Chapter 229: Unknown Whispers

This was not hypnosis. Joo Joowon was not yet bold enough to directly interfere with his own brain. Instead, he took a roundabout approach, using his Mental Power to control his body and make it enter a state of exhaustion.

As long as the human body became exhausted, the brain would urge the body to rest. In the same way, this could also achieve the purpose of falling asleep.

Because the exhaustion had been deliberately created, if she really encountered danger while asleep, she would not be unable to wake up. Instead, she would be able to react very quickly.

Unlike the body, a person’s mind remained in a relatively active state even while they were sleeping.

In the darkness, the surroundings were excessively quiet, with a kind of eerie stillness that felt almost like hell. Even someone who was not afraid of the dark could easily develop negative emotions in such an environment. However, Joo Joowon did not feel any of that at all. His ears were surrounded by the unique sound of cats purring.

That sound, which had occasionally affected her sleep in the past, was now like a lullaby. It quickly lulled her into a deep sleep.

...

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The continuous buzzing of mosquitoes made Joo Joowon frown, and his eyeballs moved slightly beneath his eyelids.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

Joo Joowon irritably turned over in bed.

However, instead of driving the mosquitoes away, this movement seemed to stimulate them, causing the buzzing around his ears to become even louder.

Then Joo Joowon heard it.

He heard it.

It was a kind of whispering that made people tremble with fear, causing their hearts to race uncontrollably and their bodies to instinctively react with terror.

It sounded like a voice transmitted from a distant shore, from the depths of darkness. It could not be heard clearly, yet it instinctively caused panic, like the roar of a tiger or the call of a blue whale in the deep sea. It made the person facing it freeze all over, awakening the fear engraved deep within their genes.

Joo Joowon’s consciousness was hazy, and the whispers beside his ears almost occupied all of his ability to think.

His brain, which had fallen into deep sleep, could not support his instinctive desire to think. It was as though his soul were separating from his body, while the colors of the world were gradually being erased and everything was becoming gray and gloomy. The shadows of darkness were slowly invading his body.

His heart was beating wildly. A trembling sensation spread through every cell in his body. The whispers seemed to possess some strange kind of magic. The moment they were heard, they caused fear, helplessness, and despair to arise within the listener.

"Meow..." A familiar yet unfamiliar cry sounded so distant that it was difficult to hear clearly. Yet, it gave him the sensation of having a basin of cold water suddenly poured over his head, causing his mind to abruptly clear.

He tried to open his mouth, but a name was firmly stuck in his throat, unable to come out.

He felt as though he were suffocating, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember what that name, which should have slipped naturally from his lips, was.

What was it? What exactly was it?

The cry came intermittently, like the song of a sea siren heard by a fishing boat drifting across the ocean. It lured people into searching for it, making them become fascinated, yet at the same time, their instincts resisted and rejected it, as though approaching it meant directly facing danger itself.

Yet the adventurous spirit buried deep within humans made her unable to stop himself from wanting to approach.

What was it? What exactly was it?

If only the voice were a little louder, he would be able to hear it clearly.

However, that cry grew farther and farther away, like a beautiful dream. Only the whispers inside his mind continued growing louder, causing his consciousness to become increasingly muddled. Even the voice he had originally wanted to hear clearly began to stretch like modeling clay, becoming shrill and distorted.

The unknown whispers grew louder and louder, like an old computer being forced to run a 3A game, immediately causing the brain to freeze and enter a state as though it were being burned out.

All kinds of distorted and bizarre scenes crowded into his mind. His consciousness began to sink, as though he were falling into the eighteenth level of hell, or plunging into a dark abyss. The terrifying water pressure caused his body to begin deforming and twisting as well.

Amid layer after layer of "seawater," the darkness became almost tangible, pouring into every part of her body without leaving even the slightest opening untouched. Suffocation, swelling, and the despair of being stretched to the point of bursting filled her heart.

He had his eyes open, yet it was also as though they were closed. Within the ultimate darkness, he could not see even the slightest trace of light.

Trembling and dazed, the unknown whispers gradually invaded every part of his consciousness, becoming louder and louder, clearer and clearer.

Hearing gradually began to turn into understanding.

"That Profound One, who has endured since the dawn of eternity...

Who commands the Celestial Axis and illuminates the destinies of all beings beneath the stars...

Who births the dreams of the void and decrees the silence beyond existence...

The Supreme Sovereign of Profound Darkness, the Eternal Lord of the Dark Light..."

At the instant he understood the words, he thoughts suddenly seemed to no longer belong to him. They became a special kind of fuel, ignited by the unknown whispers, burning away everything within him. Almost instinctively, with fanatical devotion, he wanted to offer himself to the Profound One.

No! He would never...!!!

The madness and chaos in his mind crashed over him again and again like waves, gradually causing his consciousness to become hazy.

What exactly was wrong?

I...

...Who am I?