The Visitor
Five years.
Within that world of darkness...
Five entire years had passed.
Yet outside...
Only five months had gone by.
The chains still bound Jinsu's body.
But they were no longer what they once had been.
At first...
They existed to keep him from escaping.
Now...
They had become a part of his prison.
Kaizen stood before him in silence.
His crimson eyes had been fixed on Jinsu for several minutes.
Something bothered him.
He had changed.
Not in appearance.
But in something else.
Something Kaizen could not understand.
Kaizen raised his hand.
In the next instant...
Dozens of black chains burst forth from the darkness.
They pierced Jinsu's shoulders.
Then his arms.
Then his chest.
But...
Not a sound escaped him.
He did not scream.
He did not tremble.
Even his expression remained unchanged.
Silence.
“Can you no longer feel pain?”
Jinsu did not answer.
Kaizen slowly approached him.
“At first...”
“You begged.”
“Then you began to hate me.”
“And then you began to hate yourself.”
He leaned forward until he was directly in front of Jinsu's face.
“But now...”
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“You no longer resemble a human.”
Jinsu slowly raised his head.
His empty eyes met Kaizen's.
“Are you finished?”
Silence.
For a single moment...
Kaizen felt something strange.
As though he were no longer looking at the same person he had met four years ago.
He stepped closer.
“Tell me, Jinsu...”
“What is it that has kept you alive all this time?”
Jinsu remained silent.
“You know?”
Kaizen moved closer.
“I've tried everything.”
He raised one finger.
“Pain.”
Then a second.
“Fear.”
Then a third.
“Loneliness.”
Then he smiled.
“I even made you experience your own death thousands of times.”
Silence.
“And yet, I still don't understand.”
He stopped directly before him.
“Why haven't you broken?”
Jinsu slowly lifted his head.
His movements were disturbingly calm.
“I don't know.”
For the first time...
Kaizen's smile vanished.
Because it was not a defiant answer.
It was an honest one.
“You don't know?”
Jinsu shook his head.
“I stopped trying to understand myself a long time ago.”
Silence.
Then suddenly...
Darkness swallowed the surroundings.
In a single instant...
Jinsu found himself standing in the middle of a vast field.
He slowly raised his head.
And his eyes widened.
He saw them all.
Yuna.
Kenji.
Levi.
Thalen.
Every one of them.
They stood before him.
But something was wrong.
Their eyes were cold.
Yuna stepped forward first.
Then she spoke in a low voice.
“We waited for you.”
Jinsu felt his heart stop.
Then Kenji continued.
“But we grew tired.”
Levi spoke next.
“You're far too slow.”
As for Thalen...
He wore a sorrowful smile.
“It has been a long time, Jinsu.”
Jinsu slightly raised his shackled hand.
“You...”
Kaizen smiled as he stood behind them.
“Do you know what the cruelest thing about time is?”
Jinsu did not answer.
“It waits for no one.”
He gestured toward them.
“While you spend years in here...”
“The world out there continues to move forward.”
Yuna took another step.
“What if we forgot you?”
Kenji continued.
“What if you became nothing more than a memory?”
Levi spoke softly.
“What if you return one day...”
“And no one is left waiting for you?”
Silence.
Jinsu's body began to tremble.
Because those words...
Were far more terrifying than any torture.
Kaizen smiled.
“Tell me, Jinsu...”
“After ten years...”
“Will you still matter to them?”
Jinsu lowered his head.
And said nothing.
Then...
A tear fell.
Kaizen's eyes widened.
For the first time in years...
Jinsu cried.
Kaizen laughed loudly.
“So, you've finally begun to cry?”
Jinsu wasn't looking at him.
He was staring into the distance.
“Can you hear it?”
Kaizen's laughter faded as he frowned.
“…Hear what?”
Jinsu slowly closed his eyes.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“The music.”
Silence.
“It's beautiful.”
Kaizen did not answer.
Because...
He couldn't hear anything.
Another tear ran down Jinsu's cheek.
“I thought...”
He paused for a moment.
“I thought I had forgotten its sound.”
For the first time in years, his voice trembled.
“But I still remember.”
Kaizen watched him in silence.
And for reasons he could not explain...
He felt unsettled.
“There is no music.”
Jinsu gave him a faint smile.
“Then...”
“I suppose it wasn't meant for you.”
Silence.
The melody continued for several more seconds.
And then...
It disappeared.
Jinsu slowly opened his eyes.
That empty gaze returned to his face.
“…It's over.”
Tears once again streamed down his cheeks as he lowered his head.
Kaizen said nothing.
He simply continued to stare at him.
Because...
For the first time in a very long time...
He did not understand what had just happened.
---
That night...
The headquarters of Gaya was unusually quiet.
An unnatural silence hung in the air.
Tsukiro sat in his office, reviewing dozens of reports.
The Sixth Village.
The Seventh Village.
Then the Eighth.
And every report bore the same name.
Yami no Enma.
Tsukiro sighed and closed the report.
“What is it that you're trying to achieve, Kaizen...?”
Suddenly—
Every light went out.
Darkness consumed the room.
Tsukiro slowly raised his head.
He sensed no spiritual pressure.
No presence.
And yet...
For some inexplicable reason...
His heart began to race.
Then he heard it.
A footstep.
Then another.
Step...
Step...
The sound stopped directly behind him.
Silence.
“It has been a long time...”
Tsukiro's hand froze.
He recognized that voice.
Very slowly...
He turned around.
His eyes widened.
A young man stood before him.
Black hair.
Black clothes.
And crimson eyes gleaming in the darkness.
It was a face he knew well.
Jinsu's face.
But...
The person standing before him was not Jinsu.
Kaizen smiled calmly.
“I see you're still alive...”
“…Solar's grandson.”
Silence.
As for Tsukiro...
He could not hide his shock.
“How...?”
“How did you get in here?”
Kaizen's smile widened.
“Is that truly the first question that came to your mind?”
Tsukiro slowly rose to his feet.
“Thalen should have sensed your presence.”
“Everyone should have sensed you.”
Kaizen took a single step forward.
“And ruin the surprise?”
For the first time in years...
Tsukiro felt a chill run down his spine.
Because he realized one thing.
If Kaizen had reached this place...
Without anyone noticing...
Then it meant—
The entire world had underestimated him.
Kaizen turned his gaze toward the window behind Tsukiro.
“Your world hasn't changed.”
“And I find that disappointing.”
Tsukiro closed his eyes for a moment.
“What do you want?”
Silence.
Then...
Kaizen smiled.
A smile devoid of any trace of humanity.
“I came...”
“To tell you that the war has begun.”