Kyle stared at the screen with an expression filled with astonishment.
And honestly, anyone in his place would have reacted the same way.
The world before him no longer looked like something created inside a game.
It felt unreal.
As if a forgotten dream had suddenly come to life.
A warm golden light spread across the endless lands of Asteria, covering the world in a soft amber glow.
The rivers shimmered quietly beneath the sunlight like flowing gold, while the vast grasslands moved gently with the wind in slow, almost hypnotic waves.
At the center of the world stood Yggdrasil.
Its enormous form towered over everything, its glowing branches stretching across the heavens like something ancient and divine.
Golden particles drifted silently through the air around it, making the entire world feel calm… yet strangely mysterious.
There was no noise.
No chaos.
Only a strange warmth and silence that made the world feel almost sacred.
For a brief moment, Kyle forgot he was even breathing.
"I didn't know even an empty world could be this beautiful..."
At this point, Kyle had almost forgotten all the suspicions and unease surrounding the strange events.
The moment this world appeared before his eyes, a sudden thought surfaced in his mind.
How beautiful would it have been if he could live in a world like this together with her—
A sudden notification was what finally broke Kyle out of his trance.
"*Cough*... What the hell was I even thinking?"
Kyle let out a small self-deprecating laugh.
"She already left you, man..."
With a tired sigh, he brushed those thoughts aside and shifted his attention toward the new notification that had appeared on the screen.
< The Golden Fish has absorbed enough energy from the birth of the true World Tree and is attempting evolution. >
< Does the CreatorMundi approve? >
< Yes > < No >
Kyle stared at the notification for a moment before pressing "Yes" without any hesitation.
The effect took place immediately.
The screen suddenly shifted toward the Golden Fish.
But what happened next made Kyle's eyes widen slightly.
The fish had begun burning.
Or more accurately—
A cocoon made of strange white flame-like energy had started forming around its body.
The cocoon slowly continued growing larger with every passing second, pulsing faintly as if something inside was evolving.
Then another notification suddenly appeared.
< Golden Fish >>> ????? >
< Remaining Time : 11 Hours 02 Minutes >
"Now this time it's twenty hours? And the previous countdown literally just finished..."
Kyle muttered sarcastically while staring at the screen.
At first, he had been completely captivated by the beautiful yet mysterious scenery of Asteria.
But now, seeing another absurdly long countdown appear once again, the excitement he previously felt quickly faded into annoyance.
With a tired sigh, he casually tossed the mysterious phone onto the couch beside him.
So Kyle began searching the internet to see whether something similar had ever happened to anyone else.
Unfortunately...
The internet was still the internet.
One person claimed they had received mysterious notifications from a game that supposedly predicted future events before they happened.
Another swore that an abandoned mirror in their apartment sometimes showed a completely different room late at night.
And there was a guy insisting that his pet goldfish was actually an ancient dragon sleeping under a "fish disguise."
There was even someone claiming he had married a ghost from another dimension after downloading a suspicious dating app at three in the morning.
"...What the hell am I even reading?"
Kyle muttered with a deadpan expression while scrolling through the endless pile of nonsense.
Not a single thing he found sounded even remotely reliable.
And like any normal person would, Kyle eventually gave up searching the internet after realizing it wasn't giving him any useful answers at all.
So in the end—
....
At the top floor of the Mercer Co. building—
The atmosphere inside the large meeting room remained quiet and professional as several managers continued discussing ongoing projects.
William Mercer sat calmly at the head of the table, occasionally glancing through the documents placed before him.
A sudden knock echoed through the room.
One of the employees moved to respond, but before he could—
"Let him in."
William spoke without even lifting his gaze from the papers.
The door soon opened, and a man wearing a black suit quietly entered the room.
Unlike the others present, the man's movements were calm and precise, almost as if he was used to operating in silence.
He walked directly toward William before leaning down slightly and whispering something into his ear.
For the first time since the meeting had begun—
William's expression changed.
His brows furrowed slightly.
"...Kyle asked this?"
The man in the black suit nodded.
"Yes, sir."
For a brief moment, William remained silent.
And although his expression quickly returned to normal, the subtle tension in his eyes did not escape the few observant people present in the room.
William said nothing further.
Yet even without a single word from him, the group of managers immediately understood what was expected.
One by one, they quietly gathered their documents before leaving the meeting room in silence.
Soon, only William and the man in the black suit remained inside.
"When did he ask this?"
"Young Master made the request around seven minutes ago, sir."
"...I see."
William remained silent for a brief moment before speaking once again.
"Did he say anything else?"
"Nothing else, sir."
William let out a quiet sigh.
"...Do you think he somehow got himself involved with the other side?"
The man in the black suit remained silent.
Not because he didn't have an answer—
But because neither of them could say for certain.
After a few moments, William finally spoke again.
"Do what he asked for. And inform me immediately if anything unusual happens."
His gaze slowly drifted toward the city outside the glass walls.
"...I suppose it's finally time for him to learn about it."
The man in black silently nodded before giving a respectful bow and leaving the room quietly.
Soon, William was left alone once again.
Another sigh escaped from him as he closed his eyes briefly.
"...I just hope you don't get yourself into trouble, my son."
He muttered softly into the empty room.