Prologue
The Tree of Desire
There is a story in this world that no one knows.
A story that existed even before humanity was born.
Kings do not know it.
Emperors do not know it.
Even the beings once called gods have forgotten it.
It is a story about desire.
A very long time ago.
Back when even the concept of time was still vague.
At the center of the universe stood a single enormous tree.
It rose higher than the heavens.
It was wider than a continent.
And it had lived longer than the stars.
People called it by one name.
The Tree of Desire.
Seven fruits grew upon the tree.
Only seven.
No more.
No less.
Each fruit had a different color.
Each one held a different kind of light.
Because not all desires took the same form.
Every desire had its own color.
The black Fruit of Pride.
The color of an absolute ruler that devoured even light.
The red Fruit of Wrath.
The color of blood that could burn the world.
The golden Fruit of Greed.
The color of gold that sought to possess everything.
The silver Fruit of Sloth.
A silent color capable of bringing all time to a halt.
The blue Fruit of Gluttony.
The color of an abyss filled with endless hunger.
The magenta Fruit of Lust.
The color of temptation capable of enchanting even the soul.
And the green Fruit of Envy.
The color of jealousy that desired what belonged to others.
The gods coveted them.
The demons longed for them.
The dragons tried to claim them.
Humans worshiped them.
Because those fruits were the source of every desire in the world.
Pride.
Envy.
Wrath.
Sloth.
Greed.
Gluttony.
Lust.
Some called them sins.
Some called them humanity.
Others called them power.
But the tree knew the truth.
Desire was not a sin.
Desire was the force that moved humanity forward.
Without desire, humans would never have created fire.
Without desire, there would have been no cities.
Without desire, there would have been no love.
But at the same time...
Desire was also a poison that could destroy humanity.
And so, the tree waited.
For thousands of years.
Tens of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
It waited for someone worthy.
Someone who could eat the fruits without collapsing.
Someone who could possess desire...
Without becoming a slave to it.
But no such human ever appeared.
Kings desired power.
Nobles desired wealth.
Saints desired eternal life.
Heroes desired honor.
In the end, every one of them failed.
Then, one day...
The Tree of Desire came to a realization.
The problem had never been the fruits.
The problem was the people who had been chosen.
And so, the tree made a decision.
This time...
It would choose someone from the very bottom.
Not a hero.
Not a genius.
Not a noble.
Someone more miserable than anyone else.
Someone powerless.
Someone who carried more desires than anyone.
A person who possessed nothing...
And therefore had no choice but to desire everything.
At last...
A boy was chosen.
His name was Kim Do-yoon.
Eighteen years old.
An outcast.
Poor.
A failure.
No one remembered him.
No one expected anything from him.
No one loved him.
But the Tree of Desire knew.
The most dangerous person in the world...
Was not someone who had been strong from the beginning.
It was someone who possessed nothing.
Because people like that...
Could desire everything.
That day...
A gate connecting reality to another world opened.
And from the seven fruits...
The first fruit fell.
Pride.
The world did not yet know.
That a single boy...
Would one day become someone capable of shaking two worlds.
And no one knew...
That this was not merely a story of success.
It was a record of one man's journey...
Toward the very end of human desire.
Chapter 1. The Day the Air Split Open
The rooftop railing was colder than he had expected.
Kim Do-yoon felt the chill beneath his palms as he stared down for a long time.
There was no one on the school field.
Classes had ended quite a while ago.
Only a few classroom lights remained on, and the hallways visible through the windows were empty.
The school was noisy during the day.
Yet once everyone left, it felt strangely unfamiliar.
Almost as if this were not the same place he attended every day.
Do-yoon slowly let out a breath.
"All I want is... one quiet day."
His voice was small.
The wind carried it away almost immediately.
Do-yoon was ugly.
He had first heard those words in elementary school.
Back then, he thought they were joking.
The other kids laughed.
Do-yoon forced himself to laugh with them.
Because he thought it would look even stranger if he did not.
When he entered middle school, the joke became his name.
By high school, that name had become his status.
The ugly guy.
The idiot who couldn't even study.
The guy who looked like he smelled bad.
The unlucky bastard no one wanted to talk to.
That was Kim Do-yoon.
There was always graffiti on his desk.
His bag would end up in the trash.
His gym clothes disappeared, only to be found soaking wet on the bathroom floor.
The teachers knew.
There was no way they didn't.
But no one ever asked him what was really happening.
"Your friends were just messing around, right?"
Messing around.
Do-yoon hated those words more than anything.
It was only a joke to the person doing the hitting.
Yet the world always believed the person throwing the punches first.
Today had been no different.
During lunch, some classmates had deliberately knocked over Do-yoon's lunch tray.
Rice and soup spilled across the floor.
Someone laughed.
Someone raised a phone.
And someone said,
"Hey, the pig dropped his food."
Do-yoon was not even fat.
He barely ate enough.
There was never any money at home.
His father had disappeared several years ago, and his mother worked at a restaurant every night.
Many evenings, Do-yoon survived on convenience-store meals that were about to be thrown away.
Even then, his body somehow felt sluggish.
His face always looked rough and tired.
His eyes lacked energy.
Whenever he looked in the mirror, he hated what he saw.
More accurately...
It felt as though the way the world looked at him had somehow stuck to his face.
Do-yoon moved the tips of his shoes slightly past the railing.
The wind fluttered his school uniform pants.
He was not afraid.
That was what felt strange.
It was not that he wanted to die.
But he had no reason to want to live, either.
He existed somewhere between the two.
Nowhere.
A place where no one ever came looking for him.
Then...
A sound came from behind him.
Creeeak.
The rooftop door opened.
Do-yoon slowly turned his head.
Park Tae-seong stood in the doorway.
His classmate.
Tall.
Decent-looking.
Athletic.
Well-liked by the teachers.
And the person who had tormented Do-yoon longer than anyone else.
The moment Tae-seong saw him, he smiled.
"Hey. What are you doing?"
Do-yoon said nothing.
Tae-seong slowly walked toward him.
In his hand was Do-yoon's worn-out school bag.
"Looking for this?"
He shook the bag.
Its zipper was open, and a workbook and pencil case were sticking out.
Do-yoon silently stared at it.
Tae-seong stopped near the railing.
"Are you seriously going to jump?"
Do-yoon bit his lip.
"Mind your own business."
"Wow. Listen to that voice. You're acting pretty tough today."
Tae-seong laughed and tossed the bag onto the rooftop floor.
Thud.
For some reason, the sound seemed unusually loud.
"Guys like you are always the same. You can't do anything, but you love making dramatic faces."
"Stop."
"Stop what? What did I even do?"
Tae-seong stepped closer.
Do-yoon could not back away.
There was nothing behind him but empty air.
"You know what's really funny about you? You're bad at studying, you're ugly, and your family's poor. So why are you even alive?"
Those words pierced his chest.
Why are you alive?
Do-yoon wanted to know that too.
Why was he alive?
Why did he open his eyes every morning?
Why did he put on his school uniform and come here?
Why did he keep walking toward a place where no one waited for him?
Do-yoon tightened his grip.
The railing creaked.
For a moment, Tae-seong's expression stiffened.
"Hey, I was joking. Don't do something stupid."
A joke.
Again.
Always a joke.
Do-yoon laughed.
It had been a very long time since he had truly laughed.
Even the sound felt unfamiliar to him.
"If it was a joke..."
Do-yoon spoke.
"Then I guess it'd still be a joke if I fell."
The smile vanished from Tae-seong's face.
"Hey, Kim Do-yoon."
That was when it happened.
Behind Do-yoon...
The empty air, where there should have been nothing...
Split apart.
At first, it looked like light.
A thin white line appeared in midair.
It was as if someone had taken a blade and sliced through invisible glass.
Crack.
A sound rang out.
Neither Do-yoon nor Tae-seong could move.
The white line slowly widened.
Inside it...
Was darkness.
Darker than night.
And yet wind blew from within that darkness.
It smelled different from the rooftop air.
Earth.
Blood.
Wet wood.
And an incredibly faint fragrance of flowers.
Do-yoon stopped breathing.
Tae-seong backed away.
"W-what the hell is that?"
The crack widened until it was large enough for a person to enter.
Beyond it, an unfamiliar forest was visible.
The sky was red.
The trees were black.
Somewhere far away, a beast howled.
Do-yoon thought he had finally lost his mind.
That his brain had finally broken.
But Tae-seong was seeing it too.
At least that much was certain.
"Hey, what did you do?"
Tae-seong's voice trembled.
Do-yoon could not answer.
Then a voice came from beyond the gate.
Low.
Ancient.
And strangely close.
"The seventh candidate has arrived."
Do-yoon felt as though his heart had stopped.
Candidate?
Candidate for what?
Tae-seong screamed and stumbled backward.
"I-I don't know anything! Hey, Kim Do-yoon! You did this, didn't you? What the hell is this?!"
Then he shoved Do-yoon.
It happened in an instant.
