“T-treasure?”
Eden, who had been sprawled out on the floor, let out a hollow laugh.
He pushed himself upright and elegantly brushed the dust from his robe. It was a composure that made it hard to believe he was the same person who had just been knocked over in humiliation by Elian moments before.
“A brake, and after-sales service….”
Eden’s purple eyes narrowed. These were not words of this world. Terms like “after-sales service” were vocabulary that could not be found anywhere in the Empire — they belonged only to that place.
“How interesting.”
Eden took a step toward Elian.
“Where are you from, Lord? Could it be… Seoul?”
“!”
Elian’s shoulders stiffened. It was the name of his hometown — a name he hadn’t heard even once since transmigrating. And of all people, it had to come from the mouth of “Eden,” the final boss of this very novel. Long ash-gray hair, purple eyes, runic tattoos coiling across his entire body. This was Eden exactly as Elian had imagined from reading the original — there was no mistaking him.
Wait — Eden was a transmigrator too?
Eden, catching the way Elian’s eyes wavered, smiled with satisfaction.
“Ah, so it was you. The little rat that crept into my story.”
As Eden reached out his hand, Calix on the bed gritted his teeth and shattered his restraints. His dazed mind seemed to be returning, his strength coming back with it. Without hesitation, he stepped in front of Elian.
“Don’t touch him.”
His body was battered beyond recognition, but his gaze was burning bright and alive. Eden clicked his tongue at the sight.
“My, how terribly moving… such camaraderie.”
Eden decided not to force things. The variable — that foreign element — still hadn’t been fully assessed for what abilities it possessed. On top of that, the physical attack it had just demonstrated was a force that ignored his own magical defenses entirely.
Unlike ordinary people, Eden always kept a defensive barrier of magic around his body. And yet a body-slam that brushed right past it. This was certainly no ordinary being.
“I’ll take my leave for today. It’s just a little… laughable, watching my character get treated like someone’s treasure.”
At the door, there stood Emperor Mikhail — arriving unnoticed at some point, seemingly having sprinted over reflexively at the sound of shattering glass. But he soon turned mechanically at Eden’s signal. Just before leaving, Eden directed a pointed remark at Elian.
“Look forward to it. The price for ruining my story will be… quite steep.”
Bang.
The two disappeared beyond the closed door.
Silence settled over the room. Elian had come flying in at a breakneck speed on that sled and saved Calix. Now that the rush of adrenaline had drained away, a brutal wave of reality came crashing down on him.
I’m done for…. What have I just done?
The Emperor had witnessed him smashing through a window and barging in. This was the Grand Duke’s castle, and on top of that, the Emperor’s party was staying here. Under imperial law, breaking and entering combined with lèse-majesté — he had no grounds to complain even if he were executed on the spot.
“Elian.”
Calix’s low voice came from behind him. Elian turned his head with a stiff, robotic creak. Calix’s crimson eyes were fixed steadily on him.
“Did you really… come here for me?”
His eyes were wavering. There had clearly been a misunderstanding when he left. Elian had seemed angry at him for not explaining properly. And yet he had come all the way to this dangerous place, riding some unknown sled, smashing through a window. For the sole purpose of saving him.
“Through all that danger, for me….”
The atmosphere was thick with emotion. But Elian turned red and yelled.
“Well of course I came! Do you have any idea how much money is on the line?!”
“…Money?”
“I told you, didn’t I?! Your Highness is my gold mine! I’m the one with the mining rights, and I’m the one responsible for maintenance! So when someone starts damaging my gold mine, how could I not lose my mind?!”
Elian put on the act of a thoroughly money-crazed materialist. It felt less embarrassing that way. But Calix let out a quiet, amused laugh.
“Is that so. I don’t recall hearing any such thing…. More importantly, the word that came out of your mouth was ‘treasure.’ Isn’t that usually a word reserved for someone you hold dear?”
“Th-that was—!”
Ah, he’s not letting it go.
Right. He’d said it before he even realized. Elian’s mouth snapped shut.
But it’s true, he is a treasure. He’s that precious to me. That much.
Seeing his expression, Calix reached out and smoothed Elian’s disheveled hair.
“It doesn’t matter to me. Whether you see me as a treasure or as a source of funds.”
His cold fingers grazed Elian’s cheek.
“What matters is that you came.”
“….”
Elian fell silent. He’d been grumbling, but he knew the truth. Even if the sled had cost a million points instead of ten thousand, he would have come. Because he couldn’t leave those lonely eyes alone.
“Treatment first. Just look at the state of you.”
Elian pulled a potion from the System and began to clean the wounds across Calix’s upper body. Where the potion touched, the ugly markings vanished as though they had never existed. Elian kept his brow knitted tight, but his hands were gentle and focused as he worked. Calix, receiving that care, made up his mind.
He would never let go. From here on, no matter what.
***
At that same hour, in the tallest tower of Drachenberg.
“Ha, hahaha….”
Eden looked down through the window and drank his wine. It was not a pleasant laugh.
He picked up the worn stack of manuscripts sitting on his desk. The original novel of this world — the rough draft of The North’s Winter Never Ends.
“How much must they have loved my novel to follow it all the way here? But unfortunately….”
Eden’s gaze turned cold and still.
“Even if they’re my reader, I don’t forgive ‘setting collapse.'”
The existence called Elian was a foreign element. The protagonist Calix was meant to be thoroughly isolated, suffering, and descending into madness. That was the only way the ending in which he claimed Calix for himself would be complete. And yet Elian had introduced Calix to warmth. Had let him taste happiness.
“I’ll have to erase it.”
Eden raised his hand holding the quill and drew a long horizontal line across the air. As though striking a red line of deletion through a flawed sentence on a manuscript page — it was the power of a creator, attempting to erase the typo named Elian from this world. But —
[Zzzt―.]
Nothing happened. If anything, a recoiling force shot back at Eden’s fingertips, as though they were being burned.
“…What?”
Eden’s expression twisted. This is my world. A world I created — so why can’t I delete that foreign element?
Then a thought flashed through his mind. What if this world, rather than remaining a simple piece of writing, had become a fully realized world? And what if that world, in order to protect itself, had summoned an antibody from outside?
“Ha. The world is rejecting me? My own writing?”
Eden snapped the quill and laughed. It was a laugh laced with madness.
“Fine. So it’s under this world’s protection, is it? If I can’t touch it directly, I’ll just use my toy to break it instead.”
Eden picked up the quill again and began to write something in the air. Purple Mana bled outward like ink.
[Chapter 22. The Room of the Discarded Manuscript]
It was a bad ending scenario he had discarded when writing the novel — deemed too brutal even then.
“Calix loses his mind to Mana overload and tears apart the person he loves most with his own hands.”
Eden curled his lips into a twisted smile.
“Show me then, foreign element. Whether your abilities hold up in front of a monster gone completely mad.”
***
Shortly after, that evening.
A corridor leading to the annex of Drachenberg.
“His Majesty the Emperor wants to dine together — that’s unexpected.”
Elian looked over the invitation with suspicious eyes. It was an invitation issued in Emperor Mikhail’s name. The contents stated a desire to clear up misunderstandings, and an offer to share a meal in the greenhouse of the annex.
“This smells like a trap.”
“You don’t have to go. We can send word even now.”
Calix said firmly.
“It’s Eden’s scheme. Mikhail is nothing but a puppet — there’s nothing worth seeing there. I won’t take you somewhere dangerous.”
Calix was trying to protect Elian. His resolve not to place him in harm’s way was clear. But Elian shook his head and tucked the invitation into his pocket.
“Even if we decline, they won’t leave us alone. We can’t keep avoiding this forever.”
“Elian.”
“And I need to see him again. You have to know your enemy to beat them. I have to see for myself what he’s scheming, how he’s set the board — that’s the only way to find a counter.”
Elian’s gaze was firm. The System was sending warnings, but he had no intention of backing down. To sever this exhausting, wretched chain of fate, he had to face that arrogant Tower Master and read his intentions directly.
“Don’t worry. I’m sturdier than I look. And besides — with Your Highness by my side, what is there to be afraid of?”
Elian put on a show of easy confidence and smiled. Calix studied his face for a moment, then let out a long breath and nodded.
“…Alright. But don’t stray even a single step from my side.”
“Of course. Let’s get a free meal out of it and feel things out while we’re at it.”
Elian stepped forward with a bold stride. But the System window floating before his eyes was blazing red in urgent warning.
[Warning: A powerful Narrative Distortion Field has been detected ahead!]
[Warning: This is a scenario imbued with the creator’s malice. Forced settings may be imposed upon entry.]
[Recommendation: Flee immediately.]
Flee, it says.
Elian bit his lip. The System was giving a clear warning. Cross that threshold and it becomes Eden’s domain. A danger lurked there that even his own abilities might not be able to handle. But Elian did not stop.
If I run, Calix will spend the rest of his life as that mad sorcerer’s doll.
It seemed the System had summoned him to protect this world. But the reason Elian was moving had nothing to do with anything as grand as world peace.
It was simply the desire for this wretched, unfortunate man to stop shivering in the cold. And the sheer stubborn spite of wanting to land a blow on that arrogant sorcerer he’d been wanting to pummel ever since reading the original novel.
You have to enter the tiger’s den to catch the tiger.
Elian dismissed the warning window to the side.
“Let’s go, Your Highness. Trust me.”
The moment the two stepped inside the greenhouse of the annex —
Thud.
A heavy sound from behind. When they turned, the door they had entered through was gone, replaced by a solid wall.
“Ah, how unsubtle.”
Elian clicked his tongue. At the same moment, the view through the windows changed. The peaceful afternoon sunlight vanished, and only a blinding white blizzard lashed at the glass.
[Zzzt― Ah, ah. Microphone test.]
Eden’s voice rang out from the air like a public announcement.
[Welcome, you two. This is a space I hold in particular fondness.]
“Eden! What are you playing at!”
Calix shouted, and his voice echoed back. A strange, resonant reverberation with no end in sight.
[You see, the genre of this novel was originally grimdark. But recently it seems to have degraded into a romantic comedy — so I’m here to restore some discipline.]
“What? Discipline?”
Elian scowled. At that moment, the System window crackled and began to resist.
[Defense Mechanism Activated: Rejecting externally forced settings.]
[System shield activating… zzzt… Failed!]
[Notice: The Narrative Pressure in this zone is too powerful!]
The author’s absolute authority — something even the System could not block. Elian broke into a cold sweat. His own body was protected to some degree by the System, but Calix, as a character of this world, was not.
[Ah― Announcing a genre change. From this point forward, the genre of this story is thriller. I look forward to the performance of a murderous madman and his victim. Heh, heheheheh.]
With Eden’s snickering laughter, a red light began to strobe rapidly through the corridor as though the stage lights had been thrown on.
“Ugh…!”
Then, Calix standing beside him staggered and dropped to one knee.
“Your Highness?”
Elian reached out to steady him. But Calix shoved that hand away roughly.
“Don’t… come near….”
Calix kept his head bowed, breathing in ragged gasps. A dark crimson aura was rising from his body. The stage directions Eden had written were seizing Calix’s mind.
[Calix felt a murderous urge toward the being before him. The beast that had lost its reason decided to tear apart the prey in front of it. With every last ounce of strength it possessed.]
Eden’s voice came through like a narration.
“Kgh….”
Calix raised his head. His crimson eyes had gone clouded and unfocused. He seemed not to recognize Elian at all.
“Die….”
The word that fell from Calix’s lips was not his own will. It was a line forcibly inserted by the author. But its power was absolute.
Shing.
Calix drew the sword at his hip. The razor-edged blade leveled at Elian’s throat.
“Your Highness! Snap out of it! It’s me — Elian!”
Elian cried out, but Calix did not hear him. Trapped in an enclosed space where even the System couldn’t reach, he was left alone with the Empire’s most powerful Sword Master — gone completely mad. Calix kicked off the ground and lunged.
“Aaaaahh!”
Elian’s scream filled the corridor as red light flashed all around. The worst scenario the author had ever written was beginning.
