Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 317: (Side Story). The Dying Earth. Lee Taeyeon (1)
"This is proving to be quite the challenge."
Lee Taeyeon muttered to herself in frustration after meeting the sorcerer.
The reward for conquering the labyrinth was a wish. She had been contemplating what to ask for. She wondered if she should wish for all those who had died to be brought back to life or to turn back time and prevent the invasion of the monsters.
However, it seemed that she couldn’t fulfill her wish without having truly conquered the labyrinth. Taeyeon grumbled.
"Has anyone managed to get a wish with conditions like that?"
[No one has. Wishes are not meant to be that easily granted.]
"It wasn’t exactly easy getting here..."
[The criteria are relative. What the sorcerer seeks is beyond that.]
"Fine, whatever."
Taeyeon shook her head, causing her hair to sway gently.
"I can go back to Earth. That's all I need."
Finally, she could leave this accursed place.
She smiled in satisfaction.
"Open the way."
[Understood.]
A hum resonated as the space opened.
A familiar scent drifted through from the other side. She took a deep breath.
Earth.
Her gaze turned misty as she looked through the portal.
"Finally..."
In an excited voice, she glanced at Balbabamba.
"You were always loud and annoying, but after all this time, I guess I did get attached. Goodbye."
[Farewell. I suppose I enjoyed it as well. I’ve never encountered an adventurer quite like you, delving into the labyrinth.]
"I appreciate everything."
[Think nothing of it.]
The voice spoke quietly.
[I enjoyed our time together. It was fulfilling.]
"Since it's the last time, let me ask once more—who exactly are you?"
She already knew it was an otherworldly entity, though she had never fully sensed its power. Despite spending countless days beside it, she could never grasp its true nature.
The voice chuckled.
[You'll know when the time comes.]
"Soon?"
Though the answer was cryptic, the voice kept its identity a mystery until the very end, leaving Taeyeon to purse her lips in disappointment.
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"You're so stingy."
The voice chuckled softly.
[Then let me leave you with a parting gift.]
Before her, a light formed. It materialized into a single sphere.
[You have obtained an orb that holds something within.]
"What is this?"
[You'll understand when the time is right.]
"Hmm... Thank you."
Even her discerning eyes couldn’t make out the orb’s properties. Since it was given to her directly, it was unlikely to be without value. Taeyeon accepted it with gratitude.
"Then this is goodbye. I don’t plan on returning here."
She had no desire to return to the hellish labyrinth.
Yet the voice simply laughed quietly.
[Very well. Goodbye, then.]
"Yes."
With a resolute nod, Taeyeon stepped forward.
She moved through the space beyond.
Earth.
How much would it have advanced? There were plenty of engineers, so at least they would be managing electricity. Considering her improved physical abilities after conquering the labyrinth, perhaps they might even have constructed skyscrapers.
How happy and colorful their lives must be now.
And what kind of life awaited her?
With a hopeful heart, she crossed the threshold.
Earth came into view.
Her pupils trembled.
"What...?"
What lay before her was a scene of half-destroyed buildings—a world shrouded in ash.
"...Was I summoned to some desolate wasteland?"
Her voice quivered.
Yes, that must be it. The number of survivors must have been low. The entire land couldn’t have been restored after the monster invasion.
This place was simply one of those desolate regions.
She wanted to believe that.
But the cruel world revealed the truth to her.
"Ah..."
Up in the sky.
A massive rift, as if devouring the sun itself.
‘Why...?’
Taeyeon's gaze shook. They had closed that rift. They had won.
She was sure of it.
But then, what was this?
Something had gone horribly wrong.
Nausea crept up her throat.
---
“Gasp.”
She managed to exhale, feeling the cold sweat trickling down her cheek, making her more aware of the icy air.
“Oh, a new returnee?”
Footsteps approached, and a familiar face appeared.
“Long time no see? Who... oh? Taeyeon?”
“...Youngjeong.”
Youngjeong. A hard-mode player. She knew him.
Taeyeon managed to look at him.
Untrimmed beard, disheveled hair, dry skin.
He looked... like a survivor of a dying Earth.
Youngjeong’s eyes lit up with joy at the sight of her, and he called out loudly.
“Hey! Everyone, come see who’s back!”
At his shout, murmurs spread, and people began to gather.
“Who’s here?”
“Wait, Taeyeon?”
“Whoa, really?”
The gathered crowd’s eyes sparkled as they started murmuring excitedly.
“Wow! Taeyeon cleared the solo mode and made it back! And so quickly!”
“This should ease things up for us!”
Taeyeon scanned them blankly.
Unkempt hair. Dirty skin.
They all looked just like Youngjeong.
Her chapped lips moved slightly.
"...Why do you all look like this?"
“Oh.”
Youngjeong’s face stiffened.
It was only then that everyone else realized what Taeyeon had returned for.
Youngjeong scratched his head.
"Uh... Taeyeon. Just stay calm and listen."
“Ha-ha-ha, I get it. This is a prank, right?”
Youngjeong tried to explain slowly, but Taeyeon’s face lit up with a broad smile.
She raised her arm.
"Right? This is strange. We won, so why does Earth look like this? You’re all trying to surprise me, right?"
"No."
Youngjeong shook his head gloomily.
"We thought the same and returned to Earth. But what greeted us was a broken world. Taeyeon, we were deceived by the monsters."
"Don’t lie!"
Taeyeon shouted, voice trembling.
"That can’t be! We won! We triumphed! We overcame!"
Her eyes held only denial.
"We did win! We survived that hellish time, conquered that wretched labyrinth, and made it here! This isn’t right! This can’t be happening!"
Her cries were like the tantrum of a toddler, devoid of reason or logic.
But no one could refute her. Youngjeong spoke somberly.
"That’s just how it is, Taeyeon."
"H-ha-ha..."
A faint laugh escaped her lips.
And then, it stopped.
"You’re all fake, aren’t you?"
"What?"
"The final test. Is that what this is? A trial like this? Fine, I’ll overcome it."
Taeyeon drew her sword. The people flinched.
“Oh, damn. Anyone going to stop her?”
“Who would dare?”
Silence fell.
Anyone with hard-mode experience could restrain her. These were all hard-mode players—they could easily subdue her.
But Taeyeon was a solo-mode player.
Only one person could restrain her.
“Is Taesan here?”
“Yeah. He returned a few hours ago. I’ll fetch him right away.”
The man dashed off, leaving others clicking their tongues. It was clear he didn’t want to be the one to face Taeyeon.
"Uh, Taeyeon? Can we calm down a bit?"
Don’t make me laugh.
She smiled grimly.
They were all fakes.
Earth couldn’t possibly look like this.
This was just another trial created by the labyrinth.
And trials were meant to be overcome.
A menacing aura began to radiate from her. The half-ruined buildings creaked and groaned, and the people’s faces turned pale.
"Wait! What’s going on!"
“Oh no, we’re not buying much time, are we?”
Taeyeon gripped her sword tightly.
In that moment, a voice laced with exhaustion called out.
"Back already?"
"Ah."
Her pupils dilated. The bloodthirsty aura receded, and the people around her let out sighs of relief.
“Phew. Thought I was dead.”
“Taesan, she’s all yours.”
"So this is why you called me so urgently? Fair enough."
A sharp, disinterested gaze.
With a face etched in fatigue, he looked at her.
"Long time no see."
"Taesan."
"Sorry, but this is Earth. It’s what it’s become."
"...Don’t joke around."
It couldn’t be.
It shouldn’t be.
She still held onto her sword tightly.
"You’re fake too. A fake crafted by the labyrinth...."
In a dazed mutter, Taesan sighed.
"Right. So you’re not going to listen to words, huh?"
[Taesan activates temporary time stop. Time halts within 100 meters of him for two minutes.]
Time froze.
In the frozen world, Taesan moved toward Taeyeon alone.
"Take a breather."
He drew his sword.
[Taesan activates Multiply.]
[Taesan activates Addition.]
[Taesan activates designated skill reset.]
[Taesan activates Multiply.]
[Taesan’s non-lethal attack.]
[Dealt 92,236,816 damage to Taeyeon.]
---
Taeyeon lay staring blankly at the ceiling.
It was an old, decrepit structure with cracks in the roof that let in glimpses of the sky—a building unfit to serve as a home.
But it was the sturdiest building around.
“Feeling calmer?”
“...Somewhat.”
Taesan sat across from her, leaning back in a rickety chair as he looked at her.
He spoke.
“How does it feel?”
“Filthy.”
Taeyeon replied quietly, and Taesan nodded.
“I understand. I felt the same. It was sickening, and I wanted to destroy everything.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
In a somber tone, Taesan began to recount events.
Hearing about the weighty experiences, Taeyeon closed her eyes tightly.
They hadn’t won.
They had clung to an impossible hope within a false victory.
When they returned to Earth, countless people had died in a massacre by monsters.
It was a time of utter carnage. The first ones to return were mostly easy-mode players. They were utterly defenseless against the monsters and were all slaughtered.
It wasn’t until the hard-mode players returned that the survivors were able to unite and carve out a sliver of territory for themselves.
But from that point on, despair became the norm.
From that point on, despair became the norm. They would fend off attacking monsters, but many would die in the process. New returnees would replace the fallen, their numbers thinning over time.
Surviving on a mountain of corpses, they were slowly fading away.
After listening to his explanation, Taeyeon asked quietly:
"...Shouldn't hard-mode players be able to handle the monsters?"
“At first, yes. But things changed. Monsters far stronger than before started appearing. Some of them can’t be defeated even with dozens of fighters.”
Taesan spoke calmly.
“We were deceived. By them.”
“...Is Choi Joonsang still alive?”
Choi Joonsang. An easy-mode player who was a skilled technician. He once said he’d return to Earth to work on building lights and even claimed he’d become a modern-day Edison.
“He returned before me, so I don’t know. But if he’s nowhere to be seen, he’s probably dead.”
“What about Park Jiyoung?”
A normal-mode player, she was an excellent cook and often spoke of showcasing her culinary skills back on Earth.
“She died two days before I returned.”
“...Yoon Se-an?”
A hard-mode player and a law scholar, he believed in the importance of reestablishing law for the rebuilding of civilization.
He had even created a legal code while conquering the labyrinth and completed it just before his clear. Everyone promised to follow his laws once back on Earth.
Taesan replied:
“He died about a year ago.”
Taeyeon closed her eyes tightly.
One by one, she kept asking about people she knew, names she remembered.
And most of them received the same answer: they had died.
“That’s our situation now.”
Taesan rubbed his weary eyes.
“As for other countries, we don’t really know. We haven’t had the luxury. But if we’re like this, they can’t be faring much better.”
The world was crumbling in the truest sense.
Even the labyrinth, once a place of refuge, was no longer an option. Taeyeon stared blankly at the ground.
“That’s why we need you.”
“...Me?”
“Yes. We need you to be our leader.”
Taeyeon looked up abruptly.
“I-I’m not suited to be a leader...”
“No.”
Taesan shook his head.
“It has to be you. I can’t do it.”
Taesan was undoubtedly powerful.
As one of the strongest easy-mode players, under the right conditions, he could even defeat Taeyeon.
“But I can’t protect everyone. I’m like a gun that needs repair after every shot. In a situation like this, only someone with pure strength, like you, should lead.”
Taesan spoke quietly.
“I don’t know exactly how strong you’ve become, but if you’ve cleared solo mode, you must be far stronger than when we last met.”
The last time they’d met was during the final return quest for Earth—a distant past now.
Even then, Taeyeon had been incredibly strong. After such a long time and with the solo mode cleared, she must have grown immensely more powerful.
“I...”
Taeyeon’s voice trembled.
To become a leader.
To shoulder the responsibility for people’s lives.
It felt impossible. She could barely protect herself, let alone take on the weight of others' lives. Her mind couldn’t bear such a burden.
But Taesan’s next words halted her rejection.
“I know. I can see how much this troubles you and that you’ve always resisted it. But we don’t have the luxury to spare, Taeyeon.”
Taesan forced a bitter smile.
His expression left her speechless.
Despite being an easy-mode player, he was always dignified, never afraid even in dire situations, always finding ways to overcome.
But now, Taesan’s face was utterly worn out.
That look made it impossible for Taeyeon to refuse.
“I’m not asking you to decide right now. Take some time to clear your head first.”
“...Are you sure we have that luxury?”
Their world was on the brink of ruin. There was no way they could afford to have someone of Taeyeon’s strength idling around.
“You must be feeling stifled too, but I don’t want to be harsh on you. The monsters, for whatever reason... are giving us a bit of a reprieve. The ones we’re dealing with now, people like me and the others can handle them.”
With that, Taesan left the room. The door creaked as it closed.
Left alone, she stared blankly at the closed door.
She did nothing but stare at the sky through the cracks in the ceiling.
It all felt surreal.
A whole day passed before she snapped out of her daze.
She gazed at the rift beyond the ceiling.
‘That...’
She hadn’t been able to sense it before, but now, after descending through the labyrinth and gaining her current strength, she could recognize it.
The energy seeping from the rift was beyond her understanding—a power on the level of the labyrinth’s gods, at the very least.
She couldn’t win.
If she fought, she would inevitably face death.
“Ah, ah...”
Her body began to tremble.
Earth was not a safe place.
The monsters still roamed, and she would have to fight for her life.
“Ugh...”
Her teeth chattered. Her entire body shook, and her mind felt hazy.
Death.
It was staring her down.
Just as she was about to fall into a panic, the door opened.
"Um..."
A young girl stepped in cautiously. Taeyeon snapped to attention, staring at the girl in surprise.
“Kim Minji...?”
“Oh, you remember me!”
Kim Minji. A normal-mode player with a bright personality who had been on friendly terms with her.
Minji smiled brightly.
“I’m surprised! I always believed you’d come back to Earth someday, but I thought it would take much longer!”
“...Yeah.”
Taeyeon had thought the same. But her desire to complete the clear had sped up her pace.
If only she had known, she might have stayed a little longer.
Minji clenched her fists with a look of determination.
"Now that you’re here, we can finally expand our territory! We can fight back the monsters and start living like before!"
Her words were filled with hope and energy.
With a trembling voice, Taeyeon asked:
“...How about your brother?”
Minji had an older brother. Though they often bickered, they cared for each other deeply.
Minji scratched her head with a sad smile.
“He... died a month ago.”
“...How?”
“He died protecting me. Silly, really. I would’ve survived on my own.”
She mumbled softly. Her eyes showed grief, but also a deep resignation.
Taeyeon realized then: these people didn’t even have the luxury to mourn.
“...My brother saved my life. I can’t waste it. And now, with you here, Taeyeon...”
Her eyes were filled with hope as she looked at Taeyeon.
“The Taeyeon who cleared solo mode must be much stronger than before, right?”
Within that hopeful gaze, there was also a hint of desperation.
“Please, Taeyeon. Protect us.”
Fear of death, anxiety over the monsters.
This young girl, Kim Minji, was placing her future in Taeyeon’s hands.
Taeyeon felt her breath catch.
“Should I just run away?”
After Minji left, Taeyeon whispered to herself in the empty room.
Although she couldn’t escape a godlike entity, such beings rarely descended to Earth. She could likely hide on her own if she really tried.
She was confident in her skills. She had managed to evade the self-proclaimed guides, fellow adventurers in the labyrinth, and even the NPCs. No one could find her if she truly wanted to hide.
“Heh... haha...”
A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
It was a pointless fantasy. The voices of hundreds of people beyond the cramped room echoed in her ears.
“Taeyeon is here...”
“We won’t have to die for nothing anymore...”
“We can survive...”
In those voices, she heard their yearning and hope for her. Their reliance on her.
Even though she didn’t want to, her enhanced senses could pick up every ounce of emotion in their voices.
Her lips felt dry.
Run away? Abandon their hope? Ignore their cries as they died, cursing her name? Turn her back on the despair they would feel, knowing she had left?
She couldn’t.
She could not become such a heartless person.
Every possible route was blocked.
“Ugh.”
She felt bile rise. She barely managed to hold it back.
Her head felt dizzy.
Despite the years of training her mind in the labyrinth, she felt as though she might shatter if anyone so much as touched her.
Or perhaps her mind had never been trained at all. She had merely been holding onto the remnants of her worn-out spirit, a fragile thread away from breaking entirely.
Her hand fumbled around. She needed something to hold on to, anything, or she felt she would lose her sanity completely.
She grabbed hold of something small.
It was a dull, dark stone. From the outside, it seemed like an ordinary rock, but within it lay the power to turn back time.
“...The Ouroboros Keystone.”
An item from the labyrinth that allowed her to turn back time, just once.
At first, she’d been overjoyed, thinking she could return to the past, but that hope soon faded.
The stone could only turn time back to just before the invasion began. She had confirmed it with Balbabamba and the transcendent who had been watching over her—there was no avoiding the labyrinth.
“Is this... what it meant?”
The voice had asked her once if she sought death. Taeyeon had said no.
Then it asked if she wanted to conquer the labyrinth again.
She had refused that too.
To this day, she hadn’t found her answer.
'But...'
She couldn’t abandon those who were counting on her.
Steeling herself, Taeyeon stood up and stepped outside. The people waiting outside looked at her with surprise.
“Taeyeon?”
“...In two hours, monsters will arrive.”
Her quiet words left everyone in shock. She continued.
“There will be twenty-five of them. Twenty-three can be handled by hard-mode players, but the remaining two are different. Taesan and I will need to fight them.”
“What? We can’t detect anything yet.”
“They’re still out of range. Start preparing.”
“Oh. Right!”
“Taeyeon!”
Kim Minji looked up at her with a bright, hopeful smile.
Taeyeon tried to ignore the hope in those eyes and raised her sword.
'For now, let’s survive.'
And help others survive.
And when the final moment came, when every escape had been blocked...
What would she choose?
Even she didn’t know.
