Hong Min took his first steps onto the imposing main street, with 404 following silently as usual. The road was incredibly wide, paved with polished black stones that reflected the faint blue glow from the strange stone pillars lining its sides. These pillars pulsed with a slow, intermittent light, like the hearts of ancient, dying machines. And at the end of this long road, the palace stood like a man-made mountain, dark and terrifying in its immensity.

  The further they progressed, the stranger Hong Min felt. It wasn't a sense of danger, but of bewilderment.

  "This is strange..." he muttered to himself. "Look at this place. No walls, no gates, even the residential buildings have ordinary doors. It seems they weren't afraid of anything."

  He turned to 404, who was walking beside him.

  "The architectural design does not prioritize physical defenses," 404 said in his quiet voice, confirming what Hong Min was thinking.

  After a long walk that felt like an eternity, they finally reached the base of the palace. There was no moat or protective wall, but a vast garden surrounding it. It was a dead garden. The trees were charred black husks, their ossified branches reaching toward the dark cavern ceiling like pleading hands. The ground was covered in a thick layer of dried leaves that crumbled to dust with every step.

  They crossed the garden and reached the main entrance. There was no massive iron gate, but simply a giant stone archway, decorated with intricate and precise geometric carvings. The entrance was open and dark, inviting them in.

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  Hong Min felt a cold shiver. Everything about this place screamed "welcome," and everything in his gut screamed "run."

  "Well," he said with a fake, sarcastic confidence, "at least getting in looks easy."

  Hong Min moved to take his first step across the threshold of the stone arch.

  The moment his foot was about to touch the floor of the hall, a powerful, invisible wind exploded from the entrance. It wasn't just wind; it was like a solid wall of air that threw him backward with force, knocking him to the ground.

  "What in the...!" he yelled as he fell. He tried to get up and advance again, but the wind blocked him as if a giant hand were pushing him away.

  404 stepped forward, his massive, stone-like body cutting through the air. The wind intensified incredibly, its sharp whistling sound filling the area. Thanks to his weight and strength, 404 managed to place one foot inside, then the second, but he stopped, unable to advance further, as if he were pushing against a mountain.

  Suddenly, a voice emanated. It didn't come from a specific point but seemed to emerge from the very stones themselves. It was a deep, powerful, and emotionless voice. The voice said with icy clarity:

  "Protection protocol active. Access restricted. Unauthorized identity. This sanctuary is not for you."

  The wind and the voice stopped abruptly, and the heavy silence returned. The entrance was still open and dark, but it was now impenetrable.

  Hong Min got to his feet, dusting off his ragged clothes. "Protection protocol? Sanctuary?" he thought to himself. "This doesn't feel like a welcome system. It feels like a vault that was sealed too late. Something happened here, something terrible, and this barrier is the result."

  He looked at the open entrance that had rejected him. The question was no longer "How do we get in?". The question now swirling in his mind was more specific and pragmatic:

  "How do we get 'authorized' to enter?"