Episode 4 – The Jumper
In the heart of the highest tower in the Republic’s Central Zone, built into a floating fortress that hovered over clouds like a steel god, a man sat in silence.
The room was enormous. Dark. Walls of tempered obsidian reflected the faint light from the floating blue panels in the air. Pillars taller than trees lined the chamber. It felt less like an office and more like the throne room of a sleeping king.
And in the center of this room, beneath a single, quiet beam of white light, sat a man.
His name was Yoo Seung-jin (유승진). But the world called him something else.
The Jumper.
No one knew why he had chosen that name. Some said it was because he could leap through dimensions. Others believed he had once jumped from the very top of the Odin Tower and survived. But all agreed on one thing.
He was the first.
The first to conquer the Odin Tower. The first to return alive. The first to awaken an S-rank talent before the world even knew such power could exist.
Yoo Seung-jin sat without moving. His eyes were closed, his breath so calm it was hard to tell if he was even awake. But his mind was not quiet. Inside, storms were brewing.
Beyond the thick walls of the floating fortress, the world was changing faster than anyone could keep up. Mana storms rolled across continents. Monster migration patterns shifted. Entire cities vanished into dungeons that bloomed from beneath their foundations.
And people awakened. More and more every day.
The doors at the far end of the hall slid open with a soft hiss.
Click. Click. Click.
Footsteps echoed as someone entered the vast room. The sound was sharp, controlled, like the ticking of a perfect clock.
A woman stepped into the light. She wore a suit, dark gray and sharp as a knife. Her glasses reflected the glow from the system panel floating in front of her.
Her name was Seo Ye-rin (서예린).
She was more than a secretary. She was his right hand, his voice, and the shield that blocked the world from him.
She bowed slightly.
"Jumper," she said softly, "eighty percent of the population has awakened."
Yoo Seung-jin did not open his eyes.
His voice came out low and smooth.
"How long until everyone is awakened?"
Seo Ye-rin tapped her floating panel.
"At the current rate, five years. Maybe less. The final twenty percent are mostly children or those in mana-isolated zones. But global spread is consistent."
He nodded slowly.
"So it won’t be long."
Ye-rin hesitated.
"Does it make any difference?" she asked. "Will there be something different when the last ones wake up?"
At last, the Jumper opened his eyes.
They were not the eyes of a man.
They were openings to a different world. Cold, silver, gleaming pale as stars in still water. They were not afraid. Only knowledge.
"Yes," he replied.
He rose slowly.
When he arose, the lights in the room reacted. The columns were softly illuminated. The air shook. The very floating fortress itself sighed.
He whispered, "As all the people wake up, something will come."
He crossed to the end of the room, where the glass walls showed the sky.
Way down below, clouds moved like sluggish waves over the blue ocean of the skies. The sunrays of gold pierced through the fog. It was quiet. His heart knew not of that peace.
"There will be a door opened," he said.
Ye-rin remained quiet. She had heard him talk in this way. She did not interrupt.
He went on to say, "The system we use is not ours. It was put here. A test. A preparation. We believe we are getting stronger. But we are just waking up."
He turned to her again.
"Instruct the WN Agency to be ready to carry out full synchronization trials. I would like to have Tier-Zeroth simulations on every continental network."
She nodded. "Yes, sir."
"And touch the Watchers. The actual ones."
Her eyes flickered. She had heard that name, but seldom.
"Understood."
Yoo Seung-jin shut his eyes.
"Five years," he answered.
"That is when the game is really on."
The lightning was playing in a far sky. The wind was howling, as though it were listening.
The Jumper was motionless.
Waiting.