Sleeping With My Step Daddy - Chapter 8: "The Truth Behind the Glass"

Empire of the Ring is a Korean modern fantasy epic adventure novel that sets in the nations of the Caucasus mountain range which separates Europe and Asia. The nations of Caucasus are regions of many conflicts over territories, ethnicities, and religions. The story begins as Lee Youngho, a warm-hearted Korean merchandiser, takes a business trip to a disputed territory of the Caucasus nations to sell Korean unmanned security systems only to get misconstrued as a spy and caught by Armenian militia. Youngho eventually gets involved with the militia and CIA to help out people of the regions from conflicts and works toward a birth of a new empire in Caucasus.

I don’t know why I die, I don’t know why I live.

Divided hunters die of loyalty,

The witch who plays with emotions dies of love,

Cautious fortune-tellers die of trust.

The thief who steals everything has nothing,

The visionary who created everything never existed.

The traveler fell on his way home,

The twilight giants rest before dawn.

Lawyers sacrifice for order,

Judges forget the law.

The sleepless sleeps in the dark,

The corpse collector lay in the coffin.

We are guardians, and a bunch of poor creatures who are constantly fighting against danger and madness.

This journey is life and death.

While drowning was inevitable, they had struggled.

This is the worst of times, this is the best of times.

- Description from novelbuddy

In a world ruled by false gods, two souls must rise beyond death to shatter divinity itself.When Raphaeldor and Leonatus awaken in the mystical world of Elyndra, they are not ordinary men—they are reincarnated souls, chosen by a forgotten prophecy to challenge the divine order. In this realm where aura and mana shape the very fabric of life, power is worshipped and truth is buried beneath centuries of myth.Guided only by a mysterious being known as the Pathmaker, the two must walk a perilous path of growth, conflict, and awakening. As they ascend through the ranks of strength and unravel the mysteries of Elyndra, they discover a harrowing truth: the so-called gods are nothing more than mortals who transcended and seized divinity for themselves, bending the world to their will.With divine thrones looming and the fate of creation in the balance, Raphaeldor and Leonatus must decide whether to accept the lies that shaped the world—or to defy the heavens, expose the deception, and uncover the will of the true God who lies beyond the veil of eternity.The journey of the transcendent begins.The odyssey of truth awaits.

Lin Jin never imagined he would ever transmigrate. And to such a peculiar world at that. Here, deadly beasts were regarded as sacred, and thankfully, he owned a museum for deadly beasts.