Samael spent the entire month trapped in a silent, repetitive routine: studying during the day, watching movies during breaks, and training at night with Layla.
Meanwhile, the rumors spread.They grew.They twisted.
And little by little, they turned him into a social pariah.
Then, at last, the day arrived.
The winter solstice.
The moment when he would be cast into some random corner of the Dream Realm.
Samael didn't know exactly where this event fell within the timeline of the story. He didn't know whether it was before or after certain crucial milestones of the novel. That uncertainty gnawed at him from the inside.
He closed his eyes.
"Please… don't throw me into the Forgotten Shore…" he murmured."Please, Weaver… I never insulted you when I was alive…""Tch… damn Aspect…"
If Sunny and Nephis were still trapped on the Forgotten Shore, he might have a chance to survive. But if he was sent there after they had already left, it would be certain death.No support.No route.No chance.
After several long minutes of mental preparation, Samael went to rejoin his class—for the first time in an entire month.
He felt it immediately.
The air changed.
Wherever he passed, people moved away. The looks thrown his way were filled with disdain, morbid curiosity, and revulsion. Whispers sprouted everywhere—low, venomous, constant.
He didn't need to hear them to understand.
The bullying was there.Alive.Organized.Silent.
Samael walked as if crossing a social minefield. Every step felt heavy. Every stare was an invisible blade.
Then, a voice broke through the atmosphere.
"Samael… it's been a while," Leon said, approaching politely. "I was worried about you."
"Please… don't talk to me," Samael replied softly. He didn't like Leon, and he made no effort to hide it.
"Hm… for some reason, I feel like you don't like me," Leon commented.
"I don't," Samael answered, too quietly to be heard.
"What?" Leon asked.
"Nothing," Samael replied at once.
Someone get this guy away from me, Samael begged internally.
"Silence," Professor Rock said.
His presence alone was enough to quiet the students.
"I hope as many of you as possible survive," he added indifferently.
Then he turned.
"Follow me. We're going to the capsules where your bodies will remain."
They walked for about ten minutes before reaching their destination. Throughout the entire walk, Leon continued trying to strike up conversation with Samael.
"What do you want with me? Leave me alone, for God's sake," Samael snapped, finally losing his patience.
"Nothing serious," Leon replied calmly. "I just find you interesting."
He smiled.
"Or maybe I'm interested in your feminine form. Believe whatever you like."
Samael froze.
An electric chill ran through his bones, followed by violent nausea. His stomach churned at those words.
If it weren't for his Aspect indicating that Leon was lying, he would've probably thrown up right there.
At last, they arrived at the capsule chamber.
The capsules were beautiful. Immaculate. And absurdly expensive.
But they weren't what caught the students' attention.
What drew their eyes were the many motionless bodies scattered throughout the room—still, empty-eyed.
Hollow… Samael thought.
The Legacy Awakened barely spared them a glance. They had seen this before.
Samael didn't linger on them either. In the novel, that detail had already been explained.
Still, the sensation was unsettling.
He walked down the corridor, moving slowly between the capsules, searching for an empty one. His steps were automatic, his mind still tangled in anxiety over what would come next.
Then something made him stop dead.
A sudden wave of joy surged through his chest—so intense that, for a brief moment, he almost forgot where he was.
There.
He had found them.
The person he had followed for over two thousand chapters.
He had found Sunny—or rather, Sunny's body—resting inside one of the capsules.
In that instant, reality finally settled.
He truly was here.Inside the work he loved so deeply.Inside the story that had made him suffer, despair, and feel countless emotions… to the point that, at some moment, he had even forgotten how much he loved it.
Samael stepped closer, observing the sleeping boy.
"He really is short…" he murmured softly, almost reverently.
His gaze swept across the room.
Nephis and Cassie should be around here somewhere…
Just as he was about to start looking for them, a voice interrupted him.
"Do you know him?" Leon asked, curiously eyeing Sunny's capsule.
"No," Samael replied in his usual low tone.
Leon made a face.
"You treat me so badly…"
"That's your imagination," Samael answered, not convincingly at all.
Inside, however, he wasn't fully present anymore.
His mind was still fixed on that capsule.
On that body.
On the silent protagonist who would soon step into the Dream Realm once again.
And for the first time since everything began, Samael felt absolutely certain of one thing:
He was no longer just a reader.
He was part of the story.
Samael continued walking among the capsules, his gaze sharp, searching for two names he had carried in his memory for a long time.
Nephis.Cassie.
It didn't take long to find them.
When his eyes landed on the two nearby capsules, he had to admit it, even silently: they were beautiful. Even motionless, there was something about them that stood out—presence, perhaps. Or simply the weight they carried in the story.
His mood was surprisingly light.
He had found people he had never imagined seeing with his own eyes. Characters who, until recently, had existed only as words.
Unfortunately, he couldn't linger.
Samael stopped before the capsules and lowered his head slightly.
"Goodbye…" he murmured softly. "Take care. And please… make the right choices…"
There was affection in his voice.
Even though he had never spoken to them, it felt like reuniting with dear acquaintances after a long separation.
Then he stepped away and chose a capsule farther from the others.
What followed was almost comical.
Samael tried every possible way to get rid of Leon, who stubbornly insisted on choosing a capsule next to his. Samael moved—Leon followed. He chose another—Leon appeared moments later.
In the end, exhausted, Samael gave up.
He let Leon take the capsule beside his.
"Good luck, Samael," Leon said as he settled in.
"To you as well," Samael replied. "May you share the same fate as Zeus in God of War."
Leon frowned.
"What's that?"
"Nothing," Samael said.
"I feel like you're insulting me…"
"That's your imagination," Samael replied again.
Finally, he lay down inside the capsule, closed his eyes, and relaxed his body.
The Dream Realm pulled him in.
Once more, he found himself in that black, empty space—the same one he had been in when he lost consciousness before.
Absolute silence.
Then, as before, he searched for the light.
And, as he expected, it was there.
As he approached, the scene formed before him: immense stands, the distant roar of a crowd—like an ancient coliseum, cruel and glorious.
At the center stood a man.
Bloodied.
Motionless.
When the man turned to face him, Samael felt the world freeze.
He finally saw the face.
"Me…?" he murmured, shocked.
It was him.
But it wasn't.
That other Samael had empty, dead eyes, and radiated a bloodlust so dense it seemed to warp the space around him.
Before he could react, the scene shattered.
Darkness tore apart.
Samael awoke.
When he opened his eyes, a vast, breathtaking, star-filled sky stretched out before him.
The Dream Realm had welcomed him.