guard—but we snapped back to reality quickly.
Somehow, if we were trapped here, we'd have more than one worry on our hands.
The first thing we checked was our food supply.
Mom and Dad must have stocked up on rice for our get-togethers—plenty for a few months.
They also had a hobby garden for veggies, so with some expansion we'd be fine.
The problem was protein, so I moved the meat from the fridge into the freezer as fast as I could.
In an emergency, you freeze what you can to preserve it.
We divvied up tasks and spent two weeks living here.
"It's ironic."
"...What is?"
"This is an emergency, and yet our bodies and minds have never rested better."
I cracked a wry smile, popped the cap off my water bottle, and took a sip.
Mei was right.
Mental worry about the kids came first—but once life here settled into a routine, my body felt more at ease than ever.
Especially Aunt—she looked as relaxed as I'd ever seen her.
All her life she'd been buried under work; this break must have felt like pure honey to her.
When I asked if it was okay for the Thousand Bishops to keep running things without her, she chuckled and said,
"I'm not indispensable to the point that a thousand people stop working when I'm gone. They're calming the chaos and finding a way to get us out of here."
Her words and that confident smile showed how much she believed in her team—so I couldn't help but admire her.
Thinking it through, she was right.
The elite who'd withstood the Collapse outside weren't the kind to panic—they would dive straight into the investigation.
She'd been the quickest to restore order—age and experience don't lie.
(She'd probably blow up if she knew I was thinking like this.)
"I'm heading to prepare dinner."
"I'll help."
"No, it's fine. You've got your own work to do, right?"
"When it's ready, call me."
I watched Mei walk back to the house and sighed deeply.
What Mei meant by "my work" was the note I'd found when we'd first arrived.
*
The moment my energy beam and Aunt's [Divine Buster] collided, a dimensional rift split the barrier—if only for a moment.
By the time we realized it, the crack had engulfed us, and when we came to our senses, something had changed.
"What is this?"
"Something's off."
Below us, the landscape looked the same as before—but Aunt and I both felt it.
This wasn't the world we knew.
"Hold it—stop!"
And then Bronya, Kiana, Mei, Jere, and Bianca swooped in.
"You two, pause your spar. Something's wrong."
"We felt it too, Kiana. What is this phenomenon?"
Aunt looked up at the sky.
A thin, unknown membrane wrapped around the heavens.
We flew closer to inspect it firsthand.
To the naked eye it looked paper-thin—like it would tear at a touch—but it felt rock-solid against our hands.
"Huh?"
It didn't look sturdy, yet it wouldn't crack no matter how much force we applied.
Maybe sensing my confusion, everyone pressed their hands against it, pushing with all their might.
They shifted into their ultimate forms and struck it, yet the barrier remained unscathed—and they panted like they'd just run a marathon.
"This is serious. It's clearly sealed us off from the outside."
"As Big Bro says. But the problem is, it might not just be a simple cut-off."
"If time flows differently here, we're in real trouble."
"...I worry about Bronya."
"So do I, Miss Bronya. And Serenette, too."
Realizing that no power—including [Herrscher of Sentience]—could break us out left Bronya and Bianca glum.
I shared their concern.
Maybe it was because, unlike the others, we three were parents.
I worried even more about my child than myself.
Mom and Dad were together so they'd be fine—but what if the kids freaked out and cried when we suddenly vanished?
I punched the barrier again, harder, but it stayed flawless.
"Calm down. Getting angry won't fix this."
"Aunt."
"I used [Raging Heart] to scan it. It's only over your estate grounds."
"Only over the estate?"
"Right. Let's head inside. We need to gather and figure this out."
"Understood."
"Okay, everyone. I know you're shaken, but panicking won't solve anything."
Aunt clapped her hands several times to focus our attention, then we flew back to the main house.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—we saw no one, not even an animal, along the way.
Even my aura scan showed no life signs besides us.
That meant we were the only living beings here.
Arriving at the house, there was still no sign of anyone else.
Except for one thing.
"Captain, look over there. A note I didn't see before is on the desk."
"That thing...?"
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Jere pointed it out—it definitely hadn't been there before we left.
Jere picked it up and handed it to me. When I unfolded it, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Jere, curious, peered at it too and cocked her head.
"What kind of characters are these?"
I understood her question.
Because of the Thousand Bishops, the world now uses a universal script—these symbols were one we couldn't read.
Actually, it was the script I used in my past life. In the Republic of Korea of my previous life, they called it
[If you can't □□ everyone, you can't leave this dimension.]
Hangul.
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Today is the last day of 2023.
Days like this make you reflect on the past year.
Why haven't I managed to run away yet?
So, everyone, this is the final wager of 2023.
If we exceed the target number of recommendations and comments set by the author, or receive a sponsorship, tomorrow I'll definitely do a continuous update.
Let's settle this once and for all, dear readers.
Let me make it clear who the ultimate winner at the end of this year is!