One year ago.

The world went into an uproar.

The impact was on par with the moment Bahala first appeared—then rang out four world messages in a single year.

This time, the reason was simple: something nobody had cleared for three full years had finally been cleared.

Breaking the wooden doll.

That achievement was just as explosive as Bahala’s arrival. Not because it was flashy—because Pureum Co., Ltd. had officially announced it as the only way to trigger a world message.

Which meant the whole planet went for it.

No—people couldn’t not go for it.

In the Beginner Zone, pounding on the wooden doll was basically mandatory!

And since literally everyone had tried to smash it at least once, everyone knew exactly what the real problem was.

‘Those Pureum Co., Ltd. bastards...’

‘How the hell is anyone supposed to break this?’

‘Wait—only 20% durability? Is this for real?’

Humans don’t know whether something’s poison or paste until they taste it.

They’d tasted it. So they understood how insane this achievement actually was.

A “first-ever” world message? Sure. Someday, someone would inevitably pull one off.

But this wasn’t that.

People genuinely believed nobody would break this even if twenty years passed.

Crits didn’t do it.

God-tier control didn’t do it.

Even hoarding Beginner Zone artifacts didn’t do it.

For Level 1s, there was nothing more absurdly, insultingly impossible than this.

And yet someone shattered the wooden doll, fired off the world message... then stayed anonymous.

It drove people insane.

‘WHO WAS IT!!’

‘WHAT DID THEY DO?!’

One of the world’s top rankers said it like this:

“The user who broke the wooden doll? A promising sprout.”

And now, one year later, that promising sprout finally stepped into the light.

*****

-Support! Any support!? Get on comms—NOW!

-Ugh, too many hostiles, Brigadier General!

-LMAO this RP is fucking trash.

-Why would a brigadier general even be out there, idiots lol

-LMAO you guys are really showing you never served.

-A brigadier leads a squad, right? Or is that a warrant—whatever, SEND SUPPORT...!!

-“Warrant,” LOL.

-Not even a sergeant—“warrant officer” LMAOOOO

Korea’s Ares community was freaking out over the sheer number of Chinese players flooding in.

Then—

-HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIIIT!! (screenshot)

One screenshot flipped the entire board.

It had been posted through Hyun’s Forge.

Everyone clicked it at once.

-How... how did u even do that...?

-Hey, Chinese assholes—u kept insisting it was ONLY three. Now it’s four. What now?!

-That was Hyun?!

The Chinese players stiffened, staring at the proof.

[Congratulations.]

[You are the first user to succeed in breaking the wooden doll.]

[World message.]

[Your achievement will be announced to all users worldwide.]

[An anonymous individual has succeeded in breaking the wooden doll for the first time.]

A Tier 0 world message—something Blacksmith Hyun had cleared the moment they started the game.

2.5 billion users failed.

Hyun alone succeeded.

A one-and-only message.

Korean users erupted.

-So what—our Hyun is World Ares’s “one,” yes or no!?

-Apologize, you bastards!!!

-How dare u doubt him!

The Chinese side faltered.

-W-Wait... it’s real? Hyun broke the wooden doll?

-No way...

They couldn’t deny Hyun anymore.

And there was an extra reason Chinese players took “breaking the wooden doll” seriously.

A Chinese tycoon had once posted—half joking, half bait—on JoyTube:

Break the wooden doll, and I’ll pay you 2 billion won.

A shot at instant life reversal.

A lot of Chinese players went rabid trying.

They all failed.

Korea’s community started cheering even louder.

-China’s running lol

-KOREA NUMBER ONE! KOREA NUMBER ONE!

Over on the Chinese boards, people even started admitting it: this year, Hyun had outshone Bahala.

One Korean user summed up the whole mess in a single line, and everyone agreed.

-That “promising sprout”... turned into a world tree?

The post blasted past 10,000 upvotes and instantly hit Best.

Meanwhile—

Reporter Lee Hwan—the same guy who’d asked Deputy Director Hanna that rude question—couldn’t stand Hyun, the one who’d driven China into defeat.

He’d been writing provocative headlines nonstop, trying to shake Chinese sentiment hard enough to force Hyun to “return” the title of World Ares’s “one.”

He’d been the loudest spearhead, pushing story after story that stabbed at World Ares and at Hyun.

-Deputy Director Hanna’s connection to the Korea branch...

-Deputy Director Hanna. Suspected to be Hyun’s lover.

-Hyun. He cannot be compared to Bahala.

Lee Hwan had even said it openly before:

“People believe what newspapers tell them. Hyun rang it three times; Bahala rang it four. That’s still true. The truth? Who cares? Make it look true, and it becomes true.”

Fact or not, he’d been shaking Chinese readers with nothing but suspicion and speculation.

One problem.

A single world-message line posted on Hyun’s Forge flipped everything.

Even inside China, the pressure to admit Hyun became overwhelming.

And once the spell broke, the crowd needed someone to blame.

The moment Lee Hwan got dragged into the director’s office, an ashtray came flying.

CLUNK!

“YOU SON OF A—RAAAAGH!”

That night, Lee Hwan was supposed to meet an old friend.

He needed to vent to someone.

He arrived first, slumped in his seat, resignation letter tucked against his chest like a death certificate.

Then his friend walked in.

It was bad.

Hair wrecked. Face hollow.

“...?”

Lee Hwan stared.

His friend was Jincho—China Branch’s continental war reward-setting team lead.

Lee Hwan awkwardly slid his resignation letter onto the table.

The director had told him to take responsibility and leave.

And then—

“You too?”

Jincho pulled out their own resignation letter, flashed a thumbs-up, and laughed like it was all a sick joke.

“......”

“......”

Then both of them started screaming.

“U-UUURAAAAAGH!”

“This is basically a firing!”

“We both got fireddd!”

“With this stain, we can’t get hired anywheeeere!”

“Our lives are overrrrr!”

They swore it.

Never again would they touch Hyun.

Not that they’d have the power to touch Hyun ever again.

Birds of a feather flock together.

These two had flocked together and crashed together.

At the same time—

Someone unknown was watching everything Hyun had built.

On the news, anchors kept talking.

-Today as well, it’s nothing but Hyun.

-The phrase “Master Craftsman Hyun” is dominating every portal site.

-Real-time search term #2 is “the one who broke the wooden doll.”

-Hyun’s Forge subscribers are exploding at an absurd rate.

-The growth curve had been slowing—now it’s steep again.

-Many Chinese users who participated in the continental war are shocked to learn Hyun is the one who broke the wooden doll.

-It’s an achievement even Bahala—one of the most famous rankers in the world—failed to accomplish... 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

-People worldwide are joking: “Bet even Bahala hit subscribe.” Ha-ha. Frankly, I agree.

-Considering Hyun’s Forge had under 4 million subscribers before the continental war, the current number is simply unbelievable...

Soon, that unknown person logged into the Ares forge.

With a slightly trembling hand, they clicked into Hyun’s Forge.

A number rose in front of their eyes.

Their gaze wavered.

[Hyun’s Forge subscribers: 12,606,013.]

“Only one year... and it climbed this far?”

*****

Hyunsoo woke up, posted the screenshot on Hyun’s Forge, then went to the hospital.

It felt new.

The hospital staff celebrated like it was their own win.

What shocked him most was the hospital director running up, out of breath, demanding a handshake.

Like shaking hands with the guy who scored a World Cup goal?

Hyunsoo smiled bitterly.

The director squeezed his hand hard and said:

“I’ll do everything I can to ensure no information about your father leaks.”

They meant it. Protect patient information at all costs.

“Thank you.”

“People are calling you a world tree, you know?”

World tree? What was that even supposed to mean?

Hyunsoo didn’t chase it. He headed straight for the VVIP hospital room.

His father’s words surfaced again.

Become a king.

Hyunsoo understood.

Don’t collapse.

Keep going.

Keep moving forward.

But there was something else buried inside those words, too.

“...One more step.”

He’d just heard about Miracle of a Day from Dr. Kim Jinseop.

Now he knew his father was hearing his stories.

And he knew the odds of waking up had risen—dramatically.

Right then, Kim Hyein called.

-Hyun’s Forge guild took first place, so we have to go receive the territory. And Hyunsoo... you’ve worked hard. I think you can rest a little.

Consideration.

Real consideration.

Because Hyunsoo had been running an impossible road for only one year.

“I don’t need rest. I have things to do.”

-Things to do... it’s what I’m thinking, right?

“Yes. I’m going to press harder.”

-So you’re pressing harder toward becoming a king. Understood. I’ll push with everything I’ve got.

“Thank you.”

After the call ended, Hyunsoo’s expression stayed heavy.

He wanted to run faster.

He’d climbed high—sure.

But he was nowhere near the finish.

A long-distance run.

There’s always a moment when your body starts to fail.

If you stop there, you only get more exhausted.

If you keep going, the breathing stabilizes again. The body finds its rhythm.

That wasn’t the only reason.

Hyunsoo looked down at his hand gripping his father’s.

Faint scars still remained on both of them.

When his ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) father said become a king...

Before that, there had been another sentence.

A sentence burned into Hyunsoo’s skull.

His eyes cooled.

He let the heat of I became a legend die out.

Then he replayed what his father had said—quietly, carefully—while holding him.

A whisper into his ear.

So the broadcast wouldn’t catch it.

Nobody else heard it.

Hyunsoo did.

Hyunsoo.

The past five years flashed through him like a knife.

His father, charred black, rushed into the ER.

Hyunsoo, burned over half his body, right hand ruined—the hand a blacksmith lived by.

After that came hell.

CPR dragged his father back.

Then the diagnosis: vegetative state.

Hyunsoo sold everything, fought everything, just to keep him alive.

Years of hell.

And now he finally understood a piece of the truth.

His father had whispered it.

That day... someone was in the forge.

This hell wasn’t an accident.

This hell was someone’s design.