Daniel exited the first floor after half an hour of rest and continued up the stairs. When he reached the second door, he entered without hesitation.
As soon as he stepped inside, his surroundings changed. This time, he found himself inside a dark hall filled with numerous mirrors, which made him frown.
Just like before, a scroll appeared in front of him, and lines of text started to form on it:
[Welcome to the second floor]
[Endure the corruption of your soul until you reach the end of the hall]
The scroll then burned into ashes.
There were no detailed explanations this time, and Daniel had no idea what he was supposed to do. So, he just listened to the first line and started walking toward the end of the hall.
As he walked, one of the mirrors began to glow. He approached it and stood in front of it.
A scene appeared in the mirror that made his frown deepen and his eyes grow cold.
He recognized the scene—it was from his past life, something he didn't want to remember.
In the reflection, a handsome young man with a cold and serious expression stood on a balcony, watching the slaughter of the people below.
The people had come to protest against him—against his policies and the wars he had started.
The more Daniel watched, the colder his eyes became. He saw how the soldiers and armed forces suddenly attacked the protesters, firing their weapons and massacring innocent civilians.
From young men to elders, from students to mothers—everyone was killed brutally, one by one.
The cause of all this? The order of that young man on the balcony.
Daniel watched the entire scene—it felt like he was reliving it.
"…Was that it? Is this what I'm supposed to do now?" Daniel let out a cold laugh and turned away from the mirror.
What he didn't know was that a small piece of his soul had darkened. It was so small that it wasn't noticeable or significant.
But it was still a piece. It was still blackened.
Daniel continued walking until another mirror lit up. He tried to ignore it, but a powerful force pulled him toward it.
Just like before, the mirror showed a memory from his past life—a memory he didn't want to remember.
But this time, it wasn't a memory from the end of his life. It was from the middle of his youth.
What he saw was his brother. His brother from his previous life.
The moment he saw his brother's face, he knew exactly what was about to be shown. He didn't want to relive this memory, but he had no choice.
In the scene, a handsome man with medium-length black hair was fighting in a warzone. He held a rifle and was shooting at the enemies.
The setting was a ruined city, clearly destroyed by heavy bombing.
His brother was bravely fighting, trying to eliminate the invaders who had attacked his country.
And he succeeded. He killed three enemy soldiers and was moving toward the fourth when a bullet struck his leg from behind.
He collapsed to the ground and screamed in pain. From behind him, several of his comrades appeared, staring at him with mockery.
He asked why they did it—why they shot him. And that's when he noticed a gun pressed to his forehead.
It was one of the enemy soldiers he had been chasing. The comrades he had trusted laughed and said they had no chance of winning this war, so they decided to join the enemy and at least live well after the country fell.
Daniel's brother spat at them and called them cowards and traitors. The result was clear. A bullet pierced his forehead.
Watching the scene, Daniel's eyes turned slightly red—not with tears, but with the intent to kill.
He had never seen this moment before in his past life. He had only heard about it—when he eventually caught the enemy soldier who had killed his brother, the man had confessed the whole story.
But seeing it with his own eyes was horrifying and painful.
What he didn't notice was that his soul had darkened even more.
Once he calmed down a little, he turned and kept walking—but his mind was full of questions.
"What are these mirrors? The first one showed me my own memory, but the second one? I never actually saw that moment myself…"
This place was more bizarre and complicated than he had imagined.
But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find any answers. So, he decided to keep moving.
He encountered more mirrors—each one showed a different memory from his past life, all of them the worst parts.
Memories he wanted to bury deep in his mind, but was now being forced to watch all over again.
With every memory he saw, his soul became darker and darker. It didn't take long for Daniel himself to realize something was happening to him.
He didn't know what it was, but he could feel it. He could feel his emotions growing weaker and weaker.
It reminded him of a state he had once experienced in his previous life—but that was absurd.
Sure, the memories hurt and stirred emotions, but they shouldn't have such a powerful effect on him anymore.
He had already turned into a monster once because of what happened in his past life. Just seeing those same memories again shouldn't be able to affect him this much.
So why did it feel like his emotions were fading away? Like he was slowly losing his humanity?
Was it possible that the true purpose of these mirrors wasn't just to show painful memories?
That thought made him frown. He immediately checked his body to see if anything was wrong.
Nothing. His body was fine. He then checked his mind and his spiritual sea.
Still nothing. No issues there either.
Then he turned his focus to his soul.
"There it is," he muttered when he finally noticed it.
Half of his soul had turned black.
His frown deepened. He couldn't understand why this was happening. Why was his soul being corrupted? What did it even mean? He had never heard of anything like this before.
No matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn't find an answer. He could only hope that he would find one by completing this floor.
He reached the end of the hall, but no scroll appeared to declare the floor cleared.
"Maybe I have to open the door?" he thought, and then opened the hall door and stepped through.
Only then did he realize…
The second floor wasn't over.
It had only just begun.