The moment the door opened, old air burst out.
It was as if the space had finally let out the breath it had been holding.
From that musty smell of accumulated years alone, one could tell that no one had entered this place for a very long time.
A long passageway showed faintly within the darkness.
Looking inside with the Divine Eye Art, Geom Mugeuk could see that the walls on both sides of the passage were also engraved with all manner of patterns, letters, and images like those carved into the door.
As though they had been etched into intestines, the darkness swallowed all of it and exuded an indescribable energy as it tempted those before it.
Come in. Hurry and come in.
That energy was difficult to put into words, but one thing was certain. It was an utterly unfamiliar energy, one that no person living in the martial world of the present age had ever felt.
If you go in, you will die.
Yet despite the warning of his instincts, Geom Mugeuk felt that he had to enter that place.
It was not resistance born of fear of the unknown, nor a spirit of challenge.
He felt that coming to Hwangnyong Martial Hall, meeting the Sword King, and the Sword King telling him they should come down here had all been the pull of fate.
Geom Mugeuk asked the Sword King standing beside him.
“Do you feel it?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, the Sword King nodded.
Just then, one of the hall members stepped forward as if possessed by something. As he was about to pass Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King and enter, Hongin rushed over and grabbed him.
“Snap out of it!”
Smack!
Hongin struck his cheek without mercy. Only then did the man come back to his senses.
The darkness had tempted him and called him in. Among the hall members, he had the weakest internal energy and the frailest mental strength, and so he had been the first to succumb to that temptation.
Soon after, another hall member also tried to walk forward, but the member beside him grabbed him, and he regained his senses.
Geom Mugeuk sent a voice transmission to the Sword King.
—It seems the time has come to send the hall members back.
He had a premonition that if they entered this place, these people would not survive.
—Shall we go in, just the two of us?
He had thought the Sword King would readily agree, but the Sword King could not make a decision right away.
Geom Mugeuk did not provoke him with words like these.
Was saying you would spare these people a lie?
He believed that the Sword King was hesitating not because he planned to take them inside and kill them, but for some other reason.
He had clearly felt that the Sword King cared for them. If he had not, he would never have shown them the stars.
As expected, the Sword King’s concern was for the hall members.
—I wanted to show them the final place.
They had endured hardship unto death and come this far. It seemed that, leaving aside money, he wanted to show them what they had risked their lives for.
But Geom Mugeuk did not think taking them into that ominous darkness was the right choice.
—What they see in there will not help them live their lives from now on. Unless you intend to share that treasure with them. Will you?
The Sword King shook his head.
When the Sword King gave some instruction by voice transmission to the man who was an expert in mechanisms, the man ran off somewhere.
Then the Sword King turned to the hall members standing behind him.
“Your mission ends here.”
At those words, the hall members were startled. They had sensed that this excavation was nearly finished, but they had not imagined it would end with the opening of this door. They had thought they would enter that darkness and dismantle more mechanisms.
But they could feel it. They could feel just how dangerous the darkness beyond that door was. They could tell just by seeing their comrades walk forward as if bewitched. If the temptation at the entrance was already this strong, what would it be like inside?
When they thought it was over now, all sorts of emotions surged up within them. After their surprise came joy. And the emotion that dominated them in the end was fear.
They had served the Sword King as their elder brother, believing in him and following him, but at this final moment they could not help but feel anxious that they might be killed to silence them. Now they would learn whether their trust had been correct.
At that moment, the mechanism expert who had received the order returned and handed envelopes to everyone. Inside were the bank drafts promised to them.
Originally, in the beginning, they had been paid their monthly wages. If they asked for money to be sent to someone, it had been sent on their behalf as well. Worried that they might not be paid later, they had accepted the money without fail, but since they could not leave anyway, keeping it with them was meaningless.
And so the hall members had trusted the Sword King and asked to receive the money when they left. Now he had truly given them the promised sum.
At the sight of the money, all the hall members grew choked up. They had gone through all that suffering until now to earn this money.
“You’ve all worked hard.”
At the Sword King’s words, tears flowed from the eyes of several hall members. It was the moment this long, sickening ordeal came to an end.
Of course, there were also many hall members who had wanted to go all the way beyond that door. Just what kind of treasure was there for such mechanisms to have been installed?
Along with that, there was one more expectation. Perhaps they might obtain even a little of the treasure.
But when they saw their comrades being bewitched, those thoughts vanished. All they wanted was to get out of this wretched place as quickly as possible.
Once outside, they wanted to deposit the money at a money house first, then have a drink at a tavern. After that, they would sleep all day at an inn. Others thought of leaving for a place where no one knew them. Each of them wanted something different.
They gathered before the Sword King to offer their final farewell. Among them were some whose lives the Sword King had saved several times.
Representing them all, Hongin spoke to the Sword King.
“Thank you, truly, for everything.”
Behind him, the hall members cried out their thanks in unison.
The Sword King brushed the dust from Hongin’s clothes and said,
“Be happy. I hope the day comes when I stop by the martial hall you run.”
The Sword King had not forgotten that his dream was to run a martial hall.
Hongin bowed his head respectfully and said,
“I will never forget the grace you have shown me.”
The Sword King looked around at the hall members and gave them his final advice.
“Keep what happened here a secret. You won’t die by my hand; you’ll die at the hands of some other greedy bastard. Just say you inherited the money.”
The hall members all nodded, knowing well what he meant.
Geom Mugeuk’s voice transmission flew to the Sword King again.
—I’ve never seen a villain like this before.
Geom Mugeuk still could not understand. Why had there been no rumors about this place in his life before the regression?
Was it because the hall members had gone through that door and all died? Or had they been sent away like this, and, astonishingly, all lived while keeping the secret? Or had something else happened?
In any case, in this life, they had all survived. Some might belittle them, saying they had risked their lives for money, but Geom Mugeuk did not think so. They were brave survivors.
Before leaving, Hongin looked back at Geom Mugeuk one last time. He was the one who had saved them from the attack of the mechanism. Was it because Hongin thought they had seen the stars and slept under cotton blankets thanks to that newcomer? Perhaps he thought that being able to leave safely like this now might also be thanks to that newcomer.
Hongin bowed respectfully to Geom Mugeuk. When he raised his head, he tossed out one last joke. Originally, it was a joke he would have made to the Sword King, but he had not dared.
“Please be sure to come to my martial hall. I’ll teach our youngest brother’s children for free for three months!”
At his final joke, the surrounding hall members laughed together.
And so Hongin and the hall members left that place.
Perhaps by the Sword King’s order, the mechanism expert also followed them out.
Now only Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King remained there.
“Now I can throw a shoe at you without worry.”
At the Sword King’s joke, Geom Mugeuk laughed and answered,
“It’s dark in there, so be careful when you throw it.”
The Sword King, who had been silently gazing at Geom Mugeuk, asked,
“Why aren’t you seeing them off? What if I have my men kill them?”
“Because someone who truly intends to kill them wouldn’t say something like that.”
Of course, that was not the reason. The true reason was this.
“What meaning would there be in sending them safely out of here? If you were determined to kill them, you could kill them as much as you wanted even after they left this martial hall.”
He knew better than anyone just how large an organization they were.
“Perhaps they lived thanks to you.”
“If that is the case, then it was not thanks to me, but thanks to you, Instructor.”
At the look in his eyes asking why, Geom Mugeuk answered,
“Have you already forgotten? When I asked why you were taking me underground, you said it was because you wanted to save those people. I merely faithfully followed those words, so in the end, you were the one who saved them, Instructor. So you may take pride in it and say, ‘I saved all those hall members.’”
The Sword King looked at Geom Mugeuk without a word. Since he revealed no emotion, it was impossible to know what he was thinking.
“Shall we go?”
“Good. Just a moment.”
Geom Mugeuk brought a rope from the box where the work tools were kept.
He tied it around his own waist and handed the other end to the Sword King.
“Tie it around your waist. It may use some method to separate us.”
It meant they should not be scattered from each other. Taking the rope, the Sword King asked with a surprised expression,
“Why are you doing this?”
“You have to protect me, Instructor.”
The Sword King stared at Geom Mugeuk and said,
“Isn’t it the opposite?”
He had wondered whether this Young Cult Leader before him was trying to tie them together in order to protect him.
And what he found even more surprising was this.
“You are not greedy. Most would try to enter alone by any means necessary and seize whatever is inside.”
He had thought Geom Mugeuk would try to shake him off instead, yet here he was offering a rope.
“Don’t they say that every treasure of the martial world has an owner? If it is my fate to receive it, it will come to me even if I am not greedy.”
In his previous life, Geom Mugeuk had felt it keenly. When one sought to accomplish something, one only needed a single drop of greed.
What allowed the first step taken with greed to continue all the way to the end was will and effort. From the second step onward, greed only tripped one’s feet.
The Sword King tied the rope around his waist. They left enough slack so that the two of them could move freely.
“Now, let’s go.”
The two slowly walked into the passage within the darkness. They heightened the senses of their entire bodies to the utmost. They took one step after another, but nothing happened.
They had walked to the middle of the passage when it happened.
Shiiiiiii.
Just as the letters and patterns carved into both walls seemed to glow,
Shak-shak-shak-shak-shak!
As if dropping down from the heavens, martial artists holding spears appeared before them.
Blocking the passage in a single line, they leveled their spears all at once.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!
There were five in all!
Martial artists also appeared behind them and leveled their spears. The same number that had appeared in front had appeared behind as well.
Geom Mugeuk knew.
‘They’re the martial artists from the pictures on the walls.’
They looked exactly like the figures in the paintings, but of course they were not living beings. An illusion art meant to guard this place had been activated.
“I’ll take the rear.”
The Sword King took the rear, and Geom Mugeuk took the front.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!
Like trained soldiers, the martial artists began walking forward with their spears leveled. The energy emanating from them was by no means ordinary.
Whoosh.
Geom Mugeuk’s sword energy flew toward them.
The sword energy that flew out passed through them. It should have swept through them, but it literally just passed by. They felt like beings without substance, like smoke.
The things that had approached thrust their spears.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
But the spears that struck his sword were real.
Geom Mugeuk swiftly swung his sword, trying to cut the spears apart.
Whoosh.
But just like when he had launched the sword energy, his sword passed right through the spears.
When they attacked, they became real spears, and when Geom Mugeuk tried to cut them, they changed into illusions. It was the first time he had ever experienced such an illusion art.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
He blocked the thrusting spears and launched surprise attacks, but his sword likewise passed through their bodies and cut only empty air.
Geom Mugeuk retreated one step at a time. The situation behind him was the same. Moreover, they were not puppets blindly thrusting spears. They displayed proper spear arts.
The two, forced back, eventually stood with their backs against each other.
“And you wanted to bring the hall members to a place like this?”
If they really had brought them, they would all have died here. It would truly have become a scene of carnage.
Whish-whish-whish-whish-whish!
The way the creatures fought changed. They hurled their spears at high speed.
The two of them swiftly swung their swords, each blocking in turn. The spears that were knocked away shattered like light and vanished, only for new spears to appear in their hands once more.
The one fortunate thing for Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King was that they did not have to worry about their backs.
‘If we can’t find the method to break this, we’ll die here after our internal energy runs dry!’
No matter what illusion art or sorcery it was, there was always a way to break it. That was an absolute principle that never changed. If so? The method to break it had to be somewhere in this space.
But even with the Blood-Eye Essence and the Divine Eye Art, that method could not be seen.
As he deflected their attacks, Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward the paintings on the wall. He activated the Divine Eye Art and looked at the painting of the spear-wielding martial artists.
Then one painting caught his eye.
It showed spear-wielding martial artists standing as though guarding a single pattern at the center.
‘Could it be?’
That pattern was drawn here and there across the walls. Geom Mugeuk sprang into the air and thrust his sword into one of those patterns.
Flash!
At that instant, one of the spear-wielding martial artists turned into a cluster of light and disappeared.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Deflecting the spears that came flying in ferociously, Geom Mugeuk shouted.
“I found the method to break it. Hold them off for me!”
Geom Mugeuk thrust his sword into another pattern drawn elsewhere. Once again, a martial artist vanished into a cluster of light.
From the front and the back, spears flew at Geom Mugeuk all at once.
The Sword King launched himself forward and knocked aside the spears flying toward Geom Mugeuk.
Meanwhile, Geom Mugeuk found the patterns in the mural one by one.
Each time he thrust his sword into a pattern, they disappeared. But the fewer their numbers became, the more violently they attacked Geom Mugeuk.
They attacked like madmen, but their opponents were Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King. How could their dwindling numbers stop men who had already found the answer?
And so Geom Mugeuk found the final pattern and stabbed it with his sword. The last remaining spear-wielding martial artist turned into a cluster of light and vanished.
At the same time, a hidden door at the end of the passage opened with a clang.
“How did you know the method to break it?”
“The stronger an illusion art is, the simpler its method of breaking it tends to be. Fortunately, it was an old illusion art, so the method hadn’t been twisted around like they do these days. I was able to deal with it easily.”
But the Sword King could tell. It was not as easy as he made it sound. If it had been him, would he have been able to infer the method from that painting?
“If I had come alone, I would not have been able to break it.”
When the Sword King admitted it honestly, Geom Mugeuk thought inwardly. If that’s the case, then how did you pass through here in your previous life? Who did you come with then?
“Then will you give me half of the treasures in this place?”
He asked half in jest and half in earnest, but unexpectedly, the Sword King nodded.
“I will.”
“You mean it, right? You’re not just acting generous because you’re going to kill me anyway, are you?”
Like that, the two of them cautiously entered through the door that had opened at the end of the passage.
In that instant, both of them stopped in their tracks, and for a while, neither of them said a word.
At last, the one to break the silence was Geom Mugeuk.
“You must not break that promise you just made.”