The vast Deep Realm contained many unexplored territories. Among them was the Garden of Subjugation, where strange plant-like creatures sprouted from the cracked and discolored sandstone terrain. The ruler of this land, known as Vulcasus, presided over its bizarre flora. [You have passed Vulcasus’ Trial.] [You have been awarded a random artifact as a reward.] [You have obtained the Prophet’s Demise.] After a grueling battle lasting a hundred days, the sword orbiting the man vanished as he disabled his unique skill, Sword—Veligia. He examined his reward: the Prophet’s Demise. It resembled the pocket watches from the Rosas Continent, where he had once lived. However, it had no numbers to indicate time; the watch was hollow. The artifact’s description soon appeared before him. [The Prophet’s Demise reveals your future within three years.] [When used, it will display either an angel or a demon. An angel indicates you will survive for three years, while a demon means the opposite.] The man’s expression remained indifferent as he reviewed the artifact’s details. While others might find such a tool valuable, it was meaningless to him. After all, few in the Deep Realm could pose a threat to his life. [The Prophet has unveiled your fate.] The watch’s background shifted, revealing an angel spreading its wings and smiling brightly. The man nodded as if this outcome was expected and prepared to store the watch. But just as he was about to put it away, a demon replaced the angel. [You will face death within three years.] The man’s brow furrowed. Death? That was impossible. [Status Window (Purple)] Physical Resistance: 101 Magic Resistance: 115 Registered Skills: Sword–Veligia, Time Slip, Phantom Step, Scales of Balance, Cloak of Morian, Light of Spacetime, Soul Eater. His Status Window glowed in a deep purple hue, signifying his formidable prowess, with mastery exceeding ninety-five percent. The skills he had registered were all Hidden Pieces, unique abilities exclusive to Imfelheim. “How?” he muttered. There was no reason for him to die. Imfelheim pondered sitting atop Vulcasus’ corpse. Eventually, he deduced two possibilities: first was him letting his guard down during a high-difficulty trial, and the other was losing in a battle against the Demon King. Kiriel propped his chin on one hand, tapping the table with his fingers. His gaze was fixed on a calendar hanging from a food stall’s pillar. From time to time, he yawned and kept picking up and putting down his Hangul workbook. Byeol, chewing on some chicken feet, found Kiriel’s behavior amusing and blinked at him curiously. This caught Kiriel’s eye and prompted him to gently pull her cheeks as she continued eating. “How do those idiots learn Korean so quickly?” Kiriel muttered, thinking of his students back in the Deep Realm. “Teehee! That tickles!” Byeol giggled. “Tell me, Byeol. The great Kiriel took two months to learn consonants and vowels, yet those guys mastered them in just a week.” “Hahaha!” Byeol burst out laughing even harder after swallowing her chicken feet. Finding her laughter adorable, Kiriel kept tugging her cheeks. Suddenly, Byeol stopped laughing, and her face became serious. “Stop it,” she demanded. “Heh. Cute,” Kiriel ignored her demand and squished her cheeks again. Despite her protests, Kiriel didn’t stop. Tears began to well up in Byeol’s eyes as she struggled to eat the chicken feet in front of her. Finally, upon realizing the situation, Kiriel quickly let go. However, Byeol’s tears showed no signs of stopping. “I-I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I’ll make more chicken feet for you.” At those words, Byeol instantly stopped crying. “Weally?” Kiriel quickly fetched more chicken feet from the freezer and started cooking them in a frying pan. Byeol watched eagerly, occasionally stabbing at the already-served chicken feet with her fork. Watching this, Hakase clicked his tongue in disapproval while cleaning the table. After finishing the cooking, Kiriel returned to his seat and blankly stared at the calendar again. He soon started shaking his leg nervously. Tired of Kiriel’s constant fidgeting, Hakase, who had been watching him with increasing irritation, finally punched him in the back of the head. “You dumbass!” Hakase shouted. The two scuffled briefly before disappearing with a pop. Moments later, Hakase reappeared, calmly wiping the table with a damp cloth. Byeol blinked. “Where’s Kirieh?” “He went to take an ice bath.” “Okie.” Byeol nodded, continuing to eat her chicken feet. She was familiar with ice baths, remembering last night’s visit to the jjimjilbang with Yoon-Hee, Yong-Yong, and Karsiel, where they enjoyed baked eggs and sipped warm milk in the icy room. Yoon-Hee and Karsiel arrived at the entrance of a C-rank Fissure called the Slumbering Place of the Snowman, located in Dongja-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. On weekends, Yoon-Hee occasionally hunted in Fissures to improve her skills as an aspiring Hunter, and Karsiel always accompanied her on these outings. After she inserted her Hunter Academy ID into the scanner and completed the verification process, a staff member from the Hunter’s Bureau granted them access to the Fissure. “Everything checks out. You’re good to go.” The staffer, momentarily distracted by Yoon-Hee’s striking appearance, noticed the small creature trailing behind her and asked, “What’s this?” “Oh, I’m a Tamer,” Yoon-Hee replied. The tiny dragon, marked with the number “9” on its forehead, caught the staffer’s attention. Of course, she never imagined it was an actual dragon; instead, she assumed it to be some unfamiliar monster and let them through. The snow-covered mountains stretched out before them. As Yoon-Hee made her way deeper into the Fissure, defeating snowman monsters made entirely of ice and snow, she suddenly stopped, startled. Encased in ice was a man she knew well. “S-Siel, what should we do?” she asked. Murmuring in Dragon Tongue, Karsiel summoned crimson flames in her hands that shot toward the frozen man, instantly melting the ice. “Gah!” Kiriel collapsed to the ground. “Are you okay? What happened?” Yoon-Hee rushed to help him up. To her knowledge, Kiriel was a formidable force in the Deep Realm. Someone like him shouldn’t have ended up frozen in a C-rank Fissure. Who could have done this to him? Kiriel scratched his head and muttered, “I’m fine.” “Who did this to you?” “That... that doesn’t matter. I just fell into a cowardly trap, that’s all.” The moment Kiriel teleported to this location, he was immediately hit by a blizzard. Hakase had clearly spent a long time setting up his trap, as layers of concentrated blizzards had been triggered from all directions, ensnaring Kiriel. “Anyway, I’ve got something troubling me...” Kiriel said with a serious expression. Yoon-Hee and Karsiel exchanged glances. A few days later, Hakase was washing dishes while considering whether it was time to thaw out Kiriel. Just then, Kiriel casually entered the food stall and sat down as if nothing had happened. How the heck did this guy get out of the ice? Hakase thought but decided not to bother asking. “Heh. Lizard, tomorrow’s the day,” Kiriel said. Following Kiriel’s gaze, Hakase looked at the calendar. November 27, 28, and 29th were circled. It was none other than Kiriel’s vacation. Humming, Kiriel pulled a book from his bag, Easy Lessons in Four-Character Idioms for Children. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel⸺fire.net “What’s that?” Hakase asked. “These are idioms. As an instructor of Hangul in the Deep Realm, it’s my duty to enlighten the ignorant. Look at all these challenging words.” “Hangul is difficult, but I’ve progressed so much that I now understand idioms. Truly, I’m overwilled with pride.” Hakase sighed. “It’s ‘overwelled,’ not overwilled.” Kiriel let out a screech, “That’s what I said! Overwelled!” Hakase smirked and resumed washing the dishes. It seemed Kiriel had completely forgotten about what happened a few days ago. Hakase was worried that Kiriel might quit the food stall out of spite, but now felt relieved. “So, how’d you escape the ice?” he asked. Kiriel recounted the story. After being hit by the blizzard and frozen solid, Yoon-Hee and Karsiel appeared and melted the ice. Following that, they gave him a counseling session. When Kiriel expressed his desire to teach Hangul more effectively to the residents of the Deep Realm but didn’t know how, Yoon-Hee suggested teaching idioms. She even spent three days teaching him idioms. “I’m off to report my vacation to the king of Earth,” Kiriel said. Meanwhile, Do-Jun sat in the pavilion. For the past ten minutes, Yong-Yong had been debating which ice cream to pick. He kept opening and closing the freezer door, making Do-Jun chuckle. Although Yong-Yong claimed to be over eight thousand years old, to Do-Jun, he seemed no different from a five-year-old. “My King, I’ve come to report,” Kiriel announced as he suddenly teleported in front of Do-Jun. Do-Jun already knew what “report” meant. Kiriel was planning a trip to the Deep Realm, and Do-Jun was fully aware of the purpose behind it. Their eyes met. Kiriel often felt as if he were standing naked before Do-Jun’s gaze. It was impossible to lie or hide anything from him. “And,” Do-Jun added, pointing at the book Kiriel was holding, Easy Lessons in Four-Character Idioms for Children, “It’s ‘overwhelmed.’” Kiriel flinched. A moment later, muttering, “overwhelmed, overwhelmed...” he tore a page from the Book of Transfer. The Plains of Despair. Normally, this place was bustling with Hunters fighting headless knights. But today, Imfelheim noticed there wasn’t a single resident in sight. What could have happened during the hundred days spent enduring Vulcasus’ trial? Imfelheim picked up a piece of paper lying on the ground. Strange letters were scrawled across it. “ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ...” “Tch.” Imfelheim clicked his tongue and was about to burn the paper when The Prophet’s Demise reacted. [You will not face death within three years.] The message transformed into an image of an angel. Imfelheim looked at the artifact silently. What was this? He suspected the secret might be hidden within this paper. He dropped it to the ground. The message on The Prophet’s Demise shifted to the demon, and when he picked it up again, it reverted to the angel. Imfelheim narrowed his eyes. The paper seemed unremarkable, but it undoubtedly possessed extraordinary power. With a lighter heart, Imfelheim set off once again to explore the unexplored territories.