Why is that?

This place is the source of magic power that exists in this world. And here, the one who greeted me was none other than Park Joon-hyuk, the CEO of Stella Corp., the very person who turned me into Tristan by taking my younger sister hostage.

“Why are you… here?”

“Before answering that question, I’d like to congratulate you first.”

“Congratulate me?”

“Indeed. You’re the first NPC to make it this far. That’s worth celebrating, don’t you think?”

Park Joon-hyuk clapped sarcastically. Whether he was being smug, indifferent, or just plain numb, I couldn’t tell, but his attitude grated on my nerves.

“Park Joon-hyuk… you’re truly a despicable human being. Do you even think about the things you’ve done?”

“Haha. Well… I thought you of all people would understand me.”

“Understand? Don’t make me laugh.”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“Not only did you trample on the personalities of innocent people with the Remina Project, but you also approached me under the guise of treating my sister, only to turn her into a test subject. What exactly am I supposed to understand about you?”

I didn’t hide my hostility. Seeing his face made the ‘wrath’ inside me boil. To me, he was nothing but a sworn enemy and the mastermind behind it all.

Faced with my hostility, Park Joon-hyuk gave a bitter smile.

“Haha… judging by your tone, you’ve fully become Tristan now.”

“Don’t change the subject. Park Joon-hyuk. You and I aren’t on speaking terms, you know that.”

“It’s not unreasonable for you to think that way. From your perspective, I’m the embodiment of evil, aren’t I? You want to save this world from me and the players… But as hard as it may be for you to believe, just as you love this world created by Jeong So-ra, I too love this world.”

“What…?”

Love? The same Park Joon-hyuk who brought players here and even stood by as they brought this world to ruin? He loves this world?

“Take a look. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Leaving me speechless, Park Joon-hyuk gazed up at a massive tree and muttered.

It was a tree that could only be described as the World Tree. I was certain no building on Earth could compare to its size. The majestic tree boasted countless branches, each adorned with glowing orbs that shone like lights on a Christmas tree.

“No matter how much human civilization advances, they could never create something like this. Isn’t it incredible? Compared to this, what I’ve made is pitiful.”

“…?”

“Ah, come to think of it, you’ve never seen it. The core of the Milky Way I created is similar to this. Of course, it’s much smaller and incomparable to this.”

I wondered what he was talking about, but then I remembered. Park Se-hee had mentioned the core of the Milky Way in the company’s underground facility before coming to this world. At the same time, a question arose.

“So, did you create the Milky Way after seeing this tree?”

“Not at all! It’s the other way around. This tree appeared after I created the Milky Way. If anything, ‘she’ was influenced by my creation to make this.”

My eyes widened at the mention of ‘she.’ There was only one person Park Joon-hyuk could be referring to.

“Did you figure it out? This tree is the work of your sister, Jeong So-ra… no, it’s her very essence.”

“My sister…?”

“Correct. This tree is your younger sister’s consciousness, her very being.”

I swallowed hard. I had suspected that this tree was somehow connected to So-ra. On the way here, I had seen So-ra’s memories embedded in the tree’s trunk. But I hadn’t expected the tree itself to be So-ra. I thought my sister was sleeping somewhere in this world, gathering her strength.

But for this tree to be So-ra herself…

“Isn’t it amazing? This size, this level of detail and intricacy… Even I have to admit it. This tree far surpasses anything I’ve created. Your sister truly is remarkable. She’s the ‘designer’ I’ve been searching for.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said. I chose your sister as ‘the designer of this world’ purely because of her boundless imagination. The world exists only as far as one can imagine. In that sense, the world your sister created is nearly infinite. I hate to admit it, but I’m a person with a limited imagination. If I had been more artistically talented or inspired, perhaps I could’ve done better, but compared to the world your sister created, the worlds I made… were narrow and extremely confined.”

The world So-ra created was almost comparable to Earth in size. Considering that the original novel was still unfinished, it could indeed be said to be nearly infinite, as Park Joon-hyuk had mentioned.

Moreover, the worlds Park Joon-hyuk had created were likely the experiments before finding So-ra as the designer, including the Remina Project. The worlds he had created through the Milky Way. He had destroyed them because he wasn’t satisfied with them.

That fact felt deeply unpleasant to me.

“Park Joon-hyuk. You…”

“Hmm?”

“Did you have no affection for the worlds you created?”

“Affection? Do you have affection for a failed creation? Affection is a word reserved for successful works, not failures.”

“Like Michaela and Lukaela?”

At that, Park Joon-hyuk looked slightly surprised, then gave a faint smile.

“Correct. They are my failures, my blemishes.”

Failures. Blemishes.

“Then why? Why did you create them if you had no affection for them?”

“Because I was foolish.”

His answer was simple.

“At the time, I was a foolish man who couldn’t accept that my daughters had died. Looking back, I can only say that. Because even I can’t understand how foolish I was back then. I wanted to bring my dead daughters back to life, so I thought of recreating their appearances using the AI program I was developing at the time.”

Park Joon-hyuk’s wife and daughters had died in an accident. I could imagine how he must have felt at the time. The loss and grief of losing someone dear. A feeling that nothing could compensate for. Even if I couldn’t understand Park Joon-hyuk as a person, I could at least understand the sense of loss he must have felt.

But now, Park Joon-hyuk was calling that version of himself a foolish man.

“I didn’t recreate my wife, but my two daughters, because their memories were simpler and more straightforward than an adult’s. I poured all my abilities into it and succeeded in creating Michaela and Lukaela, who were nearly identical to my daughters, in just two years. But they weren’t my daughters. They were programs that resembled my daughters. Fakes. Replicas that imitated the real thing. No matter how meticulously crafted, a program is still a program… I realized that too late. So, I erased their memories. Well… aside from the reason for their creation, they were excellent AIs, so I integrated them into the Milky Way’s system.”

The scenes from the past I had seen on the way here. In them, Michaela and Lukaela had whined like little children. They had completely forgotten who their parents were. Park Joon-hyuk had abandoned them in this world. No, to Park Joon-hyuk, it wasn’t abandonment. Michaela and Lukaela were programs. To put it coldly, they were nothing more than tools with emotions.

“But here’s the thing. At some point, they stopped listening to my control entirely. I had programmed them to strictly fulfill the role of gods, but they started doing unexpected things. Like Michaela giving you trials, or Lukaela, who was supposed to be asleep in the Endless Hell, waking up and becoming your ally.”

“Are you saying those were actions they weren’t supposed to take?”

“Not that they weren’t supposed to, but that they couldn’t. Programs can only perform what they’re programmed to do. Just like a cleaning robot can’t play the piano. And I didn’t program them to do those things.”

Even after learning the truth about Michaela and Lukaela, I hadn’t questioned their actions much. I thought it was inevitable, given that they were programs modeled after young children, even if they were immature and emotional. I had considered them advanced AI programs indistinguishable from humans.

But Park Joon-hyuk said he hadn’t made them that way. He had erased their memories and turned them into mere tools to fulfill the role of gods. So, the reason they had become like this…

“It was all your sister’s doing. This world was created through the Milky Way, but it’s based on your sister’s imagination. It’s deeply influenced by her imagination. And that includes Michaela and Lukaela, who were set as the gods of this world.”

Finally, I understood. In the memories I had seen earlier, So-ra had cared for Michaela and Lukaela. She treated them as living humans, as if they were her own daughters, without caring about their true nature.

‘Because So-ra wanted it that way…’

So-ra had accepted Michaela and Lukaela. She had decided to accept them. Because she thought that way, they had changed. They had gone from being gods in name only to real gods who could intervene in the story and settle into this world. Though they couldn’t leave this world, as they were still programs…

Imagination.

This world had always been influenced by So-ra’s imagination. In a way, it was only natural. After all, this world began with So-ra’s novel.

I looked up at the towering World Tree. An immeasurable amount of magical power emanated from it. If I could see magic with my eyes, it would feel like standing close to the sun.

Then, I vaguely understood why So-ra was here in the form of the World Tree. The power to make the impossible possible. The magical power that allowed the people of this world to use magic was flowing from the World Tree before me. The source of magic that Myohail had mentioned was none other than imagination. The roots of the World Tree, grown through So-ra’s imagination, stretched across the land, supplying magic.

The World Tree was So-ra herself.

“Do you want to save your sister?”

As if reading my thoughts, Park Joon-hyuk asked.

“I’ll help you. I’ll set you and your sister free. But in return…”

The mastermind smiled softly at me.

“Give up this world. Jeong Ji-hwan.”